Rock-apella!

You also think pie is delicious... Let's go on a date!

Everybody (ie some people) knows the joke 'A Capella is Latin for out of tune.' Well I decided to put that to the test by actually attending a collegiate A Capella concert. I had actually seen the nascent stages of this concert, by which I mean I saw them taking photos for the flyers...

This is sideways because I was actually ROFL-ing.

While this may seem like a stereotypical movie scene, but luckily people were only being shot at with cameras. I later stumbled upon the result of this glam sesh...

Just because we aren't in kindergarten doesn't mean we can't all be unique slightly differently

So now that I saw their smug shot, the only thing left to do was actually sit through a performance (and BE THERE sounded threatening and I don't want a roving gang of people in evening casual to be haunting me). Their flyer did leave some accuracy to be desired, here's the start of a series of photos I was about to take.

Too many times has the am/pm vagueness gotten me in trouble

I was about to take a bunch of photos of the stats from my bike ride today, but unfortunately for all of you reading this for my training secrets... you've been foiled since the lights went down not a second before 7:41:32.

psst, I have a secret, but the audience can't know

This is a photo from song 1. The Jackson 5's 'I Want You Back.' I happen to feel it was a good way to turn Acapella into Flopapella. Choosing a song that relies mostly on a bass line that people can't since no one wants to hear people sing in that octave (which is why I don't sing), is like giving the double bass part to the 'cellos or the flute part to the bassoons... Why? On a related note, you might be wondering who spewed as they walked on stage, but I can assure that those are a haphazardly arranged Christmas lights that kinda say Room 46. But they didn't just stand there and sing... nope, they also to copious amounts of water breaks.

Water Break... AKA Gossip time!

They decided to drink out of red wine glasses with a nice pitcher in the middle, and I decided to sit in corner and take low quality photos of their performance... to each his own.

They the revealed to their other talent, passing off to the next soloist by making it clear that they didn't actually know too much about each other except that it was a safe bet to inform the audience that the next soloist had a nice voice, and is a good all-around person. This was good for me, because I was able to just listen to my iPod since I already had found out what I needed to know about the performance (that it was good).

For the second song they decided to go for a different formation...

Shun the non-believer

Clear the run formation didn't work for the first song so they decided to spread it out and go for a pass. And what did they throw at us? A ballad. I should point out because it isn't clear from my photographs, but there is a book of A Capella rules somewhere, and its first chapter is about how one must always dance as if they were this couple, only they must keep both feet on the floor at all times. Anyways, that song did indeed end, so....

WATER BREAK!

What do the lights say again?

So began another awkward pass off, which also ended. This process continued several times, alternating between running and passing formations. The grand fandango came when the format changed a little for the beat box solo.

The Third Formation

This selection differed in that everyone stood as far away from their (as a found out from his introduction) beloved beat boxer. Further, he used a microphone (colloquially refered to as a mic). Sufficiently enthralled by this space age technology. I watched in awe as our 'singer' (by the way, I think singers make jokes about beat boxers the same way that real musicians make jokes about singers) did away with the tedium of idea development and general cohesion that is generally associated with 'traditional' drum solos. But perhaps more importantly, he danced with his feet significantly off the ground, and attempted a dance maneuver attempting to replicate someone walking on the moon, and I'm sure I wasn't the only audience member used to more conservative ac-ap (as its known to its devoted followers) groups who was taken aback by this controversial statement of personal flair. I go to a concert like this expecting the traditional dress code of "lets show how easy going and quirky we are by how we dress and end up all wearing jeans and partially unbuttoned collared shirt with a white undershirt," and I found this went too far.

I was so disgusted that I walked out (at intermission as I was planning). I did manage to catch a glimpse of the mixing set up that wasn't used in this production.

Something is draining the endowment?

Oh sure, it looks nice, but I know you're wondering, "Hey does this thing make credit card transactions?" The answer is of course, yeah I guess.

Please enter your PIN to make a generous donation to the apreCCiate fund

To be fair everyone in the group could sing pretty well, and they seemed well rehearsed. And I'm all in favor of art forms that allow people to express their true feelings. I'm just glad to be listening to Maceo Parker's down home grooves right now.