The Evolution of A Cappella In A Young Man's Life

Do you ever think back over your life when you saw or experienced something but didn't realize what it really was?  One example for me was a cappella music.  First time I ever experienced it was watching Rocky and Rocky II.  Rocky starts with him walking at night and comes across some guys just harmonizing standing around a trash can with a fire in it.  In Rocky II he and Adrian were just married and he's carrying her home.  They pass an alley where the same group of guys are standing around a fire singing..  He tells them he just got married and they start singing a song for the newlyweds.  Their harmonies blew me away but I didn't know what I was hearing.  I didn't know a cappella was a thing.  But it planted a seed.

A few years later I saw Huey Lewis in concert and their tradition was to give the  band a break and have Huey and the News sing a few a cappella songs.  I was mesmerized, but again didn't know what I was experiencing.  I knew I loved it, but figured it wasn't really a thing, it was just Huey and the guys showing the audience how they warm up before a concert or something.

Then the lightning bolt struck.  In college I worked for a radio station.  They had tickets to see Larry Gatlin in Aurora, IL.  No one at the station knew anything about country music except me so they asked me to come up with five trivia questions they could ask the listeners so the station could give away five pairs of tickets.  As a reward or thank you the station gave me one of the pairs of tickets.  I love country music so I was totally excited.  I heard the station play commercials promoting the concert and I heard the announcer say "So join Larry and his brothers, Four Guys Standing Around Signing for a great night of music."  I couldn't understand the "four guys standing around singing" comment since Larry has two brothers and being a college student I understood that one (Larry) plus two (his brothers Steve and Rudy) were three, not four.

Fast forward to the night of the concert.  Before the Gatlin Brothers came out, an a cappella group - Four Guys Standing Around Singing - came out on stage to open the show.  Scott McEwen, Rick Vamos, Noah Budin and Darren (his real name) Stevens absolutely killed it.  They sang doo-wop.  They covered contemporary songs.  They sang an original song or two.  They were AMAZING!!!  And I was transfixed forever.  Four young guys who played local bars in Chicago and toured different colleges were the highlight of the night.  They sang  for fifteen minutes and I was disappointed when the Gatlin Brothers took the stage.  I wanted, I NEEDED more of this a cappella thing I just heard.

That started a life long love affair with a cappella music and a four or five year love affair with the 4 Guys.  I still have their audio cassettes (yes, this was back in the day before the internet and CDs and MP3 players).  Bought their t-shirts and with my best friend from high school, David, went to see the 4 Guys perform nearly 35 times.  Knowing almost all their songs and their jokes never, never, never diminished the enjoyment of their shows.

When I worked downtown for a few years, one Christmas the building my office was in had a group called Chicago Voice Exchange sing Christmas carols in the lobby.  Big acoustic heaven for sound and these guys were unbelievable.  I stumbled across them on my morning break, stayed much longer than my allotted 15 minutes, went back down at lunch and just sat there in amazement.  I hated working downtown, but for that morning it was the best thing ever.

After our experience with the 4 Guys, David was always on the lookout for a cappella.  I found the Nylons and he found (once the internet became available) a video.  Oh the video..  He sent it to me saying "I know you like a cappella, here's a group that did an interesting arrangement of the 12 Days of Christmas."  And my life changed.  At first I didn't get it because while it's the 12 Days, it isn't the 12 Days.  Without knowing what I was seeing I thought "Man, they screwed up that song."  They didn't sing it poorly, quite the contrary.  But they didn't sing it the way it was written.  It took a couple of viewings for me to realize the genius I was seeing.  The song was arranged and performed by Straight No Chaser, quite possibly the greatest a cappella group of all time.  I've seen Pentatonix on The Sing Off, their videos and in person.  I've watched Home Free, Committed and various college groups including a very talented one - UC Men's Octet.  But SNC is the platinum standard for a cappella.  Of course that's just my opinion, but believe me when I tell you I'm right.  They cover Motown, hair bands, The Beatles, the  70's, Cold Play, Madonna, Michael Jackson just to name a few areas.  They do EVERYTHING including original material.  Sometimes straight up, most often with their own "twist" to the song.  They will mash songs together in a way that you don't even know you are hearing two songs.

I have had the pleasure of seeing them live 23 times and never leave disappointed.  I have seen the faces of the audience at intermission with looks of "oh my god, I can't believe I just saw/heard that!  What is the second half of the show going to be like?"  With just nine voices (previously ten) and a pitch pipe Straight No Chaser will transport you into a world of harmony, musical creativity and humor in a way that when you walk out of their concert your life is incrementally better than it was the two hours before you sat down.

I am biased.  I've met the guys, received their autographs, taken pictures with them and joked around with them.  Even if I hadn't had those experiences, they would still be the best out there.

Pentatonix is great and adored world wide.  For me, most of their covers are of songs that I just don't connect with.  That being said, they came out with two Christmas albums that combined don't have one bad song among them.

There's a lot of great a cappella music out there, including high school groups like this one.this one.

But there is only one SNC.  Here's how they explain a cappella music.

Cooper and the Brewers

For reasons that defy understanding Cooper, my youngest and currently age 12, is a Brewers fan.  I have been a Cubs fan since 1974.  His mother has embraced both the Mets and the Cubs, though I think her current preference is for the Northsiders.  And yet, there's Cooper - blissfully happy to cross the border, break through the Cheese Curtain and cheer for the Brewers.

Personally I think it's awesome.  At younger stages of his life he has liked the Pirates and Tigers.  But now, since he likes the Brewers and we're from Chicago I am supposed to be upset.  Friends will ask "How do you allow that?"  My simple answer?  I don't care.  He likes baseball.  That is most important in my mind.  It is the sport I grew up loving.  He loves the sport as well.  What could be better?

I'm not sure why but his absolute favorite player is Lorenzo Cain, your starting centerfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers.  But he can talk about the virtues of Christian Yelich, Yasmani Grandal (until he signed with the White Sox), Josh Hader, Mike Moustakis and the list goes on.  But Cain is his fave.

This past summer I decided to take him to his first Brewers game in Milwaukee.  I was looking at the Brewers schedule to see how it fit with my work schedule and the days that Cooper spends with me when I noticed something.  When he was over for dinner I mentioned going to see the Brewers and he got excited.  I pulled up the schedule and said "Well, we could go see them play the Phillies on this day."

Cooper - OK!

Me - Or we could go see them play the Reds on that day.

Cooper - Ehh (clearly more interested in seeing the Phillies than the Reds, but that's when I dropped the decision maker)

Me - Because the day they play the Reds they're having a giveaway.  It's Lorenzo Cain Bobblehead Day.

Cooper - OH HECK YEAH!!!

Like I didn't already know which game we were going to go see.

We drove up and had the greatest time.  Yes a lot of it had to do with watching baseball with my son.  But the Milwaukee experience was amazing.  People in Milwaukee are some of the nicest people around.  When we went to get some hot dogs and nachos, obviously there was a line.  That's what happens at a sporting event.  As we approached the guy who was going to take our order he met us with "Thank you so much for waiting in line."  Then he looked me over and looked at Cooper.  I was wearing a Pirates T-Shirt and Cubs baseball hat.  Cooper had a Brewers shirt and hat on.  The guy says to Cooper, "What's wrong with your dad?  Pirates and Cubs?  Why isn't he cool like you?"

Cooper just shook his head as if in disappointment and said "Yeah, I know" which cracked the guy up.  After we received our food and started to move out of line the guy said "Thanks for coming to the game!  Have a nice day."  This was said in full sincerity.  Truly genuinely nice people.

As for the game itself, well every time Lorenzo Cain came to bat Cooper would set down his phone or food or whatever was in his hand, stand up, cup his hands around his mouth and let out a barbaric "WOOOOO!!!!" arching his back for full amplification and sound distribution.

Yasmani Grandal gave the Brewers an early lead with a homerun in the bottom of the 1st which allowed Cooper to see Bernie the Brewer come down the slide in the outfield and wave a Brewers flag.

The roof was open on a beautiful summer day, which, talking with my friends who have been to numerous Brewer games, is rare.  Not a beautiful summer day in Wisconsin, but apparently the default position for the Brewers is to have their roof closed on the off chance of inclement weather.  I have had friends attend a dozen or more games and the roof was closed each time.

Not that day.  It was beautiful.  Josh Hader came in to nail down the 6-5 win and all was right in the world.

While we stalled going to the parking lot to avoid traffic we stopped in the gift shop and found a Lorenzo Cain shirt.

We then headed back to our car, walking past all the tailgaters and grills with brats and sausages.  Asking almost a rhetorical question, I asked Cooper if he enjoyed himself.  He said yes, he had a great time.  Then, "I LOVE Milwaukee!!  Wisconsin is so much better than Illinois!"

I love the youthful certainty in that declaration, coming from a kid whose TOTAL Wisconsin exposure was I-94 to the Stadium exit ramp and then walking through the parking lot (granted filled with the amazing aroma of brats, sausages and burgers) seeing people playing cornhole, playing music, laughing and enjoying the weather, and then entering the stadium.

That's Wisconsin to Cooper.  And he LOVES it.

When Was The Last Time

Darius Rucker has recorded many brilliant songs since he went solo from Hootie and the Blowfish.  He went down the country music path and has just lit . . . it . . . up.  One song he recorded was "When Was The Last Time".  The title is a fun play on words because the chorus goes "when was the last time you did something for the first time?", reminding  us all that it's good to take chances, expand our horizons, get outside of our comfort zone.  None of which I'm good at, but I do love the song.

One day as I was listening to the song, it got me thinking.  Reversing the question in a way, "When was the last time you did something for the LAST time?"  (Or, I suppose, "When was the FIRST time you did something for the LAST time?"  It basically means the same thing, doesn't it?)

There are occasions in our life when we absolutely know we won't be doing something again.  You resign or retire from work, you know you won't be walking to your desk in that office any more.  If you're a professional athlete and you retire, you know when the last time you will face a pitcher or throw a football (assuming you are able to retire on your own terms).  I would imagine it's a rare occurrence when you know something is happening for the last time as it's happening.

But all of us will have, and have had, experiences for the last time - didn't know it at the time and may not even know it yet.  If you are of a certain age you have probably played on a playground jungle gym for the last time.  Do you know when that was?  Flew on an airplane?  Ate Chinese food?  Saw the ocean?  Kissed your soulmate?  Attended a New Year's Eve Party?

Most of us don't know, didn't know when it happened.  I think there are several reasons for that.

One is I think humans, by nature, are always optimistic.  "Oh I'll do that again." or "We'll have to do this again next year." are common thoughts or comments.  We always believe there will be another opportunity.  Some of it could be a sense of assumption or entitlement that we can have and do what we want, when we want.  Sure.  But unless you are given a diagnosis where you absolutely know there will not be a next time, I think we all believe there will always be a next time.

Additionally, there are so many things going on in our lives, personally, professionally, recreationally, that it's almost impossible to keep track of everything we've done and the last time it occurred.  The last time I cradled my child?  I don't know.  I see them all the time and they're grown, so I've hugged them, but cradled them in my arms?  Years ago and I don't know when was the last time.  Last time I shot a basketball?  Haven't been on a court in years.  Certain body parts are a little more achy than years ago.  I'd like to think it may happen again, but it's been a few years since I took any of my children to a basketball court and played "H-O-R-S-E".

The purpose of this post wasn't necessarily to make you wrack your brain to remember the last time you did some normal routine thing, though that can be an interesting exercise.  But maybe the point was to remind us all that things change, it's important to recognize and appreciate what you're doing in the moment and realize that at some point it won't happen any longer.