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.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
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