I'm not a big Phish fan. (Though my old group, Cayuga's Waiters, once performed "Bouncin' Round the Room.") Anywho, apparently Phish used to close concerts with an a cappella rendition of "Freebird." I doubted this claim. But there's a legit recording of it on 2002's Live Phish Volume 16.
Click here and scroll down for 30 seconds of awesomely terrible a cappella from a very famous band!
Album sales. Yup, the Tufts Beelzebubs sold $2,000 worth of albums in the wake of the NPR spot on "Pitch Perfect." (Listen to that here.) And Divisi is reporting a similar spike in sales for their album, "Undivided," featuring Usher's "Yeah." Glad to hear people are supporting the music!
The dominance of iTunes may have an unintended consequence: the album cover may be a dying art. Which is why I was so pleased to find this cover from Hyannis Sound's 2007 album, "Shirt! Tie! Khaki!" It's a play on the old school folk album covers, and it's brilliantly designed.
I remember back in my day, the members of Cornell's Cayuga's Waiters met in the basement of Ruloff's--our local Ithaca watering hole--to discuss the cover art for our latest album. The artwork was, of course, due at the printer the next morning. After a few drinks, the group decided to rename our forthcoming album and to shoot a new cover. No one remembers why, but it must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Because the next morning, a bunch of guys took a bow tie, threw it into the snow, and photographed it. That album became "Clothing Optional." (Get it!)
No one will ever praise that one (visible here) for its art direction. Nice work, Hyannis Sound. Keep it coming.
Yup, it's that time again. From Blake Lewis to Luke Menard--a cappella alums are often represented on "Idol." Today, Fox announced the audition dates for Idol '09, which I've pasted here:
San Francisco, CA: Thursday, July 17, Cow Palace Louisville, KY: Monday, July 21, Freedom Hall Phoenix, AZ: Friday, July 25, Jobing.com Arena Salt Lake City, UT: Tuesday, July 29, EnergySolutions Arena San Juan, Puerto Rico: Saturday, Aug. 2, Coliseo de Puerto Rico Kansas City, MO: Friday, Aug. 8 , Sprint Center Jacksonville, FL: Wednesday, Aug. 13, Veterans Memorial Arena East Rutherford, NJ: Tuesday, Aug. 19, IZOD Center at the Meadowlands Sports Complex
Good luck, folks. And if you don't make it, take comfort in the fact that Andrew Savini of the Tufts Beelzebubs (who is featured in Pitch Perfect) auditioned last year to no avail. And he's supremely, impossibly talented. Reminder here:
I'm sure the "Get Smart" people are thrilled that Anne Hathaway and Conan O'Brien spent a full three minutes talking about her old a cappella group on NBC two nights ago. Video here:
So, on last night's episode of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," Anne Hathaway talked about her days singing with Vassar's Measure 4 Measure. That clip isn't up on the web yet (I'll post in when I find it). In the meantime, here's Anne singing some Queen in Ella Enchanted. It's got instruments and all, but you'll get the idea.
Pitch Perfect, out now from Gotham Books, is a behind-the-scenes look at the bizarre, inspiring, and hilarious world of competitive collegiate a cappella.
Author Mickey Rapkin lives in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in The New York Times, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, Details, and Time Out New York. E-mail him at mickey@mickeyrapkin.com.
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