Last Night A Cappella Saved My Life

Or so says Brian Eno! A cappella is a key ingredient to a long life. Really! This NPR piece from the celebrated British musician is required listening for a cappella fans. Check it out here.

A Cappella: Stranger Than Fiction

Back in September, James Franco hosted Saturday Night Live, and joked about his enrollment at Columbia University. His co-star in the sketch, Jason Sudeikis, made a joke about the proliferation of a cappella groups at Columbia.

I blogged about it then. (Read that item here.) But the gist of it was this: Sudeikis joked about singing in a group called the Funk Tones, which he described as Columbia's "most popular non-tryout, non-Lesbian a cappella group."

Well, in a case of life being stranger than fiction, there is an all-Lesbian a cappella group. (Photo here, with Cyndy Lauper...duh.) They're called The Lesbian Overtones. (Amazing name.) They're based in Brooklyn and are playing some gigs in New York soon. Check out their myspace page here.

Also, a clip:

Hullabahoos. In Hi-Def.

Last April, the Hullabahoos put on a big 20th anniversary concert. It was called "Big Spring Sing Thing XX." Now, in what I believe is a first for a collegiate group, the Hullabahoos are selling a full-length concert DVD of that night, recorded in HD. (Order on-line now.)

Here's a sample of the concert from YouTube. While it's not in HD, you get the idea.

A Cappella Face

A strange thing happens when people watch a cappella groups perform. I call it "a cappella face." Basically, it's that look people sitting in the front row wear, that confused expression that says, "WTF am I looking at?" Even when they like the music, some can't help but make that face. You know that face? You know what I'm talking about?

This dovetails with another thing I like: Videos of a cappella groups performing for celebrities. There's a funny story in Pitch Perfect about a famous Hollywood Christmas party where the Baker's Dozen from Yale perform every year. Marisa Tomei, Hillary Swank, Jim Carrey—they've all been there, they've all seen the BDs. What I really want to know is this: Do the celebrities make that a cappella face? Or do they grove along? Do they mouth the words?

Here's a video of the Harvard Din & Tonics performing for Andy Garcia. Sadly, Garcia's back is to the camera for much of it. But this provides some insight.

The SNC Publicity Trains Chugs Along

A story from Allentown's Morning Call. Click here to read.

And the promo video:

That's Me Signing Books.

Yup, that's me. I went to Yale last night to read from Pitch Perfect. And a reporter from the Yale Daily News grilled me! I'm not kidding. GRILLED. The other side of my face (which you can't see) has char marks.

Anywho, the reading was a success. A big thanks to Yale's SOBs (the a cappella group, not the reporter) for singing three tunes. And doing some damn credible bird noises.

That story here.

File Under Inevitable.

The all-female UNC Loreleis covered Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" last week. The song choice was inevitable. But you've gotta give it up to the Loreleis for nailing it. This version is at least 10% less annoying than the original!