Kevin Olusola MC '11, beatboxer and cellist, just won NBC's "The Sing-Off" with his group Pentatonix on the show's season finale Nov. 28.
The a cappella group requested Kevin join them in the competition after hearing his beatboxing. Sadly, Kevin could not also assist the Whiffenpoofs, who could not generate the necessary appeal to advance on the show.
Check out the Pentatonix performing a cover of Florence And the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" on the show's semi-finals.
But even more impressive than this televised victory is Kevin's cello, vocal and beatbox single "Void of a Legend" with Antoinette Costa.
So I am slightly annoyed (this may or may not be understatement)
I am annoyed (slightly) because.
1)I have to write a piece for carillon (the big bells in Harkness) for my composition class. While originally I thought Cool, I get to write for bells! That’s awesome! I must be frank. This assignment is kiiiiind of driving me insane. The bells just keep ringing and ringing; you never get to write in rests; and the dissonance just keeps piling up. To add insult to injury, the assignment itself requires a ton of weird harmonies and a disturbing amount of repetition. (I never want to read the sentence “You must demonstrate a high degree of motivic coherence!” again.) I am a failure of a composer because I can’t get this to sound even halfway good, and I am days behind.
2)The carilloneur in my class for whom we’re all writing is having her orchestra piece played tonight 8 p.m. by YSO alongside Beethoven. The concert’s title “Beethoven and Cooley” satirically juxtaposes the two composers. Of course, you’d go to a concert and hear both of them! Unfair.
3)I just listened to the piece, and pairing Ludwig Van Beethoven with Emily Cooley PC ’12 might not actually be so outrageous.
SO I’M MAD!
Anyway, of course you should go to this. YSO is amazing this year for any of you who were not at the Halloween show. The Beethoven pieces include Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, which features Mia Nishikawa JE’ 14 on piano and Michael Li PC ’12 as conductor and Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major.
Emily’s piece “Render and Reach” varies a theme making ample use of the different orchestral instruments and smooth yet colourful modulation.
The piece opens with music one might expect to hear at a wonderous ballet or fairy tale dance production as the music creatively varies off a theme, but the piece then goes minor and adds post-Wagner and film score elements, building slowly. Emily then adds small spurts of melodic material in different instruments in a quasi-minimalist fashion that starts to lose me a little, especially when it comes back later in the piece. The piece modulates back to major, blending chords and pleasantly overlapping melodies.
The next section of the six-minute piece is characterized by upbeat rhythmic sections that open with a tapping, percussive sound and quickly incorporate drum kit. The upbeat melodic sections that go with the drum rhythms are underlined with legato re-representations of the theme, which spiral up into a big crash of power only experienced and fully appreciated in orchestras.
Throughout the piece, Emily makes effective use of horns to blare the melody and add emotional impetus. During the minimalistic sections with more sporadic melody lines, the flutes are instrumental in adding continuity with steadily rising harmonies. High, repeated notes in the strings bring back a modified theme and the horns come in to finish for a finale, a grand instrumental flourish.
Fantastic. (damnit)
So yeah. Tickets are $2-$5 for students and $10-15 for non-Yalies. Go. I would, but I have to finish this (and another) piece.
The Rain Brigade, the newly named version of "The Black Marias," is opening for the YSO Halloween show tonight at 10:45 in Woolsey. So be sure to get there on time.
The Rain Brigade at Fall Fest
After them Jamestown, The First Town in America, or their "economically unstable alter-ego" Ghost Town, The Deadest Town in America will play. Which will it be??
What is spookier than having your parents here during Halloween weekend?
Spooky music with your parents, perhaps?
This weekend, bands are giving two musical frightshows back-to-back and costumes are encouraged.
internet photo
First tonight at 10pm it’s The Keep Calm(preparing you for a scarry weekend with your family by reminding you of their name….) and A Streetcar Named Funk at Sigma Chi, 33 Lynwood Place. Sig Chi just became my favourite frat. Thanks, bros for supporting our music scene, bra.
From "Boys in Briefs"
The Keep Calm goes on at 10pm. The band features Alexander Bae BR ’14 (vocals, guitar, piano), John Cocco JE ’14 (drums), Kenneth Crouch ’14 (bass), and Ishan Sinha BR ’14 (guitar).
Their chill sound, fun riffs and collegiate lyrics are bound to leave calming melodies ringing in your heads for the duration of the weekend. Fweewwh.
A Streetcar Named Funk will bust out four fresh, original songs within a 12-song set as it takes the stage at 10:45. The band features some talented solo musicians; we’ll see how they all come together.
Michael Blume ’12 (vocals), Nathan Prillaman JE ’13 (bass), Andi Zhou JE ’13 (keys), Zach Simao JE ’13 (drums), Will Moritz TC ’12, tenor saxophonist extraordinaire Alyssa Hasbrouck MC ’14 (alto sax...lol), Tim Gladding SY ’13 (euphonium), Grant Phelps JE ’14 (tenor sax), Nathaniel Meyer SY ’13 (trumpet) will take the stage.
Streetcar plays a halftime show (photo from Streetcar not mine)
Then tomorrow at 378 Crown, 9:30 pm, things are going to get really spooky.
Think a Halloween party + parents hosted by Ghost Town the Deadest Town in America.
Your Underbrook hosts are taking the stage tonight.
If you’re reading this, then you clearly value music on campus (or maybe you just think I’m cute and funny…or maybe I forced you to), so going to this show should be a matter of principle — of respect for the three individuals who have given you something to do with your Saturday night that enriches your musical side.
Principles aside you are clearly going to this show for its content as well.
Expect to hear your old favorite and plenty of new songs from the new album Nolan says is about halfway finished.
You already know that Plume Giantis amazing. So I don’t need to tell you how their well-crafted three-part vocal harmonies sustain and release tension so that you can almost taste the dissonances, how the high energy fiddle solos and well-grounded guitar parts move the songs effortlessly along, or how this campus loves Eliza, Nolan and Oliver as musicians, as patrons of the arts, and as people.
So I’m going to talk about Carline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps now.
This group is a lot of fun to listen to and a tasteful example of genre mixing. I’m not certain how their electronic and new wave aspects will translate to Underbrook’s setting, but the show should bring out their folkier elements. It’s clean, fun music that will keep you interested.
Bands go on at 8 in Saybrook entryway H. Don’t miss a second.
Great, because tonight you're going to be hearing a lot of them.
Underbrook Coffehouse is hosting two tree bands!
First, The Willow and the Builder, a folk band made up of Richard Miron BR '13 and Wesleyan's Adrian Simon, plus other Wesleyan instrumentalists and Yale singers. The band is releasing it's first album at the stroke of midnight on Oct. 10, but if you go to the show the band will give you a supersecret code to download the album free NOW.
After these budding trees show their stuff, NYC band Tall Trees will play. I went briefly to their website. I don't think I've ever heard anything folkier. Washboards and whistling. Oh man.
Underbrook Coffeehouse should be a fun time tonight. Just let yourself be a kid again and sing along about bubblegum and underwater teaparties. If you've been fasting, be sure to bring some change for coffee, tea and cookies—especially fitting for the youthful lyrics.
In case you can't handle all the tree-hugging, come to the tree free afterparty with Jamestown, The First Town in America at 342 Elm after the Coffeehouse (probably around 10).
If you're still up in the air about tonight's coffeehouse, here's a sneak peak.
The Willow & The Builder's album has some good tracks, but is overall hit or miss.
Richard Miron and Adrian Simon have without a doubt the most adorable band dynamic I have seen on this campus, so the coffeehouse is probably worth going to just for that.
I really like the song "Cut it Down," because it effectively weaves several different musical lines to create a musical scene of a tree reflecting off of water (see album cover). The rich, emotional viola part provides the substance of the song which the vocals later add to. The keys and drums pounding out chords and steady beats keep the piece moving forward and the listener engaged, while the flute adds interesting highlights.
Tracks such as "What's Next" and "A Vast Emptiness" (the title is fitting) use basic chord progressions, sparse textures, and soft vocals that make for a generally boring listening experience. "A Vast Emptiness" captures a different kind of listener with its storytelling style and voice. It feels like an interlude during a scene change of a musical puppet show. "What's Next" picks up a bit when the backup vocals enter.
Backup vocals are an essential component of one of the band's hits "Rosaline." It starts out a bit slow, but the full, soulful vocal lines and bluesy keys really iron out the harmonies. This song is going to sound fantastic tonight with such a big chorus.
Maeve: awesome, tree-loving vocalist
Yale singers tonight include (sorry I'm not up to putting in their class years today) Marina Keegan, Cuchulain Kelly, Tobias Kirchwey, Noah Kleinberg, Paul Leo, Anna Miller, Robert Ramaswamy, Maeve Ricaurte, Steph Rivkin, Chloe Sarbib, Grace Steig, Mary Stottele, Wan Joo Teo, Nine Tigers, and Sharif Youssef. The other instrumentalists are from Wesleyan, but Oliver Hill BR '12, one of Underbrook's co-hosts, will play viola for the band tonight. (I'd like to see even more strings in "Mansion Man" because the strings are easily the best part of the song and could be built up even more.)
Some of the tracks, such as Teahouse Treehouse, are really fun and creative. The joyful, childlike lyrics describing the treehouse "though it's really not that high, it's somewhere to go," with upbeat rhythms will put a smile on your face.
The most memorable song on the album for me is one I remember liking at lot in concert last year—"Heartache."
The sixtenth notes in the keyboard, dramatic chords, and emotional vocals bring power to the music that surpasses that of other tracks. Lyrics such as "heartache, don't come near me...longing, your days are numbered," present a vivid and very real emotional process: coping. The song also has a nice, punchy ending after some longer, sustained lines.
Two weeks ago we looked out over a community of musicians and music enthusiasts all gathered around steaming mugs and candles, surrounded by art and enfused with folk music.
Photo by Richard Miron
Underbrook Coffeehouse is genius.
And it's going down again tonight same time same place 8pm Saybrook Underbrook.
Guitarist Will Moritz TC '12 is in for one hell of a day. His other band a Streetcar Named Funkwas just featured in the first YPMB halftime show of the season — funkified!
"Play that funky music....Nathan Prillaman JE '13!"
Funky White Boys
Other (non-Yale) bands performing tonight include Boy Genius feat. Mr. Ray Neal, The Cavemen Go, and The Novels. Jamestownshould go on at around 9:30.
Cover is $5 and you must be 21 +. Which means I can't go. Which is sad. But it's good for our endowment. Because I would otherwise seriously consider shirking my singing duties at the Yale Tomorrow event tonight to go to this. So if you're 21 please go for me.
If you also signed up to sing Bright College Years in the President's Room tonight but you're 21, go anyway. Play hookey! Even if you're a better singer than I am. Endowment?? whaaa?
If you're kicking yourself because you didn't realize Jamestown was playing and went to NY for the weekend you can still catch Sister Helen at MTA Courtelyou Road (Q train) in Brooklyn Sunday from 1:30 to 3pm. It's going to be a crazy awesome street festival!
Sister Helen at Spring Fling
Singing/yelling/chanting/screaming on the bus back from the game a good vocal chord warmup?
The Professors....of Bluegrass. Free concert at Edgerton Park in New Haven as part of the Green Expo, hosted annually by CT Folk.
The group includes former Davenport College Dean Craig "mando daddy" Harwood (Mandolin), University Provost Peter Salovey (double bass), Oscar Hills (Banjo), and Sten Isaac Havumaki (guitar and vox).
So if you’re a Yale student by now you might have some idea of what you’re taking this term (hmmmmmm or maybe not), but before you dive into that fluid mechanics problem set how about a free concert?
After all, the year hasn’t actually started until the music scene kicks off.
This is actually in my room...
Unfortunately for this procrastination technique—and fortunately in every other way possible!—it is kicking off this Saturday, with not one, but two, events.
OMGNOWAY.
First the YCC Fall Festival is running from 11am until 2pm on Old Campus. The event features two YMS bands—The Black Mariasand The Keep Calm.
The Keep Calm struts down Old Campus
Here’s the line-up:
The Black Marias12-12:50
-- Caitlin Pequignot ES '14 (violin, lead vocals), Sam Gelernter SM '14 (guitar, backup vocals), Jacob Backer MC '14 (bass, lead vocals), Ethan Schneider ES '14 (drums)
The Black Marias made their big breakout at Battle of the Bands when they seriously wowed the crowd with a high energy performance of violin riffs, distorted guitar and harmonized male and female vocals, all backed by simple yet effective drum beats. The violin fits well within the rock riffs and doesn’t feel forced. In fact, it provides some nice melodic fills that keep the songs interesting (some additional drum fills might also be nice). I also really like the bluesy basslines.
The band’s cheery background vocals, and the band members themselves (sophomores), radiate youth. But lyrics are not so naïve as one might expect. Example “Sentiments” ““I never said you were special. You’re just the best that I could find.”
Ouch.
This is one band that sounds much better live than on their recordings, especially since they’re new to making them. I always love bands that give performances their all and expect The Black Marias to continue this trend.
The Keep Calm is a revamped version of Seven Locks, which won the award for the loudest cheering section at BATB. They seem to manage to bring all of Branford College to their shows. Impressive.
Seven Locks at BATB
Ishan, lead guitarist, said the band changed its sound over the summer, so a name change was appropriate. The songs are mostly the same, but the band spiced up the bass parts. I approve.
Instead of intense rock, the sound is chiller. Frontman Alex Bae is a talented lyricist (so listen up!)—straightforward, interesting, genuine—and the riffs are super catchy. I have a few suggestions for this group, but I will save them for after the performance. I will say that adding a bit of reverb will help round out the sound.
Download their stuff here. (you have to “like” the page, sneaky, but you can unlike it later if you so choose) Warning: If you listen to “Disappear” or “Overcast” it will be stuck in your head.
Seven Locks playing “Pasadena,” which you should hear tomorrow at BATB last year. Notice loud cheering.
YCC Events Coordinator Katie “bringsdafun” Donley ES ’13 said she asked the WYBC for band suggestions and Carl “radboss” Chen MC '13, general manager, suggested The Black Marias. Since Ishan is in WYBC, he volunteered his band too.Jamestown, The First Town in America had originally planned to play too.
Because of Hurricane Irene, the extracurricular bazaaaaaar was pushed back a week, as you probably realize by now, so the YCC was nice enough to offer to move Fall Fest back a week.
But this had consequences.
Jamestown now can’t make it, so the festival is a band short(er). (Hurricane Irene feel my wrath!) Katie said she might plug in a DJ instead or let The Black Marias and The Keep Calm play longer sets. And because the event is no longer on a Sunday—and there’s a rule about playing music before noon during religious services (whatifmusicisyourreligion?!?!?)—the noice can to start at 11. Wake up and hear the amplifiers!
“Stick around and enjoy the atmosphere,” Katie said. “Listening to music serves the double purpose of introducing freshman to the music scene at Yale.”
Please and thank you.
The YCC was also originally interested in having Plume Giantplay at Fall Fest (I mean why wouldn’t they be), but because PG is really busy working on their new album, they won’t be doing as many concerts this fall.
The members of Plume Giant will be busy in another way.Which brings us to kickassmusicevent number 2.
The PG members are kicking off the grand opening of their Underbrook Coffeehouse concert series, which runs every other Saturday from 7:30-9:45ish (bands go on at 8) in Saybrook Underbrook(entryway H) and features one Yale and one non-Yale band and artwork, maybe poetry too. AWESOME!
This week the artwork will be by Rebecca Schultz SM '12. Don’t ask me what she does but I bet it’ll be cool.
Even Artichokes Have Hearts, a tamborine-uke duo with Sarah DeLappe BR '12 and Chloe Sarbib SY '12 will set the mood with heartfelt uked-up songs. They’re fun, but don’t expect to be jumping up and down to the riff. It’s a coffeehouse, after all.
Even Artichokes Have Hearts at Relay For Life 2011
Anthony daCosta, a folk musician from NYC, will then take the stage. Check him out here. The Washington Post thinks he’s “promising.” Not really my style, but it should be interesting.
Anthony DeCosta. Photo by Jake Jacobson.
Even if you’re not into these particular artists, I would at least go to hang with music people, get some coffee, and see what this series is all about.
Coffee is 50c and cookies are 25c. Mmmmm. Caffeinate yourself.
YMS, or should I say "YMS:ano" (please don't call it that), is an official organization! The Dean "controls fun" Meeske has approved us. See you all at the bazaaar. It's going to be intense.
-This is super confusing because when we’re in the same room and one of us gets a text the other always thinks she has a text too and checks her phone awkwardly.
-It’s really just me who’s checking awkwardly because Alyssa is more popular than I am and is always getting texts.
-Alyssa actually changed her ring BECAUSE OF ME.
-Alyssa and I are fans of the greeting “Oh hey!” for each other. (I’ve never quite figured out how this happened, but I’m guessing it’s her fault.)
We were at Six Flags eating lunch (err fries) at Johnny Rockets, and I got up to take a few photos of our goofy friends and left my phone on the table. I got back, sat down, and I get a text message. FROM MYSELF. My phone beeped and the text symbol said “Zoe Gorman.”
I picked up the phone, and the message said, “OH HEY!”
Then Alyssa gave me back my actual phone.
I was hysterical. Like crying I was laughing so hard.
Alyssa innocently contemplating her straw
And I was thinking aren’t I so lucky that I get to stay on campus this week and listen to Salivating Eyes and hang with my Yale friends who prank me. You’re probably not as lucky as I am and are already off doing cool things outside of the Have.
But YMS doesn’t have to end with your departure from campus. There are some EPs coming out this summer (when Yalies have time to work on them) that I’m really excited about and will be reviewing as they’re released.
And there might be some other, more informal posts too, but I’m going to keep those secret for now.
Hopefully you’ve all downloaded Blue Noise by now, or picked up a hard copy at Spring Fling, so you’ll have something to listen to this summer before the EPs come out.
Speaking of which, Spring Fling was awesome!
You might not remember it for one reason or another…
But all three student bands exceeded expectations. So I’m going to tell you about each of them while giving out “awards,” starting with Sister Helen.
My expectations for Sister Helen, who opened Spring Fling, were prettttty loooowwww. I didn’t enjoy them at all at Battle of the Bands. When they were doing their sound check (and stalling a bit) I was watching them alone, and I was thinking wow, this is sad; I’m the only one here, and I don’t particularly want to be. But they really stepped it up, and after a minute or so of jamming the gates of Old Campus began seeing some traffic.
Sister Helen brought a lot of energy while tightening their performance a bit. Even though the lyrics are still repetitive and honestly quite creepy (and pitch isn’t really important to most of the vocal parts), I can appreciate that each of the musicians, especially the guitarist Chris Krasnow, is talented. Frontman Nathan Campbell ES ’14 continued to pump up the crowd by jumping around on stage like a madman, but he flailed less and didn’t strip.
I talked to Nathan afterward and he said he didn’t strip because I said in another post I didn’t want to see it. So to all the girls who wanted to see Nathan strip, I apologize; it’s my fault.
Sorry, girls.
Award time!
The Most Stoic in the Face of Technical Difficulties award
First place: guitarist guy in Sister Helen(Krasnow)
Honourable mention: Nathan Campbell, frontman and only Yalie in Sister Helen
Both these musicians had issues with their equipment during the show and didn’t falter at all. The guitarist’s strap came off SEVERAL times during the performance while he was soloing. Once Nathan went over and fixed it. Teamwork! The other time, one of the stage managers fixed it as the guitarist was crouching down and soloing.
If you don’t believe me here’s a vid.
WHOAH HOLD THE PHONE (not you, Alyssa. hands off). I’m sitting in Blue State writing this blog post and a group comes on with three part vocal harmony and violins and guitar and I’m like, I SWEAR that’s Eliza singing, this is so Plume Giant. Who else sounds like this? I didn’t recognize the song, and honestly I don’t think the Blue State people’s Pandora plays YMS bands, so I was like who is this professional group that sounds exactly like Plume Giant!? I’m tight with the Blue State people (because I practically live here), so I ask them what the band is, and Pat is like “Oh, that was Plume Giant. Yeah, my band Brown Bird plays with them a lot.” Yep. Blue State just played “All of it Now” from the Plume Giant EP. (which I obviously need to be more familiar with, so I’m listening to it now on my ITunes). Sweeeeet.
Blue State Coffee
Ok, now that I’ve sufficiently discussed Plume Giantin a post that has nothing to do with them…. Back to Sister Helen. Major props for dealing so well with your strap falling off and keeping the show going, guitarist dude!
Nathan gets second place because his mic cord got wrapped up in the make stand during the song where he keeps talking about my friend Gonzo(who only showed up for Gets the Girl despite the fact that Sister Helen seems to have dedicated a song to her.) He managed to unwrap it during breath breaks. Nice! He doesn’t get first place though, because the fact his mic cord was wrapped up was totally his fault in the first place. Nathan is just too crazy for normal equipment to handle.
Check out Nathan singing about Gonzo. (Disclaimer: Sister Helen and Gonzo don’t actually know each other, and I’m not sure what the song is actually about.)
"Appropriately Named Gonzo"
I really like that Sister Helen tries to make their bass parts interesting and complex. This adds a lot to the songs rhythmically and helps the group maintain its musical energy. Usually this works well for them, but sometimes it comes at the cost of losing the grounding aspect of bass for their songs, and since the guitarist plays awesome solos and rarely chords, it’s important to watch this.
Overall they were about three times better than I thought they’d be. Listening to them wasn’t actually painful. Fantastic.
Gets the Girlwas even better. A lot better.
Although they do a lot of slow songs well, I really liked the faster songs, especially in this setting, and I wish they’d play more. I always enjoy listening to Gets the Girl, but I find it hard to remember their songs afterward. Adding some more high energy numbers with catchy riffs would help to boost the memorability factor, and I am confident that Gets the Girl will not let this interfere with the quality of their orchestration.
A slow song, "Dreams in Green" that was great.
"The Lights," one of Gets the Girls faster songs and my personal fav.
Last time Gets the Girl packed the Battle of the Bands stage with a string section (umm Plume Giant) and a trumpet in addition to their five usual members. Fire hazard.
The Spring Flingstage was a lot bigger, so this wasn’t a problem. But it did mean that the trumpet and string section was really far away from the keyboard and the rest of the band. It was as if the guest musicians had their own little posse clustered in one corner and the core Gets the Girl band was in front and to the right.
Hi posse.
I’m sure there’s a way to solve this stage presence problem (perhaps with a staggered formation), but I haven’t quite figured it out.
Despite the positioning issues, Gets the Girl still looked good on stage. They were easily the best dressed band, which brings us to the 1st annual Spring Fling fashion awards. Omg. No she didn’t.
Best Outfit goes to Nathan Prillaman JE '13 of Gets the Girl.
Here’s a man who’s not afraid of the power of primary colours. He wears a bright red, classic t-shirt, bright blue jeans, and brown loafers. The All-American (if not so capitalist) man. To add a touch of originality, Nathan also sports a flashy pair of green shades. I also love that his guitar is purple and pink and that his strap is black with white sillouettes all over it. Colourful yet artsy. He was definitely noticed at Spring Fling. And not just for his behind the head guitar solo.
Reminds me of Hawaii Five-O...
Most Elegant: Eliza Bagg SM '12. (Of the Plume Posse.)
Duh.
This opera singer/violinist always wears dresses. Props. I’m a fan of that deep blue that brings out her intense yet reserved (musical) personality.
Best Music Model Pose: John Brandon MUS ’09
Sexy stuff
Dreamiest gaze: Ellis Ludwig-Leone TC '11
Outfit I’d most like to wear.
Clearly.
Back to the music.
Jamestown blew me away. All of the songs they played were excellent and super catchy. I can't wait for the EP. One leg-up that Jamestown has over Gets the Girl is that while they incorporate a lot of instrumentalists, their songs are simple enough that you're always left humming them and wanting to hear more.
Will Moritz sparkles
As soon as they opened with "Superhero," which they didn't play at BATB but I mentioned I wanted to hear in my preview, I knew this was going to be the best 20 minutes of finals week.
Jamestown saw similar staging issues as Gets the Girl, but they were less pronounced because Jamestowndidn't have an entire string section to make a corner cluster and spread everyone out throughout the big stage about equidistantly. I'd like to see the drummer brought forward in this setting, which would both cut down on space between musicians and give him more (well-deserved) play.
The fact that the keyboard was really far from the trumpet, however, did not always deteriorate from the musical experience. In "For You My Dear" Jamestown trades keyboard and trumpet solos. The effect was a rush of sound coming from stage left and then stage right, and then stage left — almost indicative of a surround-sound system.
"For you my dear"
Jamestownwas my Spring Fling highlight. No lie.
Time for the music awards. Most of these involve Jamestown, surprisingly.
Spring FlingMVP: Will Hutchison ES '12 (to express his legit MVP status I'm going to colour his name for the rest of this post)
It's hard to pick one musician asMVP, espcially for groups in which each member is an integral part of the team. But Will Hutchison stood out to me for consistently carryingJamestown through its set and adding precise yet enthusiastic fills. If the catcalls from the audience are any indication (they aren't) of Will's excellence, the people next to me were screaming "Yeah, Will Hutchison!" and "The drummer's sexy!" throughout. The stickbanger made ample use of his kit's variety of symbols. Without him,Jamestown would be a different group.
People stick there heads out windows to hear Will's fury
Will finally get to use the toms in "Troubled Child"
Most consistently awesome soloing: Jacab Paul SM '13, trumpet in Jamestown
He didn't hit every note perfectly, but 90% of them were sharp, clear and crisp. The way trumpets are supposed to sound. It also helps that Jacob gets all the good parts in Jamestown songs.
Honorable mentions: Will Morritz TC '12 (especially in "Indigo") and Chris Krasnow
Raddest Solo: Nathan Prillaman. Hard to argue with the guitar behind the head solo.
Honourable mention: Keys of JamestownMark Sonneblick MS '12 in "For you my dear"
Most awkward stage presence: Jamestownbackup singers Brenden Ternus TC '12 and Emma Barasch PC '11.
Please give this poor duo something to do. Give them a tamborine or something. When they're not singing, they just look like bouncing munchkins —although this might not be a bad thing...
Most ridiculous number: “Weekend”
Did he just seriously photograph the audience???
This song is so much ridiculous. Notice the full 360 trumpet pirouette and the fact that the munchkins seem to be swimming and that the bassist and drummer seem to be the only sane ones on stage. Jamestown explosion. I was singing this to myself throughout reading week, but instead of the "weekend," it was more like the entire reading period. Oh oh oh oh I don't know. Where did the whole week go?
Have a great summer everyone, and don't be strangers.
