March 18th, 2008
Big Cities. Big... Titles.
We have returned from our Spring 2008 tour mostly intact. Intact meaning Stern has his classics notes, Colin's still at baseball practice and we're spending more time goofing off than actually singing. We traveled far and wide, but not really. Starting off close and ending pretty close as well, we spent our time entertaining thousands (several hundred overall) and spreading the joy of music. Starting off at the University of Maryland, we sang alongside PandemoniUM and other groups while mother nature cried tears of joy outside before, during and after the performance. I guess she was just happy about the whole situation. Saturday meant traveling miles and miles to George Washington University to sing with the Pitches, where we joined in song and Tequila shots and patronized a wonderful and very odd karaoke bar. My goodness, I thought we could sing. Apparently, that place showed us that we in fact, could not. Sunday meant a break, and we visited Hartmann's house and watched a piece of cinematic mastery, Air Force One, while munching on crabcakes and hamburgers (vegan burgers as well). We then split up, withe loud, rowdy group moving on to Lima's crib, while the calm, good citizens visited the homestead of the Wildermuth's. We had our own fun, and the Wildermuth enclave enjoyed pretty much the best. spaghetti. ever. (we also watched Anastasia and some professional soccer. Who knows what happened at Lima's, and quite literally, who wants to?). Anyway, Monday meant a drive down south (ya'll) to the University of Virginia, where we had fun viewing the sights (100101110) and sang (did you know we sang?). The UVA Belles' version of Chantel Kreviazuk's In This Life was to die for. After a night of revelry, we moved on to the last stop on our tour at James Madison University singing with the Overtones. I love Boston - Augustana. I love a cappalla. By the transitive property, I loved the Overtones rendition of Boston (don't worry if that's not exactly... correct...) We learned some new games, sang a heartfelt "Viva," and retired for the long drive back.Thanks to all the groups that hosted us! We had a great time!
The group has unanimously agreed, "Best tour ever!" Thanks to our seniors for their final tour. It'll never be the same without you Jimmy, Dennis, Dave, Elliot and Tommy. Viva!
March 3rd, 2008
The class of 2011 brought great promise, and we have absorbed many young souls from said class into our ranks, including Colin "voice of an angel" Sarafin, Andrew "wait, what time is rehearsal?" Ross, Matt "what ponytail?" Stern and Tim "let's go bowling" Douglas! We're glad to have them with us, and may god have mercy upon their souls.
This last semester went by with some bumps, but we worked through them to produce quality singing with lackluster jokes as always. Tour included, once again, New York and Boston, and Wellesley and went by normally. Normally as in something odd HAD to happen, and this time it was me, Rob, having his little car window smashed in Alphabet City in New York. As young Stern reported to the ever-so-kind city cops, "They stole my classics notes, my psychology notes, my classic textbook, etc. etc." Excellent!
We've finished up our live CD from our Spring 2007 show, and it will be released soon! We'll keep you up to date (hopefully) on the happenings of the group. Our semester show is scheduled for April 12th, 2008, so mark your calendars!
***myspace page!***
Upcoming Events:
Parents Concert...Saturday, May 19...4:30 pm, location tba
Commencement...Sunday, May 20...10 am (we're singing at the reception on Founder's Green after the ceremony)
Rhythm Egg
Our new CD, Rhythm Egg, after many hours of production, is out and beautiful. To order a copy, contact Rob Harbison at rharbiso@haverford.edu. Rhythm Egg is $15. Our last CD, Critical Mass, is now $10. You can purchase both Rhythm Egg and Critical Mass together for $20. We also have available box sets of Rhythm Egg, Critical Mass, Before the Fall, and Dodge Shadow.
You can also print, fill out and mail us this CD order form.
May 17, 2007
These last few weeks have been sad ones for the seniors among us: Charles Collett, John Bower, Sam Kaplan, Mark Rubin, myself...We pulled off an excellent semester show on April 14th, and our senior concert was May 11th (and let's not forget our senior auction poco concierto for MaeBeth Fentress, last night). Senior solos included I Want You Back (Jackson 5 with intro from *N Sync), sung by John Bower, Crazy (Gnarls Barkley), sung by Sam Kaplan, Please Remember Me (Tim McGraw), sung by Charles Collett, The Bad Touch (Bloodhound Gang), "sung" by yours truly, and every solo harmony...I mean, No Diggity (Blackstreet), sung by Mark Rubin.
Congrats and best wishes to the new s-chords management team, including co-pitches Jon Lima '10, John Washington '10, and Jeff Wildermuth '10; business manager Tommy Bryan '08; co-tour managers Elliot Rabinowitz '08 and Dave Hartmann '08CD Guy Waldean Nelson '09 and my replacement as webmaster , Rob Harbison '09. I know Rob will do a far, far better job with this website than I have. God bless you, Rob. Also, Jimmy Meagher will hopefully be continuing his celebrated tenure as Alumni Guy.
Also, an interesting update on the NCHSA National Championships. They...basically exploded. Here is an excerpt from an article detailing the events through the lense of one of our peer a cappella groups:
Conn-Men's Disney Dreams Destroyed
The Daily Campus (CT):
The UConn Conn-Men won't be going to Disney World after all. The Conn-Men, who won first place the in northeast regional National Championship of High School A Capella (NCHSA) College Tournament on Feb. 10, recently found out that their dreams of capturing the national title in Florida will no longer come true.
Dan Carroll, an 8th-semester communication major and vocal percussionist for the group, said that about two weeks ago the Conn-Men were notified by e-mail that the NCHSA competition was canceled due to financial restraints and a lack of participants.
"For the last several weeks, we have tried to find replacements; trim down the event to minimize costs, but at the end of the day, there is a $90,000 gap that simply cannot be bridged," said Mark Surprenant, Executive Director of the NCHSA, in an e-mail to the Conn-Men.
In the e-mail, Suprenant said that effective immediately, all programming and events for NCHSA are suspended permanently.
"The day after we applied for funding to USG was the day we found out, so we never actually raised the money necessary since we had to withdraw our funding application," Carroll said.
However, the group did receive several private donations that Carroll said will go towards their spring semester concert.
NCHSA is "America's oldest and largest high school a cappella competition," according to the NCHSA Web site. According to Surprenant's e-mail, the organization was formed four years ago at the high-school level. This would have been the first year that the NCHSA sponsored a collegiate tournament. The event was supposed to take place in Orlando, Fla. from May 6 through May 10.
For the past four years, Suprenant said it was his goal to expand NCHSA, investing his time and $140,000 of his own money.
"Financially, personally, emotionally and physically; NCHSA has destroyed me," he wrote.
Carroll said that the Conn-Men are disappointed but "have all made a joke out of it," and are narrowing it down between two competitions to enter next year.
"Right now we have narrowed it down to 'America's Next Top Model' or the Nathan's Hot Dog eating competition, but nothing involving singing," Carroll said.
For now, the group remains focused on their spring semester show. The concert will be held in the Student Union Theatre on Friday, April 13 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
"We are graduating three seniors, including myself, and I can assure you that we want nothing less than to put on the best show ever. That includes anything that Disney sells tickets to," Carroll said.
A cappella is truly glorious.
March 17, 2007
We got back from our spring tour to the northeast a few days ago. It was muy interesante y muy muy libidinoso, mi pequeño amor. Quisiera usted oír? Bien...
Tour began on Friday, March 9th with a trip to the Mt. Holyoke, where we froze our collective ass off, and watched women dance with each other all night long. On Saturday, we journeyed to Brown University, and hung out in Providence for a few hours before singing with the Brown Derbies and the USC Sirens in an evening concert on a lovely terrace. After which we crossed our respective collective swords with the Brown Derbies (heh, just kidding), and managed to spill weeks-old, previously-undisturbed milk that had been sitting behind a chair. That room was never quite the same. On Sunday we were hosted by the Rabinowitz's for the better part of the day (thanks, mom and dad!), and sang with the Tufts Jackson Jills, after which Zac regaled us with his fantasies. Monday saw the emancipation of our libidos (not really, I just badly wanted to say that) as we met up with none other than the ever-entertaining Steve Spaulding '05 in Boston. After some brief shopping downtown, we had an evening concert with the Wellesley Widows (a Fiona Apple song sticks in my mind, for some reason). Tour ended on Tuesday, with a full retreat (for some of us) back to hot, sticky Haverford, PA. Tour all-stars: Inside Out, and of course, Jimmy.
February 22, 2007
This past Saturday we participated in the NCHSA's Regional College Championship in Nazareth, PA, competing against groups from Rutgers, Bryn Mawr, Lafayette, and Moravian (NCHSA stands for National Championship of High School A Cappella). We ended up winning the overall competition as well as the categories for showmanship, best arrangement (John Bower), and best soloist (John Washington). We have the option of going to the National Championships, which will be held in May (in Disney World, just to underscore the madness of the a cappella itself).
February 15, 2007
We have a new guy...Jeff Wildermuth '10!
January 1, 2007
Happy New Year and welcome back to Elliot, Jimmy, and Tommy!
Our Fall Concert went off without a hitch on December 8th. Highlights included: the freshmen skit, I Want You Back, Hide and Seek...everything, really. Maybe not the video.
Then again, maybe the video. I liked it. Damn! Thanks to everyone who came out, we had a great time,
and special thanks to the Jackson Jills of Tufts University, our amazing guest group. We love you guys!
October 21, 2006
Congrats to the new s-chords, fresh from the oven:
Zac Dutton '10,
Dave Garcia-Pedrosa '10,
Jon Lima '10,
John Washington '10,
Chris Healy '09,
and Waldean Nelson '09.
We just got back from our fall break tour southward!!! See our Tour Pics.
Fall Tour 2006:
Started: Friday, October 13
Friday, October 13 - Left Haverford in a frenzy of Dennis-propelled action. Went to U Del and experienced the D Sharps and Vocal Point (White...Houses?!?). Superhero party hosted by the a cappella groups.
Saturday, October 14 - Rolled our sweet asses out just as the U Del boys next door were starting to wet themselves for homecoming. Journeyed to Sam Kaplan's house. Sang in sight of the white house; CD pitch replaced by Mark's political monologue; many interesting people encountered ("Bush...good man or bad man?!?"). Sang with the Sirens at George Washington University (White...Houses?!?!?!?).
Sunday, October 15 - Traveled through Virginia en route to Davidson. Sang with the Davidson Delilahs in their campus center. Thanks to LA for letting us sleep in her house! Oh Jon you silly, silly boy...
Monday, October 16 - Arrived in Raleigh at JB's house. Sauntered over to Duke to sing with Lady Blue in their courtyard. Bowling (bowling all-star: Dennis Norris).
Tuesday, October 17 - Sang at JB's high school, Ravenscroft, in their lovely auditorium and later with a high school a cappella group. Some awkwardness experienced, but minimized overall. S-hopping, S-Movie, S-Dinner at japanese steakhouse, and an S-Chris-Healy-Birthday of sorts. Drunken viewing of past concerts, par usualmente.
Wednesday, October 18 - The return to Haverford: drive of S-hame.
States traveled through: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina.
***Tour All Stars: Towel Boy (not a star, exactly...), the Dominatrix Mannequin ("that's not Jesus"), distraught girl, the George Allen clone at Wendy's, the Biscuitville ladies, the Kaplans, the Bowers.
Ended: Wednesday, October 18
archived news:
2006-2007
2005-2006
2004-2005
2003-2004
2002-2003
2001-2002
2000-2001
