 Let me explain the title. Due to conflicts in scheduling or sheer distance, I’ve never been able to attend the East Coast A Cappella Summit. I’ve been to the West Coast Summit, Acappellastock, SoJam, and many ICCA events, all of which have been really great. But the East Coast Summit for me has only been rumors and hearsay. Until 2008! This year was finally my chance to get a first-hand look.
All that anticipation really paid off! The event was spectacular! Although I’m busy with many aspects of CASA, I really had no hand in planning this year’s summit, and I did very little throughout the weekend. Which was just perfect, since I got to sit back and enjoy myself. And for any poor souls who weren’t able to be there, let me tell you: you missed a heck of a weekend.
True I represent CASA, but no one asked me to write this review. I’m writing here my own honest opinion of the weekend. Which is that it rawked.
I got there pretty early on Friday, and although I expected to see some of the event producers there setting things up, nothing prepared me for the fantastic team of volunteers I encountered. Rita Gigliotti and her team at South Lakes High School really came out in full force, making sure everything was prepared so everyone would have a fantastic weekend. A whole other set of volunteers actually drove all the way down from Oswego, NY, the site of our 2006 ECS, purely because they love Diana Preisler so much. They had so much fun at the last couple of summits that they keep coming down. And as an aside, I heard they made it all the way from upstate New York to the suburbs of Washington, DC without paying a single toll!
But we didn’t just have the incredible South Lakes people and the Oswego team. We also had a whole host of other people show up just asking for things to do. Kevin Child flew out a day early and left a day late just to make sure he could be of service to CASA and the wonderful summit team. There were lots of others, just like Kevin, who came early and left late each day, motivated purely by their love for this art form and their respect for the producers of the event. This sense of volunteerism didn’t slow throughout the weekend, and people have already been emailing and calling, asking how they can help prepare for next year’s summit!
After enjoying the Overture of welcoming volunteer smiles, I took my seat and prepared for the Friday night concert. It was the perfect opening to the weekend. Two of DC’s semi-pro groups jumped out at us right away: Euphonism and Cartoon Johnny. ECS co-producers Blue Jupiter closed out the first half with an impressive set – their variety, technicality, and plain ol’ rock star attitude was refreshing. It was just a blast to see them again. Clearly several months in Asia performing multiple concerts per day worked as a great incubator for this pro group. Their set was a blast.
The second half of the Friday night concert opened with a brief announcement about the winners of the 2008 Jonathan A. Minkoff A cappella Awards. CASA’s newest program, the JAMAAs (as we like to call ‘em) are made possible through a generous donation by one of CASA’s biggest supporters, Jonathan Minkoff. One of Jonathan’s dreams for a while now has been to have an endowment that helps individuals and organizations that foster and promote a cappella, or do things to further the art form. In the announcement, we heard that the inaugural winners included a young woman who wants to produce a compilation album and give the proceeds to an organization developing clean drinking water in Honduras, two organizations that are taking a cappella into the high schools, a group that’s building a summit-type event in an area that hasn’t seen one before, and a college group that’s looking to take their in-your-face rock sound from their recordings into a live setting through enhanced effects and cutting edge equipment. CASA and the JAMAA committee are delighted to offer each of these groups some support as they further their important causes. And although these announcements weren’t rock music, the audience still gave ample applause for the wonderful work that’s being done by all these people and groups across the country.
The rest of the second half of the concert was a real treat. A college group from Virginia, Exit 245 from James Madison University, delivered a solid set. Such impressive soloists! To say that the high school girls were swooning would be the understatement of the year. The rest of the show came to us courtesy of western Europe. With crazy lights bouncing all around the room, Austria’s three-person beatboxing sensation Mauf turned this quiet little suburban high school auditorium into a full-out dance club. Their tunes are unlike any a cappella any of us had ever heard before. YouTube doesn’t do them justice, although their clips on acaTunes are fairly representative. With a sound that’s completely commercial and radio-ready, Mauf was just a trip. I might have felt a little too old to be dancing behind all these high school kids, but I was gladly joined by Freddie Feldman, my friend Margie, and Don Gooding(!) who all danced along with me. The Friday night closers came from equally far away: Germany. In one of the world’s biggest contrasts, the night’s headliners, Vocaldente, actually performed with no microphones. Taking us back to the old school a cappella, Vocaldente wowed us with a sweet set of harmonies and a perfect sense of comedic timing that would make the King Singers proud. Yes, Vocaldente are the King Singers of Germany. The concert was amazing, zillions of CDs were sold, and the best part was hearing people say, “I had no idea you could do all of that with your voice!”
Saturday gave us a plethora of workshops by all the experts. We were so lucky to have folks like Bill Hare, Bryan Chadima, Freddie Feldman, Marty Gasper, Kevin Child, Chris Chatham, Don Gooding, Jonathan Minkoff, Diana Preisler, Mike Boxer and Jeremy Ragsdale there to show us the ropes. While there were workshops on arranging, recording, vocal percussion, scatting, starting a group, rockstar attitude, image and style, legal issues, and fundraising, there were also over a dozen one-on-one coaching sessions where individual groups from high school to semi-pro sat down at the table with experienced clinicians to get individualized help. Groups walked away from these sessions with their eyes a little wider and their minds a lot more expanded than when they entered. Every one of these experts and clinicians came out of the goodness of their hearts, working 100% as volunteers throughout the weekend.
Saturday also showed us an impressive high school competition. Of course Reston’s own South Lakes High School came out in strong force, but the high school show brought groups from as far away as Kentucky! These high school kids really put together some strong sets, and they deserve to be very proud of themselves. Emcees Kevin Child and Joe Antonioli balanced the time well between spotlighting the judges and giving the groups sincere praise. It was a surprisingly enjoyable show!
On the schedule for the weekend, the Saturday night concert was very aptly titled “The Main Event.” Winners of the high school competition, the TJ Madrigals, opened the night with pride, getting the audience all warmed up for a fantastic evening of a cappella. Pittsburgh-based semi-pro group DoubleShot!, winners of the DC Harmony Sweepstakes, were there to rock the crowd as they had in DC the year before. Blue Jupiter closed out the half with an astonishing set. Although Marty Gasper had been running both sound and lights all night, he now took the stage, putting on by far the best set I’ve ever seen from him. The 5-minute span where he ran back to the sound booth to reset the mix a little, punched out some light cues, then returned to the stage to rock out a song using the live looping machine, then delivered a blisteringly hot beatbox solo ought to be the stuff of legends. Is there anything this man can’t do?? Since he and the group kept the audience entertained throughout the entire thing, for me it typifies the amount of work and dedication Marty and this group put into this entire weekend. Like all our groups, Blue Jupiter was not paid any fee for their performance. And as co-producers of the event, Blue Jupiter drummed up excitement for the event through press releases, mailings, free high school shows, and dozens of announcements to their own fanlist. Their dedication and hard work not only made the Saturday night concert really enjoyable, but made the whole weekend possible. Although they single-handedly brought at least half the weekend’s attendees (“Is Blue Jupiter performing tonight?!”), they were still gracious enough to not headline any portion of the event, even though they were co-producing it. They would be justified in being pompous jerks, and yet every one of them was sincerely generous and kind throughout the weekend. CASA’s collective hat goes off to them.
The second half of the Saturday concert was somehow even more of a blast than the previous night. Coming from New York City, the all-Jewish group Six13 entertained the audience with the type of extraordinary talent that has landed them numerous CARA nominations and awards, fantastic RARB reviews, appearances on numerous compilation albums, and over 100 performances across the nation. They were the best kind of talent: both fun and good. Next up was Mauf. What more can I say? A cappella dance, trance, and reggaetón! The audience was even more thrilled than the night before. Vocaldente followed with an even sweeter, funnier set than the night before. I’m telling you: Germany’s King Singers. The headliners for the night are quite possibly my favorite a cappella group in the world. Finally getting to see Cadence live meant a lot. Despite appearing at the end of a verrrrry long show, Cadence kept the crowd excited and entertained until the very last note. Their varied repertoire, spanning from 20’s jazz to Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River,” brought together the youngest and oldest in the room. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.
Until the afterglow, which was even more fun! DoubleShot served as hosts, keeping the music going and inviting all the groups in the room to take a turn at the mic. We heard from Euphonism, Skyline, Vocaldente, Cadence, and others. Summit registrar and all-around diva Christina Parke brought the house down with “Natural Woman.” It’s a toss-up for me, though, whether the highlight of the night was eating delectable buffalo wings while cracking jokes at the table with Cadence, or watching a 70+-year-old woman join the big beatboxing jam session. Personally for me, it’s Cadence and the wings, although dangit, that lady had beatz.
Although the Sunday workshop turnout was a little lower than the other days (as always happens at these festivals), we somehow still had new people arriving that hadn’t been there before. Thanks to Cartoon Johnny, Freddie Feldman, Cadence, some RARB reviewers, Blue Jupiter, and a few others, we learned about music licensing, arranging with technology, what it’s like to tour as a pro, speak between songs onstage, do sweet R&B licks, and write catchy songs. More private coaching sessions, more aha moments, and more singing. It was perfect.
We finished off the weekend with a spectacular matinee concert that brought in a ton of new audience members. The concert opened up with the sparkliest, sweetest ladies around. The Vienna Falls Chorus, members of Sweet Adelines International, delighted and entertained us with impeccable barbershop beauty. During that concert, we heard from DC’s own Cartoon Johnny again; the Chromatics, a group with songs about everything from the Doppler Effect to beautiful architecture; the DC Accidentals, a group that has performed the national anthem in the Washington area more than anyone imaginable; an impressive jazz sextet BlueLine; and the precise and enchanting Germans of Vocaldente. Mauf brought down the house as a final auf wiedersehen.
So why was the weekend so great? I’ll tell you:
Buffalo wings with Cadence.
Dancing to a cappella reggaetón.
Tasteful Jewish jokes by the ever cool Mike Boxer.
Blue Jupiter in tip-top rock-your-block shape after their fourth tour of Asia.
A septuagenarian woman in the afterglow beatbox jam.
A stunning set of performances by the Deutschesprechers (all of whom will be back to compete in the Sweeps!).
High school kids giving the Vienna Falls Chorus a standing ovation.
Don Gooding nailing the hardest part of the jazz call-and-response with Cadence (in your face, Ross!).
Reuniting with old friends (Hi Stef! Hi Freddie! Hey Di!).
Meeting new friends (Hi Hugh! Hey Rachel! Hi Kevin!)
Bill Hare’s a cappella shirt.
J Rags jamming on the killer jazz piano like it’s no big deal while Chris Chatham teaches how to sing licks with soul like it’s no big deal.
Not knowing what time it was all weekend.
Fantastic workshops.
The moment of silence we all shared in honor of the hour we’d lose on Saturday night.
The love and support of Rita Gigliotti and all the South Lakes crew.
Watching Di and Jonathan go back and forth on stage like an old married couple.
Hearing about the fantastic winners of the JAMAAs.
Seeing the silent auction bring in over $1800 for charity.
A multi-million dollar recently renovated venue.
Hearing dance, trance, Jewish music, Scottish songs, Baroque music, oldies, barbershop, classic rock, pop, hip hop, and Lollipop all in one weekend.
Marty Gasper on lights & sound & vocal percussion solo in the same show.
Being honored that Blue Jupiter would work their butts off for months for no pay.
Being honored that all the pro groups and these our a cappella experts would share their talents with us for no pay, and some even paying to be there.
And perhaps best of all, from the standpoint of this community, it was incredible to see hundreds of “aha” moments among the a cappella uninitiated. That’s why we do these things. To see people finally get it. This is what CASA is all about.
We owe our undying thanks to South Lakes High School, Rita Gigliotti, Jonathan Minkoff, Diana Preisler, Marty Gasper, Blue Jupiter, all these incredible groups that came to participate, our tireless volunteers, and everyone that worked so hard to make the weekend possible. ECS 09 here we come!
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