Speaking of continuity, CASA’s board from last year was all unanimously voted back into their slots, with one new addition: Robert Dietz. As a High School Senior, Robert is CASA’s youngest board member ever (18!), but his resume is that of a 40 year old: He’s working on his second album for his self-formed a cappella quintet, publishing music professionally, has produced regional a cappella concerts and workshops, and he hasn’t even received his college acceptance letters yet! We expect big things from Robert, and hope he remembers us during his Grammy speech.
Julia Hoffman, who heads up the CARAs and ACA programs, will now also be CASA’s virtual “office manager.” We handle much of our business through modern technology, so she’ll make sure it’s all running smoothly: phone calls received as voice mail transferred to the correct parties, e-mails landing in the correct inbox.
If you’re not currently a member, check out the list of new membership benefits at (link here). You’ll see that list grow steadily throughout the year (starting now) as we have a couple new benefits for CASA patrons: a 5% discount when you work with Bill Hare Productions, and a $25 off your first arrangement with the Ultimate A Cappella Arranging Service. There will be plenty more to come.
I’m writing this on a mini-teaching tour from Kenosha WI to Elkhart IN via Chicago, and as I look out the frosty window at city after I realize when you add up all the high school, college, recreational and pro groups across the US, there’s a cappella in just about every city and suburb across America. Remarkable.
I’ll be in Colorado Springs from Jan 16-21 working with Colorado College’s Back Row on their debut album and attending the CMEA conference. If you’re in the area and would like to grab coffee between takes, drop me a line (deke@casa.org)
And I’d be remiss in mentioning that the Bobs are celebrating their 25th year (!) with a pair of concerts January 26 &27 in Berkeley CA, where it all started. All but one of their past members will be there, and if you’ve never heard Gunnar performing with the group, you haven’t lived. The Bobs were perhaps my greatest influence when I first heard contemporary a cappella back in high school, and if you listen to their early recordings, you’ll see they are perhaps the most pioneering of the 80’s groups. If you’re free, get on a plane and don’t miss this historic chance to hear our roots from the men and woman who started it all. And if you can’t make it, we’ll have a review here at casa.org within a week after the show.
Now would be an excellent time to mention that this column has neither a specific focus nor a particularly coherent theme. It’s a chance for me to announce CASA’s plans, explain what’s been happening behind the scenes in our organization, muse on various aspects of the state of the art, and offer the occasional “shout out” to members of the community. Certainly not cohesive, clearly not worthy of a Pulitzer, and yet hopefully informative and perhaps even enjoyable.
I’ll endeavor not to fall into complete Joycean stream-of-conciousness mode, as periodic strings of a cappella background syllables would render just about everything incoherent. Then again, it would sound cool if you sang it...
If you ever have any questions about CASA, or a cappella in general, feel free to drop me a line. That’s why I’m here.
Deke Sharon is the newly-elected (as of Jan 06) CASA President
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