For me it started with the Five O’Clock Shadow 20th anniversary reunion. 20 years is a long time in this community. A really long time.  Rockapella existed, but hadn’t yet started their sting with Carmen Sandiego.  The House Jacks would be formed a few months later. And like both of these groups, FOCS helped usher in a new sound, and a new style of professional a cappella.  And in the past twenty years, FOCS has changed, and evolved, with 22 different singers having been a part of the group at one time or another.  Some of these singers even joined other groups, to continued success. Groups including The House Jacks, Rockapella, Firedrill!, Overboard, Duwende, The Vantastix, 91 Ghosts, Slapdash Graduate, and more.

FOCS has notably had some of the top VP wear their logo, including Jeff Thatcher, Wes Carroll, Samrat Chakrabarti, and Dave Stackhouse.  In fact, they were one of the groups to pioneer VP, and Dave ‘Stack’ Stackhouse has helped pioneer the Thumper mic, and sings ‘Beatbass’, both VP and bass guitar lines. They’ve also been frontrunners in the use of distortion effects on vocals, the lead/rhythm/guitar structure of a vocal band, and outreach to schools and the community.

They managed to get 17 of the former members back together for this reunion, including several who flew from the west coast, and videos from a few more.  It was an impressive feat.  Besides a great concert with fantastic music from fantastic musicians, the show did a wonderful job of showing the evolution of the group, and of the sound.  They even made a few tongue-in-cheek references to some recent dormant times. More than that, though, the whole concert felt like a party.  Everyone was having a blast, audience and performer alike, and it was the -fun- that came through more than anything else.

It was an amazing show, and a real pleasure to spend a little time with everyone, both those I already knew personally, and those I didn’t.

(As a side note, unlike many groups, this one no longer has any original members in it. But as one of the early members fatefully said, “This is bigger than any one person”.  The group still rocks, and I hope does so for another twenty years.)

Ball In The House had sent FOCS a congratulatory video, and wished they could have seen the show in person, as FOCS was a big influence on them, but they were busy flying to Korea, for a VIP gig! So cool.

I came home from the concert and jumped onto twitter (@acapodcast) to see what all the folks down in New York had to say about the ICCA finals, which were the same night.  I was pleased to see that Pitch Slapped, last year’s bridesmaids, took home the winner’s bouquet this year! I know after their 2nd place last year, and their early elimination from the second season of The Sing-Off, they have been working hard and itching to put a checkmark into the ‘winner’ column.  Along with their recently released 5 track EP (edited, mixed, and mastered by the up-and-coming Plaid Productions), they definitely have a lot to crow about.

The next day was the Boston regionals for the Harmony Sweeps, in some ways the corresponding competition for professional and semi-professional groups.  The sweeps see a wide variety of groups every year, including pop, barbershop, doo wop, folk, and more.  It’s really a vocal competition, and not a genre competition.  This year saw groups like Mainely Acappella (Women’s Barbershop) and former Sweeps champions North Shore A Cappella (Doo Wop). Victory, and the pass to the finals in California went to Overboard, an especially impressive feat when you realize that one of the members, Caleb Wheldon, was singing his heart out the night before as part of Five O’Clock Shadow (He’s actually part of -three- currently active groups…).  Congratulations to them.

Overall, like I said, this was an amazing weekend for Boston A Cappella, and I’m thrilled to be in the heart of it.

Thanks to all the groups who sent in music, or gave me the green light to put them on the show. Especially those in the first year, when podcasts were still fairly new, and The Acapodcast was a new thing with not a lot to show. It’s because of early groups responding to emails out of the blue from some random dude with no name or affiliation that I was able to build a show and a brand and get more and more for the listeners.

Thanks to fellow podcasters and audio wonks who contributed their knowledge. When I started I came with a knowledge of the computer side, but not the audio side, and the help was invaluable. A special nod to Brian Ibbott of Coverville fame for his write-ups on dealing with music licensing agencies. Similarly, thanks to all the other podcasters and websites and people who made a plug for me, mentioned me to their audience, or just told a friend.

Thanks to the a cappella community as a whole.  The folks at RARB, CASA, and every other a cappella community venue are some of the most passionate, and yet the most kind and supportive folks around.  Every hobby, niche or not, should have such a talented and dedicated community.

Thanks also to a few specific people who helped me turn the show into what it became.  Thanks to Tony Angeles for the artwork, and the enthusiasm.  Thanks to Deke Sharon for all the music, the bed tracks, and his humble cheerleading. Thanks to Joey C., Mr. Tim, and others who gave me something to measure up to and who unknowingly egged me on to be better.

Thanks most of all to all the listeners over the past 5 years. I never stopped hearing from fans, giving words of encouragement, suggestions, thanks, and compliments.  I’m a fundamentally shy guy by nature, and you rewarded me for putting myself out there.

So, why stop?  Well, basically, its because the show has kind of reached the point where it’s done what I’ve set out to do with it.  When I started 5 years ago I was interested in podcasting, and especially interested in podcasting a cappella. At the time I saw a big vacuum in that regard, one that I had the ability to fill.  At the time, podcasts were starting to take off, but a cappella was still far out of the mainstream.  I’d hoped that by starting the show I could reach out to a little bit more of that mainstream.  Now, I’m not saying that a cappella is mainstream yet, but face it, we’re closer than we’ve ever been.  I say this coming off the heels of the second season of the Sing-Off, including appearances in the Macy’s Day parade. I say this because I feel we’re now at the point where almost everyone has at least heard the term a cappella, and knows what it means.  I say this because more and more mainstream musicians are connecting with a cappella, from Naturally 7 touring with Michael Buble, to Ben Folds releasing an a cappella covers album.  I say this because shows like Glee are raising a global interest in vocal music, and the interest in voices as more than just the lead to a pop song.

I also set out to become more involved and connected with the a cappella community myself. To get to know more great artists and groups, fans and a cappella movers and shakers.  And I have.  It’s brought me to more concerts, festivals, and discussions than I would have thought possible.  As I mentioned, I’m not normally one to put myself out there. I was always the guy who sang the harmonies or the fundamentals, and not the soloist. So it was also a dare to myself, to be the front man on something. And since I have too much stage fright to front a group as a soloist, I started behind a microphone at my desk instead.

There are other reasons for wrapping up the show.  To be fair, my life is in a different place.  It’s been 5 years, and a lot can happen in five years.  I’ve changed jobs, gotten married, and bought a house.  And those are just the big things.  Putting out a regular show doesn’t fit in my life the way it used to.  And I care too much to phone it in.  Some might say I’m letting perfect be the enemy of good, and that any show is better than no show, but there’s more to it than that.  There is no reason for me to put out a subpar show now when there are so many good places for you to go that are way better avenues.  The rise of iTunes, Pandora, and YouTube make it far easier to find new and quality music.  Websites like the Acappella Blog and The Vocal Blog can give you more news and updates than I ever did.  Twitter and Facebook can keep you more connected to your favorite artists.  And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Mouth Off Podcast, where Dave and Chris do a better job at everything I was hoping to do than I could ever do.  Having two people, with a segments and updates format, a weekly album review, and a legitimate background in the hobby gives them more insight, authority, and connectedness than I ever had.  You might complain that they don’t play full songs, but trust me, the licenses for that are -not- cheap, and if the goal is to learn more about a cappella and to find great new music, it;s hard to do better than their show.

So where do I go from here? Where does the show go from here?  Well, I’m not going away.  The web site is staying up, I’m still on twitter and Facebook and email and forums.  For the third year I’m nominating for the CARA awards.  And I’m still going to more shows and listening to more a cappella than I did before all this started.  I’m going to be stepping back though, and looking for where I can next spend my energies to help out this community.  And yes, I’m open to suggestions.  I’m hoping to do more singing in 2011, as I haven’t been in a group since 2007, and haven’t done much singing at all since then.  I fear I’d have a hard time with even the warmups at this point.  I may even change things up and record a podcast now and again, but The Acapodcast as it has been is over.

So, in closing, thank you all for listening over the years, and for being a part of this with me.  I have been deeply humbled and honored by you.  It has been an amazing ride sharing the love of a cappella with all of you.

So here are a bunch of songs that all topped the charts in 1988, starting with the first (and only, so far, I think) a cappella song to hit Number One on the US music charts. Only fair to feature an original song by the original artist.  In a cool tie to the last show, the original music video for the song stars Robin Williams in addition to Bobby McFerrin.  And it connects with another song in today’s show, as they both were in the movie Cocktail.  I remember “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” being on the radio about the time I first joined my grade school chorus… aaaand right about now I’m going to tell all my listeners still in college (or high school) to stop sniggering. One day you’ll be where I am.  In the meantime, go to Audible.com and get some learning on the Eighties, alright? Those of us who don’t know our vocal history are doomed (or blessed?) to repeat it.  In the meantime, listen to the following on this show:

Track Title	Artist	Album	Original Artist
Don’t Worry, Be Happy	Bobby McFerrin		Bobby McFerrin
Sign Your Name	The House Jacks		Terence Trent D’arby
Sweet Child o’Mine	Deep Treble	All Kinds of Treble	Guns n’ Roses
Kokomo	The King’s Singers		The Beach Boys
Faith	The Coats		George Michael
Wild Wild West	Boyz Nite Out	Harmony Sweepstakes 1995 / Very Best of the Harmony Sweepstakes	Escape Club
Never Gonna Give You Up	On The Rocks		Rick Astley

Wow.  I’ve been utterly unable to find any place to pick up a copy of Deep Treble’s album ‘All Kinds of Treble’.  If you know of a place to get that, let me know.  Likewise, the recording of the 1995 Harmony Sweeps is completely unavailable and out of print.  If you get lucky though, you can still occasionally find a copy of ‘The Very Best of the Harmony Sweepstakes’.  This is not one of those occasions, sorry to say.

The Shipyard Sings – you can find this, as mentioned during the show, at http://www.hinghamlaunch.com .   I’m really sorry to everyone who was hoping to go see NoTA live..  They were there back on June 26th, a few days ago as of this posting.  There are still opportunities to see other great groups, including the Tufts Beelzebubs.

For now, go ahead and listen to the Acapodcast #64, and let me know what you think…

P.S. I can’t find the video showing Bobby singing the different parts (I thought I’d seen that somewhere…) but here’s the original video with Robin Williams in it.

Track Title	Artist	Album
Strawberry Fields Forever	The Bobs
Eleanor Rigby	Overboard
Penny Lane	The King’s Singers
Got To Get You Into My Life	Firedrill!
Blackbird	Clockwork
Paperback Writer	Toxic Audio
Let It Be	The Nylons
Day Tripper	Swingle Singers
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band / With A Little Help From My Friends	Da Vinci’s Notebook
Come Together	Robin Williams and Bobby McFerrin

Don’t forget to leave your comment below for a chance to win a copy of ‘Chemistry’ by Toxic Audio, which includes that fabulous rendition of Paperback Writer.  If you like the idea behind this show, which artist or theme should I tackle next?

This show was brought to you by Audible, the best place on the Internet to get audiobooks.  All it takes is a computer or an iPod…. the same sorts of things it takes to listen to this podcast!  Sign up at http://audiblepodcast.com/acapodcast to get a -free- audiobook.

Click here to listen to the Acapodcast show #63!

1. National Anthems were made to be sung.  Every national anthem is simple enough to be sung by everyone. That’s part of instilling national pride.  It is hard to sing a national anthem and sound bad at it. Well, certain notable exceptions (Sorry Ms. Barr) aside.
2. They’re short.  Or at least, the portions you sing at a game are short.  No one sings all the lyrics.  So you can focus on perfecting just a small bit of song. Plus, I’d be willing to bet you already know the words and melody.
3. The heart of the song is pretty basic. This ties into part one.  But this means that you as a group have the freedom to innovate, to build on that structure and hang your own style off of it.  Start with the core that everyone recognizes, but make it your own.
4. Sports fans are a great audience. They’re eager, excited, happy, perhaps already a little drunk, and they love their national anthem. It’s a tradition and a hallmark.  They are at the stadium to cheer someone on, and they will cheer you on with just aas much fervor.  Plus, because you’re not competing with another team, everyone is cheering for you, not just half the fans.
5. You  get to put yourself and your art out in front of a lot of people that, let’s face it, probably aren’t coming to your concerts. This is marketing gold. Untapped markets that are ready to hear your product. And if you are a high school group singing at a high school game, this is -not- a bad way to get noticed by that team member or cheerleader you might have an eye on…
6. You’re only out there for a minute and a half, singing a song you know well, to an audience that is happy to hear you and isn’t listening with judgmental ears.  It’s a chance to relax, have fun, and learn to let go of performance jitters.  Even I can belt out the melody as a soloist at a ball game, and I’ve got pretty bad stage fright when it comes to solos.

Check out this clip here of Firedrill! (yay!) singing the national anthem at a recent Red Sox (yay!) game at Fenway Park.

Do be careful though, there are some big pitfalls if you’re not careful.  Don’t sing for more than about a minute and a half.  The audience isn’t there to see a concert.  Actually, I know for a fact that they don’t want you to sing longer than that at major venues like Fenway.  Also, don’t get so crazy with your arrangement that you lose the audience. Key to this is keeping the well known melody front and center.  Be as jazzy as you like, but don’t depart too much from that.  Also be careful changing the familiar tempo too much.  Remember, everyone in the stands knows this part of the song really well, and getting too far away from it will make them uncomfortable.

3rd place: UGA Accidentals
2nd place: Berklee Pitch Slapped
1st place: SoCal VoCals

In addition, the VoCals won best choreography (well deserved!), and best solo went to a gentleman from UGA, and best arrangement went to a lady from Pitch Slapped. Apologies that I didn’t catch the names well enough to type up here (I’m typing this from my slightly fuzzy memory before catching the bus back to BOS).

It was a strong showing from all the groups. Every group more than deserved to be there, and every group brought their ‘A game’. Compounding things was the fact that each group had a different style, making comparisons even -more- difficult. I can honestly say I was impressed by every group.

Host group Duwende brought the house down, closing their time on the stage with the same French Rap that brought down SoJam a few years back. And three of the High School groups from the ICHSA finals last night also took the stage and each sang a song. And to paraphrase EmCee Dave Brown (a gentleman and a scholar), it wouldn’t have been a surprise if the judges gave the awards for the evening to the high school groups. There was some serious heat and fire there from Enharmonic Fusion, the Town Criers, and the ICHSA champions, Limited Edition.

All said, a stellar evening, and I wish I’d been able to spend more time at the afterparty. Time to go catch a bus and maybe some sleep….

See you again after the show!

P.S., wifi on a bus? GENIUS. That’s all.

Here’s a little taste of what you can see or participate in if you go to this year’s SpringSing, taking place on April 16th and 17th, in Athens, Georgia:

1. A collegiate competition, showcasing 6 different groups, and hosted by the terrific UGA Accidentals!
2. A pro concert, with Almost Recess, Blue Jupiter, Duwende, and more!
3. Workshops on everything from Arranging (with Duwende) to Vocal Percussion (with the -awesome- Dave Baumgartner)!
4. Masterclasses for you and your group!
5. The chance to hang out with people like Dave Baumgartner, Dave Brown, Marty Gasper, and the sassy ladies of FSU’s AcaBelles!

And did I mentioned that it’s only $30 for a weekend pass that gets you everything? And if that’s not enough, remember, it’s to help in the fight against cancer!  I want as many of my listeners to go as possible!  If you do go, send me a message letting me know, and I’ll send you a special bonus!

Track Title	Artist	Album	Original Artist
The Lion Sleeps Tonight	Town Criers		The Tokens, amongst many
I Wish	The Jewel Tones	Not yet on any CD! To be Released on April 30th!	Stevie Wonder
Keep Breathing	Luminescence	Not yet on any CD!	Ingrid Michaelson
Miss Independent	Luminescence		Kelly Clarkson
Sound of Silence	Town Criers		Simon and Garfunkel
This Island Earth	The 18 Wheelers		The Nylons

Now, after you’ve heard show #62, I want to tell you a few more things.  First, go to the Town Criers facebook page linked to above.  There you’ll find a couple of videos of their competition set.  Fun choreo with the opening number (Lion Sleeps Tonight)!  Second, Amanda Roeder has been doing -awesome- work with the students at Marblehead.  Every time they come out with something new, I’m floored all over again.  There’s a great local article on Amanda and the Marblehead groups at http://www.wickedlocal.com/. I know I’m heaping a lot of praise on Amanda, but she’s just the directing force, and I want to call out the amazing students she has, with their hard work, energy, and above all, passion and talent. Lastly, I want to once again direct everyone to http://www.casa.org/acanom where you can submit your nominations for this year’s ACAs, including, new this year, an ACA award for best a cappella podcast! *nudge, nudge*

Track Title	Artist	Album	Original Artist
Let’s Get It Started	Tufts Beelzebubs		Black Eyed Peas
What Hurts The Most	Six Appeal		Rascal Flatts
Gravity	Overboard		John Mayer
Let It Die	Tufts Amalgamates		Foo Fighters
In The Back Seat	UNC Loreleis		Arcade Fire
My Romance	Fifth Avenue		Gloria Grafton and Donald Novis (by way of the Hi Lo’s)

As I mentioned in the show, I was a nominator for this year’s CARA awards (which are for albums released in 2009), and one thing struck me as I was listening: I was pleased to hear the rise in the music genre diversity.  Pop/Rock is an overly broad classification at times, but it was especially true to my ears this year, where I heard Pop, Rock, Y’alternative, Alt-Rock, Grunge, Hick-Hop, Christian Rock, Teutonic style metal, hair bands, ballads, classic rock, New Wave, and a lot more than I would have expected.  It was surprising and pleasant.  Also, it seems like the proliferation of quality engineering and masterful production is shrinking the gap from the mediocre to the supreme.  I had some difficult choices to make this year.  We’ll see the results next week.  In the meantime, go listen to show #61, and let me know what you think of the new website!

One day later, it has been announced that Boston’s other outstanding vocal rock band, Five O’clock Shadow, would be stepping up to the plate and covering the gig for them.

That’s just one of the nicest, coolest things I’ve heard in a while.  I’m sad to hear of the death, and I’m sad for those attendees who were looking forward to seeing BitH, but at least they’re still getting a rocking show with FOCS.

I love this community.

Today is the last day to get a free download of Overboard’s latest album Help! which is an all Beatles album. Not only is this awesome a cappella, and awesome source material, but Overboard puts their own stamp on these tracks, bringing some fresh new sounds to these classic and well loved songs, but without such a radical departure that it loses what made the originals so great.

So go to http://www.overboardvocals.com/ and get your copy!

Hmm. Looks like it’s time to put together a Beatles show…

Track Title	Artist	Album
This Year	Eclipse
Giving You A Cuddle For Christmas	Suade
The Christmas Can-Can	Straight No Chaser
What Child Is This	Ball In The House
My Christmas Tree	Cluster
Noel Nouvelet	The King’s Singers
O Come All Ye Faithful	Chanticleer
Let There Be Peace On Earth	Tonic Sol-Fa
A Wish For You	The Nylons
The Christians And The Pagans	The Metropolitones
Hold Out For Christmas	Rockapella
This Christmas	Wake Forest Chi Rho
Baby King	Tonic Sol-Fa
Away In A Manger	The Nylons
Veni, Veni Emmanuel	The King’s Singers
You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch	Straight No Chaser
Deck The Halls	Cluster
Christmas Without You	Rockapella
Little Drummer Boy	Ball In The House
Huron Christmas Carol	The Nylons
I’ll Be Home For Christmas	Straight No Chaser
Silent Night	Chanticleer
White Christmas	The Swingle Singers

You can click on any of the album covers to purchase that album (usually an Amazon or iTunes link).

Oh, and here’s Suade’s recent music video for “Giving You A Cuddle For Christmas”.  As much fun to watch as they had making it!

]]> http://www.acapodcast.com/podcast/285/feed 4 chad@acapodcast.com (Chad Bergeron)noIt’s the most magical time of the year, when for many of us it is the season of snow, of friends and family, of food, gifts, and joy.  This year I’ve compiled 23 tracks to share with you, over an hour of music.  Know that I appreciate each and every listener, and I am pleased […]Chad BergeronIt’s the most magical time of the year, when for many of us it is the season of snow, of friends and family, of food, gifts, and joy.  This year I’ve compiled 23 tracks to share with you, over an hour of music.  Know that I appreciate each and every listener, and I am pleased […]A,Cappella,vocals,harmony,singing,voice,voices,music,barbershop,college,vocal,icca,lips http://www.acapodcast.com/news/are-you-in-the-pittsburghwilmington-region-this-weekend http://www.acapodcast.com/news/are-you-in-the-pittsburghwilmington-region-this-weekend#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:33:41 +0000 http://www.acapodcast.com/podcast/are-you-in-the-pittsburghwilmington-region-this-weekend I’ve just been tipped off to what promises to be one amazing concert this Saturday night at 8pm, in Arden Delaware. It will feature four different groups from four different schools, including:

The Del-Tones from University of Delaware
Off The Beat from University of Pennsylvania
The Deaftones from Westminster Choir College
Tigertones from Princeton University

And even better? The price – only $15, which is what you might expect to pay for just one group’s end-of-semester show.

If anyone goes, send me pictures from the event and I’ll send you an Acapodcast sticker.

More details at http://ardenclub.org/concerts.htm

Track Title	Artist	Album	Original Artist
Waiting For You	Clemson Tigeroar
Get Set	Clips by VT Juxtaposition and Northwestern Undertones, Track by Hyannis Sound		Taxiride
Chasing Pavements	Liberty Belles of Olentangy Liberty HS in Powell, OH		Adele
Sweet Child o’ Mine	Harmonious Soul		Guns n’ Roses
Love Begins	Yale Out Of The Blue

I am always being surprised and impressed with the quality of the original tunes that the Collegiate A Cappella world is starting to come up with.  I don’t want to jinx it, but I think we’re on the cusp of a sea change.  There will always be room for the hot covers (and the standards like Get Set will never go away), but we’re going to see more and more originals coming out from groups that are really trying to make a name for themselves and define themselves as a group.  It’s an awesome time to be an A Cappella fan!

Track Title	Artist	Album	Original Artist
Roses	Penny Loafers		Meg & Dia
8th World Wonder	Seven Days		Kimberley Locke
Long is the Dark	The Interpreters
I’ve Got Rhythm / Fascinating Rhythm	Clockwork		George Gershwin
Should I	Ball In The House
Memory	Penny Loafers		Sugarcult

I’ve been listening to these tracks over and over lately, and I think they’ll get as stuck in your head as they are in mine…  Congrats to the Penny Loafers for their fourth appearance on the Voices Only compilation!  Speaking of compilation albums, the track list for Sing 6 has just been narrowed down, and will be posted soon, so keep an eye out on the CASA web page!

I didn’t mention it during the show, but the whole Seven Days album is great, and I can’t get enough of the way they thread in U2’s With or Without You.  Very sweet.

Also, I love hearing covers of lesser known or independent artists.  Thanks to the Penny Loafers and Seven Days for introducing me to a few.

P.S. – The new FIOS sure makes uploading the new shows much faster!

Pardon me while I crawl out of my bunker for a few moments to tell you about AcappellaFest!  Now in it’s third year, AcappellaFest is the MidWest’s -finest- A Cappella event.  And this year, it’s too big for any one city to contain!  It’ll be in Detroit on October 17th, and in Chicago the following weekend of the 24th.  All the details are available at http://www.acappellafest.com/index.html, but to summarize, it’s all sorts of great groups, special guests, workshops, and contests!  Listen to AcappellaFest Radio Spot and tell me it doesn’t get you excited!  And if that’s not enough, go check out an interview with Jeff Swearingen, one of the executive producers of the festival – great stuff!

Seems I spend too much time apologizing for being late here, and I feel awful every time, but I suppose I’d feel worse if I didn’t at least let you know what was going on…

The best line from the review? When they tell everyone who listened to the (oh so disappointing) Ben Folds acappella album that they should listen to SWM,V2 to cleanse their ears and find out what acappella is -supposed- to be.

Dave and Christopher put me to shame again….

Track Title	Artist	Album
Wanna Be Startin Something	Spiralmouth
I Want You Back	The Dynamics
I’ll Be There	Ball In The House
Billie Jean/No Diggity	Everyday People
Bad	Rip Chords
Man In The Mirror	Amalgamates
Black Or White	Brown Derbies
Workin’ Day and Night	Firedrill!
The Way You Make Me Feel	InPulse
Smooth Criminal	Fork
Rock With You	Zumbyes
Human Nature	Voicemale
Thriller	Hyannis Sound

Congratulations @VocalBandNico10 and @jennycz for having their names drawn in the Firedrill! giveaway announced in show #56!

Track Title	Artist	Album	Original Artist
Easy Lover	Firedrill!		Phil Collins
Slice of Heaven	Suade		Dave Dobbyn
Over The Rainbow	Canvas		Judy Garland
Ain’t No Sunshine	Jabberwocks		Bill Withers / D’Angelo
Steal Your Heart	Suade		Suade (Loz Blain / The Colonel)
Completely	The House Jacks		The House Jacks (Andrew Chaikin)
Different For Girls	Ice Haloes	No commercially available album… yet!	Joe Jackson
I’d Do Anything For Love	Jabberwocks		Meat Loaf
What A Fool Believes	Firedrill!		Doobie Brothers
Simpsons Theme	Canvas		Danny Elfman

Oh Firedrill!, we’ll miss you. Your riveting covers of delicious Eighties tunes brought me back in time to the explosion of college a cappella, but with over 20 years of arranging, production, and advancement of the art.  Keep us up to date on whatever you guys do next.

Don’t forget that if you are registered with twitter, you can follow me (http://www.twitter.com/acapodcast) and tweet the phrase “Firedrill! rocks!” to me to be entered into a drawing for one of two Firedrill! CDs.

I mentioned that Andrew Chaikin performs under the stage name of Kid Beyond.  Here’s a great wikipedia article detailing much of his amazing efforts.  In a secret special commonality, Andrew got his start with the Brown Jabberwocks!

Send me thoughts and suggestions for show #57, which will be a Michael Jackson tribute episode.

Track Title	Artist	Album	Original Artist
Who Are You	Tufts Beelzebubs		The Who
Don’t Stop Me Now	Brandeis University Voicemale		Queen
Hamburg, Meine Perle	No Strings Attached		Lotto King Karl
On My Way	Slapdash Graduate	Not Available on Any Album Yet!	Slapdash Graduate (Ian Koff)
Sonny Came Home	Too Cheap For Instruments		Shawn Colvin
Debra	Tufts Beelzebubs		Beck

As I said above, each of these is worth picking up.  What more can I say?  Well, quite a bit.

Starting with Play The Game, it was recently reviewed by the hosts of a new a cappella podcast, Mouth Off! Do check them out, these dudes are -in the -middle- of the a cappella world, and know what they’re talking about.  It’s well worth their time. (And to add to controversy, I agree with them on the topic of Ben Fold’s new album.)  Play The Game took almost 2 years from beginning to end, and the care and time shines through.  It’s an excellent blend of studio talent and student talent.

Suit Up. features a couple of original tracks, something I wish the Bubs would take a stab at.  As much as I love great a cappella covers, I love great a cappella originals at least as much.  Ok guys, which of you posed for the cover?

No Strings Attached…  why no English web site? Apologies to those in the listening audience who don’t speak German but are trying to work your way through the purchase process anyhow.

Superawesomesauce!  On My Way is available as a –free– download from Slapdash Graduate.  You can find that on their web site.  See?  Original tunes carry no restrictions, and make for the best promos.  Go download it now.

Heh, it turnes out TCFI actually did release an earlier album, and Syllabolical is their second release.  The first album seems not to have gotten wide distribution though.  I’ll see about tracking down a copy (I’m such a completist).

Enough of my chatter, you came here to listen to the show, right?  Then what are you waiting for?  Start listening to Show #55 [Play]
now!

Let’s try something a little different.  Here is what you’ll hear on show #54:

Track Title	Artist	Album	Original Artist
Wall of Sound	Naturally 7		Naturally 7
Where’s the Love?	Brandeis University Voicemale		Hanson
Papercut	The Chorallaries of MIT		Linkin Park
Zombie	Wellesley College Tupelos		The Cranberries
All For You	Missouri State Beartones		Sister Hazel
Ne’ilah	Six13		Six13

Oh, hey, the Tupelos have this awesome “Stalkapella” shirt.  I think I need one of those.

I apologize to those of the listening audience who don’t get why the Six13 parodies are funny.  I admit, some of them go over my head as well.  That said, even without the jokes, the music is abso-smashing-fantastic, and the fact that they’re even -making- jokes based on some of these pop songs is pretty funny.

As mentioned during the show, if you’re affiliated with a cappella in any way, and are looking for webhosting, the fine folks over at A’Cappella Hosting are top notch, and can help you out from bits to bolts.

Oh, and as promised, the YouTube video of Naturally Seven.  (Boo, NBC has pulled the Leno clip from YouTube, so here is an equally excellent clip of them on the Ellen show)

Some of you may remember them from their Paris Subway video last year.  If not, here’s that too:

And now, on with the show!

So to celebrate, let’s listen to:

• UNCG Spartones – Overture from Prince of Thieves Overture (Composed by Michael Kamen)
• Metropolitones – Faith (opb George Michael)
• Brown Jabberwocks – Don’t You Worry About a Thing (opb Stevie Wonder)
• DVN – Stray Cat Strut (opb Stray Cats)
• Penny Loafers – Bed of Lies (opb Matchbox 20)
• MIT Logs – Blowers Daughter (opb Damien Rice)
• Van Canto – Fear of the Dark (opb Iron Maiden)

That’s right, seven kick butt tracks!  All wrapped up in Show #53 for your aural pleasure!

Don’t forget to go check out the Liquid 5th bundle, three great albums, and some of the money goes to charity.

I promise, tons of good stuff in there, but I’m not going to make you listen to me while I sound like I’m on the wrong end of a tin can and string connection….

Hang tight loyal listeners, year 4 of The Acapodcast promises to be full of great things.

• We Wish You A Merry Christmas – Metropolitones
• Happy Christmas – Overboard
• That Time Of Year – Four Shadow
• Christmas Angel – Jim Goodrich
• Noël Nouvelet – Anúna
• Silent Night – Take 6
• The Little Drummer Boy – Pikkardiyska Tertsia
• Away In A Manger / Beautiful Savior – Go Fish
• Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer – The Blenders
• The First Noël – Anúna
• Little Drummer Boy – The Swingle Singers
• Ave Maria – The Stanford Fleet Street Singers
• Christmas Time Is Here – Metropolitones
• The Twelve Carols of Christmas – Washington U Pikers
• River – Overboard
• O Come All Ye Faithful – Take 6
• Tyxa nich – Pikkardiyska Tertsia
• ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas – The Blenders
• Christmas @ Home Medley – OnCue
• Deck The Halls – Jim Goodrich
• The Wexford Carol – Anúna
• White Christmas – The Swingle Singers
• Auld Lang Syne – Overboard
• Auld Lang Syne – Pikkardiyska Tertsia

Here’s hoping you get all you wish for this holiday season.  And here’s show #52.

edit: After hearing eactly how fuzzy I sounded (I didn’t think it was going to be that bad while recording), I opened up my mic and found that one of the capsules was loose and misaligned.  Here’s hoping I sound better in the new year!

The music geeks in the audience will recognize it as an Alto (or C) clef.  For those of you only passingly familiar with sheet music, most sheet music is written in Treble and Bass (or G and F if you prefer) clefs.  The Alto clef was a lot more popular in early printed music (here I show my Nerd Credentials), and unlike the other clefs, isn’t as fixed in place.  It can be slid up and down the staff, and whatever line it centers on is middle C.  You can see why that’d be really popular in the days of woodblock printing: a simple way to fit everything on the staff without actually transposing anything!

To give some context to the picture, I was on Santorini (Thera) recently as part of my honeymoon cruise around the Mediterranean, and passed a house with this as part of the fence out front.  The other parts were the Treble and Bass clefs, of course!  Each was a single bar of music.  Neat fence, no?

Unlike Brian, I won’t be passing this on to five specific people (Why five Brian, shouldn’t it be six?), but I invite all of you to link to music related pictures in the comments below, and to post this meme on your own blogs if you like.

• Greenleafs – Talk To Me (Keri Noble)
  
• Van Canto – The Bard’s Song (Blind Guardian)
• 2E Acappella – Cupid’s Chokehold (Gym Class Heroes)
• Chromatics – Shoulders of Giants
• The Connotations – When I Am King (Great Big Sea)
• Greenleafs – Better Man (Pearl Jam)

As a reminder, I’m searching for new material for the annual holiday show, so if you’ve got something you’d like to submit, get in touch with me.

Click here to listen to show #51!

• Five O’Clock Shadow – What’s It All About
• Clockwork – Creep (orig. Radiohead)
• Six Appeal – Toxic (orig. Brittney Spears)
• Da Vinci’s Notebook – Title Of The Song
• BaSix – Purple Rain (orig. Prince)
• MeasureXMeasure – You Don’t Treat Me No Good (orig. Sonia Dada?)
• Voicemale – Walking In Memphis (orig. Marc Cohn)
• Mosaic Whispers – Bring Me To Life (orig. Evanescense)
• Duwende – Young Leaders Of Tomorrow
• Testimony – Breathe Me (orig. Sia)

Again, as an experiment, all the older shows are moving to $2 paid donation model.  You won’t have to change a thing to keep receiving the great podcast you know and love, but if you want to go back more than a few episodes, those won’t be directly available for download.  Please, let me know what you think of this.  I want to be able to continue bringing you the greatest contemporary a cappella music, and I don’t want to ransom it, or say you have to pay for new episodes.  If you don’t want to pay a dime, that’s fine, you can keep listening to the full show, no problem.  And I know this hurts new listeners more than it does old listeners, and I’m sorry for that.  Thanks for your understanding, and your donations.

Tune in to Episode #50!

And let’s not forget the boatload of great music from the other groups as well!  Here’s what’s in the show:

• Dissipated Eight – Satellite (orig. Dave Matthews Band)
• Route 66 – Demo Medley
• An Octave Above – Sample Medley
• Down 4 The Count – Shut Up (orig. Black Eyed Peas)
• Amalgamates – Killing Me Softly (orig. Roberta Flack/Fugees)
• Dissipated Eight – Two Step (orig. Dave Matthews Band)

Route 66 and An Octave Above can both be seen at next weekend’s Acappellafest 2008, along with Vocal Chaos, elmoTHUMM, and Scott Leonard of Rockapella fame.  If you are anywhere near there, you owe it to yourself to go check out this great show.

Just a reminder to the listeners; if you like what you hear, leave a comment in the iTunes Podcast Directory!  The more favorable reviews I get, the more likely others are to find the show in their searches, and that helps us all out.

Take a listen to Show #49!

Heard on this episode:

• Stanford Testimony – Breathe Me (orig. Sia)
• OnCue – Mirage
• OnCue – Lull In My Life (Gordon & Revel, performed by dozens)
• UMass Dynamics – Runaway (Orig. Jamiroqui)
• UMass Dynamics – Apologize (Orig. One Republic)
• Deep Treble – 3 songs

Also, go check out AC100 and the BACS!  Stay cool, and I’ll see you around…

• Bam!
• Believe
• The Only One I Want Around
• All You Need Is Love (The Beatles)
• Summertime (Gershwin)
• No Ride

With the exception of All You Need Is Love (which you can find on Come Together: An Acappella Tribute to The Beatles), all of these tracks come from the 2006 CARA award winning album Get Down Mr. President, and were included in the playlist from the recent concert (in a Firehouse!) where I conducted the interviews.  In addition to the music, we also talk about the new guy Jake Moulton (entering in where Wes Carroll exited), the upcoming book (and possibly feature length movie) Pitch Perfect, and the new thing (which has me very excited as a post-collegiate a cappella singer) the Contemporary A Cappella League.  Thanks again to the group, and I’m looking forward to their forthcoming album, which they’ve just started working on.

ERRATA: At one point I say that Jake Moulton sang with Hookslide.  What??  No, , no, I meant Kickshaw.  You know, that same band that spawned Blake Lewis, of American Idol fame?  Blake was apparently brought into Kickshaw to help replace Jake.  And yes, Jake did sing in M-Pact with Rudy Cardenas, also an Idol.  So, Roo, will you be on the next season then?  And my apologies to Jake, Hookslide, and Kickshaw for the mistake.

In this long awaited episode, you’ll hear:

• The Magnets – All The Wrong Reasons
• USC SoCal VoCals – Slumber (Gabriel Mann)
• UnderCover – Your Daddy Don’t Know (Toronto/New Pornographers)
• Hyannis Sound – Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel)
• Tufts Beelzebubs – Linger (The Cranberries)
• The Magnets – In Love Since Then

Thanks for your patience!

• MAUF – The Truth
• Curious Gage – Hazy Shade of Winter (Simon and Garfunkel)
• The Richter Scales – Stockholm Syndrome
• Down 4 The Count – Four Sopranos
• ‘Round Midnight – Hello My Baby (Andrew Sisters)
• Six13 – Lo Yisa Goy

Oh, and do yourself a favor and check out MAUF on YouTube!

ECASAd2

The summit starts tonight, and goes all weekend long.  I’m including the ‘radio’ ads for the summit, because they’re fun commercials.

ECASAd1

• Six13 – Son
• UPenn Shabbatones – Ani Shelach (Neshama Carlebach)
• Binghamton Kaskeset – Birthright
• Shircago – Ani V’ata
• Brandeis Manginah – B’Shem Hashem (Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach)
• Six13 – D’ror Yikra

Some of my favorite parts of this episode: Six13’s rythyms. Manginah’s extra echo to bring out the choral effect. The imagery in Kaskeset’s lyrics. Oh, and a tip that came in e-mail: Ani Shelach was soloed by Rachel Fried, sister to Ilana Fried of Kaskeset. It’s a family episode! All of these groups can also be found on BOJAC 2006 (Best of Jewish A Cappella).

Enough already, go and listen to Show #44!

• The Faux Paz – It’s My Life (No Doubt)
• The Beelzebubs – Come Sail Away (Styx)
• Duwende – Electrify
• baSix – Star People (George Michael)
• Mosaic Whispers – Meaning (Gavin DeGraw)
• Jewel Tones – Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper)

You’ll find all of the above great music on Show #43 of The Acapodcast!

Don’t worry, this is all a good thing, ultimately.

Peace,

Chad Bergeron

• Duwende – Come Back
• Penny Loafers – Fair
• Duke Out Of the Blue – Call Me When You’re Sober
• Jonathan Coulton – When You Go
• UMBC Mama’s Boys – Eli the Barrow Boy
• Duwende – Young Leaders of Tomorrow

All this and more! Press the play button below to hear this episode.

Five O’Clock Shadow was one of the first groups to say yes to being on the show, and “It’s Christmas” from Misfit Toys is a stellar example of the rocking vocal originals. The lyrics make this the perfect track to start the show with.

The Blenders have put out several holiday albums over the years, and their latest is a two disc compilation called Christmas Collection, released at the same time as the new ‘Christmas with The Blenders’ DVD. This Minnesota group proves the ongoing power of the Midwest to produce fabulous pro groups. The group has been around since 1990, putting their own stamp on all sorts of songs. Here they are with “The First Noel“.

Tonic Sol-fa has a new holiday album, On Top Of The World. If you are lucky enough to live in some parts of the US, you can also catch their PBS special on TV. “Happy Holiday” is the first track on that CD, and Irving Berlin would be tickled by the direction they take with it.

I found OnCue on the web through a happy accident. I’d not heard of this Calgary group previously, but I love their originals. Drawn from alumni of the Youth Singers of Calgary, they pack a lot of talent! “Snow Angels“, from the album with the same title, is one of their excellent originals, celebrating one of the simple joys of kids and winter.

Basix is a Danish group that has gone out of their way to support the show, sending me a total of four albums from which to draw material. Last holiday show I featured a few tracks from their holiday album, Christmastime. How appropriate that this year I play their cover of “Last Christmas“.

The Coats were also one of the early groups on The Acapodcast. They’ve covered a lot of ground and a lot of material over the years, including this refreshing take on the traditional carol “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen“. I love traditional carols. I love new interpretations of songs. I love this song for being both at the same time.

I’ve been sitting on Joy by Four Shadow since they sent it to me this past summer. I was amused to receive a holiday album in the summertime, but knowing how good they are, I was happy to receive it, and pull it out for this show. Listening to them take on “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” has had me eager for this show for months!

Jim Goodrich e-mailed me after my guest appearance on Lynn Argent’s ‘Cultural Soup’ show, and Lynn recently pointed me to his own a cappella efforts which he has put up on The Podsafe Music Network. Jim is the only person you hear in this rendition of “The Wassail Song“. Modern technology has let him sing all the parts separately and then bring them together. Thanks Jim, your range and versatility is impressive!

With over two feet of snow in recent weeks here at the house, I’m not sure I should play a song called “Let It Snow“, but I’ll bet OnCue gets it worse up in Calgary! This also comes from their Snow Angels album. I look forward to hearing more from them soon.

There are a plethora of traditional Christmas songs in the world, and the nostalgia around them can make it hard for new Christmas songs to gain traction. Bravo to The Blenders for coming out with “Tiny Little Christmas“, and I hope it becomes a new standard.

M-pact‘s Carol Commission is an album full of excellent songs, but “Caroling, Caroling” may be the cream of the crop. The Winner of a 2000 CARA award, I can’t be the only person to think so.

The GrooveBarbers are a group of guys who just like to get together and sing. The fact that most have them have been members of Rockapella at some point makes them different from other groups of guys out there singing for the fun of it. They might not be ‘serious’ about it, but they’re certainly professional caliber. “We Need A Little Christmas” is just the sort of fun romp these four are known for.

Special thanks to Blue Jupiter for “Scattered Flurries“, the title track from their 2003 album. The incredibly rich harmonies are the perfect piece to sit in the middle of this show and bring it together.

Christmas is not the only holiday at this time of year, and although Hannukah has come and gone (without running out of oil!), I like to include at least one Hannukah song every year as a tribute to those of us who celebrate in our own way. This year I was sent South Park’s “It’s Hard To Be A Jew At Christmas” by Rutger’s Kol Halayla, making this one of two collegiate tracks in this show. Thanks to Bradley for sending this along.

One thing we might all wish for this season is for peace on Earth. It’s a common sentiment when people are bundled together for warmth and cheer. Peace is something to be desired year round, but especially when our minds should be on family, religion, friends, and the turning of the year, instead of on conflict. I know there are a lot of unfortunate conflicts at the moment, so let’s all join with The Coats as they sing “Let There Be Peace On Earth“.

Four Shadow comes around again, with “All I Want For Christmas Is You“, from their album Joy. Some of the lyrics in this make me question if the person expressing this is perhaps a bit misguided.

“Snowfall” from M-pact is so wonderful, it makes me hope that there’s a Carol Commission 2 at some point in the future. You can be sure that if there is, I’ll have it in hand for the next holiday episode of The Acapodcast.

Is there any better excuse for a vocal percussion solo than “Little Drummer Boy“? And when Five O’Clock Shadow released Misfit Toys back in 1999, very few groups could claim the level of expertise in vocal percussion that they showcase here. This was their first release with Dave “Stack” Stackhouse, who is still rocking with the group, singing bass and doing VP with the aid of a thumper mic.

Tonic Sol-fa reminds us that Christmas might be a time of crass commercialism, but we shouldn’t forget it’s religious origins. “King of Glory” is their homage to the nativity story, and the arrival of a very special baby boy all those years ago.

But to acknowledge the reality, there is a lot of gift shopping and giving this time of year, and everyone likes to receive something. Have you ever participated in a “Secret Santa” in your office, your school, or your community? The Groovebarbers have a few comments to be made in this track.

If you look at A Cappella holiday collections, you’ll notice that “Mr. Grinch” may be a relatively recent song, but it is clearly a new traditional. I played one version last year, and I’ve a few more, so I think I’ll start a tradition of playing a version every December. My guess is that this is a popular one for A Cappella artists, because it gives the oft neglected Bass a great solo! Of course, this one coming from moosebutter‘s dee’s ember, you’re guaranteed to be chuckling at their brand of musical mayhem.

Basix catches up with a timely song called “This Christmas“. As the song says, ‘This Christmas will be a very special Christmas.’ May it be special for you too.

Jim Goodrich shows once again his great range by singing all the parts to “We Three Kings” all by himself. Jim, do you really have that amazing range, or did you have to use some recording tricks to get that fabulously low bass line?

This very special take on “Joy to the World” by The Persuasions was sent to me by Jerry Lawson, former front man for the group. It starts off as the old chestnut, but about halfway through, they riff on it with that magic Persuasions flavor. I am honored to share it with you.

Our last track tonight is fittingly, “The Christmas Song” by the Yale Whiffenpoofs. The Whiffs have been invited to sing carols at the White House on a number of occasions. Coming up on their Centennial year (2009), The Whiffs are the oldest collegiate group, bar none (1909). They’re so rich and polished that it’s hard to think of them as a collegiate group. This track comes from their album People Who Need People, and as the iconic modern carol, it seemed only fitting to close out this show.

Thank you all for a great 2007. May you all stay warm and safe this holiday season, and may happiness and joy be all around. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Press the Play button to listen to Show #41

• T Minus 5 – The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Linda/Weavers/Kingston Trio/Nylons)
• Low Key – Let Go (Frou Frou)
• Basix – Come Together (Beatles)
• Chorallaries – Don’t Know Why (Norah Jones)
• Blue Jupiter – Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
• measureXmeasure – Only You (Yazoo)
• Spur Of The Moment – Everywhere (Michelle Branch)
• Gentleman Callers – Good Ol’ A Cappella (The Nylons?)
  

Thanks again to those who wrote in, those who donated, and all of you for listening.  Send suggestions for the winter holiday show!  Oh, and here’s where you can find those Basix arrangements!

• Semi-Charmed Life – Invisible Men (Third Eye Blind)
• Hotel California – Penny Loafers (Eagles)
• She Blinded Me With Science – Toxic Audio (Thomas Dolby)
• Bring Me To Life – Mosaic Whispers (Evanescence)
• Fix You – Off The Beat (Coldplay)
• Big Yellow Taxi – Hyannis Sound (Joni Mitchell)
• In Your Eyes – In Sync (Peter Gabriel)
• Kiss From A Rose – InPulse (Seal)

Listen to Episode 39, and if you’re still alive in the morning, let me know what you think in the comments below!

• Silence – Off The Beat (Delerium/Sarah McLachlan)
• Hear You Me – Penny Loafers (Jimmy Eat World)
• She Talks – The Coats
• Nynex Suite – Spur Of The Moment (Tommy Tutone/Yaz/No Doubt)
• When No-one Calls – Sock
• Call Me – Da Vinci’s Notebook (Blondie)

In a few short weeks it will be Halloween, and the scariest a cappella I can think of is yet another cover that every group out there has already done. There’s a lot of them out there, but I want you to communicate with me and tell me what some of the most overdone songs are in the a cappella world.

• Eric Gwin – Alive
• Spiralmouth – Even Though
• Brown Jabberwocks – 7 (Prince)
• M-Pact – Fantasy (Earth, Wind, and Fire)
• Wheaton College Gentlemen Callers – Only One (James Taylor)
• Eric Gwin – Next Time You Come Around

Hey, Voices Only 2007 is finally available! Go pick up a copy!

• Northwestern Purple Haze – Proud (Heather Small)
• UCSB Naked Voices – Earth Song (Michael Jackson)
• UMD Faux Paz – Other Side Of The World (KT Tunstall)
• Marblehead Jewel Tones – In My Life (The Beatles)
• Ledyard Chamber Choir – We Are (Ysaye Barnwell)
• Northwestern Purple Haze – All These Things That I’ve Done (The Killers)

So yeah, ending a 3 year relationship with a group is a hard thing to swallow. Send me your favorite a cappella tracks, and remind me of what I fell in love with in the first place!
[audio:Acapodcast36.mp3]

• T Minus 5 – American Woman (The Guess Who)
  
• Vocal Chaos – Good Things (BoDeans)
• Navi Redd – Klippies
• ElmoTHUMM – Shooting Star (Bad Company)
• Almost Recess – Maria
• T Minus 5 – One Voice

Congratulations to Matt Dunn for winning the episode #33 contest; Matt, be sure to e-mail me. To everyone, thanks for listening, and after a short vacation I’ll be back in September with the back to school special!

• Jerry Lawson & Talk of The Town – Islands In The Stream (Bee Gees/Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton)
• T Minus 5 – Low Rider (War)
• Down 4 The Count – No More Blues (Carlos Antonio Jobim)
• Great Big Sea -The River Driver (Traditional)
• Copley Cats – Time and Tide (Basia)
• Jerry Lawson & Talk of The Town – Persuasions Melody

T Minus 5 is helping to put on A Cappellastock! It’s Aug. 25th, in Ogden City Utah, and will be hosted by Barry Carl of Rockapella fame, and will feature Navi Redd, Toxic Audio, and more. This is an absolute powerhouse lineup, and if you can make it, you really should.

And as a reminder to listeners, I’m holding a drawing on episode #35 to give away a copy of Fitchy & Grikko, by The House Jacks. If you are a new listener, tell me who referred you, and I’ll put both of you into the drawing. Enough of the words, let’s get on with the show!

• The Sirens – Pride (In The Name Of Love) [U2]
• Similar Jones – So It Seems
• Four Shadow – Summer Sunday
• House Jacks – Light Of Stars
• InPulse – Life Is A Highway [Tom Cochrane]
• The Sirens – TV Medley [Various]

There’s a nice block of originals in there. If you want to hear more great originals, go tune in to the CASA Originals Podcast, and tell Tim that Chad sent you!

Along those lines, starting today, you can enter into a random drawing to win a copy of Fitchy & Grikko. Here’s how it works:

1. Get a friend to subscribe to this podcast.
2. Have them e-mail me (or fill out the contact form on this site), and have them say who referred them (that’s you).
3. Keep your fingers crossed!

I’ll collect all the names up, and pick one at random. I’ll announce on show #35 who the winner is, and send out the prize.

Are you excited? Eager to hear the show? Then click play to Listen to Show #33!

• America The Beautiful – Academy Singers (Bates/Ward)
• American Girls – Chorallaries (Counting Crows)
• Walking in Memphis – Voicemale (Marc Cohn)
• Rhode Island is Famous For You – Clockwork (Blossom Dearie)
• Route 66 – The Coats (Troup/Cole)
• Star Spangled Banner – Gentleman Callers (Key/Anonymous)

My thanks go out to the many men and women who have served over the years to protect what was made on July 4th, 1776. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go see some more fireworks!

Listen to Episode #32!

Here’s what you’ll find in this episode of the Acapodcast:

• Similar Jones – Future Love Paradise (Seal)
• No Strings Attached – Baby Love (Mother’s Finest)
• No Strings Attached – This Love (Maroon 5)
• Chromatics – Noctilucent Cloud
• No Better Cause – Times Like These
• Similar Jones – Brick House (The Commodores)
  

I break format a little bit here and play a No Strings Attached two song power pack, but these two songs (Baby Love and This Love) have so much in common, I felt they had to go together. Not only do they share the word ‘Love’ in their titles, but they both have a real funky groove to them.

And as a note, if everyone subscribed to the show using iTunes would be so kind as to unsubscribe briefly and resubscribe using the updated link up over there on the right… yeah, that’d be great.

If you can’t wait to subscribe and have to listen to Episode #31 as soon as possible, click on the play button below!

• Hyannis Sound – The Boys of Summer
• Blue Jupiter – Lil’ Red Riding Hood
• Slapdash Graduate – Counting Blue Cars
• Brown Jabberwocks – Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
• KickShaw – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
• Hyannis Sound – Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay

Now listen up and take the advice of these songs: get outside, go walking in the woods, or driving with the top down, or go down and sit by the water. But take the iPod with you and crank up the a cappella hits.

Click here to listen to Episode #30!

Zulal is a trio of women from the US, reinventing and reinvigorating Armenian Folk as they get in touch with their ancestral background. Currently they are producing their second CD. They also had the distinction of being named runners-up for the CASA 2007 A Cappella Community Award for Best Folk group.

Navan is also a trio, two ladies and a gentleman from Madison,Wisconsin. Specializing in songs from the celtic cultures, they have three albums out. The most recent, Lowena, is spectacular, and I’ve chosen a celtiberian song from it for this episode.

Navi Redd hails from South Africa, and this all male group brings us a medley inspired by native music. This track was found on the Podsafe Music Network. Thanks guys!

Harmonytryx, a group of vocally endowed women, sings a wide variety of music. I played their cover of October Project’s Sunday Morning Yellow Sky back on Episode #9.

PennYo is also no stranger to The Acapodcast. As UPenn’s only Chinese A Cappella Group, you’d think I’d play a Chinese folk song, but Amazing Grace was originally penned in the 1770’s in England, and has borrowed a number of different tunes from various hymns over the years. A Christian anthem, it gained the most impact in the American South, but with Christianity on the rise amongst the Chinese, it isn’t much of a surprise that this fabulous Mandarin rendition exists.

Here are the tracks from Episode #29 of the Acapodcast:

• Zulal – Hars Em Gnoom
• Navi Redd – Johhny Clegg Medley
• Harmonytryx – O Sifuni Mungu
• Navan – Letontu Litokum Abulos
• PennYo – Amazing Grace
• Zulal – Sareri Hovin Mernem

Click the Play button below to listen to this episode!

Edit: Content restored through manual processes.  Anything you still can’t cope with is therefore your own problem.  Please relax.

• measureXmeasure – You Don’t Treat Me No Good
• UMass Amherst Dynamics – Breakfast at Tiffany’s
• 2Praise – Child of the Great I Am
• WUSTL Mosaic Whispers – Take Me To The River
• RPI Rusty Pipes – Comfortably Numb
• measureXmeasure – Don’t Let Your Heart

Click the play button below to tune into Episode #28!

• Virginia Tech – Hey Jealousy
• InPulse – Your Body Is A Wonderland
• Off The Beat – Superman
• Darkside Voices – Us And Them
• InPulse – Fat Bottom Girls

I urge all my listeners to consider picking up a copy of the For Today… Tribute CD. Thanks.

Click here to listen to Episode #27

During the interview, I play some of the songs from the movie. Here’s what you’ll hear:

• Tufts Beelzebubs – Take Me Home (orig. by Phil Collins)
• MIT Logarhythyms – No Such Thing (orig. by John Mayer)
• Sing Now Cast – The More I See You (orig. sung by Nat King Cole)
• Oxford University Out Of The Blue – Trouble (orig. by Coldplay)
• UVA Academical Village People – Kate (orig. by Ben Folds Five)
• Sing Now Cast – Working in a Coalmine (orig. by Lee Dorsey)

And, as promised on the show, here is the trailer for Sing Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEYGwR0zUjU[/youtube]

Without further ado, here is Acapodcast Episode #26!

• The Richter Scales – I Hate A Cappella
• The Blanks – Somewhere Over The Rainbow (a lá Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – IZ)
• Men In Black – Don’t Be A Baby, Baby
• The Chromatics – Habitable Zone

I also bring up the topic of moving the podcast to AcaTunes. I’d love to hear from you about this, especially if you support it, I don’t think those against it need a reminder to have their voice heard.

Listen to Episode #25!

In between all my yammering, you’ll also hear great tunes by:

• Four Shadow – It’s Alright
• Wheaton College Gentleman Callers – Running to Stand Still
• The Bobs – White Room
• Da Vinci’s Notebook – Another Irish Drinking Song
• Hyannis Sound – Parting Blessing
• Four Shadow – Blankets and Pie

Click here to listen to Acapodcast #24!

This time on The Acapodcast, I’ve got some recent award winners, plus a new CD release track. There’s also a few groups that I’ve had on the show before, and if you weren’t familiar with them before, you are now!

Here’s the lineup for Episode #23:

• Cluster – Cement
• Ball In The House – Trust Me
• Da Vinci’s Notebook – Traffic Jam
• Ledyard HS Chamber Choir – MLK
• Spiralmouth – No Career
• Cluster – DuckTales Theme Song

Cluster is a recent CARA nominee, and Cement is in the Contemporary Pop/Rock Original category. Their album, also called Cement, is in the Jazz Album category. DVN is the winner of this year’s A Cappella Comunity Award for Favorite Comedy Group. LHS Chamber Choir will be on the 2007 BOHSA Album with this arrangementof MLK, originally from the genius that is The King’s Singers (this arrangement, that is; the original song is U2). Trust Me, by Ball In The House, comes from their brand new release, Granite Ave. If you are in the Boston, MA area, you can go to the release party at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, this Saturday evening.

Listen to Episode #23!

I also talk a bit in this show about the CARA nominees, and the ACA Winners. If you’re unfamiliar with who is hot in the a cappella world right now, these two lists read like a Who’s Who, and will definitely give you some names to check out!

And check out who is on the show this time:

• Hyannis Sound – 1000 Miles
• Invisible Men – Pink
• UPenn Dischord – Breathe (2 A.M.)
• Firedrill! – Lie On Lie
• Slapdash Graduate – Rain
• Hyannis Sound – Don’t Cry

I promised a link to BYU Vocal Point performing Thriller on YouTube in the show, but I’m sad to report that the video has been taken down. So here’s a link to them performing Spiderman! and thanks to John pointing out a fresh link, here it is:

Edit: Warren rightly points out that there is a strong connection in this episode: Firedrill! and Slapdash Graduate can both trace their roots to Hyannis Sound. Not only do four of the six songs share that element, and the fact that some of the members show up on multiple tracks, but both Hyannis Sound albums and the Invisible Men EP were produced by John Clark, and Samrat Chakrabarti (a man I’ve had the inestimable pleasure of meeting on more than one occasion) was the arranger for “Pink, “1000 Miles”, and “Lie On Lie” (No surprise if you know Samrat’s amanzing arranging abilitis, especially for all male voices). That means there are a _lot_ of links across the songs in this episode. How cool is that?

Now go Listen to Show #22!

• BaSix – Smooth Operator
• The Richter Scales – I Got Mail
• The Exboyfriends – The Flash Gordon Theme Song
• UPenn Dischord – Both Hands
• UCLA Scattertones– Mr. Brightside
• BaSix – Purple Rain (with guests from the Herning Boys Choir)

I would also like to point people to some of the fabulous photos of UPenn’s Penny Loafers in China, to mention that the deadline to enter this year’s Harmony Sweepstakes has been extended to the end of January, and to wish Rudy Cardenas from m-pact good luck. He’s made it into the most recent season of American Idol!

I’ll be back in two weeks with more great music!

**Update** – Quick apologies to Jeremy from Exboyfriends focalling him Nick. My brain grabbed the wrong part of his e-mail address there. Also apologies to Dischord for listing the wrong soloist on Both Hands. The soloist was actually Emily Garvey. Some real Rookie mistakes on my part.

Listen to show #21 right here!

• The Coats – On Christmas Time
• BaSix – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
• Moosebutter – Time For Eggnog
• Five O’Clock Shadow – Watching The Tracks
• Blue Jupiter – Celebrate Me Home
• M-Pact – Do You Hear What I Hear
• GrooveBarbers – You’re My Christmas
• A.K.A. Pelican Groove – 2000 Miles
• M-Pact – As December Fades Away
• Blue Jupiter – Jingle Bells
• Five O’clock Shadow – Santa Says Rock
• Moosebutter – I’m A Believer
• BaSix – Candlesong
• GrooveBarbers – The Chipmunk Song
• The Coats – Mr. Grinch
• Da Vinci’s Notebook – The Dreidel Song

I’d like to wish everyone a happy holiday season, and a prosperous new year ahead.

Click Here to Purchase Episode #20:

The Acapodcast sells out? No!
But it is an all commercial episode! Even people who have never heard the term A Cappella before have heard one of these commercials before:

• Hi Fidelity – Roto Rooter
• Groovebarbers – Astelin Nasal Spray
• Blue Jupiter – Oreo Cookies
• Rockapella – Folgers Coffee
• Duwende – 1-800-OK-CABLE
• Ball In The House – Cool Whip

Check out the New Acapodcast Store, with thanks again to Tony Angeles for the great logos, and purchase Episode #19:

That said, here are the tracks on this episode:

• Naked Voices – Such Great Heights
• Off The Beat – Sugar, We’re Going Down
• Firedrill! – Sledgehammer
• Scattertones – There There
• Duwende – Movin’ On
• Naked Voices – River of Dreams

Go ahead and buy Episode #18:

The Georgetown Saxatones are Georgetown’s newest group, with service to the community as one of their founding tenents. They sing in the hospital, the Alzheimer’s ward, and give concert proceeds to charities, like STAND (a group against the violence in Darfur). This cover of With or Without You is a little newer than much of their repertoire, but Michael made a nice arrangement of it, and Meghan does a great job with the solo.

fii from MAUF sent me a couple of live tracks from their concert in Vienna, and this one, Power To the People, got so stuck in my head, I had to share it.

Blue Jupiter is still holding auditions for new members, so if you want to be a full time Tenor or Bass, give them a call. In the meantime, listen to Green Shaggy Carpet Ride, one of their actual originals (sorry for the gaffe last show).

So why’d I play the Penny Loafers again? This is what, the third time? Well, partly because they’re now available on AcaTunes, but mostly because I enjoy a great song, and a nice mashup. In this example, Semi-Charmed Kind Of Life gets a little Tubthumping layered on.

Finally, I close out the episode with Da Vinci’s Notebook again. Not a comedy track this time, but their rendition of Blondie’s Call Me. It goes to show that the class clown can have a great serious side too. You just have to get to know him.
In this episode:

• Da Vinci’s Notebook – Title of the Song
• Georgetown Saxatones – With or Without You
• MAUF – Power To The People (live)
• Blue Jupiter – Green Shaggy Carpet Ride
• Penny Loafers – Semi-Charmed Kind Of Life
• Da Vinci’s Notebook – Call Me

Purchase Show #17:

Show Notes! On this episode you will hear:

• Blue Jupiter – Time After Time
• The Moon Rays – Sophomore Werewolf in Love
• Ball In the House – Ashmont (You’re Gone)
• Appalachian Association of Sacred Harp Singers – Africa
• L-Squared – Spam
• Blue Jupiter – Sir Duke

Oh, and as the comments below indicate, I misspoke when I said that Sir Duke was a Blue Jupiter original. What was I thinking? If you want to hear one of their great originals, go listen to Green Shaggy Carpet Ride. And as a reminder, they’re looking for a new tenor and bass!
Here’s a picture of shape note music, from Wikipedia:

Buy The Acapodcast Episode #16:

• UPenn Penny Loafers – Missing
• Virginia Tech Juxtaposition – Get Set
• Brown Derbies – Road To Nowhere
• MIT Chorallaries – Wherever You Will Go
• Tufts Amalgamates – Africa
• UPenn Penny Loafers – Send Me On My Way
• MIT Resonance – Mr. Brightside

Hope you all enjoyed this Back To School show, the new logo, and the bonus encore track. As I mentioned on the show, tickets for the West Coast A Cappella Summit are now available. Deadlines for those of you entering the ICCAs or submitting for the BOCAs is November 1. Congratulations to Slapdash Graduate who made it into the second round of competition on Star Tomorrow! Get in touch with me if you would like to know where to get a copy of 6Appeal’s ‘Move’ album. Check out the A Cappella Video Channel and AcaTunes!

Purchase Episode #15 right here:

• Toxic Audio – Turn the Beat Around
• Navan – Griogal Cridh’
• The Liquid Hotplates – Somebody Told Me
• Paul and Storm – 10 Finger Johnny
• Tufts Beelzebubs – Shape of My Heart
• Toxic Audio – Paperback Writer

As of now I still have been able to find any source for the Six Appeal CD, Move. It seems like they’ve completely disappeared now, and the only remaining shrink wrapped copy may be the one you can win in The Acapodcast Logo Contest! There are still two weeks to go. Send me your logo entries at chad (at) acapodcast.com, and the winning entry will receive a copy of the elusive Move album!

Buy Episode #14:

This show was also recorded in real time with a new piece of software called Ubercaster. I recommend it for any Mac user putting together their own podcast.

On the show this time:

• Six Appeal – Hella Good. They’ve recently announced the parting of ways, so cherish what they put out while they were together. You may have seen them under the short lived name of Playback.
• Slapdash Graduate – Come Home. Matt Wrobel of Six Appeal’s new group, they are due to appear soon on Star Tomorrow, so watch the show and be sure to vote for them!
• Brandeis’ Spur of the Moment – Wish I Was There. Another group that is no longer around, this was the former group of Jake Bush, who later went on to be a member of Six Appeal (sensing a theme?). This was _the_ coed group at Brandeis for many years.
• Harmonytryx – Homeless. This is an A Cappella cover of an A Cappella original. How cool is that?
• UCLA ScatterTones – Since U Been Gone. A super cover of what in my mind is one of the shining examples of the female pop tune. It’s as though a country ballad song gave birth to a suburban teenager.
• Six Appeal – Toxic. I’m not a real fan of the recent trend towards blond female sex idol bubblegum pop, but oddly enough, I am a fan of this song, originally by Britney Spears, and especially this cover of it. Go figure. You can hear some more excellent covers of it over at Coverville.

Thanks for listening, and I’ll be back in a few weeks!

Purchase Episode #13:

• M-Pact – A few years ago I picked up The Carol Commission, and was blown away. M-pact is coming out with a new CD later in the month, with a release party in the LA area that I encourage people to go to. They sent me a press kit with a few tracks from the new album, including this one, called Have a Talk With God, and I am as impressed as ever.
• Ball In The House – I’m lucky enough to live in the Boston area, one of the hottest spots in A Cappella, and BITH is one of the stand out acts in even this crowd. Listen to their version of I’ll Be There and dare to disagree.
• Cadence – Award winners, and one of my favorite Canadian groups. This original of theirs, Sunshine, gets top marks from me.
• The Penny Loafers – UPenn is a college that every A Cappella fan should know well. The Penny Loafers reinforce why. Perhaps not the best known UPenn group, they still have the chops to play with the big boys. They’ve been on one of the BOCA CDs, and have a sizeable discography to pick from. Dianne sent me a few samples from over the years, and if they keep going at this rate, I see good things in their future. Here they are singing Boulevard of Broken Dreams. What can I say? I’m a sucker for Green Day.
• APC Rythym – I don’t know what the APC stands for, but they have a wicked logo! Go check out their website (and if anyone knows the artist put them in touch with me… The Acapodcast is hurting for good logo!). Thanks to Jenna, their President and one of the APC Rhythm hotties (Can I say that?) for getting in touch with me and sending me this track of them singing Lifetime. Only about a third of the group seems to be women, so you know they can belt it out with the best of them! APC Rythm works hard and plays hard, and you can tell by their track record and how good they sound.
• M-Pact – Closing out the show with another track off of M-pact’s new CD, this is a song called I Thought You Cared For Me. The title sums up the feeling of the song, and the meaning of the lyrics, but can’t capture the sweet sweet sound these six guys put out. I’m hoping they make a tour out to the East Coast some time in the near future so I can catch them in a live show.

Speaking of live shows, I’ve had the fortune of being able to see In The Moment and Vox One recently. Vox One was on a multi-year furlough, so it’s great to see them back in the trenches. They’re one of the defining groups in A Cappella Jazz. It’s a good summer; I’m looking forward to seeing Rockapella on August 6th, and Ball In The House on August 19th. I’ll add those to the calendar on the right side of the new website. Tell me what you think of the new layout – there’s a contact form linked on the right there, or you can e-mail me directly at chad(at)acapodcast.com. That’s it for now, and I’ll be back in a few weeks with more great tracks for you to enjoy!

[Edit: Updated with a rerecorded file. Sorry for the snafus!]

Donate for Episode #12:

I’m going to see if I can salvage this episode or re-record it, but it’ll be a few days before I can sit down and do that.

[Edit: The new recording is posted]

Secondly, There's also a new calendar of events over there, where I will post concerts, competitions, and other dates of relevance to the A Cappella world.  Please, please send me any events you would like to have listed there!  Also send me links to be considered for inclusion in the new sidebar.

I would like to get a logo made for the show, so if you are an artist, or know an artist, drop me a line.

Let me know what else you would like to get from the website, and from the podcast.  I'm always open to new ideas and suggestions. 

-Chad Bergeron

• Mauf, made up of fii, leech, and verena (Those are the names they give by e-mail and on the CD). They’re singing a song called House of Love, which is also the name of their demo CD. If the Demo sounds this good, I can’t wait to see what they come up with next! fii tells me they have recently been entered in the Vokal Total competition too. That’s great news!
• Alti e Bassi with a cover of Staying Alive! They’re from Milan, Italy, and are very snazzy dressers.
• Navi Redd (pronounced Navy Red) from South Africa, singing a fantastic version of Common People. Navi Redd has done something that warms my heart: they’ve made several tracks available online at the Podsafe Music Network for podcasters to freely use and play.
• I talk a little bit about Toxic Audio’s eponymous release which I recently picked up.
• The Flying Pickets, from England, although one of their members is from Italy. Not only are they internationally known, they’re also internationally formed! Here they sing Do It from their 2005 CD Everyday.
• Alti e Bassi (The Ups and the Downs) again, singing Con Il Nastro Rosa, from their album MEDLEY.
• A little word about casa.org, and their new podcast.
• Mauf, once more, singing Freedom

Donate for Show #11:

This show is nearly an hour long… it took me a little longer than usual to put it together; here’s the list of tracks played on the show:

• Take 6 – Human Body / I L-O-V-E U
• Flying Pickets – Fast Car
• Duwende – Temporary Nadia
• Spur of the Moment – Seven Bridges Road
• In Sync [Now called The Shirley Tempos] – Runaway
• Voicemale – Neon
• Duwende – I Fall
• House Jacks – This Man’s Pride
• Flying Pickets – Every Day is a Winding Road
• House Jacks – What’s For Real
• Take 6 – Spread Love / That’s The Law

I’d like to hear back from everyone on what you thought of the two new segments as well. chad@acapodcast.com — Thanks.
Purchase Show #10:

But I promise a spectacular Episode #10 on June 8th!  I’m lining up a super-sized show full of hot new music.

Let me know if you want your group to be a part of it, or if you have some ideas for the Epsiode 10 super-spectacular!

•Harmonytryx, a group of self-proclaimed delicious divas from the NY/NJ area, singing “His Mother’s Legacy” off of their 2003 CD, Fine Whine
•Hi Fidelity, who were on the last show, but are back again because they are this year’s Harmony Sweepstakes Champions! They took Audience Favorite with the Addams Family routine, so here are the guys singing “They Go Wild/Why Do They Always Say No?”, found on Almost Live
•THEM from Tulane, with an excellent rendition of the old classic “Ain’t No Sunshine”
•The Blanks, also known as Ted’s Band from the Hit TV Show, Scrubs! This is a quirky cover of the opening song from the show, “Superman”. This is from their recent CD, Riding The Wave. Fame hasn’t gone to their heads… they still reply to e-mail themsleves.
•Sean Altman with a song called “I’m Waiting” from Seandemonium. He recently gave an interview over at Earvolution worth reading.
•Harmonytryx once more, with a cover of an October Project song “Sunday Morning, Yellow Sky“.

Thanks to all of you who have sent comments, suggestions, music, donations, good will, and new listeners my way. Art doesn’t exist in a vacuum, so thanks for tuning in!

-Chad Bergeron
Purchase Show #9:

• Hi Fidelity – I’m Beginning To Like It
• Sock – Emotional Baggage Handler
• Navi Redd – Two Beds And A Coffee Machine
• No Better Cause – She Took Me Away
• Coats – Rockin’ Me
• Hi Fidelity – Blackbird Parody

Purchase show #8:

Last week my iPod died.  I had a 40GB black and white model that I sent back to apple twice for hard drive failures, both times under warrantee.  And now it has gone a third time, but outside of the window of opportunity.  Am I cursed?  It doesn’t directly impact my ability to produce The Acapodcast, so that’ll still be going out as usual, but it does mean I won’t be able to review my work on during my commute.

I wouldn’t normally do this, but I’ve gone ahead and put a PayPal donation button in the sidebar, if anyone would like to donate towards replacing the iPod.  As I’ve stated before, I don’t make money on The Acapodcast.  It actually costs me quite a deal.  Any funds I do receive (less than a dollar a month at this point) I roll right back into the show, to cover hosting fees, or CD purchases, or gear, etc.  So thank you for any generosity you’ve shown, even if it was a kind word by e-mail.  (Especially if it is a kind word…  knowing that what I’m doing is appreciated means more than money)

Humbly,

-Chad

It’s a Sweeps Sized Episode!

It’s Sweeps season again! The Harmony Sweepstakes are a U.S. competition for semi-pro and professional A Cappella groups that number between three and seven members in size. There are an awful lot of jazz, barbershop, and contemporary groups that fall into this category. There are eight different regions from the East to the West, and groups must send in an application and demo tracks. To borrow a sports metaphor (inspired by Joey C’s discussion of the ICCA’s), The Harmony Sweepstakes are a bit like baseball; each region has their teams, and winning the regionals is like winning the pennant. The Finals in San Rafael, CA are like the World Series, and these groups put in as much or more effort to get there as any baseball team. And it’s truly a team effort as well, because your whole team has to be a top notch organization to make it to the Finals! One major difference though; once a team has won the Harmony Sweepstakes, it can’t compete again. This means that every year, there’s a chance for another great group to rise to the top!
This episode starts off with one of the Finalist groups from 2005, Firedrill! They were the Boston Regional Winner last year, and hosted this year’s Boston Regional. They have a great version of “Just The Two Of Us“. Firdrill! formed just for the competition, but have recently gotten back together, and look like they’ll be a permanent fixture of the A Cappella scene.

Next up is Clockwork, the San Francisco Bay Area finalists. This is Clockwork’s second time making it this far. In 2004 they also won the Bay Area Regionals (You must take a year off between competitions). Thanks to Angie for sending me a CD! Clockwork has a smoxy, jazz-infused sound. I’ve picked two songs of theirs: “Moment’s Notice“, a Coltrane tune, and following that is their cover of Radiohead’s “Creep“, just because it’s so much fun. Clockwork is Angie Doctor, Eric Freeman, John Paddock, Jim Hale, and Stephen Saxon, who just wrote an excellent article on composing bass lines, which you can find at CASA.org.

I’d like to take a moment and welcome all the new listeners this week – there are twice as many listener’s this time around than at the time of the last show. Most of you came by way of Joey C’s Acappella U, after he played a promo for me, so a big Thank You goes out to him. For those of you not familiar with Acappella U, Joey has an incredible podcast on Collegiate A Cappella music. The current A Cappella world really was born out of the collegiate scene of the 80’s and 90’s, and some of today’s hottest stuff is coming from there as well, so go over to Acappella U and subscribe to Joey C’s podcast too!

Next up is Curious Gage, a 5 member group based in the Denver area. Nic Widhalm sent me a couple of tracks. He does note, however, that these are a few months old, when the group was composed of 5 guys. Now the group is 4 guys and a sweet sounding soprano. He thinks this change up in the group dynamic helped propel them to the championships in a few weeks. I think he might be a bit biased, seeing as he shares a last name with their new soprano Carleen! They don’t have a CD yet, so I can’t link to that. The first song is Breathe, followed by Anatomy, an original work. Hot, hot sounds there from Nic and Carleen Widhalm, Zach Tait, Phil Thompson, and Tom Miles.

The Harmony Sweeps will be the the top groups from eight different regions of the US, and will be taking place on Saturday, May 6th in San Rafael, CA. You’ll get to hear three of this week’s artist compete, as well as five other extremely talented groups, and last year’s sweepstakes winners, Groove For Thought, who are hosting this year’s show. If you are in the area, or can be in the area, get tickets. It promises to be a knockout night of A Cappella.

It seems as though at least one barbershop group makes it to the sweeps every year, and this year is no different. ‘Round Midnight is a group of four guys who are Music Educators by day, and A Cappella Dynamos by night! Their name comes from the Thelonious Monk classic. I don’t have a website available for them, but as soon as I can track one down, I’ll update the post here with the link. They can also be found on MySpace. ‘Round Midnight is made up of Larry Bomback, T.J. Carollo, Wayne Grimmer, and Jeff Glemboski, and they’re your New York Regional Champions, so if you’re from NY, give them a shout, and support them at the Harmony Sweepstakes! Here they are singing ‘Sweet and Lovely’ followed by ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’, which some of you may recognize.

I’ve closed the show out with Firedrill! again, singing Martin Sexton’s “Can’t Stop Thinking ‘Bout You“. They’ll be performing with Martin Sexton in Tarrytown, NY on May 19th, if you want to catch them live!
That wraps it up for this extra long Sweeps special edition of the Acapodcast. If you would like to get in touch with me about the show, or to submit your groups music to be on the show, you can e-mail me at chad (at) acapodcast.com.

I’m your host Chad Bergeron, and I’ll see you again in another two weeks!
Click Here to Purchase Show #7:

This episode has a great set of music. It falls under the contemporary or pop heading. Not much in the way of jazz or classical this week. Part of that is because I’ve opted to play a couple of college groups this week, both groups that are on their way to the ICCA Finals! Join me in wishing all the finaists good luck!

We start this time with The Exboyfriends – Blinded By The Light
This is a great track from their recent release, Karaoke Bar Brawl. They have a show coming up in NYC in May at the hot Mercury Lounge, so get tickets now!

Sean Altman, formerly of Rockapella, now in a successful solo career brings us the next track, called Miserable Destiny (go check out his SongNotes for that track!). He also sings with the Groovebarbers, who are currently on national TV in an Astelin commercial – not just singing in it, but starring in it too.

10fm – I Fell The Earth Move, from NYC. Hey, can I get some more all female groups on the show? E-mail me at chad (at) acapodcast.com.

Almost two weeks ago now, right after the last episode, I went to the New England ICCA semifinals, and it was a great competition. The MIT Chorallaries won, which has me very excited. Of course, I might be a bit biased towards them, as Kevin, a friend of mine is in the group. But I wasn’t a judge, so it didn’t have anything to do with them winning. I have a track from them here, a mashup of Flood and It’s My Life from their latest (2004) CD. It isn’t available on a-cappella.com, but you can order it right from their site. Maybe they’ll have a new CD coming out soon? The other ICCA finalists I have on the show this time are the western europe finalists. They are Oxford University’s Out of the Blue singing Every Other Time, and they are currently touring the US, before going to the ICCA finals in April. If you want to go see these two groups and six other excellent groups compete, go see them at the Lincoln Center in New York City on Saturday, April 29th. Tickets can be purchased online. They sold out well in advance last year.

We close out with The Exboyfriends singing Who Are You? from Karaoke Bar Brawl. Thanks go out to Jeremy from the group for sending it in. If you want to submit music to The Acapodcast, e-mail me at chad@acapodcast.com. Thanks everyone for tuning in!

Purchase and Download Episode #6:

Last week I put out a call for submissions, and you came back to me in force! I’ve heard from several listeners who submitted their tracks, and I’m going to put some of them on this week. Thanks go out to everyone who sent songs in. You rock! And to prove it, listen to these great songs!

• No Better Cause – Immeasurable

• Trasa – Vintern Rasat

• PennYo – Ai Bia Jia Eh Ngia (Fight to Win)

• LADS – Star Wars Memorabilia

• The Exboyfriends – 25 or 6 to 4

• No Better Cause – Don’t Tell Me

I really do want to thank all of the artists who sent in music for this show. And if you’re looking at this website, go visit theirs as well to get more information about albums, tour dates, group bios, et cetera.

I also mentioned a couple of radio shows that are webcast every week. The first is WERS with the Weekend All A Cappella Show, and the second is KRNU with Vocal Cords. Listen to both of them.

Thanks for tuning in, and I’ll have another episode in two weeks!
Purchase The Acapodcast #5:

* The Coats – I Can See Clearly

* 10fm – Something On Paper

* Five O’Clock Shadow – What’s It All About

* Spiralmouth – Hush

* Cadence – Feelin’ Groovy

* The Coats – Evenflow

Purchase Episode #4 right here:

Has it been another two weeks already? It has, so it must be time for another episode of the Acapodcast! I have to say, the response so far has been pretty good. There are over 50 listeners to the show… but I know there are a lot more fans out there. If you know someone who loves A Cappella music, why not get them subscribed to the Acapodcast as well? They’ll get to hear this weeks great artists, which include:

• The Swingle Singers, as this episode’s featured group. They start things off with their rendition of Also Sprach Zarathustra, from their album Screen Tested. When I asked them for permission, they were very excited at the idea of being on played on the podcast, and I was happy to play a couple selections from them this time around. Their innovative choice of music goes to show how varied the field of A Cappella music is.

•The Coats, with The Ebb And The Flow. A marvelous group from the west coast. On this particular track they do use a drum track, so again, this isn’t A Cappella in the strictest sense. The Coats come from a time when Vocal Percusson was not as highly developed an art form (this album came out in ’96), and many groups of the time (e.g. The Nylons) used drum tracks. I try not to play too many of these tracks, but while the show is growing I have to pick from what I’ve been given permission to play. I appreciate that some of you are tuning in to hear pure A Cappella, so I’ll watch out for drum tracks from now on. Thanks for understanding. If you have an opinion on the topic, feel free to e-mail me: chad@acapodcast.com

•The Nylons. This version of Let It Be comes from a 2001 Hot Lips Records album called Come Together: An A Cappella Tribute To The Beatles. Proving that with time most of the A Cappella groups have given up drum tracks in favor of the all natural thing. Oh, and this album is one of the best albums around if you want to sample a bunch of great groups at once. There are other compilation albums out there, like the CARA albums, or the Harmony Sweepstakes, but those are drawn from a specific year (not that they aren’t also great samplers). This album went out and found some of the hottest groups out there, even if the track didn’t come out that year. Any fan of the Beatles or of A Cappella music should pick this one up.

•Moosebutter. From Colorado, this group makes music as humorous as their name. Mashups or medleys are popular with A Cappella groups, but are not often done as well as this. They’ve taken the songs from Star Wars, and made a medley of them, then pieced together lyrics; part movie quotes, part commentary, all humor. This track comes from the 2003 Harmony Sweepstakes competition.

•The Bobs. Sometimes instruments get in the way of telling the story. Elwood Decker is a great example of this.

•The Swingle Singers, one more time. This is another movie medley, but done completely as an homage to the original, and not in parody. James Bond Medley takes a few of the great themes and strings them together like a necklace of pearls. Thanks again to the Swingle Singers for letting me play such wonderful music.

Thanks for listening to this episode. I’d love to hear from the listeners. Let me know what you think. Let me know what you like. Let me know what you’d like to hear more of, or less of. If you would like to e-mail me, the address is chad@acapodcast.com, or music@acapodcast.com if you are with a group and would be generous enough to give permission to be played on the show.

-Chad Bergeron, Host of the Acapodcast.

Purchase Episode #3:

• The Bobs – Bee Bop I Love You
• Cadence – Perfect Kiss
• The House Jacks – Still By My Side
• Sock – Roofrack
• Five O’Clock Shadow – Hold Me For A While
• U. of Oregon’s On The Rocks – Something Like That

I apologize that Sock no longer seems to have a web site or be available for purchase. I’ll always try to make the group name link to their web site, and the song name link to the CD I found the track on. In some cases (like On The Rocks), the song came from a compilation album, but you can also find it on one of the group’s CDs. In this case, the song came from the 2006 Best Of Collegiate A cappella album, which as I mention on the show is full of amazing songs. It can also be found on On The Rocks’ album ‘Full Coverage’. It was also the only cover song on this show, originally performed by Tim McGraw.

I also need to apologize to On The Rocks, for not mentioning their full name during the show. I’ll mention that next show for those who may not read the show notes, but what happened was I clipped my own mic track too soon, and only got the school name out. Oh, and shame on me for mentioning that Sock was an English group, when they’re really Australian. I’ll have a better script next time, promise. I’ve gone on too long already, so here’s the show:

Purchase The Acapodcast #2:

• Spiralmouth – Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin
• Five O’Clock Shadow – Far Away
• Cadence – Don’t Fix What’s Broken
• Sean Altman – Julie Gone
• Spiralmouth – Nothing Is Written

Purchase this older episode:

Thanks for your patience with my first podcast, and any technical issues involved in the production of it. Give it a spin, and let me know what you think. Leave a comment here or send me an e-mail at chad (at) acapodcast.com! I also want to thank all the artists who have responded to my requests so far. If you or your group would like to get exposure on The Acapodcast, drop me a line at chad (at) acapodcast.com.

-Chad Bergeron