This weekend there was much ado to do. Saturday night we drove off to West Virginia to hang out with some of the friends that Heather met out at the New Song Festival. Had an awesome time, though it took me a little while to find my comfort zone. There was a lot of discussion of blowing things up, and cannons, and trebuchets. There was a brief moment of connection over Punkin Chunkin, but then… then I was lost again. They know far too much on that whole blowing up of things front.
Anywho, after dinosaur cake and the dipping of many things in chocolate we retired to the basement to trade songs and stories. If I had a perfect memory, the Quote Page would’ve doubled in size over night, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately – there’s only SO much responsibility I really like to have for spreading certain things) I don’t. Could only remember a couple of fragments. But they DO cover outmoded modes of redneck communication, pregnant tape, Claymation, and road kill – so it’s a nice broad swath.
Wow – okay, just to be up front with everyone, I’m writing this while watching a Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends marathon… which means LOTS and LOTS of very cool toy commercials.
God, that new Lego Millenium Falcon. So fine.
Anywho, then Sunday was Justin’s debut with the Maryland Institute, College of Art’s a capella group – Shades of Grey.
The Shades of Grey performing at Goucher University. Justin’s tiny head is poking over the lead woman’s left shoulder.
They didn’t have an a capella group while I was in school there (much to Audrey’s distress, I’m sure)… and as a matter of fact, there have been a WHOLE lot of changes at that school since I graduated. I haven’t been there to keep them in line, I suppose. But the a capella group is actually really, really cool.
They performed with the Goucher group Red Hot and Blue last night – and they were really good. Much more focused on sort of traditional choiry tunes (?) then I’d seen out of a capella groups previously. Red Hot and Blue was much more the typical group, doing remakes of sort of cheesy tunes from the late 80s and early 90s with little skits and co-ordinated dance moves. They were much more about hamming it up than about the music. Shades of Grey were much more about the music than about the performance… all in all, I wish they’d mix it up a little bit, but was happier with MICA’s end of things than with Goucher’s. A couple of pretty decent voices, and I was really impressed with the over-all coordination, the … orchestration? The arrangements.
We should get Shades of Grey to the next PLOJ or something, or perhaps open for us at New Deal or something sometime. That’d be cool, though perhaps a bad idea? Who knows. I’d be amused.
They can’t open for us at the Funk Box tomorrow, though. Got enough to worry about on that front already.
