Monday, December 6, 2010
NUMBER ONE SONG AFTER NUMBER ONE SONG: As a reminder, NBC's "The Sing-Off" returns for a second season of competitive unaccompanied singing this evening. The ten teams are listed here, including collegiate teams from Yale, Oregon, and USC/UCLA. Ben Folds, Shawn Stockman and Nicole Scherzinger return to judge. We all liked this show last season, and we've got some real experts in a capella singing whom I expect to see in our comments as the brief season progresses.
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I'm a little surprised to see the Whiffenpoofs in the mix. I'll defer to the experts out there, but I wouldn't think their style would play well in this kind of setting.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it's all about Ben Folds on my TV! Since moving to the holler, I have no access to live music, so this is the best I can hope for. Luckily, I enjoy a capella, so that's a lovely bonus. Dan S., I'm counting on you to be my commenting partner in crime!
ReplyDeleteBased on the promos, one team is doing "Hey, Soul Sister." I think we can all get behind the idea that they should be eliminated immediately after that performance as a matter of principle.
ReplyDeleteAlso, because of lyrical content, it won't happen here, but I've thought for a while that there's a great a capella arrangement to be done of Frightened Rabbit's "Keep Yourself Warm"--higher voices doing the organ part, lower voices doing the bass guitar riff, and a smaller group (starting with a soloist) carrying the lead vocals.
ReplyDeleteThat seems like a stronger set of teams than last year. Should be awesome.
ReplyDeleteKatie: the "holler"?
I Will be watching. I haven't yet decided if I will watch the whole thing, or if I will simply be watching each performance, watching Ben Folds' comments, and FF'ing through Lachey, Stockman, and Scherzinger.
ReplyDeleteHow about "Swim Till You Can't See Land"? I haven't thought about whether the parts are complex enough for a good arrangement, but based on my memory, that could be a good one.
ReplyDeleteBased on amusing name alone, my pre-show fave is "Pitch Slapped".
ReplyDeleteApparently part of what happens in 2010 for me is I end up being where reality TV is filmed. First Top Chef and now The Sing Off. A few months back it was a friend's birthday and we went to karaoke. There was a sign outside saying a reality show was being filmed, and if we went in we may end up on camera. And lo and behold it was for The Sing-Off.
ReplyDeleteThey were, I think, filming part of the intro reel for On the Rocks, the University of Oregon team. One of our friends is an alum so she was thrilled. Basically, they kept having to sing "Benny and the Jets" over and over again, and as audience members, we were asked to root and hoot and holler appropriately, and at one point to move up from our booth in the back to sit right up by the stage, so the backs of our heads may be in a shot or two. The group was great, VERY funny about the fact that they kept doing the same song the whole time. At one point when they found out our friend was an alum, they serenaded her with the fight song. And at another point when it was between shots, they asked if we wanted to hear anything else, and one of my friends shouted "GAGA!" and so we got a rousing rendition of Bad Romance. Since we were basically the only people there (it was early) they were all really funny and nice with us, and my friend who is the Oregon alum was asked to go give feedback on camera about what she thought of the group. And, at the end of the night, long after filming had stopped and everyone left, we went up as a group and did Benny and the Jets as a group karaoke number. Because we find ourselves hilarious.
Anyhow, needless to say, I'll be rooting for On the Rocks based on this experience. And my friends and I still occasionally start singing a very off key a capella version of "Benny and the Jets" in random places.
If we're going to do hipster a capella, why not do "Now We Can See" by Chuck standby The Thermals, or something by The National. We won't see hipster a capella, however, because NBC needs to sell MP3s of these performances.
ReplyDeleteI fastforward through most of the judging on most reality competition shows - SYTYCD, Idol, last year's SingOff, Top Chef. I find that it dramatically improves my TV viewing experience.
ReplyDeleteI'm faced with an eternal dilemma, as the Patriots are playing on Monday Night Football this week. Depending how the game plays out my participation in the first episode may be minimal, but I'll be thinking of The Sing Off the whole time.
ReplyDeleteIt does, however, go without saying that I'll be redoubling my efforts for the rest of the episodes.
Wihin the last couple of hours I've been hit by some sort of bug which means I'll probably be asleep way early tonight. Let's call tonight a bye and resume with full energy and snarkiness about the pussycat doll for the next episode.
ReplyDeleteIt's what I call the little town that I moved to last year. Actually it's not that small compared to the towns that surround it, but for me, it's the middle of nowhere. (I guess I should disclose my location. I live in Harrisonburg, VA, home to James Madison University. I see cows on my way to work which is a nice change from the rats in the NYC subway.)
ReplyDeleteThe Sing Off might just be my new favorite holiday season tradition. It's goofy and silly and cornball and fun, which is all people really want this time of year, and the little ALOTT5MA holiday parties in the comments really make it for me.
ReplyDeleteAs I think some of you know, I've been involved in collegiate a cappella for a long time, and I work for Varsity Vocals, which runs the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. (That's not to say that they endorse any of my views, so please don't attribute it to them.) I'm intimately familiar with the collegiate groups in this show, and a lot of the semi-pros as well since they are mostly former collegiate singers. We also run a high school competition, and the Town Criers were finalists last year.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the middle of law school finals, but I'll try to chime in as I can catch up on episodes. I'm looking forward to seeing how the show goes this year, and hoping that Scherzinger became slightly-more-competent-or-less-idiotic over the past year.
Honestly, I'm really not sure why the Whiffs would agree to do the show, but I am very curious to see their reception. They are so different than the other groups competing, but it will be interesting to see what they change (if anything) to fit in.
For the record, I think you'll all be enamored of Pitch Slapped. I really, really enjoy them live and I think they have some phenomenal soloists.
Another plus? We can probably look forward to the return of the "stay out of it, Nick Lachey!" clip on The Soup this week.
ReplyDeleteOnce again proving, Maret, that I want your life.
ReplyDeleteNot sure when you've last heard the Whiffs - yes, they still do all the old timey stuff, but they have a lot of newer songs in their shows now AND most of the members come from groups like the Baker's Dozen or the Duke's Men (non-senior a cappella groups) where they do almost entirely modern material... Go Whiffs!
ReplyDeleteI would totally buy MP3s of a capella Frightened Rabbit.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and son were not thrilled that I nixed taping the Pats Monday, but they agreed to watch the Pats while I TiVo Sing-Off.
ReplyDeleteLoved Harrisonburg last time I was there (eons ago).
ReplyDeleteLoved Harrisonburg for short stays, eons ago. Katie, don't the JMU students do a lot of live performances? It's such a musical place. (And my favorite local band, Eddie From Ohio, is 3/4 from JMU.)
ReplyDeleteMove to L.A. They're always filming something somewhere...
ReplyDeleteThe best part of that clip? Playing the "who's the worse actor in this clip?" game.
ReplyDeleteSo I'll of course be caught between my blind love for everything that comes from Yale and my blinding desire to punch every Whiffenpoof as hard as I can.
ReplyDeleteChuck used "Keep Yourself Warm," though it had to resort to clumsy edits to do it. It also used "Backwards Walk," "shit" unedited, in the 8:00 hour. And 12 million ears were thereby despoiled.
ReplyDelete12 million people were watching Chuck? That would be a record.
ReplyDeleteI believe you only need 6 million viewers to reach 12 million ears.
ReplyDeletebingo
ReplyDelete