Thank you.
-me
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Update number 2: Beth came home from the hospital on Friday. Passing along all the "thank you's" for all the prayers and encouraging words. :) Update: Beth came out of surgery, and everything went well. She will be in ICU for one or two more days on a ventilator. I just found out that my kid sister is in the hospital with double pneumonia and will also need surgery on an abscess on her throat. Those of you who pray, please do so for her. Her name is Beth and she is the best little sister in the world!
Thank you. -me
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If you live in San Fransisco, or will be in that area on September 4th, please consider spending the evening at what promises to be a wonderful musical Octet filled show starring the one and only Jason Mabie! Jordan Meyer and Keith Menconi will also be performing, as well as some former California Golden Overtones.
You can send a message to Jason via facebook to get more information (or maybe to his YouTube account (gobears236). If you are able to go, let me know what you think of the show! Best, -me Hi Octet Fans. I believe there was a technical problem with the more official version of the video. Below is the complete concert, which was recorded (not by me) on a video camera from the computer. It's a pretty accurate representation of the concert and totally brings back Oldtet concert memories for me. Clips one and two are "Brandy" - solo by Jason Mabie Come Go With Me - solo by Parker Sims; Blue Moon - solo by Kenny Kamrin (features a cool dance break with Ben Sae-Tang) My Girl - solos by Ben Sae-Tang, Parker Sims and Jason Mabie Let's Stay Together - solo by Jordan Meyer Drift Away - solo by Ben Sae-Tang. There are pauses on the computer, but Ben and the guys still sound great! A NEW song by this Octet - "Endless Love". Solos by Parker Sims and Jason Mabie. Arranged by Jerome MC. Not Pretty enough - solo by Rick Wood Blackbird - solo by Ben Sae-Tang. Special whistling by Rick Wood Shama Lama Ding Dong - solo by Jerome MC Help Me Rhonda - solo by Parker Sims - features Octet dance break Baby Got Back The Lumberjack Song - solo by Kenny Kamrin Princess Papuli with Kenny Kamrin as "the Princess". The video is pretty fuzzy, but this was one of the songs which was featured on the Octet's '03 opening video. Well, I hope you enjoyed the concert as much as I did. Well done, Men. And thank you. If I had it all to do again, I would have had some requests of songs which I knew you did (instead of "That Don't Impress Me Much" - weak, Tiffany). With that said, I probably would have requested "Runaround Sue", "Stanfurd Jonah" and/or "Big C".
I was wondering, with the tons of Octet standards and new songs which are arranged by each years groups, how the songs were picked for each of the Octet cds. So I asked Brandon Swansfeger from the 01-03 Octet, and this was the reply I got. "The first two criteria are quality and popularity. The next factor is whether the song has been on a previous recording, and if so, how long has it been since that recording was published (we try to keep things fresh and new). Lastly, we try to get as many people doing solos as possible, but sometimes the first three criteria limits who can solo on each cd so that not everyone has a recorded solo." Makes sense to me. Now, go and head on to Brandon's YouTube channel to check out his videos and show him some Octet-love. (He solos in "Somebody's Crying" on his page and has an incredible voice!) Oh, and you might want to pick up the Octet's most recent CD, "High Octane", which features the '03-06 Octet. Information on how to purchase the cd is on the Links page.
It was an hour of pure a cappella euphoria. In fact, I was on cloud 9 for a couple of hours after the show. I had a wonderful time watching the guys perform! It seemed like a Sproul performance with the guys dressed in Hawaiian shirts and leis. They had sort of a set list and then took requests through the chat. They commented on camera in answer to the chatters (though I didn't sign up for the chat until about halfway through the show, so I just watched for the longest time.) We got to see what kind of beer Rick was drinking, and Kenny's nickname (?), and one of the Octet mothers request for her son to sing a crooning song. (I love Octo-parents!) I loved the old favorites (I Like Big Butts, Not Pretty Enough, Let's Stay Together) and songs that were new to me, such as Drift Away - solo by Ben, The Lumberjack Song - Solo by Kenny, Shama Lama Ding Dong - solo by Jerome, and a special request of My Girl which was first performed by the '03-04 group with solos by Ben, Parker and Jason. Princess Papuli was particularly funny.
Hopefully there will be some sort of video posted of all or part of the show. If so, I will direct you to it. Thank you Men's Octet! I'm not sure when or even if the Octet show will be posted, so I thought I'd post some screencaps from the show - featuring EXTREME OLDTET CLOSEUPS! The 2002-03 Octet will be live streaming a concert on Ustream TONIGHT at 8:00 pm. Please come and see these guys LIVE. So sorry for the short notice, but I just found out about it!
I love this video. I'm in shock that I waited so long to do this post! I'm still having issues with a massive headache from stopping my medication for the back injury I recently had, but it's time to suck it up and move on. That being said my plan today is to fall back on my backup posting strategy: YouTube quotes. They're more clever than anything I can think of. My favorite part is the harmonizing at about 2:14. So tight, it's awesome!
The first few times I listened to the "Stanfurd Jonah" song, and heard the lyrics "when a roski rips through the air" I was confused. 'What is a roski?' I wondered, and how and 'why does it rip through the air?' Is it a weapon? A superhero? Or an awesome combination of the two? So I googled it. Thank goodness for google and my weird researcher gene. I was able to discover that "a roski" was "our Oski", and Oski is the mascot for the University of California. Oski is both super-neat-o and super-now. He's also super-much-cooler than that tree. Oh, and "Go Bears!" Oski is so cool that he has an official web page AAAAAND a facebook page.
Yesterday, my friend Bethany got to see the Octet perform on Sproul! They didn't have all their members and Aroon wasn't there, which makes me sad, but Lawrence and Isaac were there and lookin' cute. I'm totally glad she got to see the guys - and she got to talk to them! We both think that they sounded really well, especially this early in their eight-ness. Behold... So, what do you think?
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