Jason Mabie Music! 11/30/2011
The ordering information for Jason Mabie's unmastered demo CD is up on the Performing Now page. He's obviously got a passion for the music. Check it out and please support great music by buying his CD. Add Comment Vote Overtones 07/14/2011
Please support the California Golden Overtones on gmc's "America Sings". Vote for them by going to http://www.watchgmctv.com/sing before next Wednesday (July 20). A video of their performance is located next to the voting tab on the website; so you can check 'em out before you vote. If you're asking yourself "who are the California Golden Overtones?", they are the female counterpart of the UC Men's Octet at UC, and are terrific singers in their own right. Quarterfinals! 02/20/2010
The Twenty-Ten Octet are competing in the ICCA quarterfinals today (hosted by the California Golden Overtones - Yay Tones!). The ICCA's are the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, and the Octet are the only group to have won the championship twice! This was in 1998 and 2000. Apparently there was no winner in 1999. I'm not sure why, so I'll have to look into it. Each group performs a short set that showcases its strengths. The group is judged on musical ability as well as the overall performance of the group - including choreo - (this years "Down/Forever" should wow the judges). Break a leg, Octet...that's showbiz talk for "good luck" - unless I've been duped by childhood television...Again. Below is a performance of Down/Forever that was recorded earlier this year. I can't find the ICCA performance...it may have been removed by the poster for some reason. I have heard that the Octet will be advancing to the Semi-Finals in the ICCA's. Good luck, Octet! I'll try to get word out as to where/when, in case anyone wants to catch them live. "Double your pleasure." LOL! This may be vindication to all the people (including me, unfortunately) who were bitching that the Octet didn't sound great when the '09- '10 Octet were new. Jason Mabie set me straight - the group had one returning member, and it would take time for them to gel. Well, they're sounding pretty awesome these days!  Go Octet! If you want to check out the Octet Art area, there have been a few additions. I added Parker today. I think I'm improving. Maybe I should have stuck with one style to show this, but hey, I go where my muse leads me. "O" Songs, MouthNoise and Scandal, O My! 12/12/2009
    I love YouTubers with their funny and their creative-ness. I have to tell y'all this. I know the lyrics to the Octet's version of O Fortuna. Yep. Learned them over a period of months, though the last two lines eluded me for some time. Not sure why. I just had a hard time remembering them. Fun Fact: Singing O Fortuna while walking home on dark and scary nights is a deterrent to crime. Singing it on a packed elevator is an encitement to crime. O Fortuna Lyrics and TranslationThe characters in bold are they lyrics the Octet sang. The normal body text are from Carl Orff's original O Fortuna. O Fortuna velut luna statu variabilis, semper crescis et decrescis; vita detestabilis nunc obdurat et tunc curat ludo mentis aciem, egestatem, potestatem dissolvit ut glaciem. Sors immanis et inanis, rota tu volubilis, status malus, vana salus semper dissolubilis, obumbrata et velata michi quoque niteris; nunc per ludum dorsum nudum fero tui sceleris. Sors salutis et virtutis michi nunc contraria, est affectus et defectus semper in angaria. Hac in hora sine mora corde pulsum tangite; quod per sortem sternit fortem, mecum omnes plangite! O Fortune, like the moon you are changeable, ever waxing and waning; hateful life first oppresses and then soothes as fancy takes it; poverty and power it melts them like ice. Fate - monstrous and empty, you whirling wheel, you are malevolent, well-being is vain and always fades to nothing, shadowed and veiled you plague me too; now through the game I bring my bare back to your villainy. Fate is against me in health and virtue, driven on and weighted down, always enslaved. So at this hour without delay pluck the vibrating strings; since Fate strikes down the string man, everyone weep with me! I discovered, doing research on "Honky Tonky Town/O Joe" that these songs were really old when the original Men's Octet got their hands on them. The music was written in 1916 by Chris Smith of Charlston, NC in, and the lyrics by Charles McCarron of New York in the same year. I also discovered information on Honky Tonks (original Honky Tonks, not the ones that most of you/us probably know) at the following: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honky_tonk It may also be interesting to note that when the Octet sang O Joe, they didn't do solos - according to KennyK, there was a big uproar made by Octet alumni when the group first started to do solos. Not sure why. Maybe because it was...wait. I don't know, so I'm not going to venture to guess. Hahaha. I like solos, but I also like it when all the guys sing together. They both sound awesome. As I was rewatching the Octet videos, I found out that I have been spreading misinformation about Bohemian Rhapsody. All of this time, I have been confidently asserting that BoRhap was written by a past Octet dude. Apparently new information has come to light. "This acapella arrangement has been passed along within the group from year to year since the 80's. The original arranger, it is believed, was a member of another Berkeley group in the mid-80's, and the Octet adopted the tune a couple years later." (((Gasp))) Scandal!!! I have to wonder which of Berkeley's a cappella group arranged BoRhap. My thoughts are that the Octet need to have an official historian. That would be cool. I'd be happy to volunteer for the job. Because I messed up the title of the awesome CalMatt video about a cappella on yesterdays completely sober-written blog, I also decided to add CalMatt's video MOUTH NOISE-A CAPPELLA IN MOTION, which is a fantastic, informative video about a cappella and featuring award winning Berekely a cappella groups such as the Octet, the Cal Golden Overtones and Artists in Resonance - I love all three groups, actually. If you enjoy it (if, like there's any chance you won't), you can find the second part on related videos or CalMatt's channel. So, believe me when I say "Enjoy!" And now that it's significantly darker than when I started this post, I think I should post it now. I'm away from my family this year,and a I am out of school until Christmas break is over, and so I'll probably be spending a lot more time posting. That's not as sad as it sounds. Really. I'm good, but I do have a lot more free time. If anyone has any Octet related memories (seen a show, were in a show - anything) pics or videos they'd like to share or donate, you can email me at Scouter227@gmail.com OR tiffanyannzeisler@yahoo.com. I'd love to hear from you. Until next time - see ya 'round the net. -k bye. That Time Again 11/26/2009
 I really do have far too much time on my hands...not. I was actually out of school today as I tended to my sprained ankle, and this was the sum of my accomplishments. Oh, I made like 12 of these. This was the only Octet related one. One features a goat - but I don't think it's appropriate for the Octet site. Hmmm. So, what have I been up to? Well, I'm learning a lot but nothing useful yet. One thing I learned in color theory is that the Berkeley colors can be psychologically very good or bad. Yellow, initially is a very cheery color but over time causes psychotic(ish) reactions. Blue can be very calming OR depressing. I'll post something soon... I should really be working on finals. (I'm sure that there may be people wondering what I'm talking about with 'midterms' at this time of the years. Our school goes by the quartly system, so... Anyway, I might post again tomorrow. It's late. Have a happy Thanksgiving. Drink responsibly....Okay, I'll post it. The Cal Drinking Song, featuring the (I think) '04-05 Octet. The song is pretty funny and um, drinking related...Is that the time. I must sleep. Hahaha. Apologies + U Gotta Go! 08/15/2009
I am totally sorry. I haven't updated the site in ages. Unfortunately, with all the recent chaos is my life, including a mad dash to find somewhere else to live, I've been neglecting some very important things - including the fan page. For this, I repent in dust and ashes. Today's video is a Kenny Kamrin solo - You Gotta Go. This is a brilliant parody of Alanis Morrissettes' 90's mega-hit "You Oughta Know". Some Octet Trivia - the song was penned by Kenny himself. Yeah. I didn't know that eiher. I thought it was a Weird Al song arranged to be sung a cappella. (In fact, I was telling myself that had heard Old Weird Al singing it on the radio several years ago- what was I thinking?) You Gotta Go gives the other side of the story and gives me the impression that the jilted woman might have been jilted for a reason. According to a post by Kenny, the bit about sewing thumbtacks in his boxers was something for the Alumni. He never elaborated on the comment, and I'm not sure I want to know. So enjoy, and until next time, stay away from psychos! An A Cappella Epiphany 07/12/2009
First, a few words from YouTubers.       And me?  First thing's first. I don't know Ben Sae-Tang from Adam, but if I were to pick an Octet song to represent him, it would be Blackbird. Ben seems sweet natured and quiet/peaceful (in contrast to the shouty Boot Camp Ben in the Spring 03 opening video.) But, again, I don't know him. Whenever I watch this video I really appreciate how appropriately understated the backs are. No one is showboating, not even Ben, which makes them great fun to watch. It's great when the cameraman pans over the guys singing backup. Jason, if you're reading this: Thank your father again. :) The Octet work together to make the song sound beautiful. And mad props to Rick for his whistling tour de force. I base much of my admiration of others on what they can and I cannot do. Whistling on demand without a major bout of the giggles is one of them. Singing is another. It's no wonder I am such an Octet fan. As you can tell from the above YouTube post, I had something of an A Cappella epiphany with this song. Listening to it, I realized what a beautiful musical instrument the human voice is. So, if your keeping track, Not Pretty Enough introduced me to te Octet, Lets Stay Together made me fall in love, and Blackbird made me appreciate the concept of A Cappella. Now, I have to say that I am a follower of A Cappellism. I am a devout A Cappellist and my devotion is first and foremost to the UC Men's Octet: who are giants in the collegiate a cappella community. Octet Milestone! 06/30/2009
I am so proud of the UC Men's Octet! Last night, at about 9 p.m. the Octet's "Bohemian Rhapsody" video passed one-and-a-half-MILLION viewers! My plan was to keep an expectant eye on the video and get a screen capture as it rolled over the 1.5 million viewer mark...  I'm not really sure why I didn't catch it sooner. My theory is that I was looking at something shiney and just missed it. I mean, one minute, the Octet is less than 60 viewers away - the next they've jumped to almost 300 over the magical mark. A second theory is that the counter is refreshed every once in a while, and YouTube refreshed it while I was keeping an eye out for 1.5 Mil. I believe I've already stated my views on Bohemian Rhapsody, but to recap: It's one of the two videos I use to gobsmack my friends, though Bo-Rhap is also the song that it took a while for me to get the nerve to watch. I know it's a much loved and complicated song, and I knew that the Octet is skillful and awesome, but it doesn't take much to screw up a Queen song. Fortunately, the Octet pulled it off. So, below I have listed some of the great comments that other YouTubers have made about the Octet. There are over 3000 comments, but I only chose a few because...well, I'm a lazy procrastinator. :P I also put up some screencaps from the Bo-Rhap video. No particular order or anything.                 So, comment if you like. I'd really (really!) love to hear from you! Really! Please - Let's Stay Together! 06/05/2009
Back again! Didja miss me? Hello? Is this thing on? I was gonna post "Bohemian Rhapsody" next, because that's the Big Daddy of Octet videos and is nearing the 1.5 million mark, but I think I'll wait until it hits or passes 1.5 mil and then post some kind of victory post. For now, Jordan's cover of "Let's Stay Together". (((Sigh))) This is one of the songs that I prefer to the origninal. Heh. Sorry, Al Green. Jordan and the guys are smoother than you. (My opinion, Al Green Fans. Just my opinion.) This video also confirmed the fact that "I like boys!" Jordan has a wonderful voice and harmony in the backs are just as cool to listen to! Not Pretty Enough introduced me to the Octet. Let's Stay Together made me fall in love with them. :) That's all for now. Hope to hear from some Octet Fans soon. See Ya Later, Tiff-a-nater. Hello Octet Fans! 05/23/2009
Welcome to the Octet Fan Blog! Unfortunately I suck at blogging...heh. Anyway, I've got a lot of work to do on this page. I'm a procrastinator, so we'll see how much I do on it. Maybe I can use this page to procrastinate on my real job. Hey! Good thinking, me! Anyway, if you have any Octet Love or shout outs, you can do that here. | Dear Octet/Oldtet/Tones
If you have any questions/concerns/comments please contact me via email: scouter227@gmail.com - I will do everything I can to address any needs or concerns that you have. Also, if you are performing now, and would like to get the word out well in advance of your performance date, please let me know via email or facebook message. #1 OctoFan!
My name is Tiffany & I live in Salem, Oregon. I am, quite possibly, the biggest Octet Fan Ever! ArchivesMay 2012 CategoriesAll |
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