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".
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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!
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Parker solo: 'Help me get her out of my heart'
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Parker is saying 'Help Me Rhonda', with his eyes
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Jordan doing stuff
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Jordan is about to show us the view from the Octet's temporary digs
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Kenny, being silly.
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I think Kenny recongized someone in the chat
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Ben and Kenny - Blue Moon dance break
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continued...
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and continued...
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The guys checkng out the live chat
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continued....
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and continued...
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He's, like, 6'4''...
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Funny.
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Primo: Because you get tired of the old stuff.
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Added May 10th A/N The following is additional information posted with the video (Somebody's Cryin'"). All the videos have lineups now, which is so helpful.

The guys in this Octet are:"Dave, Ben, Jerome, Andy, Jason, (solo by Brandon) missing, David and Aaron." Not to be a braggart, but I think my first guess was pretty good for a somewhat educated guess.

Behold: Slightly Older Oldtet than we are used to! The guys are opening for Artists in Resonance, a mixed a cappella group from Berkeley. The guys, from left to right are...uh, I'm not sure who the first guy is. Second is Ben Sae-Tang (who sang the Tenor 2 part in this Octet), Jerome MC in the glasses (o my heck - LOVE!), not sure who the 4th guy is, and Jason Mabie on the end. The soloist is...um, not sure, but I think it's Brandon, the missing Octo-Dude from '03. That's just a wild stab in the dark, though. I love the song! Well done, Octet!
Beyond the Sea! Hey, I learned a new song. :) The guys rearranged themselves a little. It's your job to figure out who they are from now on. On a side note: notice the toilet in the corner. Classy. :) The AiR concert was great!
Happily, "Up on the Roof" has been restored to the concert. Solo by Ben Sae-Tang. Well done, guys!
Jason Mabie on the solo for Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps. That guy has excellent range. The dancing in the backs are really funny, and pulls the act together nicely.
Coney Island Baby is one of my favorite Octet-tunes. Not sure if it's because I'm tired or not, but I think I'll just let this one speak for itself.
So, I hope you enjoyed this mini Octo concert. Much love from Seattle.
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Ben Sae-Tang has been added to the list of Illustrator-Octet-dudes. I'm considering who I want to do next...even though it's feuling my procrastinator bug.

Don't forget the Fave-Octet-Guy poll on the links page. I haven't voted because THEN, I'D HAVE TO PICK ONE. And they're all my favorite.

Remember: Gamera is friend to children.

I think that just about covers it. Goodnight folks.
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I know I usually post YouTube comments about the Octet, however on this video there weren't so many witty comments, so I thought I'd do some research-y stuff instead. (The posts may not come more regularly, but they will be more researched and better-ly written. Hahaha). From the posts I did learn from kennyk314 that this song was arranged by Jerome (or, as he's known on YouTube, the dude with the dark fro-ish hair and the 'harmonica') from a cd. And that Jerome may have been a music major.  Anyway, we all know from this and Nirvana Medley (which he also arranged) that the man has talent and had an AWESOME head of hair. Kudos to Jerome.

The guys' performance is awesome. I love the way the guys run on and off the stage. It's appropriately coltish for a college a cappella group. Jason's reeling in bit when they sang "fall for that old line" is great panto. The part where they pretend to hang themselves with their Oct-ties is particularly funny (though, I was worried about how realistic Jerome's 'hanging' was. Dude.) Rick and Parker dancing with each other was also so funny. Kudos to the guys and their performance.

This Medley is love. My personal story is that I dated a guy who was very much like the "How could you believe me" type. Here's the thing. The guy was a jerk, but he was soooo cute and could talk his way into and out of anything. I knew he was a jerk. I dated him and thought he had 'changed for me", which he didn't. He was a lying cheat. I was a fool. Point taken. I learned my lesson. And yet, I still love this song and the guys who sing it.

I believe I have mentioned before that I enjoy listening to the original versions of Octet arrangements in order to better appreciate what the guys can do, and since I couldn't find much in the way of YouTube quotes, I figured I would introduce Octet fans to the idea of comparison, especially for 'lesser known' songs...are the songs in Liar Medley lesser known? They are to me.

I thought I would be able to find the song that goes with the beginning. The "My mother used to say...." bit. I actually heard the song during an episode of Fibber McGee and Molly after I had heard the Octet version. I was sitting on my bed and knitting a shawl (Vanna's Choice Drop Stitch Shawl from Lion Brand. I used a worsted weight yarn and biggish 9? needles - it turned out fine in case you're wondering. And my gramma loves it!) when I heard the tune during a musical interlude between acts. It was the prelude to a sort of 'Beauty's Only Skin Deep' type monologue, a man towards his girlfriend/wife (memory not so good), basically saying the she used false advertising in the looks and personality department. This was waaay before I imagined the Octet blog, and Fibber McGee and Molly ran from the mid 30's to sometime in the 50's. I've heard every show, but unfortunately I am not able to locate that piece again. I'll try to go through the episodes and if/when I find it, I will post it to the site. It's quite funny.
So, the first song is called It's a Sin To Tell a Lie, by and it performed by both Fats Waller and the Ink Spots. Both take the songs into different directions. Fats Waller's version is very much jazzy/ragtime with some great piano 'riffs'. I'm not musical, so I am not sure that is totally correct. I do know that it charted at number 5 in 1935. Kudos to Fats Waller. You da man.
 
The Ink Spots version of "It's Sin To Tell A Lie" was recorded only a few years later in November 1941, and released in January 1942. I'm not sure how it did on the charts, probably not too well since I was unable to find it using internet search tools. If you listen it's a much different sound than the original recording but still quite effective, and the falsetto at the end just blows my mind. It does the Octet proud to be able to select from terrific music. Kudos Ink Spots.
The official title of the third song in the Liar Medley is "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life?" Yeah. It's officially the longest song title in an MGM movie,(which leads me to believe that there's an even longer title in another movie by some other movie company, but it's nearly dinner-time and I'm done doing reasearch) and that movie is pretty well known to movie buffs or people who watch AMC at all. Royal Wedding features this song as a duet between the a-maze-ing Fred Astaire (OMG Love) and Jane Powell (Love 2) Nice bit of arranging, changing the duet into a...um, don't know what it's called when you change a duet into not a duet. Someone musical may know. So, instead of it being accusatory by the woman and explanatory by the guy, it's full on  braggery-swaggery by the guy. And the Octet is totally a guy group- which is why I love them. Kudos Fred and Jane...
Kermit D. Frog and A Rat-woman...OMG HATE! If it were Miss Piggy, maybe, but it's a rat-woman. See how execution is so important! No Kudos Kermit and She-rat. In fact, your Kudos goes to everyone else. From me, you get a grimace. :S
Almost forgot...BoRhap is coming up on 2 Million views. I predict it will reach Two Mil by Friday. I'm often wrong, so I'll keep an eye out and keep you posted as well. Godspeed, Octet.

-k bye. Me.
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First, a few words from YouTubers.
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And me?

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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.



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