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. 
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This was going to be longer, but I am going to bed early with a migrane. Sorry. On the other hand, Merry Christmas!
 
Updated December 25th @ 1:45 a.m. I went to bed pretty early and woke up nearly headache free, so I thought I'd add more to the blog because the Octet deserve a nice holiday post, dontcha think, Octet fans?
This is a beautiful rendition of Silent Night, with awesome photos of the Octet! Yeah, boys. It even has some of the ICCA awards they won. Apparently there is an award for best choreography. And, from the picture above, it seems that they like to have fun together. Party at the Octet place!
The 2008-09 Octet sings Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I love how they sing "Like a lightbulb!" even when it's the wrong phrase. And the speeded up version was awesome. There is a video of the '07 (I believe) Octet singing Rudolph during Super Sproul, but they messed up a little bit. This version was a little cleaner. That being said, Sproul is supposd to be more improvised, and messing up is okay when you're just having fun.
On a personal note, when I was a kid, I had the opportunity to sing this song for the Girls Club Christmas Pagent. My performance was nowhere as entertaining as this. In fact it may have been painful for some people.
Mr. Grinch was performed on/at Sproul Plaza. I'm never really sure if it's On Sproul Plaza or at Sproul Plaza...which is pretty much why I don't usually write about Sproul. The Octet and other Berkeley a cappella groups (the Tones and AiR for instance) perform every week on/at Sproul. The Octet dudes perform on Wednesday at 1 pm, (I think) for FREE, if that's an incentive to people in the area to see them.

About this video. Great Bass, Nice Choreo and the red pajama bottoms - OMG LOVE!
This is the current Octet singing Silver Bells (and someone next to the camera is doing homework or opening a candy wrapper). Keith M is on the solo. He's been in the group for awhile, but with the haircut, I thought he was a new guy. They did get a new guy named Aroon. Don't they sound pretty?  I certainly think so.
No, this isn't th Octet. This is Straight No Chaser (SNC), who are an a cappella group from Indiana U. They also competed against the Octet in (I believe) 2000 when the Octet were the ICCA champions. 

If it weren't for this video, I would have never found the Octet. SNC are famous now, because of YouTube. They were able to get a record contract because of the popularity of this and other SNC songs (Including "This Is How We Do It" - which was removed from YouTube because of a copywrite issue, and was recently returned to their channel. Have a listen to that song, as it rocks the Casbah).

I must say, I prefer  the Octet. They dress better and (because of KennyK), each member of the Octet was introduced to the YouTube audience, so it's kind of like we know them. I still don't know any of the SNC guys' names, and they have a slick & fancy website. Anyway, 12 Days will always have a place in my heart because it's good solid a cappella singing. Enjoy.
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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!
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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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Back again! Didja miss me? Hello? Is this thing on?

Anyway, I've been pretty busy with the site since the last post. It would probably be easier if I read the instructions before jumping into trying to add content, but that's not what I do. Which is why it takes me 2 or 3 tries to post a picture.

I've also let some of the YouTube fans know that the site is up and being updated. Hopefully they have checked it out (and will make use of things like the forum. I'd really like to see if/how it works...and it would be kind of pathetic to post shoutouts all my my lonesome.) I'm contemplating which video I should comment on as I type, so this is basically small talk before the main event. Hmmm...So, did anyone check out the gallery? It's pretty hot.

Also, if you're on twitter, facebook or YouTube, I would love to have you as friends (if you're Octet fans). All of these are on my "Contact Me" Page.  The more the merrier, I always say. Well, actually, I never say that. But people do. Lots of people.

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.




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Octet Park 05/30/2009
 

Aaaaand, I'm back. I've updated the Octet Art Page with some new Octet South Park Characters. Um, I think they look pretty good considering the templates and paint program I had to work with. Here's a sample of my work...

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It's Kenny...okay, so maybe it's lame, but at the time I thought it was inspired! There are more Octet dudes on the Octet Art Page. I even included the Eighth one. Brandon. Yeah - at least it's how I imagine him. :)

This is where I should have started in the first post - at the very beginning...it's a very good place to start. To be honest, I didn't watch the opening video until I was well into Octet Fandom, which is too bad. It introduces the Octet Dudes with skill and humor and lets the audience hear the Octet singing Cal Songs and Princess Papouli. Plus, we get a glimpse of Brandon, the eighth Octet guy.
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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.

I suppose the first thing I should let you know is how I got so obsessed with the Octet (My friend E-Spot calls them my "little sickness", but that should be taken as a diagnosis of a perfectly sane person.).

It started in about November of 2008, and I was looking for some Christmas songs to jolly my scrooge-y friends into the holiday spirit when I found a video by Straight No Chaser, which are an a cappella group from Indiana U...they had a song called 12 Days which I ended up posting on a message board. I was amazed at 12 Days and watched it alot!

So, as I watched 12 Days, I saw, under 'related videos', "Not Pretty Enough" and the unforgettably adorkable face of Rick Wood!  I got curious and clicked on the video. I thought Not Pretty Enough was the Best video Ever. Rick Wood was a fantastic singer, and so funny + all the great stuff the guys were doing in the background made me smile. :) Though my first thougts of the other guys was that they were mean. Sorry other Octo-dudes. I didn't know. 
 
And, to be honest, I didn't even realize that the Octet only had seven members until some other YouTube poster pointed it out. 

So, Not Pretty Enough was the video that made me an Octet fan & Rick Wood, he's gorgeous!

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UC Men's Octet, Men's A Cappella, Music, Fan Page