Played-List, Singing Groups special

This is what I have in my notes; I fully expect to revise it as I go over it. But this is how it went :

When I Needed Him Most -- Blind Boys of Alabama
Heaven's Joy Awaits -- Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
A Voice From On High -- Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys
Helplessly Hoping -- Crosby Stills Nash
Down to the River to Pray -- Alison Krauss (fr. 'O Brother')
All Is Well -- Ollabelle
An tAiseirl (the Resurrection) -- Noirin Ni Riain
Blue Shadows On the Trail -- Roy Rogers / Sons of the Pioneers
(unspecified)
Oklahoma Wind -- Tonic Sol-Fa
Very Last Day -- Peter Paul & Mary
Tone-Whole -- Just 4 Kicks
Poppity-Pop -- Just 4 Kicks
Vinterlude -- Take 6
If I Fell -- the Essentials
Why I Feel This Way -- Take 6 / Stevie Wonder
I Believe -- Take 6
++ [start of interview with Alvin Chea, bass singer of Take 6]
Harmony -- Take 6 / Queen Latifah
You Can Make It - Go On -- Take 6
++ [end of Chea interview]
Gypsy Woman -- the Persuasions
Inside Of You -- Ray Goodman & Brown
(You Gave Me) Peace Of Mind -- Johnny Maestro & the Brooklyn Bridge
Everything's Coming Up Roses -- Realtime
Pretty Baby -- Sean Altman
Zombie Jamboree -- Rockapella
++ [ start of interview with Sean Altman, founding member of Rockapella ]
Under the Boardwalk -- Rockapella w. True Image (fr. Spike & Co. Do It Acappella)
Secret Santa -- the GrooveBarbers
U'vnay Yerusalayim -- Kol Zimra
Change In My Life -- Rockapella
++ [ end of Altman interview ]
South American Getaway -- soundtrack of Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
[several other songs)
How Many Psychiatrists -- P.D.Q Bach
2 -- m-pact
++ [ start of interview with Trist Ethan Curless of m-pact ]
I Thought You Cared For Me -- m-pact
My Favorite Things -- m-pact
What Are You Doing the Rest Of Your Life -- m-pact
++ [ end of Curless interview ]
(something or other)
Tal Vez Seja Voce -- Groove Society
Rockin' Chair -- the Mills Brothers
We Three (My Echo, My Shadow, and Me) -- the Ink Spots
Uncloudy Day -- Staple Singers
Morse Code of Love -- the Capris
All Mine (acappella mix) -- the Five Satins
In the Still Of the Night -- the Five Satins
Vowels of Love -- the Poets
Silence Is Golden -- the Four Seasons
Whispering Bells -- the Dell Vikings
You've Really Got A Hold On Me -- Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
Papa Was A Rolling Stone -- the Temptations
Lovers Never Say Goodbye -- the Flamingos
Splanky -- Toxic Audio
Amazing Grace / Nearer My God -- Ladysmith Black Mambazo w. Emmylou Harris

------------------------------------

The interviews, esp. Chea, were so good I had to let them run on. I didn't get to soooo much stuff, including segments on the Mint Juleps, the Ravens, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, as well as songs from the Beach Boys, Prelude, Dixie Hummingbirds, Comedian Harmonists, and some 1990s improv from Extempo. Both time and weather shot down the idea of a jam (maybe during the fall?)

Any questions? Make a comment.

Chea, Altman on singing group radio special

It's pretty much official now for the April 15 singing groups special on WUSB 90.1FM on Lon Guyland, or wusb.fm on webcast. The following phone interviews are on :
( all times in Eastern Daylight (New York) Time )

Alvin Chea of Take 6, 1:30 pm

Sean Altman, founding member of Rockapella, 2:30 pm

Trist Curless of m-pact, 3:30 pm.

Attempts at setting up live have taken a back seat because of the bad weather forecasted for Long Island.

In any event, there will be no lack of great music. I have my digi copy of "All Mine" (Five Satins), my greatest prize. I will find myself a better copy of "South American Getaway" (Butch Cassidy soundtrack). And the Black Mambazo segment is all set up. Fun, fun, FUN. Be there or be octagonal.

Singing Groups, II -- In Harmony

Yes, we've got another radio special coming up April 15 at 12:30-5 pm, on wusb.fm. Music to do taxes by.

I can say with complete assurance that there will be great recorded group music, from a wide range of styles.. Switching leads, unison, fugues, gospel, world, but most importantly harmonies. A whole lot of WOW.

I'm also piecing together a live music segment, for acappella bands from Metro NY/coastal western CT. If that's your band's home base and you want to be involved, leave me word in the comments here.

If you're a fan of the music, the wusb.fm site has a link to the live webcast. So if you're an acappella fan in California, Seattle, Jo'burg, or Dalmatia, you've got no excuses. You can listen in.

Oh -- if you like what you hear, donate to the station; there's a form at the website, or call 631-632-6901.

Three Days experiences

The Three Days (or, to Catholics, the Triduum -- uh, hello, Latin's dead?) always gets to me. Not that the design of the services helps a whole lot. Good intentions, I'm sure, but it's more important to get the feeling of gloom and darkness on Good Friday than to read a bulletin. Have just enough light to get to a seat, perhaps with an usher's help. It's something to experience, so you can explain it afterward, if you wish, but pre-explanations dull the impact. I realize most traditions read the whole ending up to Jesus' death on Maundy Thursday, but shouldn't the service focus on Thursday's events, the last supper and the betrayal? The Good Friday, Easter Vigil, and Easter services have their own special emphases, even when seen as continuations of each other. Use the stream of continuity to take people through the days -- a mental pilgrimage traveling through the Gospel story. You can't get that experience by overtly tipping the hand (that's where symbolism and allusion can help).

Only once has an Easter Vigil given me the sense of anticipation or waiting for God to act. That once was where it happened in the early morning before sunrise. (Sparsely-attended, of course; just three church women, 6 theology students, an Episcopal vicar, a Vineyard minister, and me.) It led right into the praise music hour that led up to the somewhat-high Episcopal Easter sunrise service at 7 am. It made me think of the Marys who went to the tomb, the loss they were feeling, the surprise they had when they got there, the joy at the incredible news. In a way, I entered into what they went through, by way of the flow of the worship services. Unfortunately, it also left me totally spoiled.

The congregation I'm a member of has a fairly good time of it on Easter. The place is full of balloons and butterfly cut-outs and vigorously-loud organ music. My worst Easter experience was about 12 or so years ago, when I was visiting a church in New Jersey I had heard good things about some 8 years earlier. (I was on my way back to Long Island from Maryland, and chose a church to go to along the way.) Unfortunately, 8 years can be a long time when there's a lot of change going on. The newly-hired pastor was doing his first Easter service there (he'd served nearby for 5 years, arrived a month or so ago). Have you ever been to a service where noone gets it? The music was noise with no flow, no harmonies, and a relentless tone of "look at me, I'm saying God loves me". The lectors talked almost like robots from the old sci-fi movies. The assistant looked and acted like she had snorted a whole bag of coke, with the ghastliest painted-on grin -- I giggle thinking about it. The pastor had obviously used the sermon before, I suspect so he could feel more comfortable in his new surroundings. He should've burned it. He spoke as much of TV shows as Jesus. And he was having great trouble reading his sermon -- meanings can change greatly by mistaking one letter. Two of the mistakes were rather racy - freudian slips, perhaps? The acolyte stumbled twice -- once over the robe, once from playing around with the crucifix. There was even a sharp but indirect reference to the firing of the previous minister. (Even the sharpest of visitors should never be able to detect that during a worship service). Of course, I was totally ignored on the way in and out, since I am a stranger.

Yes, Holy Week has its lessons.