ICCA Midwest Quarterfinal at Michigan State University
Brent Chismark is a Michigan State University alumnus. This is his first review for The A Cappella Blog.
A remarkable change of venue is the first thing to note about the 2010 ICCA Midwest Quarterfinal in East Lansing, MI. Since my time as an undergraduate at MSU at the start of the Millennium, all the ICCA shows that took place at Michigan State University have been on-campus. This year, the venue was moved to the John Hannah Community Center, about a half-mile north of the University. I was initially apprehensive about the suitability of a community center for an ICCA show, though it had promise as far as available free parking was concerned.
However, once inside, the White Performing Arts Theater has a lot to offer an ICCA Quarterfinal--standard theatrical seating and better acoustics and light than the on-campus Fairchild Theatre for sure. The balcony section provided an excellent place for the event coordinators to corral the performing groups, while still giving them a great view of the show, and provided them a direct path to and from stage. Down below, as the show began, the available ground seats were mostly full, taking into account all the various roped-off seats for judges and timekeeper.
Our emcees for the night were MSU’s Spartan Dischords, known for their boisterous brand of on-stage antics. They opened the show with Jay Sean’s “Down”, which integrated “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. Then, after the requisite rules summary, the first competitor took the stage.
Smooth Benediction is a mixed group from Mount Marty College, a private Catholic institution in South Dakota. Undoubtedly the farthest travelers of the day (at 800 miles), they only retained a slightly haggard appearance from their long trip. Their set followed the typical “Holy Trinity” (no pun intended) of upbeat, down-tempo, and rock-out, interspersed with some preacher-inspired intros. Their final song, an arrangement of George Michael’s “Faith” was pretty well received, especially when the lead was interrupted Kanye-style by another group member. While injecting a moment of laughter, it seemed a little out-of-place. However, when they got going again with a fumbled key change, the stunt just came off as an attempt at misdirection while they tried to nail that key change.
Next up was the GMen from the University of Michigan. Sporting their customized GMen jerseys, they took the stage with Guster’s “Careful”. It has been a few years since I last heard this now 15-year-old men’s group, but they have definitely stepped up their game in the last few years as they were the tightest I had heard them. Strong bass presence on the mic--probably the best of the night--great choreography and solid arranging were particular highlights. Their arrangement of Queen’s “(Crazy Little) Thing Called Love”, was arranged in a 60’s lounge style, with 50’s inspired choreography and an Elvis Presley lead standing down-right with the ensemble arranged in two rows center stage. The choreography here was especially well-done and reminiscent of perennial ICCA competitor U of I Xtension Chords.
Our third competitor was Euphoria from Michigan’s Grand Valley State University. The first group to take the stage in all-black, these men and women used colored ties and scarves to avoid the “floating head” problem all too common with monochromatic wardrobe on the competition stage. Euphoria brought us solid lineup of strong R&B and R&B-influenced pop, but the bass section’s lack of experience with microphones shone through. While the vocal percussionist was clearly at home on the mic, the bass was all but silent for the entirety of the set, hurting their overall sound. In spite of this, they had great solo work all around. A gentleman from my CAL group who joined me in the audience has a soft spot in his heart for soulful female belters and essentially melted into his seat when Euphoria’s belter joined center stage toward the end of Mariah Carey’s “You’ll Always Be My Baby”.
The University of Michigan’s most recognized and decorated group, Amazin’ Blue, rounded out the first half of the night. If there was a special award for “Best Dressed”, it would have gone to them hands-down, with the guys in tuxedos, and the ladies all in dresses of a rich wine color. Their set was equally top-notch, starting with U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name”, which the lead carried well even without the reverb that the sound guy threw on. After a rendition of “Heart of the Matter (Forgiveness)” as performed by India Arie, Blue ended their set with “December ‘63” aka “Oh What A Night”, originally by the Four Seasons. A popular classic rock anthem, emulating Frankie Valli’s vocals is a challenge to all leads that attempt it. Most times, a poor mix between a male lead’s falsetto and upper register leads to a jarring performance, and sadly Amazin’ Blue’s was no exception, though offset in some ways by how well he owned his awkward and sometimes spastic gyrations during the song.
The second half started with an update from the Spartan Dischords on the MSU basketball win, then a rousing rendition of the MSU Alma Mater and Fight Song, which served as an appropriate segue to MSU’s own Capital Green. Capital Green’s set started out with Matt Nathanson’s “Car Crash”, which was performed very well, though not without an unacknowledged sense of irony as members of University of Wisconsin’s Fundamentally Sound, originally scheduled to compete, were involved in a collision during their trip to East Lansing and were thus unable to participate. Remaining technically tight through their set, they performed Sara Bareilles’ “Between the Lines” and closed with “All the Above” originally by Maino, which surprised me, since they routinely pick up speed each time the refrain comes up.
Next up was University of Illinois’s No Comment, a mixed group founded in 2004. Unfortunately true to their name, they turned in a mostly unremarkable performance. While technically adept, their arrangements felt overly simple. Their soloist on Kelly Clarkson’s “Beautiful Disaster” was a stand-out, however their standing order rotation immediately following it was excessively protracted and exaggerated, soliciting an awkward laugh from the crowd. Perhaps the group felt that such a mechanical swap-around was somehow apropos, but the reason behind this was lost on me.
The competitors’ portion was closed out by the University of Illinois Rip Chords whose ladies put on a solid performance, though they suffered from the normal hallmarks of arranging for all-women’s groups. Bass lines were frequently too low for their basses, causing them to bend their pitch sharp. Their final song, Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” suffered the most, when after the late upward key change, the chord structure forced the basses to shift up and out of their low registers, leaving the final refrain without the strong bass line which had permeated the arrangement to that point. These things aside, the overall mix and complexity of their arrangements was what we expect from one of the most noted all-female groups in the Midwest.
With all competitors finished, the time had come for the interminable wait for scores. Throughout the show, the Spartan Dischords had established a good rhythm, giving the judges an appropriate amount of time to score each group and finish their last comments. The MC groups in general at the ICCA competitions I’ve been to in the past tend to be pretty hit-or-miss, but the Spartan Dischords managed to keep thing moving and realize when their intermediate banter was falling flat.
Their “deliberation” set consisted of them singing a couple songs in their characteristic way--making wisecracks and homoerotic allusions during the length of each song. They then invited a vocal percussionist from each group onstage to take part in the infamously clichéd “Beatbox Competition” or as the Spartan Dischords termed it, the “Beat-Off”. This is, of course, an idea that was novel the first time it was done several years ago, but now that nearly every Midwest ICCA (and ICHSA) show features this time killer, it has quickly reached the point of intolerability.
However, this night’s might go down in history as one of the best beatbox competitions I have seen. One of the groups had an underutilized secret weapon, known only to them (and anyone like me who researched the groups before the show). His name is Nick Michalek, and he is the beatboxer for Euphoria. He also goes under the stage name “DJ Phazer”. Humbly standing as the third from the last participant, the Spartan Dischord MCing the competition nearly went limp when DJ Phazer dropped his first sonic bomb and then proceeded to own the remainder of the unofficial competition, bringing the house to their feet.
Clearly the presumptive winner, some chatter around me wondered why he hadn’t shown his real chops during the judged portion. It seemed pretty clear to me that Euphoria (and DJ Phazer along with them) were under no illusion that the judges would respond favorably to one Beatboxer overshadowing the whole group.
Deliberation complete, the judges special awards were given as follows:
Outstanding Soloist went to Sarah Farkesian of No Comment for “Beautiful Disaster”. Outstanding Choreography went to the University of Michigan GMen for “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” Outstanding Vocal Percussion went to Tony Pachella and Tom Hu of the GMen for their combo work on “Careful.” An award for Outstanding Arrangement was not given.
This led to the final rankings. Second Runner-up with 315 points was the University of Illinois Rip Chords. First Runner-up, also advancing to Regional Competition was the University of Michigan GMen with 364 points. University of Michigan Amazin’ Blue took top honors with 384 points.
I look forward to the results of the other Midwest Quarterfinals at Northwestern University, Missouri State, and Washington University-St. Louis, and seeing the winning groups from those competitions join Amazin’ Blue and the GMen at the Midwest Semifinal in March at the University of Michigan’s Michigan Theater. Congratulations to the GMen and Amazin’ Blue and, of course, to all those who picked them in the ACB Bracket Contest.