The ACB ICCA Mid-Atlantic Quarterfinal at Nazareth College
On Saturday, February 27, a dream came true for The A Cappella Blog crew. After attending dozens of ICCA shows over the years, the blog staff had the opportunity to host its very own ICCA quarterfinal. The result was one heck of a night, filled with good music, good friends and a good time to be had by all.
A call to arms
It all started when the Varsity Vocals organization put out the call on its website, seeking a host for a Mid-Atlantic quarterfinal. It didn’t take long for ACB Production Manager Mike Scalise to get on the phone with Content Manager Mike Chin with an idea.
As an alum and current employee of Nazareth College, Scalise had a number of connections at the school, not the least of which was a tie to Naz’s only all-female a cappella group Call4BackUp.
Working with Nazareth colleagues Jamie Fazio and Sara Rusick, Scalise and Call4BackUp secured a time and venue, and, working with ICCA Director of College A Cappella Programming Lindsay Howerton sured up the details for the event.
A retreat
In late December, The A Cappella Blog had its first organizational retreat. While there was plenty of preparation for the 2010 publication season, and new features like the group directory and ICCA bracket contest, without fail, the conversation returned to the ACB ICCA show. Preparation included everything from meeting with the sound guy (S.O.L. Productions offered a bargain rate, and all the experience and wisdom that comes from past work with Rockappella and number of collegiate groups); organizing a publicity campaign through Facebook, Craigslist, emails, flyers and more; developing a PowerPoint presentation to keep the audience entertained before the show began; recruiting volunteers; and designing t-shirts for the event staff.
A guest act
A couple weeks before the show, it came to The ACB’s attention that The Sing-Off champions, NOTA would be performing a fundraiser in Rochester, NY the day after the ICCA show. Within minutes, Chin was on the phone with the fundraiser’s
organizers. Later that day, he began a series of communications with NOTA’s booking agent. It was time to talk dollars and cents before long, which led to Scalise scouring Nazareth College for funding. After much ado, the money available and the scheduling just didn’t quite line-up. As great as the guest act may have been, The ACB moved on undeterred, preparing for the show.
The day of the show
Scalise and Chin spent the morning of the show picking up cases of water for groups, organizing their clipboards, going over their emcee notes, and generally preparing for the day ahead. And then, the email came in. ICCA Producer David Rabizadeh had arrived in Rochester, but had learned that morning that one of the evening’s judges would not be able to make it through the winter snow to Nazareth College that night.
Fortunately, ACB contributor and University of Rochester Vocal Point alumna Gen Chawluk was on hand to volunteer for the day and serve as a timekeeper that night. After some back and forth, a phone interview, and a little shuffling, Chawluk had the opportunity to adjudicate her first ICCA show, offering her considerable knowledge to the event—but also leaving the team down one volunteer, as she was thenceforth sequestered to avoid contact with the competitors.
Our volunteer team was more than up to the task, though. Between Call4BackUp and their friends, the ultimate go-getter Mike Peek, photographer extraordinaire Will Browar, ticket manager Sara Rusick and others, the afternoon proceeded without a hitch, leading up to an evening of superb a cappella.
Competition time
Penn State None of the Above opened the competition with “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)” originally by Nine Days. It was a really fun performance, featuring a ton of choreography, to get the evening off to a great start.
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Speaking of choreography, no one was about to show up Lehigh University’s all-male A Whole Step Up. The guys closed their set with “Afternoon Delight,” complete with poses and lifts for a performance that ultimately earned them outstanding choreography honors for the night.
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The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rusty Pipes kicked the competition t into high gear with a really polished performance. Frankly, it was really surprising to see the group go home sans any awards or placement. Their rendition of “Feelin’ Good” was particularly strong.
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SUNY Potsdam A Sharp Arrangement turned in an entertaining set themselves, capped off with a Spice Girls medley that took everyone back in time a dozen or so years.
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Continuing the all-female trend were The Syracuse University Mandarins. The girls turned in, quite arguably, the most musically sound set of the night, which they kicked off with Imogen Heap’s “Just For Now.”
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After intermission, it was time for University of Rochester After Hours--one of the nicest groups that came to Naz that day, and a group Chin was especially excited to present to the crowd, as they had commissioned him to rap their intro. The group went on to perform a solid set, highlighted by a really pretty rendering of Ingrid Michaelson’s “The Chain” as the middle song.
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Carnegie Mellon University Counterpoint came on next. The truest highlight of their set came when soloist Julia Gebhardt made “Halo” her own in a performance that ultimately earned her outstanding soloist honors for the evening.
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No stars would shine brighter than Rutgers University’s Casual Harmony, opening with Counting Crows’ “American Girls,” before kicking their set into high gear with “Eleanor Rigby” and wrapping up strong on “Butterfly.” The guys weren’t as choreographed as they had been in recent years, but still brought their usual blend of energy, power and impeccable sound to the stage.
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It would be the SUNY Potsdam Pitches who closed out the competition. It was another memorable set, highlighted by an off-beat finish with the wildly staged “Smooth Criminal,” by the end of which the majority of the group lay prone on the floor—having been hit by, having been struck by—well, you know the rest.
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Casual Harmony came out on top, and will be joined by runners up After Hours for the Mid-Atlantic semifinals at Rutgers next month. The Rutgers guys closed out the night with an encore performance of Ray LaMontagne’s “You Are The Best Thing.”
The next day…
Though The ACB could not bring NOTA to Nazareth, the crew still got to celebrate a successful show over brunch the next day, and meet the Sing-Off stars.
You can check videos from the show on our Youtube page, and check out many more photos through our Facebook fan page.