Rockapella at TC Williams High School

Alexandria, Va

It had been something like one and a half years since I'd last been to a Rockapella concert. They did come back to the Birchmere in February of 1999, but I was at a retreat in Maryland and couldn't make it. So when I found out that they were coming to Alexandria again, I leaped at the opportunity to see them, despite the fact that I had no idea where the high school was. Should be easy enough to find, I thought. (Actually, it was; the hard part was finding a place to park.) When ordering tickets, I found out that the boys would be sharing the stage with a barbershop group called the Alexandria Harmonizers. I'm not wild about the barbershop style of singing, but I didn't really care whom they were double billed with as long as I got to see Rockapella. I was in major withdrawal at this point. There were two shows scheduled, one for Friday and one for Saturday, so naturally I went to both. I was not disappointed. Rockapella, though they are rapidly rising in the public awareness due largely to the Folgers commercial (my co-workers all know them as "those Folgers guys that Jessica likes"), have not changed one iota. They are still great singers and great guys. It was a pleasure to meet and talk with them again.

So on to the concert already. As you can see above, the setlists were mostly the same for each night, but the between-song banter tended to differ. So I will attempt to review both nights on one page. I don't know how well it's going to work, so bear with me.

First, I have to mention the host group, the Harmonizers. A barbershop group of about one hundred or so men, they surprised me in a good way. As I said, I'm generally not fond of barbershop music, but these guys I couldn't help but like. For such a large group they were very animated and fun to watch. And they sounded good. I still don't really like barbershop, but I would probably go to see the Harmonizers again.

The Harmonizers sang the first half, with Rockapella taking the second half, each group averaging about an hour and ten minutes both nights. About halfway through their set, the Harmonizers introduced a quartet called Hijinx. The four men were all Harmonizers and they sang a couple songs, one of them Let's Get Away From it All. At the time I thought, Wouldn't it be funny if Rockapella decides to sing this song, too? We'll find out just how funny it was in a bit.

After Rockapella had been announced, Scott strolled onto the stage alone, singing the first verse of I Am Your Man. He was soon joined by Kevin on the chorus, then the rest of the group came out and put the song in full swing. This was a nice, mellow way to open the set, but I have to say I miss the way they did this number before, with first Kevin, then Elliott stealing the spotlight from Scott.

From I Am Your Man, Scott introduced the band and explained their name, then swung directly into Dancing in the Streets, where all but Barry display their best dance moves. To this day I have never gotten a picture of Barry's "What?" since I am always too busy trying to capture Scott's breakdancing.

Now Barry gave us a more thorough introduction of the band, Scott the highest, most stratospheric tenor, Kevin the second highest most stratospheric tenor, and so on. Finally, he said, "In case you couldn't guess, I'm Barry, I'm the bass, I hope you had that figured out or else you'll really be confused."

Next came So Much Better and then Let's Get Away From it All. Both nights Elliott intro-ed the latter by saying that Rockapella's roots were "mired" in barbershop singing. ("Did I say mired? I didn't mean to.") When they had first formed their group at Brown University, they sang primarily barbershop music, "and then we sort of took a strange left turn, and started singing on the street for money." The second night Elliott reminded us that that Rockapella had had its start as an eight-man a cappella group at Brown called the High Jinks. And, of course, they also sing Let's Get Away.

Next they sang a Scott-sings-lead song which is not really new, but I had never heard it before. It was called Use Me, the key line of which is, "If it feels this good being used, you can keep on using me till you use me up." Whoa! I immediately liked it; infer what you want from that. My favourite moment was when Barry sang the line, "till you use me up," in his trademark bass voice, and Scott put a hand to his throat with an expression that said, "Did I do that?" He looked back at Barry, who looked over his shoulder as if to say, "Who, me? I didn't do anything."

The debut performance of the next song, Barry told us, was at the Bottom Line club in New York, and after they came backstage, their manager confronted them and said, "Please, don't ever sing that song again."

"Why?" Barry demanded, since it was his solo. (He doesn't get that many after all.)

"Because it's corny!" the manager protested.

"Well, that's why I like it," Barry countered. "It's got several things going for it: it's corny, it's low, and it's a Tennessee Ernie Ford song and he's the only person I could ever sing along with."

The song was Sixteen Tons, which I happen to like, so I say that corniness is in the ear of the listener.

Next came Moments of You, their most recent newly-recorded song, which they also sang on the Folgers float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Following that was A Change in My Life, originally written for Rockapella by Billy Straus, and then used in the movie Leap of Faith.

Speaking of Folgers, Elliott now announced that someone had stopped him on the way in and asked if they would sing the Folgers commercial, at which Scott balked. "We don't like to mix art and commerce," Elliott commented.

"This is a tasteful crowd," Scott pointed out the first night. "I'm sure they don't want to hear that."

"Well, one person here does," Elliott said.

"One person does?" Scott considered this while we cheered to indicate our approval. Finally he said, "It's not right. I don't think we should. Okay, let's do it." The second night he didn't protest as much. He just said, "You really want to do it? Okay, I hope I can remember it."

So they sang the commercial. Then Elliott told us that they have a new one coming out which would start airing during the Macy's parade. This one (which, yes, I have seen and taped) combines the themes Folgers, Rockapella, and the Holidays. So they sang that one, too, with Jeff doing vocal jingle bells. Is there anything he can't imitate?

Commercialism now done with, Elliott pointed out the line in the first ad, "It's the doo wop, doo wop in all I do." (I suspect that these doo wop, shoo wops were put in there because they had trouble coming up with things to sing about coffee.) Elliott told us that despite this line, Rockapella doesn't like to be thought of as a du wop group. As he put it, "We're not a du wop group, and this next song is not a du wop song." So saying, they proceeded to sing something like this, "ba dooba dooba dooba wop bop shuwanna wanna bop shuwanna wanna bop shuwanna doo wah, this isn't du wop!" the last line being delivered by Barry. The song, I eventually figured out, was Don't Do It, which the Carmen Sandiego fans (like me) might recognize as the "so long, loser" song.

Now Kevin came down into the audience saying, "This is the time I get to see all your beautiful faces. Of course, I can't see much of anything with the spotlight in my eyes, but I know y'all are really good looking!" He kept walking until he was out of the spotlight, then turned around and started talking to people. He came up to one girl and asked her name.

"Bashful!" was the reply.

"Bashful?" he said. "Would you come with me, Bashful?"

Once on stage, we learned that the young lady was Cindy from New Jersey, and she was to be the Pretty Woman of the evening. She didn't really seem all that bashful on stage, even going so far as to squeeze Scott's bicep when he assumed his muscle man pose. Scott seemed a little shocked. After the obligatory dance with Scott, then Kevin, Cindy was given a copy of the new CD and escorted back to her seat. As Kevin came back onto the stage, Barry asked him, "Was that bashful?"

"No, that's not what I call bashful," Kevin said. "That's what I call 'get down'!"

That was the first night. The second night the Pretty Woman was a slightly older lady named Paige. She was from Alexandria and we later learned was friends with some of the Harmonizers. "Is that big guy sitting next to you your boyfriend?" Kevin asked as he brought her up on stage. She answered in the negative.

Once Kevin had her seated on a stool in the spotlight, he noted aloud how her light blue sweater caught the colour of her eyes. "I wish everyone could see how beautiful Paige's eyes are right now," he said. So Jeff came forward to stare at them. "You're sure that big guy isn't your boyfriend?" Kevin asked anxiously.

Now here is where the setlists branch off from each other. The first night Scott told us that they would be trying out a couple of brand new songs that were still a little weak, "so if you have to go to the restroom, now would be a good time." I have to assume that both songs were written by Scott; they both featured him on lead. The first song was called This isn't Love, a beautiful ballad-style song similar to the other ballads that Scott is famed for.

The second one, called People Change, was a little different. Written kind of in the same style as Don't Tell Me You Do (my all-time favourite Rockapella song), it started with Scott singing the melody alone, then added the bass and percussion lines, then the rest.

I was sitting there thinking how beautiful the effect was when Vince (my brother) leaned over and whispered, "This has the same bass line as Pachelbel's Canon."

How cool! I thought.

Vince, ever the skeptic, cornered Scott after the concert and demanded to know who's idea it was to do that. "It was my idea," Scott told him. "Who'd you think? I was a voice major. I went to music school."

On the second night, instead of singing the new songs, they sang Long Cool Woman with C. Scott Leonard…IV singing lead. I love watching this one and I was so glad I came to both shows.

I should here note that on the second night, though not the first, the Harmonizers' representative made the announcement that flash photography was not permitted. What? I thought, more than a little miffed. I took pictures last night and they didn't stop me. I stewed over that for the whole first half, then during intermission decided, The heck with it, I brought my camera and film, and I'm going to take pictures of Rockapella regardless of what the Harmonizers say. I had never had any qualms about it before, but during this song I started to take a picture when the guys were all standing sideways with arms crossed on their chests, and just as I clicked the shutter, Scott turned forward and walked right into the flash. He winced and I was immediately worried that I'd thrown him off. I spoke to him afterward and asked him if the flash had bothered him, offering my sincerest apologies if it had.

He thought about it, then said, "No, I don't even remember that, so it must not have bothered me. I've never really been bothered by cameras during a concert, so if you want to take pictures just flash away."

I realize this was a perfect straight line, but I hadn't the presence of mind to come up with a witty reply. My point is, Scott says he doesn't mind flashing cameras, so I will continue bringing mine to concerts.

At this point both nights came what I like to call the Tinkerbell schtick. Scott complained that everyone always thinks he's the girlie man of Rockapella with the pretty voice and pretty hair (though less of it now) and the cool dance moves. It wouldn't be so bad, he said, if he didn't have to put up with a man who gets to walk around the stage showing off his biceps and his big, deep voice, mwa mwa mwa, "and I have to be Tinkerbell every night! But I'm not going to take it anymore. I know you're all behind me, I can feel a lot of love from this crowd, so I'm going to stand up to this brutish…bully! And face…" He paused as he sized up his opponent. "You are very big!"

On the second night a girl shouted here, "Go for it!"

Scott replied nervously, "You're gonna back me up, right?"

Finally, Scott decided that discretion was the better part of valour and went to the back of the stage to hide.

Barry came forward now and said he was glad the subject had been brought up as he had some problems, too. "I tried to be Tinkerbell once," he told us. "It was ugly." (I can imagine.)

He went on to say that every night, show after show, Scott gets to stand up in the front, with the hair and the moves, and sing the gut-wrenching songs about unrequited love, "and I stand in the back. And moo! It's not all bad; I think I moo rather well, but it's still mooing."

He cast an accusing look back at Scott who had come out of hiding.

"I'm sorry," Scott said contritely. "You wanna do a song?"

"Yeah, let's do a song."

"You can have the lead and I'm gonna moo this time."

The song was the majorly testosterone charged Sixty Minute Man. And the intro was a little different the second night. The mooing gripe was replaced by Barry's bass-envy speech.

"People have actually hurt themselves trying to talk to me on the phone," he said. "Like it's some kind of contest. Heh heh heh. It's not!"

Perhaps Mr. Carl should try calling Jones-Ash funeral home if he's ever in our area. There is a gentleman there whose voice just about hits rock bottom. How appropriate for him to work in a funeral home.

The second night, as Barry sang, "Come up and take my hand," he held his hand out to a lady in the audience. Those who have attended Rockapella concerts before know that he next sings, "Soon as I leave you go," and waves the girl off. But this night the girl jumped up and went to take his hand when he offered it. Barry recoiled rather more quickly than he usually does. And when that line came up again, he reached out to a different lady and added quickly, "Just kidding!"

Next on the setlist was Carmen. Kevin asked if we remembered the show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. There was a resounding cheer, though not as loud as it usually is, due to the fact that the Harmonizers' fans outnumbered us about two to one. Kevin continued, "Rockapella was on that show for five long years, and…I wasn't there. But that's okay. We're gonna sing the song, right?"

Scott stopped him. "What was that?" he asked. " 'I wasn't there, but that's okay.' Does it get to you?"

"No, not really," Kevin said. "Not since we're the Folgers' guys now." The second night he added, "Actually, it was in the contract we signed with Folgers that we can no longer be called the Carmen Sandiego guys, we can only be the Folgers' guys."

"I don't remember that!" the other guys protested, almost in unison.

"That's because I made it up," Kevin grinned.

That aside, Scott faced the audience and told us that there was something the kids on the show would say before they could sing the song, "do you know what that is?"

After a split second hesitation, several of us chorused, "Do it, Rockapella!"

"Just like that, they'd say it, too," Scott nodded.

On the second night a single man yelled the famous cry from the back of the theatre.

"The kids have grown up!" Scott commented. "But they still can't afford the good seats." So he gave us our cue: "There's one more thing you have to do, you know what it is."

"Do it, Rockapella!" we screamed.

"That was pretty good for the first time," Scott told us. "Now we're going to do it a second time." Though on the second night he admitted that we did such a good job the first time that we didn't really need to repeat it, except that they weren't ready.

They eventually swung into the song, climaxing with Jeff's jaw-dropping drum solo.

They left the stage after this song and we immediately leaped to our feet, cheering for more. They obliged us, though the second night got more encores. They started out with the off-mic Up on the Roof/What a Wonderful World medley. The barbershop element must have appreciated this one.

The next song, Barry told us, they had the pleasure of singing on Penn and Teller's Syn City Spectacular where they were backed by the Syn City dancers. "Tonight we have Scott."

We giggled and cheered, and Scott, who had his back to us, did a little curtsey.

"So," Barry began, "this song--"

He got no farther as we recognized the intro and cheered wildly. Then we let him continue into Zombie Jamboree, which I didn't think I'd ever see them do again. It was fantastic, the climax coming when Kevin popped out a big zombie eyeball.

"I hate when that happens," he said. "It puts a damper on the whole song."

Jeff lumbered toward the lost eyeball, groaning and grunting hungrily into his microphone.

Kevin finally pulled himself together and continued, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Zombie Jamboree, it's getting very hard for me to see. I cannot find my eyeball anywhere…" etc.

Then he leaped across the stage to finish the verse, and on the second night he stepped on the eyeball as he did so. There must have been quite a few of us watching the thing because when that happened, there was a disgusted groan from the audience, myself included. Once the song was over, Kevin picked up the eyeball and hurled it into the audience. No doubt an overly enthusiastic fan caught it and will treasure it forever!

Those were all the encores we got the first night, so the rest of the report will be about the second night:

Scott said that someone had requested the song Ellie My Love, a beautiful Japanese cover. Apparently this song is to Japan what songs like Yesterday are over here, "so we arranged our own version in an attempt to cash in."

Now Scott told us that they would be singing two brand new songs that were still a little weak, "so if you want to go home now, that's fine. We won't keep you." The songs were This Isn't Love and People Change, and I was glad to hear them again as I thought they were going to skip them altogether. When they were done, Scott thanked us for sitting through their rehearsal. Any time!

I knew the night was over when they started singing Keep on Smiling, their trademark "goodbye, go home, we're tired!" song. Scott managed to pay one last tribute to their hosts, the Harmonizers, by working SPEBSQSA (Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of BarberShop Quartet Singing in America) into the lyrics.

Now for the afterglow. Bear in mind that the report of the actual concert is over. So unless you want to read my reminisces about what followed, you'd better bail out now!

The first night I was there with my dad and three brothers, some of whom were not too patient when it came to waiting for me to talk to the guys. I did go up to all of them and got my program signed. Kevin and Scott get points for remembering me. Though Kevin loses one point for getting a hint from Vince first.

"You've seen them four times," Vince said pointedly. "Don't you have enough autographs?"

"Never!" I replied.

But now Kevin realized that he should know me, and he commented that it had been a long time, "When was it? At the Birchmere?"

Nice try, Kevin, I thought. "No," I corrected him, "it was the first Camp Heartland concert."

"Whoa! That was a long time ago."

From Kevin we went down the line to Elliott, then Jeff, then Barry, and finally Scott. I had only one shot left in my camera after the concert and I was saving it for a picture with Scott, who you should know by now, is my favourite. We said hi, he noted it had been a long time since he'd seen me, he signed my program, then I asked if we could have our picture taken. Of course, he said yes. And as he put his arm around me, Vince, with the camera, said, "She's gone on all the rides and now she's taking a ride on the wild and sexy Scott Leonard roller coaster and she's getting her picture taken with the lead car!"

I was shocked, but Scott seemed to take it well; he's probably heard worse.

After effusively telling Scott what a great concert it was and how beautiful his new songs were and how I love all the songs he writes ("She really means it," Vince chimed in), I told him I'd see him tomorrow as Vince dragged me away.

The second night I had just Vince with me. Again we talked to all the guys and I had them sign my Don't Tell Me You Do CD cover. Barry recognized me by the gothic cross necklace which I wore both nights. Vince harassed Scott about the bass line of People Change as I already described. And I gave Scott written copies of all the limericks I had written about them, minus the one about Sean, of course. He did not read them there, at my request (ever the self-conscious writer), so I may never know what they thought of them. Perhaps I'll get around to sending them to the Rockapella newsletter one of these days.

I was just thinking about leaving when Vince snagged me and said, "Hey, want to get your picture taken with him?"

He gestured toward Howard Hull, one of the Harmonizers and baritone for the Hijinx. I had been watching him during the concerts because he seemed kind of laid back and less hammy than his colleagues. Also, he was one of the cutest guys in the group, and anyway he was in the front row; easy to keep track of. So I let Vince snare him and take his picture with me.

Then we started talking and he asked us if we were going to the afterglow, or post-concert party at Fudruckers. Vince was immediately intrigued at the prospect of food (and in all fairness at the prospect of continuing the conversation), and asked how to get there. Howard offered to let us follow him there, and when he found out we were parked clear on the other end of the campus, he gave us a ride to our car. What a gentleman!

I was thinking less kind thoughts about him by the time we got to Fudruckers, as he had led us on a merry chase all over the fair city of Alexandria and the beltway. Apparently he was listening to his phone messages and missed a turn, and then wasn't sure how to get back on track. He was extremely apologetic once we got there, and not a little chagrined when he found out we live way out in the boonies and had a three hour drive ahead of us.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to pressure you into coming."

What pressure? I told him. All he had to say was, "Rockapella might be there. Want to come?" and he had me sold! And Vince was interested in going anywhere there was food to be had. One highlight of the evening was watching him try to scarf down a Fudburger, a whole pound of ground beef on a pancake-like bun. He couldn't finish it, but he did better than the Harmonizer at the next table, a young man who I think was the "big guy" that Kevin feared might be Paige's boyfriend. Paige was with him, anyway, and he was pretty well-built.

Oops! Pardon my rambling. Rockapella did come to the party, but they didn't have Jeff and they didn't sing. But they were there! And the Harmonizers did plenty of singing, both on and off the little stage area. If the fancy struck four of them at the same time, they'd start singing. We could have two or three songs going on at one time. Hey, who needs a jukebox? Elliott was soon enticed into joining one of the quartets, and I think he was still there singing when Vince and I left at 2:15 AM.

While Vince chatted up some of the Harmonizers, I nerved myself up to stroll over to Scott's table and strike up a conversation. He was quite easy to talk to, actually. He told me that both he and Kevin are in the process of moving down to Florida for family reasons, and eventually the whole band might relocate there. Also, he and his wife have a new baby girl named Natalie, then about two weeks old.

I had already told him that I'm a nurse, so I felt safe commenting, "I hope you don't mind me saying, but you have very nice veins." Seriously! When I showed my concert pix to my co-workers, several of them commented on his impressive veins.

Scott's response? "Nobody's ever complimented my veins before. [Hasn't been hanging around any medical professionals, obviously] I guess it comes from pitching."

I did refrain from palpating his 16 gauge veins, though I was sorely tempted.

Finally it came time for the guys to leave; they had to catch a flight to Florida early that morning. Well, it was already early in the morning; later that morning, then. Scott stood up and started saying goodbye to those he had been talking to, three other men and myself. He shook hands with the men, then turned to me and gave me a hug. Whoooo! I get all tingly just thinking about it. Was this a little chauvinistic of Scott? Maybe, but I really don't care.

So the boys left, all except Elliott who as I said, was still there barbershopping with the Harmonizers when we left. I wandered over to where Vince had also gotten caught up in one of the many quartets. He wasn't having as easy a time, though, since he's primarily an instrumentalist (trombone), and reads music better than he learns by rote. Completely opposite of some of the Harmonizers, I think. So while he was struggling there, I drifted over to where Howard was listening to yet another quartet and blowing pitches for them. I think I started making the first noises toward departure at this point, thanking Howard for inviting us and telling him what a great time it had been, but it was something like forty-five minutes or so later that we actually made it to the door.

The Harmonizers seemed much impressed that Vince and I had come all the way to see Rockapella two nights in a row without securing a hotel room at some point. Well, it's only Alexandria, for heaven's sake. Three hours is nothing to the eight hours it takes to drive up to New York. The Harmonizers were also pleased when I told them that, though I had come specifically to see Rockapella, I had also greatly enjoyed their performance.

When Sam, one of the lead singers heard this, he said, "I bet you were expecting us to be some creaky old guys singing 'My wild Irish rose'…"

"Something like that," I admitted.

"And…" Sam prompted.

"And I was surprised."

"Good," Sam grinned, "That's the kind of fans we need."

So that's it. I went to see Rockapella and got exposed to another great group. Howard has just about convinced me to come to their spring concert, if for no better reason than to give him a copy of our picture. Oh, and in case any of you were worried, Vince and I made it home okay…at five AM. We did call Mom several times to let her know where we were and what we were doing. We's good little kids, we is. Most of the time. Sometimes.

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