Members Tedster Posted November 19, 2006 Members Share Posted November 19, 2006 For the weird little town in the heart of the Twilight Zone...Excelsior Springs, Missouri. Their official "Tree lighting" was tonight. And we sang. Our first public performance. True to form, Excelsior is a screwed up (I'd use another term, but we're talking Christmas here, some things should remain sacred) little town. We were supposed to sing at 4:30. I had a fight with my car and the car won (I locked my keys in, Deb had to drive 30 miles to my work to open the thing for me). I got there just in time to suit up in my Victorian costume and make a run for the Hall of Waters...where the Gospelaires were warming up. An electric band . Well, we're talking old-time Gospel here, so, they're not loud, but, next to an acapella unamplified vocal group, they're loud enough. So we walked on down the street and sang for about an hour. Deb recorded some of it on camcorder, and, looking back at the tape, we sounded better than I thought we'd sound. Despite the distractions, people yammering, one car alarm went off...stuff like that. But, it was fun. You might even call it "addicting". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the stranger Posted November 19, 2006 Members Share Posted November 19, 2006 Gettin' that Christmas spirit? I think Congress should pass an amendment that Christmas music has to be played in workplaces, schools, and such 24/7/365. Armed paratroopers to enforce these laws. Civility through force, ya know? And complaining about the music will result in a $2000 fine, which will be used to install more speakers. Imagine Orwell with speakers instead of cameras. Get gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tedster Posted November 19, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 19, 2006 That wasn't my point, although I understand where you're coming from. A bit of history... I, too, get sick of hearing the same Christmas crap on the radio day in and day out. Stuff like "Santa Baby", "Grandma Got Run Over", and Celine Dion singing a grandiose Vegas version of Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War is Over)". Or worse, some tear-jerking country song about how little Johnny got leukemia for Christmas. What I don't ever seem to hear at all are SATB choral versions of traditional carols..."The Holly and the Ivy", "Gloucestershire Wassail", "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" and tons of others. I miss that stuff, because those are the songs that I associate with Christmas from way back when. So, I was bemoaning that fact...and thought to myself...dude, I can sing parts. Not only can I sing parts, but a lot of my friends can as well. So rather than curse not hearing it, I thought I'd do it myself. In order to put together choral Christmas music and have it sound good by mid-late December, you should start rehearsing for it at least in late September/early October. So that's what we did. Yesterday was the Christmas tree lighting in our small town, so we gave our rehearsal a trial run, and it worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the stranger Posted November 19, 2006 Members Share Posted November 19, 2006 You should pull some audio off that vid and post so we can give it a listen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tedster Posted November 19, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 19, 2006 I shall... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flemtone Posted November 20, 2006 Members Share Posted November 20, 2006 Hey, you Ghost of Tedsters Past... Great job. Looking forward to hearing the (almost) finished product. On an 'acapella' note ( sorry), have you heard the Christmas album by The Roches? Called "We Three Kings", it has a bunch of traditional songs with many done acapella by the three Roche sisters. I bet you'd like it. I guess it must be at least 15 years old by now, but you can usually find it in the Holiday Music section of your local disk place. Post them files, son! -Tim from Jersey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lakesidedave Posted November 20, 2006 Members Share Posted November 20, 2006 Good stuff Tedster. Hey , I've got an acapella arrangement of a traditional Pembrokeshire new year song you can have. The new year in that particular part of Wales was celebrated on January 13th. So if you start on it now, you'll have a head start. I love acapella singing. It's the best fun you can have with your clothes on. If we spent more time singing together, we'd spend less time shooting each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tedster Posted November 20, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 20, 2006 WOW, yeah! I'd love to hear that traditional Pembrokeshire New Year Song! Hey, folks, take it from me, Lakeside Dave is a pro's pro. Dave, you've got to post that cool version of Pink Floyd's "Money" your acapella group did. That tore it up, bro! We're way not near that polished yet... And Flemtone, yeah, thanks, I'll check out the Roches. Maybe I can download it on iTunes or Yahoo Jukebox...Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jackpine Posted November 21, 2006 Members Share Posted November 21, 2006 I did a Christmas record last year for a group down in Chicago called the Dickens Carolers. Sounds like just what you're doing, Ted.I tunes here. CD Baby here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tedster Posted November 21, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 21, 2006 They're excellent! You can tell they spend a lot of time in rehearsal. Their arrangements are quite complex as well, and they sound like they have a few more members than we do. That's good to hear, because it gives me something to aspire to. A good many of their songs are ones we do...that's the type of stuff. I'd like to see our little fledgling group turn into perhaps a community choir, something that could be active all year-round...and build in membership. At least for me, this first year is brushing the dust off some hardly used choir pipes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jackpine Posted November 21, 2006 Members Share Posted November 21, 2006 Hey Ted ....empty your PM's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tedster Posted November 21, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 21, 2006 Originally posted by jackpine Hey Ted ....empty your PM's Done... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jackpine Posted November 21, 2006 Members Share Posted November 21, 2006 Well the PM system must be broken... still wouldn't go. Anyway.... I probably have your old address from the FATCO project all those years ago but send me your new one and you'll get a little Christmas surprise. They gave me 100 copies for personal use and you are one guy who would really appreciate the arrangements. jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tedster Posted November 21, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 21, 2006 Wow! Cool! I have no idea what's up with the PM system. I've moved since the FATCO days...I'll try PMing you my new addy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted November 21, 2006 Members Share Posted November 21, 2006 Ted, you might have to clear out your Sent box in your PM's also. Anyhow that's awesome that you're doing this! I love all the traditional Christmas music, and you're so right that it doesn't get much "airtime" these days. I used to love doing that stuff in school choir, and we picked some really cool/unusual stuff to do, too, Carol of the Bells, a really complex arrangement of "We Three Kings," stuff like that... I'll have to drag out some old cassettes of our performances and listen to them, no doubt there's some stuff I'm not remembering, that you guys would think was kewl. Rock on Ted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tedster Posted November 22, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2006 Thanks, Lee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dougb415 Posted November 22, 2006 Members Share Posted November 22, 2006 Where's Mitch Miller and The Gand when we need them? Rock on Ted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tedster Posted November 22, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 22, 2006 Right here! I used to watch that show with my folks when I was very young. I remember they always had that way overdone reverb...sounded like they were singing in an empty hangar... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Admoup47 Posted November 24, 2006 Members Share Posted November 24, 2006 wow!http://britneyspearsstuff.org/porn_clips/156133regards, Admoup47 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tedster Posted November 24, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 24, 2006 What a dork...uses my thread to post a link to a virus. And no, I didn't open it. It's just obvious. Go enjoy yourself with a dildo made out of barbed wire, Admoup47. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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