hookslide * vocal band : scrapbook : may 6-10 2004

—May 6-10, 2004—
St. Louis/America Sings Tour

Back at Cornell University, where I went to college, the student a cappella groups would occasionally place themselves under one of the echoey archways on campus and serenade anyone who was either willing to listen or did not have a loud enough stereo and/or earplugs. These events were called "Arch Sings". Shortly after our LA Tour in early April, I took part in the 20th Anniversary Concert of my college a cappella group, the Class Notes (because any good college a cappella group has to have some sort of musical pun in the name; otherwise nobody would know what your group did! They might confuse you for a chess club, or, heaven forbid, someone cool!!). We got 20 years of alumni together, and we gathered under the Law School arch on campus for what was the Mother of All Arch Sings.

Or so I thought. I forgot that Hookslide is, well, Hookslide, and is going to top everything that anyone can do, no matter what. So, when I told them that I'd taken part in the hugest arch sing I could think of, we naturally decided that we needed to top this feat immediately. And where better to have an arch sing than St. Louis? So, we hopped on a plane and off we went! That's right, no plane drama this time, other than the fact that I sat in the middle seat the entire way, there and back. I'm the littlest guy in Hookslide, and I think that's kind of sad.

As opposed to all our previous tours, this tour was correctly planned. Paul did some research and found out where the best breakfast place in town was (turns out it was 'First Watch' which is also right here in Burlingame and San Mateo), and managed to get us a long-term rental condo for the 5 nights. This was great; we didn't have to cart all our stuff around all the time, and we knew exactly where we'd be having breakfast every day. The condo was a 3-bedroom, 2.5 bath deal with a garage and a basement; you know, the kind of thing that goes for $1.7 million around these parts? Yeah, one of those. Paul wound up drawing the short straw and wound up without a room. He had his choice, then, between the couch in the family room and the basement (don't be too sympathetic; they were foldout couches). I think the basement scared him; it sure scared me.

Our first show in St. Louis (on Thursday May 6) was actually in the shadow of the Gateway Arch. People came and watched us while they ate lunch, but as we've noted before in our newsletters, competing with food is always a bad idea. This time, though, it was so hot out that we probably started looking like giant sausages to most of the audience. Good thing they were all vegetarian. After the show we actually went up into the arch, which was very cool. From up there, we were able to see the plaza at which we'd just performed. There were people sitting there, eating. They looked like very small sausages. Downstairs from the Gateway Arch, there is the Gateway Arch Museum, and the Gateway Arch Gift Shop. The Gift Shop is worthless. The Museum contains a lot of information about the exploration of the old West, from the Lewis and Clark expedition (which was actually way more people than just Lewis and Clark. In grade school, I always thought it was just the two of them in a rowboat) to an animatronic Billy Dee Williams discussing how Hoth was once rich with natural resources.

After this, we went to Washington University in St. Louis to join forces with the Mosaic Whispers. I guess at Wash U they don't have arches, because we sang under an overpass, with cars going by overhead. This was the Mosaic Whispers' last show of the year, which unfortunately conflicted with the finale of Friends. Thanks to our wireless setup, we were able to sing from in front of the TV in the student lounge, all while surfing the net.

On Friday, we did our second America Sings! show. This one was somewhat less crazy than the Southern California show, but that's probably a good thing. Once again, this was an extremely fun experience! A bunch of the kids formed a conga line during our set. And there was one group of kids that all wanted our autographs on their shirts, but had to leave early. We'd been instructed to stay hidden till the end of the show so that we wouldn't disrupt the proceedings, but these kids wouldn't have been around that long. So we had them form a long, silent autograph line, and signed all their shirts in sequence. It was pretty surreal! All in all, the students were really into it, and it was an awesome experience. We'd like to think that maybe we've inspired a few of them to get into a cappella, just as we were inspired ourselves by a cappella groups when we were in high school choirs. But who knows, maybe we've inspired them to go into tomato farming instead. Not that that would be a total loss; we always have a need for more ambiguously fruity vegetables in this world.

On Saturday, we headed to the Birthplace Of Paul, also known as Lawrence, KS! We had gone to Lawrence on our tour last Fall (which I have not yet written up, and no, you shouldn't hold your breath), and had a great time NOT singing, but this time, we got to perform with KU's all new and very first a cappella group, Genuine Imitation, and the nationally renowned Measure X Measure!! This was their last show with their high tenor and vocal percussionist Jeff Smith, who has since joined the world-famous M-Pact down in Los Angeles. After the show, we all went out for wings, because this is apparently what one does in Kansas. I had potatoes. I'm just glad no one actually asked us to fly; the potatoes probably wouldn't have helped me very much.

On Sunday, we returned to Missouri, and went to the town of Troy. It was nothing like the movie. There were more people in the movie. Kidding!!! But the people in the movie were far more belligerent. The show in Troy was at Buchanan High School, and it was really fun! The audience was way into it, and we had about 25 people on stage at the end dancing to Funkbus. And that, my friends, is what it's all about. We can always rate our shows by how many people are dancing on stage at the end of Funkbus. Troy, MO, you are our current Funkbus champions!

After that, it was a quick trip back to our condo in St. Louis, an early morning, a rental van return, and a flight home through Dallas (because Dallas is on the way home from St. Louis) before we were back home.

Set List: Kiener Plaza

Love You Madly

Celebrate

Try A Little Tenderness

Thank You

Kiss From A Rose

Don't You Forget About Me

Somebody's Somebody

Ride

Mustang Sally

Disco Inferno

Fascinating New Thing