The Colby Eight celebrates 60 years of a cappella
Kris Miranda
Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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After his opening remarks, Adams summoned to the podium Clifford "Bump" Bean '51, one of the founding Colby Eighters and a man exemplifying both the longevity and undiminished vitality of the College's oldest a cappella group. Adams surprised Bean, who has been the driving force behind all Colby Eight reunion concerts thus far, by presenting him an award certificate declaring that every such concert will henceforth bear his name.
After short opening remarks of his own which made clear his affection for both his comrades and his successors, Bean brought forward the current Colby Eight. They set the night's bar high with an arrangement of Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" which ever relaxed its sheer kinetic energy. Menya Hinga '09 delivered the solo with inimitable flair and no small assistance from percussionists Hasan Bhatti '10 and Brendan Shea '11.
"We are the Colby Eight," Mark Phillips '09, president of this year's Eight, said after the song. "Up next: the Colby Eight!"
Over a dozen former Eighters, graduates from between 1998 and 2007, followed up with three songs. In the middle of the first, Stevie Wonder's "Boogie On, Reggae Woman," Kristoffer Lee '04 moonwalked in front of the altar and burst into a flurry of dance moves, a crowd-pleaser matched by Jeremy Donovan '00 when during his solo song, the J. Geils Band's "Love Stinks," he did the worm across the stage.
Up next was the only ensemble of the night that actually numbered eight. Hailing from 1969 through 1980, they proved that good-natured irreverence is hardly the exclusive domain of today's a cappella scene, editing the lyrics of the barbershop tune "My Evaline" to include "mount me in the shade of the old apple tree." Their set also included an old Rice Krispies jingle and Tom Paxton's "The Marvelous Toy," which featured several random noises including an elephant and the Aflack duck.
Of the next performers, After 8 (a Boston-based, more-or-less professional group of 90s alums), Bean mentioned that they were at the 50th reunion concert, at which "they just blew the doors off the place."
"That was way too much intro," one of them joked as they took the stage. "Yeah, no pressure," added another. None indeed: with a set including the Barenaked Ladies' "Be My Yoko Ono" and the folk shanty "Oh, Shenandoah," After 8 showcased both musical range and the sort of coordinated physical comedy that's sometimes a distinguishing trait of a group that's been together for awhile.
The next group, from 1957 through 1964, set a striking contrast to most of those who had come before: "Um, we have no one who can moonwalk," Peter Merrill '57 deadpanned. "You'll never see our feet move." Nevertheless, in an arrangement of George Gershwin's "I've Got Rhythm," they demonstrated that they'd lost neither vocal strength nor whatever indefinable "it" makes a Colby Eighter. Between songs, Merrill mentioned that the entirety of their set was arranged between 1955 and 1957. "We thought it was cool back then to make them as complicated as possible," he muttered, "so you'll forgive us if sometimes we can't sing them." Such forgiveness proved unnecessary for both this group and the last, which included, finally, Bean and some other founding members of the Colby Eight (leaning on canes none of them needed, provided by Bean).
With a more traditional rendition of "My Evaline," these most venerable Eighters had their successors from the 70s and 80s bowing from the side pews. Bean admitted that all their 1947 arrangements had been "swiped" from Yale, including "Old Ark's a-Moverin'" (which earned laughs when the Eighters disagreed on how it started).
This year's Eight returned to the stage for two more songs-including Stan Cooke's "Bring It on Home," during which Nick Van Niel '10 and Kevin Baier '11 serenaded an elderly alumna in the front row-and a joint performance with the '98-'07 group of Johnny Black's "Paper Doll."
Before the grand finale, Assistant Director of Alumni and Donor Relations Karin Weston was thanked for her instrumental role in organizing the reunion.
Finally, all 60-plus Eighters in attendance gathered for "Halls of Ivy" and their signature song, jazz classic "Mood Indigo," which, it turns out, was taught by and stolen from the Bowdoin Meddiebempsters, an a cappella group even older than the Eight. Whatever works: once the Eight started singing it, the Meddies stopped.
Here's to 60 more years.
In honor of 60 years of the Colby Eight, and by extension 60 years of Colby a cappella, through the rest of the year, the Echo will be running a monthly series of articles focused on our various a cappella groups.
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