Is it a total cliche to do a blog about the ridiculous heat we've been having? Yes, it is. But hey, that's what I have this week. So, in honor of the soul-withering, shorts-moistening, cheezer-scorching summer of 2011, I give you three things that are hot. Hence, the title.
First, a picture of me when I was accidentally hot for 5 minutes in the late 80s. It never happened again.
Blue Steel
Next, three hot guests at Bruce and Dorr's wedding who all inexplicably, indefensibly, incontheevably married men who sing. It did not lessen their hotness.
Hot, Hot, Hot
And finally, a hot song. Cole Porter got it right. Sung by Wayne (who is hot among certain fetish groups).
Now, unfortunately, I have to keep things short this week because of excessive busy-ness, but make sure to be here next week for what is sure to be a treat for your eyeballs. Our own Bruce Leddy, he of the above-mentioned wedding, has agreed to be next week's guest scribe and he promises to spin a yarn about the Citizen Kane of a cappella,our fictional life on film, The Wedding Weekend aka Shutup and Sing aka Sing Now or Forever Hold Your Peace aka Bruce's Movie. Speaking of which...
POLL RESULTS: Last week, I asked you to name your favorite movie with a cappella in it, and the overwhelming favorite was, no surprise, The Wedding Weekend. That sets us up perfectly for next week's blog, so thank you. Meanwhile, keeping with the hot theme, which of these pictures is the hottest (assuming a world in which the conventional images of hotness no longer exist)?
Finally, my weedling has worked! I weedled and weedled 'til my weedler was sore to get the other Lemmings to contribute a guest entry to this blog, and finally one brave soul stepped forward to meet the challenge. It's no coincidence that he's also the Lemming most likely to speak on stage when the need arises. Ten percent less timid than the other woodland creatures: our own Bill "Call Me Will" Hahn.
The Man in Grey
He was also the first to respond to my call for dusty, hidden old video tapes that might hold long-forgotten Lemmings performances. His wedding video features an array of Lemtunes and that's what he'll be writing about today. On February 10, 1996, Bill "I said call me Will" Hahn and Dorie Hoover were married in what can only be described as a magical ceremony. It was exactly what you'd want from the wedding of a medieval history teacher and a renaissance woman who once gave him a halberd.
Happy Birthday, medieval style
But before I turn you over to Bill "Oh, I Give Up" Hahn, here are three other titles I considered for today's blog:
* Bilbo Bloggins (too Lord-of-the-Rings-y)
* Fellini Comes Out of the Desert (so inside, it's outside)
* Hahn Gets Hoovered (um... no).
Okay, enough pre-amble. Here's the amble.
Bill writes:
Somewhere along the way, the Lemmings started singing at each other’s weddings. About fourteen seconds later, each other’s weddings were all we sang at anymore. And I could be wrong because memory fails when you can’t find the dang pills, but I think the day I married the lovely and still-unsuspecting Dorie Hoover was the last time we sang a wedding together. That is, before going off to star in “The Wedding Weekend” where not only the make-up but the audio recording made us look and sound like other people. Dreaming, there.
Cast of "The Wedding Weekend." Like looking in a mirror.
A Lemmings wedding video combines the reminiscence and enchantment of recalling a wedding day with the antic lunacy of encountering the Lemmings. The most important day of my life, and certainly one of the most joyous, is a vivid memory - and on a day when pretty much everything was planned by her (you can tell because it was tasteful and came off perfectly), I was able to summon up this one irreplaceable contribution. I brought in the Totes.
You, to me...
But what you’re seeing here is a wedding VIDEO, and having the new point of view is crazy, simply nuts. I sat there when the Lemmings did their set and they were to my LEFT, dammit; but I’ve seen the video several times now, so I start to “remember” seeing them to my RIGHT; including the part where they’re ganging up to hug the groom!
Involuntary group hug
Kevin’s edit of the a cappella festivities brings you in on the variety of moments these occasions provide, and it’s an emotional palette I hope, but doubt, you enjoy as much as I do. A couple of highlights before we "roll tape". OK, four:
In the chapel we all stood to hear the benediction song conducted by Waugh, including Lemmings, my family, and several others. The camera is far right shooting diagonally across the front of the group towards the bride and groom (hey, that’s me), but I’m totally blocked by Charl-tees. So when the zoom happens, you see the Singer-Thinger front and center and he is nearly in pain. Charlie’s there in a serious, sacred moment (which I think he hates) and you can see he’s practically bursting at the seams to do something chaotic. He has the face of Harpo Marx when Chico asks him “what choo wanna’ do now, eh?”. The song starts in the nick of time. And as for the so-called real me, I only saw the back of Charlie’s head and assumed he was having a wonderful time.
Don't say it... don't say it... don't say it...
I’m no music critic but I think Vern comes across splendidly on “Worst that Could Happen”. The Lems spread the solos around that day (including the groom - hey, that’s me), and everyone did a terrific job.
The beloved Vern
I actually had two ideas for the wedding, and the other one was I wanted to dance to “Concrete and Clay” with Dorie before the world. The after-hugs are quintessential. First one, to the gorgeous woman (natch) and belatedly the groom (hey, that’s me). Then another, and apres moi les deluge.
Right back at you, guys - after I hug your wives, of course. Now watch the video.
Thanks, William and Dorie. One of the best days ever! And it's a pretty good-looking wedding video, too. I especially love the staged "milling about" at the beginning. And Vern's run on the word "happen" gets me every time. So, who's next? Who's got a totie story to tell? Don't be shy. Bill has thrown the gauntlet. And he actually OWNS one!
Fisting buddies
POLL RESULTS: It was close, but the favorite Lemmings haircut is the "Cheezer" (another reminder of Vern), followed closely by Coiffure du Schwaneye, Bill's "Man in Grey" look, and Charlie's "fronytail". This week, in an effort to make the poll less "inside", what's your favorite movie musical with singing men? Vote above right, or write-in below.
Thanks to the devious Charlie for coining that phrase, because it means you can make a grand statement without having to defend it. You can declare your love today and change your mind tomorrow. You can be definitive and indecisive at the same time! Which, after all, is the definition of being a Lemming.
So, today I submit to you that "My Romance" is the GSOAT(EFACOO).
Here are some random facts (remember I don't have to prove my case thanks to Charlie):
It was written by Rodgers & Hart for the 1935 musical Jumbo, one of those old-time Broadway extravaganzas where they actually built a circus tent inside the old Hippodrome. Very few people remember that show anymore. They had it at Tams-Witmark Music Library when I worked there, but nobody ever rented it. Probably because it requires a live elephant.
Warren talked about it in a 1986 letter to the WOctet: "Jumbo is vintage Rodgers with two wonderful ballads, My Romance and Little Girl Blue (O.K. for male voices, as Sinatra proved) and two great waltzes The Most Beautiful Girl in the World and the trapeze opener, Over and Over Again, an Octet favorite when I arranged it in the 1940s." (click on the songs to hear various versions.)
It has been recorded by everyone from James Taylor to Dave Brubeck to the Supremes, but it didn't really enter Lemmings consciousness until Paul brought home a Best of the Hi-Lo's record. Paul says, "I bought it on a browsing expedition at the huge Tower Records on Broadway near Astor Place. It was the album with Skylark, My Romance, Beginning to See the Light, I Thought About You, Stars Fell in Alabama, Birth of the Blues, etc." (Remember Tower Records?!)
The Hi-Lo's
For those who don't know the Hi-Lo's, they were a vocal quartet started in the 50s that featured the impossibly spiky semi-deranged arrangements of Gene Puerling. For the Lemmings, those arrangements were like a dare. Like I dare you to sing these and not sound like a total train wreck, you timid woodland creatures, you.
Timid Woodland Creatures
So, like idiots, we took that dare and decided to try "My Romance" at our 2nd Annual Farewell Concert in 1993. We ain't no Hi-Lo's, but no trains were wrecked either. Here 'tis.
Maybe I should have called it the GAOAT(EFACOO) where the first A stands for Arrangement. Or for Awesomeness. But whatever. I didn't set out to do a whole thing on that song, but when the totieness starts flowing.... it's hard to contain. Damn you, totie DNA!
POLL RESULTS: It's that same DNA that led us to pick "How Deep Is The Ocean" as our favorite song stolen from the Octet folio (click title to hear). No surprise there. So, this week... something less obvious: best Lemmings haircut. If you have or know someone who has hair, vote above on the right.
This is the original Williams Octet, the college group that spawned most of the Lemmings. If you're an Octet alum of a certain age, you had the pleasure of knowing and singing with these guys. From left to right: Dudley Tyler '41, Warren Hunke '42, George Lawrence '43, Richard Rising '42, Malcolm MacGruer '43, Pat Verdery '41, Seldon Pitt '41, and Lou Safford '41. They're the O.O. (the Original Octet). But today's blog isn't about them; it's about a particular moment in time and why I suddenly care about it.
April 12, 1941 - seventy years ago this year - the Adams Memorial Theatre opened on the Williams College campus. The Octet was the first group ever to perform in the brand-spanking-new facility. (NB: Spanking was allowed back then; encouraged even.)
Thank you, sir, may I have another?
O.O.-er and baritonusmagnificus Malcolm MacGruer writes: "We were dressed in tails, as usual, and sang to an uproarious reception. Almost the entire faculty were present at the AMT that eve. Great publicity for the original Octet!" Warren Hunke even wrote an original song for the occasion. The picture at the top was taken that night.
But that's not the moment I had in mind. (Psych!) The moment comes 45 years later at the 1986 Octet Reunion cabaret when five of the original guys got together and sang Warren's song again. It was Warren, McGurk, Verdery, Lou, and Seldon - all in their mid-to-late 60's - and I have it on tape. They were clearly having a ball. Here's Warren's original done by the originals.
So why do I like this? I mean, in 1986 this kind of stuff bounced off me like Lawrence Welk. Not my bag, man. I did like the cabarets because the Lemmings would usually preview a new song or sing something with Al Clement (*see "She Almost Saw His Whasker" from June 21.) That was fun. But the rest of it was often lost on my 20-something ears.
Hear no cabaret
So, why now, 25 years later, do I find it charming and "real"? Is it because I'm now closer in age to what those guys were then? Is this what happens when your AARP card comes in the mail? Have I become the Mayor of Cheese Town? WTF? (Or as I like to yell, "Williamstown Theatre Festival?!!")
I think it's probably all that, but it's also that I now see the bond they still had 45 years after college and I recognize it. It's what this blog is all about, really. The brotherhood of men who sing; It's a powerful thing. (By the way, I wrote this paragraph while "extra happy" from 4th of July imbibables. Call it Tote Juice.)
Wayne's namesake, the "Cosmo"
So, while I'm lubed, here's some more old-timey stuff I wish I had appreciated more when I first heard it. Remember we did one of Warren's originals at his tribute concert? This is rare footage from that 1986 cabaret of him doing 2 of his own songs: "For the First Time" and "Early April Weather."
And okay, I'll admit it. I actually like Lawrence Welk now, too. Have you seen the reruns on PBS? What's happening to me? Williamstown Theatre Festival!!!???
POLL RESULTS: According to your votes, we should have thought twice about doing the comedy bit known as "Art impressions as done by Jimmy Stewart" at the Guggenheim. It was funnier in rehearsal. This week, in honor of the O.O., what's your favorite song we took from the Octet folio?
And a postscript for the non-Williams readers: the Adams Memorial Theatre no longer exists. It was replaced a few years back by the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance. But though the AMT is gone, the melody lingers on...
