Mads and her Dads

It's official!! Katharine and I are thrilled to announce that the first Lemmings offspring - the first Lem-lette - Madison McKee Weist will enter Williams College this Fall as a member of the class of 2015.

Whu... (wait for it).....HOOOOO!

And I know what you're thinking, but it wasn't a no-brainer (which means it was a brainer.) She had a bunch of excellent options, including Mark & Carole's alma mater Colgate which was an early fave. But in the end the purple valley won out. She spent some time there getting to know the students - like Anna Soybel. Yes, THAT Anna Soybel (doesn't she look

Maddy and Anna, April 2011

like the perfectly blended combo of Tom and Ginny?) - and that did the trick. It didn't hurt that a couple of current Octet guys recognized Maddy and encouraged her to join the Octet this Fall as the first ever female member.

So, in honor of this momentous moment, here's a song her collective dads dedicated to Maddy when she was just 3 months old, fresh out of the oven. (Favorite moment:  Chuck's reaction to the comment about "Uncle Bill". His laugh always makes ME laugh.)

Great advice not to take any of. (It's the ultimate "Gootkindian Song", meaning the exact opposite of what it says.)

By the way, Madison may be the first Lemmings baby at Williams, but she'll be one of three Octet spawn in the class of '15 along with Lauren Miller, daughter of Carole and Rich, and Kate Hornor, granddaughter of Jack and Cathy. Plus, there'll be a son of Williams there, too: the super-cool combination of Dave Barnes' and Lizzie Halsted's DNA known as Tatum Barnes. So, congratulations to all, and...

"Come all ye sons and daughters of Williams sing!"

p.s.  If you didn't get the link to Warren's arrangement of "Easter Parade", here it is again.

Blue Moon vs. Blue Moon

I'm having a Lemmings moment.  I can't decide which version of "Blue Moon" to post from our 2nd Annual Farewell Concert in 1993.  Remember, we did two nights? So, in typical Lemmings fashion, I'm asking you to decide.  

Both of them have pros and cons. To me, the Monday version looks washed out but Tuesday has rougher sound quality. Or as Winthy puts it: "the first one is better musically, but the second one captures that heady mixture of humility, huge ego, self-loathing, self-satisfaction and passive aggression that IS The Lemmings."

Here's version 1 from Monday, April 12th. A solid group effort behind a stellar Winthy.

And here's version 2 from Tuesday, April 13th. Some silliness, but Michael really casts a spell.

Which one deserves to live on the internet in perpetuum to embarrass our great-great-grandchildren long after we jump this mortal cliff? Vote in the poll on the right and share your thoughts in the comments below.

Totie memory: The 2nd Annual Farewell Concert, which Bill subtitled "this time we really mean it", did turn out to be our last full length show as Lemmings. But I remember we actually started rehearsing for a 3rd Annual Farewell. Chuck was in town, visiting from Seattle, so we got together at Wayne's place on the upper West Side to work out  a new arrangement of "I Saw the Light" and a bizarre medley of  the death dirge "Plorate filii Israel" and "Mighty Mouse" which we were calling "Plorate Mouse".

Not Wayne's window

It was a beautiful Spring day. All the windows were open in Wayne's ground-floor apartment, and after singing one of our songs, we heard applause out on the street.  A little crowd had gathered - something like 6 people - but they couldn't see us because of the curtains. So we kept singing and basically did a whole show for this anonymous audience.  We did old stuff, new stuff... we could do anything in the repertoire because we had all the parts covered.  

We never did get around to doing that 3rd Annual Farewell, but we didn't need to. We did it that day for 6 random strangers behind a curtain ("wha-hut?!"), and, in my memory, it's some of the best singing we ever did as a group, ever.  (Good thing there's no tape to prove me wrong.)

Now, watch those Blue Moons and vote and comment. I'm not writing this blog for my health, you know.


[p.s.  The results for the first week's poll are in.  If we ever change our name, the front runner is "Mad About Stu".]

Shutup and Blog

I know, I know.  We already have a Facebook page and a YouTube Channel.  What could we possibly need with a blog? But, hey, it's 2011. It's what people do. Besides, all this exploration of social media stuff is useful and brain expanding. Like Bill's unmentionable.  (*Let the record show that I couldn't even make it through the first paragraph without referencing the UM).

The Lems circa 1992

So, who is this for?  The Lemmings, of course, and people who know the Lemmings. Also possibly other people who sing... people who like people who sing... people who make fun of people who sing... people who like a cappella groups with low self-esteem... Orgo Man... etc.

What will we blog about?  On our Facebook page, Paul describes us as having a "blissful ignorance of our audiences' desires", so I say we go with that. This could end up being a great place to centralize our archival spelunking and make it easy to share. 

We can post pictures (look! we can even fit text around Tay's planet-dwarfing noggin).... share stories, songs, and link to videos.  

Just to test it, here's one you haven't seen yet.  It's Charlie doing "I Wish That We Were Married" at the Guggenheim Museum in 1989. 

Bill said it best onstage at the '88 reunion concert: "I suppose it's going to be the special [habit] of people of the 80's to be videotaping the first half of their lives and then watching during the second half of their lives."

Welcome to the second half.  This should be fun.