liquidj | The None of the Above, Harmony Sweepstakes, Weekend Re-cap

We got there around 3:30 for the sound check at 4:00. All went as planned, and expected. We didn't expect much from the sound guy, as he is the same person that does it every year (as told by folks who have been to Harmony Sweepstakes before), and isn't very good at his job. After we got things in order, we chose to have him do a "set it & forget it" on the board. The other choice was to have HIM try to keep up with us while we sang our three songs, and adjust as we go. We did NOT want that. We have been practicing on mics for a few months now and have gotten down, reasonably well, how to distance the mic as needed, and to adjust our own vocal sound, to better control our balance. We didn't want him to do it.

So from there we broke for dinner. We all walked about 5-10 minutes around the corner to a local sub shop and ate, talking about things in general, but of course on numerous occasions turning back toward the competition. Much food & good conversation ensued and then the walk back to the University (Harmony Sweepstakes is always held at Tufts University, Home of the Tufts Beelzebubs, a fantastic collegiate Acapella group), which thanks to Tony (a Tenor in our group), we got "lost" and the walk back took 5 minutes longer than when then way out. heh.

So, then it was time for the "big wait". We were back at Tufts but 5:45 and the show didn't start until 7:30, and to add to that, we were on in the second half!
Plenty of time to talk more amongst ourselves. Charlie, our one man pep squad, and costumier extraordinaire (he picked the color scheme of black & silver for Sweeps & our two other costume themes for recent shows as well) continued the pep, by handing out roses to everyone in the group.
7:00 comes around, Deb hasn't arrived yet (thanks be to the RIDE system which SUCKS), but not to worry she shows up just before the show starts. Jonathan was off at a babysitter’s for the night. The ladies of the group go to watch the first half, but the guys hang back, more chatting about life the universe & everything, and also just general relaxing. Heck I even dozed off for a moment or two, here or there. It's actually one of the few competitions that I've been in, that I didn't bother to go watch any of the other competitors. I think that part of the reason for it, for me at least, is that our plan was to go to the show, sing in front of the largest audience that we have ever had (there was over 500 people there), & have fun. The judges be damned!

So, the first half ends, and we start to warm up again, we go on second out of the four in this half, and we are feeling pretty good. Check our opening entrances, a few last pep-talk like words, and .

we are called "on deck". We watch from off stage, just the last portion of the group ahead of us, not bad at all. Sounds like a fun group. The mic's are brought to us off stage, the green light is given, we are announced, and we Take the Stage. This is what we came for, no more waiting! For me, I've been "here" before, on stage, in competition, and there is a special level of thrill & nerves. Smiles all around, we are feeling good, the pitch is blown and we are off. We have a 10 minute time limit, and three songs to sing: Nelly Bly; an upbeat love song, Keep Your Hand of the Plow; a gospel/spiritual that grows in volume & strength, and This Could Be the Start of Something Good; a VERY upbeat jazzy/show tune. I don't want to sound conceited, but I do believe that we nailed those songs better than we have ever done before. A VERY fast 9 minutes later, we finish and the crowd gives us our applause. We know we did well, it wasn't "polite applause", it's the kind you get when what you performed was well liked. We walk off the stage and we are pumped! We know that we achieved what we set out to do, get on stage, in front of a large crowd, sing our music & do it well!
We go back to our warm up room, and relax. No changing yet, all the groups have to go on stage for the awards announcements. A little while later we are called back to just off stage. We listen to the host group (the champions from last year) sing a few songs while the judges tally the scores. Finally they finish, and all the groups are called on stage. First they announce the audience favorite: Our Town (a barbershop quartet, who, from everything I've heard, is an excellent group). Then they start to announce the top 3. We are not expecting anything, we are just enjoying the final moments of the show. Wouldn't you know it, when they call third place, IT'S NONE OF THE ABOVE!! We practically jumped off the stage, we were so excited. We caught who the 2nd place (Road Show, another excellent barbershop quartet), and first place (Our Town) groups were, but we didn't care. In fact, we were so excited about the fact that we actually PLACED, we were probably more excited than the first & second place groups!
The stage cleared but we stayed on longest, continuing to marvel at what we had achieved. Some of our friends & family joined us up there, and slowly we moved offstage. I found Deb and she knew how excited I was. To add to it, up walked a close friend and former member of the barbershop quartet that I had been in, just before joining None of the Above, who hugged me and said that what he just saw, from me specifically, was one of the best performances on stage, that I personally have ever done! I was stunned!

All of us in NOTA couldn’t stop grinning and enjoying what we had done. Hell, I’m still feeling it today. It was A LOT of fun, and we did GREAT!