A little while later, Kathleen had the idea to put together a few friends (including our resident video game star and all-around cool gal, Moorea) all of whom were already veterans of the a cappella scene and really do some interesting stuff together. Nothing really came of it until we decided that it would be cool to sing in the Harmony Sweepstakes together. The one thing that the Harmony Sweepstakes has to offer is a large audience of dedicated a cappella fans who really "get it" when you bring out high quality stuff, especially if it's got some innovation to it.
Well, a funny thing happened at the San Francisco regionals... we won!!! We now have the honor of representing our region at the national finals, and Kathleen's original, Takin' It Back, won both best original song and best original arrangement honors!
There was no shame in losing the Audience Favorite award to the fabulous quartet, UnderAge. They've got more performing experience than many singers twice (or even three times) their age. They've got talent, charisma, good material, and they strike a stunning figure on stage. Oh, and we can assure you from hanging out with them at a couple of these events - these girls are just as nice as can be! Our only disappointment was that we didn't get to sing the song we had queued up in case we were the ones chosen to sing the "audience favorite" encore. But that's alright. Since there's an extra two minutes per set at the finals, we'll probably be able to sing it in May.
Stephen also liked Sweet Deliverance a lot, mostly because their bass had such an impressive low range. "A's for days..." It's a bass thing.
Thanks to the technical savvy of a good friend, we actually have digital evidence of the event. Our two (two?), yes, two songs from the regional competition are available by following the following links:
Takin' It Back (words and music (c) 2007 Kathleen Hollingsworth)