Death of Destiny

So, being one of those losers who actually read the posters in the Marine Drive lounge, I happened to stumble across the poster below. I really liked the “Pitch, Please!” concept of the poster and I’ve heard good things about UBC A Cappela before, so I decided to check it out this afternoon at the Norm Theatre. (Now the UBC Mafia Club has to come up with a poster that is just as grand XD)

Pitch, Please!

Next, The Unaccompanied Minors performed Is She Really Going Out With Him?, American Boy, Turn to Stone, and Carry On My Wayward Son. I thought that Carry On My Wayward Son had a particularly good opening, and I also thought that the beat boxing in this song had some good points (though, I also found there to be points where I didn’t think it fit well with the song). Something I noticed is that it looked like, to me, at least, that one of the soloists was reading the lyrics to his solo on his forearm. I found that sort of bizarre. Overall, although I found them to be more messy than The Undeclared Majors, I also thought that The Unaccompanied Minors put on a good show.

After a ten minute intermission, The Undeclared Majors returned on stage to perform Your Song, Build Me Up Buttercup, And So It Goes, Call Your Girlfriend, Magic, and Sold. I thought that their remix of Your Song was interesting; I found it to be haunting but pretty. There was some choreography in Build Me Up Buttercup, as well as some notable harmonies. In Magic, I thought the song was opened really nicely, and the person who appeared to be conducting from the side was doing it very expressively (I liked it).

The last group to perform alone, The Choral Reef came on stage to perform Home. I thought that soloist Erika Thompson was an especially good fit for the song; I thought she expressed it especially well. There was a random rap interlude in the middle of the song, but it was mostly drowned out by the chorus.

Finally, The Undeclared Majors, The Unaccompanied Minors, and The Choral Reef joined together on stage to perform the Super Awesome Medley and Goodnight, It’s Time To Go. I thought the Super Awesome Medley was a very interesting integration of songs. In the introduction, I thought Derek Li (assuming I got the right name from the program) did an especially strong job in his vocals. Again Derek Li, I thought he did a great job at singing an excerpt by The Black Eyed Peas. Another notable performance I thought was Tim Ma’s rendition of Adele’s Someone Like You. There may have been some other good solos, but I wasn’t able to note them because they weren’t listed in the program. I noted that when the chorus of Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours was being sung, it sounded like the soloist was totally out of sync with the backing vocals and it sounded very confusing to me. I thought that Goodnight, It’s Time To Go was another pretty song that was overall unified well, with the exception of the choreography, which was off at times.

Overall, I enjoyed the show by UBC A Capella. I look forward to checking out their shows in the future! I also just (unfortunately) noticed that I missed another performance of theirs last night with UBC Dance Horizons. *sigh* It’s really too bad because I think both of those clubs are great entertainers.

Last night, I went to UBC’s Got Talent with Daphne, Jenny, Lu, Khushi, and Kelvin (and Nikta was supposed to come as well, but she wasn’t able to make it ). I wasn’t able to go last year because tickets sold out. This year I bought tickets the day they came out to make sure I got a seat. As it was, tickets didn’t sell out this year… …oh well. Anyhow, I just thought I’d briefly summarize what happened at the event.

First, I’d like to recognize Emily Cordonier who was the night’s Master of Ceremonies. I thought she did a great job. In fact, it was the best hosting of an event I’d seen in a long time. She did have a stack of notes in her hands, but I didn’t think it took away from how smoothly the show appeared to go overall.

The first act was David Loti who was noted as “Singing and Instrumental” in the program. His listing was sort of an understatement. He started the show off with a bang. With one hand he was playing a drum kit (also, using his feet), and with the other hand he was playing a keyboard. And not to be limited by his limbs, he sang while at it. I thought his performance was good, and set a nice high bar for the rest of the night.

Next was Sayata Gabriel who performed a “Spoken Word Poem”. Although Cordonier introduced the poem as a poem to some “Emily” (and indeed, the poem was a love poem), Khushi and I couldn’t figure out where any “Emily” came into the poem at all. Anyhow, I thought the poem was an interesting traversal of time through past and present relationships (and a progression from a series of past love for blue eyes to a present love for brown eyes). Although I thought it sounded good spoken, I think I prefer having a written accompaniment of the poem as then I can follow along and look back when I get lost or confused.

Daniel Heffner was listed simply as an “Instrumental” act. When he first came on with only his guitar, my mind was in “*facedesk* a simple guitar act?” mode. However, when he first started playing, it became immediately apparent that it wasn’t a simple, standard guitar act. The sounds were not what I was accustomed to for an acoustic guitar, but instead had a very different sound (I don’t know how to describe it… I heard people around me saying Mexican and Latin though). And quickly, he stepped it up using a repeater device that allowed him to record and replay strings of notes on repeat. Very quickly, it sounded like there were several “guitarists” on stage doing a grand performance together. I was quite impressed not only by his playing, but his ability to coordinate all the different patterns together…

Another “Singing and Instrumental” act was Howard Lee. Supposedly his first large-scale performance (previously being limited to singing in the shower… …apparently with a guitar?), Lee came out with a guitar and sang a song. Overall, I thought he did have good vocals; interesting how the transition from the shower to an auditorium went so smoothly…

Sally (Shuo) Cai was the first “Dancing” act of the night. I believe it was introduced as a folk dance, but for some reason to me it seemed like a cross between contemporary and ballet. I thought Cai show great grace, control, and flow throughout her dance. I’m always impressed by what dancers can do.

The only “Beatboxing” act of the night was by Michael Wang (a.k.a. Big Wang). Beatboxers never fail to surprise me at the noises they can make. I just wanted to point out two things about this act. First was a really good rendition of the Black Eyed Peas; after the first couple of notes, I had already recognized the song and was singing the lyrics with Khushi when he later came in with the song’s chorus. The second thing was he asked the audience if there were any Britney Spears fans in the audience, and I swear I was the only loser in the audience who raised my hand… …awkward since I was in the third row from the front, sitting right behind a row of his friends. Anyhow, he ended up doing “I’m A Slave 4 U”, but I didn’t recognize it (partially because it sounded like a remix to me, partially because I was never a big fan of that song).

Next was Kai Okazaki and Derrick Pawlowski in yet another “Singing and Instrumental” act. I already knew that Okazaki could sing since a friend on Facebook shared a video of his with me (see below). Anyhow, Okazaki sang and played the guitar, while Pawlowski played the violin. Unfortunately, the violin’s sound system didn’t seem to be working so it was drowned out almost the whole performance. Pawlowski kept playing regardless, though I imagine it must be crushing to have practiced for a performance only to be pushed away from the front of the stage. Regardless, the strong vocals by Okazaki I thought carried the act well.

The only “Tuition Slam Poetry” act at the event (and perhaps only act of its type ever) was performed by Francis Arevalo. The poem/rap did a good job of involving the audience, and connecting with the audience since it played with the student problem of “I’ve got no cash”. However, with respect to the quality of the poem, I personally preferred some of Arevalo’s other poems over the one shown here.

There was then a 20 minute intermission which we all spent talking (and Kelvin found us, since he was sitting at the back earlier).

The first post-intermission act was a “Duet Piano” (or “Piano Duet”) by Angeni and Arthur Wang. They are grade 8 and grade 6 respectively (if I recall correctly), and are living on UBC campus. I thought overall their act was quite good. The only thing I didn’t like was on the re-introduction of this recurring theme, there was always this bizarre dissonance that wasn’t sitting right with me. Oh, and also, I unfortunately didn’t get to see them play–all I could see from my seat was the back of the pianos…

Mark Elliot, who just recently obtained a teaching position at UBC, had a “Musician” act. Here, he played guitar and sang a song. To me it seemed to be an older style compared to the other acts, but I still thought it was pretty good. I would have liked to seen a hard copy of the lyrics though–the way he sang the song sounded like either the lyrics meant something, directly or indirectly, important or worth hearing.

Mo Lawrence then came on to do a “Slam Poetry” act. I thought Lawrence gave a strong performance. He had powerful expression throughout the poem (and it was interesting to note how his speaking voice differed from his performing voice). Furthermore, I thought the poem was quite deep and dealt with themes I wouldn’t have expected from slam poetry, such as cultural differences, bullying, and cutting. He’s definitely a slam poet I wouldn’t mind seeing perform again.

For the only pure “Singing” act of the night was Xian Wang. I believe her performance was introduced as a Mandarin folk song to a soldier? My perspective on this is biased since I don’t speak Mandarin. Although I thought she did an overall good job of matching her pitch and tone with the backing vocals, I didn’t really feel anything from the song. I didn’t know what to feel. I expected it to be either a sad song (I’m missing you) or a happy song (I’m happy you’re coming home), but I didn’t really feel anything.

Another “Singing and Instrumental” act, also using that repeater device, was by Damiano Angoli. He sang (some of which reminded me of beat boxing) and played the accordion. I thought it was another outstanding act. The way he managed to combine the different parts together was really good, as was his accordion playing and vocals to match the feeling of the song.

Last was Naheel Jawaid (Matt Canute was also listed in the program, but he was unable to attend) who did an act of “Popper Style Dancing”. Again, like the dancing act by Cai, I was amazed at the control Jawaid had over his movements. I’m not particularly a fan of popping, but I do have to respect the skill Jawaid to execute his routine so precisely.

Anyhow, overall, I was quite pleased with the night. It was a treat to see some of the talent hidden within the student population at UBC. I’m looking forward to next year’s event!