This is a special message from Cory Brendel.
Hello all – Thank you for your interest. This is a great and very fun thing you are doing.
JUNE 29 REHEARSAL OPTIONAL
If you can’t make it, come anyway to whatever performances you can. Don’t miss the fun! We need you, your energy, your voice, your Hawaiian shirt, you will be fine. BUT DO come to the one hour rehearsal prior to showtime. That’s when we do an abbreviated rehearsal.
JUNE 29 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
We will go through every song, discussing strumming and plucking patterns (Yes, we will be true to our name and actually include some plucking for brave souls who want to), vocal backup singing, and percussion. Good to know. Strum patterns are not written on most songs. (I either forgot or decided my written attempts are incomprehensible and need to be demonstrated.
PERCUSSION SECTION
Volunteers needed. Hand-clapping, shakers, sound effects. Contact Cory directly if you are willing to do this, because there might be a further zoom meeting for, or an email to, the percussionists. (I don’t want to call out the beat during the shows). You still get to sing. Cory respectfully reserves the right, for the good of the show, to politely re-assign you if you happen to have no sense of rhythm.
BACKUP/HARMONY SINGERS.
Many songs have backup singing or a harmony part. IMHO, the backup singing is more fun than the actual song lyrics. YES, I want this, if I can get it. Call me ambitious. A perfect example is the “shooby dooby dooby doo wah” of One Fine Day. It’s iconic to the song, and wrong not to have it. Another is the high voice on Gene Pitney’s It Hurts To Be in Love. If you are a boomer, these songs and their vocals are burned deep into your life’s music history. ASSIGNMENT FOR ALL PLEASE: Listen to these songs prior to June 29 rehearsal (or the first show you come to if you miss June 29). I will have little or no time to teach backup/harmony vocals on show days. If you want, choose some songs you want to sing these parts on, you don’t have to do it all the time.
PLUCKERS
Contact Pam and advise if you want to play the plucking parts. She will somehow indicate on the attendance sheet (Pam, maybe a “P”?) so I know if I have anybody. Pre-rehearsal assignment, if you can: Listen to then learn the tab parts on song 13 Rhythm of The Rain.
BASS PLAYERS NEEDED
Let me know. Don’t let this scare you. I’ll take you if you only want to do 3-4 songs. Bass adds so much to a song. Contact Cory NOW and tell him what days you want to come. Bass players will be responsible for their own amps, including set-up and breakdown.
RAINSTICK NEEDED
Anybody have one of those things? Long hollow sticks where the pebbles slowly bounce off internal nails (toothpicks, cactus spines) and sound surprisingly like rain? Fun prop for Rhythm of Rain, which starts with a rainstorm.
VINTAGE LONG SURFBOARD
One of those 9-footers from the sixties. Visual prop. This show is dedicated to the late great Brian Wilson. We are in Southern California. They are around. Borrow one? Okay, okay – I’ll take a styrofoam boogie board if that’s the best we can do…. but what a distant, distant second…
FEMALE VOCAL SOLOIST
Who wants to sing the verses of It’s My Party? (All in on chorus) Contact Cory
ASSIGNMENT FOR ALL: LISTEN TO THE SONGS BEFORE YOU COME.
Click the RSVP button if you want to participate in the performance. Contact Cory if you want to respond to this blog post regarding his performance requests.
For all the performance details, including dress code, click the button below to download the flyer. The latest music charts are also linked below.