I’m still having difficulty writing. River me to and their wish is my command. I’m not going to watch Ahsoka till I finish. River has a special interest in this entry, and we went to see Pentatonix together on Sunday night. I didn’t know much about the group though I had heard good things. River is a big fan and was given the tickets and asked me to join them. I said yes, more to see River than anything else. The show was in the PNC Center in Jersey. I don’t have a car. I took the subway to Penn Station and then the NJ Transit train to Metropark. That would always be a schlep, but this was more. I left myself plenty of time to make the connection, but the D train was delayed and then taken out of service. I arrived at Penn Station as the train was scheduled to leave. I entered track 21 and had to run all the way to track 3 at full speed. I ran out of gas before I reached it. The train must have been a bit delayed because I made it. I was panting.
The trip to PNC on the Garden State was fine and we parked at one of the further lots. We had to take a bus to the venue. I have never been on an air-conditioned school bus before. Kids today have it so easy! We didn’t even have seatbelts. Security going in was much like at Citi Field, there are non-enclosed metal detectors that you walk through without emptying your pockets. I have always suspected that they are really robot detectors. I know when I buy tickets and such they always ask if I’m a robot. I say, “no.” Can you see where this is going? Everyone walked right through the robot detector but me. I had to empty my pockets and go through a conventional metal detector. I fooled them but it was touch and go for a minute. Should I have just come out and been an open robot and demand my right to hear a capella music? No, that might have been awkward for River.
We were a bit late; the opening act had already started. We were late but we didn’t miss anything. She was an innocuous young pop singer. Her vibe was totally Hannah Montana, not Miley Cyrus. I bet she went in the back and took her wig off. Some of the kids in the audience enjoyed her. They might have been there for her. There was a wider age range in the audience than I’m used to. Lots of kids, young adults, and everything through senior citizens. River and I are young adults. They did have to translate for me now and then; I’m a senior young adult.
Pentatonix is an a capella group. There was a time, 20 years ago, when my favorite band was an a capella group, Da Vinci’s Notebook. The thing is that they described themselves as “a capella that doesn’t suck.” For a few years I was not an a capella person, but I was a capella adjacent. I saw DVN play with more traditional groups. My friends loved a capella. I went to the Mid Atlantic finals. I have no idea what a capella contest it was a final for, but I did drive down to Alexandria Virginia to see it.
I knew very soon that Pentatonix didn’t suck. As the show progressed, I became more and more of a fan. The first thing you might notice is that this a capella band was playing to a drumbeat. You might notice that, but you’d be wrong. That was the beat boxer Kevin. I have no idea how he made the sounds of not just snares but also cymbals. That’s well and good but it could just be a gimmick, it isn’t. Pentatonix is (are?) um, let me start again. Pentatonix makes sophisticated music. It goes somewhere. It’s not harmonies that sound beautiful in the moment but keep changing to hold your interest. I’m a tough audience. I’m not an a capella fan, if I’m impressed, they are impressive. They are also tons of fun. If that’s what they did all show it would have been a good show. It got better. Kevin, remember Kevin the beatboxer? The rest of the band discovered him on YouTube, he was beatboxing as he played Bach on the cello. He’s such a nerd! Please tell me that he and Rushad Eggelston and best friends. Kevin did a set on the cello and beat box. He did the Bach, and then an arrangement of Beethoven’s 5th! It reminded me of Emerson Lake and Palmer. He took these classical forms, combined them with chaos, and made them his own.
He then did an audience sing-along with the bass. I’m sure the bass has a name, but I just know Kevin. One of the others is Mitch. Don’t ask me which one. I call the others, Bass, Baritone, Tenor, and Soprano. The bass has a tremendous range going up to high baritone or low tenor. The soprano is a mezzo shading into alto. The baritone is the front man. The tenor looks like a cross between Freddie Mercury in his short hair and mustache days and Greg “Storm” DiCostanzo of the aforementioned Da Vinci’s Notebook. I will be nice; Carey knows what I’m thinking.
After the classic rock sing-alongs, they did a dance set. Perfect, I needed to go to the bathroom. My timing was terrible. They finished their set as I got back. But of course, there was an encore. Many people did not stay for it. They were streaming out. They missed a lot. The first song was quiet and sung around a dim lamp. It felt like sitting around the firepit late night at Falcon Ridge. That was the calm before the storm. They then said, “the bad news is that we have only one more song. The good news is that it’s seven-and-a-half minutes long. Can you guess what it was? Bohemian Rhapsody! Tenor did the Freddie Mercury part! I sang full throated. At that point I was in heaven.
We took the bus back to the car and headed out. River drove me to Newark Penn Station where I have options how to go home and they had a shorter ride home alone late at night. I’m a good person so I had just a 12-minute wait for my train to come. Even the subway cooperated.
I’m over a thousand words in so I’ll have to save writing about Oppenheimer until tomorrow.
Wise Madness 