In the 1970s, four members of the Augmented 8 formed their own quartet. The Ad Hoc Committee consisted of Harmar Brereton, Scott Watson, Michael Collins, and Jon McBride. As we turn 75, we remember their skill with fondness.
“The Ad Hoc Committee: In Close Session”
“Waving through a Window”
The Augmented 8
(from Dear Evan Hansen)
Words and Music by Benji Pasek and Justin Paul
Arrangement by Tom Bulleit
Solos by Tom Bulleit, John Symington, Paul Kraske, Rick Bond
Production by Johnny Del Toro (audio), Amber Schmiesing (video) and Raise Your Voice Labs, and Tom Bulleit
We undertook Dear Evan Hansen’s opening theme, “Waving Through a Window,” in connection with returning to engagement with people, especially our extended Spring Sing family, as we emerged from pandemic isolation in 2022. In the Tony Award-Winning Best Musical, Evan is a young adult on the autism spectrum who knows he is special, and not in a good way. The song tells the story of his search for engagement, desperately wishing to change his life so that he isn’t “on the outside always looking in.” In our version, we salute the efforts of people like Evan, and try to convey that they are not alone, in part by having several different voices tell the story of the struggle.
“Deacon Blues”
The Augmented 8
Words & Music by Walter Becker & Donald Fagan
Arranged by Bill Cline
Solo by Steve Bosak
Produced by Raise Your Voice Labs & Tom Bulleit
The Augmented 8 has been entertaining Washington metro area audiences for 70 years, although thankfully, our current membership has joined more recently and has younger vocal chords. We chose as our opener for Sing Out for Shelter 29 co-director Bill Cline’s arrangement of Steely Dan’s “Deacon Blues,” because it speaks to a man struggling with adversity, determined to overcome it and “be what I want to be.” Our video tries to capture the ethos of the pandemic, showing our singers making the best of life at home, and the film noir hero quality of the iconoclastic narrator (performed by Steve Bosak), who is determined not to be trapped or overcome by the virus.
“Here’s That Rainy Day”
The Augmented 8
Music by Jimmy Van Heusen, Lyrics by Johnny Burke
Arranged by Oakleigh Thorne
Solo by Bill Cline
Produced by Raise Your Voice Labs and Tom Bulleit
In 2020 the Augmented 8, like all singing groups, had to stop getting together in an enclosed space to sing, as the Covid-19 pandemic shut down much of the world. We were determined to continue our mission of keeping alive the tradition of men’s close harmony a cappella singing that the group has sustained in the D.C. area since 1950. So we used new technology and the talents of audio and video producers assembled by Raise Your Voice Laboratories to produce our first of four virtual music videos. We chose one of our favorites, Here’s That Rainy Day, arranged for us in 2016 by the legendary Oak Thorne, whose legacy includes more than twenty musical arrangements for that best known college a cappella group, Yale’s Whiffenpoofs. The song is among other things a suitable lament to pandemic isolation. Our next two virtual videos, recorded over the next two years, tell the story of the struggle to emerge.
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- 33rd Sing Out for Shelter Concert, March 1
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