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.  We’ve also assembled a program with virtual performances by some of the elites of college a cappella, and our local community, represented by the ladies of Venus D Minor, and the next generation of a cappella singers from several of our local high schools.  We hope you enjoy the show, and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible live again next year.