They came from the Hill, from the apartments on Landfair Avenue
and from their homes in their suburban neighborhoods. Some had
waited over six hours in line for reserved seating, while others
desperately tried to find an extra ticket for the sold-out
event.
Whether it was because the Gershwin Award winner was rumored to
be, as second-year mechanical engineering student Katie Reeves put
it, “cooler than Jack Bauer and Chuck Norris” or
anything else, about 5,000 people turned out for Spring Sing 2006.
Braving the chilly weather, the crowd filled the Los Angeles Tennis
Center with the soft blue light of glow stick necklaces in
anticipation of one of UCLA’s oldest traditions.
The wide array of talent kept the audience captivated during the
show. The UCLA Affiliates Award winner for best production entry,
Chi Omega and Alpha Gamma Omega with “When Joe Met
Josie,” featured a humorous musical rendition of a dating
show in which Joe Bruin met Josie Bruin. The other group entries
proclaimed Bruin pride as well, such as Kappa Delta and Delta Tau
Delta’s “Freaky Friday: Campus Crossover,” in
which a North Campus student and a South Campus student switched
places.
Talent was not lacking in any of the other categories. The
ScatterTones performed “I’ll Make a Man Out of
You” from “Mulan,” complete with matching karate
outfits, and Awaken A Cappella energetically performed
“Listen to the Voices.” But it was Random Voices who
won for best a cappella entry with its haunting rendition of the
Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams.”
Despite being the last performers, Kevin Carey and the Quest
Band took the award for best band entry for their song,
“It’s Good to Be With You.” The winner for best
solo entry was Stacey Capoot. Her song, “Dirt,” had the
audience smiling, especially with the line “You’re dirt
/ and that’s why I dig you.” Last year’s best
overall winner, Willie Chase, managed to win the honorable mention
category with Jeremy Pagan for their performance of “Lying
Feet.”
But it was Mikey G and Dan from Danville who were the big
winners of the night. Winning both the best duet entry and the best
overall entry, Mikey G and Dan from Danville proved themselves to
be UCLA favorites when they received a standing ovation and loud
cheers after performing their song, “Cast Away.”
Beginning with its “24” spoof in which they
introduced the members of the group, Company kept the audience
laughing between set changes. Company provided entertainment by
poking fun at typical UCLA stereotypes and experiences, proving
that nothing was a taboo subject.
Company’s skits ranged from the joys of being trapped with
fellow Bruins in an elevator in the dorms to the fanatical members
of the Den. Proving that Company could do more than act, some of
the set changes were aided by musical numbers, such as
“It’s a Hard Jock Life,” which mockingly brought
up the trials and tribulations of student-athletes, while others
included juggling fire, as was seen in a skit about a mysterious
box found in the tunnel system of UCLA.
On top of all this, Company created video spoofs of popular
movies, such as “Brokeback Fountain,” the tale of
forbidden love between an English student and a chemistry student,
and “The March of the Trojans,” the story of the
journey that USC students have to make in order to get Diddy Riese
in Westwood.
To make the night even more complete, the audience was treated
to a special performance by the legendary Burt Bacharach, who
composed 48 top 10 hits and nine No. 1 hits, including
“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” and
“That’s What Friends Are For.” Bacharach was the
2006 Gershwin Award winner.
In his acceptance speech, Bacharach mentioned that in order to
win the Gershwin Award, one must have had attended UCLA at one
point and time. Bacharach said that he attended summer school at
UCLA and stayed in one of the fraternity houses on Gayley Avenue,
but admitted he only went to two classes since they interfered with
“going to the beach and going to the race tracks.”
““ Michelle Castillo
E-mail Castillo at mcastillo@media.ucla.edu.