Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds is one of the most
successful artists in the history of American music. He’s had
a total of 119 top-10 hits in the R&B and pop music charts, and
so it may initially seem strange that he found himself singing his
elementary school’s alma mater to a crowd of 4,500 in the Los
Angeles Tennis Center on Friday night. Shortly thereafter, he
jumped rope and attempted to juggle.
No, this wasn’t some bizarre regressive episode. Edmonds
was simply demonstrating savoir faire in a night of both kooky and
awe-inspiring entertainment that was Spring Sing 2005.
Upon accepting the George and Ira Gershwin Award for lifetime
musical achievement, Edmonds spoke about the integral role that
music has had in his life, noting that he could still remember how
to sing his elementary school’s alma mater. The crowd, eager
to hear him perform, then cheered him into singing it on the spot.
Later, at the podium, he tried to juggle and jump rope, having been
enthused by a routine that Spring Sing Company, a group that
entertains the crowd in between musical acts with comedic skits,
had just done.
In fact, Company almost stole the show that night with its
hilarious comedic sketches about everyday UCLA student life. It
also nearly brought the crowd to its feet with its juggling and
jump rope routine, a parody of the jugglers who regularly practice
outside Kerckhoff Hall. The premise was a West Side Story-inspired
rumble between the dueling gangs of the Ropes (a gang of jump
ropers) and the Balls (the jugglers).
Company also garnered wild laughs from the audience with a
sketch about an Alcoholics Anonymous-like group for
Facebook-addicted students, an a capella song about missing the
Taco Bell on campus, and a song about having diarrhea from eating
out in Westwood at places such as UDog.
Another comedic highlight was a video dramatizing the UCLA
students’ everyday ordeal of passing solicitors on Bruin
Walk. For added dramatic effect, the video featured Orff’s
“Carmina Burana: O Fortuna,” and showed four students
attempting to evade solicitors and people fliering by putting on
sunglasses, iPod ear phones, a forward-focused stare, or by talking
on a cell phone. In the end, only one of the four made it through
the hundreds of airborne, small, brightly colored fliers.
Some of the musical acts also provided the crowd with lots of
laughs. In the production category, Gamma Phi Beta and Beta Theta
Pi’s performance featured a
Michael-Jackson-circa-“Thriller” impersonator. A
capella group and honorable mention winners The Jumpmen, who
dressed up as Mario, Luigi, Mushroom, and the question mark box,
performed the Super Mario Brothers’ Theme Song, including the
game’s sound effects of going underwater, obtaining a star
and shrinking. They received the biggest audience response of all
the musical acts, especially when Luigi held an incredibly high
note for what seemed like an eternity.
Shawn and Paul performed “Karen,” a light-hearted,
Ben Folds Five-sounding song played on acoustic guitar and cello
about having a crush on a teaching assistant.
And the band Vain lit up the stage by performing while wearing
Christmas lights.
Humor aside, the show also featured sweet songs about love.
Mikey G and Dan from Danville’s “Easy on Me” was
a sentimental song featuring a delicate two-part vocal harmony sung
in part in falsetto about a guy trying to let go of a girl because
she has a boyfriend. It was sung, “I think we’re
perfect. That’s if we could ever be.” And solo
performer Lynn Kiang strummed her acoustic guitar gently in her
performance of “Unseen Smiles,” a simple, but heartfelt
love song.
Other performances, especially in the band category, provided a
contrast to these fluffy, pink and frilly songs. Five-piece band A
Quarter Shy rocked the crowd with its electric performance. Bassist
Matt Rogers walked the stage like a rock star and lead guitarist
Tim Brockett broke out his inner Jimi Hendrix, playing on his knees
during his wah-wah solo.
Solo performer Drew Cowens brought some electric blues to the
stage with the moody “Other Man.” The song ““
slow, bitter and at the end, desperate ““ featured
Cowens’ deep, quivering voice. In addition to some impressive
blues guitar soloing, there were elements of funk guitar and even
some scat-like singing.
Big Pianist and the G Strings … and Ben’s performance
featured a crowd-rousing electric bass solo sandwiched by two wild
electric guitar solos.
Winner of the overall sweepstakes and of the solo/duet category
Willie Chase instantly got the crowd clapping along to the rhythmic
swing of his acoustic guitar strumming. He screamed and growled
with fury like Jonny Lang, and after completely winning over the
audience, it was no wonder that he won the overall competition.
Dani Nicole and her band won the band category with
“Sacrifice.” The song displayed Nicole’s soulful
set of pipes, which she could have broken a brick wall with.
All-girl group Random Voices, winner of the a capella category,
performed Save Ferris’ “Goodbye” in cute, ska and
’50s-inspired red, white and black dresses, playing up its
sex appeal. And exhibition category performers Samahang Modern
impressed the crowd with a tightly choreographed and executed
hip-hop dance routine.
The performers of Spring Sing had their audience mesmerized
throughout the evening.
“I’ve decided I want to come back to UCLA,”
Edmonds said at the podium. “If I can, I want to be a part of
a group.”
For additional Arts and Entertainment coverage, read dB Magazine
every Thursday in the Daily Bruin.