But hey! If you’re still looking for artistic stuff that’s happening at Wheaton, you can hop aboard Spacebus for everything music or enter The Bubble, an online culture magazine for Wheaton. New things and great things, if you know where to look.

From the Scholar Artist Suite, thank you and goodnight!

The Blend:

“A Dark Congregation”, The Hush Sound Though this recording was done a few months prior, this song was performed at the Fall ’08 Jam.

“From The Bridge” From Spring ’08

“Beautiful Day” – U2
“Take Your Mama” – Scissor Sisters
“Send Me On My Way” – Rusted Root
“Hey Sandy” – Polaris
“Lullabye” – Billy Joel
“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” – Tokens
“Mouth” – Merril Bainbridge
“No One” – Alicia Keyes
“Semi-Charmed Life” – Third Eye Blind

CD is $4, send an e-mail to blend@wheatonma.edu to get one.

Random tid-bit: The name “From The Bridge” jokingly refers to The Blend needing to always restart songs ‘from the bridge’.

http://theblend-wheaton.tripod.com/index.html

The Whims:

“Perfect Day”, Hoku A clip from the Fall ’08 Jam.

“Sweeter Each Season” 2007-2008

“Come on Over” – Christina Aguilara
“Unwritten” – Natasha Beddingfield
“Baby I’m Yours”
“Fidelity” – Regina Spektor
“Extraordinary” – Mandy Moore
“A Good Man is Hard to Find”
“Wishing Heart” – Lisa Loeb
“Breathless” – The Coors
“Last Dance” – Donna Summer
“Landslide” – The Dixie Chicks
“Mona Lisa” – Guster
“Wannabe” – The Spice Girls

$10, contact Presutti_Jackie@wheatonma.edu about purchasing.

Random tid-bit: This CD was recorded at the end of the Spring ’08 semester in Cape Cod and released just in time for the Fall ’08 Jam.

www.WheatonWhims.com

The Wheatones:

“Time”, Chantal Kreviazuk From awhile ago (anyone have a more recent video?).

“Seeking Clarity” Covering 2006-2008

“These Are Days”
“The Science of Selling Yourself Short”
“Across the Universe”
“Lose Control”
“Nubes”
“To the Moon and Back”
“Time”
“Touch of Grey”
“Closer to Fine”
“Delaney Talks to Statues”
“For You”
“Wanting Memories”
“Santa Catalina”

$15 ($10 for students), for purchasing, contact ciampa_maeghan@wheatonma.edu

Random tid-bit: Five out of six of the CDs that the Wheatones have produced over the last 10 years have included Beatles songs.

http://www.myspace.com/thewheatones

Voices United to Jam:

“Waterfalls”, TLC From the Fall ’08 Jam.

“Voices United To Jam”, 2006

“Yonder Come Day” – Traditional
“Joyful, Joyful” – From Sister Act 2
“My Liberty”
“This Little Light of Mine” – Harry Dixon Loes
“Oh Happy Day” – Edwin Hawkins Singers
“Swing Low Sweet Chariot”
“I Cant Wait”
“Seasons of Love”
“I Just Can’t Give Up Now”
“Good News”

$10 for this first CD, new CD is being recorded this semester.

Random tid-bit: VUJ is the newest a cappella group on campus, but it’s not really an a cappella group, but rather in the void between student-run band and a cappella tradition, but I’m just going to consider them an a cappella group because it’s easier.

http://www.myspace.com/voicesunitedtojam

The Gentlemen Callers:

“I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)”, Meatloaf From the Fall ’08 Jam.

“Sell Out“, Released Fall ’08

“All the Small Things” – Blink-182
“Waiting on the World to Change” – John Mayer
“Loch Lomond” – Traditional
“Kiss the Girl” – The Little Mermaid
“On the Way Down” – Ryan Cabrera
“Summer Love” – Justin Timberlake
“Lonesome Road” – James Taylor
“Only You” – Yazoo
“Toxic” – Britney Spears

$10, ask eklund_david@wheatonma.edu about it.

Random tid-bit: The GCs are celebrating their 20th anniversary soon, with the release of a History-Of compilation with tracks from all the past GC CDs.

http://www.gentlemencallers.com/GC/home.html

Imagine if all of this music (and more Wheaton-made music) was made available for everyone to enjoy in one place? Perhaps, one day, we shall see…
(any corrections/original artist names would be appreciated)

SAS OTHER is the other-side of SAS Wheaton. Its purpose is to let SAS Wheaton be Wheaton and only Wheaton, while SAS OTHER gets everything thing else that is interesting, but not quite related to things at Wheaton. It’s also the place where the Scholar Artist Suite (and possibly others) will post their own creations because self-promotion is transparent (but check out this awesome thing here!!1! -  http://sasother.wordpress.com/2008/12/24/announcing-sunday-night-audio-updates/).

Things you might see at SAS OTHER – covering artists and musicians outside the Wheaton community, random and interesting audio bits, vague writings, experiments and unspeakables. The biggest post so far has been at SAS OTHER, about the brother of our own Dana Strom, Eric Strom and his Daily Song adventure.

So I hope the people who check for updates on this blog will also visit the mirror-image blog of SAS OTHER (because it’s more happening right now anyway).

And before the semester ends, here is when you can hear it.

(PEOPLE AT WHEATON are also very diverse in their talents, so the following musical examples may not be representative of their musical repertoire. They all do fun songs, though)

     The Gentlemen Callers (GCs) are and have always been Wheaton’s only all-male a cappella group. Their Fall jam is this Thursday at 8:00PM in the chapel, and is entitled “The GCs go broke”. Here they are performing “Toxic” sometime last year:

     Next is Voices United to Jam (VUJ), the gospel/R&B, co-ed singing group with backing band. The Voices United to Jam JAM (Mari Gras theme) is this Friday (November 14th) at 8:00PM in the chapel. Here’s an old recording of them singing one of their slower songs, “Silver and Gold”, with backing piano:

A Prison Jam (not current roster)

     The Wheatones, oldest and all-female Wheaton a cappella group, will be performing their jam on the following Friday, November 21st, also at 8:00PM and at the chapel. Here’s their signature song with individual solos, Santa Catalina, at an unknown time (though those of you who know the solos can probably tell the roster):

The Wheatones at the Slype recently

     The other all-female a cappella group on campus is The Whims, who have their Fall jam on Thursday, December 4th, presumably at the chapel at 8:00PM, but details are still to come. Here’s a video of them singing “Say My Name” somewhere in New York last year:

     Our last Wheaton a cappella group is The Blend, who, besides backing-bandless-VUJ, are the only co-ed a cappella group on campus. I’m sure they have a Fall jam sometime soon, but I don’t know when it is, so fill me in! and it was wonderful. Here’s a video of them singing “Beautiful Day” with inexplicable clothing:

     So these are all the a cappella voices at Wheaton and they SING. Now go out and hear the one group you haven’t heard yet.

(BONUS: The number of views for the GC’s video and the Whims’ video are within 10 of each other… Which one will prevail?)

Here, they just started jamming outside the chapel after an interactive demo of the pans.

See them move? It’s the only way to play a steel drum.

     The main show came the 23rd, thursday night. The concert sprawled out for hours of steel drum sound and invention. Attendees got to see classical, jazz, blues, calypso and movie score renditions done with a steel band. Mission Impossible, Beethoven, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder… many styles and origins explored. Here’s a classical one they did.

Youtube quality isn’t enough to capture to sonic aesthetic that makes the steel drum sound powerful and happy.

     Those of you who attended some of the demos and wanted to play more, good news: The Lymin’ Lyons have begun practices.
     Those of you who are bummed out for missing the steel drums on campus, good news: practices are Tuesdays from 3:30 to 5:00 and Fridays from 2:00-3:30 at the Clark Athletic Center, near the pre-school.
     Those of you who are psyched to see hear steel drums on campus, good news: expect performances happening (next semester).

And contact Claire Anderson for more info. She’s the one with red hair at the center here:

I hope to see some of you at practices! Anytime is the best time to join and jam with the mighty Lymin’ Lyons, Wheaton’s Steel Band.

Some related links:

• The slide show at our main website, showing pictures from the demos they held. More music included.
• The article in the Wire regarding Pamberi’s visit. I definitely stole some info from here.
• A good old fashioned wikipedia entry about the steel drum and it’s origins.

I just got back from Paraiso Latinos first ever event and I’m not alone in thinking it was AWESOME. For those of you who made it, you know what I mean. For those of you who couldn’t, we have the next best thing – video(s) of the performance. Expect to see it here once it’s available…

… Well actually, do YOU have a video of the concert? I don’t think we actually have it.

[update, 12/20/08]
Finally found a video of the event! This is the the beginning of the dance piece and it’s set to recorded music (that’s not the band playing)

Still looking for more videos of the event, please upload them to youtube or send them to me!

The event will act as something of the physical embodiment of this blog: the congregation of the arts at Wheaton in a social setting. Or just some fun stuff anyway. So come and be amazed, get inspired and bring something, anything cool! And afterwards, visit our suite (room 203) and draw on our wall.

Tea, popcorn and hot chocolate will be served, starts at 9:00PM in Gebbie.

Well, there actually are. SGA has one spiffy-looking list going on here, and another spiffy one going on here, neither of which are complete (but effort’s there). The official Wheaton site gave it a go and produced this brief list, but they also have these weird fragments of the past (the Wheaton Asian Student Association and the South Asian Student Association? It’s the Asian American Coalition now and don’t you forget it). The contact information practically useless.

The plan is simple: kill the batman. Let it be known that a comprehensive list is meant to be updated and taken care of, which means hassling us, them and anyone to ensure that the information is up-to-date and accurate. It’s a resource and it’s meant to be used, so everyone, keep those in charge accountable and everyone will be okay.

     It’s like… a game of zip-zap-zop gone mad and scattered across time and space. It’s experimental, so I won’t try to analyze it any further, but it’s weirdly mesmerizing. I don’t know how they did it. I implore you to watch it with headphones on and the lights off, and I also implore the Dimple Divers to perform “Where Bluebirds Dive” live.

     As far as experimental film goes, this kind of video editing isn’t just for crazy college students. In the case of Martin Arnold, it can be sophisticated, high art, so long as there’s a thought out explanation behind it. Look at this film by Martin Arnold:

     I don’t know how I came across this originally, but it too is weirdly mesmerizing. Maybe it’s just our brains relaxing into the idea of things rapidly not making sense, but it feels cathartic somehow to watch and predict what’s happening on screen. It quells the voices.

     So what do you think of experimental films? Is it childs-play, the final frontier, or something you once tried to do at home and are embarrassed about it now? Feel free to use the comments.