Outdoor Concert

Each summer, Arts on the Prairie sponsors free outdoor concerts at the Phil Patterson Memorial Bandshell in a hillside park just a few minutes' walk from our house.  We often forget each week that those concerts are happening, but we have attended several of them over the past few summers.  Last summer we tried to attend one featuring the male a capella group aka'Fellas, but it was canceled after just one or two songs on account of rain!  Not so this year, though, so we were at the bandshell tonight to hear them sing.

Five Fellows

Tonight Susan and I took the girls to a concert by a local all-male a capella vocal group called the aka'Fellas. There are five "fellas," all of them either graduates of or current students at the university, and two of them former students of mine (and one of them gives Suzanna private lessons on the trombone). One of the five does vocal percussion on most numbers, another does the bass line, and the other three take turns on melody and harmony. Some of their numbers are sweet and serious, but more often they incorporate humor into the show with funny movements and facial expressions during songs and playful banter between songs.

It was a very enjoyable concert, not only because we knew all the performers and wished to be supportive but also because they continue to improve their act the longer that they're together as a group, and it's fun to hear/see their evolution. Want to know more? The aka'Fellas have an old Web site that directs Interwebbers to their new site, currently undergoing renovations. You can hear/see the aka'Fellas here, though.

P.S. They remind me a bit of Four for a Dollar (remember?), a great a capella men's group whom we heard perform when we were at Disney World in 2007.