------Feature • Rock of Ages------Bringing It 80s-Style ------Feature • Rockapella------By Deborah Kennedy musical to come from the songbook of the mullet-rocking 80s.” It was nominated for Anyone who’s ever been in a college bar five Tony Awards and set a Guinness World Vocalizing Christmas late at night when Journey’s “Don’t Stop Be- Record in March 2009 for the “largest air lieving” starts to play knows the irresistible guitar ensemble” with a total of 810 people By Mark Hunter except cofounder Sean Altman had gone on draw of a small town girl living in a lonely participating. The audience participation to other careers. And that’s when the current world and a city boy born and raised in south event shattered the previous record of 440 Say “a cappella” in a crowd and the re- leader, chief songwriter and arranger Scott Detroit. Somehow the story of these two people air guitaring at once. action you are likely to get is “huh?” But Leonard entered the picture. Leonard had re- characters and their unlikely, yet somehow Rock of Ages also has the distinction there are those for whom the word a cappella cently returned from several years in Japan inevitable, love affair has the power to bring of being one of the funniest, most irrever- will conjure images of staid groups singing where he performed with groups at Tokyo an entire room to its feet, sloshing their ent musicals to hit the boards in a long time. college-themed tunes or a barbershop quar- Disneyland. And that’s when Rockapella re- drinks and singing along. It’s like the music, The show, conceived by Chris D’Arienzo, tet wooing a sweetheart or something else ally began to sing. man. It goes on and on and on and on. repeatedly breaks the fourth wall, obviously far removed from a foot-tapping, head-bop- I spoke with Leonard, a native of India- The same can be inviting the audience ping song. Whatever the response, there is napolis, from his home in Tampa where he said for Rock of Ages, ROCK OF AGES to feel a part of the no doubt that the a cappella quintet Rock- lives with his wife and two children. Leon- a jukebox musical that Monday, Nov. 28 • 7 p.m. action. And what ac- apella will forever ard had gone to the has been transporting tion there is. Drew blast conventional ROCKAPELLA University Tampa out Broadway audiences Honeywell Center and Sherrie’s love wisdom about vocal of high school on a back to the “Me De- 275 W. Market St., Wabash affair goes on the groups right out of the Friday, Nov. 25 • 7:30 p.m. baseball scholarship. cade” since 2009 and Tix.: $24-$54 thru box office, rocks thanks to the water. Honeywell Center He said the shift from is making its way to night moves of a rock While the popu- 275 W. Market St., Wabash pitching and playing the Honeywell Center 260-563-1102, star named Stacee larity of the televi- outfield to singing in Wabash Monday, honeywellcenter.org Jaxx who reforms sion show Glee has Tix.: $15-$35 thru box office, came naturally. November 28. The his band, Arsenal, for introduced a wider 260-563-1102 “I just grew show tells the love story of Drew Boley (city one night in an attempt to save the Bourbon audience to the range honeywellcenter.org up singing while my boy) and Sherrie Christian (small town girl) Room from some evil German developers. of vocal ensembles, mother played the or- through some of the best-loved songs of the (Well, not completely evil. It turns out that those high school kids got nothin’ on the gan in the house,” he said. “Sports was the 80s, including Night Ranger’s “Sister Chris- one of them wants nothing more than to five guys who comprise Rockapella. For main activity of my childhood, but I was tian,” Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna open a confectionery shop.) Confusion, hurt, nearly 20 years Rockapella have expanded also involved in swing choir and choir.” Take It” and Asia’s “Heat of the Moment.” stripping and some serious ballads ensue – the boundaries of pop vocal singing. And The dual talents led Leonard to get a Perhaps it’s because it’s been 20 years can you say “Waiting for a Girl Like You”? on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving job at Disneyworld in nearby Orlando. Af- since shoulder pads, New Coke and Jane Or what about “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”? when cost-conscious shoppers load up on ter graduation he stayed on with Disney Fonda workout videos were all the rage that I thought so. gifts for Christmas, Rockapella will be dol- and “kind of pinballed around. I ended up the 80s are getting the rose-colored glasses You might have heard the rumors that ing out the gift of music at the Honeywell in Tokyo at Tokyo Disneyland and had the treatment, but regardless of the reasons be- Rock of Ages is getting the Hollywood treat- Center in Wabash. opportunity to stay. So I took it.” hind the Reagan-era resurgence, it cannot ment – meaning that it’s being made into a Rockapella’s roots date to 1986 when a Leonard spent a couple of years in Japan be denied that acts like Journey, Pat Benatar feature film starring Tom Cruise as Jaxx, Ju- quartet of Brown University students con- working at Tokyo Disneyland and singing and REO Speedwagon have a new shine to lianne Hough as Sherrie and Alec Baldwin as nected in New York City and started singing with a Japanese rock band. Before he knew them, and a musical like Rock of Ages is hit- Dennis, the beleaguered owner of the Bour- doo-wop on street corners for spare change. it he was fluent in Japanese. “I have a good ting stages just in time. bon Room. The rumors are indeed true, and At one time or another each of the four short-term memory,” he said. Before you think Rock of Ages is your the film has a 2012 release date, but Nancy had sung at Brown in an a cappella group When it was time to return to the states, typical “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy Reagan once said there’s something about called High Jinks. Upon graduation, each Leonard hooked up Rockapella and started sings ‘Can’t Fight This Feeling’ to girl and live theatre that can’t be matched. Just say had moved to New York where they eventu- sharing writing and arranging duties with gets girl back” sort of show, consider this: no to the movies, she said. I am, of course, ally found one another and decided to form Altman. the plot is actually pretty intricate and in- paraphrasing. a new group. Busking slowly led to gigs at “He and I had two different kinds of ap- volves not only Drew and Sherrie’s romance Rock of Ages proves that the 80s weren’t dinner parties, one of which happened to be proaches,” he said. “After he left I developed but an attempt on the part of some city of- just about trickle down economics, bad hair held for Kathie Lee Gifford, which led to this current approach to Rockapella arrang- ficials, a few strippers and a couple rockers and pegged jeans. There was also a great appearances on television morning shows, ing. It’s so fun write for this group. We’ve with hearts of gold to save a Sunset Strip in- deal of fun to be had. So if you heart stuff then the PBS show Great Performances and never been better musically.” stitution called the Bourbon Room. It’s like like Steve Perry and leg warmers, if you pre- then to their big break: writing and singing Part of the new direction Rockapella Goonies meets Showgirls or, in the words fer Walkmans to iPads, Gorbachev to Putin, the theme song to the children’s geography took came when Jeff Thacher joined in 1993. of reviewers, Mamma Mia meets acid rock. Betamax to Blu-Ray, you’ll definitely want game show Where in the World is Carmen Call him what you will – vocal percussion- It’s also “totally rad” and “the silliest, loud- to take in what the Examiner calls a “mind- San Diego. By this point, in April of 1991, est, crudest and most thoroughly enjoyable lessly awesome romp.” all of the original members of Rockapella Continued on page 7 November 17, ’11------www.whatzup.com------5 ------Feature • Downstait------ROCKAPELLA - From 5 ist, mouth drummer, whatever – Thacher added a dimension to a cappella singing that was lacking among similar groups. With Thacher as human drum kit, Leonard began adding tighter and tighter syncopation to the arrangements. “When we first started out we had four Ready for the Next Step guys with no vocal percussion guy. We found Jeff shortly thereafter. The power and By Chris Hupe the members of Downstait stamina he has is incredible. I don’t know decided they would work how his head hasn’t popped off. Compared Downstait have been hard to give their fans the to what it was in the early days, the beat keeping a relatively low best show they could each and the drive is totally different than what profile in the Fort lately. and every time they hit the other groups were doing. Now everybody’s Except for the occasional stage. got a vocal percussionist. We do numbers in live show, you’d hardly Downstait quickly the show where it’s like having a trumpet know members of this gained a reputation as a player.” local band, heard every highly energetic live band, Thacher and Leonard, who sings high week singing theme songs with great songs to boot. tenor, are joined by George Baldi III, who for WWE wrestlers on the They subsequently put joined in 2002 and sings bass; John K. USA Network, are still out a seven-song EP, sold Brown, who joined in 2004 and sings tenor; living in the area. most of what they printed, and the newest member Steven Dorian, who According to guitar- then went back to record also sings tenor and joined in 2010. ist Justin Call, though, more songs to complete The group has released 20 CDs over the members of the band are a full LP. Released as years, including their most recent, 2010’s simply getting ready to Separation Anxiety, those Bang, which features 13 original songs plus take the next big step in its songs were later remas- a cover of Vampire Weekend’s “A-Punk.” careers. tered and released nation- And while the numerous CDs offer a good “We’ve actually been ally in 2010 as a self-titled way to discover Rockapella, seeing them staying really busy since album on producer and Ra live is better. the last album,” Call said frontman Sahaj Ticotin’s Being the official beginning of the holi- in a recent interview. Sahaja Music Records. day season, the Honeywell show will fea- “We’ve been on a couple “Stiller at the Bear ture holiday tunes the group released on two of national tours” and the was critical in putting us earlier discs, Comfort and Joy and Christ- the band’s played a few of in touch with Sahaj,” Call mas. one-off shows like Mil- said. “We went to Stiller “This will be our first holiday show of waukee’s Summerfest. for some help. He called the season,” Leonard said. “It should be fun. “Lately, though,” Call Sahaj, and two days later First shows are always fun for us. Rock- continued, “we’ve just Sahaj called us saying he apella must be experienced live. These two been writing a lot, getting had listened to our songs records have gotten close to the experience, songs ready for our new on MySpace and wanted but we’ve got guys and can do movement. album. We just got the new to work with us. He has The intricacy of the arrangements is some- album fully funded, and taken us through the whole thing you must see to experience fully.” it’s the most money we’ve process of artist develop- ever gotten to work with, ment many labels ignore so we want to make sure these days.” That hands- we write the best songs we on approach allowed the MICHAELS - From 6 can write before we get in band ro fine tune their proposed to the mother of his two children the studio to record.” DOWNSTAIT image, music and writ- who was his on-again off-again companion The process is not as ing processes. of 16 years and who appeared with him on easy as you might think, w/KRIMSHA & SOMA The band gained the the show. as one of the band’s main Saturday, Nov. 26 • 10 p.m. attention of MTV ex- His renewed popularity via reality TV writers, bassist Sean Arata, is currently liv- scope of what 4D’s Bar & Grill ecutives shortly thereaf- gave a boost to his solo career, and the al- ing about three hours away. Downstait are ter, contacting the band bum Custom Built, released in 2010, finally “Sean’s in school right now, so we don’t trying to accom- 1820 W. Dupont Rd., Fort Wayne to write a song for their put him back on the charts, making it all the get much time together,” Call said, “but we plish. That’s Cover: $5, 260-490-6488 series Bully Beatdown. way to No. 1 on U.S. Hard Rock charts. The are still able to write music on a regular ba- what is called That song, Call thinks, CD was a mix of laid-back music with a bit sis. We both try to write something every “being selective.” led to WWE calling them out of the blue and of twang, and fun, hard rocking that reflects day. We then demo the material we like and Luckily, Downstait are able to take the contracting them to write a theme song for Michaels’ musical roots and included a mu- send them back and forth” over the Internet, time they need for that crucial next album. WWE. The wrestling organization was so sical team-up between Michaels and Miley trading ideas and critiques along the way. “We’re not on a time schedule right now,” impressed with that first song that Downstait Cyrus in the song “Nothing to Lose.” He has It’s a long, calculated process but one that Call said. “Ideally we would like to have have subsequently recorded two more theme plans for another solo album, but the release is absolutely necessary for a band seemingly the new album out next summer. We’re still songs for them, gaining a new and expanded date, originally set for last June, has been on the brink of breaking big. writing and we still have to take care of fan base in the process. postponed, probably until next year. Appar- Given that they are still early in the writ- some legal stuff. After that’s done, we’ll take That leads us back to the present. Down- ently, there are a lot of big name collabora- ing process, Call said it’s difficult to describe a month or two in L.A. to record the songs.” stait have a few shows planned for the near tions headed our way that include artists like the direction the new songs are headed. For readers not up on their Downstait future, including an after Thanksgiving Stevie Nicks and up-and-coming rockers “It’s really hard to peg it,” Call said, re- history, the band met in high school and show at 4D’s Bar & Grill on November 26 Pop Evil. It takes time to cinch up sched- ferring to the new writing. “I’d like to think quickly realized they shared a common in- and a just-before-Christmas show at Piere’s ules for recording, but Michaels is hoping to we’ve learned a lot of things since the last terest in music. However, it was a Seven- December 23. Call wants to assure fans you have a single out by the end of the year. album, and they are being applied. We are dust show the members attended that really will hear all of your favorite songs, but new Michaels, who still dresses like glam- definitely trying to use that knowledge to sealed the bond. songs are still being kept under wraps. metal is about to make a resurgence, is tak- write the best songs we can. We are our own “I’d like to think that show set a lot of “We can’t wait to get this new album ing his glittery cowboy hat collection and harshest critics, but we just try to write songs things in motion [for the band],” Call said. done and give the fans 10-15 new songs to going on tour. He’ll be rocking his way right that we as a band enjoy listening to. We ask “We enjoyed it so much we knew that was listen to,” Call said. “We love our fans and into Fort Wayne on Saturday, November 25 ourselves ‘If I weren’t in this band, would I what we wanted to do. We all decided we appreciate their patience” while the new at Piere’s. This is probably your best chance listen to this song?’” wanted to write music we all enjoy and album is being written and recorded. Until to see a reality star, movie star, writer, musi- If the answer is yes, the song is kept. perform it in a way that complements it.” then, catch the Downstait boys while you cian and legend perform in just one pair of If not, they move on. Ideas presumably get People want to see a show when they spend can, as it looks like 2012 is going to be a pants. thrown out every day if they don’t fit the their money to see a band, Call added, and busy year for them. November 17, ’11------www.whatzup.com------7