Cappella

PBS' "GREAT PERFORMANCES" kicks off its 18th season tonight with a refreshing reach beyond its normal range, which is usually restricted to the traditionally circumscribed notions of high culture.But tonight, instead of Zubin Mehta or Joan Sutherland, you get Spike Lee and Debbie Allen. And instead of symphonies or ballets, you get a sound as natural as a breeze in the trees, as gritty as the banging of a trash can on an inner city street -- a cappella music. "Spike & Co.: Do It A Cappella" will be on Maryland Public Television, channels 22 and 67, tonight at 9 o'clock.

Tonight, "American Idol"gives us two hours' worth of coverage from the remaining days in Hollywood week. If the previous episode was all drama, this one has ... drama. But we are finally treated to performances as well. Hooray for having our cake and eating it. too. Some highlights from both the group performances and the individual performances: Group Sauce, composed of Reed Grimm, Creighton Fraker, Aaron Marcellus, Nick Boddington and Jen Hirsh, sets the bar high for the group performances with great harmonies on "Hold On, I'm Coming" and receives a standing ovation from the judges.

Vocolot is a women's a cappella ensemble specializing in Jewish music. Directed by Linda Hirschhorn, a songwriter and Cantor at Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro, Calif., the ensemble draws from a variety of musical styles including liturgical, folk, jazz and a host of international influences ranging from the Arab world to South America. The group's name, by the way, is a play on the English word "vocal" and the Hebrew word kolot, which means song. "They're like a Jewish [version of]

Beat-boxing and belting out arrangements of the latest pop songs is just another day for the Mama's Boys. The all-male a cappella group from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County started in the fall of 2003 when four students decided it was time to bring a fresh musical experience to campus. The founding members solicited everyone they knew to join the group, including random people walking by doing their laundry. Since then, the Mama's Boys have gone from singing "Happy Birthday" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" to serenading their audiences with renditions of Seal's "Kiss from a Rose" and Jason Derulo's "Whatcha Say. " On Friday, the Mama's Boys take the stage at Festivus Acappellius, their first concert of the fall 2011 semester.

On any given night in Annapolis, as you sit at a bar sipping a cold, draft beer, don't be surprised if a group of people standing next to you suddenly breaks into song.If they are any good, the singers probably aren't half as inebriated as you might think.You are most likely listening to one of the county's best-kept secrets -- a local seven-member a cappella group that has raised more than $30,000 for charity in the past nine years but is prone to barnstorm county bars.The group, the Annapolis Vocal Corps, is far from a makeshift septet.

To watch a performance of the a cappella group Hot Mouth is to feel sometimes as if you have parachuted into foreign territory. You attempt to understand the conversation, although the words are mostly unfamiliar. Still, there is communication going on. You know what they mean, even if you don't always know what they are saying.And so it is that Hot Mouth's act is appropriately called "You Say What I Mean but What You Mean Is Not What I Said." It's a title that makes you go "Hmmmm." And so does the act.You can see the group at Center Stage on Thursday at 8 p.m., Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 9: 30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.The New York-based performers defy easy labeling, but they are an a cappella singing group.

In its earliest days, Jordan Hadfield's a cappella group recruited a member from the laundry room in a University of Maryland, Baltimore County dorm. Since then, Mama's Boys, formed by Hadfield and three other freshmen in 2003, has evolved from a loose crew of guys to a polished group of performers selected through a competitive audition process. The chorale has sung before an Orioles game, opened for comedian Lewis Black, musician Gavin DeGraw and earned a batch of Rice Krispie treats from a fan on the Ocean City boardwalk.

Boyz II Men get a hit record with an a cappella version of "In the Still of the Night." Take 6 wins a Grammy for an a cappella album. And the Persuasions -- who broke ground for Take 6 and Boyz II Men -- still go largely unrecognized by the music industry and mainstream audiences."

At first, no one paid much attention to the group of five when they erupted into song in the middle of Clyde's restaurant in Georgetown. Conversations continued, and servers kept taking orders. But as the melody grew, diners began lifting their heads from their plates, poking one another and pointing - most with the same quizzical looks on their faces. "We're not used to getting music in here," said Cherie Calvert of Kensington, "just martinis." The colorful members of High Five, the night's impromptu entertainers, aren't used to being together without performing, either, regardless of where they are - they claim it's nearly impossible to refrain.

With no microphones for a sound check, Hari Prabhakar let his singers down to a basement corridor to rehearse. Four bobbed their index fingers to the music, altos and sopranos harmonizing "hai, hai, hai, hai" -- a Hindi version of "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." The members of Kranti practiced the new Bollywood song, "Salaam-E-Ishq" (A Tribute to Love). Then they tackled "Desi Back," a South Asian spoof on Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back" that the female singers penned. With a demo CD of Hindi pop and folk songs now recorded and a watershed concert staged this spring, the Indian vocal group at the Johns Hopkins University has joined the next wave in collegiate a cappella.

Beatboxing and belting out arrangements of the latest pop songs is just another day for the Mama's Boys. The all-male a cappella group from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County started in the fall of 2003 when four students decided it was time to bring a fresh musical experience to campus. The founding members solicited everyone they knew to join the group, including random people walking by doing their laundry. Since then, the Mama's Boys have gone from singing “Happy Birthday” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” to serenading their audiences with renditions of Seal's “Kiss from a Rose” and Jason Derulo's “Whatcha Say.” On Friday, the Mama's Boys take the stage at Festivus Acappellius, their first concert of the fall 2011 semester.

Not long after Ben Folds heard that his songs were popular among college a cappella groups, he got an idea for a new album. "We just put the word out," he says. "I put it on my Web page: If you're an a cappella group and you're doing my songs, send your submission to YouTube and I'll check 'em out. We'll make a record." In a matter of weeks, 250 videos were sent to YouTube. Folds combed through the submissions and ultimately chose 15 ensembles to perform on Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!

Among the memorable, music-related moments in Mayberry, on the classic TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, is when a jealous Deputy Barney Fife tries to talk a golden-voiced bumpkin-type named Rafe Hollister out of entering the town's singing contest. Barney: "They're liable to ask you questions only a trained musician understands. Rafe: Like what? Barney: Well, suppose they was to ask, "Can you sing a cappella?" Would you know what to do? Rafe: No. Barney: There you are. Why get up and embarrass yourself?

In its earliest days, Jordan Hadfield's a cappella group recruited a member from the laundry room in a University of Maryland, Baltimore County dorm. Since then, Mama's Boys, formed by Hadfield and three other freshmen in 2003, has evolved from a loose crew of guys to a polished group of performers selected through a competitive audition process. The chorale has sung before an Orioles game, opened for comedian Lewis Black, musician Gavin DeGraw and earned a batch of Rice Krispie treats from a fan on the Ocean City boardwalk.

Summer concert -- Aberdeen will hold a free summer concert series at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Festival Park. The Upper Chesapeake Chorus of Sweet Adelines International will perform female a cappella barbershop music to choreography, colorful costumes and humorous emcees. Rain location will be at Aberdeen Middle School. 410-939-6767.

With no microphones for a sound check, Hari Prabhakar let his singers down to a basement corridor to rehearse. Four bobbed their index fingers to the music, altos and sopranos harmonizing "hai, hai, hai, hai" -- a Hindi version of "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." The members of Kranti practiced the new Bollywood song, "Salaam-E-Ishq" (A Tribute to Love). Then they tackled "Desi Back," a South Asian spoof on Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back" that the female singers penned. With a demo CD of Hindi pop and folk songs now recorded and a watershed concert staged this spring, the Indian vocal group at the Johns Hopkins University has joined the next wave in collegiate a cappella.

Albert "Diz" Russell's house is a shrine to a bygone era. The walls of several rooms are covered in black-and-white photographs, posters and framed records. A rough sketch of dancers titled "The 50's" is stretched between two walls across a corner of the living room. A cappella harmonies drift in from the kitchen where a quartet is practicing as Russell waxes nostalgic from his recliner about the glory days. Here, in this modest home in Capitol Heights, is what remains of Baltimore's once-famous rhythm and blues group, The Orioles - the group that is memorialized along with Billie Holiday on a faded, billboard-size mural above the boarded-up Mayfair Theatre on Howard Street.

Where: Maryland Institute College of Art's Falvey Hall at Brown Center, 1301 Mount Royal Ave. When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday Why: Hear Shades of Gray, MICA's a cappella group for free at the first a cappella-only event held by the institute. A cappella groups from the Johns Hopkins University (the Sirens) and Lehigh University (Melismatics) will also perform. The event celebrates the release of Shades of Gray's debut CD, Van Gogh's Missing Ear. Information: Call 410-225-2284 or visit www.mica.

The Ravens drafted linebacker/defensive end Ryan LaCasse in the seventh round of the draft. The Stoughton, Mass., native played 46 games in his college career and finished 10th in Syracuse history with 16 1/2 sacks. What type of music do you listen to? "I listen to everything except for country. That's the one thing that doesn't kind of blend that well with the team. Most of the guys are into country." So how have you adapted to all the country music? "A lot of us rookies had to get up and sing.