ICCA So Cal Regionals last night.

What an incredible night of a cappella we had last night, courtesy of the collegiate groups that competed at the ICCA at USC, and of m-pact, of course, who definitely won a lot of new fans last night! First off, congratulations are in order to Mt. San Antonio College’s
Fermata Nowhere! The guys entertained and sang their patooties off! And congratulations to Garrette Hall, he won Best Solo. I didn’t realize until halfway through their performance that Garrette is the same Garrette who sings and plays the keys in my friends’ band, Projekt Soul! That guy can saanngg…Anyway, FN did a fantastic job with their "Food obsession" medley! They incorporated the latest, hottest hip-hop joints of today like Snoop’s “Drop It Like Itz Hott” (my jam!), complete with the seawalk, and Usher’s “Confessions”, among others. Great choreography, and the soloists have confidence on stage. They didn’t look awkward or nervous at all, very different from a lot of the soloists in most collegiate a cappella groups. Some are just too timid, shy or awkward, and some just try too hard. You either have stage presence or you don’t, simple as that. Anyway, I digress. They were (Fermata Nowhere), hands down, the best group there last night. There’s no doubt about it. One thing that disappointed me last night though was the sound system. The handhelds weren’t working too well. The soloists kept getting drowned out by the background vocals. Even with m-pact, the mics were getting temperamental at times. One of my pet peeves - bad sound system and/or bad sound techs.

m-pact was just phenomenal last night. A few glitches here and there, but there’s always something like that going on with live performances. Britt Quentin showed off his incredibly high range. All the guys were in top form and the new addition, Jeff Smith (formerly of measureXmeasure), is definitely becoming more and more at home in his role with the group. I had no idea that he’s a very good vocal percussionist! Jake did it again though. He tore it up with “What If We Was Cool”. That guy is immensely talented, with looks and personality to boot! And an awfully nice guy. Well, they all are!

Well, a great night was definitely had by all. All the best to Fermata Nowhere at the Western semi-finals!