March 13, 2005 - "An Afternoon of A Cappella" - B.B. King's, Universal Citywalk, Burbank, CA

It’s been 4 days since m-pact’s LA debut at B.B. King’s at the Universal Citywalk, I think it’s time for me to write my thoughts about it. The B.B. King’s gig was supposed to be m-pact’s debut performance as an LA-based group. I am quite excited about the fact that one of the best a cappella groups in the world call Los Angeles home. I just hope that Angelenos will catch on and appreciate the phenomenal talents these guys have.

My cousin April, and I arrived around 5:15 p.m., along with April’s boyfriend Jeremy and my friend and fellow Papuri member Marnee, just in time to catch the UCLA Scattertones’ set. Walked in and ran into the guys at the lobby, said “hello” to Jeff Smith (their tenor/alternate vp) and got a hug from him, then proceeded to go to the 2nd level to find seats, since the floor seats were already taken. *sigh* We were reduced to watching the performances on the flat-screen TVs situated right above the stage in order for the people on the 2nd and 3rd levels to see the performers.

After The Scattertones “scattered” so-to-speak (I know, hehe), the incredible vocal jazz a cappella mixed sextet, Sixth Wave, took the stage, along with their new alto, Jennifer, who replaced our friend and fellow CASA ambassador Amy Fogerson just earlier this year. They sounded fab! I have found a new vocal hero in Elin Carlson. What an incredible coloratura soprano! That lady has some pipes! They did about 6 to 7 songs, which included Icarus and Pick Up The Pieces, 2 of my favourite Sixth Wave tunes.

The final act of the night of course, was m-pact. Britt seemed to be a little under the weather. During the opening number, he was not hitting the high notes, on purpose. He was holding back a little. I was a little disappointed at first, but then he just pulled out the stops after the first couple of songs. I love their Stevie Wonder/Chaka Khan medley “I Wish/Ain’t Nobody”. My favorite out of all their pop covers, and Rudy and Britt are just fabulous vocalists! Of course they had to showcase Jake Moulton’s singing and vp skills, so they did both “I Found a Love in You”, a Britt Quentin original (I love that song!), and “What If We Was Cool?” Jake’s just a freak of nature. Such a performer, I love it. It’s one thing for a singer to be able to sing and sing well, it’s another for a singer to perform and have a presence on stage. Jake IS a performer. So are Britt and Rudy. The rest of the guys can hold their own as well, but these 3 are the ones who always catch my attention. They just suck you in. I have to say that Jeff Smith is one heckuva vocal percussionist. I love his exchanges with Jake in “What If We Was Cool?” Oh and did a rendition of Take 6 and Ray Charles’ “My Friend”. Crazy. I’d love to see m-pact perform with Take 6 one of these days.

It was a short set but everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves. This show was actually part of an “Afternoon of A Cappella” concert series, which will hopefully be a regular series at B.B. King’s. So that was quite exciting to know. Maybe we could get Rockapella to be in it one of these days, what say you Boys? ;)

Well, I get to see m-pact again this Sunday evening, March 20th at The Baked Potato in Studio City. It’ll be a night of a cappella music as well. Can’t wait!

Blend-pact? Where was I?

I saw this on r-mac while browsing around. This was in response to a question - whether or not m-pact had sung "A Change In My Life" again after Carl Connor-Kelly left the group.

ah, but they have. they did it with sean altman on lead vocals at big sing usa, in st. joseph, minnesota in june 1998. this is the a cappella festival for which rockapella missed their flight, resulting in the blenders and m-pact putting on an impromptu jam set as "blend-pact." very frickin' cool. :)

--- posted by Tom Anderson


Uh...The Blenders and m-pact doing an impromptu jam session? And Sean Altman joining m-pact on "A Change in My Life"?! Where the heck was I?! That must've been surreal. I would've given my left arm just to see that!

Rockapella drought.

I just checked the Tour page of the official site and it doesn't seem like a Rockapella concert is in the horizon for me (what's going on with the "supposed" Spring show at the Wilshire Theatre boys?). So, no new shows to report about by yours-truly. However, the FGH concert in NYC happened this weekend, and I hope that "someone" (i.e. my new Pella friend Jugglernaut! LOL) would enlighten us with an account of her Rocka-experience this past weekend - a double-whammy of Rockapella and Sean Altman! :)

I am, however, looking forward to the ICCAs this weekend at USC. Will be rooting for Mt. San Antonio College's 2 groups (Fermata Nowhere - which my friend had a hand in getting off the ground and making them sound decent, now they're phenomenal!,and Nothing But Treble - I have no idea how they sound, but will find out this weekend.). And to top it off, m-pact are the special guest performers at the competition! How cool is that? I hope they sing "U Need 2 No", Suddenly You" and "What if We Was Cool?". That's all I ask!

I still have to edit and post some concert-tale archives that I had up on my old version of got Rockapella? onto this sleeker, spiffier version of gR?. Stay tuned! ;)

Hmm...I talk about a lot of other groups besides Rockapella in this blog, I ought to change the title to got A cappella? because one will notice that this blog will eventually be all about contemporary a cappella groups in general. LOL I don't know if this title-change will come to fruition, but we'll play it by ear as I post more and more.

A cappella pictures.

Just some pictures to share! I know it's not Rockapella, but they're still a cappella. These are pictures with 2 other groups that April and I absolutely enjoy, The Blenders and m-pact.


This was taken at the Starlight Bowl concert that The Blenders and Rockapella double-billed at. Such a good-looking lot!


Me and my favourite Blender, Ryan Lance! He's sooo cute!


April and I with Britt Quentin (next to April) and Jake Moulton (also really cute!) of m-pact! (After this show, I had to drive all the way to The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano - 1 hour drive! - to go to the Rockapella concert, which I missed, but made the meet and greet. LOL)

Musical Sunday.

Currently Playing
Recorded Live At Java Joe's
By Jason Mraz

My Sunday was all about music for me. I got up early to meet up with the rest of Papuri and we headed up to Bakersfield to sing at a church anniversary. We hit a few glitches here and there, but overall the concert went well, glory to God! We sang about 16 songs and also led praise and worship. The people were very accommodating. We were really blessed by them because they were very patient with us, especially while we were having some technical difficulty that involved our sound system. But the concert went on and everyone’s spirits were lifted. Thank you Lord!

Right after the concert, I hitched a ride with Kuya Matt and family and they dropped me off at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City to see m-pact. I thought I wasn’t going to make it but I did, and boy it was amazing! Can I just say that they (m-pact) are freakishly talented?! I’m always in awe every time I see them! They just get better and better every time! And it seems like their ‘soprano’ Britt Quentin’s range gets higher and higher, I’m very suspicious that he’s a woman disguised as a man (okay, let’s not go there…LoL). And Jake Moulton, man alive! Sorry Jeff Thacher, but you’ve been dethroned from the top spot of my vocal percussionists list. Jake’s just too good for words. It’s okay, you come in 2nd. LOL Anyway, my musical appetite has been sufficiently satisfied yesterday. They’re just simply great. And with the addition of a 6th member (Jeff Smith), they’re even more of a force to be reckoned with, now than ever before. Their jazz songs were simply astounding and their more contemporary songs are more polished and sound fuller with the 6th guy. If you don’t know who m-pact are, you should check them out.

After seeing m-pact, I went with April and Jeremy to a church in East L.A. to see one of Jeremy’s friends, Elson, before he left for China for a short-term missions trip. They were having a send-off service for Elson and his teammates. Praise and worship time was uplifting, I just stood there and listened to and read the words of the songs, a few of which I don’t really know. The testimonies by some of the team members were very encouraging, especially by this girl named Susan. She was going through some rough periods during the past year that involved school, but God just showed to her that He was in complete control of everything and that if she kept seeking Him, kept abiding in His word and completely surrendered her worries to Him, He would take care of her, and He did! When it seemed like everything was hopeless and that there was no way to remedy the situation, God came to her rescue! And because of that she is able to go to China for the missions trip this summer. It was a incredible testimony, it really hit home with me. I’m sure that in some way that was a reminder from God that He’s not finished with me yet.