Spring Sing ropes in riveting performances

Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds is one of the most successful artists in the history of American music. He’s had a total of 119 top-10 hits in the R&B and pop music charts, and so it may initially seem strange that he found himself singing his elementary school’s alma mater to a crowd of 4,500 in the Los Angeles Tennis Center on Friday night. Shortly thereafter, he jumped rope and attempted to juggle.

No, this wasn’t some bizarre regressive episode. Edmonds was simply demonstrating savoir faire in a night of both kooky and awe-inspiring entertainment that was Spring Sing 2005.

Upon accepting the George and Ira Gershwin Award for lifetime musical achievement, Edmonds spoke about the integral role that music has had in his life, noting that he could still remember how to sing his elementary school’s alma mater. The crowd, eager to hear him perform, then cheered him into singing it on the spot. Later, at the podium, he tried to juggle and jump rope, having been enthused by a routine that Spring Sing Company, a group that entertains the crowd in between musical acts with comedic skits, had just done.

In fact, Company almost stole the show that night with its hilarious comedic sketches about everyday UCLA student life. It also nearly brought the crowd to its feet with its juggling and jump rope routine, a parody of the jugglers who regularly practice outside Kerckhoff Hall. The premise was a West Side Story-inspired rumble between the dueling gangs of the Ropes (a gang of jump ropers) and the Balls (the jugglers).

Company also garnered wild laughs from the audience with a sketch about an Alcoholics Anonymous-like group for Facebook-addicted students, an a capella song about missing the Taco Bell on campus, and a song about having diarrhea from eating out in Westwood at places such as UDog.

Another comedic highlight was a video dramatizing the UCLA students’ everyday ordeal of passing solicitors on Bruin Walk. For added dramatic effect, the video featured Orff’s “Carmina Burana: O Fortuna,” and showed four students attempting to evade solicitors and people fliering by putting on sunglasses, iPod ear phones, a forward-focused stare, or by talking on a cell phone. In the end, only one of the four made it through the hundreds of airborne, small, brightly colored fliers.

Some of the musical acts also provided the crowd with lots of laughs. In the production category, Gamma Phi Beta and Beta Theta Pi’s performance featured a Michael-Jackson-circa-“Thriller” impersonator. A capella group and honorable mention winners The Jumpmen, who dressed up as Mario, Luigi, Mushroom, and the question mark box, performed the Super Mario Brothers’ Theme Song, including the game’s sound effects of going underwater, obtaining a star and shrinking. They received the biggest audience response of all the musical acts, especially when Luigi held an incredibly high note for what seemed like an eternity.

Shawn and Paul performed “Karen,” a light-hearted, Ben Folds Five-sounding song played on acoustic guitar and cello about having a crush on a teaching assistant.

And the band Vain lit up the stage by performing while wearing Christmas lights.

Humor aside, the show also featured sweet songs about love. Mikey G and Dan from Danville’s “Easy on Me” was a sentimental song featuring a delicate two-part vocal harmony sung in part in falsetto about a guy trying to let go of a girl because she has a boyfriend. It was sung, “I think we’re perfect. That’s if we could ever be.” And solo performer Lynn Kiang strummed her acoustic guitar gently in her performance of “Unseen Smiles,” a simple, but heartfelt love song.

Other performances, especially in the band category, provided a contrast to these fluffy, pink and frilly songs. Five-piece band A Quarter Shy rocked the crowd with its electric performance. Bassist Matt Rogers walked the stage like a rock star and lead guitarist Tim Brockett broke out his inner Jimi Hendrix, playing on his knees during his wah-wah solo.

Solo performer Drew Cowens brought some electric blues to the stage with the moody “Other Man.” The song – slow, bitter and at the end, desperate – featured Cowens’ deep, quivering voice. In addition to some impressive blues guitar soloing, there were elements of funk guitar and even some scat-like singing.

Big Pianist and the G Strings ... and Ben’s performance featured a crowd-rousing electric bass solo sandwiched by two wild electric guitar solos.

Winner of the overall sweepstakes and of the solo/duet category Willie Chase instantly got the crowd clapping along to the rhythmic swing of his acoustic guitar strumming. He screamed and growled with fury like Jonny Lang, and after completely winning over the audience, it was no wonder that he won the overall competition.

Dani Nicole and her band won the band category with “Sacrifice.” The song displayed Nicole’s soulful set of pipes, which she could have broken a brick wall with.

All-girl group Random Voices, winner of the a capella category, performed Save Ferris’ “Goodbye” in cute, ska and ’50s-inspired red, white and black dresses, playing up its sex appeal. And exhibition category performers Samahang Modern impressed the crowd with a tightly choreographed and executed hip-hop dance routine.

The performers of Spring Sing had their audience mesmerized throughout the evening.

“I’ve decided I want to come back to UCLA,” Edmonds said at the podium. “If I can, I want to be a part of a group.”

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