Can you believe we've been around for 15 years? That's longer than many marriages last, and considering that there are FOUR of us, that's really saying something. Of course, we don't live together, and we've agreed upon having what you might call an open relationship: Bud sings with another group, Jon arranges music for other groups, Mayank occasionally dresses up as a Venetian gondolier and serenades people, and George - well, George really just can't be owned.
We've had so many really cool experiences over the last decade and a half. We've joked around with Joan Rivers, compared notes with a cappella mainstays like Rockapella, M-Pact, The Bobs, and The House Jacks, and been summarily ignored by Kool, AND the Gang.
One of the most fulfilling things we've done in Hookslide is that over the last few years, we've developed a School Fundraising Program. We make it a no-brainer for the school - all they have to do is give us some time during the day with their choir, a place to perform in the evening, and an audience. We do a workshop with the choir during the day, and have the choir open for us in the evening, so their friends and parents show up, get on our mailing list and buy...no, take...our CDs.
We did one of these a couple of weeks ago at Willow Glen High School in San Jose, and their Jazz Choir. What a talented group of kids! We came in with our standard workshop plan, but quickly realized they already knew a lot of what we had to say. So we turned it around and made it a master class instead. And wouldn't you know it, they had actually incorporated many of our suggestions when they performed the song just a few hours later in the evening show!
We also debuted THREE songs that night! I'd say it was unprecedented, but I'm pretty sure we debuted at least that many, for example, in our first show ever, where we sang five songs. Debuted. Debut. That's a weird word. Almost makes one think of Spike Lee and crazy '80s dance moves. Doin' debut.
That, ironically, is not one of the songs we debuted (or .. debutted?). The three songs really capture the essence of Hookslide - a Broadway song, a Pink Floyd song, and a crazy funk song by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars.
So come do debut with us on February 22 at Angelica's! Tickets are at this link, and you have to make dinner reservations when you buy your tickets, so plan accordingly.