#Paul Sperrazza

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The Chicken Song — VoicePlay live performances

For this post, I want to let you do a bit of compare-and-contrast. Below are two performances of the same piece, two years apart. As with a lot of VoicePlay's more theatrical skit-songs, every iteration is a little different, and delightful in its own way. Especially in comedic numbers like this, "Elvira", and "Road Trip", where the guys are trying to make each other laugh almost as much as they're trying to entertain their audience.

Details:

title: The Chicken Song

original song / performers: American novelty song also known as "The Rooster" ; first two verses included in the New Christy Minstrels' "Bits and Pieces" medley (1962)

arranged by: VoicePlay

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version 1

This video was recorded during VoicePlay's concert at The O'Shaughnessy theater at St. Catherine University during the 2014 Arts Midwest conference in Minnesota.

performance date: 19 September 2014

My favorite bits:

Layne playfully admonishing the videographer while clucking

Eli's tokyo-drift skibble at the end of each chase

"Anybody wanna milk me?" ::delighted pointing at the audience response:: "Oh, okay!"

"Big guy." ::patpat::

::half-heartedly points at his raised hand:: "’T’s’muh branch."

Eli's smug grin at Geoff's reaction to him taking over, "And an awful lot of it."

Layne, Geoff, and Eli's startled smiles at one audience member's distinctive laughter

Tony repeatedly trying to refuse his assigned role, only to get annoyed when the others don't immediately back him up. "C'mon!" 😠

"I don't think we have that."

Trivia:

Tony's improvised dialog, "Hey, my name is Maggie. Welcome to Matt's," is a reference to Matt's Bar in Minneapolis, where the guys had been very excited to go for a lunch of "juicy lucy" burgers before the show.

Since they were in Home Free's neck of the woods for the conference, the guys had a chance to catch up with Rob Lundquist and Tim Foust.

Tim live-tweeted the show in his typical wry fashion, including some arboreal appreciation for his fellow bass singer.

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version 2

This performance was part of a benefit concert for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation hosted by the Alpha Epsilon Phi fraternity at Stanford University. Tony got stuck in Florida because of Hurricane Matthew, so their old friend Paul from Vox Audio agreed to pinch hit. Which made it even more chaotic than usual.

performance date: 7 October 2016

My favorite bits:

Layne shaking his tail feathers

Eli and Layne's little finger wiggle high-five

Earl and Layne cracking each other up with livestock jokes, then everyone giggling even more when Geoff calls them out on it

Eli laughing so hard he has to take a knee

::elbow bump::

Geoff asking the audience, "D'you guys know what Chiclets are?" only for Earl to immediately pull one out of his pocket

Paul accidentally skipping the second refusal gag and grumbling about not getting paid enough

::wolf whistle:: "Shaddup."

Eli doing his darnedest not to laugh at Paul's waitress antics, to the point of angling himself away from the rest of the group

Paul's incredible scream

Trivia:

The "California cow" / "happy cow" / "best cheese" banter was referencing a series of ads from the California Milk Advisory Board that aired in the early 2000s.

The Chiclets gum question was asked at least in part because that brand had recently been discontinued.

Young lads Layne, Earl, Geoff, and James May recorded a live audio version (without the waitress verse) for 4:2:Five's album "Time Machine" way back in 2004.

[jules-has-notes]

collaboration spotlight — IC Premium Blend "Tour-lando" house party clips

When Ithaca College's all-female a cappella group Premium Blend was scheduling their 2013 tour of the Orlando area, they reached out to some local vocal groups with the hope of meeting up for a bit of collegial hanging out.

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VoicePlay and their friend Paul Sperrazza from Toxic Audio thought that sounded like a good time, and so a house party / jam session ensued at the ladies' lodgings for the week. Neither of these clips is a full song, but they’re still a lot of fun.

Details:

title: You Can't Hurry Love

original performers: The Supremes

written by: Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, & Eddie Holland

My favorite bits:

Tony and Earl passing the melody and harmony lines back and forth

Eli smoothly shifting between harmonic partners

the breakdown section, starting with Layne's percussion, building up those crunchy harmonies, and Geoff’s nice little upward run

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Details:

title: Crazy

original performer: Seal

written by: Seal & Guy Sigsworth

My favorite bits:

Paul acting as both lead singer and director, encouraging some of the ladies to improvise with him

Layne lowkey beatboxing in the corner

whatever Earl and his husband are joking about in the background (probably a wrestling thing)

Eli and Tony gleefully recording Geoff's dancing, and Geoff hamming it up in response

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2016 VoicePlay fall roundup — projects galore, frequent travels, and holiday cheer

As summer rolled into autumn, VoicePlay just kept rolling on their various creative fronts.

While the other guys were cruising in the northeast, Tony and Layne were hard at work back home, prepping and filming PattyCake's first Halloween video.

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California schemin'

Once the sailors were rested up, most of the guys headed for the west coast. They spent two days in Los Angeles filming collaboration videos, first with Kurt Hugo Schneider and then with AJ Rafael.

On the upside, their absence from Florida meant that they didn't have to take shelter from Hurricane Matthew. Unfortunately, Tony wasn't involved in the videos (for reasons that would soon become clear) and was supposed to be on a later flight than the others. He didn't make it out of Orlando before the airport was shut down.

From L.A., the guys hopped up the coast to San Francisco to perform at a benefit concert for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation hosted by the Alpha Epsilon Phi fraternity at Stanford University. With Tony stuck at home, the fellas called in their old buddy Paul Sperrazza from Vox Audio to pinch hit as their baritone for the night.

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Squeeze me in

After a few days at home, the guys hit the road again. They started with three days of student workshops in eastern Ohio.

During the week, they set their social media followers the challenge of finding them among the crowds of students and faculty at some of the schools. (Can you spot them all? The kids make surprisingly good camouflage.)

New Philadelphia, OH — East Elementary // West Elementary

Zoarville, OH — Tuscarawas Valley Elementary School

On the final day, they worked with the choirs from two local high schools, who then joined them for a show at Kent State Tuscarawas the following night.

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From there, the guys headed south to West Memphis, AR for another concert and a workshop at the local high school the day after that. One crafty fan brought them homemade VP logo cookies.

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students at West Memphis High School

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Next they flew up to NYC to perform at a fundraiser for the Lupus Foundation of America.

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Then they scooted upstate to Rochester for a show at Nazareth College before finally heading home.

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Happy holiday-ween

Once they returned to Orlando, it was time to buckle down on rehearsals for their second year at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, so that they'd all be able to hit the stage running in November. (Layne did take the time in the middle of the week to have dinner with their old friend Jeff Thatcher and introduce him to Doris, though.)

The extra twist this year was that, on top of getting themselves and their backup guys ready to perform their holiday setlists, these performances would also be their next step toward formally acknowledging Tony's departure. He wouldn't be joining the other guys on stage in Tomorrowland this season. Instead, they would alternate between two replacement baritones, Erik Winger and J.None, who would continue performing with them into the new year, until the group could decide on a new permanent member.

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No trick, all treats

At the end of the month, Geoff & Kathy announced that baby Castellucci was on the way at long last. They shared a short video documenting some of their challenging road to parenthood on Geoff's personal YouTube channel.

and baby makes three… er, five?

WARNING: This video contains footage of Kathy receiving many injections in her belly and buttocks. As a result, she engages in some pain-induced swearing. Understandable, but probably NSFW.

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One of the pumpkins from the baby reveal was then repurposed to create VoicePlay's social media posts for the day of Halloween.

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North to South (Carolina)

After a week and a half at home, the guys moseyed up to South Carolina for a pair of shows in Aiken, this time with Erik Winger as their substitute baritone.

A group of fans, perturbed by some negativity they'd been seeing directed toward the guys in YouTube comments and on social media, had been conspiring amongst themselves to counteract that energy. They'd created a book of positive messages and images. The two friends who had volunteered to collect and deliver everyone's submissions also documented the presentation during the post-show meet and greet on the first night so that all the contributors could see the guys' initial reactions.

Ashley and Nancy present the book of fan love

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The second day also held a few surprises.

It can be nice to have fans in the service industry.

Aiken, SC show — pre-show chatting // post-show group hug with fan Ashley // prezzies!

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Sing, laugh, and be merry

And then it was off to the races. VoicePlay began their second annual residency in Tomorrowland for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Disney World in early November. For nearly 100 performances over the course of six weeks, they once again entertained thousands upon thousands of visitors to the Magic Kingdom.

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Hardcore mode

In between MVMCP shows, the guys continued doing their other jobs. Among other things, that meant Earl was lucky enough to be playing Crush in the Nemo live show when iconic professional wrestler Mick Foley was in the audience.

Earl meeting Mick Foley // the VP MVMCP B-team — Tony F., Antonio, Deejay, Joey, & J.None

Having a full cast of replacement singers came in handy during the second week of Disney World shows. VoicePlay had also booked a holiday concert down in Delray Beach for the Friday before Thanksgiving. So, while Winger filled in for Tony on the road, J.None and the rest of Echo took to the Tomorrowland stage in full force.

Eli and Ashley even left a day early and took a detour to attend a Carrie Underwood show in Tampa on the way.

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VoicePlaying for Gamecocks

At the beginning of December, VoicePlay headed up to South Carolina with Winger once more for their last non-Disney holiday concert of the year at USC.

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Bubblicious

In early December, some of the guys finally got to meet the British music blogger who had been singing their praises for several years when his vacation itinerary brought him to the Magic Kingdom.

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Caroling we roll along

Their final video shoot of the year was also the final entry in their first set of PartWork videos, a gentle rendition of "O Little Town of Bethlehem". With the announcement of Tony's departure drawing closer, the other four guys were all featured in this video in their usual roles, and Geoff did double duty to cover the baritone part.

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VoicePlates

As a fun little end-of-year treat, their pal (and former 4:2:Five tenor) Danny Alan stumbled upon some holiday paper goods that bore a surprisingly familiar looking design.

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The guys finally took the last few days of the year to relax and rest in preparation for their hectic start to the new year, but those are stories for another time.