Our National Anthem

The LBC Chamber Singers were recently rehearsing the US National Anthem for upcoming sporting events. I took this as an opportunity to share that I greatly prefer straight-forward performances of it rather than the overly vocal-riffed versions we commonly hear today.

This promo video from the US Army is the best performance of the "official" arrangement that I've found. Enjoy.

"Please rise..."

Flash Mob

OK, this is old news by now, but I still think that the whole "flash mob" concept is one of the coolest cultural phenomenons of this decade. I actually get a little misty eyed at the idea of dozens of disparate people joining together in one, brief, unified moment. And hey, this one happened in Seattle, so it's got that going for it!

Skydiver

I noticed that my blog had an enormous number of views over the past twenty four hours. Knowing that I had not done anything THAT noteworthy this past week, I thought I should Google my name to see what was up. I found the sad story of another Robert Bigley from the San Francisco Bay Area who died in a skydiving accident this week. You can read the article here:

http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/2180582.html

My deepest condolences to his friends and family.

They Live!

Okay, to be honest, I already knew this. But, I just received a very nice email from Nate Bachhuber (great name), who works for the King's Singers informing me that the King's Singers do, indeed, still exist. Furthermore, they won a Grammy this year, which means that they must still sound great! Whether or not they are still clever, however, you'll have to judge for yourself - www.kingssingers.com.

King's Singers

I stumbled accross this old video of the King's Singers. They were, by far, the best a cappella group in the world back in the day. Very clever stuff - enjoy!