Friday, May 28, 2010

Reunions Coverage: Battle of the Alumni Bands


Best way to start off a hazy Friday morning at Reunions? Definitely the "Battle of the Alumni Bands," which is still taking place on the South Lawn of Frist and will be running for another few hours. Now in its 3rd year, the light-hearted event kicked off with the jazzy grooves of the Prospective Sound, a 12-(ish)-piece band largely comprised of members of the Class of 1970 (pictured above). Band-members joked that they hadn't practiced together in 30 years, but it was hard to believe: with a super-tight horn section and a variety of different vocalists, the band sounded hot and funky. A definite highlight was a rendition of the Triangle classic "East of the Sun," featuring a female singer from the class of 1970 (which, in case you didn't know, was the first Princeton class to include women). Next up was mathpanda, a terrific hip-hop group featuring members of the classes of the mid-2000's. With inventive, unpredictable flows and hilarious lyrics -- as well as a killer backup band -- mathpanda made me lament the current lack of a student rap group on campus. Now ripping up the stage is Funkmaster General, featuring members both past and present -- so come on down to the Frist South Lawn and rock out!

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Prospective Sound singer at the BotB was Sue Jean Lee Suettenger '70, who was also one of the first "real" women in Triangle. The Prospective Sound was the brainchild of Bill Hershey '70, trumpet/horn player, who has continued his band-leading career, even as he was employed as a computer engineer.

And yes, they don't need no stinkin' practices! When you got your chops, you got your chops.

Now if they'd only resurrect their spin-off rock group, Occam's Razor, that would have been super special.