Midnight Ramblers
Encyclopedia
The Midnight Ramblers is an award-winning, all-male, contemporary, a cappella
group based at the University of Rochester
. Since their creation they have been entirely student organized and directed. They are also made up exclusively of members of Rochester's undergraduate community. In April 2008, they celebrated their tenth anniversary, with nearly every alumnus of the group in attendance. Following the show, they became the first, and to-date only, undergraduate organization to sponsor a scholarship
for incoming students at the university.
and rock
styles instead of the classic a cappella repertoire. Inspired by the Rolling Stones title
, Jon christened his creation “The Midnight Ramblers.”
The nascent ensemble gave its first performance on April 30, 1998 in the Welles-Brown room in the University’s Rush Rhees
Library. Their premiere set included “Some Kind of Wonderful”, “Good Lovin’”, “Truly Madly Deeply”, and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”. This small private performance proved to be the first of many for the fledgling group.
Since their inception, the Ramblers have continually worked toward realizing Jon’s original goals of performance and innovation. In ten years, they have released eight full-length studio albums, including the newly debuted Ça C'est Bon, which has garnered critical acclaim from across the a cappella community. Their music has been featured on numerous a cappella compilations including Sing 3, Sing 4, Voices Only 2007, Voices Only 2009, and Best of College A cappella 2008. They also placed third in the nation at the 2005 International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella
finals held at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
in New York City.
community, and across the country. Their largest concerts usually occur bi-annually towards the end of each fall and spring semester in the university’s 1,031 seat Strong Auditorium, the River Campus’s main performance venue. Each show traditionally has a “theme” which is played out over the course of concert through a series of video
s and skit
s interspersed between sets of songs. These themes usually revolve around a common element of pop culture and/or TV and cinema
, humorously rewritten to include the members of the group. Recent titles include “Midnight Ramblers of the Caribbean”, “Midnight Ramblers and the Chocolate Factory”, “Midnight Ramblers Horror Show”, and “The Midnight Ramblers Host Saturday Night Live
”. Certain elements have made recurring appearances in these shows, especially though the interstitial short videos, including a stock footage
clip of a building imploding and shots of River Campus food service workers, especially Wilson Commons cashier Dawn Marshall-Hosier. In 2006, a DVD compilation of these video shorts, as well as live concert footage, was released as Midnight Ramblers: The DVD.
In recent years, the advertising for these major Ramblers performances has changed to include different activities connected to the show intended to provide additional entertainment for the University community. These activities have usually taken the form of a scavenger hunt, with clues posted on the concert fliers leading to hidden prizes around campus, or, occasionally, at nearby Rochester landmarks, such as the University of Rochester Medical Center
. In addition, the Ramblers have also been joined on stage by various professional guest artists from around the world, including FORK from Helsinki, Finland in Fall 2008 and, most recently, multi-platinum 80s Latin pop star Alondra
.
Beginning in 2003, the Ramblers have gone on their annual Spring Break Tour each March. Specific destinations vary from year to year, though the group has performed up and down the east and west coasts, as well as in London, England
in 2007. These tours usually consist primarily of workshops and performances at local schools, but have also featured National Anthem
renditions for professional sporting events, live radio concerts, as well as other, less conventional, performances, such as serving as the headlining entertainment act at the Microsoft
Corporation’s annual St. Patrick’s Day party. Highlights from these tours often make their way into subsequent performances, such as in 2004 when the group performed a 10 minute musical about their encounter with a deer on Alternate US 17
in South Carolina. The 2005 Spring Show, “The Real World”, based on the popular MTV reality show
, featured video exclusively from the recent tour to Los Angeles.
One of the most recognizable traditions of the Midnight Ramblers is their unique performance garb, which consists of jeans, a t-shirt (occasionally matching, though this is not the case at most shows), and a grey baseball jersey featuring the word “Ramblers” on the front and the singer’s name and number on the back. In most cases, the singer’s last name is used, but certain members of the group have featured nicknames instead.
The jerseys are also regularly integrated into the Ramblers performances, being removed and repurposed as pants, blindfolds, turbans, or, when twisted up and used like a whip, weapons. Wearing the jerseys in public has occasionally caused the Ramblers to be mistaken for members of a baseball team, rather than a vocal ensemble. Critics of the jerseys have pointed out their similarity to those worn by the LA Dodgers
.
for incoming students with musical backgrounds.
where they sang entirely pro bono leading workshops and performances for students at schools stricken by Hurricane Katrina
. In addition to their vocal work on the tour, they also worked to help with the reconstruction of a house in St. Bernard Parish.
for inclusion on his upcoming album Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!
which consists entirely of a cappella covers of his music. Proceeds from the album go to benefit the Save the Music charity. To promote the album, the Ramblers appeared as the featured opening act at Folds performance at Rochester's Water Street Music Hall in March 2009.
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
group based at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
. Since their creation they have been entirely student organized and directed. They are also made up exclusively of members of Rochester's undergraduate community. In April 2008, they celebrated their tenth anniversary, with nearly every alumnus of the group in attendance. Following the show, they became the first, and to-date only, undergraduate organization to sponsor a scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
for incoming students at the university.
History
The Midnight Ramblers were founded in 1998 by Jon Huang, then a sophomore at the University of Rochester. Jon, an experienced a cappella singer who was eager to start his own musical group, dreamed of a group where academic and musical excellence would be equally encouraged, unlike many of the other extra-curricular musical ensembles on campus at the time. He also envisioned a group that would enhance school pride through active participation in official college events and continual involvement in the campus community. Lastly, Jon wanted to provide a unique opportunity for a new pool of talent, focusing on crowd-pleasing popPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
styles instead of the classic a cappella repertoire. Inspired by the Rolling Stones title
Midnight Rambler
"Midnight Rambler" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released on their 1969 album Let It Bleed.The lyrics take the point of view of a roaming rapist/murderer; some of the words are reportedly quotes from Albert DeSalvo's confession to the Boston Strangler's crimes. Keith...
, Jon christened his creation “The Midnight Ramblers.”
Rush Rhees
Rush Rhees was a philosopher at Swansea University from 1940 to 1966Rhees is principally known as a student, friend, and literary executor of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. With G. E. M. Anscombe, he edited Wittgenstein's posthumous Philosophical Investigations , a highly influential work...
Library. Their premiere set included “Some Kind of Wonderful”, “Good Lovin’”, “Truly Madly Deeply”, and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”. This small private performance proved to be the first of many for the fledgling group.
Since their inception, the Ramblers have continually worked toward realizing Jon’s original goals of performance and innovation. In ten years, they have released eight full-length studio albums, including the newly debuted Ça C'est Bon, which has garnered critical acclaim from across the a cappella community. Their music has been featured on numerous a cappella compilations including Sing 3, Sing 4, Voices Only 2007, Voices Only 2009, and Best of College A cappella 2008. They also placed third in the nation at the 2005 International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella
International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella
The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, originally the National Championship of Collegiate A Cappella , is an international competition that attracts hundreds of college a cappella groups each year...
finals held at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
in New York City.
Shows
Each year the Ramblers perform regularly on the university campus, throughout the RochesterRochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
community, and across the country. Their largest concerts usually occur bi-annually towards the end of each fall and spring semester in the university’s 1,031 seat Strong Auditorium, the River Campus’s main performance venue. Each show traditionally has a “theme” which is played out over the course of concert through a series of video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
s and skit
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
s interspersed between sets of songs. These themes usually revolve around a common element of pop culture and/or TV and cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, humorously rewritten to include the members of the group. Recent titles include “Midnight Ramblers of the Caribbean”, “Midnight Ramblers and the Chocolate Factory”, “Midnight Ramblers Horror Show”, and “The Midnight Ramblers Host Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
”. Certain elements have made recurring appearances in these shows, especially though the interstitial short videos, including a stock footage
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
clip of a building imploding and shots of River Campus food service workers, especially Wilson Commons cashier Dawn Marshall-Hosier. In 2006, a DVD compilation of these video shorts, as well as live concert footage, was released as Midnight Ramblers: The DVD.
In recent years, the advertising for these major Ramblers performances has changed to include different activities connected to the show intended to provide additional entertainment for the University community. These activities have usually taken the form of a scavenger hunt, with clues posted on the concert fliers leading to hidden prizes around campus, or, occasionally, at nearby Rochester landmarks, such as the University of Rochester Medical Center
University of Rochester Medical Center
The University of Rochester Medical Center , located in Rochester, New York, is one of the main campuses of the University of Rochester and comprises the university's primary medical education, research and patient care facilities....
. In addition, the Ramblers have also been joined on stage by various professional guest artists from around the world, including FORK from Helsinki, Finland in Fall 2008 and, most recently, multi-platinum 80s Latin pop star Alondra
Alondra
The singer Alondra was born in Mexico City. She is a multi-platinum Billboard award winner and Latin Grammy-nominated recording artist. She was also known as "La Madrina de Menudo" for having a group of teenagers open for her concerts. This group eventually became known as the world famous Menudo....
.
Tours
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 2007. These tours usually consist primarily of workshops and performances at local schools, but have also featured National Anthem
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
renditions for professional sporting events, live radio concerts, as well as other, less conventional, performances, such as serving as the headlining entertainment act at the Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Corporation’s annual St. Patrick’s Day party. Highlights from these tours often make their way into subsequent performances, such as in 2004 when the group performed a 10 minute musical about their encounter with a deer on Alternate US 17
Bannered routes of U.S. Route 17
A total of at least twenty-three bannered routes of U.S. Route 17 have existed.-Kissimmee, Florida:U.S. Truck Route 17-92 in Kissimmee, Florida was a truck bypass designed to keep trucks from entering Downtown Kissimmee. It began where U.S...
in South Carolina. The 2005 Spring Show, “The Real World”, based on the popular MTV reality show
The Real World
The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the...
, featured video exclusively from the recent tour to Los Angeles.
The jersey
The jerseys are also regularly integrated into the Ramblers performances, being removed and repurposed as pants, blindfolds, turbans, or, when twisted up and used like a whip, weapons. Wearing the jerseys in public has occasionally caused the Ramblers to be mistaken for members of a baseball team, rather than a vocal ensemble. Critics of the jerseys have pointed out their similarity to those worn by the LA Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
.
Albums
The Ramblers made their recording debut with their 1999 release Now Playing. Since then, they have produced an additional seven studio albums, including their most recent full length CD, Ça C'est Bon and its corresponding B-Side CCB-Sides Also, to commemorate their tenth anniversary in the Spring of 2008, the Ramblers re-released specific tracks from all seven previous albums on Anthology. All proceeds from sales of this disc have been used to sponsor a new University of Rochester scholarshipScholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
for incoming students with musical backgrounds.
Midnight Ramblers releases
- Now Playing (1999)
- E=MR2 (2000)
- All Sales Final (2001)
- Alternate Route (2003)
- the blue album (2004)
- Transistor Radio (2005)
- Midnight Ramblers: The DVD (2006)
- Manifesto! (2007)
- Anthology (2008)
- Ça C'est Bon (2009)
- CCB-Sides (2010)
Philanthropy
In recent years, the Ramblers have been pursuing increasing numbers of philanthropic projects. With help from their alumni and the UR office of admissions, the group now sponsors the Midnight Ramblers Scholarship, to be given for the first time to an incoming student from the class of 2013. Also, recordings of the Ramblers have been featured on Ripple Effect, a compilation album released by Liquid 5th Productions in Fall 2008 to fund drilling for wells that will provide water for impoverished African villages. Most recently, in March 2009 the Ramblers spent their spring tour in New Orleans, LouisianaLouisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
where they sang entirely pro bono leading workshops and performances for students at schools stricken by Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. In addition to their vocal work on the tour, they also worked to help with the reconstruction of a house in St. Bernard Parish.
National exposure
The Ramblers have been featured on a number of a cappella compilation albums alongside other collegiate and professional groups, including two appearances on Best of College A cappella first in 2001 and again in 2008. In December 2008, they recorded their version of "Army" with Ben FoldsBen Folds
Benjamin Scott "Ben" Folds is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and television personality. From 1995-2000, Folds was the frontman and pianist of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five. Since the group disbanded, Folds has performed as a solo artist and has toured all over the world...
for inclusion on his upcoming album Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!
Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!
Ben Folds Presents: University A Capella is an album produced by Ben Folds featuring collegiate a cappella music groups from the United States...
which consists entirely of a cappella covers of his music. Proceeds from the album go to benefit the Save the Music charity. To promote the album, the Ramblers appeared as the featured opening act at Folds performance at Rochester's Water Street Music Hall in March 2009.
Compilation album appearances
| Year | Compilation | Track |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Voices Only | "Fireflies" from CCB-Sides |
| 2010 | Ripple Effect: Constructive Interference | "We All Need Saving" from Ça, C'est Bon |
| 2009 | Voices Only | "La Camisa Negra" from Ça, C'est Bon |
| 2009 | Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella! Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella! Ben Folds Presents: University A Capella is an album produced by Ben Folds featuring collegiate a cappella music groups from the United States... |
"Army Army An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps... " (specially recorded for this album) |
| 2008 | Ripple Effect: The First Drop | "La Camisa Negra" from Ça, C'est Bon |
| 2008 | Best of College A Cappella | "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" from Manifesto! |
| 2007 | Voices Only | "Question!" from Manifesto! |
| 2007 | Sing IV | "The Minstrel's Prayer" from Manifesto! |
| 2006 | Sing III | "Question!" from Manifesto! |
| 2001 | Best of College A Cappella | "Truly, Madly, Deeply" from E=MR2 |
Awards
| Year | Presenter | Award | Result |
| 2010 | CASA: Contemporary A cappella Recording Awards | "Best Male Collegiate Album" for "Ça C'est Bon" | Nominated |
| 2010 | CASA: Contemporary A cappella Recording Awards | "Best Male Collegiate Song" for "Knights of Cydonia" from "Ça C'est Bon" | Nominated |
| 2010 | CASA: Contemporary A cappella Recording Awards | "Best Male Collegiate Arrangement" for "Hallelujah" from "Ça C'est Bon" (Noah Berg) | Nominated |
| 2009 | University of Rochester | Outstanding Student Organization Student Life Award | Won |
| 2008 | CASA: Contemporary A cappella Recording Awards | "Best Male Arrangement" for "3X5" from Manifesto! (Dave Soson and Dan Israel) | Nominated |
| 2007 | acaTunes.com | acaTunes Award for "Brighter Than Sunshine" from Manifesto! | Won |
| 2006 | University of Rochester | Award for Excellence in Creative Co-Sponsorship for "Jambalaya" Hurricane Relief Program | Won |
| 2005 | University of Rochester | The Boar's Head Award for Outstanding Contribution to the UR Community | Won |
| 2005 | International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella | National Finals | 3rd Place |
| Midatlantic Regional Finals | Won | ||
| Midatlantic Divisional Round (RIT Rochester Institute of Technology The Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States... ) |
Won |