15th Annual

1999 Mid-Atlantic champions

Minimum Wage

Minimum Wage is a sketch comedy, a cappella group that hails from New York City. They have performed at venues such as Caroline's Comedy Club, The Bottom Line, Catch a Rising Star, The Duplex and The Bitter End in the Big Apple and all over the tri-state area. They were named "outstanding Musical Comedy Act" at the BackStage Bistro awards and were also Grand Prize Winners on Americas Funniest People. Minimum Wage will be hosting the East Coast A Cappella Summit in Boston this summer and most recently they appeared on Fox TV and can be heard on Comedy Central singing the Little Donnie Foundation theme song for the Upright Citizens Brigade.

1998 Results

Toxic Audio hails from Orlando, FL, where these three men and two women perform at the Disney/MGM Studios Theme Park. This group came together to explore the human voice its ability to express ideas at the Orlando Fringe Festival in April 1998. Their unpredictable style and wide ranging musical tastes capture the attention of audiences ever since.

Live Wire is the newest vocal rock sensation out of Atlanta, GA. These six male and one female musicians put together complex arrangements, witty banter, and epic stage shows as they thrill Atlanta radio and live audiences with their jaw-dropping musicality, contagious high energy and a pinch or three of wackiness.

Not To Scale is a collection of three male and three female a cappella jazz vocalists from vibrant Raleigh-Durham, NC. The group gets audiences cooing to their mellifluous tones at such events as the North Carolina Jazz Festival, the Wilmington Riverfest, and Raleigh's Artsplosure.

Bay Rum Runners are a registered male quartet with the Alexandria chapter of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBQSA). Their "ringing sounds from the lower latitudes leave nothing but good times in their wake.

The Chromatics are a mixed group of NASA techies from the Washington, DC area who perform pop and rock songs inspired by our modern world. They perform covers and original songs inspired by the world wide web, television, and fast food. Their AstroCappella project was well-received by audiences in California, Florida, Nevada, and our nation's Capital.

Fair Game is a five member co-ed a cappella group from the Washington, DC area, performing its own unique blend of pop, jazz, and swing. Recently heard on WHFS 99.1FM, the group amuses audiences with their sometimes zany, always "cheesy" a cappella.

Venus D Minor, from Washington, DC, performs a variety of pop, jazz, classical and new wave songs, often with original lyrics. Formed in 1995 at the convergence of heavenly bodies, it is their fondest collective delusion that they are the galaxy's favorite female a cappella sextet.

Minimum Wage is a zany, sketch comedy a cappella male a cappella that hails from New York City, NY. They were named "outstanding Musical Comedy Act" at the BackStage Bistro awards and were also Grand Prize Winners on Americas Funniest People. Most recently they could be heard on Comedy Central singing the Little Donnie Foundation theme song for the Upright Citizens Brigade.

Evelyn Harris sang and composed for Sweet Honey in the Rock for nearly two decades, performing for audiences all over the world, and recording and co-producing ten of their albums on the Warner Brothers, Redwood and Flying Fish labels. Her compositions include Battle For My Life, Gift of Love, Riches and State of Emergency, the latter which earned her a 1988 Grammy nomination. Ms. Harris recorded the soundtrack to Haile Gerima's work Wilmington 10 - USA 10,000, narrated Maggi Carter's film, Voices of Palestine and continues to devote her life to social justice issues.

Jon Kalbfleisch received a 1998 Helen Hayes Award for outstanding musical direction of the Signature Theatre/Arena Stage co-production of Sunday in the Park with George, and in 1996 received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for outstanding musical direction of Signature's Cabaret. He was also musically responsible for the Helen Hayes Award-winning productions of Passion, Into the Woods, Assassins and Sweeney Todd. Mr. Kalbleisch recently served for a year as the associate conductor for the national touring company of Les Miserables.

Donal Leace currently teaches at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, where he served as chairman of the Theatre Department for many years. He has directed a wide range of productions including Oedipus Rex, The Importance of Being Ernest, The Lion in Winter and Take the ^SA^T Train. Earlier in his career, he toured with Roberta Flack and performed with Nancy Wilson. In his own right as a singer / songwriter / composer Mr. Leace has performed on the Today Show, David Frost Show and the Montreux Music Festival. His most recording is entitled, Leace on Life.

Alex Tang fell into a cappella in college, singing and writing vocal arrangements for the Yale Alley Cats and performing on tour with the renowned Yale Whiffenpoofs. Locally, he has served as a legal and artistic advisor to many non-profit performing arts groups and, as a pianist, has accompanied and performed with numerous area choruses, orchestras, opera and theater companies, including Arena Stage, Signature Theatre, Master-works Chorale and the Lesbian & Gay Chorus of Washington.

Tammie Ward is the Programming Coordinator for Festivals at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. She managed the Dallas Children's Theatre's national touring company, served on the Steering Committee for the Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration Festival (in Dallas) and held positions with the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Dallas Cultural Affairs Council. A former stage and film actor, Ms. Ward also produced plays, musicals and cabaret reviews.