Tag Archives: Rockapella

The Intersection of the Venn Diagram of Things That We Love and Our Dad Loves

Well, now Jimmy Fallon has done it all.  His greatest feat was not a dead-on parody of the Real Housewives, or Late Night‘s own version of Rockapella, or even his engineering of the California Dreams reunion.  Nope.  Fallon’s biggest coup to date is presenting a musical performance that would fascinate both us and our dad.  And with this performance of “Party in the USA,” with Fallon in the guise of Neil Young and joined by Young’s sometimes bandmates David Crosby and Graham Nash, Jimmy accomplishes just that.  Crobsy, (Stills,) Nash, & Young is perhaps our dad’s favorite musical group of all time; certainly Crosby is the singer whose mustache our father would most try to emulate if he were a folk rock luminary.  And, as for us, we never tire of Fallon’s remarkable, often stunning, impressions.  Not when he was on SNL, and not now.  At this point Jimmy probably sounds more like Neil Young than Neil Young does.  So, Late Night, thank you for brining a father and son together (in front of a computer screen, not saying a word to one another).

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And, in case you were curious, here’s an abridged version of said venn diagram.


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Filed under Count Bleh, Good Humor, Intersection of the venn diagram of things that I love, Talkies

Our Favorite ‘Late Night’ A Capella Group Returns: Do it again, Rockafallon!

It’s really hard to pinpoint when we fully realized the genius of Late Night with Fallon, because there have been so many brilliant moments, like the California Dreams reunion, or the Muppets dropping by to sing “The 12 Days of Christmas”, or the visit from Zack Morris, or the Lost homage “Late,” or the Parks & Recreation-assisted Glee‘d version of “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”  It’s really been an incredible twelve months for Jimmy Fallon and his team, whom we’ve  praised over and over again, and plan to keep doing so.  But, for us, there was perhaps no greater pop-culture tribute than Late Night‘s very own incarnation of the a capella legends Rockapella, which they gifted us in March of this year.  Lost, Glee, even Saved by the Bell, those are rather obvious objects of affection.  But to channel something like Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?‘s house band, well that’s truly special, and perhaps more than anything else Late Night has done that showed the depth of their knowledge, humor, intelligence, and a disturbing awareness of references from our childhood that we will go crazy for.

And, just in time for the holiday season, they’ve done it again (this time with more Jason Segel!):

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Hats off, once again, gentleman.  Brava.

By the way, did you know that Rockapella founder Sean Altman auditioned for Season 1 of NBC’s The Sing-Off with his new a capella group the GrooveBarbers?  They didn’t make the cut.  Which somehow feels like if Marcel Marceau was rejected from a mime competition.  Must have been the name.  Oh, and it sorta sounds like he’s taking credit for the success of The Sing Off.  Sure, why not?

Jimmy, let’s get this guy on the show.

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Filed under Flashback!, Good Humor, Nostalgia Corner, Talkies

Nostaliga Corner: Do It, Rockafallon!

*Note: With Thursday nights requiring two DVRs and thus creating a logjam of Friday blog content, we’re going to, at least temporarily, move Nostalgia Corner to Tuesdays (as, save for Chuck, Monday is pretty much tumbleweeds).

Last night I watched some of Late Night “live,” which is something I don’t normally do, usually catching any buzzworthy bits online.  However, my eyelids soon grew heavy (Mondays, right?!) and flipped off the TV without witnessing Jimmy Fallon and the crew doing anything especially noteworthy, assuming there wouldn’t be any new Late Night gems on this occasion (okay, full disclosure, I watched a little Real Housewives of New York City, then turned in for the night).  Lo and behold, I wake up, log on and find out that I missed this:

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A brilliant piece of pop culture kitsch to parody, matched with the guts to repeat the same vocal beats over and over again, never saying a single actual word, stretching the gag until it wasn’t funny anymore and then keeping it going until it became funny again.  Good work, gumshoes (and I realize that’s not really an appropriate use for that distinction)!

And, to bring home the nostalgia part of this post: Do it, Rockapella!  Live in concert!

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Filed under Nostalgia Corner, Talkies