Our Gallery
High Street has placed pictures from several of their performances throughout the years at the gallery below- check it out.
News and Information
June 25, 2008 -
Dear High Street Fan,
Our time together as High Street A Cappella drew to a close on Thursday, June 12, 2008, almost exactly four years to the day after our debut performance opening the second half of an Ohio State Men's Glee Club with a two-song set. This newsletter will serve as the long goodbye we promised in our last newsletter...but first a recap of our final concert tour.
The Retrospectives Tour
Seven concerts in seven cities over seventeen days. Wow. In that two-and-a-half week around-the-world tour we sang for 670+ audience members, raised over $2,700.00 for charities and tested the limit to just how long eight men can sing on no sleep. We couldn't be happier with the way our final concert series panned out, and we were honored and thrilled to have former members Andrew Bonhaus and Taylor Stayton add their voices to High Street one more time.
We hope you had the opportunity to attend one of the concerts on the tour. For those of you who attended or helped organize the events we offer our sincere thanks in making our final performances unforgettable.
highstreet
As mentioned in previous newsletters and e-blasts the Retrospectives tour also served as the release of our third and final CD, highstreet. Over 250 copies were sold on the tour and we will continue to sell highstreet online while supplies last. If you've yet to purchase a copy we strongly recommend it - it is truly our best work.
Thank you
During our four year run we've come from opening a show with a two song set to full concerts for sold out crowds. While our hard work and dedication played a major role, we know that we'd have gone nowhere without the help of numerous individuals along the way.
We've done our best over the last few weeks to compile an all-encompassing list of individuals and organizations that have gone above and beyond in support of High Street - which means, of course, that we've missed more than a few. Our faulty memories aside, we'd like to thank the following people and organizations for their part in making our time in High Street a success; Dr. Bevan Keating, Bo Loeffler, CHOPIN Hall, Chris Marcinko, the City of Montgomery, the City of Port Clinton, the Croy Family, Danny Green, Dave Sperandio, Pastor Gail Swanson, Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt, Jack Daugherty, Julie Brown, Joyful Connections, Dr. Karen Peeler, Mark Hines, Mark Shanda, Martin Barker, Marylin Crisologo, the Marysville Choral Boosters, Matt Ebright, the Melvin Family, the Midday Music Concert Series, the Montgomery Women's Club, the Netherton Family, The Ohio State University, The Ohio State University Men's Glee Club, Ottawa County CASA, the OSU/PC Performing Arts Festival, the OSU/Ross County Alumni Association, the Phillips Family, the Port Clinton Chamber of Commerce, the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, the Port Clinton Walleye Drop, Dr. Robert Ward, the Schwanz Family, Sheila Powell, the Steele Family, Mayor Tom Brown, Tom Smiley, Tom Steele, the Trinity Episcopal Church, and WNCI and The Morning Zoo.
A special thanks goes to our girlfriends, wives and children for putting up with our busy schedules. Thanks to Ashley, Bethany, Heidi, Jodi, Jordan, Kelsey, Lincoln and Stephanie for your love and support.
Our biggest thanks is reserved for you, our loyal and sometimes rabid fans. Your applause, kind words, and support made our run as High Street possible. We started High Street based on a love of a cappella singing - having an enthusiastic audience to share our passion with has made our time as an ensemble that much sweeter.
A Fond Farewell
We've come a long way since that first performance years ago. We've produce three studio albums, won multiple awards at national competitions, performed for literally thousands of fans and made some of the best friends we could ever ask for. Each having sung in numerous ensembles, we had the unique chance to make High Street into exactly the type of group we'd always dreamed of being a part of. We're proud and honored to have spent this time together, living our dream and spreading our joy of a cappella music to everyone who'd listen. Now that we've come to a close, we find that there's not much more to say, other than...
Thanks for the Memories,
Josh, Mike, Dito, Tyler, John, Zach, Brad and Matt
High Street A Cappella
March 31 - Late in the evening of March 30 High Street finished recording Already Gone, the last song on their third CD. The recording process took 65 studio hours spread over more than a calendar year. We're confident that the time we've spent on this CD will be more than worth it - we can say with some confidence that this will be the best one yet. Mixing, mastering and physical production are yet to come - details on those processes will follow - but the hard part is over. Look for the CD to be unveiled during our Spring Concert series, currently in the scheduling stage!
March 13 - High Street returned to Amerisound Studios to record for the second time in as many weeks on Monday and Tuesday. This week's session was spent on a very intricate and difficult song, Amusing. Two marathon sessions yielded yet another fine rough track for our third album. We'll rehearse again next week while planning to finish the recording process for the project in the last week of March. Check back for more details!
March 5 - Aftera few weeks of rest, and a few more of rehearsal, High Street returned to Amerisound Studios on March 4th and 5th to continue recording tracks for their third, untitled, CD. The sessions over the past two days yielded a complete track for Saturday in the Park. We're very pleased with the product of these sessions, and we're very certain that we were able to lay down our finest rough track ever. We'll be back in the studio next week to work on another song, so be sure to check back for more updates!
January 7 - Last Friday we were thrilled to perform in front of a very appreciative crowd of 560 people at the Maumee Indoor Theater. Singing in front of a packed house was a simply amazing experience. Many thanks go to Ty and the Maumee Indoor Theater staff, Rod Lockwood of the Toledo Blade for his excellent article, and the Schwanz family for all their hard work and promotions!
January 1, 2008 - High Street had yet another amazing New Year's Eve at the famous Port Clinton Walleye Drop! We rang in the New Year with thousands of slightly wet revelers! Thanks to Chris and the Walleye Drop crew for another great year!
December 10 - Over the past two weekends High Street has traveled to Montgomery, Ohio and Findlay, Ohio as part of our annual Holiday Benefit Concert Series. The Montgomery concert was held in conjunction with the Montgomery Women's Club and the City of Montgomery and benefited the High Street A Cappella Scholarship, awarded to a student who is pursuing the collegiate study of music. Findlay's concert benefitted CHOPIN Hall, a Findlay area charity that helps 1 in 7 people in Hancock County, Ohio. This year CHOPIN Hall gave out a 3 day supply of food 42,500 times. The money raised for CHOPIN Hall should be sufficient to purchase over 5,000 pounds of food. High Street managed to raise over $1,100.00 for these worthy causes. Thanks to those who gave their support!
September 24 – High Street had a truly amazing experience this past weekend. We were fortunate to perform with the New World Vocal Consort, an International Touring choir with members from Arkansas, Canada and right here in Ohio. The New World Vocal Consort is without doubt the best ensemble with which we’ve sung. The concert also gave us the opportunity to reunite with our good friend and former conductor of The Ohio State University Men’s Glee Club, Dr. Bevan Keating. Many thanks to those of you who attended the concert, to Dr. Keating, Dr. Peeler, the Trinity Episcopal Church and the members of the New World Vocal Consort for putting together such a great event!
June 28 - On Tuesday High Street had a marathon recording session with Dan at Amerisound Studios - we were in the there for over twelve hours! We were able to lay down the tracks for Deacon Blues, You're an Ocean and Final Frontier. These tracks will go on our new CD with recently recorded Wild Night, Sweet Baby James, Ordinary Hero, She's Always a Woman, River and Margaritaville. Check back for more info as it becomes available!
May 15 - This past Sunday, Mother's Day, High Street had an amazing time performing at the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Dublin, Ohio. Along with near perfect acoustics, Prince of Peace offered us another wonderful audience. We'd like to thank Pastor Swanson, Bob and Karen Pfiefer, Ron and Beth Kenriech for their parts in putting the concert together, as well as everyone who attended.
April 12 - Yesterday at noon High Street had the privledge of singing at the Midday Music series in Oxford, Ohio. We had a blast performing in front of the crowd of 250 people that packed the Oxford Presbyterian Church despite the cold, wet day. Thanks so much to all of our new friends from Oxford, and especially to Jack Daugherty for putting on such an amazing event!
February 19 - This past weekend High Street spent over 14 hours in Amerisound Studios recording four songs - Wild Night, Ordinary Hero, She's Always a Woman and Sweet Baby James - for our third CD project. It was a detail-oriented and highly focused process - we're very pleased with the way everything turned out. We've very confident that we've set the stage for our best CD yet. Check back later for more info and maybe even some sound clips! Thanks to Dan from Amerisound for his hard work!
Additionally, we're presently seeking producing partners to help bring High Street's Spring Concert series to new venues and communities across Ohio. In addition to currently scheduled performances in Dublin, Oxford, and Lakeside, we'd love an opportunity to perform in partnership with your organization, church, or civic group. Think you or your group might be interested, or just have an idea you think would be great for High Street? Please e-mail Josh at highstreet@highstreetmusic.com.
February 16 - We’re very pleased to introduce our newest member, Mike Robertson. Mike is a graduate of The Ohio State University who received his degree in Music Education in 2003. During his time at OSU, he was an active member of the Men's Glee Club. Mike has led the choir at Marysville Middle School for the past four years. He’s an excellent musician and an all around great guy – we’re very pleased to have him become a member of our ensemble.
January 25 - High Street recently sent our new album, In the Cool of the Evening to the folks at the Recorded A Cappella Review Board (RARB) to see how it measures up. The RARB has been reviewing a cappella albums since 1993, so they have a pretty good idea what a cappella music is all about. Despite the fact that In the Cool of the Evening, much like High Street, doesn’t conform to contemporary a cappella norms, we received a number of flattering remarks. We’d like to thank Jonathan Minkoff, Dave Trendler and Valerie Kolko, along with the RARB in general, for reviewing In the Cool. Your hard work and advice is greatly appreciated.
Here’s some of what they had to say:
“...with an album sound so close to live performance, High Street A Cappella is deservedly gaining popularity as the hot new group in a cappella-deprived Columbus.” – Valerie Kolko
“[The men of High Street ] are culled from some of the best vocal groups of the university's acclaimed music program, a direct relation to the quality and execution of the music heard here ... in the cool of the evening delivers a strong performance by these Ohioans” – Valerie Kolko
“[“in the cool of the evening” is] suited to the fans and family who seek to relive the sounds of High Street 's undoubtedly impressive live concerts” – Jonathan Minkoff
“good blend, strong dynamics and capably toned basses and tenors” – Jonathank Minkoff
“... blend is dead-on, and difficult chord progressions sound simply effortless. Georgia is a lovely album opener, showcasing the group's skills in backup and solo performance.” – Valerie Kolko
“...delightful blend and a nice use of dynamics...” – Valerie Kolko
Click here to read more.January 18 - After having been a member of High Street for nearly three years, Taylor Stayton will be leaving the ensemble in February to follow other musical pursuits, including performing in the OSU Opera and preparing for auditions at some of the country's finest post-undergraduate opera training programs. An enormously talented singer, consummate musician, and close friend, Taylor will be dearly missed, but we wish him the best of luck as he moves forward in what promises to be a sparkling professional singing career.
In light of Taylor's departure from High Street, we will be conducting a search for a new Tenor I to fill his space on our roster. Ideally, the new Tenor I will be a dynamic singer with the ability to perform both solos and chorally within the group in a variety of styles and genres. He should be able to move in and out of falsetto easily and have a generous tenor range, although most music can be tailored to suit the new voice. Perhaps above all, the singer will need a great ear and be able to move in and out of close harmonies easily. If you have any recommendations please submit their name, e-mail address and phone number, along with a bit of information about them personally and musically to highstreet@highstreetmusic.com.
January 6 - High Street was thrilled to perform for a very appreciative audience this past weekend in Maumee, Ohio. We had a sold out crowd - and then some - of over 220 people! We'd like to give a very sincere thank you to the Schwanz family for setting up such a wonderful event. We can't wait to go back to the Toledo area!
January 2, 2007 - High Street was pleased to perform at the 2006-2007 Port Clinton Walleye Drop on New Year's Eve! We had a great time singing around town with the Mayor at several local businesses and doing a couple numbers on stage in front of what we understand were record crowds! Thanks to everyone who helped us ring in the new year!
December 18 - High Street closed out our Holiday Concert series this past weekend with our performance at Summit United Methodist Church. We're pleased to announce that we raised $537.00 and 125 pounds of canned good items to support the Montgomery Women's Club Scholarship Fund and the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. Thanks very much to everyone who made this concert series a sucess - the City of Montgomery, the Montgomery Women's Club, the Universalist Church, Tom Smiley, Summit United Methodist Church and our fans. Without you none of this would have been possible.
November 13 - High Street took a trip all the way down to Cary, NC this past weekend to compete in the SoJam A Cappella Festival competition and to participate in the clinics that go along with the event. We're very pleased to have placed 3rd! In addition to that honor, we were thrilled to receive the award for Best Arrangement, awarded for Sweet Baby James, arranged by our very own Josh Steele. Its an award that the members of High Street feel has been long overdue. Congrat's Josh! As previously mentioned, we attended a number of clinics which gave us some very interesting and informative perspectives on the a cappella industry. We also had a chance to work in a Master Class with Mr. Dave Sperandio, of Diovoce, the man who mixed and mastered a majority of In the Cool of the Evening. This master class was tremendous and the entirety of the group found it extremely constructive. A special thanks goes out to all the people who helped put on this wonderful event - one of the country's finest experiences for a cappella musicians. We had a great time and produced what we feel is our best performance as an ensemble while picking up some tips to make us even better. Thanks for inviting us down! High Street would also like to thank Matt Ebright for coming down and being our extra set of ears - we couldn't have done it without you. Thanks also go to Luella for the use of her van. And finally, we'd be remiss if we didn't thank the official High Street groupies - Heidi, Ashley, Jordan and Bethany - you're great girls...and not just because you're dating some of us.
We should also note - a DVD of High Street's performance should soon be available. Check back for details!
October 6 - High Street has some exciting news! We’re now able to offer our CDs for online purchase via PayPal! If you’re interested, check out the CDs page! We’re also proud to announce that In the Cool of the Evening has been submitted to the Recorded A Cappella Review Board for, well, review! This Board has been around for 13 years, so its safe to say they know a little bit about a cappella music. The review process may take a while, but feel free to check out their website, and check back here often to see what they think of our latest album!
September 18 - High Street returned to action this past weekend at the OSU / PC Performing Arts Festival...and we had a blast! Thanks to Marilyn for hosting the group this weekend, to Tom for selling CDs, to Mr. LaSalle for our album cover and to everyone who helped the festival go! As I mentioned, we had a blast. Performing 4 times, we were viewed by nearly 400 people, and launched our new CD, In the Cool of the Evening! We also sang for a crowd at McCarthy's and were invited, somewhat officially, to sing at the Port Clinton Walleye Drop on New Year's! Check out some pictures from the weekend in our Gallery!
August 21 - High Street began rehearsing again this past weekend, and it was great! We're working on some new songs and getting back up to speed from our summer off! We're also proud to announce that our CD project has been mixed and mastered and is on the path to production, hopefully in time for the OSU / PC Performing Arts Festival!
July 21 - High Street recently opened up a MySpace account...we don't really know what we're doing, so feel free to contact us with any help! We have audio clips and pictures available, as well as a soon to be released blog...sorta. Check it out! Our MySpace Page
May 30 - High Street finished the recording process for our second CD over Memorial Day weekend. We recorded these tracks with the help of Amerisound Studios, and while it was a long, hard process, we're very glad to have it all finished and are really looking forward to rolling out our second CD. Eventually we'll have new sound clips up and even a movie from our time in the studio. For now, check out some of the pictures in the Gallery and be sure to check back for updates.
May 11 - High Street began recording our second CD on May 5th, laying down five tracks at the Sacred Heart Church in Columbus, Ohio. We're hoping to finish up recording this month and have the CD ready for sale in September. Check back for updates, read more about it and listen to sound clips here, or e-mail us to find out how its coming along.
February - High Street recently competed at the ICCA Mid-Atlantic Quarterfinals held in Rochester, NY. We finished in second place and advanced to the Semifinals which were held at Rutgers University on March 4 th, with Taylor Stayton being honored as the Outstanding Soloist in Rochester. Unfortunately we only finished 4 th in Rutgers, and were not eligible to advance to the Finals in New York. Below are some quotes from our adjudication sheets:
“Very polished ensemble sound.” – Leslie Mackrell
“You all clearly have amazing individual voices that come together perfectly to make this fantastic sound.” – Phil Jarosz
We had a great time competing in the ICCA competition and would like to thank the University of Rochester Midnight Ramblers for hosting the Quarterfinals and Kenny for being our group host. We’d also like to thank the couple who traveled to Rochester from Cleveland to hear us perform. If you end up reading this, please e-mail us…we’d love to know who you are!
Our Newest Tracks
| Tracks | Dowload links |
|---|---|
| Late in the Evening | Listen |
| Georgia | Listen |
| River | Listen |
| Only Sleeping | Listen |
| You Can Close Your Eyes | Listen |