Hello again everyone!

We have finally caught up on enough sleep to tell you about our trip to Las Vegas. It has been a few days since we touched back down at a chilly Logan Airport, but the warmth of the Strip and complimentary gin and tonics (virgin, I assure you) still persists.

Although the purpose of our trip was to perform at the Las Vegas A Cappella Summit, we decided to stretch it into an extra-long weekend of casino-hopping and sleep deprivation. We all had such a desire to see the lights of Las Vegas from the air that we first flew past it on Thursday night on our way to Los Angeles. Once we had satisfied that hunger, we got back on a plane and flew into Vegas, arriving just after midnight local time. Although that put us at about 3am Boston time, we couldn’t resist the urge to take a drive down the famed Las Vegas Strip to see the display. This was the first trip to Vegas for half of Overboard, so we had to go out and start our trip off right. Did you know they don’t put clocks in casinos? Needless to say the sun was long up in Boston by the time we hit the sack….

We spent Friday enjoying the MGM Grand pool during the day and the nearby casinos at night, but with the show on Saturday, we made sure to go easy on our voices and get a good amount of rest. The weather was fantastic, although we never experienced that ‘dry heat’ everyone talks about. Coming from Boston in October, I certainly can’t complain about 75 and sunny.

On Saturday, we drove out of the city limits and to the Desert Oasis High School, which pretty much was on the edge of a desert, as the name would suggest. There were incredible views of the surrounding mountains out there and we got in some good photos for the website. We went into the school where several seminars and master classes were being held by members of the House Jacks and other prominent a cappella figures. Those guys are incredible! When it came time for us to go on, we sang an upbeat and energetic set to a crowd of screaming students who seemed to know all the words to our tunes. We started off with Matchbox 20’s “How Far We’ve Come” followed by Nick singing a beautiful version of “Gravity” by Sarah Bareilles which was definitely a crowd favorite. We ended the set by premiering a trio of songs from our upcoming album, but you’ll have to stay tuned to learn more about that!

We had a great time at the A Cappella Summit, especially since it’s always fantastic to see kids really excited about this style of music.

To finish our Vegas experience, we toured around some more great casinos and restaurants and slept as little as possible. Sunday was spent visiting Red Rock Canyon and the Hoover Dam, both of which were amazing. The Hoover Dam is especially cool in that you can be in Arizona and Nevada at the same time. Very neat for someone who has never been to either state! Interesting fact: if you sing a D sharp in Arizona, it is an E flat in Nevada. Something to do with the time zones, I think…

Until next time,
Josh

This past Saturday, we had the pleasure to perform at the Pioneer Valley Yacht Club in Longmeadow, MA, also known as the hometown of our beloved summer intern, Dave.

We were welcomed into Dave’s house with open arms and had the chance to meet his family, including Astro, the family dog, before heading off to the gig. Longmeadow sits along the Connecticut River and the Pioneer Valley Yacht Club is a cozy setting with great views. We set-up our equipment on the club patio, applied a heavy coating of bug spray and waited for the fun to begin!

As the sun set over the horizon, we let the tunes flow. We had a great audience, some of whom were so lively that they even started dancing in the aisles. Stu got yet another pseudo nickname, Wolf, which he has taken to quite readily! We even had the chance to make-up a rendition of “Lion Sleeps Tonight” on the spot. Who knew Josh knew all the lyrics?

Altogether, it was a great night. We had a chance to meet so many wonderful people. We owe Dave a lot of thanks for giving us the opportunity to do such a great gig. We are going to miss you when you head off to school in a couple weeks, buddy!

~Overboard

Overboard added another notch to its belt yesterday as we finished up our appearances at Newburyport’s famed Yankee Homecoming Festival for the 4th year in a row!  We rocked the Market Square stage all afternoon last Sunday, performing for a rapt audience of all ages.  Special thanks to the freshly-squeezed lemonade vendor who kept us hydrated in that relentless heat!

We finished up our annual YH extravaganza yesterday with a great day of street performing on the boardwalk.  We started early and continued until after the spectacular fireworks display.  Of course, we took some breaks, during which we must have eaten close to 100 25-cent hot dogs.  It was awesome.  Thanks, Newburyport, for another great summer… see you next year!

~Overboard