Posted in: Featured | 1 Comment | October 10, 2011

by Kristin LoBiondo

About four years ago, I knew virtually nothing about a cappella, except that I liked going to see the three Elon groups perform on campus whenever I could. When I graduated from Elon and started my new job at Duke, I realized that there were about three times the amount of groups at Duke than there were at Elon. On top of that, the only time they all came together to sing in one venue was once a year – during freshman orientation. At Elon, the Sweet Signatures threw “Acappallooza!” – an annual one-day festival where they invited other East Coast groups to perform with them. Two shows, no workshops; simple (relatively). I wondered why Duke didn’t have anything like Acappallooza! with this big of a community, and then decided, Hell, just create your own! I worked in Student Activities, and I partnered with Residence Life to easily put on a one-day festival at Duke. We invited every a cappella group on campus, and hired Almost Recess to be our headliner. A vocal percussion workshop was offered by Dave Baumgartner in the afternoon, then for the evening show we had each interested Duke group sing a few songs, and close the night out with a bangin’ performance from Almost Recess. If I remember correctly, we were incredibly original and called it “A cappella-Fest.” We put on the “festival” the next year as well. These festivals were in 2007 and 2008. My first SoJam was in 2009. It had been happening under my nose this WHOLE TIME, and I didn’t even know. I still wonder how this happened.

I met Dio several times before he approached me about helping with SoJam. He was at every Elon Acappallooza!, and was at both fall performances I put on at Duke. I thought this dude was just really into a cappella…and super supportive of his friends and colleagues. Okay, cool beans. After the 2008 A cappella-Fest, we had a mini after-party at a bar in downtown Durham (proof that after-parties are where the magic happens…and I don’t just mean…never mind). There, I met Alli Brooks, who was the current Executive Producer of SoJam. Nick Lyons, Mike Maykish, Dave Baumgartner, and Katie Hight were also there (to subtly name drop), and we talked about…SoJambles? Sorjame? Sojamboytellem? Oh right, “SOJAM.” I was schooled on what the festival “is,” where it came from, and that CASA wasn’t just Spanish for “house.”

In early October 2009, I got an email from Dio, asking if I could help secure a couple of extra classrooms on Duke’s East Campus, because they were in a slight crunch for space. Sure, no problem, happy to help. I think he caught on to the fact that I still had not planned to actually attend the festival, and offered me a weekend pass as a thank-you (something we unfortunately do not have the luxury of doing today). He probably was thinking, Come on, lady…I know you want to drink the Kool-aid, you just need someone to stir the mix for you and hand you a straw. Well. If you didn’t see my testimonial video, watch it – you’ll hear my first SoJam experience and how it changed my outlook on life as I knew it.

In four years time, I have attended all of CASA’s offered festivals and every single after-party associated. I’ve volunteered hours each day of my time to help produce said festivals, led workshops, and will be the Executive Producer of a festival next year, making me a Program Manager for CASA.

Moral of the story: go to the after-parties at SoJam. You just might have a conversation that will change your life.