**GRINCH UPDATE 12/18: Some militant copyright holder has filed a DMCA Takedown request with YouTube, so this wonderful piece of (IMO) fair use parody was temporarily unavailable. Fortunately, Matt Hempey has created version 1.1, which went online this evening**

**GRINCH UPDATE 12/18: Some militant copyright holder has filed a DMCA Takedown request with YouTube, so this wonderful piece of (IMO) fair use parody was temporarily unavailable. Fortunately, Matt Hempey has created version 1.1, which went online this evening**

As I poked around YouTube to see what other bits of cynical commentary I could find, I found that the group which created this little gem, The Richter Scales, has been busy singing their unique sharp commentary for a while. Check out this equally funny piece (which hasn’t quite gone viral—34,000 views since September) about the sub-prime debt melt-down:

This particular one strikes a chord (sorry ) because the song on which it is based, “There’s a Fine, Fine Line (Between Love and a Waste of Time)” from Avenue Q, was written by my friend and college classmate, Bobby Lopez, who just might just be the youngest composer to win a Tony Award for best score, which he and collaborator Jeff Marx shared in 2004 for Avenue Q. The world is, indeed small.

And it gets smaller.

With a little more poking, I discovered that The Richter Scales are based right here in San Francisco. They’re quite the motley crew of former a cappella singers from various universities. Naturally, since my alma mater has something of an a cappella “problem” (15 singing groups on one campus will do that), I figured I might find a few, and, sure enough, there’s friend Nils Erdmann, a year ahead of me and a member of the elite Senior mens group the Yale Whiffenpoofs. A cappella singing was maybe the highlight of my undergraduate experience, and my group, Out of the Blue, is still going strong—some would say stronger, now that that my voice is but a distant memory!—and celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year. With some 200 or so alumni, there will be a run on hotel rooms in New Haven for the event….)

And now it comes full circle: A cappella singing seems to be somewhat addictive for those of us who indulged in it in college, and just the other night, an old friend from school asked me if I’d sing background on a project her band was working on. Little did I know the evidence would be caught on tape—complete with a street-side serenade and the resultant reaction from our Mission crowd:

And now for the clincher: The Richter Scales have quite the sense of humor (as witness their great “I Hate A Cappella”), but they’re even tougher on the Tech industry. Earlier this year, they were nominated for a CARA award (by CASA, the Contemporary A capella Society of America, who else?) for “I’ve Got Mail”.

Enjoy.**If the Grinch lets you.**

I haven’t seen the others yet, but this was really very, very good. Dad and I agree that it wasn’t superb, just very, very good. Why not superb? Mostly because it wasn’t profound. But the production values were excellent (and it won a Tony for best lighting and best scenic design), and the acting was excellent (how old is that piano player? was he actually playing the piano? is he the playwrite’s autobiographical character?). The direction was superb, and the Tony voters agreed.

Dad, a playwright in his own right, commented that he felt the Headmaster character was too one-dimensional (“too flat”). At the intermission, I agreed with him. But at the end, when it became clear that the play is, in fact, a memoir, I started to wonder: should Bennett have taken dramatic license to make him more interesting? I think not. Dad seems to think so. Interesting question.

It’s a shame the American theater can’t come up with stuff this good as often as the Brits seem to these days. It was light, funny, and really very good. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon.