When the Mates arrived back at the end of August, we were unbelievably pumped for the coming year. We were small, having seen some tough departures from invaluable seniors graduating and younger members with great potential leaving Tufts, but it wasn't anything we hadn't faced before. Besides, we had tons to look forward to, from an awesome Orientation week, to an exciting round of auditions, a quick sprint to Homecoming and the completion of our next album!
The Orientation week shows (Gantcher, the Alumni Legacy reception, dorm sings, Bagel Brunch, O-show in the chapel) were a bittersweet mix of old and new. Those performances were our last opportunities to sing with recent alum Evan, and we had to say goodbye to three of songs that had been crucial parts of our sets for the past two years: "Love the One You're With", "The Pretender" and the amazing bringback of "Where The Streets Have No Name". But they also featured two rockin solos from our soon-to-not-be-Babies-anymore ladies, Jilly and Brie. Jilly gets to check in with her emo side (and Alex Green fondly recalls his fauxhawk from yesteryear) with a kickass rendition of the popular Paramore song "That's What You Get". Seriously, what an awesome Baby Solo: we love singing it, and Lori gets to headbang. Everybody's happy. Brie has brought down the house at every show since we introduced "Son of A Preacher Man" to our set. Dusty Springfield never saw this one coming, and the audiences can't get enough of our resident (real!) fiery redhead. We're all too happy to let them keep screaming themselves hoarse. This is truly the Mates at its sexiest.
O-week also saw the less noted, but equally important debut of a new round of "Mates houses" - Alex Rodman's sweet party pad where she lives with her gang of hockey boys, my house, hereafter dubbed "the Classy Residence", and LoriJason&Alex-town with its futons and ridiculous brown velvet chair. Jason also has two tiny turtles that provide endless hours of entertainment. I miss the familiar comforts of 20 Curtis, which was coated in the memories of the previous two years, but this year's junior class is picking up where they left off and doing it in style.
Once we settled in to our respective homes, and O-show was in the books, it was audition time. We literally papered the campus, covered it in chalk, and made ourselves a general nuisance in any place a freshman might be found. Auditions, as anyone who has been through them knows, are both the best and worst time of a Mates semester. For those of you whose beer-soaked memories of college may have blurred a little with the passing of the years, the Mates Room on Chetwynd is still as unbearably hot and stinky as you remember it. Writing covers almost every square inch of the walls, and we're making headway on the ceiling, but we're trying to conserve space! In a pre-auditions purge/cleaning frenzy, we tossed the old barrel of cheese balls that was starting to grow roots.
But thankfully, there were a few bright spots, and their names are Gigi, Maia, Jenna, and Ari. Ladies and Gentlemen, what a fantastic group of Babies we found. We knew right away that these four were going to fit in seamlessly into the group dynamic, and stand out as stars in their Mates careers to come.
After the necessary sing-in nuttiness in the Mates Room, at the Classy Residence, and Kelly's diner, and the requisite sleep that follows, we hit the ground running with the new Babies and some new (and not so new songs) to make our three-week dash to Homecoming. While we worked really hard during those weeks' rehearsals, we also took care to welcome the Babies in typical Mates style: we had Thursday night hangouts in Eric's suite in Latin Way, girl time, and guy time. Some ladies from the Jills hosted a crazy Baby Mixer, and Ari continued to cement his reputation as a P.I.M.P. (in his mind, anyway). There were some memorable alum visits to rehearsals, some productive and some not so much: a stampede of Mates Men stormed a rehearsal one night, Erin Bergin and Sarah Kupper dropped by with some coffee and bagels and donuts, and Matt Reveley and Lisa Jacobs offered some wisdom and expertise with bass and blending workshops.
Homecoming was a resounding success, despite the horrible weather and the precarious health of most of the group, but we fought through sickness and rain and gave the crowds a night to remember. Jilly and Brie reprised their O-show performances of "That's What You Get" and "Son of A Preacher Man", and we added three new songs to the set. "Let It Die", the second single off the Foo Fighters' newest album, is another kickass rock-out song for Eric. I've continued my trend towards ballads that start with the letter G with "Gravity", originally performed by Sarah Bareilles. And Alex Green got typecast with "Geek in the Pink", a popular, '90's hip hop song from Jason Mraz.
We had another moment of proof for the "Our Alums are Better Than Your Alums" game, when y'all stormed the chapel just moments before we went onstage, and then tore it up outside in the drizzle. The circle had some familiar faces, and some that, for most of the current group, were brand new. I promise myself every year before Homecoming that I'm going to go back and listen to the old favorite songs that we sing every year, but I never do. Instead, we all muddle through songs where only two people actually knew the arrangement -- and it's hilarious. Chang Sho and Johnny D's continue to stay in business purely because of the Mates.
Now that Homecoming is history, we get to slow down and relax a little bit... HA! Not really! So far in October, we've launched the new website, performed at Community Day, had TIME!, started this blog, had our first college gig of the year, and done tons of mixing for the upcoming album.
(I've doubled back to add:) Oh, Time! I can't skip that! This is absolutely my favorite of the weird Mates traditions we have. This year, we told the Babies we were going to see Duwende perform in Boston, and a whole bunch of alums would be there. Only one of them managed to figure out that Duwende was in town the previous week, so the wool was pretty effectively yanked over their eyes. We started things off with a sprint to the van, (and Hot Damn, our babies can run!) some circles around the Powderhouse Square, and trips to Jilly's room ("Roxanne"), Eric's suite (maritime sports), and Alex Rodman's house (flippage and dancing), before hitting the road. I won $10 playing lottery scratchers at the gas station, and we made it to Maine and L.L.Bean in one piece. Lori swapped out her slippers, I continued a long line of Mates buying slipper-socks, and the boys bought matching coffee mugs. Pictures in weird hunting garb are forthcoming.
As I write, Parents' weekend is underway, and we've got the first of our two performances (the public one) in just a couple hours on the steps of the beautiful new(ish) Sophia Gordon dorm, across from the equally beautiful new(ish) music center. After that, Mates, Parents and friends will be heading over here to the Classy Residence, where we'll be partaking in some wine and cheese and other yummies, and we'll do our second performance of the day for the people who really matter. Prime is T-minus two weeks. We're performing at Milton Academy on Halloween; retreat is the week after. The semester is flying!
In song,
Gabbi A'10, current group
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