The Skidmore Bandersnatchers


Bandersnatcher Highlights

1975

  • The Skidmore Bandersnatchers, the College's only all-male a cappella group, is formed. Adopting its name from a character in the Lewis Carroll poem Jabberwocky, the group is comprised of eight men who already find themselves "celebrities on campus merely due to [their] chromosomes" (Bruce D. Miller '80). You may recall that Skidmore was an all-female institution for over 60 years… A sampling of the repertoire during the group's inception: "Coney Island Baby," "Lazy Day," "My Girl" and "Bring the Wagon Home, John."

1977 - 1987

  • The "lost weekend" - or lost decade, for that matter - of The Skidmore Bandersnatchers. The group experiences a series of ups and downs while its membership waxes and wanes. Some semesters are stronger than others, but the group fails to coalesce as a continuing entity.

1988

  • A handful of young go-getters resurrect the concept of The Skidmore Bandersnatchers and begin an aggressive recruitment of talented and dedicated members. Rehearsals begin in earnest, and soon young co-eds in dormitories all across the campus find themselves serenaded. Very few call Campus Safety.

1989

  • Bandersnatchers release its first recording. Titled Live at the Spa! despite being recorded at a local Saratoga Springs studio (that's humor for you), the tape features a very early incarnation of the newly reformed group.

1990

  • February - Bandersnatchers wins the Silver Chord Bowl (Northampton, MA). This accomplishment proves to be a pivotal moment in the group's history, if for no other reason than the group realizes that people other themselves actually enjoy listening to them sing.
  • March - Bandersnatchers stages its very first Jam, a concert featuring guest groups The UNH Notables, The UPENN Pennyloafers, and The Amherst Bluestockings. The show is held in Falstaff's, Skidmore's coffeehouse and pub.
  • Fall Jam: A Cappella UNLEASHED, with guests The Wheaton Wheatones and The Williams Euphoria. The first Jam to take place in Filene Recital Hall. Fun fact - the Wheatones subsequently name their next record after this Jam title.

1991

  • Spring Jam: King Spring Sing Thing, with special guests SUNY Binghamton Harpur Harpeggios. The main set is preceded by the "Ad-Lib Blues," a take-off on the popular "Blues" skit by the Ad-Liberal Artists, Skidmore's comedy troupe. Genius!
  • Bandersnatchers releases its first CD, Random? The first of five discs to be recorded with Skidmore Artist-in-Residence John Nazarenko, the CD is a crowning achievement for the scrappy young lads.
  • Fall Jam: Insert Lame Title Here, with guests Tufts Amalgamates and UVM Cat's Meow.

1992

  • CASA awards the Bandersnatchers runner-up Best Song for "Good Times Roll" featured on Random?
  • CASA awards Terry Mullane '93 runner-up Best Soloist for his work on Random?
  • Spring Jam: Look Ma, No Soul!, with guests the UNH Notables.
  • Fall Jam: Off Campus A Cappella, with The Skidmore Accents (held at the Spa Little Theater, Saratoga State Park). The show features a memorable joint performance of Seal's "Future Love Paradise."

1993

  • Bandersnatchers releases Live! From The Edge… Recorded live at Skidmore's Filene Recital Hall, the CD captures the group striking a balance between tender ballads, up-tempo rockers, and a healthy dose of humor.
  • Spring Jam:
  • Fall Jam: Twelve Angry Youths, with special guests The Smith College Smithereens.

1994

  • Spring Jam: Early 80's Jam, with special guests The Wheaton Wheatones.
  • Casa Guy Lombardo is released. Recorded just one year after the group's last CD, Casa Guy Lombardo becomes the Bandersnatchers' most popular release to date.
  • Fall Jam: A Collection of Useless Private Jokes, with special guests the UVM Cat's Meow. The concert features the debut of Carrot Farm - The Musical. Despite - or rather, because of - extremely mixed reviews, Carrot Farm fades quickly into relative obscurity. What a shame.

1995

  • Spring Jam: That Cat is High, with special guests Tufts Jackson Jills. Mug Lady, a short film produced by the group during its annual Spring Break trip to Florida, debuts to a bemused - and baffled - Skidmore audience.
  • Bandersnatchers conquer the U.S. The group begins its two-and-a-half year escapade with The Journey Campaign, Skidmore College's capital campaign for its next century. By 1997 the group will have visited such cities as New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Minneapolis, Chicago, Sarasota, Boca Raton, Los Angeles, San Francisco… and the beautiful town of La Jolla, CA will never quite be the same, let us tell you.
  • Fall Jam: Of Course We're Gay!, with special guests The Skidmore Dynamics and The Smith College Smithereens. Hyperbole aside, the title serves as an alternative to the more salacious Red Hot 'Snatch.

1996

  • February - Bandersnatchers hosts a Winter Invitational in JKB Theater. Guest groups include The Skidmore Dynamics and the Tufts Beelzebubs. Campus Safety is called to the after-party when the Bubs break into song in the middle of Scribner Village.
  • Spring Jam: CONCERT, with very special guests The Tufts Amalgamates.
  • 200th Reunion! In October the Bandersnatchers celebrate their 200th (20th?) Anniversary with a spectacular retrospective show and after-party. In preparation for the Reunion the groups learns that in 1983 the Bandersnatchers sang with a female piano accompanist. Random?
  • Fall Jam: We Still Got It!, featuring special guests the Vassar Night Owls.

1997

  • Bandersnatchers release their long-awaited eponymous 4th CD. Over 2 years in the making, the disc features such favorites as "Bring it to Me," "Life, In a Nutshell," and "Leaving on a Jet Plane."
  • Spring Jam: Marvin… Your Cousin, Marvin Berry?, with special guests The Georgetown Gracenotes. The concert opens with an instrumental rock band rendition of the standard "Good Old A Cappella," and although hundreds of audience members aren't quite ready for it, they're assured that their kids are gonna love it.
  • Fall Jam: More Damn A Cappella, with special guests Another Damn A Cappella Group (aka The Skidmore Accents). The group performs its very own Full Monty. Enough said.

1998

  • Bandersnatchers makes a live appearance on the Capital Region's "This Morning" show (Channel 6, local CBS affiliate). The group gives a brief interview and performs snippets of two songs, all before 7 a.m. on a weekday - not too bad for a group of college kids…
  • Spring Jam: 11 Chortling Devils, with special guests the Boston College Acoustics. The group closes the show with its jaw-dropping interpretation of "We Are the World." Jaw dropping because no one remembers that song ever existed in the first place…
  • CASA & Smokin' Fish Records release 1997 Yearbook, a 2-disc collection of collegiate a cappella. Included is a live rendition of the Bandersnatchers' "One Headlight."
  • Bandersnatchers release CD #5, A Raging Symposium.
  • Fall Jam: Where Are You Now?, with special guests ----

1999

  • March - Bandersnatchers hosts another Winter Invitational in JKB Theater. Guests include professional a cappella group Ball in the House, a Boston-based band co-founded by Bander alumni Jeff Manzolli '91 and Jon J. Ryan '92.
  • Spring Jam: [There is no spoon.], with special guests ------ The group opens with a fully choreographed rendition of Britney Spear's "Baby… One More Time." And, if that weren't enough, the arrangement is combined with elements taken from Franz Shubert's Death of a Maiden. 'Cause those two go together. Think about it.
  • Bandersnatchers release Beware The Frumious Bandersnatch!, a collection of hits, favorites, and previously unreleased performances. The disc captures the recorded highlights of the group and will serve as a taste of the now out-of-print CDs from the '90's. The release of Beware coincides with Reunion '99.
  • Reunion '99 - Proving that the group is always ready to celebrate something, Bandersnatchers young and old come together for a 25th Reunion (you do the math). Over 700 friends and fans turn out for the second major retrospective show of the decade. Those in attendance are treated to the classic 2-part tour de force "Zippity Doo Dah," a slice of theater authored by Jon J. Ryan '92 and David Cirone '95.
  • Fall Jam: Cowboy Up?, with special guests ----- . Funny. I mean, not funny "Ha Ha…" (sigh).

2000

  • Spring Jam: Going Flat, with special guests SUNY-Binghamton Harpur Harpeggios. To the amazement of the Syllabic Tenured Research Endeavor and Global Tone Heightening Society (S.T.R.E.N.G.T.H.S.), another a cappella group slides into intonation pandemonium.
  • Bandersnatchers release the much-anticipated Freshman Jorgé. Recorded in Boston, MA with veteran collegiate a cappella producer David Richard, Jorgé stakes its claim as arguably the strongest CD release in the group's history.
  • Fall Jam: Were 1st Teer!, with special guest Steve Roslonek. Roslonek, a writer/performer of children's music and an alumnus of The Wesleyan Spirits and The Vineyard Sound, delights the Skidmore audience with his engaging opening act. Mug Lady 2000, a revisiting of the short film originally exhibited in the spring of 1995, is also a smashing success. And you thought the ice luge was cool…

2001

  • Spring Jam: Pre-Game, with special guests the Connecticut College Conn Artists.