By Karina Martinez PLAY Writer
Purple Haze can make any space its stage.
So far this year the a cappella group's venues have ranged from Pick-Staiger Concert Hall to Northwestern basketball courts and soccer fields to, most recently, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to participate in an invitational concert.
At Purple Haze's two-hour practices three nights a week, the group is dedicating most of the remainder of the fall season to preparing new songs for its school workshop series. For the series, members will spend a morning in a Chicago public school performing and then working with students, teaching them musical skills like arranging.
"It's my favorite part about being in Purple Haze," says Weinberg senior and four-year member Bri Zika. "We really come alive at the school workshops and create cool relationships with the kids."
Along with preparing for the workshop series, they are currently in the process of auditioning a new bass. Zika also says the five new members are definite assets.
"We old members were hoping to coast through our senior year, but these newbies won't let us get away with anything," she says. "They're constantly pushing us to try harder, to be on time to rehearsals and to vote in harder songs. Essentially, they rock."
The group is also recording three new songs for its upcoming May 2008 CD: "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap, "Heartbreaker" by Pat Benetar and "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai. Purple Haze is also practicing for their winter show, scheduled for Feb. 17 in the Jones Great Room.
Following winter quarter, the group will board a plane to bring their workshop series to students abroad during NU's spring break. Past destinations have included Dublin and Rome.
Freshman Fred Geyer, a new member of Purple Haze this year, says he is most excited for the group's Spring Break tour, even though the destination is undecided as of now. He also has his own goals for the '07-'08 Purple Haze.
"My main hope is that we can form a new identity to separate ourselves from past years - create a new sound and take ourselves to the highest level of musicianship possible," he says.
Zika admits that too often a cappella groups can become contentions or worry too much about national rankings and sound scores. She says that throughout the group's endeavors, she hopes Purple Hazers focus on their primary goal of making music with "good, kindhearted and hilarious people."
Medill freshman Karina Martinez is a PLAY writer. She can be reached at k-martinez-carter@northwestern.edu.
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