2022 VoicePlay fall events — creeping, crooning, and carousing
The last few months of the year are usually busy for folks in the entertainment industry, but it's also the season in which the VoicePlay gang thrives. Between the spooky fun of Halloween, the warm family gatherings at Thanksgiving, and the festivities of Christmas, they also made sure to celebrate the smaller things and indulge in a bit of silliness.
The guys kicked off October with their next charity auction. Patreon patrons and YouTube members got to bid on unneeded props and costume pieces to support a good cause.
Geoff and his posse of clones joined in the season of haunts with a bassy cover of the Western classic "Ghost Riders in the Sky".
During their monthly Patreon livestream, the guys helpfully abandoned Layne to patron Marylimea's blue screen whims as part of their ongoing photoshopping battle.
When the weekend rolled around, they released their own spooky season video, a cover of the Vocaloid tune "Hide and Seek (Ding Dong!)", featuring new pal Lauren Paley, aka The Stairwell Siren. Their combination of this eerie song with characters from The Haunted Mansion makes for some great fun.
The next week, Cesar and The Vybe returned to the EPCOT stage for their second run in the Eat to the Beat concert series for the year.
In the middle of the month, PattyCake released the next episode of The Villains Lair. While they had some time between stages of their dastardly plans, the Evil Queen and Maleficent finally aired out their mutual grudges.
While the Navy Band Northwest was in Reno, NV for the city's Navy Week festivities, J.None was tasked with singing the national anthem at a minor league baseball game, and did so beautifully.
Since J was already busy on the other side of the country, the VoicePlay guys gathered at the PattyCake studio to film their portions for a batch of upcoming shorts featuring him. He later filmed his own sections in his apartment and at a local mall.
Jumpscares and dissonance
That same day also saw the release of the first of two original music videos produced by PattyCake for a new local boy band. "No Body Else" by No Lonely Hearts is a tongue-in-cheek homage to Micheal Jackson's "Thriller", and they had a blast filming it.
The realities of the entertainment industry mean that performers have to start preparing for the winter holidays while the weather is still warm and sunny. Even if there's less of a seasonal difference in Florida, it can still be a little jarring to be rehearsing carols in shorts and sandals.
Cesar was also a featured guest at the Renaissance Theatre's Musical Mondays show and Halloween costume contest.
While he was virtually reuniting with his VP pals, J.None decided to show off the impressive lower range he'd been cultivating in the Navy with a quick throwback to their Halloween video from the year before, "Friends on the Other Side".
When Halloween itself finally rolled around, Layne and Tony invited their collaborators, family, and friends to the PattyCake studio for a night of costumes everybody got to choose themselves for a change.
VoicePlay jumped into November by releasing the first of their remotely recorded shorts with J.None. Their latest foray into the music from League of Legends was an uplifting excerpt of "Star Walkin’" by Lil Nas X.
Geoff offered one last chilling interlude with his narration of the introspective short story "The Haunted Mind" by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The next stop on VoicePlay's round of shorts came in the form of "World's Smallest Violin" by AJR. The combination of melancholy lyrics with a bouncy tune conveys a very specific but relatable sentiment.
Once public voting started on the latest season of The Voice, the guys took to social media to lend their support to old pal Omar Cardona. A lot of other people across the country were drawn to Omar's spark, too. He made it all the way to the final round.
Since the Hamilton tour was in the area for a few weeks, VoicePlay was able to borrow their buddy Deejay Young from his duties as a swing performer for a couple days to film some videos.
Once he was finally out of the walking cast he'd been sporting for nearly a year, J.None tested out his healing ankle with a little freethrow practice (and a victory tumble).
Meanwhile, VoicePlay headed back to the studio to film a couple more shorts with two of their favorite ladies. Adriana Arellano joined them in person, and Rachel Potter followed in J's footsteps, recording from her kitchen in Nashville.
As November neared its end, the inevitable holiday overlap cranked up another notch. No Lonely Hearts released their second PattyCake-produced music video, an original Christmas tune called "No Lonely Holidays".
But VoicePlay weren't going to just skip past Thanksgiving. They got a little kooky with Rachel for a cover of "Kill the Turkey" from Bob's Burgers. The next day, they provided another surprise in the form of a mashup of the themes from the original Addams Family sitcom and the new Wednesday series with Adriana.
While Layne was making the carrot cake his wife had requested for her birthday, he couldn't resist sending a message to his absent bandmate. If J.None thought moving across the country would free him from vegetable torment, he was wrong.
Meanwhile, Cesar got to relax and spend a little time with his family in Puerto Rico for Thanksgiving.
As the month drew to a close, VoicePlay offered up one last short with J.None. "Ordinary People" is one of his favorite songs by one of his favorite singers, and it shows.
That same day kicked off their final charity auction for the year, which raised more than $2700 to combat hunger.
The release of Black Panther 2 brought up a lot of complicated emotions for a lot of people. J.None paid tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman with a brief cover of Rhianna's "Lift Me Up" from the movie's soundtrack.
With the Christmas season officially in full swing, VoicePlay unleashed a bigger, flashier version of "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)", which they'd been performing at their live holiday shows for many years.
While he was in the mode of revisiting classic tunes, Geoff put out a deep and doo-wop-y rendition of "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas", providing his fans and clones alike with a little gift.
Then VoicePlay welcomed Cesar's brother into the fold for a joyous rendition of the bilingual crowd pleaser "Feliz Navidad".
PattyCake got up to some naughty holiday fun with their compilation video "The Grinch reacts to TikTok fails". Whoville's grumpiest neighbor offers advice, commentary, and even a parody of a beloved Christmas song.
In the middle of the month, J.None performed at the Navy Band Northwest's holiday show in Everett, WA. He took the lead on "This Christmas" (which he'd previously recorded with VoicePlay), and a sweet, nostalgic rendition of "I'll Be Home For Christmas", accompanied by keyboardist Dinos San Pedro.
Once J was finally back in town to spend the holidays with his family, his VoicePlay brothers snagged him for a day in the studio to film three videos that would take them from the old year into the new.
A fan outside Dallas, TX created a festive light display set to VoicePlay's funky mashup "Santa and I Know It".
As the year wound down, Geoff leaned into the quiet mood with a romantic rendition of "Till Then", complete with a tickling of the ivories and a partial cameo from his beloved wife.
VoicePlay, on the other hand, sent the year out with a peppy bang, courtesy of their short cover of Meghan Trainor's "Made You Look".
The year ahead would bring some big creative opportunities, big life changes for some of the guys and their extended community, and — above all else — big smiles from all their musical shenanigans. But those stories will be along in due time.
