University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, March 3, 1987
Harmonic farewell
During rehearsal in Templin Hall, Marty Wall, Lawrence graduate student, sings a solo in "Under the Boardwalk."
Below: Lennie Wesley, Wichita senior, and Rich Turner, Kansas City, Kan., senior, enjoy joking and laughing together during rehearsals.
Harmonic Function rehearses for their final public performance. After Friday night's Rock Chalk Revue, the group checked the acoustics in Hoch Auditorium.
Rock Chalk marks final curtain call for singing group
A after the applause from their final performance had died out, the members of Harmonic Function stepped out of Hoch Auditorium into the cold Saturday night and tearfully hugged one another.
"We were thinking about these last four years and how hard it was to do what we did," said Marty Wall, the group's lead singer. "We were thinking whether it was destiny or God that helped us do this."
Saturday, the 4-year-old group performed for the last time at Rock Chalk Revue. Dressed in jeans and jackets, the members snapped their fingers and sang some of their most popular numbers, including "Under the Boardwalk," "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and, as an encore, "I'm a Jawhawk."
The audience greeted their farewell act with two standing ovations.
Responding to the applause, Wall, Lawrence graduate student, told the audience, "We've always loved to sing. We just never dreamed this many people would like to hear us sing."
The group was formed in 1983 by four Templin Hall residents who met well practicing for a talent contest. Its popularity rose rapidly after the group performed at the Rock Chalk Revue '86.
Since then, Harmonic Function has sung at such occasions as fraternity and sorority events, class reunions, basketball games and at last year's Late Night With Larry Brown.
The group's members are Wall; Steve Smith, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore; Lennie Wesley, Wichita senior; and Rich Turner, Kansas City, Kan., senior. The group members are group members, joined the group three semesters ago.
The four spent Friday night at Templin Hall rehearsing for their final act and reminiscing about good and bad times they had shared.
Harmonic Function is disbanding because each of its members have commitments they can't ignore.
Smith will be married March 21. Wesley is preparing to go to law school next year. Turner plans to finish his music education degree and write music.
And Wall will put in more time as a morning anchorman and reporter with KLWN-KLZR radio, he said.
"We came to KU for a purpose, not just to be Harmonic Function," Wall said. "Our first purpose was to get good grades and to get our degrees.
"This was never anything but a hobby. If it ever started to resemble a job, we just wouldn't want to do it."
Wesley said that after the group's performance at Rock Chalk Revue '86, Harmonic Function was swamped with requests to play at various events, and the group performed two or three times a week.
That pressure started to take its toll, he said.
"Sometimes, we'd be rehearsing for a gig, and we'd be trying too hard to make it work, and we'd be snapping at one another. And when the fun went out of it, so did the harmony." Wesley said.
Wall said, "We were so worried about it going that way, that when it started to look like it could, we just backed off and said, 'Let's just sing for fun.'"
"We never felt like we were up there to be a spectacle. We were there to sing and use our voices. We were dressed like street singers. It was us and only us — four voices and nothing else." Wall said. David Claffin, producer of Rock Chalk, said Harmonic Function's music would be missed.
"It's a shame," he said. "They're talented and could have gone almost anywhere with their music. There have been groups like them, but they weren't as much fun to watch."
KU basketball coach Larry Brown arrived at Hoch after Saturday's Kansas-Nebraska game, just in time for the Rose Bowl.
"I'm sorry to see them go," he said. "They were phenomenal."
Caffin said the group had been scheduled to meet with him in January, the group told him it would be disbanding.
Claffin asked Harmonic Function to put in a final performance on one night of Rock Chajk.
"We'll take one appearance rather than jeopardize all three," he told them.
Above: While backstage before the performance, Steve Smith, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, throws a stage prop at Turner. Right: From left: Wall, Turner, Smith and Wesley join the Rock Chalk cast to sing the last song of the night.
Above: After their first standing ovation the quartet returns to the stage to sing "I'm a Jayhawk." For the encore, they put on black sunglasses.
Story by Joseph Rebello
Photos by Diane Dultmeier
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