The Accidentals

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Little-Known Facts (!)

Welcome to the home of all those deep dark secrets and things Accidentalish (or at least what we're willing to tell you...) you've been dying to know.

• The first public Accidentals performance was at a study break in Myers lounge. The songs performed were "Regretting What I Said" (which we still sing) and "Seduced" by Christine Lavin, and "Feelin' Groovy" by Simon and Garfunkel.
• The Accidentals released their first recording, "On Purpose," in 1994. It was recorded at St. Olaf in a mere six hours. Almost every copy has since been lost to us, so it's no longer available to the masses. A great loss indeed.
• The Accidentals have been observed consuming their collective body weight in chocolate. Yes, we know it's bad to eat chocolate before you sing. No, we don't care.
• The Accidentals used to have a rather football-playerish tendency to grab one another's bums, but this tradition doesn't seem to have been passed on. Sigh.
• The Accidentals initiate their newbies by kidnapping them early in the morning and having breakfast (fall of 2003 you may have stepped over us while we were having a picnic on one of the bridges over Lyman Lakes.
• There are bottles of Woodchuck in the hands of some group members in the picture in the liner notes of "Ex Ovariis."
• The Accidentals stood in a circle for the recording of "Ex Ovariis."
• The Accidentals' pre-concert psyching-up cheer (initiated by Maryann Overland '00): "Death before dishonor! Take no prisoners!"
• The Accidentals start almost every major concert by singing a song in the dark.
• The Accidentals have been known to invite alumni up on stage if there are any present at a concert (at least three times they have helped the current members to sing "Wanting Memories" by Sweet Honey in the Rock)
• The Accidentals have in the past collaborated with a number of artists in their concerts, including the Carleton Singing Knights, the African Drum Ensemble, and Cujokra. One of the first performances of the original group was at an Ebony concert singing "I Will Survive."
• The original group of Accidentals had an 8-key keyboard that they used instead of a pitch pipe. Their names were engraved in it, and it was to be passed on to future members. Unfortunately, this has been lost to us.

There's no place like home, there's no place like home...