Whit Andrews

Remember the summer of Star Wars? We geeks were the ones who went more than once, or at least that’s how I remember it. Close Encounters was thinkier. Grownups went to see that on purpose. I only saw The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi once each, but I remember there being much excitement. Girls were drawn in with the Ewoks, and I think there is no genderism in remembering that the Ewoks made it a date movie where Empire failed.

Anyway, one of the most wonderful themes of the last 20 years has been the long, slow triumph of geeks of many kinds in many walks of American and global life. The Internet, Apple, Microsoft, miniaturization and mobile technology, the rise of the PC game and computer game — all these have reflected the success of geek culture and geek cred, and for the most part the people who take advantage of it have included increasingly large segments of civilians.

I remember when I went to visit a university that I was appalled by what I saw as the precise and lengthy waste of time a chorale singer’s group engaged in on stage. I saw it as ornamented absurdity. (I was a fan of The Doors at the time.)

Now I see its beauty. (I’m a fan of Sweet Honey in the Rock, for heaven’s sake. Who coulda seen THAT coming?) There’s an inspired geekiness in any trade that is adopted by few and whose fans don’t number that much more than its practitioners.

Here’s a friend’s blend of the two. Krista Lang Blackwood, the artistic director of Octarium, provides this properly cited version of Star Wars lyrics and combined Star Wars music in what I would have to call a fine geek classic that will surely introduce many Star Wars fans to exceptional singing and presumably will introduce the last two singing fans in the word who are not Star Wars-literate to the franchise.