At Eliot & Jain Sekular's annual Christmas party on Christmas Eve, Lisa Deedle and I were asked to play some music, as we are asked to do at every Sekular-house party. It pretty much just isn't Christmas if we don't play their legendary Christmas party, which features the most amazing tamales ever cooked by human hands.

Lisa and I were taking requests from the party-going crowd, and we ended up playing a nice little acoustic set of Evangenitals and Evangina tunes... mostly sing-along/play-along's like Home, Diggin' It, Not Quiet There, Sun is Shining. The final request for the evening, however, was Hey Ya.

Back in 2004, during Grammy night, we were half having band practice in preparation for the open mic at Mr T's Bowl while half watch the Grammys. Outkast was on, performing their hit song, when Brettsky began to chunk it out on guitar. We all began playing and singing, and it was revealed that I, Juli Crockett, happened to know ALL of the lyrics to that catchy-ass tune.

A series of "double dog dares" were issued, as to whether or not we had the balls to play the tune at the open mic that night. As you might imagine, when it comes to the Evangenitals, we are never short on balls. ;-)

Then something miraculous happened. I started playing the song at about 1/18th the normal speed, and soulfully singing Andre's surprisingly heartbreaking and passionate lyrics. An instant classic was born.

We performed BOTH versions, fast and slow, at a show at El Cid in the summer of 2004. That show was recorded by our dear friend Joey Ninja (from Ninja Academy) and the slow version is currently our most downloaded tune on iTunes. That is the genesis of the Evangenitals version of Hey Ya, loving called... "Hey Ya'll"

Why am I telling you all this? Well, because I just discovered another gent who is singing the tune in the slow and low tempo, and at this moment in time, he's a lot more popular than we are. Perhaps I'm feeling the need to assert my turf? A little tinge of cover-song envy? I don't know. Maybe this is the proverbial Tipping Point for the Evangenitals. The moment when a million people start searching for "that awesome cover version of Hey Ya" and instead of finding Matt Weddle of Obadiah Parker, they find the Evangenitals.

Miracles do happen. And I have a feeling that 2007 is going to be the year of the Genitals. Can you feel it?

So, long story short, after seeing all the hub-bub going on surrounding the Matt Weddle version, I laid down on track with some moving action titles telling a little bit of the Evangenitals tale, and I loaded it on You Tube as a video response.

Please go see it, rate it, favorite it, show it love, send it to your friends, etc:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RAL_NsDYd0

With any luck, our version will get as much love as Weddle's. :-)

Regardless, I love you. All of you.

xo
julio