Best A Cappella Group

In 1994 a group of Rice graduate students realized that drinking and singing together was more fun than writing their dissertations. Many eventually graduated anyway, but their group, the Lager Rhythms, lives on, filled out by a rotating cast of other Rice people: grad students, faculty, undergrads, staff, a faculty spouse, a staff member's brother-in-law and even (they claim) a person with no Rice connections at all. Deploying terrific voices and tight a cappella harmonies, they deliver the high-level goofiness you expect from the highly educated. For instance, there's a Star Wars medley that involves the Village People's "YMCA," only the letters have been changed to Y-O-D-A, and the lyrics celebrate a "macho, macho Han." Even better are the Lagers' takes on pop-culture clichés, stuff like the Commodores' "Brick House," the Eagles' "Desperado" and a medley from Winnie-the-Pooh. You thought you never wanted to hear those songs again, but you were wrong.