It was rather blustery outside last Tuesday night, and I was feeling rather un-blustery inside, so I invited Rochester a cappella singing sensations The Bowties to come over. Not only did they eagerly pop over to my Beachwood pad, known to our neighbors as "Disgraceland," but they sang a song in the dining room for my wife and her friends.

But let me explain something first: The Bowties aren't your textbook vocal sextet. They don't really pop, bop, hip-hop, or barbershop. They don't doo-wop. Sure, The Bowties - Tim Forster, Paul Howes, Jon Koneg, Phil Marino, Mark Waldman, and Alan Wertheimer - could do those things, and the group has been known to do so on occasion. But The Bowties' mission is more about mirth and harmony. Within the smartly blended arrangements and lush-as-a-polar bear-rug vocal layers are elements of the wrong and the wry. So when I tell you The Bowties serenaded my sweetheart with a take on Frank Zappa's "Planet of the Baritone Women," you'll understand. But it all isn't crazy; for every tune like "Spiderman" there's an exquisite beauty like "Since I Fell For You."

The Bowties have performed everywhere from the street to the Eastman Theatre. There's one CD on shelves now and another beginning to twinkle in the band members' eyes. Wrong, wry, and lush; I peppered my opening question to the guys with those words, and they thanked me in unison...and in harmony. An edited transcript of our interview follows.

CITY: Why The Bowties?

Paul Howes: We were all working at Wegmans as helping hands, and we had to wear bow ties...

Phil Marino: We actually started out in a group called Moonglow, which was a mixed chorus of eight men and eight women. That was about eight years ago.

What is the biggest misconception about the band?

Alan Wertheimer: I think a lot of people equate a cappella with barbershop, and we're definitely not barbershop.

You could be if you wanted.

Howes: Only if we're forced.

Tim Forster: We've got a couple of songs that do have those harmonies.

Wertheimer: I think when people see five or six old guys come out in bowties they expect "Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby." And we give them "Planet of the Baritone Women."

Jon Koneg: And that's the essence of art.

What helps you choose your material?

Howes: I think what's happened the last few years...we've looked for different styles and different songs to keep our audiences guessing and on their toes.

Is your sound derived from the non-conventional material, or traditional stuff with The Bowtie tweak?

Forster: It's more in the material we choose. It's not all cheeky. A lot of it is nice harmony, great arrangement, but then we'll toss in these unexpected little goodies.

Have any of these unexpected goodies gotten an unexpected response? Any ruffled feathers?

Howes: We did have one audience member yell, "Shut up! Shut up!" once. But that was in a nursing home. I think those feathers were already pre-ruffled.

Since the release of your first CD and the work that's going in to No. 2, how has the group changed?

Forster: We've become a lot more edgy since then. We made the decision along the way just to be ourselves. Once we got comfortable in our skin, we liked it and the audience liked it.

A lot of a cappella groups go beyond singing and actually recreate instruments and full bands. Why not you guys?

Forster: With that I think you're missing harmony, you're missing the beauty of what a cappella singing is, the richness of that harmony.

But The Bowties will still incorporate doo-wop-style language within a song, right?

Howes: Yeah, lots of doos and wahs and chings.

Of the material you do, what does the group personally enjoy best?

Wertheimer: What we really enjoy doing is something that's technically challenging and doing it well - serious music and just following it up with something that blows people away and has them rolling in the aisles.

Howes: The songs that are the most fun to sing - I don't know if they're the most fun for the audience or not - are the ones with what we call "grown-up chords."

Has anyone brought in a tune that didn't work?

Wertheimer: Oh yeah...Phil has.

Marino: I don't even remember what it was. I think it was a Weird Al Yankovic song.

Album No. 2: have you begun selecting or arranging any cuts yet?

Forster: Crosby, Stills, and Nash; Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight"; "Come Softly" by The Fleetwoods...

Howes: "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Really?

Howes: But we'll probably cut some of the guitar solo out of it.

The Bowties

Little Theatre Café,

Every Friday in November

8:30-10:30 p.m. | free | thebowties.com