Our Alaska: 'Glee' in real life

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It's okay to admit it: even if you profess to hate the hit Fox show "Glee," about a scrappy high school glee club full of impossibly good voices and just-about-as-unlikely drama, you've probably heard one of the songs and thought, "actually, these kids are pretty mindblowingly good."

While it's not likely that such a collection of powerful voices would gather together by chance in a public school, it's more likely that one of the country's best music universities would put forth an a capella group that puts the pre-packaged group of TV-ready upstarts from "Glee" to shame.

Such a group is Pitch Slapped, the a cappella group from Berklee College of Music, the prestigious university that includes music legends like Quincy Jones, Bruce Cockburn and Howard Shore among its alumni. Pitch Slapped was founded in 2006, and in 2011 won the premier college-aged a cappella competition, the International Competition of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA).

Pitch Slapped brought their talents to Alaska as part of the University of Alaska Anchorage's "A Cappella Festivella," arriving Oct. 5 and giving a performance the next night with the UAA glee club and the Festivella's headliner, Sonos. But before Pitch Slapped made their way back to school in Boston, they found their way into one of the many underground tunnels that line Anchorage's bike paths and belted out a few impromptu songs, including Bruno Mars' "The Other Side," Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around" and the Doobie Brothers' "Takin' it to the Streets." For those fortunate enough to be passing through the tunnel while the group did their thing, it was like finding yourself in the best flash mob of all time.

You can see more of the group's performances at their YouTube channel, including some of their competitive performances. And if you can't get enough, visit the group's homepage, where they have a 5-song EP also available.

While "Sarah Palin's Alaska" has finished its eight-week run on TLC, Alaska Dispatch continues to take a look at the Last Frontier as it's experienced by residents across the state -- urban and rural, young and old, from all walks of life. You've seen "Sarah Palin's Alaska" -- now welcome to Our Alaska.