Caffeinated Rock

What happens when you fuse caffeinated beverages with live music in a chill and comfortable atmosphere exclusive to the GW community? To find out, the Mount Vernon Programming Council will host its fourth annual Mount Vernon Coffee House Music Series this Friday night. Scheduled to perform is the band VIV, which just released its sophomore album Flawed and happens to share a drummer with The Counting Crows and Third Eye Blind,.

“Last year we played to a packed house at GW, ” said band manager Mike Tarintino. “We are really looking forward to going back there.”

By incorporating warm guitars and traditional rock instruments with exotic synths and even an occasional mandolin, VIV creates a steady, easy-to-listen-to sound similar to that of Train and The Wallflowers.

Each month will bring a new band to the Coffee House, including artists like Two Skinny Dorks and Eric Hutchinson. After three years, known artists such as Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers graced the Coffee House stage in the past.

“Both this year and last year we’ve tried to change up the acts a little bit,” said sophomore Jessica Stoellenwerf, undergraduate programming assistant of the Mount Vernon Programming Council. “We’ve (recently) been leaning more towards rock bands.”

The monthly event kicks off Friday, Sept. 10. Doors and the coffee bar open at 8 p.m. The two-hour show begins at 8:30 p.m., and the Coffee House will host a student talent jam later this fall, at which GW students will be recruited to play onstage. To get involved, e-mail the Mount Vernon Programming Council at [email protected].

-Brendan Polmer

Sons of Pitch

You’ve heard them doo-wop at the Marvin Center and Hillel. Now you can hear the all- male a cappella group Sons of Pitch at a free show Friday at the Marvin Center’s Continental Ballroom.

After a successful first year, Sons of Pitch hopes this upcoming show will help raise awareness of its presence on campus, although the 13-man troupe already generated interest when it won the 2003 Students Choice Award for performance group of the year. This year, they’re hoping to expand off-campus.

“We are trying to perform more gigs beyond our Foggy Bottom community,” senior Dan Tannebaum said.

The group’s standards differ from that of traditional a cappella groups (think Ragtime), including contemporary hits that are much more likely to be recognized by the campus crowds.

“We try to continually diversify our repertoire,” Tannebaum said. “And this year will be no different.”

The guys plan to stick with such staple pieces as the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want it That Way,” and Da Vinci’s Notebook’s “Title of the Song.”

-Daniel Kirkwood