After hours of deliberation and a night that was spent with my trusty Justice notebook slung over my head a couple of times, I still haven't come to a final opinion regarding my experience at the first ever Massell Quad coffee house, held on Wednesday night. Admirably and diligently planned by Massell Quad Senator Anne Rosenberg '07, the coffee house was an open mic night, mainly featuring performers from the Freshman class. According to Rosenberg, the proceeds from the event were collected to purchase Massell Quad t-shirts. As a former Shapiro girl myself, though lacking a commemorative t-shirt, I came in with an optimistic mind and the remaining Massell spirit from my memories of last year. However, the coffee house lost my attention rather quickly. The show opened with Misha Miller-Sisson '07 and Ethan Feuer '07, who performed the song "Take the Skinheads Bowling" from the movie Bowling for Columbine. The boys were good-humored, remarking that there had been three cases of food poisoning from Sherman this week, "and it's only Wednesday." In particular, they mentioned the appalling conditions of the bathrooms in a Massell Quad building ground floor several times, even asking me to address the issue in my review. The boys were a good, light, funny and very brief opening act.

Next a group called the Blanket Effect performed, featuring Mike Soffer '07 on guitar, Cory Julie '07 on drums and Josh Klein '07 on keyboard. Julie and Klein alternated on vocals. The Blanket Effect had a mellow sound and was very pleasant to hear. The boys had written most of the songs that they performed, which impressed me a great deal. They concluded with a request from the audience, which appeared to be planned in advance, since three people screamed out Erica Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight." I heard an audience member remark, "They're no Eric Clapton." I agreed, although I do think that the boys were quite talented.

At this point, Dan Hirschhorn '07, Dave Zimmerman '07, Jeremy Shuman '07 and Jesse Barglow '07 took the stage to perform Isaac Haye's "Simultaneous" from South Park. Although they were clearly not musically inclined nor were they members of a band, the boys were definitely a fun act, bringing energy and enthusiasm to the stage-something which was beginning to be more and more necessary as the show continued on.

After this performance -which I have deemed the peak of the show-the coffee house quickly went down hill, subject to a very few additional highlights. C.A. Lindy Kramer '04 sang a few songs, accompanied by Jeremy Sisselman '07 on guitar. Their set included a rendition of "Flagpole Sitta" that was a bit too slow, and a rather nice version of "Tangerines" by the Flaming Lips.

Unfortunately, after this semi-entertaining duo, I lost track of what was going on for quite some time. Between the absolute impossibility of obtaining a view from any part of Chums and the failure of almost all of the following performers to introduce themselves, I would have been utterly confused if not for the help of Rosenberg. The show became absolutely mundane at this point. The only highlights in the next hour were Josh Adland '07 and Jessica Whitman-Raymond '07. Adland, a performer with both a cool stage presence and a discernable musical talent, sang an enjoyable Harry Chapin song and allowed me to find my attention span once more. Unfortunately for him, I seemed to be the only one in the room who had heard of Harry Chapin. After Adland, I almost started to doze off until I heard the beautiful voice of Whitman-

Raymond, a soulful and very talented singer and guitar player.
Soon after, the coffee house became almost painful to sit through due to an absolute lack of talent or interest. However, Chums began to fill up for the performance of Dave Gorman '07, Josh Gondelman '07, Matt Francis '07 and Ben Kuss '07 who performed Elton John's "Rocket Man." I use the word "performed" and not "sang" for a reason. From what I gathered, their act was almost a mock dramatic interpretation of the song -based on a comical performance by William Shatner-as I found out from a member of the audience. After watching it on Boogle, the performance made slightly more sense, although I still don't exactly get the humor. For me, this was the end of my coherence after almost three hours of bad singing and utter confusion.

By the time that Baya Harrison IV '05, Gorman, Jake Daniels '07, Sholem Palevsky '07 and Sisselman took the stage I was in no mood for their performance which to me was overly loud and obnoxious. Screaming in a piercing voice, vocalist Gorman entertained his audience by writhing on the floor, attempting to bite his sticker-covered guitar and dancing all around the stage. However, I must give the group credit. The audience seemed to like them very much and showed a great deal of enthusiasm. The group had a lot of energy, something I was lacking at this point. Although not up my musical alley, I maintained a level of respect along with my headache.

Guitarist Jan Hammerquist '07 joined vocalist Dylan Attia '07 for the final song of the coffee house, redeeming the show in its final moments. Performing "Jumping Jack Flash," the boys rocked Chums. Attia's charismatic performance brought an enjoyable aura to the room. However, as soon as the song ended, I was out the door. I couldn't wait a minute longer to leave.

The Massell Quad coffee house was exactly what it should have been: a first-year event. After the show, I heard raving reviews from the first-years; as a sophomore, it was hard for me to relate. Another frustrating aspect of the coffeehouse was its unnecessary political agenda, with first-year candidates rushing through the room prompting me to vote for them for various positions. Although clearly well advertised and planned by Rosenberg, the musical talent for the most part was very weak. Also, the absolute lack of variety in the performers, basically comprised of singers with guitars, made me feel that it was definitely not an event that deserved three hours of my time. Yet I really do feel that the event wasn't as bad as I may have made it sound - after all, I still haven't lost my Massell Quad spirit. Maybe I'll get one of those t-shirts.