A crowd of exhausted first-years, along with their even-more-exhausted orientation leaders, packed the Levin Ballroom Sunday night for the final event of their hectic first day of college. Singer/songwriter Jason LeVasseur and first-time stand-up comedian Alex Goldstein '06 provided a light, relaxing background to what could have been a night of free time for new students to get to know each other. LeVassuer opened the evening with his cheerful, folksy tunes (complete with the occasional awkward cover of pop favorites by Christina Aguilera and Avril Lavigne. Although he displayed substantial talent and had an energetic stage presence, the audience paid him little attention as they socialized and tried to blow off some anxiety despite their orientation leaders and community advisors' wasted attempts at quieting them.

LeVasseur was followed by the stand-up debut of Alex Goldstein, the president of improvisational troupe False Advertising. After a rocky start, Goldstein scored a lot of laughs with his parodies of Thefacebook.com and AOL Instant Messenger. Although his routine was not startlingly unique, it thankfully lacked the usual self-deprecating cheesiness that plagues many stand-up comics.

While most of the audience left after Goldstein's routine to socialize outside Levin, some stayed behind for LeVasseur's second set. And while the two acts might have served at best as a mere background entertainment, the first years seemed thankful for a relaxing end to their first day.

Editors' note: Alex Goldstein '06 is a staff writer for the Justice.