Neil Kandler '09, a member of Programming Board who has worked on organizing the concert series, was pleased with the number of people in attendance and the enthusiasm of the crowd at last week's show, which featured Tom Sartori, a self-described singer-songwriter, and his band. The three-time winner of the Buffalo Music Awards Top Performer honor, Sartori is getting ready to push his music nationally after years of packing smaller venues in the Northeast.
"People came for the free food, but were surprised to find the high quality of the act," he said. "I think we exceeded people's expectations."
The cozy coffeehouse atmosphere at Rosey Jeke's only enhances the acts, Kandler said. "It's off campus, it has a different feel, it's something different," he said. "They have a good system of vouchers for student use, and they have worked well with us in the past."
This week's show features Lindsay Mac '01, a singer-songwriter who might draw comparisons to other folk-pop songstresses like Ani DiFranco; her songs show the same thoughtful ear for melody and lyrical profundity. However, you won't see her with a guitar in hand -- she plays the cello. And she plays it like a guitar.
Armed with an extra-strong guitar strap attached to strategic points on the instrument, she has mastered the cello well enough to create a very unique sound. Unlike other notable singer-songwriters who sometimes feature the cello such as Damien Rice, Mac uses a combination of plucking, strumming and bowing to provide a much more resonant accompaniment than more typical acoustic instruments.
"It's almost like singing a duet with somebody else because it is so resonant," Mac told Strings Magazine in its February 2006 cover story. "It's really an incredible experience that I don't think many instrumentalists get to feel."
Educated and trained at Dartmouth, The Royal College of Music in London and the San Francisco Conservatory, Mac has received a good deal of favorable press. The Boston Globe has called her "primal and arresting." The Northeast Performer Magazine highlighted her live performance as the show of the month, calling it "Stunning and goosebump inducing."
Future acts include Emilia Dahlin, a solidly folk-based solo act from Portland, Maine, "Mighty" Mike McGee, an eclectic performer who alternates singing with comedic banter and Spouse, an experimental rock group reminiscent of such underground favorites as The Pixies. Each act showcases a different style of what the genre that is usually stereotyped as college radio music, demonstrating the diversity that exists under the "coffeehouse music" label.
Kandler is hopeful for PB's newest initiative. "We want to continue giving people a chance to go off campus," he said. "We don't know how this program is going to be in the future, but it's an idea worth continuing."
