The Buffers Take St. Louis
By Dave Steadman
Clinton, NY - February 20, 2000
On Friday, the 18th of February, in the midst of perhaps one of the season's worst snowstorms, the Hamilton College Buffers embarked on a plane from Syracuse to St. Louis, the Gateway to the West. Daunting as the task was (getting thirteen guys organized and ready to go at 6:30 in the morning), we managed to make the plane on time, despite weather set backs, and various other delays.

Preparation was key in being ready for the two concerts we performed. The several weeks leading up to this concert were filled with intensive rehearsals. Drawing on a collection of songs from both last semester and this one, we were able to come up with two rather eclectic set lists for each night. As good as the planning was, adjustments had to be made upon our arrival at The Edison Theater at Washington University. Compared to the Hamilton a cappella scene, Wash U is quite different. The Edison is a 600 person, individually seated, stadium style seating theatre. That is to say that it is much more like Wellin Hall than the Chapel, certainly to some extent depersonalizing the experience. The groups are amplified by area microphones as well as individual microphones for solo and harmony, which helped to improve the less then ideal natural acoustics.

The concert, an annual event called "Jammin' Toast", has become a tradition at Washington University drawing groups from all over the country to perform. This year the Buffers had the pleasure to sing with The University of Illinois Ripchords (all female), The Washington University Mosaic Whispers (co-ed), The Washington University Greenleafs (all female), and The Washington University Pikers (the all male host group). One of the real highlights of singing in a festival such as this, is the incredible diversity of song selection and style that makes every group unique. From different performance positions, to a wide variety of choreography, each group had its merits.

Singing mostly popular songs with a few older numbers, the Pikers meshed nicely to The Buffers set list, which included, Soul to Squeeze, Insomniac, Walk of Shame, Creep, Take Me Home Tonight, Life in a Nutshell, Jesse's Girl, as well as our traditional numbers, The Alexander Hamilton Song and Let's Get Together Again. Saturday the Buffers took in the great arch of St. Louis, exploring many historical aspects of our country's expansion westward. We also dined at the worlds only floating McDonald's located on the Mississippi River (and who says we're uncultured)! The weather was a little dreary but the temperature was nice and there was absolutely no snow.

A canceled afternoon flight on Sunday afternoon put us in 20 minutes late to Syracuse, and a lost ticket (we won't mention names), didn't prevent us from returning safely to the hill. The Buffers thank the Washington University Pikers for subsidizing the costs of travel and lodging, and Student Assembly for funding this trip, as well as the Hamilton College Administration, Faculty, Students and Staff for their support.

Buffers make Television Debut
Clinton, NY - January 4, 1999
The Buffers were recently featured on "Panorama - Life on the Hill," Hamilton's student-run TV show. The episode was broadcast throughout the Mohawk Valley on December 10th. Eric Mihan, Jamie McKee, John Damaske and Andrew Babcock were interviewed. Several songs were also performed including "Take On Me" and "Shenandoah."