Television’s grainy glow has illuminated the talents of many members of the Vassar community this year, bestowing the College with a heightened sense of celebrity. From the Vassar Orkestar playing with indie rock band Beirut on the Late Show with David Letterman to Greg Lichtenstein ’12 competing on Jeopardy! participation, there is no doubt that the Vassar community has enjoyed the incresed fame of its students this year.
After successfully accompanying indie rock band Beirut in their January performance at Vassar, the ad hoc group of Vassar musicians that came together to accompany Beirut, called the Vassar Orkestar, joined the band for two sold-out shows at the Brookyln Academy of Music and for their appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman.
Orkestar members remarked that their television experience was, as a whole, surreal.
“It was very surreal to perform on Letterman,” bass player Paul Buffa ’09 told Vassar’s “On Campus” newsletter. “We went in through the ‘secret entrance’ and were in several green rooms, hanging out with Beirut and watching them tape the show, which only took an hour. We were too nervous to remember much. But being on stage with a full audience and Dave Letterman 10 feet away was definitely the most memorable part.”
Cake designer Jess Leng ’11 found her recognition on the Food Network. Although Leng did not actually appear on television, she was a finalist in the network’s Ace of Cakes Valentine’s cake competition. Her entry, a YouTube video of her creating a cake, received over 150,000 views as a result of the competition.
Ace of Cakes, one of the Food Network’s top shows, documents the everyday happenings at Baltimore bakery Charm City Cakes. The show sponsored a Valentine’s Day competition in which they requested their fans to send in videos of their cake making process. “I sent my video in and just happened to make it in the top 12,” explained Leng.
Leng’s video depicts her in the Raymond House kitchen, baking and decorating a phenomenally beautiful “I love you” cake. It is certainly difficult connecting such a beautiful cake with a dorm kitchen, as many of the comments on her YouTube video echo. Her other cakes include a model of the house from Leng’s favorite television show, Full House, and cupcakes with almost impeccable models of character’s from the Disney classic Peter Pan. “And the best part about her cakes is that they also taste great! And she likes to share,” remarked Elizabeth Shand ’12, who is on the women’s swim team with Leng.
Although she received no material rewards from the network, the 150,000 YouTube hits gave Leng an unprecedented amount of publicity. “I got a huge number of hits on my Web site and I feel like this experience really helped me on my résumé—I got a job at a bakery for this summer,” said Leng.
Vassar’s own AirCappella also made it into the limelight with their audition for America’s Got Talent. Air Cappella was contacted by one the show’s casting agents, who requested that they audition for the popular talent show. Nine members of AirCappella, both current students and alumnae/i, auditioned with the song “Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da” by The Beatles. A successful preliminary audition allowed the group to perform in front of celebrity judges Sharon Osbourne, David Hasselhoff and Piers Morgan.
“I was nervous” commented Sadie Burzan ’11. “It was really surreal. The other talents were super weird, people were wearing capes and weird suits—definitely not your everyday talents.”
“They recommended that we sing ‘Toxic’ by Britney Spears in front of the celebrity judges. They wanted to see something contemporary, top 40,” explained Ben Creed ’09. The show will air on June 23rd, and AirCappella may or may not have made the cut.
Freshman Greg Lichtenstein achieved semi-finalist status on Jeopardy!’s annual College Championship. Lichtenstein, an avid trivia night attendee, was the competition’s only freshman. Lichtenstein and his friends sponsored showings of his two appearances in UpCDC as they aired earlier this month. Lichtenstein admitted it was “weird” seeing himself on TV. “Even though I didn’t like seeing myself and knowing exactly what was going to happen, it was still really fun!” he said.
Lichtenstein participated in the tournament as representative of Vassar—sweatshirt and all—and subsequently felt pressure to represent his college well. “I had two goals going into the first round: One, to, of course, win the round, and two, to at least have positive money. There is definitely some pressure to look decent.”
Lichtenstein says that most of the questions he has received have involved inquiries as to what Alex Trebek is “actually” like. “I’ve heard a lot of whispers of things like ‘That’s the Jeopardy! kid!’ and was recognized by a waiter at Bacio’s. It’s been a lot of fun,” said Lichtenstein.
As for what he will do with his $10,000 prize, Lichtenstein said, “I really want to go on a safari.”
The talents of these individuals are impossible to group into a single category, and it is precisely this diversity that them great representation of Vassar’s intensely multifaceted community.
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