Pointercounts return home on high note

POTSDAM — The musical life is good for members of the all-male a cappella group Potsdam Pointercounts.

After a Friday show in Cornwall, N.Y., and a Saturday show on Long Island, the SUNY Potsdam students flew to Florida, where they are putting their spring break time to entertaining use this week with their "In the Heat Tour."

The tour comes a month after the Pointercounts took first place at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella's mid-Atlantic quarterfinal at Cornell University, Ithaca. In May, the group will travel to Boston to record a new CD.

In the meantime, they are warming up their pipes for the 17th annual Potsdam Pointercounts a Cappella Jam on March 28 at SUNY Potsdam's Hosmer Hall. On April 9, the group will open for the nationally known group Rockapella in Hosmer Hall.

The Pointercounts are having a blast with all of it.

"There's 13 guys in the group," said member and music director Justin J. Moniz. "It's essentially like a fraternity."

The group, which has no faculty adviser, is riding a wave of a cappella popularity, spurred by such television shows as Fox Network's "Glee" and NBC's "The Sing-Off."

"Younger audiences are taking an interest in this type of music," said Mr. Moniz, a tenor and a junior from Lake Ronkonkoma, Long Island. "We have quite the fan base."

Mr. Moniz, a vocal performance major studying opera, said audiences enjoy the distinct sound from all-male a cappella groups.

"The all-male sound is something special," he said. "You have the low baritones women can't produce, but then you have the high tenors. You get the whole range of colors."

The group mainly focuses on contemporary songs. Proven audience favorites are Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger," songs from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album, Boston's "Don't Stop Believing," Hall and Oates's "She's a Maniac" and tunes made popular by Boys to Men.

At the mid-Atlantic quarterfinals at Cornell, the Pointercounts received special recognition for outstanding choreography for "Kung Fu Fighting."

"We tend to do a lot more choreography than other a cappella groups," Mr. Moniz said. "We like to give audiences a show."

Mr. Moniz said the Pointercounts have made about six CDs and will record their next album at Boston's Bristol Studios. In April the Pointercounts will compete at the ICCA mid-Atlantic semifinals at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.

Mr. Moniz said the group's airline fare to Florida is funded by the Pointercounts's account. "That's funded by tours and gigs we perform throughout the year, he said.

The group members will be staying at a vacation house provided by the parents of Pointercount president Robert Valentine.

"We will be performing two shows at a tourist hot spot, Fisherman's Village in Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte and Charlotte high schools, among various other locations," Mr. Moniz said.