Technology Slice Blog

Whiffenpoofs Take The Stage - Before there was "Glee" or the vocal group Straight No Chaser, there were Whiffenpoofs. And several "Whiffs" of New Haven will be detected tonight on national television, as NBC premieres the second season of its a capella musical competition "The Sing-Off." Yale's Whiffenpoofs, 14 seniors who carry the banner of the world's oldest collegiate a capella group, are one of 10 groups featured in the fivenight show, which bows at 8 tonight and continues Wednesday, Dec. 13 and 15, culminating in a live finale Dec. 20. A Sony Music recording contract and $100,000 grand prize go to the winners. "It's national television, so it's pretty cool," says Dan Turcza, one of the 14 Whiffs (a bass) and the group's business manager. "It was filmed in Culver City, Calif., on the same stage as the Munchkin scene from the 'Wizard of Oz,' actually." The show was filmed from Aug. 8 through ...