Yale Bulletin and Calendar

December 15, 2006|Volume 35, Number 13|Four-Week Issue

Some members of The Duke's Men, along with some of their Yale friends, are shown here on the staircase of the CNBC studio, where the a cappella group performed a promotional jingle for the show "Fast Money."

The Duke's Men make holiday appearances

The Duke's Men, an all-male undergraduate a cappella group at Yale, performed for the third time at the annual White House Holiday Open House, fresh from recording a jingle to promote the CNBC show "Fast Money."

The 16-member group is enjoying an especially busy season, largely owing to a gig brokered by "Doox" business manager Adam Metzger '08.

On Thanksgiving weekend, Metzger received a call from a producer he'd worked with as a summer intern with CNBC, who said the financial cable network needed a singing group to produce a promo for their new prime time show "Fast Money." The Branford College economics major naturally proposed The Duke's Men.

Metzger and the group's musical director, Frank Newman '08, "quietly set the wheels in motion," notes the student. The two kept the negotiations secret lest the deal fall through.

But the deal did go through, and within one whirlwind week, The Duke's Men made their own arrangement of the song -- which required a considerable amount of revision, says Metzger -- rehearsed it repeatedly, recorded it and, with 26 fellow Yale men recruited for the occasion, were bused back to the studio from campus to perform the song for TV.

The promo with The Duke's Men performing the jingle "Carol of the Trades," a financial riff on the holiday classic "Carol of the Bells," will be aired frequently throughout the month.

Throughout the year, the group -- comprising freshmen, sophomores and juniors -- perform for private parties and business functions to finance their annual summer trip abroad. This year they will tour Italy.

Their performance at the White House, however, won't advance their financial goal. It was on the house.

-- By Dorie Baker

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Gift from alumni to expand Grand Strategy Program

State gives Yale $7.8 million for stem cell research

Environmental activist named Marshall Scholar

Yale scientist helps keep museum's trains chugging along

Project will consider how to develop 'pastoral imagination'

Human Resources department to pilot STARS . . .

Yale researchers share expertise with Ethiopian health care . . .

Global Citizenship Initiative awarded Hewlett Foundation grant

Child psychiatrist wins award for contributions to education

Alan Kazdin named president of American Psychological Association

Thomas Steitz honored by Japanese university

The Duke's Men make holiday appearances

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE NEWS

HIV testing should be a routine part of health exams, say scientists

Discovery has implications for treatment of herpes

Study: Cancer gene mutations more common than expected

Aortic aneurysms often run in families, say researchers

Study: Decreased genital sensation likely in competitive women cyclists

Retinopathy of prematurity may be due to genetic factors

Research shows benefits of exercise programs for elderly

Asian Indian men found to be more susceptible to diabetes

Yale School of Medicine joins national consortium