Straight No Chaser members say goodbye to senior singers

Straight No Chaser will say goodbye to its seniors with a farewell performance today. Ben Cohen, Kyle Coffman, Mark Holloway and Michael Landau will leave the group next month.\nThe final show will mark an emotional end for the graduating seniors. The night will include music, dancing, new and old songs and a fun time, Landau said. The group will perform at 8 p.m. today in the IU Auditorium. Tickets are $10. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.\n"The show will allow the seniors to say goodbye, with special solos for each one," Holloway said.\nThe graduating seniors said they hope to leave a legacy and that their replacements will continue to make Straight No Chaser a success.\nDan Ponce, a Singing Hoosier, assembled what would become the original Straight No Chaser in 1996.\nSince then, the group has produced albums, performed in more than 200 shows, sung the National Anthem at Chicago White Sox and Cubs games and made appearances on NBC, CBS and in Carnegie Hall. It began as a student-run group whose members wanted to have fun and make a difference at IU. It was not until October 1998 that Straight No Chaser signed on with the Indiana University Alumni Association as an official performing group.\nThe departing seniors said they will miss the friendships they have formed.\n"A lot of groups are about singing," Holloway said. "But for us it's more than that -- we have a good time together."\nCoffman said it's about, "meeting many people, seeing different parts of the country and just enjoying music."\nThe group is being left in great hands, Landau said.\n"I can easily say that the group next year will continue the SNC tradition well. They are going to be great next year," he said.\nFreshman Jermaine Miles, who joined Straight No Chaser this year, said the members taught him that the group's job is making the audience happy.\n"Though we will all miss the graduating seniors," Miles said, "we wish them luck and say 'here\'s to what's to come with SNC next year.'"\nAfter graduation, the men will head for different states, though some plans for next year are still uncertain. Coffman will leave for medical school, and Holloway said he hopes to be a tour guide. Wherever their lives take them, they said they will cherish the memories of being part of an IU tradition.