With the week settling down, Thursday evenings on Main Street are normally quiet. On Thursday April 18, however, indie folk music and a throng of showgoers energized Muddy Waters Coffee House.
Gamma Chi Epsilon hosted a concert at Muddy Waters for Chances and Changes, a program that supports victims of domestic violence. Two local bands, Train Rat and Mammal is a Mountain, performed throughout the evening.
“In terms of our organization’s goals, we try to focus on women’s rights as an issue,” Gamma Chi member junior Chris Eufemia said.
Chances and Changes is a nonprofit organization that maintains a domestic violence hotline and provides food, clothing, legal referrals and counsel for victims of domestic violence, according to the charity’s website.
Members of Gamma Chi collected money at the door and accepted donations of blankets, soap, pillows and other household items and the bands performed for free.
Senior Dan Lynch, a member of both Mammal is a Mountain and Gamma Chi, said that while his band had performed at Muddy Waters in the past, he was glad he could raise awareness for the cause, in addition to playing and listening to great music. Lynch said he enjoys doing shows at the cafe because it provides Geneseo students the rare opportunity to hear live music.
“You don’t think about it much as a student here but there are places in Livingston County where people are suffering from the things that all Americans suffer from,” Lynch said.
For Mammal is a Mountain, senior Sally Schaefer played the fiddle while Lynch performed the vocals and played banjo. Train Rat featured a mix of guitar and vocals, with Lynch playing the banjo during some of its songs.
“It’s always a nice crowd at Muddy Waters,” Lynch said. “There are so many groups that come to enjoy the music. While there are members of Gamma [Chi], there are also large groups of friends here too.”
Eufemia said he was glad to see such a large crowd come out for the charity and music.
“I’d say we were successful,” he said. “For an event we had put together in a relatively short amount of time, we had 40 to 50 people come and collected around $200.”