Singing Trenchcoats By Linton Weeks Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, April 29, 1999

Last week their career hit a sour note. On a television newsmagazine, the Web address of the infamous Trenchcoat Mafia at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., was given as "trenchcoats.com."

In fact, the address belonged to the singing Trenchcoats. "We've had that Web page up since the mid-'90s," says Kell Houston, manager of the a cappella group. The TV report, Houston says, "has caused an unbelievable inundation of hate mail. It's sickening."

In an age when many companies and people are known by the Web sites they keep, online confusion can be costly. Mistyped addresses send Internet users to the wrong – and sometimes raunchy – sites. Capitalists turn disaster to their advantage. Enterprising people, for instance, have already registered many domain names associated with the tragedy, including Trenchcoatmafia.com and Dylanklebold.com.

No wonder that some people misunderstood the site of the singing Trenchcoats. The reaction to the site has caused the group to contemplate changing its name altogether. They would, except that they have a loyal following in the Northwest. And the quartet's name, until April 20, was just an innocuous reference to Seattle's rainy weather.

For now, the group has posted a disclaimer on its home page: "We have no affiliation with the Trenchcoat Mafia that has been connected to the shootings that took place in Littleton, Colo. It is just coincidence that our name is similar to theirs."

Still, people attack the group online.

Like a graffiti wall, the Internet attracts folks who want to post their feelings publicly. Mourners from around the world, for instance, are sending e-mails to a Web site set up especially for Columbine High School.

The singing Trenchcoats have had to delete the hate-grams from their guest book. Several fans have written encouraging the group to keep its name. "All you people who think they need to change their name, get a life and quit judging things by their covers," wrote Stephanie Alverson.

The group, Houston says, performs "a lot of goofy, gimmicky kind of stuff" as well as some Beatles songs and other traditional music.

"These are four of the most Christian, upstanding young men I've ever worked with," says Houston. "Ironically, they do a lot of school concerts." They are scheduled to perform May 13 at Lake Stevens High School.

A visitor to the site, Thomas Lee, wrote, "As a long time a cappella fan, I'd never heard of the Trenchcoats, even though I live here in Seattle. Thanks to the media's confusion, I was able to find out about this site and the group. So in some small way, through the bad we see the good."

Please join the online discussion, Navigator – Live, today, 2 p.m. Eastern at Washingtonpost.com. My guest is Katharine de Baun, editor and co-founder of Moms Online, a Web site for mothers. She'll be answering questions about the ways in which her site deals with the triumphs and tragedies of motherhood.