Tonight Willie Nelson was across the street at the Fraze Pavillion. The pavillion, set in lovely Lincoln Park, was built with donations from the Fraze family whose patriarch invented the “pop tab” on soda cans. Nice! I have always been fascinated by Willie. He, like many other wonderful performers of previous generations, understands the concept of “reinventing” himself – something that is crucial to those of us involved in any aspect of the performing arts.

After listening to the concert I returned home to discover an Email from Dr. Jeffrey Carter of the Ball State University Singers. Today, the 2005-2006 University Singers met for the first time for “early week.”

(Photos from Early Week: http://web.bsu.edu/jcarter2/earlyweekend05.htm )

I a so excited to know the family of Singers continues. Tonight, as soon as my eldest son is finished with show choir camp next door at the high school, we will head to Indiana so that we can see the Singers perform tomorrow at the Indiana State Fair.

The following is a brief history of the Singers, supplied by Assistant Company Manager, AJ Hunter:

Singers in 1965

In 1964, an enthusiastic group of collegiate performers came together with an innovative idea for a show– singers who dance, instrumentalists who sing, creative staging, flashy costumes, and state-of-the-art sound and lighting. They called themselves the Ball State University Singers, and they truly did sing and dance to a new beat.

From cruise ships, major entertainment competitions, and national presidential inaugurations, to the White house, Pentagon, and nearly 20 foreign countries, University Singers have caputred audiences with songs of faith, hope, laughter, and love. In 1965, one year after the birth of University Singers, the Indiana General Assembly named us Indiana’s Official Goodwill Ambassadors, a title we’ve been proud to carry through four decades of entertaining audiences on and off the Ball State University campus. The Ball State University Singers have achieved international prominence and critical acclaim, and through the years our repertoire has expalnded to include mainstream pop, country, jazz, nostalgia, folk songs, Broadway hits, popular novelties, and every other style that might appeal to a broad audience.

Our mission is simple: to provide highest excellence in entertainment, to identify and train leaders, to sincerely captivate audiences, to represent our University and State with professionalism, and to build a bridge between our heritage and our future. These are things we have been doing for the past four decades. We look forward to riding on the cutting edge in innovative performance to bring our new beat to more and more audiences around the world for another 40 years.
Dr. Carter & the 2004-05 Glee Club