Auditions mug shots

Several of the hope-to-return cast members showed exceptional personality at their auditions.

Cameron is NOT re-auditioning.

Trevor Frohberg, new tech boss.

Jake Galloway, soon to be Company Manager.

Kenny Mosley, dance captain.

Chelsea Schafer was elected Assistant Company Manager this week.

Auditions

We’re finishing today three days of new-member auditions.  The cast members running the camera keep taking random shots behind the scenes.  Here are a few excerpts!

Tyler Yoder and Mike Weber contemplate the vending machines.

Tara Presley. Need we say more?

Joe Young is . . . .

Chelsea Schafer and Mike Weber.

Kenny Mosley Dances

Kenny Mosley dances during a dance competition on board the Branson Belle last Saturday night.

More videos from Spectacular 2008

Stephen Sondheim’s Not While I’m Around from Sweeney Todd, in an arrangement by Teena Chinn:

A Children’s Traditional, sung by Derek Wilson:

The guys sing Poison Ivy, followed right away by Eye to Eye:

Two encores - I Believe from Altar Boyz, followed by You Can’t Stop the Beat:

Take a look!

Ball State University Singers is now on facebook and myspace! If you would like to become a fan, just follow the links below. We’d love to see the groups grow!

Myspace

Facebook

A FAME Weekend…

Well, as many of you have already read, the University Singers made our debut as the hosts for the FAME Show Choir Cup in Branson, MO.  For me this was a very special treat because it was my first ever National Show Choir competition that I’d ever attended, hosting or not.  In 2004 my group, the Fairfield “Choraliers” was planning on going to the Cup, however, due to financial issues (tax levy) we were forced to drop out.  I 2005 we were invited again to attend, however, that was the year that we had a director change.  In 2006, we all were all prepared to go to FAME San Antonio and be 1 of 5 other choirs there (I know, right?) however, that was the year of the incredible gas gouge!!! …and plane tickets shot through the roof, so we needed to drop out again…  I must say that Branson has SO much to do if you’re a high school kid.  It’s really a very nice city with beautiful scenery.  I enjoyed many mornings simply walking around the city and just admiring the natural beauty that they had.

The hotel which we stayed in was a very quaint, little, medieval thing.  Their rooms were the absolute perfect size for 2 or less people to sleep in.  My 3 other roommates and I, however, were a little cramped.  The Tri-Lakes Center was AMAZING!!!  I absolutely adored being on that stage, and the crowd whom of which we performed for that Thursday, really seemed like they enjoyed the show that we offered them.  I know I enjoyed performing for such an awesome crowd.  We were followed by a group called SIX who were six brothers… four of them born in 3 different states… figure that out.  But, they performed some interesting A Capella versions of oldies songs.  After such a performance, we knew we had seen enough of them for one weekend.

The next 2 days were filled with some very unique brands of show choirs from across the nation.  I had a great time assisting the judges and seeing some different show choirs both good and not so good.  That Saturday night we went on the Branson Belle which was possibly the best part of the trip.  The food, AND service, was excellent and the entertainment was extraordinary!  My favorite was the talking dog act followed closely by the Russian acrobatic routine.

Sunday was the dreaded 10 hour drive back home… but, overall Branson was a terrific experience for me and it was great to finally experience what a national competition is like.

Spec vidoes

Thanks to current cast member Eric Noll, we have some videos posted from Spectacular 2008.

Movin’ Too Fast:

Little Brick House:

Little Boy Lost:

Mr. Bojangles:

Orphans of God:

Darin’s letter

After Spectacular, we hear most every year from Darin Jolliffe-Haas, one of our mid-80’s alumni.  Darin is a great fan of University Signers.  He is a powerful advocate for Ball State University too.

Here is his April 2008 letter to this cast (click on the link to open the PDF):   darin-08-letter.

Quick addition…

I’ve recently posted an entry on my Ball State page consisting of several pictures of University Singers activities including Spectacular, a cast cookout, and even a video of Cardinal 5! If you would like to check it out, just go to the following site:

http://community.bsu.edu/blogs/lameyer

Enjoy!

The Geographer’s Take

Well, it’s been less than 24 hours since University Singers arrived home from our trip to Branson, Missouri. I’ll write more about my experiences in the coming days, but I’ve decided to offer a different look into our journey. As the title suggests, today’s post will be coming from the geographer’s (i.e. me) perspective. I will first talk about the physical geography of the trip and then briefly delve to the slight climactic variation we experienced. Finally, I will briefly expand on some of the key locations we saw or visited during our five day journey.

Physical Geography

We began at the loading dock of Emens Auditorium in Muncie, Indiana. As we drove southwest on I-69, I-465, and I-70 the terrain was decidedly flat (thanks glaciers!!!) and was dominated, with the obvious exceptions of Anderson and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) by agriculturally employed land. Fortunately, we got a break from the monotony when we neared Greencastle and Cloverdale. A finger of the Crawford Upland, with its softly undulating hills and broadleaf deciduous vegetation, reached up from the south offering a welcome change in scenery. The joy of variety was short lived as we entered into the Wabash Lowland and into Illinois. Apparently Illinois is known as “The Prairie State.” I did not know this until I did some research, but it makes sense. It’s flat. Real flat. The extent of glaciation reaches much further south in Illinois than in Indiana creating one big ole mess of mundane blah. Fortunately the sun brought salvation on the eyes and nerves by setting and casting a sea of darkness over the land. Still driving over the rural parking lot of Illinois we approached the bright lights of St. Louis. This was particularly exciting because it meant fording the Mighty Mississippi. Being that it was dark on the way to Branson, it was difficult to really grasp its power and majesty, but the trip back afforded the opportunity to take in the physical and symbolic magnificence of that river.

It seemed fitting that we stopped at Pacific, Missouri. Just like its aquatic namesake, Pacific is a boundary between two regions. As we boarded the bus Thursday morning, we were taking our first steps into new territory. The region we entered was the Ozarks. The Ozarks are often confused as mountains, but in reality they are part of the Ozark Plateau. Millions of years of weathering and erosion have cut into the earth and stone resulting in a dramatic landscape of low peaks and valleys. In one of these valleys is where we finally settled in Branson.

Climate

One of the most thrilling aspects of this trip was the opportunity to be in a different climate…unfortunately, while the climate was different, the variations on our trip were fairly subtle. Muncie sits in what is called a Dfa climate region. This means our climate is temperate, but with a moderate to high difference between the months with the lowest and highest temperature. We also receive precipitation all year. The climate we experienced was a somewhat hazy Cfa. This is similar to the Dfa except that the coldest month’s temperature is above freezing. Essentially, Bransonistas enjoy the benefits of living closer to the Gulf of Mexico and being further south and thus have warmer winters. Nonetheless, Branson sort of straddles the two climate zones, thus, especially given the short duration of our stay, it was difficult to make out any real difference in climate. Had we been there a couple months, perhaps the differences would have been more apparent. I know I’m not going to do that. With respect to the climate of Branson, if my Goode’s World Atlas tells me it’s a Cfa, I’ll just take its word for it.

Places of Interest

In this part, I’ll forego talking about our starting point of Muncie. Never mind…factoid: Muncie has bad roads. Happy? Good. Our first stop of the trip was about seven miles into Illinois off of I-70 at the Cumberland Road Rest Stop. This was pretty exciting because not only did this place have bathrooms and free Illinois maps, it also had the world renowned Fancher Pony Truss Bridge. Apparently people get married there or something. That’s the rumor I heard.

Although we didn’t stop there, we did pass through St. Louis. It’s nickname “The Gateway City” is symbolized by the famous Arch. Although the actual city, at appx. 350,000 people, is slightly less populace than Kansas City, St. Louis boasts an MSA of almost 3 million, thus making it the largest metropolitan area in Missouri. Also, because Ellen asked me, St. Louis was founded by the French in 1763. Nonetheless, it also had a long history as a center for the Mississippian Indians. It’s location on the Mississippi River and as stopping point before heading west coupled with the advent of the steam engine resulted in rapid growth in the 19^th century. Nowadays, Budweiser brews crappy beer there. Other stuff happens, but since we didn’t actually stop there, that’s probably all that needs to be said.

Just over 30 miles from St. Louis sits Pacific, Missouri. This, as I’ve already said, is where we found lodging on Wednesday night. Our late arrival and the imposing barrier of the highway made going into the little town of 5000 to explore Rexall Drug Store and the Depot Café unfeasible. Fortunately, the nearby Love’s Station did provide us with some much needed, er, love.

As we moved southwest, closer and closer to Branson, we came up on the city of Springfield. I have confirmed that Dr. Carter was indeed correct in his assertion that with a population of roughly 151,000 Springfield is the third largest city in Missouri. It is also the home to some twenty colleges and universities, including Southwest Missouri State University, Berean University, and the Missouri College of Cosmetology South. It’s no wonder, as a college student riding through a massive town of higher education, I felt a sort of kinship with the place.

We stopped for lunch on Thursday off US-65 in Ozark, Missouri at a place called Lambert’s. If you haven’t been there, they have really good hog jowls (read: bacon) and turnip greens. Lambert’s offers a pretty unreal dining experience. Don’t raise your hands to stretch out or you’ll get slammed in the face by a steaming yeast grenade. But apparently eating is not the only thing to do in this town of 6000. In the second quarter of 2007, buying houses was en vogue. As you can see on this graph there were lot of houses bought then. Could have been the dip in house prices too. All I know is people were really excited about buying houses back in those days. The housing market now probably isn’t helping, but hey…that economic stimulus package might do the trick…

 

Finally, we arrived in Branson. Branson wasn’t always a bustling tourist town with live shows of the highest quality. Branson started as a humble little settlement in 1882 when Rueben Branson opened his general store. The store became a post office, which was apparently enough to qualify Branson as real. In 1912, the industrial revolution hit southern Missouri and Branson became an important center for wagon-wheel spoke and pencil manufacturing. After World War II, Branson diversified its economy as the lucrative arts and crafts industry blossomed. It wasn’t until 1959, when the Baldknobbers Hillbilly Jamboree Show opened, that Branson began to take its modern form. In 1967 the Presley family opened up a theater on Highway 76. The Baldknobbers followed suit and “The Strip” was born. In the last 40+ years, Branson has developed into an entertainment Mecca for geriatrics and parents-who-hate-their-kids-alike. Shoji Tabuchi, Bobby Vinton, and the Showboat Branson Belle all offer clean, family friendly entertainment that can potentially be enjoyed.

Nonetheless, pining for greater status as the premiere entertainment center of Missouri, and possibly the entire universe, Branson sought out bigger names in 2007. Upon hearing the critical reviews of ldsmusicworld.com that “Their average age ranges in the early thirties,” Branson began pursuing the Knudson Brothers. The brothers Knudsen agreed to bring their a capella renderings of pop music to “The City that Wakes up at 6, Takes a Nap at 2, and Is Asleep by 10.” In order to fit into the buzzing lethargy of the “Branson Scene” the Knudsen Brothers became SIX Brothers and also bought Scion box cars with their new, hip emblem plastered all over the sides.

Branson is also the home of the Settle Inn. It boasts three buildings based on a sort of suburban medieval theme where vinyl siding and shutters blend seamlessly into stone towers and the “Excalibur Elevator” lifts you to divine Providence . The Settle Inn boasts over 40 themed rooms, most of which contain a whirlpool and a 13 inch television. Themes include “Gone With the Wind,” “Taj Mahal,” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.” This self-proclaimed “Center of Branson” serves as a landmark for the town and is only a 25 minute, uphill walk from the nearest significant retail center. Truly Branson is a city blessed with talent and vibrancy that is unmatched by most other towns of 5000.

That’s it for now. Sorry this one was so short.