Remembering Those Special Songs---Freedom Isn't Free!

It's one of the orginal core songs of Sing-Out and Up With People.

"Freedom Isn't Free" was written by Paul Colwell of the famous Colwell Brothers of the Sing-Out 65/66 cast. It was a song we performed from Day One in Sing-Out South and when I talk with former cast members today, "Freedom Isn't Free" is one of those tunes they say they have sung to their children over the years, and which many remark how appropriate the lyrics continue to be even more than 45 years after it was written.

Here's Paul Colwell and Up With People performing "Freedom Isn't Free" from the album UP WITH PEOPLE IN HOLLYWOOD. This version has a slightly different arrangment from the original performance of this song which you may remember and which we did in Sing-Out South....

Free music - Freedom Isn't Free

We are posting these Up With People songs every day to get us all in the mood and those brain cells stimulated to be ready for the Sing-Out South 45th Reunion the weekend of March 25-26 at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville.

If you would like more information about attending or there is an UP WITH PEOPLE song you'd like to hear, please contact me.

Remembering Those Special Songs---I Want To Be Strong!

As we continue to prepare for the Sing-Out South 45th anniversary Reunion set for March 25-26 at the Maxwell House Hotel, we are looking back on the special songs we used to sing.

It's a help to try and stir up those brain cells and the memories of those times we spent together. Who knows you might hear something that you had running through your head over the years but you couldn't remember the rest of the tune or even the name of the song.

Today's song is "I Want To Be Strong" as performed by UP WITH PEOPLE on its UP WITH PEOPLE IN HOLLYWOOD album....

Free music - I Want To Be Strong

This is a song Dave Cannon plans to perform as a part of our Talent Show on Saturday night at the Reunion. If you'd like to perform, just contact Dave at:

rdavidcannon3@clear.net

If you are coming to the Reunion, please remember we need your money ($50 per person for the entire weekend) by Tuesday, March 1. Please send your check and/or money order to:

Pat Kemper
P.O. Box 463
Brentwood, TN 37135

Make the check payable to Pat Kemper. She signed the hotel contract and it wants the money for the food in advance. We are still open for other former cast members of SOS or UWP to join us as well. For more information, contact me

pat.nolan@dvl.com

Still Front Page News!

Just like the old days!

Look above in the lower right hand corner of the latest edition of the monthly NASHVILLE RETROSPECT NEWSPAPER. You will find a front-page story marking the 45th anniversary of Sing-Out South's premiere shows at Hillsboro High School the weekend of March 25-26, 1966.

The story and photos, like most everything in the paper, is reprinted directly from the original source. In this case, that is the front page of THE NASHVILLE BANNER on Saturday, March 26, 1966.

The paper is free of charge and is available at dozens of locations around the city. Please go to the paper's web site for a map with a complete list of where the paper is distributed. The web site is:

www.nashvilleretrospect.com

I have not yet picked up a copy but the paper should also contain a notice about our upcoming 45th Sing-Out South Reunion set for Friday and Saturday March 25-26 at the Maxwell House Hotel. Hopefully, this may make some other former cast members aware of the event and perhaps sign up to join us for our special weekend.

For those of you coming to the Reunion from out of town I will try and get some copies of the current NASHVILLE RETROSPECT so you can see it and have one for your own when you come to town.

Remembering Those Special Songs---Paul Revere!

Sing-Out South performing during the taping of our MEMORIAL FOR TOMMORROW TV SPECIAL, at the WSIX-TV, Channel 8 studios on Murfreesboro Road, May, 1967


In preparation for our March 25-26 SOS 45th Reunion at the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, I thought I would take a listen back each day to some of the special songs we performed in Sing-Out South and Up With People.

Here's one that was a part of our show from the very beginning in 1966 and stayed in our performances all the way through the early 1970s....from the album...UP WITH PEOPLE IN HOLLYWOOD here's THE RIDE OF PAUL REVERE....

Free music - The Ride Of Paul Revere

If you have an SOS or UWP song you want to hear again, let me know and we will see if we can make it available here for you.

By the way, if you'd like to attend the SOS Reunion in March, please contact me for more information.

Where the Roads Come Together - Up With People

"When the Roads Come Together"

Up With People and Sing-Out South have a wonderful musical legacy which we will be celebrating March 25-26 during our 45th Reunion at the Maxwell House Hotel here in Nashville.

While many of us are particularly partial to the words and music of the songs we sang in the cast back in the late 1960s and early '70s, there is some equally wonderful music from the era of UWP after we left.

That includes 'When the Roads Come Together" with words and music by two UWP immortals, Herb Allen and Paul Colwell. Here's a video tribute by Up With People alumni Kevin Caruso courtesy of YouTube.....

I think the words of this song are important for us to remember as our "roads come together" again at the Reunion.

In the course operating this blog I have had a number of folks remark to me that they continued to sing some of the songs of Sing-Out South and Up With People to their children while they were growing up.

Others have contacted me saying there is a tune going through their heads that they know is something we sang in the cast, but they can't remember the name or the rest of the song.

So to help prepare everyone I think I will begin posting some of our common Sing-Out/UWP songs of the past to remind us all of the legacy of rich music with meaningful lyrics that we performed back in the day.

If there's something you want to hear just let me know.

Getting Ready For The Reunion/There Is Something Going & Gee, I'm Looking Forward To The Future !

One of the major parts of our upcoming Sing-Out South Reunion at the Maxwell House Hotel March 25-26 will be a Saturday night talent show, allowing those participating a chance to show how they have progressed musically in the 40+ years since we performed together.

Of course, everyone performing has been asked to do one or more of the songs from Sing-Out/Up With People along with any other pieces they'd like to do.

Among those attending is Paula Thompson Winter. She used to do some solos in the show, including "There Is Something Going" with Bob Sharp. She and I may work together to do that song at the Reunion.

And to get us both back into practice, here's how the song goes...

Free music - There Is Something Going

"Gee, I'm Looking Forward To The Future" is another song Paula used to perform with Sing-Out South, in this case along with Edna Vilars Grable. They too are being used to consider doing the song together at the SOS Reunion Talent Show. And to help both ladies remember how it goes, here it is....

Free music - Gee, I'm Looking Forward To The Future

Anyone else coming to the Reunion who wants to participate, they are asked to coordinate their efforts through David Cannon. He can be contacted by e-mail at rdavidcannon3@clear.net.

The 45th Sing-Out South Reunion Is ON!

The 45th Reunion for Sing-Out South will be held Friday and Saturday, March 25-26, 2011 at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville. Close to 50 former cast members, their spouses, parents and friends plan to attend and the RSVP list continues to grow.

In several ways the Reunion marks a return to some firsts for SOS.

The March 25-26 dates are the exact same days that Sing-Out South held its original premiere shows at Hillsboro High School 45 years ago back in 1966. Meantime, the Maxwell House location is also the site of our first Sing-Out South Reunion held at the hotel back in late December, 1989.

Look at all those smiling, happy faces and I suspect there will be lots more of that when we gather first on Friday evening, March 25 for our opening event, a dessert-style reception at the hotel.

The 1989 Reunion was a one-night affair. This time in 2011, we will come back Saturday afternoon at the Maxwell House for a showing of the award-winning SMILE TIL IT HURTS documentary about Sing-Out & Up With People. That will be followed by a group discussion allowing us to reflect back on our own Sing-Out and Up With People experiences. It will be led by myself and Linda Blackmore Cates, who is featured in the SMILE movie.

And, of course, to get the good times and memories flowing, we will have an even larger memorabilia display than the one we had in 1989. The display will feature photographs, newspaper clippings, brochures, programs and other rare items, including some audio recordings of two of our TV shows and an outdoor performance SOS did in the summer of 1968 on the courthouse square in Woodbury, Tennessee.

We will then close our Reunion gathering Saturday evening at the Maxwell House with a buffet dinner followed by a talent show, letting everyone see and hear what several of us have continued to do musically in our lives since Sing-Out days. Of course, we expect many Sing-Out and Up With People songs will be performed as a part of the talent event.

For more information about the talent show contact David Cannon:

rdavidcannon3@clear.net.

For more information about attending the Reunion contact me, Pat Nolan:

pat.nolan@dvl.com.

It is going to be a very special weekend. Thanks to all of those who plan to attend and have already registered. And for those who have not yet decided, or are just now learning about this SOS Reunion and our weekend of events, there is still time to come.

The cost is just $50 per person for the entire weekend. We do need to pay the hotel in advance, so we need your registration money by March 1.For more information contact me now.

THE PACK IS BACK!

The Green Bay Packers are once again the champions of professional football, capturing a record 12th National Football League (NFL) championship by winning Super Bowl XLV, 31-25 over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, February 6, 2011.

The Packer's win marks a resurgence of a franchise that dominated the NFL back in the 1960s, including many of the years that Sing-Out South was in existence.

Vince Lombardi was the legendary coach who led the Packers throughout those glory years, beginning with NFL championships in 1961 and 1962. The Pack began its dominance again on January 2, 1966, just a few weeks before Sing-Out South was founded, with a 23-12 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Green Bay's home turf of Lambeau Field.

This was last season before the Super Bowl began, pitting the winners of the NFL versus the AFL (American Football League). Green Bay won the first two Super Bowls, but to do so they had to beat the Dallas Cowboys in two epic NFL Championship games. The first game, held in Dallas (which ironically was the site of the most recent Super Bowl), the Packers held off the Cowboys on January 1, 1967. But the most memorable game came the next season in perhaps the coldest championship football ever played on New Year's Eve 1967. The Ice Bowl in Green Bay. Here are some highlights, including the Packers' last minute drive and score to win the game and seal the immortality of this era of the Packers....

After winning this game, Green Bay went on prevail in the second Super Bowl, this time over the Oakland Raiders, after defeating Kansas City the year before. Following that second Super Bowl win, Coach Lombardi retired from the Packers, ultimately giving his name to the world championship trophy which now goes back to Green Bay for only the second time (the Pack won it in 1996) since he won his last one in 1968.

And so as we observe the 45th anniversary of the founding of Sing-Out South, it appears the most dominant team in pro football this year is the same franchise that was so dominant throughout the 1960s.

Junior Achievement

Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to educating students in grades K-12 about entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs.

I always think about JA this time of year because this was when every winter in the late 1960s, Sing-Out South was invited to peform and have a booth display at the annual Junior Achievement Trade Fair where members of JA got to show off and sell the wares and the products they were producing in their mini-businesses.

The JA Fair was held in the lower level of the Nashville Municipal Auditorium located on James Robertson Parkway downtown. This is also where SOS performed several times as a part of the city's annual birthday breakfast celebration honoring the formation of Metro Government on April 1, 1962.

The Auditorium space downstairs was nicknamed "Sherwood Forrest," by some, because of its somewhat low-hanging ceiling and all the columns it contained to prop up the performing level floor of the Auditorium right above.

Over the years, Sing-Out South performed under lots of different and unique sitiuations. With our cast on top of our multi-level stage, you can see (above)how low the ceiling was as we performed the song UP WITH PEOPLE during one of our shows at the JA Trade Fair back in 1968 or 1969.

Obviously, it wasn't always a problem. When some of our small groups performed and the rest of cast got to sit down, we had plenty of room. This photo is from the same JA Trade Show back in either 1968 or '69.

As I mentioned earlier, along with performing, SOS also got the chance to have its own booth display and sell its wares such as PACE Magazine, Up With People record albums, MRA books and other materials, along with recruiting new cast members. The photo above appears to be from 1968 or 1969 due to its display materials concerning the World Sing-Out Festival. I suspect the photo below is from the JA Fair in 1967 because of the books and other materials being displayed and its emphasis on Moral Rearmament...

When I checked the web site for Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee, it does not appear a JA Fair is held anymore. After focusing for many years on the high school level following its national founding in 1919 and its creation in Nashville in 1957, Junior Achievement has "gradually expanded and its activities and broadened its scope to encompass an ever-widening student population." That includes being a part of offering programs free of charge in the local school system through volunteers with age-appropriate curricula reaching down into both the elementary and junior high classrooms.That includes an on-line world with JA TITAN, a business stimulation exercise delivered via the Internet, and an interdiscplinary experiential learning program for 5th graders where they operate the businesses of a pretend town for a day.

We've sure come a long way from Sherwood Forest, I guess. The Muncipal Auditorium basement is still used for shows and activities. I recently took my then-3-year grandson there for a model train show. He loved it!