| Hot Flashes of Pemberville will sing doo wop for charity Sunday |
The Hot Flashes usually sit out the Christmas season.
The 14 members of the women’s doo-wop group are busy enough without performances to prepare.
This year though they decided to tune up their act with a special holiday show, all for a special holiday
cause.
The Hot Flashes will present "A Hot Pink Christmas" Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Riverview Banquet
Center, 405 E. Front St.
All the proceeds from the show, including donations at the door and auction bids, will aid the Angel Tree
Project.
Carol Bailey, the group’s director, came up with a 90-minute program of holiday music, and the ensemble
put in the time to learn all the new arrangements.
The songs tend to be more challenging than the group’s usual repertoire of pop music from the 1950s and
1960s, she said. The harmonies are tighter, which can be difficult for those members who don’t read
music.
Still, the Angel Tree Project, a joint effort of area merchants, churches, schools and service clubs,
exemplifies "the reason true for the season," according to Bailey.
The project serves 42 area families with about 100 children.
The show will feature solos, duets and quartets as well as numbers featuring the full 14-voice ensemble.
The members’ husbands will also get into the act, singing the novelty take of "The Restroom Door
Said ‘Gentleman.’"
The Hot Flashes were formed four years ago by Trudy Davies. "I can’t sing but I love
listening," particularly to music from the 1950s and 1960s. "I grew up in that era."
Davies had already formed a singing group for teenagers, The Believers. A conversation with Todd Sheets,
who manages the banquet hall, sparked the idea for The Hot Flashes.
Davies said that Sheets had people asking him if there was entertainment available to book at the banquet
hall.
Davies knew there was a wealth of female singing talent in Pemberville, so she got the ball rolling. The
members range in age from their 50s through 70s.
Bailey said the group loves singing together. They present about four shows a months.
Bailey said The Hot Flashes are popular at class reunions and car shows as well as singing at nursing
home and for non-profit groups.
Davies is coming back from Florida in time for the show.
She said she wouldn’t miss it. "The ladies have worked so hard to put this program together,"
she said, "and it will benefit so many of our families that need help right now."
