This page is for those of us who attended Blendon Middle School in Westerville, Ohio during the 1984-1985 school year and remember Mrs. Johnson's glee and mixed chorus groups. I enjoyed serving as accompanist and apparently had the forethought to dub copies of the holiday and spring concerts that particular year. I recently discovered these recordings and found that they bring back a lot of memories of the era, so I thought I'd share them.

These two recordings were transferred from 25-year-old cassette tapes, so the quality isn't the greatest, but the holiday concert came out pretty well, and I was able to clean up and improve the quality of both recordings a bit through careful equalization.

As I recall, this particular school year had a smaller and more focused Mixed Chorus, as scheduling conflicts required students to choose between Home Ec., Industrial Arts and Mixed Chorus. At least two of its members, Sari Gruber and Julia Kogan, went on to successful careers as professional opera singers, and several others are active in professional and community theatre.

I hope you enjoy this trip back to our Blendon days!

Mark Fontana
November 2009


Holiday Concert (December 1984)

Listen online or download MP3 file


Boys' Glee
Accompanist: Mark Fontana
  1. Winter Fantasy
  2. Were You There?
  3. Come Sing to the Lord
  4. Winter Song
  5. Holiday Hoedown
Girls' Ensemble
Accompanist: Jenny Corn
  1. Slumber Still
Mixed Ensemble
Accompanist: Jenny Corn
  1. Long, Long Ago
  2. Frosty the Snowman
Girls' Glee
Accompanist: Christie Woodruff
  1. Heigh-Ho for Hanukkah
  2. The Miracle of the Bells
  3. Jazzy Jinglin' Bells
  4. Do You Know?
  5. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
Men's Ensemble
Accompanist: Janis Johnson
  1. Blue Christmas
  2. We Need a Little Christmas
Mixed Chorus
Accompanist: Sari Gruber
  1. Sing We Noel
  2. Lullaby
  3. The Recipe for Christmas
  4. Winter Wonderland
  5. I Don't Want a Cabbage Patch Doll for Christmas
  6. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Guest Accompanist: Jenny Corn
Guest Electric Bassist: Sid Townsend

Spring Concert (May 1985)

Listen online or download MP3 file


Boys' Glee
Accompanist: Mark Fontana
  1. Goin' Down That Road
  2. The Ballad of John Henry
  3. Toot, Toot, Tootsie
  4. Take Me Out to the Ballgame
  5. Hard Coal Miner
    Narrator: Jeremy Nye
Girls' Glee
Accompanist: Christie Woodruff
  1. Just Beyond the Rainbow's End
  2. Up Where We Belong
  3. Don't Cry Out Loud
  4. Penny Lover
  5. Breakdance
Soloist: Sari Gruber
Accompanist: Janis Johnson
  1. The Little Shepherd's Song
Girls' Ensemble
Accompanist: Jenny Corn
  1. Maybe
Mixed Ensemble
Accompanist: Jenny Corn
  1. Sing Me a Song
Mixed Chorus
Accompanist: Sari Gruber
  1. Down by the Riverside
  2. The Clouds
  3. Sounds of Hope
    Trumpets: Debby Chapman, Todd Kenreich
    Trombones: Stacy Miller, Heather Norton
  4. My Wish for You
  5. The Curly Shuffle
    Clarinet: Jeff Murphy
  6. Golden Dream
Guest Accompanist: Jenny Corn
Guest Electric Bassist: Matt Alden
 

Boys' Glee (7th Grade)

Brian Baker
Ted Baldwin
John Block
Shannon Boston
Rich Breen
Brody Buckholtz
Rusty Cardwell
Chad Ceneski
Freddie Cotner
Ryan Crosby
Randy Damm
Chris Diehl
Adam Elbrecht
Brad Eldridge
Mark Fontana

Scotty Fuehrer
Todd Gongwer
Mickey Graham
Bryan Griffith
Germaine Guice
Doug Holmes
David Howell
Billy Humphrey
Matt King
Donnie Langford
Mike Leymaster
Chad Luke
Eric Maike
Nate Mendenhall
Sean Moseley

Joel Norris
Jeremy Nye
Joel O'Donnell
Kevin O'Korn
Jody Parks
Todd Patterson
Jason Pauley
Sean Perkins
Sean Quinn
Jason Roberts
Tim Robison
Jeff Ruhl
Eddie Serzo
Bill Shafley
Todd Skaggs

Jon Smith
Mike Smith
Duane Soisson
Robbie Stauch
Ian Stewart
Simon Sweet
Mark Szwabinsky
Scott Tharp
Brian Trissel
Dale Vanallen
Chris Vogelsang
Joshua Wager
Ryan Whitfield
Chris Wollam
Jason Wrachford

Girls' Glee (7th Grade)

Amy Alden
Tammi Beres
Jill Bixby
Jenny Blackmore
Tiffany Brennan
Laura Bryan
Kim Campbell
Marile Carpenter
Tina Carpenter
Melissa Clark
Kari Clarkson
Melissa Crouch
Leigh Cummins
Rayna Dempsey
Heather Dicarolis
Michelle Edgar
Kim Farington

Lisa Felker
Heidi Finn
Neeley Fisher
Sherrie Forrest
Naomi Fuller
Gina Gladden
Sandy Hanson
Michelle Hileman
Alicia Hillis
Kate Holcomb
Sharon Iacavone
Tammy Jacque
Renee Jaynes
Marcie Jeffers
Tammy Johnson
Heather Kitson
Carrie Kochensparger

Kelly Krann
Lisa Laster
Erica Leone
Jennifer Locher
Krista Lynam
Rochell Marcum
Melissa McGarry
Bella Mehta
Angela Mills
Amy Mullins
Cassie Newell
Chrissy Owens
Joy Prouty
Jill Racheter
Amy Randolph
Nikki Reynolds
Bobbie Jo Riddle

Andrea Rossi
Angi Sanders
Kim Schuetz
Lisa Sibert
Penny Smith
Amy Spaulding
Heather Stegman
Melissa Teft
Samantha Thomas
Julie Trubisky
Tonya Voorhis
Melissa Walker
Danielle White
Christie Woodruff
Stephanie Woodruff
Karin Wraley
Sara Yoder

Mixed Chorus (8th Grade)

Kim Ball
Jason Belley
Christina Bope
Mitch Brackett
Angie Buttermore
Christine Canavan
Scott Carlson
Melissa Claphan
Laura Clayton
Tracy Czako
Greta Depler
Alicia Fogal

Jim Fuehrer
Bill Geng
Jay Graham
Angie Green
Tami Green
Sari Gruber
Danielle Halk
Ginny Hardy
Heather Hatten
Beth Kanne
Todd Kenreich
Julia Kogan

Roy Lilly
Jodi McGuire
Holly Messerschmidt
Sueellen Milhone
Mike Million
Kim Morris
Eddie Murphy
Jeff Murphy
Raelena Norman
Richard Phelps
Sonny Pierce
Katrina Richardson

Matt Richison
Gina Roberts
Angela Smith
Leeann Sparks
Rachel Stewart
Wendy Taylor
Kristy Wadsworth
Julie Warren
Duane Wolfe
Robyn Wuycheck