Penn groups sing at World Series

The Glee Club and all-female a cappella group Quaker Notes were singing in the rain on Halloween.

The two Penn music groups were invited by FOX to sing outside Citizens Bank Park before game three of the World Series Saturday night to promote the station’s hit show “Glee.”

The Glee Club was invited after former director Bruce Montgomery’s original song “Ain’t-Cha Never Heard Of?” was rewritten to fit the current Phillies roster and coaching staff. The group released a video of their performance of the song on Youtube earlier this month and was also featured on Philadelphia’s ABC affiliate.

Montgomery, who retired in 2000 after 50 years of service to the University, passed away in June 2008 at age 81. His song was originally written in 1989 as a tribute to the Phillies Hall of Famers.

In honor of the Phillies’ march to the World Series, Montgomery’s sister, Liz Thomas, modified the 1989 song to fit the current Phillies roster and coaching staff.

Penn Glee and Quaker Notes sported bright red t-shirts promoting the show.

College junior and Penn Glee Historian Dave Frankenfield noted that Quaker Notes performed with the Glee Club to help better represent FOX’s show, in which the group is co-ed.

The groups performed Montgomery’s revised song together and alternated singing different songs, which included Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and Jack Norworth’s classic “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”

“In the beginning people would stop,” College junior and Quaker Notes President Katie Lindberg said. “But as it got closer and closer to the game people would run by, hear us singing, cheer for the Phillies and keep going.”

For Penn Glee, the rain became a worthwhile price to pay when they heard their song “Ain’t-Cha Never Heard Of?” emanating from the JumboTron in the ballpark.

“We were doing a set outside one of the gates, and when we finished the song we started to hear us singing, and we were like ‘What?!’” Frankenfield said. “It was pretty surreal.”

According to College and Wharton senior and Glee Club Vice President Fan Zhou, the group was ecstatic when they heard the song being played.

“A bunch of us started freaking out,” Zhou said. “A couple of the guys started calling their parents, which was kind of funny. A lot of our alumni sent us e-mails today saying that they did see it over the JumboTron last night.”

Frankenfield, who said Saturday night’s performance was by far the “longest gig” Penn Glee has ever had, was speechless when he and his colleagues heard their song playing in the stadium.

“I felt kind of like a rock star for a little bit,” he said. “It’s pretty cool to have 30,000 people at the World Series hear our song. It was only about 45 minutes before the game, so a lot of people heard it for sure.”

And Frankenfield is confident that the performance will bolster the Glee Club’s fall 2010 recruitment campaign.

“This is the most publicity that we have gotten in years, if not in decades,” he said.

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