THE LA-STORY

The Loreleis, founded in 1981, have done a great deal in such a short amount of time!  Check out our "La-Story" below, which lists most of the big events and milestones we can remember -- so far.  Loralumns, this La-Story is far from complete, so send us your memories to add to the list!  Email me, and I'll put them on ASAP.

First, a little background -- Gretchen Steiger (La '82) recently enlightened us with the following email.  It's a great read...

        I was one of the eight founding members of the Loreleis, way back in the fall of 1981.  My mailbox has been inundated with bits of more recent Lorelei history, and I thought I would add a little background.  A junior named Sarah Klemmer was the one to get organized and name the group.  The almost lurid image of the Lorelei really appealed to several of us who had sung in a cappella groups in high school -- and sang way too many songs about being the 1950's happy housewives who would do anything for their men.  Our first performance was in October 1981 for a Morehead Banquet.  I think we were all a little shocked at the overwhelming response of our first few audiences.  Some of our first songs included:  The Lorelei, Too Darn Hot, Java Jive, and Sentimental Journey, interspersed with madrigals or something classical here or there.  One of the thank you notes in my scrapbook described us as eight women who could sound like fifty, and that's how I remember us -- as all having strong voices that could still blend very well.  Socially, we were a bit split between the more serious music majors and the non-music majors who laughed maybe too much.  The music majors had a hard time believing that it was good for our voices to have a swig of Jack Daniels before a performance (Editor's note -- the tradition continues!!).  From your email it seems that you all have had great times performing and I am so excited with how well you've done.  I'm so amazed that the Loreleis are still going strong and thank you for keeping the group going after so many years!

The memories had to be organized somehow, so we've done it by year.  The first few years are a little fuzzy, so we're starting out with 1984.