Ebell Club hosting singing group Shimmer!

The Ebell Club of Santa Paula invites members, their guests, and prospective members to a new and exciting experience at the May 2 luncheon meeting.

The Ebell Club of Santa Paula invites members, their guests, and prospective members to a new and exciting experience at the May 2 luncheon meeting. For reservations call Bernadine McCracken, 525-1959, or Frances Bay, 525-5364.Attendees will meet Shimmer!, a women’s barbershop quartet. These ladies were Region II Quartet Champions in 1997, 2001 and 2004.Forget the boys in bow ties and striped shirts: mustachioed crooners in straw hats. When you meet Shimmer! you’ll get an entirely new perspective on barbershop quartets. Shimmer! is just one of 2,000 quartets performing around the world as part of Sweet Adelines International, an organization of 30,000 women who love to sing four-part harmony, barbershop-style.Shimmer! has been singing together for 12 years and excels in a phenomenon called “unit sound,” four voices sounding like one. Their rigorous rehearsal schedule is a challenge, as each one leads a busy life balancing family, careers and their chorus commitments. Their titles are so numerous, there will be a sheet of information on each table so guests can get acquainted with each member.When Owen C. Cash called a group together at Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1938 to organize the Society for Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing, he surely did not envision these lovely ladies. Judy Ashmore, a Thousand Oaks resident, sings baritone. Missy Pearce sings melody; she lives in Lancaster. Mary Ashford sings bass and comes from Port Hueneme. Last but not least, Bitsy Gordy is the quartet tenor and hails from Santa Barbara.