Altus Air Force Base News

 

Tops in Blue shares talent with Altus AFB and local community

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Klynne Pearl Serrano
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Sequined dresses and coats, hair, makeup, costumes, heels and shiny shoes were the uniforms for some Airmen at Altus AFB, Aug. 4, 2012.

Tops in Blue members showed off their talent and entertained Altus Airmen and local community members through music and dance performances at Wings of Freedom Park.

The group is an all active-duty Air Force entertainment group composed of vocalists, musicians, dancers, and stage technicians.

The Tops in Blue 2012 tour is entitled "Listen." Tops in Blue Airmen invited the audience to listen to the music of life through the sounds people hear every day. The concert featured songs by The Doobie Brothers, Earth, Wind and Fire; Whitney Houston; Maroon 5; Darius Rucker; Carrie Underwood; Lady Antebellum; and Zac Brown Band. Tops in Blue also sang "God Bless America" by Irving Berlin and The U.S. Air Force Song as a finale.

One of Airman 1st Class Timothy Sentz's, Tops in Blue vocalist and 375th Communications Squadron Client Systems Apprentice at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. favorite things about being in Tops in Blue is giving back to the troops.

"Sometimes you forget the impact you have on troops and the people who watch the show," Sentz said. "People would come up to me at the end of the show and say 'hey, I've had such a horrible week and you made it completely better with you and your crazy cowboy costume'."

Performing and seeing people laugh is worth the hard work and long hours, Sentz said.

Being in Tops in Blue also has its challenges.

"The biggest challenge for me is definitely being away from my family," Sentz said. "And also trying to keep up with everything back home, but that's why we have everybody here for, to lean on each other and hold each other up during hard times."

After the concert, Tops in Blue members mingled with the audience and thanked them for coming to the show.

"My favorite part of the show was when they sang 'God Bless America'," said Airman 1st Class Angelique Tetrault, 97th Contracting Squadron contract administrator.

After the crowd dispersed, Col. Anthony Krawietz, 97th Air Mobility Wing commander, thanked the members of Tops in Blue for their performance and coined them for their service.

The groups arrived on Altus AFB Aug. 3 and began setting up with the help of volunteers from Altus AFB. The group was able to set up more than 60,000 pounds of staging, lighting, audio, video, and special effects equipment in about six hours.

"We worked really hard," Sentz said.