Tops In Blue Airman performs for home station

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jack Sanders
  • JBER PAO
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  The Tops in Blue special unit, the Air Force's premier entertainment group, visited Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, bringing home an Arctic Warrior.

Airman 1st Class Edward Whittle Jr. treated his fellow Arctic Warriors to a show Saturday and Sunday afternoon with his fellow Tops in Blue performers, playing hit music, the Tops in Blue's crowd entertaining flair.

Whittle is at the end of his year-long tour with the Tops in Blue, where he performs as an instrumentalist.

"In Tops in Blue I play keyboard," Whittle said. "Most of my sounds are not really keyboard sounds at all. they're a lot of the strings and other instruments on the recording that make that song what it is."

The Tops in Blue performs songs and other acts, depending on the talents of the Airmen in the show, entertaining around the world.

"It's a worldwide tour," Whittle said. "We've been to not only Air Force Bases but a lot of joint bases, and we've done a lot of Air Force balls."

Whittle said his Tops in Blue journey has speed by beginning shortly after trying out at his tech. school in Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., and creeping towards its end where he's visiting his home station.

"I didn't believe it. Everything's happened so fast," Whittle said.

Whittle said he was surprised after he arrived here in January of last year, when he was informed he had been selected for the Tops in Blue.

"Everything's just happened so quickly, he said. I didn't believe I was going to make it that year.

"I started staging in March, and we did staging for about two to three months, where we learned and memorized our music, the vocalist learned their choreography, and we hit the road after that."

Whittle's year is reaching its end, but he and his team are planning on going out strong by performing at the 2011 Super Bowl.

"It's something the Tops in Blue haven't done since 1985," Whittle said. "We're all excited and we're all prepared. I think if we weren't as good of a team as we are, or not as prepared as we are then we wouldn't be doing it."

Despite Whittle's excitement for the upcoming Super Bowl show, he said he was just as excited to see his, "home" again.

"When we landed I saw the mountains, as everyone does when they first get here, and I was reminded about the first time I landed here and found out it was my home," Whittle said. "After all the bases I've seen around the world I still like this base, and I'm excited to get back to it."

Whittle's tour isn't finished yet, but he said he encourages anyone who might want to join the next edition of the Tops in Blue that they, "don't be shy, you can apply."

"We take everybody," he said. "If you're an actor; if you're a comedian, if you juggle, any talent you have we can definitely try and work it into the show. Apply at TopsinBlue.com, or you can send in an audition tape of your talent, and if they like what they see they'll ask you to come over and they'll take it from there."

Those who join the Tops in Blue have said their year with them was indescribable.
"The experience is definitely one that I've never had anything close to it anytime in my life," Whittle said.