WRASFF founder announces additions to Fishers event lineup
Four other guests have been added to the lineup of Hamilton County’s first-ever Will Read and Sing For Food (WRASFF) benefit show, which is set for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 11 at Schoolhouse 7 Café in Fishers. The show will benefit Humane Society for Hamilton County.
Added to the show:
- U.S. Marine Vietnam War Veteran Bill Young and his wife, Nancy Young, will talk about the greatest true love story never told (until now). The Youngs’ letters are the subject of a new book, Vietnam War Love Story: The Love Letters of Bill and Nancy Young (1967).
- Hamilton County Reporter “From The Hart” columnist Janet Hart Leonard will read one of her funny stories recently published in the paper. Hart will sell and sign her new book, When the Hart Speaks: Whimsy and Wisdom from the Little House on the Alley, after the show.
- Noblesville’s Jessica Dyer Campbell will add voice work to some of the humor essays.
Campbell
Leonard
They will join two performers already announced: special guest singer-songwriter Jason Wilber who performed in sold-out venues throughout the U.S. for two decades with the legendary John Prine; and Hamilton County Reporter humor columnist Scott Saalman, who is the founder and long-time host of WRASFF.
Bill Young was a 20-year-old machine gunner in the thick of things in Vietnam, not sure if he would live to see the next sunset. Nancy was a recent high-school graduate headed for nursing school, enjoying her last idyllic teenage Southern Indiana summer. At first, they were virtual strangers, patriotic pen pals, sending scores of letters to each other. Soon, the letters became love letters. In 2021, Bill and Nancy celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary. The book is their story of war and love, a true story told through the very letters they wrote in 1967. The Youngs will sign copies of their book after the show. You can also purchase it on Amazon.
The show is co-sponsored by the Hamilton County Reporter and Schoolhouse 7 Cafe.
The show will be held outdoors, and attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. Admission is a $10 or more cash or check donation at the venue. Make checks payable to Humane Society for Hamilton County. The venue will also offer its full line of food, beer, wine, and other beverages. (For more information, email scottsaalman@gmail.com.)
More about WRASFF
WRASFF, a unique mix of live music and humor essays, has raised over $165,000 through 152 performances, benefiting food banks and dozens of other charities (animal shelters, services for abused women and children, the United Way, Habitat for Humanity, hurricane relief, Rotary Club polio eradication, etc.) mostly in Southern Indiana. From 2011 to 2022, WRASFF performed in several cities and towns in Southwestern Indiana, including Evansville, where it earned the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana’s Mayor’s Arts Award in 2016. The City of Jasper presented Saalman and WRASFF the “key to the city” for its community servitude in 2018.
More about Jason Wilber
Wilber
Wilber’s recording work with Prine includes the Grammy winning Fair & Square; the Grammy nominated Live On Tour; In Spite of Ourselves (which spent 32 weeks on the Billboard Country Charts), For Better and Worse, and Prine’s final album, Tree of Forgiveness, debuting at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200 chart.
During Wilber’s 24 years with Prine, the Bloomington native graced stages from the Grand Ole Opry to Red Rocks to Radio City Music Hall to Austin City Limits, and he has performed on late-night TV shows hosted by Seth Meyers, Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, and Stephen Colbert.
His solo albums include Lost In Your Hometown (1998), Behind the Midway (2000), King For A Day (2004), Lazy Afternoon (2006), Live and Otherwise Volume 1 (2006), Ghost of Summers Past (2009), Live and Otherwise Volume 2 (2009), Secret Window (2014), Echoes (2016), Reaction Time (2017), and most recently, Time Traveler.
Wilber has also been a key player in high-profile collaborations with a host of who’s-who in music, including Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Todd Snider, Tom Russell, Miranda Lambert, Susan Tedeschi, Josh Ritter, Kacey Musgraves, Amanda Shires and more.
Wilber has been in several WRASFF shows and will sell and sign his CDs.
More about Scott Saalman
Saalman, formerly of Jasper, Ind., recently moved to Fishers and hopes to revitalize the show’s philanthropical spirit with local musicians and humor writers to help non-profits and other worthy causes in Hamilton County. To date, more than 100 musicians, writers, painters, and dancers have donated their time and talent to WRASFF shows. Current Indiana Poet Laureate Matthew Graham has been a frequent guest performer.
Saalman, who is director of communications for Kimball Electronics, Inc., a global, billion-dollar in annual sales company based in Jasper, is a long-time freelance columnist and essayist. His newspaper columns appear in the Dubois County Herald and the Hamilton County Reporter. One of his essays aired on The Bob Edwards Show, and one story is referenced on the “Notable Essays” list in The Best American Essays 2012. His essays also appear in two anthologies: Home Again: Essays and Memoirs from Indiana (Indiana Historical Society Press, 2006) and This I Believe: On Love (John Wiley & Sons, 2011). His essay, “Do Not Endure Verbal, Emotional, or Physical Abuse,” appeared in The Morning News. He has five previous essay collections: Nose Hairs Gone Wild; Will Write For Food; Mr. Serious; Column Writing Is Not Pretty; What Are You Going To Write About When I’m Gone?; and recently co-edited Vietnam War Love Story: The Love Letters of Bill and Nancy Young (1967).