Have you ever heard of a singing telegram? It’s kind of an old timey tradition, back when musically-inclined messengers would just show up and deliver your note….with a tune. And yeah, with the death of the telegram last century, most of us probably know it best from movies like Clue. But the tradition, it’s still alive here on the Front Range. CPR’s Sandy Battulga tagged along with a singing telegram performer who goes by the name Orange Peel Moses.
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George Swartz is perfectly comfortable dressing up as a gorilla in a tutu, a unicorn or a tighty-whitey-clad Cupid in public. “The gorilla in a tutu is a classic, it’s the most popular,” Swartz told CPR News. Swartz, who also goes by the name Orange Peel Moses, delivers singing telegrams as a career. He takes customer requests and surprises his targets with surprise songs for birthdays, anniversaries, break-ups and even funerals.
Plenty of artists have released songs decrying the actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shock troops in Minneapolis and many other communities across the country, including Bruce Springsteen and enough other notable provocateurs to fill an anti-ICE Spotify playlist. Perhaps the least likely entertainer to raise his voice in outrage is Orange Peel Moses, a Denver performer associated with clever musical parodies - although he prefers to label the tunes “derivative” - and his yeoman efforts to preserve the art of the singing telegram, which he’ll deliver to the person of your choice for prices starting at $195.
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When George Peel was 16 years old, he had a vision of himself serenading a stranger. No band, no stage, just himself, a guitar and an audience of one. Now, he’s spent decades embodying that vision, performing singing telegrams across the state - and beyond.
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Studies show that experiences bring more lasting happiness than material gifts. Flowers die, chocolates disappear, but experiences create memories that last a lifetime. And a singing telegram is a special kind of experience.
”Singing telegrams qualify as emotionally charged events, which imprint in our long-term memory in a deeper way due to the heightened emotions involved,” explains Denver singing telegram vet Orange peel moses. “Whether the recipient is extremely surprised or genuinely touched, the experience of receiving a singing telegram stays with them for the rest of their days.”
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Spectators of all ages enjoy the Vail America Days parade Friday in Vail. The theme for this year’s parade was ‘Local Motion.’ Orange Peel Arts - in conjunction with Resort Events - provided stilt performers for the occasion.
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Image: Zach Mahone
George Peel, aka Orange Peel Moses, is the undisputed champion of singing telegrams in Colorado. His career started in 2004 and became a full-time job within five years. Peel has since booked nearly 5000 singing telegram gigs in 20 years and performed the majority of them himself; he has a couple of contract singers he works with when he isn’t available. “We’re doing 300-plus a year right now,” Peel says of his business Custom Singing Telegrams.
Image: Heart Led Media
Styling: Shannon Ryan
Location: Archipelago
Light spills through the balcony doors of Archipelago’s idyllic attic, bathing Orange Peel in a warm golden glow that complements his fuzzy, fluorescent-orange jumpsuit and Orange Crush beanie. He places an orange net bag cradling several ripened navel and blood oranges on the floor, waves to a few friends and settles into his chair, perfectly at home in the cavernous space.
Peel, who is also known by his musical moniker Orange Peel Moses, asked to meet at Archipelago, a social health club, for a reason. He first learned of music’s health benefits at a 2021 Music as Medicine workshop guided by Touch Copple and held at the historic mansion. Since then, that knowledge has grown into a philosophy that shapes how he views his health, his happiness and his career as a singing telegram.
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Styling: Shannon Ryan
Image: Ryan Fila
On Valentine’s Day, Orange peel serenaded Daybreak anchor Lisa D’Souza on behalf of co-anchor Chris Parente. Photographer Daniel McEnrue was on hand to capture the magic.
All summer long, the Downtown Denver Partnership has shut down portions of downtown Denver to cars and other motor vehicles to encourage walking, biking, skating and other forms of transportation. Sunday’s installation of the event also saw a DJ and Skyline Drumline, the Denver Nuggets’ marching band.
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Image: Sam McCrory
From Gypsum to Vail, here’s what’s happening for the July fourth holiday.
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Image: Jay Parkinson
In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, Cupid went on Colorado & Company to talk all things singing telegram.
Featured Image Location: Archipelago
Wardrobe Support: Shannon Ryan
Wings: Nate The Average
Diaper: MellCo Threads
Image: Ryan Fila / Heart Led Media
There will be fun activities for festival-goers to enjoy like inflatable fun houses, stilt walkers, face painters, balloon artists, magicians and more.
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Aunt Sam: Carmen Maria
Image: Jon Sheppard
“Orange Peel is a professional singing ‘telegram’ who is hired to go to locations and sing songs for unsuspecting people, usually for things like Valentine’s Day or birthdays. Upon learning that I wrote for the Westword, he informed me of the time that he came into our offices and serenaded two pregnant employees with ‘Push It’ by Salt N Pepa; the only appropriate song to sing in this situation.”
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Focus attention on the guest of honor with a customized (outdoor) singing telegram from Orange peel moses of Custom Singing Telegrams. Jenny Baker-Strasburg says clients are regaled by two or three songs and gifted handwritten lyrics as a keepsake.
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As challenging as it was, starting an entertainment business would have been infinitely more difficult if I hadn't begun studying music at such a young age. My mother's encouragement to take piano lessons and then join the school band when I was young gave me a definite head start in the music department. I'm infinitely grateful to her for that.
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I remember envisioning delivering singing telegrams when I was 17 or 18, just a few years after I began writing rudimentary original songs. Even though I’d seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, I failed to connect what I was picturing to the balloon bouquet-wielding nurse that hilariously performs for Ferris’s unamused sister.
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George Peele has been dressing up as Cupid and serenading people for the last 15 years. This Valentine’s, be bold and different by sending your love interest a surprise serenade.
From Valentine’s Day to anniversaries to birthdays, a singing telegram is the epitome of saying “I love you” in a song. Denver 7’s Gerardo Federico shows us a Colorado man in his fifteenth year, with over 3000 satisfied customers.
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Over the past fifteen years, George Peele, who goes by Orange peel moses, has delivered over 3,000 singing telegrams.
Valentine’s Day’s usually the biggest day of the year for his business, but he’s also performed for a guy getting a vasectomy and a person celebrating the last day of chemo; anniversaries, proposals and going-away parties also keep him employed.
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