WELLFLEET – Jodi North Birchall, the charismatic lead singer of the popular powerhouse band, the Rip-It-Ups, can often be seen on weekends with a microphone, a trombone and an audience in her hands.
“She’s having fun on stage,” said Tom Conrad, the Superintendent of Nauset Public Schools. Conrad was the Principal of Nauset Regional High School when he hired Birchall 25 years ago to be a special education teacher.
Jodi Birchall, as MC of the Wellfleet Oysterfest
“She has fun in the classroom too,” said Conrad. “She has fun with the kids because she has a passion for helping kids.”
“There are just some people you meet in life, because of who they are, that you want to be around,” said Conrad about Birchall. “She represents everything that’s good in people.”
The current Principal of Nauset Regional High School, Ed MacDonald, said, “She’s a loving, caring individual… she makes such a great connection with the students.”
And Conrad said there is definitely a connection between Birchall’s on-stage Rip-It-Ups persona and her work life inside the school. “When we had pep rallies, she was always our MC. She can work up a thousand kids in all kinds of different ways and then calm a thousand kids in a frenzy down in ten seconds,” said MacDonald.
“She’s a maestro,” he said.
The Natural
“I love to look in the audience,” said Birchall, 60, of Wellfleet. “I like the venues where I can see people and make eye contact. It’s such a high.”
As anyone who has seen her perform can attest, Birchall’s charisma, joy, and immense talent resonate with the audience when she is on stage. “It’s what I love. I can’t imagine what else I would be doing for fun.”
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