I want to have some text fade into a scene. perferable in the editor, no with the video sequencer. i would imagine i could control the alpha level with IPO. 
Have you tried to see if it does?
The Answer is Yes, you can animate the material alpha.
Richard
how?
i see in IPO editor that ColA can be selected, but how to insert a key?
never mind 
it just took some guess work, but i found it
for those who don’t know.
Apply a material to your object. To insert a key frame for the alpha value, have your curser over the material buttons window and press I. Select alpha to insert a keyframe. Change alpha values and insert keyframes as desired. In the IPO Curve Editor window, select Material as the IPO type. This will show the material alpha IPO curve which can then be edited further if needed.
Richard
And if there are objects behind it, don’t forget to turn on ztransparency