Excerpt from "All These Things"
“And now, the band you’ve been waiting for, all the way from 48th and
Englewood, let’s give a big welcome to The Others!”
As the announcer scooted off the stage, the lights flashed on and the first
note of the music blasted through the enormous speakers. The huge crowd
cheered loudly, greeting the valley’s most popular band to the stage of the
state fair.
Dash kicked one leg high up in the air while striking his guitar strings on
that first note, the energetic entertainer in his natural forum, with a huge
smile on his face as he played one of his favorite original songs. He stepped
up to the microphone amid the screams of the hundreds of fans and began to
sing.
“So you think, you think you want to be a star,
Go for it!
If you think, you think you can go far,
Go for it!”
The music accented the words and the audience screamed more loudly. Dash’s fingers flew across the guitar strings almost faster than anyone could see.
“Well, we’ve all got a dream,
Sometimes they rip at the seams, (seems to me)
You better do somethin’ ‘bout it, don’t ever doubt it,
Go for it!”
Dash leaped up in a scissors kick, synchronized with the music as the cameras flashed on the band. His smile and enthusiasm during the performance made the audience feel as if they were participants in the performance, not just spectators, interacting with Dash and the band.
“If you see someone sweet walking down the street, what do you do?”
Dash asked in his song.
“Go for it!” the audience shouted.
“If you see a dude you want to meet,” Dash sang.
“Go for it!” the audience replied.
“Well, we’ve all got a dream, (all got a dream)
Sometimes they rip at the seams, (seems to me)
You better do somethin’ ‘bout it, don’t ever doubt it,
Go for it!”
The music got louder through the musical interlude. The people at the
front of the crowd were either waving their arms to the beat or just screaming.
Dash kept smiling at them.
Dash glanced at the other band members as he played his guitar lead. He
jumped up and kicked his long leg over guitarist Paulie Barrett’s head. Dash
began to sing the final verse.
“If you’ve got something that’s got to be done,
Go for it!
If you can make money doing something fun,
Go for it!
Well, we’ve all got our dreams, (all got our dreams)
Sometimes they rip at the seams, (seems to me)
You better do somethin’ ‘bout it, don’t ever doubt it,
Go for it!”
As they finished the song, they made the transition into the next song, a lively love song written by Ham. Ham and Dash harmonized beautifully, and again, Dash played an intricate lead. At the end of the song, Dash addressed the crowd.
“How ya all doin’ tonight?” he asked. He was answered by more than twenty thousand people, shouting and screaming their approval.
“We are The Others, and we are glad to be here with you tonight. I’d like
to introduce the members of the band. Joe Sellers on the keyboards and
backing vocals...” Dash paused while Joe took a bow to the screams of
approval.
“... Ham Hockinson on bass and vocals...” Ham smiled and hit a chord
and raised his hands.
“...Paulie Barrett on rhythm guitar...” Paulie waved. He looked like a
smaller version of Dash: he dressed like Dash on stage and imitated his
movements during the performance, though Paulie did not go to such extremes
as Dash did.
“...and always on time, never missing a beat, more reliable than a drum
machine, Lenny Hand on the drums!” Lenny hit the symbols.
“And I’m Dash, on lead guitar, and sometimes vocals,” he told the shrieking
fans, as he struck the chord to signal the beginning of the next song.
The performance went well, without a technical error or artistic mistake.
The crowd was screaming and singing along to most of the songs, as Dash
took every opportunity to play with them, not to them. He was so touched
when he saw tears in the eyes of most of the girls when he sang the love
songs, he began to get a lump in his throat. He was connected to his audience,
not as a performer on a pedestal, but just another one of them - the one who
happened to be singing and playing his guitar.
After three encores, the band left the stage as the cheers and chants grew
louder and louder. “Others! Others! Others! Others!” they shouted.
Dash led the band out for one last bow and the crowd went wild, throwing
phone numbers, flowers, socks and various undergarments on stage as the
cameras flashed again and again.