Celebrate good times, come on!
July 2, 2004
The date was July 4, 1986 and while America celebrated its 210th birthday and the Statue of Liberty celebrated its bicentennial, ISE helped the 1986 Crafton Celebrates go out in style. As the MC stated in our introductions, "Welcome to the final evening, you will see some fireworks later, but you will definitely be getting some now�please welcome, ISE!" Before I get into the happenings of the show, I will discuss how we booked the show.
After ISE gained its notoriety by playing the high school Christmas dances, we were selected to audition for the gig-of-a-lifetime of initiating the concert for the closing day of the 5-day annual festival. A few people from the Board of Directors (or what ever they were called) came to our practice space (Shawn's attic) to make sure we lived up to our billing and were really good enough to play the big-time show. I remember it was way too early to have a set list together, maybe March or April, so we were forced to play a few songs from our old set. Having a few perfectionists in the band, we decided not to play all the same songs that we played at the dances, but to come up with mostly new ones for the 4th of July gig. Needless to say, we were nervous. We didn't have to try-out for the other appearance, so this was our first official audition. We haven't really played the new group of songs long enough to show them off, but at the same time, we hadn't rehearsed the old songs since we threw them out after the dance. We picked the lesser of two evils and performed a few of the old songs. In our opinion, we sounded pretty bad, but the auditioners were still impressed and we got the gig! Elaine also told me about the ride home after the test. Because it was on a weekday and Rich didn't come to stay until the weekend, she had to drive Rich down and back in the same night. She told me that Rich remained speechless on the way there, but was so excited that he wouldn't sit still and shut up for one second and drove her crazy on the way back. We all were pretty much the same way I suppose.
The months that followed were filled with practice, practice, practice. Our set list was trimmed to the following songs: "You Really Got Me" (a hybrid of the Kinks and Van Halen versions), "Addicted to Love", "Hey You!", "Wild Thing", "Frozen Extremes" (an ISE original), "Cold as Ise", and the big closer, "Home Sweet Home". Rich traveled from his house every Friday and went home every Sunday. We all spent many hours in Shawn's attic. We worked on these songs and knew them pretty damn good by the time the show came around.
The day of the big performance we met at the Cray house to do a final wardrobe and set list check. Before we got gussied-up, we packed up all the equipment into trucks and cars (we didn't want to be all sweaty and dirty after we were in costume). I remember we were all pretty nervous but also very excited and the house was pretty silent. We knew we had the songs down, but we also knew there would be a pretty sizable crowd at the show. We each retreated into a different room at the Cray's, which acted as our dressing rooms. Soon we sprang out of the rooms as though we were at the Halls of Justice and we were ready to take on the rock criminals of the world. We jumped in our super hero mobile and were on our way.
The journey to Crafton Park was also one I will never forget. Our ride was not a limousine or even a nice, dressed up Caddie; it was the back of a pick-up truck. All six of us crammed into the back of the pick-up with some of our equipment. All we needed were mouths full of tobacco and shot guns to fully fill the parts. You would have thought we were going to shoot some ducks, not to rock the Borough of Crafton. We arrived unharmed and entered the back-stage area. There we attended a short meeting with Tony the sound-guy and discussed our needs, which were not too many (we already had our selection of red-only M&Ms). After one of the longest introductions in the history of stage, we started playing. I remember I looked at the faces in the crowd of about a thousand and I was amazed at my calm. I also looked around on the stage and each one of my band mates had the same look of confidence, which in turn made me more comfortable. I was also amazed at Rich with his 15-year-old stage presence, which grabbed the audience and didn't let go until we closed the show with "Home Sweet Home". The multitudes laughed and cheered at every comment Rich made between songs. Rich was at home on that stage. At one point in the show, during a song we conversed like we were sitting in coffee house listening to some one else's music (to which both our mothers reprimanded us for because in their eyes, "we should be paying attention to the audience that came to listen to us play"). We all were pretty loose, but the music was tight. We did good and had fun.
After the show and all the stage rushers exited, we went back stage to break-down the equipment and caught our collective breaths. We each looked at each other as if to say "we did it!" The rest of the evening we walked around the park like proud peacocks and awaited the next compliment. I have written a few stories of my musical exploits and they all seem to repeat the same interpretation of the glow after the show. This one was no exception. The radiance of our young faces was not outshined by the fireworks. In fact, I not even sure if they lit them off that year, but I do remember me, Rich, and Shawn continuously got "shushed" by our dates while we sat on our blankets during the fireworks. We thought it was time to recall our glory, but here it was just time to watch the lights in the sky.
There is a saying that "time flies while you are having fun", but if you ask any one that enjoys performing, there is no comparison to how fast time moves on stage. I thoroughly enjoyed my "fifteen minutes" for the whole half-an-hour we had on that stage, but this time seemed as though it was 5-minutes. This time with the guys in the band Ise, no matter how long it seemed, simply put was "the best of times". Even to this day this moment is talked about. We were truly legends of that time. While Rich and even some of the others went on to play in bands on a regular basis, I would bet that they feel the same way. Much like there is nothing like your first love or any first moments in your life for that matter, that July 4th in Crafton Park was unrivaled and unforgettable. Just like our weddings and all the other great times of our lives together, Rich was right beside me to share in the moment. |
