When their conversation paused, I stepped around the corner. “Hey babe,” I said, leaning in for a kiss.
“Wow, this is like a mini version of Rocktoberfest although I expected air conditioning,” Ely laughed, fanning himself.
“Kinda hard to cool down a tight space packed full of bodies. Where are Leo and Jordan?” I asked, scanning the bobbing heads for them.
“As soon as we got back here, they both took off. Is your mom still coming?” Ely asked, just as the lady in question appeared with Sikes, Grandma and my entire family.
“I’m here,” she announced, hugging everyone. “Rhone, I’m so excited. I’ve seen you play at the smaller venues, but this is crazy.” She waved her arms around. “There are thousands of fans out there.”
“Ha, yeah. This is about half of what the festivals were,” I said, her eyes widened in surprise as I greeted everyone else. No matter the size of the venue, nerves always tried to get the best of me before taking the stage. Usually I paced, but at Rocktoberfest and now these local shows, I had Ely by my side and before I had a chance to let that happen, we were taking the stage. Ely was a pleasant distraction is all aspects of my life.
The opening bands weren’t bad, one of them from an outsider’s perspective it seemed hadn’t been playing together very long. Either that or there wasn’t any chemistry between band members. I know the promoter was looking for feedback from Easton, had been bending his ear all night about it. Easton had no qualms being honest about how he felt. Once he started talking, I walked away having been on the other side of that coin already. If your band members didn’t jive, there was no band. End of story.
After watching both bands play, you could clearly see which had success knocking at the door versus which of them needed to call it what it was — over. Really sucks to watch bands implode, especially when the musicians themselves were talented but couldn’t grasp what it meant to be part of a group.
When the announcer hit the stage, the four of us, Seltzer, David, Chase and huddled up. With our hands in the pile, we chanted, “Knock ‘em dead,” bouncing the pile as one before breaking. We found strength in one another and once we were centered, we pulled apart. I kissed Mom and Ely, both shouted, “Break a leg,” and high fived Uncle Tony before I jogged onstage and took a seat behind my kit.
The new songs were met with high praise, based upon the screaming crowd. Many of them even sang along to the one that had just hit radio stations across the country a week ago. Now that was some hardcore dedication. The jockeys must have been playing it on an endless loop for them to learn it that quick. But the song I cared most about would be our final encore, “Reason to Live”. While written by the four of us, the ending lines were added by me at the last minute when we were recording it at the studio.
Reason To Live
You walked into the room
With nothing to say
You came into my life
Like you were meant to that day
The sun shining down
Illuminates your soul
So angelic, so pure
Life as I knew it, went out the door
Chorus:
Reason to live
You came to me
Fulfilling dreams
I’d never before seen
Reason to live
You and me
You give me a reason to live
Rebel with a cause
You fight for what’s right
Without a false façade
No hidden agenda in sight
You are all my world needs
In a life filled with fake
Your honesty’s like oxygen
Fills me with the air I need
A rare gem amongst a den of thieves
Chorus:
Reason to live
You came to me
Fulfilling dreams
I’d never before seen
Reason to live
You and me
You give me a reason to live
Don’t change a single thing
You are who you are
Stand tall, stand strong
Fight for what you believe
Never bow down
To a system not worthy
At this point in the song I turned, staring directly at Ely, his gaze locked on mine as I sung these lyrics directly to him.
My Rebel
My dream
You are my reason for living
The screams reverberated off the concrete walls, bouncing around like a ping pong ball. This was what we wanted to hear, what we needed to hear. Fans will always let you know if something is a hit or a miss and it seemed tonight, we had a hit on our hands. But I had a man waiting for me in the sidelines that I needed to have in my arms.
“Oh my GAWD!” Leo’s voice rang out. “You guys were awesome with a capital A.”
“Thanks man,” Chase said. “Glad you enjoyed the show.”
“Enjoyed it? I’ve had a perpetual boner the entire time,” Leo announced, I didn’t know whether to laugh or…I think it was a compliment, but I wasn’t quite sure.
“Ha, thanks, I think,” Selzter said, taking one for the team.
“Total compliment. Your new songs rock, I can’t wait to snag your CD on iTunes. When does it come out?” Leo asked.
“March,” I said.
“Sweet.” And just like that, he disappeared into the backstage crowd.
“Absolutely fantastic, Rhone,” Mom said, hugging me. I was sticky with sweat, but she didn’t care. “Your dad—” she began, choking up.
“I feel him every time I play, Mom,” I told her. She nodded, unable to form words at this moment in time. I knew what she meant, what she felt. Uncle Tony stood silently beside her, holding back the tears. This was what they wanted for their band but losing a core piece erased that dream for them. Sometimes I wonder who I was doing this more for, me or my dad.
“Rhone, that was. I don’t even have words. I didn’t get to watch all of your performance at Rocktoberfest so this was a first for me and I loved it,” Ely said, launching himself at me. “When you sang to me, I swear I stopped breathing.”
“Don’t do that. Remember, you’re my reason for living,” I said, his eyes welled up, the overhead lights reflecting off them.
Ely wrapped his arms around my neck. “I love you, Rhone.”
“I love you too, Ely.”
“Great show guys,” Easton’s voice rang through. “The new songs flowed effortlessly and the feedback we’re getting from the radio stations since “Reason to Live” launched last week has them singing your praises. Let’s get out to the lobby for the meet and greet, then we can disband call it a night and meet again for soundcheck tomorrow afternoon. Ely, Mom, follow me.”
“I’m gonna head out, if that’s okay?” Mom asked, looking at me. “The whole mobbing fan scene isn’t for me. But I’ll be at tomorrow night’s show.” She hugged everyone as the others bowed out at the same time saying their goodbyes. Sikes escorted them out to their vehicles while we hit the dressing room to clean up before meeting the fans.
Man, was it a mad house in the lobby. Granted, venue security had the areas leading up to the tables stanchioned off and guards posted. But there were a lot of bodies lined up and I had no idea how we were getting through them in an hour. We posed for pics and signed our names so many times my wrist was locked in place. Ely was nodding off in the chair behind Sikes.