No Way Back Today by Eric Shoars

Author:Eric Shoars
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2019-10-11T16:40:37+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

Come On, Get Onions

June 30, 2018

“ONIONS...ONIONS...ONIONS!”

The Surf Ballroom is jumping as the crowd chants for us moments before our first performance. I’m able to see a sliver of the crowd through the tiny space from where the stage curtain falls short of reaching the stage wall. A horde of butterflies does supersonic laps around my stomach. It feels like the rollercoaster is riding me and I’m about to send my lunch back the way it came. I can’t remember the last time I was this nervous. This is the dream, man. Forty years since the four of us gathered on an elementary playground; a child’s dream has become an adult reality.

We’re just minutes from hitting the stage and making our official debut here at the legendary Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. For most bands their debut is in some third-rate, hole-in-the-wall dive bar where the patrons are too drunk to know their ass from a hole in the ground. But not Onions At A Crime Scene. No, we’re making our first appearance at the Place Where the Music Died. The place that featured the last performances of Buddy Holly, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and Richie Valens before their ill-fated flight on February 3rd, 1959. Laurel, Lorelei, Todd, and me are about to play on the same stage they did.

My buddy Mark Skaar was instrumental in getting the Onions booked here as he and the booking agent for the Surf Ballroom are good friends. Mark and I go way back to my on-air personality days when we worked together at the same radio station. My radio career began during high school at a small-town radio station about 45 miles from the Surf Ballroom.

Mark’s love of music kept him happily behind the microphone while my path in the radio industry took a turn to sales and marketing. Mark is the morning personality at a local classic rock station about 10 miles from Clear Lake. Mark’s been able to meet many of the famous bands who have played here in the past 20 years – including KISS – and has been emcee for many of those shows.

I’d reached out to Mark and gave him the Reader’s Digest version of the Onions story and he needed zero arm twisting to help us get booked at the Surf. Mark was kind enough to interview me on his morning radio show to give us a little love over the airwaves. Our YouTube views and website traffic spiked immediately after the interview. Gotta love the power of radio. Let’s face it, radio was the first social media.

Laurel worked on filling the Surf Ballroom while I worked on securing the venue. Laurel through Sara made this event one part class reunion, one part family reunion, one part kick-ass celebration through our six degrees of separation strategy and execution. Laurel, Lorelei, Todd, and I – plus Seth and Julie – went on a full-court press to invite friends and family through personal invites via email and social media direct messages.

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