DANNY Chapter 40 by Roberta J. Cabot This is a story about Daniel, a guy with a unique talent and an even more unique problem: A great singing voice and the looks of his gorgeous sister. And how he and his family deal with his having breasts. And how he ends up as the female lead singer for a high-school cover band as well as a radio DJ. In the last chapter, Danielle was able to get through yet another song, as she substituted for her brother, and sang as Dannie. What a relief! At least Danielle won't be doing that with the rest of the songs in the concert (Fair warning - Chapter 40 is yet another musical chapter!). Indeed: never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Forty:  Not Exactly Fan Service

***** (Danny) *****

When the song was almost done, I stood on the designated equipment lift platform and switched off the light - otherwise, the light will be seen by the crowd. The platform was one of three that allowed backstage people to bring equipment up to the stage. I reached up to the low ceiling (actually the bottom part of the stage floor) and moved an access panel aside (or a part of the stage floor). The panel was hastily added just a few days ago. With it, one didn't need to open up a big part of the floor just to get to the stage.

I stepped on a button on the platform and it started rising, and me along with it. I rose through the panel I opened up. In seconds, I was on stage, and conveniently behind one of the hanging cloth panels so the audience wouldn't see me. Cool.

From my vantage point, I couldn't see much, but, by the same token, no one could see me as well.

I listened to the last parts of the Kenny Loggins song, and I had to say Dale and Danielle, hell, the entire band, sounded great together. Maybe Danielle could sub for me more often.

And then the applause started raining down. Better get ready…

Here comes Danielle. I turned so that I was facing the same direction she was walking in. I reached my arm back, and as soon as she was obscured by the curtain, we touched hands and I started walking in the same direction while Danielle stopped walking.

"Good luck, Danny," she whispered.

I nodded and walked out from behind the cloth panel, and straight to the guitars. From the audience's point of view, it was just me walking past one of the curtains as I made my way towards the guitars. Penn and Teller couldn't have done better.

I had to giggle at our little magic trick.

I reached out, grabbed one of my guitars and walked back the way Danielle came. I passed the curtain Danielle disappeared behind, and Danielle wasn't there anymore. Looking down, I saw that the access panel was back in place. "Good girl, Danielle," I thought and went back to where Danielle's mic stand was.

I grinned at Dale and I mouthed to him, "yep, it's me."

Dale smiled at me, turned to the audience. "So you want some more?" he screamed.

"Yesss!" the crowd yelled back.

"Then here we go!"

I clipped on a capo way up my guitar's fret and started playing.

It sounded like a yukelele, which was the whole point, and I started playing the opening to that Meghan Trainor song in the Peanuts movie.
"Mmm, ehey" I hummed, and the audience cheered.

"Hey!" Kalista from the Glee Club exclaimed, and I started singing the song while Fallon and I played our guitars.

"Don't think about it. Just move your body. Listen to the music, sing, oh, ey, oh!"

Mongo laid down a beat and Dale played counterpoint.

"Just move those left feet. Go ahead, get crazy. Anyone can do it, sing, oh, ey, oh!"

With the Glee Club girls and Fallon joining, we started the chorus.

"Show the world you've got that fire!" ("Fire!" Kalista exclaimed in counterpoint.) "Feel the rhythm getting louder! (Hey!) Show the room what you can do, prove to them you got the moves. (Hey!) I don't know about you -"

Then I went solo.

"- but I feel better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah - better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah… And we can do this together. I bet you feel better when you're dancing, yeah, yeah…"

The whole group went full-tilt Jamaican, and we all went "pa-pa-ra-pa-pa-pa-da-da-la-la-la-la-da-da-pa-pa-da-da!"

The whole group then went quiet, and, in quieter tones, I sang. "When you finally let go, and you slay that solo, cause you listen to the music. Sing, oh, ey, oh!

"'Cause you're confident, babe, and you make your hips sway. We knew that you could do it, sing, oh, ey, oh!

"Show the world you've got that fire (fire, baby). Feel the rhythm getting louder. Show the room what you can do. Prove to them you got the moves! I don't know about you…

"- but I feel better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah. Better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah… (oh, oh!)"

And then we all sang together. "And we can do this together! I bet you feel better when you're dancing, yeah, yeah! Pa-pa-ra-pa-pa-pa-da-da-la-la-la-la-da-da-pa-pa-da-da!"

By that time, most of the audience were on their feet and dancing.

Rocko went, "Come on!" and we all did another round of… "Pa-pa-ra-pa-pa-pa-da-da-la-la-la-la-da-da-pa-pa-da-da!"

And then, the Glee club girls went, "oh ey oh! Oh ey oh!"

I then took over. "I feel better when I'm dancing. I'm better when I'm dancing, aye, oh ey oh! Feel better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah! Better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah… Don't you know…"

And then the group went, "we can do this together. Bet you feel better when you're dancing, yeah, yeah… Pa-pa-ra-pa-pa-pa-da-da-la-la-la-la-da-da-pa-pa-da-da! Pa-pa-ra-pa-pa-pa-da-da-la-la-la-la-da-da-pa-pa-da-da! I feel better when I'm dancing, I'm better when I'm dancing, hey! Feel better when I'm…"

And in the silence, I go, "yeah, yeah…"

And as the applause swelled and swelled, to not let the dancy kind of vibe from going away, we went directly to the next song, this one from the movie, "Trolls." This was our big dance number - which was also our only dance number, too. I so wish our choreographers weren't watching.
With Mongo and June playing the cymbals and background chords, we all arranged ourselves according to our rehearsed places. Dale, Fallon and I slid our guitars on our backs by their straps so we could dance with our guitars but move more freely, and our background-slash-Glee Club singers on either side of us.

I wasn't the best dancer, unfortunately, but since I would be singing the lead, I was the lead dancer. I did my best to start channelling Justin Timberlake somehow.

And, to Mongo and June's playing, and everyone's synchronized finger-snapping, we all got down.

"I got this feelin' inside my bones," I sang, "it goes electric-wavy when I turn it on. All through my city, all through my home - we're flyin' up, no ceilin', when we're in the zone."

I had seen Michael Jackson's eighties "Thriller" MTV, and I think we got that one beat. We continued gettin' down.

"I got that sunshine in my pocket," I sang, "got that good soul in my feet. I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops."

Gus, Frank and Rocko from the Glee club went "ooh!"

"I can't take my eyes up off it, movin' so phenomenally. Come on, rock the way we rock it, so don't stop!" And everyone, like in Simon Sez, froze.

"Under the lights when everything goes," I sang, and everyone resumed dancing. "Nowhere to hide when I'm gettin' you close… when we move, well, you already know. So just imagine…"

"Just imagine, just imagine," Beatriz, Edna, Kalista, Ramona, Valentina, Phylicia, and Eileen - the Glee Club girls - harmonized while Betsy played a single climbing note on her violin. And then Mongo fired a base hit.

"Nothin' I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance, yeah," I sang. "Feel the mood creepin' up on you, so just dance, dance, dance…" ("Come on!" Rocko exclaimed.)

"All those things I shouldn't do, but you dance, dance, dance," I sang. "And ain't nobody leavin' soon, so keep dancin'!"

"Can't stop the feelin'!" Kalista sang in a high falsetto, and I responded, "so just dance, dance, dance…"

"I can't stop the feelin'!" Kalista sang again, and I repeated, "so just dance, dance, dance…"

"Come on!" Rocko exclaimed again.

Everyone started snapping their fingers and danced like those guys in that gang scene from West Side Story. "Ooh, it's something magical," I sang. "It's in the air, it's in my blood, it's rushin' on…" ("Rushin' on," Gus echo-sang.)

"I don't need no reason, don't need control…" ("Need control," Gus echoed.) "I fly so high, no ceiling, when I'm in my zone. 'Cause I got that sunshine in my pocket, got that good soul in my feet! I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops!"

Gus, Frank and Rocko again went "ooh!"

"I can't take my eyes up off it, moving so phenomenally! Come on, rock the way we rock it, so don't stop!" ("Stop, stop, stop…" Gus echoed.)

Again, with synchronized snapping and moves just like in West Side Story, the guys danced and I sang.

"Under the lights when everything goes, nowhere to hide when I'm gettin' you close, when we move, well, you already know… So just imagine…"

"Just imagine, just imagine," the Glee girls harmonized again, and Betsy played a single climbing note on her violin. And then Mongo fired a base hit again.

"Nothin' I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance, yeah," I sang. "Feel the mood creepin' up on you, so just dance, dance, dance…" ("Come on!" Rocko exclaimed.)

"All those things I shouldn't do but you dance, dance, dance," I sang, "and ain't nobody leavin' soon, so keep dancin'."

"Can't stop the feelin'!" Kalista again sang, and I responded, "so just dance, dance, dance…"

We repeated that a couple more times, and Dale swung his bass guitar up and started playing a base beat accompanied by everyone's finger snapping and dancing.

"I can't stop the…" I interjected, and then Fallon added a guitar rhythm beat.

"I can't stop the… I can't stop the… I can't stop the -"

"I can't stop the feelin'! Kalista again sang,

"Nothin' I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance, yeah," I sang. "Feel the mood creepin' up on you, so just dance, dance, dance…"

We did several repeats of the refrain, and it got the audience finger-snapping and singing along with us, it was so amazing! And when we ended the song, the audience exploded! It should have been old hat by now, but I don't know if we'd ever get tired of that.

Again, we took our bows, and again we couldn't stop the audience from clapping.

to be continued...

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