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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 1986)
'♦V Mmmmm uma Dishes with a great deal of their repertoire. In an evening, the band might play “I Saw Her Standing There,” “I’m Looking Through You,” “I’ll Be Back,” “If I Fell” and “No Reply.” The guitar solo in “Day Tripper” of ten leads up to Falcone’s ver sion of the drum solo from “The End.” After Falcone gives his drums a good working out, Raycraft goes into the guitar so los. The Dishes’ killer version of “I Am the Walrus,” a song the Beatles never performed live, is usually held for the final encore. Malone takes the lead vocals while Raycraft plays a 1953 Gibson lap steel guitar. John, Paul, George and Ringo would be proud. The Dishes also play music from other Texas artists like Daniel Johnston, Herschel Berry, Joe “King” Carrasco and David Bean. Aside from covers, the Dishes play several originals, mostly written by Raycraft with some help from Malone. There’s “Beep Beep!,” a tune about Houston traffic, “Around You,” a Beatlesque number featuring Donaho on lead vo cals, “Things Are Stressful,” an ode to the rat race set to a reg gae beat, and “Girls With Glass es,” a ballad about bespec tacled beauties. The Dishes’ most popular number, how ever, is “The Night I Dreamed I Was Elvis.” “The Night I Dreamed I Was Elvis” began its life as a chord progression that Malone dreamed up for a David Bean title during 1984, when Bean was doing shows with the Dishes during a split with his own band, the Judy’s. Each night Raycraft ad libs a story about a dream he had after eat ing a mayonnaise pizza late one night. In the dream, Raycraft finds he has gained a couple of hundred pounds and his hair has grown into a large greasy pompadour. He is trapped in Graceland with nothing to wear but rhinestone-studded leather suits. Priscilla keeps trying to stuff peanut butter and banana sandwiches down his throat. The crowd usually goes crazy and participates in the call and response chorus. The Dishes’ fans are a de voted lot. A group of Texas A&M students is almost always around to do the Dishes when ever the band plays Bryan or College Station. Ben Barnett, a senior biochemistry major from Groves, Kent Hutson, a senior biology major from Houston, and Tim Howard, a former stu dent who occasionally comes back to town for a Dishes’ show, began dragging their friends to the clubs where the band was playing in the fall of 1984. This group was inspired, Barnett says, to bring a pizza to the band when they heard the band’s version of the classic blues tune, “Hey Joe. ” Raycraft took “Hey Joe,” a song about a man plotting to shoot his unfaithful wife, and changed it to a song about a man plotting to buy a pizza. During one performance of “Hey Joe,” Barnett presented an empty pizza box (since the club didn’t allow outside food to be brought in) to Raycraft. Ray craft used the box as a slide for his guitar. The pizza box be came a • tradition and, in true Aggie fashion, Barnett and friends always bring a pizza box to the show. The Barnett bunch also bring presents for the rest of the band. Malone receives a cigar, Falcone receives a candy bar and Donaho receives flow ers. At Huntsville, a group of fans that Raycraft calls the “Shoe People,” also has a traditional way of doing the Dishes. The Shoe People, Raycraft says, take off their shoes and line them up at the front of the stage. The Shoe People, who even have T-shirts that proclaim their membership in this elite group, spend the evening danc ing in their socks. For the past four years, the Dishes have picked up a large group of fans across the state. The band plays Houston, Cor pus Christi, Bryan, College Sta tion, Huntsville, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Nacog doches and Austin about once a month. Playing and taking care of business are a full-time job for the Dishes. There is a “fifth Dish,” See “Dishespage 12 , n , r o\\sd^ ap etiormance Dickie bass S u ’ tarl