The following is an entry taken from a book that Ari Margo (the youngest son of The Tokens' lead singer, Mitch Margo) is currently in the process of writing. The book is a collection of poems and autobiographical journal entries. For more information on the book, visit Ari's personal webpage at:
http://ari.itgo.com
Click here to E-mail Ari

Now seems as good a time as any to tell you about my Dad's band. The name of the band is not very well known, but the song they are famous for is practically a household name. The band is, "The Tokens," and the song is, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Both my Dad and my Uncle are original members. Anyway, in 1998, The Tokens were described as the most patriotic band in America because they performed the National Anthem in all 30 major league baseball stadiums. I was fortunate enough to have been included in 14 of those parks. Yes, it's true. I was probably in front of a million people that summer as I sang one of the harmony parts for The Star Spangled Banner with my Dad and other members of The Tokens. It was quite an experience, and though it was quite a patriotic thing to do, it didn't have much of an effect on me as an American.

Last weekend, The Tokens had a gig in Idaho, but due to the terrorist attack of the World Trade Center, one of The Tokens could not fly out of New York to perform. Because of that, my Dad called on me as the sub. Sure enough, on Friday I found myself on my way to Idaho. We didn't fly for two reasons. One, the flight was canceled and two, none of us really wanted to go anywhere near an airport after the recent events.

We left from Los Angeles Friday afternoon. It was a 16-hour drive. That gave me plenty of time to stare out of the window. I saw more American Flags that day than ever before in my entire life. We stopped at an inn in Winnemucca, Nevada that night, and finished the drive to Idaho the next morning. We checked in at the hotel at around 3:00 PM. The show was at a nearby fair at 7:30 PM, though because of a lengthy sound test it didn't start until 8:00 PM.

I looked out over the surprisingly small crowd of less than 200 people, sitting in the shade of a tent or on a small set of bleachers. I saw people wearing red white and blue and children waving flags. I saw Americans, completely devastated, looking towards me for something, for anything. Maybe it was hope, or inspiration. Maybe it was just a distraction they were looking for.

We opened the show with the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone held their right hand to their hearts and spoke the words of the pledge with a new understanding and with a new sense of unity. We then moved onto the Star-Spangled Banner, which I had sung so many times before during the 1998 Anthem Tour. Under normal circumstances, we would only sing the first stanza as it is sung at sporting events and such. This time we included a part of the fourth stanza that reads:

"Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just -
And this be our motto - 'In God is our trust!'

And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

The small audience was stunned. I wouldn't be surprised if most of them had never heard more than the first stanza of the Star-Spangled Banner before. But there we were, singing a part of that fourth stanza that was unmistakably relevant at this time in American history. At the beginning of a new war, we sang about our necessity to conquer our enemies, to bring those terrorists to justice, and to fly our flags in triumph. I looked out again at the audience who watched silently, their sullen expressions taking in what they had heard. Their sadness turned to hope, and they cheered and waved their flags. Somehow we had given them what they needed.

Before moving on to the normal show, we sang one more patriotic song: "God Bless America." As the song came to a close, the audience seemed completely lost in the moment, and out of nowhere, my brother-who was subbing for the normal drummer (one of my uncle's sons)-started banging on the drums and we started the normal show. It was such a sudden change of pace from this soft song about our beloved country to rock and roll right out of the 50s and 60s that the audience didn't really know how to react at first. I look back at it now as the moment when we went back to our normal way of life, just like our President wanted us to. About ten minutes later we came to the audience participation part of our show where we challenge the audience to fill in the blanks in a variety of famous oldies tunes. At that point, everyone started to have a great time and the rest of the show went smoothly.

When it was over, I had a chance to talk to many of the audience members. I received many compliments, but more than that I received thanks for driving all the way to Idaho to perform for these people. It really meant a lot to them. In this brutal time we came through and sang our songs and really made a difference in the lives of these people.

Performing with The Tokens in Idaho that Saturday evening was the most patriotic moment of my life, even more so than the National Anthem Tour of 1998.

-Ari Margo
Wednesday, September 19, 2001 4:36 AM