On Monday, April 21, at 10 a.m. in Cordier Auditorium, a rock band composed of faculty, staff and one student will take the stage for convocation.  “We have named the band the Otho Winger Experience in tribute to Otho Winger, the former president of Manchester College, said Mark Bryant, associate professor of chemistry and bass player. “Not many people know that he was a great guitarist.”

  
Winger was very influential on the 1950’s and 1960’s music scene.  He taught Roy Orbison to wear sunglasses, Elvis to play guitar, Bob Dylan to sing, Pete Townshend to play pinball, Jimi Hendrix to play guitar with his teeth, Chuck Berry to duck walk and John Kennedy to play the saxophone. 

  
In fact, Winger was in such demand as a session guitarist that he would often get offers from as far away as London to record guitar solos on pop singles.  “In between committee meetings Otho would phone in his solos,” said Dave Hicks, associate professor of biology, who plays guitar in the band. 

Fellow guitarist Greg Clark, associate professor of physics, added: “Tom Marshall built a special guitar amplifier for Otho.  The volume could be played up to eleven to the eleventh power!” 

  
Keyboardist Dan Chudzynski (who is also the College’s Webmaster) said: “I bought one of his guitars a few years ago.  On the back is the set list for his last concert, which was on the rooftop of an MC building.  He played all his big hits like ‘Who Let the Spuds Out,’ ‘Smells Like Cream Soda’ and ‘A Whiter Shade of Potato.’  Everyone on campus could hear him play but no one could see Otho on top of the Communications building.” 

He was friends with many of the top songwriters of rock’n’roll, like Bob Dylan. “Otho once told me about a really boring convocation he was at,” Dylan said. “He said, ‘Bobby, there must be some kind of way out of here—I can’t get any relief!’” 

Josh Faudree, the drummer and only student in the band, said: “Few people realize that there is a time capsule under the Winger building with a few of Otho’s records, including Salt and Pepper Lovely Mashed Spuds Band and his follow-up Dark Side of the Potato.”

Bryant is psyched about the Othe Winger Experience performance. “We hope everyone comes out to the concert on April 21,” he said. “It may not be the best convocation of the year, but it certainly will be the loudest.” 

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