Some random trivia about me: I don’t make bucket lists. Short story short, I’ve always felt like that type of list would breed regret in me or that I would lose my sense of spontaneity, which, in turn, breeds magic in the world around me--and I need magic like people need water. I’ve always been pretty clear about this and then… Long story long: I literally asked the Universe to become a musician, to do it full time and to making a living from it some twenty odd years ago on the floor of my senior year dorm room. When that happened 5 years later (15 years ago), I felt pretty satisfied. It also felt greedy to want more than that, to want more than something I was so very fortunate to have found at 22 years old that a lot of people never find or experience in a lifetime. Everything else has been icing on a very delicious and rewarding (albeit hard won) cake. Mmmm, cake… But, I digress… Fast forward: Going into major surgery (or any surgery for that matter) for the first time in my life this past February threw me into spasms of preparation that tested the boundaries and skills of Virgo-ness like never before. The sudden onset of symptoms, diagnosis and the sense of urgency to get it done left very little time for any sort of “emotional” acceptance of the situation. I found myself methodically counting down the clock while trying to keep a smile on my face at the store and trying to keep the information very close to me so I wouldn’t feel overwhelmed by it all yet still found myself completely overwhelmed and not smiling--a lot. I also found myself…making a list. A couple of weeks before my surgery, I was asked to open for world music star Angélique Kidjo at the Variety Playhouse. Even though I’ve played at the Variety several times over the years opening for major artists like Me’shell N’degeocello and Raul Midon, this was extra special because I had opened for Angelique 10 years ago and it felt like a full circle, life affirming reward of sorts. After the show, an older gentleman came to my merch table to get a CD and an autograph. He told me my performance and songs were “incredible” and he was so glad he discovered my music. Then, wagging his index finger and winking his knowing, framed eye at me said, “Six months. I give it six months tops and you’ll be headlining here. You’re gonna make it.”. I smiled politely in response, but laughed and said to my wife after he left, “Yup, only took 20 years and 6 months!”. Later that night in my usual post-show euphoria (that usually has me eating a big bowl of cereal in bed after a long hot shower), I started to tell her about my deep love and appreciation for the Variety Playhouse and for the people who work there, who treat me no differently than the artists I open for. I’m always afforded the same respect from concessions to sound to the security folks and they are always supportive of who I am, what I do *and* how I’ve chosen to do it--which doesn’t happen very often for me on the business side of this business. But, I lamented, in these long years of hustling and grinding I missed a certain rite of passage that almost all Atlanta artists who “make it big” experience: headlining there. For those of you who dont know, the Variety Playhouse is a 1,000 seat theater and one of our last beloved independently run music venues in the city. It is an incubator, a stepping-stone and a litmus test all in one. It’s how everyone knows you’ve made it and they come to wish you luck, send you out of the nest and to be part of the crowd that can say “I knew them when…” Because I had no intention of getting signed to a major label in 1999 after turning down a few decent but ultimately compromising offers, I never aspired to it again. Now, facing the unknown with my impending surgery, I sat with my wife that night and had a rare but real, aching regret that I hadn’t even tried to get there. I asked, “Did I ‘do it’ all wrong? Should I have done more with my music? Would it have hurt to change a little to ‘make it’?” And on and on and on until the sun peaked through our window, scolding me for spending the night worrying about things I couldn’t possibly ever know--or change. In that moment, I started my first bucket list and “headlining at the Variety at some point” was at the top of it… My wife being my wife, took this conversation (and the many tears that came with it) and converted regret into reality. While I dozed under the influence of pain medication watching a House of Cards marathon in the weeks following my surgery, she snuck out of our room, called the venue up and asked if they had anything available in the first week of August, which is when I usually have my annual birthday party show. They said yes so she booked the room and, when I was feeling better, told me what she had done. She said it was an early birthday present…and I think it’s probably the best one ever. Of course, the Virgo, now lucid and able to walk without assistance thank-you-very-much, kicked in and reminded me that the Variety is a 1,000 person capacity room. But, then, something deeper than my fear immediately chimed in with, “Who cares. Have some fun for a change. Don’t worry about the outcome.” The surgery, it seemed, had healed me in more ways than one… So, on Saturday, August 9th with a little help from my friends, I’m going to headline the Variety Playhouse--20 years after making the decision to be a musician and almost 6 months to the *day* that the older gentlemen with the fortuneteller finger and twinkling eyes predicted that I would. And, because of him, I can honestly say it won’t matter if there are only 100 seats filled or all 1,000 because the important thing is that I haven’t lost the magic in making that list-- magic found me anyway, right in the spot where I’m meant to be, being the person I’m meant to be and doing what I’m meant to be doing the way Im doing it... Onwards... Details are being firmed up as far as special guests are concerned and I’ll be announcing the community partner I’ll be doing some fundraising for, but I can tell you this: There will be cake. Cupcakes to be exact and lots of them. ‘Nuff said. Tickets go on sale today BUT Im going to post the ticket link in another post so this post will actually be seen by you first. I also have a special gift for the first 100 ticket holders who purchase them by this time next Friday. But there’s a catch: The gift only goes out only if I sell 100 tickets by then so encourage your friends to get theirs early, too. Just send me a screenshot of your purchase and either Tweet, Facebook message me from this page, Instagram it and tag me OR just send it via e-mail to doriaroberts (at) yahoo (dot) com. I’ll leave you with this, for anyone who is struggling with choices made and things yet undone: “It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are. To be nobody but yourself in a world that’s doing its best to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting.” -e.e. cummings
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 16:27:12 +0000
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