On a flight from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Nashville, TN: There
are moments in life when you have everything planned perfectly, set up and
orchestrated so well, that you just KNOW things are going to turn out exactly as
you had intended. Then sometimes, something goes wrong / a glitch happens –
perhaps even out of your control – and the end result does not turned out as
planned.
In those cases, a healthy reaction might be: “ah well... it wasn’t meant to be, but I did
what I could and I will just have to try it differently next time.”
However, a more realistic reaction – specifically from me in those moments – is: “you have GOT
to be f*ing kidding me!”
As much as I'd like to think I handle things in a zen /
meant-to-be kind of way, in the actual moment, my go-to usually includes a few
choice words followed by the rhetorical “why
meeeee?” question / fist shaking to the universe.
See, besides being incredible artists, Amy Ray &
Emily Saliers are also
activists. Their causes range from the environment to
women’s issues to the LGBT community, but more importantly than anything, they don’t just
talk the talk, they walk the walk… specifically, by allowing local groups to
table at their shows.
I felt like a proud mama when my date for the night, Deb,
and I walk through the packed house to see Jennifer, Dorris and Sheri
explaining the program, selling product and handing out information cards. They
are some of the best sales people I have seen since they believe in the products
and are firsthand witnesses to the idea that love heals.
My pride was about to hit an all-time high as the Girls were
preparing to play the last song of the evening. As in shows past, Amy or Emily will
give a shout-out from the stage to the local non-profit, making sure the
audience is aware of their presence in the venue and the community.
Thanks to another friend in the biz, I had terrific seats
in the balcony, which offered a perfect view of the stage... and just the right angle to film the upcoming endorsement. As I steadied my iPhone on the rail and waited until they thanked everyone for coming, introduced the openers, etc., I was already scheming of my posting plans. I would upload to
YouTube, naturally, then link to our
Facebook page,
Twitter account; perhaps even ask the IG social media webmaster if she would link from
their page. But most importantly, if I got home at a decent hour, I could post
immediately. Who knows how many likes and comments we could get right away?
And then, Emily began to speak.
"We have a very special group here tonight from Nashville, they're called Thistle Farms."
She paused to let the entire audience (and Amy and The Shadowboxers) cheer for the hometown group. As she took a breath to continue, a message popped up on my iPhone screen:
MEMORY FULL.
It was like a bad dream or a mean joke.
What do you mean memory full? I only had about 50 pictures saved and two very short videos. Plus, my music was saved to the iCloud and apps were minimal. As the questions raced through my mind, the bottom line was glaring at me: I wasn't going to be able to record this oh-so-important message.
After another sigh of disbelief, I did the only thing I could think of to do:
I sat back and I listened.
I feel like this is something I don't do anymore when I bring my camera to concerts or events. I'm so consumed with getting the perfect Instagram photo or Foursquare check in or YouTube video that I'm taking myself out of the actual moment itself. A friend posted
an article a few weeks ago (on Facebook, ironically) encouraging us to
"choose community. Let’s stop comparing. Let’s start connecting."
So in that moment, I did just that (albeit forced). I couldn't remember everything Emily said about my friends, but I could
feel what she was saying.The energy and pride from the Nashville community was palpable. We all listened together and we all cheered together as we perched on wooden church pews. That is a memory which would leave my heart feeling full.
Granted, once the night ended (and for the next few days), I waned between feeling grateful yet pissy that I couldn't share their endorsement with the larger community. As a last ditch attempt, I asked my friend who is their sound engineer if he, by chance, taped audio of the show. As I had suspected/hoped, he, indeed, had and after receiving the recording, adding a few images and attempting to use iMovie, I was able to salvage the piece -- and, added a bit of a visual tie-in that actually seemed to work quite nicely.
I still got what I wanted: a video from the night to post in a way that everyone who could or couldn't bet there could see. But more importantly, I got a chance to be a part of the moment,
as it was happening.
Moral of the story aside: I've still got to figure out this iPhone business....
