What was in YOUR Weekend???

Friday found us on a road trip to Berea to take Doug to a concert he was performing at for a fundraiser. While not the turnout the promoter had touted Doug went on like a trouper. Ok let’s be honest, the guy that promoted this was talking thousands of tickets already having been purchased. They rescheduled it 3 times in order to find a place big enough to house the ‘crowds’ that had already purchased their tickets. Doug was slated to play at 4:30 on stage 2. We left around noon to ensure we arrived in time because we were unsure of where we were going.

These are some clouds out that day and you all know all about me and clouds.

So we drove to the venue and pulled into a gate towards a field. A large empty field that led to another field where there was a barn, a couple of tents and some vendors setting up. The second stage was still being set up and no one seemed to know what anyone was doing. We got to talk to a couple of people who had originally come up with the idea to discover the ‘promoter’ wasn’t exactly honest in his tales. For a moment Doug thought about leaving, frustrated with coming that far and having no one there. Can’t say as I blame him, I was quite frustrated. But I looked him in the eye and said “son, if you can do this, simply because it is for a good cause, simply because you promised, there will be a reason behind it, period. ” He nodded and began rehearsing backstage, meaning inside the barn.

It was then we discovered the stage he would be performing on was not even completed yet. That is when Gene and Jesse and Devin hopped in to finish it up. Even with all their work when the sound guy came over to test for Doug’s performance we could not get the static out of his mic. In the meantime the local news had showed up. The sound guy tried for 5 minutes to figure out why it wasn’t working before saying, “Kid, you don’t need this stage, you are meant to be on the big one so get over there.” Doug grabbed his stool and his guitar and ran to the stage. The bands before him only got to play 3 songs. The only people there were us and the bands and a few of the crew for set up, plus anyone that came with the bands. Not a lot to say the least. Oh yeah and the news. Doug took the stage and suddenly people came from somewhere. It wasn’t a huge crowd but it was people. People who wanted to see this small town boy, with only a guitar and talent. No screaming, no big drums or loud guitars. Just him. 3 songs later the sound guy, who gave me his website, informed me he donated his time to this for a good reason. To raise money for the tornado victims. He then apologized that there were not more people to see Doug and told us to get in touch with him afterwards. Because plain and simple he loved him. He loved his humbleness, his voice and his talent. Me being mom wept like a baby. We found out later that Doug was the only act the news recorded. Luckily our friend recorded it for us. Dougs set spanned to 7 songs before the band that followed him complained he was into their time.  So here is my rockstar.