Memphis
COMING
HOME
By. Forrest Robinson
There is nothing like coming home to play a show. I was born and raised
in Memphis, TN and all of my family lives there. When I learned that we
would be performing at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis during the fall/winter
leg of the India.Arie tour the butterflies began. My family hadn’t
seen me behind a drumkit in at least 15 years or something – and
that has been mainly in a church setting, so I was pretty nervous and
excited for the past several days in anticipation of the show, even though
I knew that it wasn’t about me.
When we arrived early that morning, the first thing I did was call my big brother to meet me at the venue. He a bass player and had never been onstage to look at full production up close, so I was delighted to have the opportunity to share that blessing with him. He’s the guy that showed me my first stick twirl when I was five years old. I was so glad to see him, and we hung out the entire morning. It was extra special to know that my mom and grandmom would be there to witness what has come of my destroying their pots and pans and making all that noise when I was a kid. My two sisters were going to be there as well. There’s just something about knowing that your family is in the audience seeing you do what you’ve strived to do since you were a child. GOD bless them, for not discouraging me from pursuing my dream. I must admit, however, that the only let down was the fact that I was really hoping to see some of my friends that I grew up with, which didn’t happen. Oh well. It was a great show though. And I had a great time.
And you know what? The energy is a lot different when the audience shows up EXPECTING to hear live (instruments) music. It’s a lot more intense and fulfilling for the instrumentalist because there’s a feeling present knowing that the energy you’re giving the people through your sound isn’t falling on deaf ears. And you know who the musicians are in the audience, because someone is air-drumming, air-bass playing or playing the air-guitar or something. Geez – what do you do with the fact that people are actually feeling what you are playing? Hmm. Suddenly, I’m not so sure how I feel about this new awareness that I may have unintentionally settled into a slight state of subconscious-invisibility over the course of recent time. Whew! Now THAT was certainly not my intention!
One of the other things that made playing at the Orpheum so special is the fact that the last time I was there, I was 7 years old and on a field trip with my 2nd grade class to see the Nutcracker! Boy, am I the hip one! So a wonderful gathering with my family, a good show, a nice walk on Beale St. and some good Blues & Barbecue afterwards is definitely what the doctor ordered for this dude. It was a good night!
Forrest Robinson