Finding Healing Through Music: A Night with Hollywood Nights

wwsmith6410
Feb 10
5 min read

Updated: Apr 13

“Here I am, on the road again,

There I am, up on the stage

Ah, here I go, playin’ star again,

There I go, turn the page.”*

Bob Seger, “Turn the Page”

Rick Murphy performs one of Bob Seger’s classic rock hits during the Hollywood Nights concert Feb. 9 inside the Erie H. Meyer Civic Center in Gulf Shores. (Photos by Wayne Smith)

By Wayne Smith

A talented musician and his band from New Jersey brought the sound of Bob Seger to Gulf Shores last night. Two snowbirds from Wisconsin opened the doors for me to attend Hollywood Nights – a tribute to the classic rock legend from Detroit. The music took care of the rest, at least for a little while.

Serendipity, nothing else. You will want to turn the page on this one. Keep on reading, even though it’s one of the longer columns or blogs I will write. Music is medicine, and I needed the Rx this Monday night.

The Emotional Roller Coaster

The day was a struggle. Coming back to Gulf Shores from the high of spending the weekend with my children and grandchildren felt like a long tumble downward. I was alone. My emotional roller coaster had reached its lowest point in a while – I desperately missed Dorinda. I was incredibly sad. Everything snowballed – the trip home, being on the cusp of Valentine’s Day, and February marking our last trip to the beach together a year ago.

She died of cancer in April. I still don’t believe it. I don’t understand it. This year would have marked our 40th anniversary. I have a handful of friends who understand this type of loss. Losing someone who was your world, the person who cared about you more than anyone on Earth, is hard. These friends are the ones I can message at 3 a.m. when I wake up in a panic, realizing I’ve lost her all over again.

They try to help. They can’t, but they understand. One of them told me early on that my grief was different than her grief. It would hit in waves, and that was OK, no matter what anyone else thought.

A Moment of Reflection

Grief hit me in powerful waves as I watched the sunset at the beach Monday evening. It knocked me down. I took four or five pictures, but they only represented a beauty that was lonesome. I lingered well after sundown. I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to move. I added to my ocean of tears that have collected during these terrible past 16 months or so.

No one to talk to, just a few texts. Friends offering encouragement. Finally, I decided to leave. Then I remembered the Seger tribute concert. I’d only learned about it earlier in the day since I had been out of town. When I checked on tickets that afternoon, the concert was sold out. I figured I could drive by the Erie H. Meyer Civic Center and see if there were tickets available for the Tuesday performance, an encore presentation the following night.

The Call of Classic Rock

I was interested in going – a Seger fan, especially since his classic “Old Time Rock & Roll” was recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in my hometown of Sheffield, Alabama. The 70-year-old Rock Hall of Famer has an amazing catalog of hits. Most you probably recognize instantly if rock music is your blend.

Dorinda inside Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Sheffield, Alabama, March 24, 2018. The studio is where Bob Seger recorded “Old Time Rock & Roll” in 1978 with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.

The Snowbirds' Kindness

The kind woman at the door told me she was sorry, but Tuesday night’s show was also sold out. But then she said a couple who had just gone in ahead of me had left an extra ticket if someone needed it. For Monday night.

I graciously accepted the ticket, offered to pay, but the worker told me just to thank whoever I would be sitting next to – they had left the ticket. An usher helped me move to my seat. It was a struggle with my walking stick in hand, but the concert was just underway.

And the music healed my heart for the next couple of hours. Seger classics, such as “Turn the Page,” “Against the Wind,” “Night Moves,” “Main Street,” the list goes on and on. This tribute band – just wow. If you’re a classic rock fan, Seger is the epitome of that genre. Hollywood Nights – with New Jersey’s Rick Murphy playing star again – was pure Old Time Rock & Roll.

I did meet the couple who left the ticket – Carol and her husband, Tom. They were part of a group calling themselves the OB10 – 10 snowbirds staying in Orange Beach.

A Conversation with the Lead Singer

Afterward, I met Murphy. He graciously talked with me for several minutes about the group that has been together for 18 years as the ultimate tribute to Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. I asked him about music as medicine for the soul.

“It absolutely is, and it’s one of the reasons I do what I do,” said Murphy, whose wife, Robin, is one of the band’s back-up singers. “To get a group of people together like this, a sold-out crowd, to celebrate music – classic rock – together is uplifting. You have to come out of it feeling better.”

Of course, at the heart of this story is Dorinda. I know it was her who nudged me to drive by the civic center, knowing the universe would wink and provide me with a ticket to the show. The prescription I needed.

For a couple of hours, I felt as if she was sitting there with me, singing along. And then, Murphy closed the night with these words ahead of the band’s powerful finale – “Rock and Roll Never Forgets.”

Murphy stepped to the edge of the stage, thanked his Alabama audience, and said, “As we all get busy with our lives, never forget there’s someone behind you who needs a helping hand.”

Thank you for offering a helping hand, Rick. And thanks to Carol and Tom for helping someone they didn’t know.