An overly-eager artist being welcomed into the industry is taken on a bumpy ride as she learns life does not have as many sunny days as she thought. Within the process, she comes to learn that her tour guide is a lot more important to her than she e...
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May 15, 1984 St. Louis, Missouri
I'd fallen into the trance of repetition but with the experience still being new, I found joy in it. I was singing and working the crowd every single night. I loved performing from the beginning to the ending of the show. I still do but I didn't truly understand what went into a real show yet. Not being responsible for much left me feeling nothing else besides a peaceful aura within the room. I was at a point where my only job was to sing and that was it. That entire leg of the tour was a breeze. For me to know I'd just ended the first leg of my first tour was beautiful, I thought. Again, I'd never want to discredit my real first experience but I wasn't dealing with anything real at that time. I hadn't gotten my chance to do a line of the pure stuff just yet. I wasn't selling out arenas and stadiums yet, having hundreds of thousands of people sing so loud that I couldn't hear myself.
But that was how I knew I loved it. It was in the early days with a small turn out. I felt like Diana Ross.
"Goodnight, St.Louis! Y'all have a blessed night!" I basked in the glory of everyone cheering, doing a slight curtsy just before I exited the stage.
Everybody met up backstage in my dressing room. I was removing my makeup and jewelry in the mirror when I saw Uncle Dorian enter. A crisp silence spread across the room. His presence felt different. Hardly does he ever come into my dressing-room after a show without some sort of appraisal, especially back at the beginning of it all. No matter what happened on that stage I was always guaranteed a 'good job, Cupcake' the moment he saw me. My nerves were at an all-time high.
Uncle Dorian faced us with sincerity. "Just stopped by to say..." My heart fell to my anus. "All y'all did a good ass job!" I literally let out a sigh of relief. I nearly fainted where I sat. Uncle Dorian's praises continued. "I mean wow! What a show! Cupcake, baby, you were really on it and Red Roses was so good... So damn good." His deep voice spoke with elation and I was honored. Everyone clapped. "But now the first leg is over. Hope you all exchanged numbers because I'm not calling none of y'all motherfuckas!" He always joked like that.
"Don't worry, I can always come to your house!" I laughed along with the other twenty people in the room. We carried on and joked until it was time to leave. We were be staying at the hotel one more night then boarding out to fly home in the morning.
I couldn't believe it no matter how many times you told me that my first leg through the Midwest was finished. I couldn't believe it for anything! The venues were almost all small and I didn't touch a quarter of the dates that I'd end up doing roughly a year later but I was over the moon. It meant a lot to me and everyone around me was nothing short of supportive. I may laugh and make snide remarks now about it not being a real tour but it was a monster I was conquering back then. I couldn't have asked for a better experience... Besides, there was still an entire leg running along the East Coast and a random spot date in California. I was not done.
