Dawn shares her deep connection with music and how it served as therapy during challenging times. Her journey began with Soraia, a band she discovered at a Joan Jett show. Dawn describes how Soraia's music helped her overcome grief and depression after a personal loss. She expresses how live music and interacting with the bands and fellow fans revitalized her and enabled her to live life to the fullest, attending over 150 concerts and seeing Soraia 26 times, while also meeting significant artists such as Stephen Van Zandt. PLEASE NOTE: This episode includes a frank discussion about depression and suicide. Listener discretion is advised. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or chat 988lifeline.org.
Dawn Fontaine shares her journey of finding healing and happiness through live music. She recounts attending her first concert at 16, seeing The Offspring, which left a lasting impact on her. Dawn explains how she started attending live shows every weekend, meeting new people, and maintaining a spreadsheet to track the bands and venues she visited. She also recounts meeting legendary musician Stephen Van Zandt at a concert and her collection of drumsticks from the bands she’s seen.
However, it was Soraia's performance in 2022 that truly changed Dawn's life. Following a dark period after the loss of her partner, Dawn reluctantly attended the concert, only to find solace and renewal in the music. Soraia's electrifying performance provided a sense of healing and hope, inspiring Dawn to reconnect with her passion for live music and embark on a journey of self-discovery and healing. Her story emphasizes the therapeutic and life-changing power of live music.
PLEASE NOTE: This episode includes a frank discussion about depression and suicide. Listener discretion is advised. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or chat 988lifeline.org.
BANDS MENTIONED:
Billy Idol, Bon Jovi, Cry Havoc, Dave Strong (referenced as a punk rocker from Portland, Maine), Green Day, Guns N' Roses, Hall and Oates, Jared Knapik, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Killer Queen (a Queen cover band), Kiss, Kurt Baker Band, Mitch Kramer, Nirvana, Peasant, Quiet Riot, Ryan Hamilton, Sheryl Crow, Soraia, Stephen Van Zandt, The Kurt Baker Band, The Last Survivors, The Offspring, The Pretenders, The Resistors, The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols, The Who, The Worst
VENUES MENTIONED:
Berlin Under A - A venue in New York City, where Soraia performed in November, attended by the speaker, where she also met Stephen Van Zandt.
Cafe Nine - Located in New Haven, Connecticut, where Craig Sala's band, The Worst, performed along with a band called The Resistors and another called Mitch Kramer.
Darryl's House - located in Pauling, New York, where Soraia performed in 2022.
Dingbats - A small bar/venue in Clifton, New Jersey, where Soraia performed one of their shows.
Liars Club - A venue in Chicago, Illinois.
Mohegan Sun Arena - where Dawn saw Joan Jett open for The Who in Uncasville, Connecticut, in 2015.
Orpheum Theater - where Dawn saw Billy Idol in Boston in 2015.
Palace Theater - where Dawn saw Soraia perform in Albany, New York, after the pandemic in 2022.
The Paramount Theater - Located on Long Island, New York, where Soraia performed, opening for a Queen cover band called Killer Queen.
Worcester Auditorium - Dawn's first concert, where she saw The Offspring in 1995.Worcester Centrum Center (now called the DCU Center) - where Dawn saw Kiss in 1996.
[00:00:00]Charles: Dawn Fontaine is an executive assistant in the neurobiology department at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts. She likes watching horror movies, listening to vinyl records, cooking, hanging out with her cat. And seeing live music, lots of live music, which is what we're going to get to here in a minute.
[00:00:22] Her love for music goes back to when she was a child. Growing up, Dawn listened to many different genres of music. She enjoys a lot of her mother's favorite artists like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, and Dolly Parton. Dawn is also a big fan of her father's favorite band, the Rolling Stones.
[00:00:45] She even has his original vinyl copies of Sticky Fingers with the working zipper on the cover and Let It Bleed. Her father also is into classical music and she grew up listening to Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and others. Her brother's music collection also exposed her to bands like Guns and Roses, Bon Jovi, Quiet Riot, and Billy Idol. Dawn also listens to a lot of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, The Sex Pistols, and Nirvana. Dawn, welcome to seeing them live.
[00:01:27] Dawn: Thank you. I'm excited to be here. Love talking music.
[00:01:30] Charles: Yeah, and I thought um, you know, we usually start uh, you're, you know, going chronological order, so we start at the very beginning, and uh, you had told us that your first concert was uh, when you were 16 years old and you saw The Offspring in uh, 1995, uh, that was your first concert, and it was for the Smash Tour, and you went with one of your friends who's uh, Mother dropped you off at the show. So if you want to just chat about that for a bit.
[00:02:04] Dawn: Yeah, so I believe Smash had come out the year before and at the time Green Day and Offspring were like the two bands that everybody was listening to and my friend had said, Hey, the Offspring are going to be playing kind of a local show in Worcester, which is just a couple of towns over from us. And she's like, I think I can get tickets. And I'm like, okay. I actually found the ticket stub because I was curious just to see the information on it. And it was February 28th of 1995 at the Worcester auditorium. It was a general admission show and the ticket only cost me $13 and 50 cents, which I don't think you can get a ticket anywhere for that.
[00:02:43] Charles: You can't even buy a beer for that much. I think anymore.
[00:02:47] Dawn: I gotta tell you, the show really had an impact on me. I mean, well, I mean, first of all, it was my first show. Um, I also get to see what a mosh pit is like. I kind of avoided that cause that was a little intimidating. Um, But it was um, just the music and hearing live music and seeing the band live that you really like.
[00:03:07] And, um. it was really exciting. We had a great time. Um, I think I probably talked about it for months after that. And um, that was, yeah, so that was my first show. The Worcester Auditorium is no longer um, a venue. It's just an old building now, but it was a small venue. I'd say kind of like one of those places that probably had a capacity of like 2 or 3000.
[00:03:30] So it was a kind of an intimate setting.
[00:03:33] Charles: Yeah, um, because what I, what I noticed in doing some research on that tour is the Offspring played two nights, February 26th and 28th, and they also played two nights in Chicago at the Aragon Ballroom, which I believe holds about 3000 people, and those were the only two cities um, I think, on that entire tour where they played two nights, so they must have had You know, good fan base where you were located and then in Chicago as well.
[00:04:06] So I thought that was kind of interesting.
[00:04:08] Dawn: And it was a weeknight show, which I thought was interesting, said on the ticket. It was a Tuesday night show. So first of all, I'm amazed my parents let me go to a show on a school night. But um, second of all, I remember there being a really big crowd. Like it looked like it was sold out. So, you know, no going to shows usually Fridays and Saturdays are your show nights. But yeah, for a Tuesday night, it was a good crowd.
[00:04:33] Charles: And then I was going to ask you, Dawn, was that like, did your friend, did you go with your friend to other shows and their mom like dropped you guys off at other shows?
[00:04:43] Dawn: No, that was, um, that was a one-time thing. Um, Cause I actually, the next show I went to after that was um, December 28th of 96', that was my first big show. I saw Kiss, the original members had reunited for a tour in the mid-nineties. And I saw them at the Worcester Centrum Center, which is now called the DCU center. And, um, this is also going to shock you. I have that ticket stub and that ticket only costs $29 and 50 cents. And I don't think you can get a Kiss ticket for probably under $300. I know they just did farewell tour. but, um, and we have balcony seats and that show I attended with my older brother, Dave um, who was also a Kiss fan.
[00:05:27] So that was a different, um, totally different atmosphere because they had the inside like fire shooting up and you've got these bands went out and the makeup and um, I think at between the offspring and seeing Kiss, that's when I got hooked and I'm like, okay, I need to definitely, you know, start going to more shows.
[00:05:49] And at that point I had just turned 17 and I had a car. So, and I had a job, so I was able to, you know, start saving up for going to shows.
[00:05:59] Charles: Yeah. Cause um, we, we did a concert mom episode and, and we talk about how um, you know, there's this four-year window between when you're like 12 and 16 that your mom would take you to shows or, you know uh, but once you get your driver's license, yeah, you don't want your, your mom tagging along uh, with you necessarily.
[00:06:20] So, yeah. I thought we would, uh, one other concert you highlighted uh, after this Offspring show, which is if we jump ahead, like uh, it looks like 20 years, um, 2015, to a Billy Idol show at the Orpheum Theater in Boston, where uh, you had some pretty good seats. If you want to talk about that, that concert.
[00:06:50] Dawn: Yeah, definitely. So that was January 31st of 2015 and I had bought the, the VIP seats. So, you that offered you a meet and greet with Billy Idol and Steve Stevens after the show.
[00:07:04] I had gone with a friend and we were second row center. The Orpheum theater is a very, very old theater, another small capacity, I think it might even be less than 3,000, it might be like around 2,500 and really incredible intimate setting. I mean, to see Billy Idol that up close and it was, you know, he played all my favorites like White Wedding and Rebel Yell.
[00:07:29] And I started following him from when I was a kid 'cause I grew up in the eighties with MTV, so I used to see all his videos, so I always wanted to see him. And uh, at the end of the show it was after they did their encore. Um, You know, the band kind of all walks up to the stage, you know, in front of the stage to a bow and, um. Eric Eldenius, the drummer, had his two drumsticks, and he was just kind of looking at the audience, and we locked eyes, and he just handed his drumstick to me, and that was just like, oh, this is really cool.
[00:08:02] So, that was the first of what's now many drumsticks.
[00:08:07] Charles: Yeah.
[00:08:08] Dawn: Yeah, that, that's definitely, like, the most famous person um, I've gotten one from. Um, but yeah, it was, that was really cool. And then um, after the show, meeting Billy Idol and Steve Stevens was incredibly cool, too. I mean it was almost like uh, I wasn't I wouldn't say I was starstruck, but I was just like couldn't think of anything to say other than like, oh wow great show, you know.
[00:08:34] Um, Yeah, they were they were incredible. That was a very memorable show. That would definitely be, because Soraia is always going to be my favorite, but outside of Soraia probably the best show I've seen. My favorite show I've seen aside from them, because I think because it was the setting being in the Orpheum theater, being that close, I would um, I always keep an eye out to see if other bands are playing there 'cause you know, it'd be a great place to see. I heard the Rolling Stones played there like 20 years ago. That must've been insane. I can't even imagine what that would have been like. Um, But yeah, that, that's a really just a great place. And yeah, that was a very memorable show. Um, and a great year for me for seeing live music in 2015.
[00:09:21] Charles: So that kind of kicked off your drumstick collection?
[00:09:25] Dawn: But I didn't re I didn't restart the drumstick collection until just um, 2022 when I really got hardcore into the going-to-the shows. Because as you can see, I I went to those shows in the nineties and I went to a few scattered shows in the early 2000s. 2015 was obviously Billy Idol and then I know we're going to talk about Joan Jett.
[00:09:47] Charles: Was that the same year, Dawn? I, I, I figured it Because it was at a, I think a Who concert, she opened for Who concert in 2015, so that same year with Billy Idol.
[00:09:59] Dawn: Yup, so that was May 24th of 2015 um, she opened for The Who, and that was at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. um, So, that was a pretty good-sized venue. I was, I mean, people are gonna say this is crazy, I wasn't really excited about seeing The Who. No disrespect, I like their music and everything, but I have been a huge Joan Jett fan since I first saw her on MTV. She's probably one of my top three favorite artists.
[00:10:28] Charles: Okay.
[00:10:29] Dawn: And um, I had a connection through a colleague at the time who was, who had a connection with somebody who worked like with the production crew on her tour. And they were able to connect me with someone there. And I was, they said, you know, you can meet her before the show. So of course that was also an incredible experience.
[00:10:50] But the show. It seemed like it went by so fast because, you know, the openers only get like 30 or 45 minutes and she fit in you know, all of her hits, you know, I Hate Myself for Loving You, Bad Reputation, I Love Rock and Roll, and Cherry Bomb. I mean, I was singing along to all of them. I had great seats.
[00:11:11] I was in the, um, to the left of the stage in the first level. So I had a pretty good view of the stage and um, That, that was great. But I mean, after I saw her and I saw The Who I walked out of there saying I've got to see Joan Jett as a main headliner because that was just kind of a tease only seeing her for like 30 minutes.
[00:11:34] I mean, I know when she headlines a show she does about 90 minutes. So, um, yeah. So, but that was an incredible show.
[00:11:43] Charles: So then, did you see her then after that again? Because I know we're going to talk about the time when you saw her in April 16, 2022. But between those, that seven-year gap, did you see her again?
[00:11:58] Dawn: No. No. No. Um, I kind of, there was a kind of a break from going to shows. I had some major life changes, you know, through a divorce. I moved out of state. I had met someone else, started a new career.
[00:12:13] The Joan Jett show was originally supposed to be in April of 2020, but the pandemic hit in March.
[00:12:22] Charles: Yeah.
[00:12:22] Dawn: So it just kept getting pushed back.
[00:12:24] Charles: So, there's a a seven-year period there uh, when finally you get to, to see her after the pandemic and um, you go to this concert and the opening act is this band out of Philadelphia called Soraia.
[00:12:40] Dawn: Hmm.
[00:12:41] Charles: You described it as a life changing event. And I just want you to, uh, if you could, you know, just kind of tell your story about uh, that whole, that whole experience.
[00:12:53] Dawn: I'm just going to tell you um, this is why I follow music the way I do. And I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you today. Um, If I hadn't experienced Soraia, cause it wasn't so much, I say life's changing, they saved my life. Um, they really, it was that incredible. I mean, so, you know, to make, just to give you a brief overview, when I had moved to New York in 2017 and I had started a new life um, I was living with my girlfriend of five years and she was only 52 years old and she died of cardiac arrest suddenly.
[00:13:31] Never saw it coming. It was completely unexpected. And, after she had passed in December of 2021, I was really just severely depressed. Didn't want to go anywhere. I didn't want to go to anything. And I knew the show was happening in April. Um, and I just, I was like, I'm not going to go, not going to go.
[00:13:51] And, um, a friend of mine that I worked with Gregory, um, he was a Joan Jett fan. He had seen her back in the eighties and, you know, he had kind of encouraged me. It's like, you know, it'd be good to get out of the house. You know, and I was like, okay, all right, you know, and it was like, who's the opening act? And he's like, I don't know, some band called Soraia.
[00:14:12] I'm like, okay, you know, cause I don't usually care about the opening acts unless it's for a big band like the Rolling Stones. Cause they usually have a pretty established artist. Like I saw them play with The Pretenders and Sheryl Crow. But like Billy Idol, I couldn't tell you who his opening act was.
[00:14:28] So, you know, I was like, well, let's go check it out. I did look up Soraia or I saw they were a female fronted band and I'm like, oh, you know, they, I had heard the name Joan Jett come up and I'm like, okay, you know, associated with them.
[00:14:39] It's like one of their singers, like um, you know, artists that inspires her and that she's a fan of. So, I'm like, okay, I think I'm going to like this band. And they came on the stage, their first song, um, which was Dangerous off of their um, Dig Your Roots album. And I, I think my jaw just hit the floor. I was just mind blown. I mean, they were so good.
[00:15:02] They put on a heck of a show. Every song was incredible. And, you know, after they were done, I mean, we had, I had good seats. I was probably about 25 rows, four seats. So, I had, you know, It was great sound. It was at the Palace Theater, a small venue in Albany, New York. And at the end of their show, um, ZouZou Mansour, their singer had said um, you know, come by the merch tables. You know, the band will be there and we'll talk and sign autographs and stuff. And um, I don't usually do that kind of stuff at a show. Um, And I was like, you know what, I think I'm going to go check it out. I might want to buy an album or something.
[00:15:47] So I went over and I met, um, first I met Travis Smith, their bass player, and Brianna Sig, the drummer, and chatted with them briefly and got a picture and um, was looking at the merch and then um, I walked over and saw my friend Gregory and I was like, all right, well, that was cool. Let's go back to our seats and he's like, oh, well, don't you want to talk to the singer? She's right over there. I didn't see her and I'm like, oh, okay Yeah, I'll go talk to ZouZou. Oh, you know, it'd be really cool to meet her as well.
[00:16:17] And she was really cool. I can't remember exactly the conversation. It was probably something like hey great show. I enjoyed your music. She was very down to earth. Very nice. I got a picture with her.
[00:16:30] And then, um, went to my seat and um, I watched Joan Jett absolutely just tear the roof off the place. I mean, she did a 90-minute set the last like 20 to 30 minutes, she did acoustic music. Cause she had just released that album Change Up where she did a bunch of her songs acoustically. It was her first time doing it live acoustically. Every single song she did was incredible. Um. I mean, she was great. She, she was everything I had ever wanted to see. But it was funny was after that show, all I found myself thinking about was Soraia like, wow, they were so good. I really want to see them again.
[00:17:13] And I'm thinking, you know, they must be opening for other bands or have other shows going on. And that week after the show, my whole like demeanor changed. I just was happier. I didn't feel as depressed. Like the music just really changed me and I felt better.
[00:17:30] And um, so I decided um, to look up their other tour dates and they had some shows coming up in May. The next one was actually on my birthday in Pauling, New York at Darryl's house, which is owned by Darryl Hall from Hall and Oates. And um, I was like, oh, well, that'd be really cool to go to a show and it's on my birthday, see them. And there, it's not like a show where they're opening for anybody. They were touring with two other bands off of their label, the Kurt Baker Band and Ryan Hamilton.
[00:18:02] I was like, okay um, I'm going to do that. And cause Pauling in New York's not far from Albany. And um, I was like, all right, I'm good. And it's been a week since the show and I'm like, you know what? I want to send a message to ZouZou and just thanking her for the show and doing what she does and meeting with the fans after, and I kind of just gave her a little background of what had happened with the loss of my girlfriend a few months before and how depressed I was.
[00:18:32] I wasn't going to go to the show and I did, and it just, it really lifted my spirits and made me feel good. It made me feel happy. And I said to her, you know, I'm, I'm going to go to your show on my birthday and Pauling New York. And, And I also mentioned to her how much I liked the album or dig the Dig Your, Dig Your Roots album. Um, there’s a song on there called Still I Rise that really stands out. That is one of my favorite songs.
[00:18:58] And I didn't expect much of a response. I mean, I messaged her on Instagram and I wasn't really that active on Instagram at the time and I figured, okay, you know, if I get chili to like the message, or she might just send something back saying, thank you. Um, I think it was like a few hours later, I got a super long detailed message from her. It was just thanking me for writing her, how much it made her day. Um, how happy she was that, you know, the music made me feel good and lifted my spirits. And, um, you know, and she said that absolutely we could meet and talk after the show in Pauling, New York and she was going to give me a copy of um, the Still I Rise single on vinyl. And it was just a really nice, a lot more than I ever expected in a response. And it just made my whole week, weekend, I should say.
[00:19:52] Until the next day, which is when my life took a really dark turn. And um, it's interesting that I'm talking to you guys about this now, because I had another person who wanted to interview me about this about a year ago, but it was still too raw and too hard for me to talk about. Um, I had told um, some people the story um, through messages and stuff. Um, Actually I told ZouZou in a message and um, some other people.
[00:20:22] But, that day after um, I was living in the house that my girlfriend had owned. Um, and I knew I was going to have to move out um, cause we didn't have anything in my name. And I was okay. I got a call from her mother and, um. I went over to see her per their request and um, didn't have a good relationship with them. They didn't like their daughter because she was gay.
[00:20:47] And, um, I didn't expect the meeting with her parents to go as bad as it did because they were pretty cordial to me during the whole process of her burial and everything.
[00:20:59] Um, they said, I won't go into full detail, but they said some very ugly things that shouldn't be said to any human being that were very hurtful. And, um, and I was in a very vulnerable state, you know, I was still hurting a lot from the loss and, um. when I left their house that evening, and I went back to my house, to the house I was living in, I felt completely destroyed, like I had nothing left.
[00:21:28] Like, I mean, I thought they were maybe two people that I could possibly have in my corner, even if we weren't going to be close, but they, the way they treated me was absolutely horrible. And on my way back to my house, I'd made three phone calls, two to some friends and one to a family member. And of course, none of them answered.
[00:21:49] So that made me feel more alone. And um, you know, I, I know I told you guys that the music pulled me out of a dark depression. It pulled me out of um, moments away from suicide. Um, I had just given up. I mean, Jen was my whole life, you know? Um, And then they have, you know, excuse me, the two people that I thought would be in my corner, you know, even though they didn't have a good relationship with their daughter, I thought they'd still show some support and they weren't there.
[00:22:22] I just felt alone. So I went in the house and I wrote letters to my family to my brothers and my mom. And then. I grabbed a bottle of oxycodones, I believe it was, that were left over from a back surgery that my girlfriend had had years ago. And a bottle of Benadryl, and I was gonna take, I think there was nine or ten oxycodones with the Benadryl.
[00:22:46] I was just gonna do it, fall asleep, and be done. And um, how the music comes into this is um, I had gone out, I had written the letters, gone outside, put them in the mailbox. Now this is a Sunday. So, I was waiting for those to go out the next day and I went back in the house. I had the pills in my hand and it was eerily quiet.
[00:23:11] Normally when I'm in the house, I have something on for background noise. Usually, the TV or I'm playing a record. And, but I had just come home and I didn't have anything going on, so the quickest thing for me to grab was my cell phone. And I just put on Apple Music, and the last thing I was listening to uh, the last band I was listening to was Soraia, the Dig Your Roots album.
[00:23:32] And what song came on? But Still I Rise. Um, And I'm sitting there, and I'm listening to the lyrics, and um, I don't know what it was. I don't know, but at that moment, it was just like a few seconds, but it seemed like longer something just clicked in my head. Like, what are you doing? What the heck are you doing?
[00:23:57] I mean, why, you know, I was thinking back to the great time I had at the show, the interaction I had with Zuzu, the message I got from her and what I was looking forward to seeing the band again. And I'm like, I have so much to live for. What am I doing? What the heck am I doing? And so, I threw the pills away.
[00:24:16] And I texted my brother, Joe, and I said, you need to call me. It's an emergency. And he did. And then to make a long story short, four days later, we had a U Haul packed up with all my belongings. I quit my job. Um, took my six weeks of vacation time and moved back home to Massachusetts. And um, that was like April 28th.
[00:24:45] And came home and, you know, it was a rough first week home, you know, it was a lot of stress getting settled in and not having a job and looking for, you know, even though I had six weeks to find one.
[00:24:55] But my birthday was coming up on May 8th and I was still going to go see Soraia, even though I was living in Southbridge, Massachusetts. Pauling, New York's a little bit further away, but I booked a hotel room and I made the trip out there by myself.
[00:25:10] And when I got to the venue, it's a venue that when you go in, it's also a restaurant. So, they have tables seated for four and for two, and then the stage. And I asked if I could sit in front of the stage and they said, no, those are tables for four. So, I sat a little further away from the stage.
[00:25:27] And I saw um, a woman had come in by herself and I'm like, oh, you know, I invited her to sit with me, you know, just somebody to talk to. And she had seen Soraia, I don't know if it was the night before or a couple nights before in New York city with the same bands. Cause they were doing like a run of four shows. And she was a big Ryan Hamilton fan, but she's like, Oh yeah. She's like, I thought Soraia was great too. And I, she asked me how I had seen them.
[00:25:54] And I told her about the Joan Jett show. Well, as soon as I said Joan Jett, there was a couple sitting at the table behind us and the woman's head spun around and she's like, we were at that same show. And that is two people that I can now, you know, our fellow Soraia fans, and I'm also happy to call friends, Ken and Bonnie, they live in Rhode Island and they had come up for the show.
[00:26:17] And I'm like, wait a minute, now there's four of us. So, I went and saw that lady at the, at the front of the building and I'm like uh, can we move now to the front stage? Because literally there was a table right in front of the singer's microphone, like right there. So, she's like, yeah, sure.
[00:26:35] So you know, the four of us sat together and um, you know, I think Ryan Hamilton had come on first. He didn't have a full band with him. It was, He did like an acoustic set and he had a keyboard player and he was incredible. And then the Kurt Baker band came out there um, kind of a rock pop kind of sound. um, incredible band. But I was just you know, eager to see Soraia. That's, that’s who I was there to see.
[00:27:02] And, um, wow. Um, seeing them that close was like, yeah, it, it was incredible. I can't even tell you; I mean, it was definitely probably one of my... I mean, I've been the 26 Soraia shows since April of 2022. That one is probably, I can't pick one favorite, but it's definitely in my top three um, because of how intimate of a setting it was how close I was to the band um and then after the show, um, I got pictures with all of them.
[00:27:40] I got, um in addition to getting the copy of Still I Rise, I also bought the Dig Your Roots on vinyl, the album. I got a copy of the copy of set list. They autographed everything for me. um, it was just It was incredible and the fact that I had met some fellow fans, and it was great.
[00:28:01] I remember driving back to um, my hotel afterwards and I'm like, I have to go to the last show on this tour. They've got one more show coming up. It was May, uh, May 13th in um, Clifton, New Jersey at a tiny sort of, like, bar slash venue called Dingbats. And I'm like, I got to go to this now. I'm not working. Why not? You know?
[00:28:29] So uh, I ended up doing that. Um, I ended up going home from that show and a week later, went to Clifton, New Jersey to see them and the woman um, that I had sat with at the previous show um, happened to be there because she, again, is a big Ryan Hamilton fan. And um, so we met up there and uh, again, just a fantastic experience. Um, and I didn't just like hang out or talk with just Soraia after the show.
[00:29:02] I also interacted with Kurt Baker's band. Uh, Especially the drummer, Craig Sala um, he's in a few other bands and um, it, it was just really nice. And at the time after the show, um, I believe it was ZouZou, she said to me, you know, we're doing another show tomorrow in New Jersey. It's a short, a small one. It's going to be acoustic only. Um, it was for WDHA radio station in New Jersey was having an event, like a dog adoption event at a car dealership. And they wanted the, I guess the band that was supposed to play had dropped off. So, they asked Soraia to come in and do some show, do a few songs. And I'm like, well, it's I think it was, uh, I have it written down here. It was Rockaway New Jersey.
[00:29:47] Before I went, I forgot to mention at the shows um, especially the one I went to in New Jersey, I took a lot of photos and I recorded a video of their first song that they played. And I posted it on my Instagram and my Facebook and I tagged the bands. And, I got a lot of positive feedback from my friends, my family. They're like, oh, wow, this is really cool. And that, also started to become a way you probably found me on Instagram as well. All my, every show I go to now, I post photos and videos from it. And it, I did the same thing at the Rockaway New Jersey show. I recorded; I think they did three songs. I recorded two of them. They did Tight Lipped and Wild Woman. And it was acoustic and it was incredible. That, that show again, even though it was only three songs, it was still just great seeing them.
[00:30:39] I remember driving back home and it was just like, I was just so happy. I was feeling good. You know, everything just started, everything just turned around for me after that, I got a fantastic job at UMass Chan medical school, and I just started going to shows. I mentioned to you, I had talked to the drummer from at the time for the Kurt Baker band, Craig Sala, and he had told me, Oh, I'm in a couple other bands.
[00:31:07] And um, he sent me the flyer for one of them and he was doing um, a show at Cafe Nine, in. which is in New Haven, Connecticut, with a band called The Worst, and they're based out of Portland, Maine, and, um, a fantastic punk band. And after I posted the photos and video from that and tagged them in it, I started to pick up followers that were like mutual friends with the bands, that I, and one of them was Dave Strong, who's a punk rocker from Portland, Maine. And so, he was doing a show in Connecticut. I'm like, oh, I'm going to go see him and check him out.
[00:31:50] After that, which that was literally like, what, maybe a month after the last Soraia show? At the Dave strong show, I saw two incredible punk bands, which I call probably my two favorite ones right now that I go to see quite often. They're out of um, the New Haven area in Connecticut. One of them is called The Resistors and the other one's called Mitch Kramer. And, I just, they started doing shows you know, a couple, you know, like every month or so they'd have a show somewhere, but they'd be playing like, like three or four other bands.
[00:32:25] And I ended up liking those bands. Bands like Peasant and Cry Havoc and The Last Survivors, Jared Knapik. I couldn't, I could go on and on naming them and that led me to wanting to go. I started following all these bands and that led me to starting to go to show every weekend.
[00:32:41] The next Soraia show was that July on Long Island, New York. I made the trip. Um, it was a Friday. I took the day off from work, made the trip. It was at the Paramount theater. Um, they were opening for a band, uh, a Queen cover band called Killer Queen. And um, again, it was, it was just, it was incredible. I had a great time. I mean, I saw the band after the show. That's really where it all started.
[00:33:12] After that, it became a thing. Now I'm going to go to a show every weekend, sometimes two and um, take pictures, post the videos. I let the bands use it any way they want. um, you know, I just do it for, I, I like the videos and the pictures for myself because even though I had moved back home and the music had kind of healed me, I was still going through some, you know, grief from my loss.
[00:33:39] And I would just watch the videos during the week or look at the pictures on my phone and it would just make me feel good and it would make me feel excited for whoever I was going to see that following weekend. I just looked forward to going to shows and I started meeting people at these shows. Uh, a lot of I see a lot of the same fans that go to the shows. So like because some people would say to me, well, you go to these shows by yourself?
[00:34:04] Is that even fun? I'm like, oh, it's a blast because I know people there. I know people in the audience. I know the bands.
[00:34:11] Charles: Yeah.
[00:34:12] Dawn: Um, it's, I mean, it's changed... My whole life has changed so much. And I've, you know, I saw that year from April of 2022 to the end of 2022. I saw Soraia 10 times.
[00:34:29] Charles: Okay.
[00:34:29] Dawn: I saw them like four times in November. And then I drove out to Philadelphia and went to their album release show that December, where they did their, let their latest album Bloom front to back plus a bunch of other songs and it was a 90-minute set. It was just incredible. I'm actually They filmed the video, Um a music video there. So, all the fans that were like right up in the front are in it, so I’m I think I'm in like eight different shots of the video, which is pretty cool.
[00:34:57] Charles: That's cool. Yeah.
[00:34:59] Dawn: It's just it hasn't stopped I mean, so 2023 came along and I just started planning out my shows and Soraia holds the top spot. I mean, that band will always hold a special place in my heart. Cause I think of them and it's like, wow, I'm still here because of them. The music really changed me, um, saved me. I'm just so grateful. I mean um, I'm already looking forward to seeing them. They've got a few shows coming up the end of April. I'm going to be going to all three of them, a couple in Connecticut, one in New Jersey. um, I mean, there's no question. I go everywhere to see them. I saw them 16 times last year in 7 different states.
[00:35:44] Charles: Yeah, I was, I was gonna get into that a little bit with you, Dawn. But first, I, I, I want to thank you for sharing that, uh, that entire story. Um, and I'm sorry for your loss. And I, I just, that was, that was a really compelling story. Um, and I appreciate it. Um, you, when you're, you're talking about seeing these bands um, and we had a guy on, I don't know if you listened to the episode, his name is Roger Marlot.
[00:36:16] Dawn: I did listen to it.
[00:36:17] Charles: We titled it London's Notorious Gig Master.
[00:36:21] Dawn: Mm hmm.
[00:36:22] Charles: And, and you guys have a really similar story. I mean, he was struggling uh, as well. Um, and then there was this like gateway concert that he went to, which Doug, I think it was Joan Baez, maybe. Um, that he, he had seen and then...
[00:36:37] Douglas: Yep.
[00:36:38] Charles: He started to go to all these concerts and I just, uh, I think the only difference between you and Roger is, is Roger's retired. So, he can, he can go out during the week and uh, you get to do this over the weekend. But um, yeah, just some of the, the similarities I, I'd written down. um, you know, you both keep, like he keeps, he kept this, or still keeps this book of bands. Um, he's 75 years old. He just celebrated a birthday actually. Um, where you, you keep a a spreadsheet, right?
[00:37:15] Dawn: Yeah, I started with a notebook but once I started adding shows and it started to become like a weekly thing, it was getting to be kind of messy. There was all these scribble outs here and there. And then, when I started traveling to go to different states, I'm like, okay, I'm going to have to do this differently.
[00:37:33] So that's you know, when I went into Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program, created a spreadsheet. And now I can sort it by band, date, state, venue. You know, I can total up how many times I've seen a particular band. And that's just made it a lot easier for me to keep track of it. Like I told you last year, I saw 152 bands.
[00:37:57] Charles: Yeah.
[00:37:57] Dawn: Went to 74 shows at 40 different venues in eight different States.
[00:38:01] Charles: Yeah. And I did, I, I did some uh, uh, math on that as best as, as best I could. And um, I have you going to uh, like a, a show, um, you know, two, a little over two shows every weekend. Is that kind of accurate?
[00:38:22] Dawn: Pretty much. Yeah.
[00:38:24] Charles: You know?
[00:38:25] Dawn: Most of the time there was a couple weekends I missed. Like I usually didn't do the weekend after Thanksgiving and then usually the weekend of Christmas and the weekend of New Year's, it's just not a lot of shows going on then because everybody's taking a break for the holidays.
[00:38:38] And then I think we missed a weekend. In February because I was sick with a cold. Um, but you know, um, yeah, and it pretty much a trip came down to every weekend, some weeks, two or three shows. Cause if Soraia, if Soraia was coming around and doing a northeast run of like four shows in a few different states, I would just take like the week off from work and plan. I, I, I go to every show.
[00:39:04] Charles: You drive to these shows, I would imagine.
[00:39:06] Dawn: Yep. Yeah. I've driven as far south as Philadelphia and as far north as Portland, Maine to see them.
[00:39:13] Charles: Yeah, because Roger, he, um, you know, he, he has to do public transportation around London and stuff. Um, But, uh. yeah, so I was assuming you were, you were driving to, to all of these show. And, um, I, I was going to say, Dawn um, we were looking at Soraia's website and they are they're playing in Chicago on September 20th at a place called the Liars Club, which I've, I've never been there. It looks like a really cool place though. So, I, I think, I think Doug and I are going to be at that show.
[00:39:52] Douglas: Yeah, you, you kind of turned us on to that band.
[00:39:54] Dawn: That's very cool.
[00:39:56] Charles: Yeah. We're going to try to recruit some of our Seeing Them Live, uh, local guests here and, uh, see if we could get a group going. So, um, if you, if you want to add to your uh, distance record and, and want to drive out to Chicago, we'd be happy to meet you there and, and check them out.
[00:40:16] Dawn: I'd love to meet you guys and see them live with you would be great.
[00:40:20] Douglas: I had a question. You, had written in your notes here that you met Stephen Van Zandt?
[00:40:26] Dawn: I did
[00:40:28] Douglas: Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Because apparently Soraia is on his record label, Wicked Cool Records. And so, can you tell us a little bit about meeting Stephen Van Zandt?
[00:40:40] Dawn: Yeah. He was at their show I went to this past November at the Berlin Under A, in New York City. Um, and, after the first band played, I went to take a break and I was going to go over to the merch table and I saw him there. He was just kind of standing in the back and he had his wife Maureen with him and they had, he had just gotten done talking.
[00:41:06] Kurt Baker was there and he had talked to Kurt and I was like, oh man, I, I've got to go and introduce myself. And thank him for signing Soraia to his record label. And I didn't get a chance to tell him my whole story, but I did tell him that their music saved me and how much it meant to me and how much I appreciated him signing the, you know, Soraia to his label.
[00:41:29] And he, he, he was, you know, very happy to hear that and um, it it was, it was very cool meeting him. Um, and yeah, and then also if you listen to his um, he has a radio station on Sirius XM, Little Stevens Underground Garage. If you listen to that, you'll hear Soraia on there a lot. Probably them almost every day if I'm listening to that.
[00:41:55] But yeah, yeah. So that that was that was really cool. Um, all my friends that were there at the show with me, we all got pictures with him and stuff. It was very cordial and nice. And yeah, it was just added to uhm, again, the memories of that, of that show.
[00:42:10] Charles: Very cool. Very cool. Yeah, so. As we're uh, approaching the end, Dawn, I just, yeah, I didn't know if there was anything you wanted to add, or, uh, plug or talk about or...
[00:42:21] Dawn: No, I mean um, you know um, going to a show um, tonight in uh, Windsor, Connecticut to see some great punk bands. I'm looking forward to that. Um, and um, I pretty much have shows booked the rest of this month and going into March and April. Um, you know, um. if anybody wants to see any of the bands I follow um, they can just go onto my Instagram or my Facebook and follow me.
[00:42:51] I literally post a video of usually every band that I see. And then I sometimes take photos as well and post those. So, you know, I know I have some followers that go there just for that. They like to see the pictures and stuff I post. But yeah, no, um, you know, thank you for having me. It was, it was really nice to be able to tell that story.
[00:43:13] I'm hoping that, you know, people realize how healing and therapeutic music can be because that's what it is for me. It's sort of like a therapy. It's like, you know I’m going and as soon as I hear the music and I see the bands and I see my friends there, it's just it's, I'm just so happy and I feel so good. You know, I have Soraia to thank for that because they started this whole journey.
[00:43:37] Charles: Yeah, that's a, that's really, really interesting uh, story and um, yeah, it's been a pleasure speaking with you on Seeing Them Live and we appreciate your time and coming on. And yeah, maybe we'll uh, we'll a meet up sometime.
[00:43:52] Dawn: Yeah, that'd be cool.