A cold rain poured down on New Orleans. Simon O’Mally looked out his window at the city and caught caught a glimpse of his reflection. “How did I get this old?” he thought in disgust. Sex, drugs and rock and roll had somehow turned into Viagra, ibuprofen and easy listening. This was no way for an aging rockstar to live.
But was he really alive? It felt more like he had died years ago.
He breathed against the glass. A fog formed. “OK,” he thought, “At least I am alive.” He just wish he could have said the same for his career.
Tonight he’d stand on stage with his guitar and play his hits from 30-years ago to a crowd who would show up fashionably late and talk through all the new songs. They might cheer his biggest hit, a #2 smash from 1986 — the one that was playing in the damned elevator. Or they might leave early because of the weather. He looked at his phone and saw three messages from his manager. Simon replied by throwing the phone across the room. He was throwing an epic pity party in his small hotel room. No one else was invited.
Simon felt the wrinkles on his face. Was this all there was that left? He imagined himself diving out the window and onto the street below. That might get him on the charts again. Death did Elvis’ career wonders.
No. He wouldn’t quit. An old freighter pushed against the Mississippi River’s mighty current. It struggled and sent up a frothing wake. But it was heading toward it’s destination. It didn’t stop because things were “too hard.” Simon thought of a day from his youth. He and his father were sailing near Sydney, Australia when a sudden storm came up. “I’m scared Dad! I want off!” His father, who was fighting to keep the ship afloat screamed back, “Then jump overboard. But I’m not quitting. We have a beautiful destination ahead of us. We just have to ride out the storm!”
His father died three years later of a heart attack. But they didn’t die that day. They kept fighting all the way back to their destination. Simon thought of all the beautiful destinations he had seen since then: MTV, Award shows, beautiful fans, exotic cities. If he had quit that day, he would have missed them all.
I just have to ride out the storm!
New Orleans is a city of lost souls. But one of those souls also became Simon’s muse. He walked over to the desk and started writing lyrics. Images of a storm flowed from his hand. Images of a boat and a small boy. Currents swirled around the green water. Froth churned in the storm. Sea-spray stung his eyes. And by the end of the lyrical journey, hope and grit arrived safely at its destination. It was a song he needed to write. It was a son he needed to hear. He picked up his guitar and the melody flowed from his fingers. Never had a song been this easy to write. Never had he felt magic.
“Thanks, Dad.”
That night in the House of Blues, Simon O’Mally played to a 3/4 house. They showed up late and talked during his newer songs. But when he played, “Riding out the Storm” at the end of the last encore, you could hear a pen drop. “This is for my dad,” he said as he began to play. Camera phones rose like the tide, capturing the raw moment when an aging rock star delivered three and half minutes of magic to the world. When his guitar’s last string silenced, the hall erupted into cheers. Simon wiped the sweat off his forehead and the houselights came on.
“Helluva song, Simon!” his manager nearly tackled him. “I was even inspired by it. Where did that come from?”
Simon tapped his heart and pointed to the sky.
Postscript.
“Riding out the Storm” became a YouTube sensation. It was the most retweeted video of 2015 and was shared over and over on Facebook. Like the 1,000th match hitting wet wood, a fire was started with that song. And Simon O’Mally had his first number one song ever. It was played at the Super Bowl the next year and became the theme song for anyone facing a struggle. When Simon came back to New Orleans the next year (to a packed house), he met a man and his daughter. “I was going to kill myself, but I heard your song. You helped me ride out the storm. Now she has a dad and I have hope. Thank you.”
Simon O’Mally hugged the man and the little girl. And at that moment, he realized, he also had ridden out the storm.