“We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.”
― William James
“Doraville
It ain't much, but it's homeDoraville
Doraville, it's all right, it's all right, it's all right”- Songwriters: Barry Bailey / Buddy Buie / Robert Nix
Every so often, I order scones from a little Irish bar, Mary O’s, in New York City. I have never actually been to the bar, but I feel a connection. It all started during Covid, when restaurants and bars were struggling, and their story was featured on Humans of New York .
Stay with me here….
I followed Brandon Stanton, the creator of Humans of New York (HONY) years ago on Instagram, mainly because he was an alumni of University of Georgia (as am I), but I have continued to follow him since then because I enjoy his work and there is nothing I love better than a good story. In 2020, he did a post on Mary O’s, a neighborhood Irish bar in NYC in danger of closing for good because the owner, Mary O’Halloran had no way to make rent. It is hard to run a bar if no one is allowed inside. Her husband was away for a year working as a longshoreman, meanwhile Mary was in New York City, homeschooling her kids, making meals for frontline workers and trying to sell scones to stay afloat. Brandon talked her into selling scones online to raise money to save the bar and put the link on his story about her. Thousands of us in the Instagram world connected with her plight, ordered scones and a week later she had sold over a million dollars worth of them. (Link at the bottom of the page for the whole wonderful story.)
These are not just any scone, but they're pillows of goodness made from Irish flour by an Irish woman, and they come with Irish love and a little piece of art from her daughter. And did I mention, the Irish butter and homemade blackberry preserves included in the box?! (Can you tell I have a fondness for all things Irish?) The scones are delicious but truth be told, I keep reordering them equally as much for the beautiful hand made thank you note that is tucked in beside them. It makes me smile and I feel like part of the family. As splurges go, they are a good one.
Back to my story… Over coffee this morning, I checked to see where, in UPS delivery land, my beloved scones were currently located. Turns out, they were on their way to me, having just left Doraville, GA this morning. I immediately launched into the refrain from the song “Doraville”, much to Marc’s confusion and dismay. He wanted to know what and where a Doraville was and why I was singing.
“Doraville
Touch of country in the city
Doraville
It ain't much, but it's home”
So, of course, I pulled up iTunes on my phone and played the song for him. He didn't seem very impressed and swore he had never heard the song before. And it didn’t appear from his reaction he ever wanted to hear it again. Although to be fair, me singing along enthusiastically probably didn’t sell it as well as I’d hoped.
I kept trying to tell him he had heard the song, provide connections to help remind him, trigger a memory. But nothing. He had never heard it. It got me to thinking, how can that be? I mean, that band, that song was so familiar to me. I thought it was to everyone.
Until that moment, it had never occurred to me, if you didn’t grow up in the south, you might not have ever heard of Atlanta Rhythm Section, much less the song “Doraville”. I realized that my knowledge and love for Atlanta Rhythm Section and specifically the connection of that song in that moment, was tied to nostalgia… my own memories of growing up. It just didn’t translate to someone who wasn’t from here, didn’t share the same history or even know that there was a Doraville, GA.
“…Friends of mine
Say I oughta move to New York
New York's fine
But it ain't Doraville”
If all of this is news to you too, “Doraville” is a song by the band Atlanta Rhythm Section. It is also the name of a city just northeast of Atlanta, where they happen to be from. The band originated as a house band in the early 70’s for Studio One in Atlanta. They are a regional southern rock band, think Allman Brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd with a little more of a pop feel. Their first big top 40 song was “Doraville” in the mid 70’s. I think I was 10 and can remember singing along to that song on my pocket AM transistor radio. They became part of the soundtrack of my teenage years and I remember seeing them a couple of times in concert while I was in college. They definitely weren’t my favorite band but they were fun to sing along to. Most of the original members are gone now but some version of the group is still touring. And funny enough, the lyrics to their songs pop into my mind now just as easily as they did fifty years ago.
“… Every night
I make a living making music
That's all right to the folks in Doraville
Yeah, hey hey
Ooh, hot time in Dixie, hey
It's funky but it's pretty
Sweet Georgia…”
And what does all of this have to do with art? Probably nothing. But it was a gentle reminder to me of the importance of connection. My interest in Humans of New York connected me to Mary O’s and a love for all things Irish with her homemade scones and her daughter’s art which all happen to be stuck momentarily in Doraville, in turn reminding me of my fondness for a band from my childhood. No one else but me could connect all those dots.
And yet, my first reaction was surprise that I was the only one that saw the dots and made the connections. It is so easy to assume that everyone knows what you are thinking and shares your frame of reference
Back to the loose art connection lesson... Just because I feel strongly about what I paint doesn’t mean that connection will translate easily to someone else. It’s important that I find a way to make that connection, whether that is through a love of nature or place or story or color or mood. Something. And no, probably not by singing like I did this morning, but it is important to find common ground somewhere. I need to find a way to connect the dots to something that someone besides me, can relate to.
That applies to pretty much everything in life, I suppose. From Instagram to art to scones, even to Doraville.
“…Come on down, visit, you'll dig it
Red clay hills
Rednecks drinking wine on Sunday
Behind their field
Getting down in Doraville”
“Doraville” by the Atlanta Rhythm Section
Click here if you would like to order Mary O’s Scones for yourself! But get in line… there is a waitlist, however, they are well worth it!
Those scones are the real deal!
I like this post because it is light and happy and made me smile. You just can't take the North out of the boy ha ha .... hmm scones.