Roy Story

Is late musician spinning in his grave?

Comments (0) By Robrt L. Pela Thursday, Jan 24 2008

Roy Orbison rarely expressed anything celebratory in his work. In songs like “Blue Angel” and “Mean Woman Blues,” he -- and we -- found joy in heartache, beauty in the shades of gray in which Orbison’s music resides. So one wonders what the late singer would have made of the multi-tiered hubbub (including a documentary film, a gallery exhibit, a concert, and an awards banquet) kicking off this week. Perhaps the most compelling of the events is “Mercy: A Roy Orbison Pilgrimage” -- a display of Dallas entrepreneur Glen Agritelley’s Orbison memorabilia, the largest private stash in the world. The exhibition features nearly 100 items from Orbison’s career, among them a signed guitar, vintage concert posters and sheet music, and costumes the singer/songwriter wore on stage.

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The opening of the exhibit on Friday, January 25, commences with a talk by Agritelley at 11 a.m. It’s followed at 8 p.m. by a tribute concert featuring the Truly Lover Trio and the world première of Kim Scharnberg’s Suite on the Tunes of Roy Orbison as performed by the Herberger String Quartet.

Jan. 25-April 18, 2008