On Day 2 of Get Lucky, I arrived early, before the doors opened, to get myself situated and to look for Tyler, whose rave name is RoboRaver, the guy who won the Day 2 ticket on my radio show earlier that week. The giveaway was part of my newly established #RavingThroughSteem initiative, which you can learn more about HERE.
I made a really cheap totem too, so that he would be able to find me easily. You can see it in the video below:
Anyway, after a few minutes of waiting around, Tyler messaged me that he had just got to the venue, so the mission began and we started looking for each other. He was able to find me quite easily! We started talking for a little bit, and he then explained to me that he actually already had a VIP ticket for that day, so he would be giving his prize ticket away to someone, a complete stranger to him, who he had heard needed the experience that night. What amazing PLUR spirit, right?!?
You can see the ticket handover from me to Tyler to her in the video below:
Tyler then ended up being the luckiest guy at Get Lucky 2018, because later that night, he ended up being chosen by Above & Beyond to come on stage and PUSH THE BUTTON! You can read more about the whole Get Lucky 2018 experience HERE. We caught up with Tyler after that weekend and asked if he would be willing to answer some questions about his experiences with raving, and he happily agreed! Without further ado, here is the interview we did.
TDD. How long have you been raving?
RR. Since December 2015. My first show was W&W at Park City Live. I had listened to EDM prior to that, though. I had my Basshunter phase, and even remember loving my uncle's music when I was in elementary school, but I was too young to understand that he was an OG raver. I feel it's kinda always been in my blood, I just didn't realize it until my coworkers convinced me to go.
TDD. How would you compare your Get Lucky 2018 experience to all the other raving experiences you’ve had over the years?
RR. Honestly one of the best, not even including Push the Button and everything else that happened that night. That PLUR energy was so alive. Even one of my fellow button pushers, Erik, said that it felt like the same energy that was at ABGT 250.
TDD. Aside from that epic Push The Button moment, what would you say was your most memorable moment of Get Lucky 2018?
RR. That's a tough one. Sooo many memories were made that night. Probably trading kandi to a random girl during Above & Beyond. Sadly, she's a missed connection right now, but I approached her and asked for a trade. I gave her one of my tide pod kandi necklaces that had picked up some slight internet fame (in fact, she got the original). She got all blushy and smiled. It was one of those in-the-moment things where I felt I that I made her feel included, and that's what it's all about.
TDD. You made a pretty epic Push The Button perler for that night, do you think it played a part in getting selected to push the button?
RR. I know it did. I watched this group of people come out from back stage, one of them had a holographic A&B badge, and they were scoping out the crowd hard. I had no clue how they picked people leading up to it, but at that point, I was pretty sure those were the guys. One of them in particular kept squinting in my direction at the sign on my perler, so I showed him. After that, a lot of people kept pointing their fingers at me. I tried my best to ignore it, all while thinking "oh shit, they might pick me...this can't be real." It seems like they toyed with my emotions for a good 20 minutes before it actually happened, but when it did, the guy I showed came up to me and just said "you." I died, haha.
TDD. How long did it take you to make it? Did you design it yourself?
RR. I designed it after a meme I made. I was bored at work one night and had recently learned about A&B coming for Get Lucky. I had thought about making it a totem, but as Get Lucky got closer I went on a kandi making spree, so I decided to try to make it a perler. It is to date the largest I've ever made. I had to learn to pixelate the photo (which only does so much, by the way), then the rest you have to do by hand, so I was adjusting the pattern as I was making it. The sign portion, I completely freehanded. From learning to pixelate to finished product it was around 8 hours straight. I finished it that morning (when I should have been asleep for work, I might add).
TDD. Can you tell us more about your decision to give away the ticket that you won through our #RavingThroughSteem giveaway?
RR. People that are close to me knew that Get Lucky for me was about healing. Last time I was at an A&B show, it didn't go so well for me. The months after were really rough, so I needed it. I wanted to find someone who needed it just as much. I turned down cash offers, rave fam, and even my DD who had never been to an Above & Beyond show, for Sariah. I didn't even know her before that. She was friends with a Facebook acquaintance of mine, but I felt she really needed it as opposed to simply wanting it. Trance especially has a healing power in my eyes, and if you let it into your heart it can do some amazing things.
TDD. How do you feel about being the luckiest guy at Get Lucky this year?
RR. I feel humbled. I'm not the type that is used to attention, and I'm typically a socially awkward introvert, so this is kinda new for me. The journey for me actually started about 2 weeks prior to Get Lucky, but it was the peak of what was quite the adventure for me.
TDD. You’ve said that your luck hasn’t ended with the Push The Button thing; could you tell us more about this streak of good luck that you’ve been having?
RR. My luck...well I feel the luck started a few weeks prior. I caught a brief viral wave when I posted this online:
It got 1.3k likes on Headbang Society alone, and was featured on several kandi pages. After that, I did this:
People started calling me a legend. Some guy even asked me to be his dad 😅 That led me to making the perler that got the button. After that I won the ticket and gave it away, so I feel like karma was on my side at that point, and the rest is history. After the button, the 4 of us didn't exchange contact info, so I set out to find them.
We found each other by chance within 24 hours. Erik is very connected it seems, and he decided to share the love and has since invited me to be on his guest list for both A&B shows on the strip during EDC week in Las Vegas. Catalina has offered her place to stay for ABGT 300 if it happens in a certain country. Random people have been reaching out to me with videos of that moment, stuff like that has been happening a lot. It's been crazy! I even found $5 by my truck after your show this Wednesday, and no one was parked by me. I feel that I’ve been very blessed lately in a lot of ways.
TDD. What do you love most about the raving lifestyle and culture?
RR. Acceptance and expressionism. You're free to do what you want and feel and no one is going to judge you for it. You can be the true you.
TDD. How would you describe the raving experience to someone who’s never been to one before?
RR. I would describe it as...it's the way the world should be. People are just loving and supportive. We watch out for each other. The music unites us, but it's the people that truly make the experience.
TDD. Have you checked out Steemit at all since you won the ticket giveaway? Would you ever consider joining the platform yourself to help spread EDM culture on the blockchain as well?
RR. I have considered it, yes but I haven't had the chance to look into it. Behind the scenes I've slowly been trying to build my online presence, mainly focusing on getting my perlers out there.
TDD. Any closing remarks/comments you’d like to leave us with?
RR. I never thought that perler would work. I never thought those kandi pieces would get the attention they did. I even met a guy that night that had copied my work not knowing that I was local. It was so amazing to know that I had reached so many people! I had never made so many kandi trades or met so many new people.
The funny thing is that I don't feel I really tried. I just followed my heart and the universe took me on the journey I needed to be on. To be honest...and this is the part I've held back from people except for my closest friends...3 weeks prior I had told my family that I didn't want to be here anymore. I don’t like talking about it much, and it’s not something anyone ever wants to admit, but back in December I was pretty convinced that I wanted to start to OD after the push the button moment at EDC 2018. A friend, and rave family member of mine (that didn’t know about it beforehand) has since encouraged me to speak out about it.
Experiencing push the button at EDC last year was one of my happiest memories, so if I was going to go...I figured that would be a happy last memory. "A king for a day," if you will...if you listen to those lyrics as a depressed and broken person...the first line is "I get tired of life"...and my mind ran with that. Then I found out they wouldn't be at EDC this year. Talk about Divine Intervention...but then I considered doing it at Get Lucky. There was a point I was wanting to pretty bad.
But then the kandi thing happened, and it gave me hope. It gave me the fuel I needed to push on. I hit an extreme low, and that's why I think I got so lucky. I had to be broken down completely to let the universe rebuild me in the way it needed me to be. I'll admit that despite knowing so many people there...I spent most of A&B's set alone and it kinda sucked for a minute, but Above & Beyond has a unique way of reminding you that you're never truly alone.
One of the most powerful moments for me was right after I hugged Tony and was on my way to push the button...I realized what I would have done to that song and it felt like I broke free. That from that moment on, I would be a different person. I remember looking down at the crowd and someone was doing the heart hands in the crowd and...I felt the love. The energy on that stage is so powerful that I can't even begin to describe it. That night changed me...and I hope that stays with me the rest of my life.
Since then, I want to add that I wrote a letter to my original rave dad, thanking him. If he hadn't have dragged me into crowd center at W&W that night in 2015, or if he had not introduced me to A&B...I wouldn't be who I am now, or had the experiences that I've had. Sometimes it just takes the right person at the right time to change a life forever.
That's something that I think we all need to remember. One of my favorite Above & Beyond quotes is "Life is made of small moments like this." That is so true, and the beauty of it is that every single one of us has the power to create a small moment for one another, you just have to put yourself out there and do it. It's within us, we just have to listen to our hearts to let it happen.
WOW, what an amazing, guy, eh? And what a story of true healing, a true testament to the healing powers of the Electronic Dance Music scene, culture, and lifestyle! As I was reading his response, particularly his closing remarks, I couldn't hold back the tears from falling down my face.
Stories like Tyler's, of hitting the darkest time of your life, only to be tossed into a situation that leads to catharsis and healing and a true transformation into a new person, are why I have embedded myself so deeply into the EDM community. I could resonate with his story so well, because I had a similar "dying but brought back to life by EDM" experience myself when I went to EDC Las Vegas last year. My own life has been this amazing journey of finding myself and feeling true fulfillment, and experiencing a true wholeness of being ever since I started going to EDM festivals and shows again after EDC last year.
I run this blog and my weekly radio show, because I wholeheartedly believe that everyone should experience this amazing EDM culture at least once in their life. This is my way of trying to shine a light on the true significance, the true power, of Electronic Dance Music. I hope you will all continue to follow me as I continue on this journey. Thank you so much for being here and taking the time to get to know RoboRaver through this interview!
If you enjoyed this post, please consider upvoting and resteeming so that we can get Tyler's amazing story of healing and revival as far and wide as possible. I truly believe that his story is one that needs to be seen by as many people as possible. You never know who it could help give that one little sliver of hope to when they're at that lowest low and thinking of giving up on life.
If you’d like to connect with Tyler you can also reach him through his other social media profiles:
Instagram: @roboraver
Snapchat: @tyler6284
You can also find him right here on the Steem blockchain as @roboraver.
Check out some of my other posts!
Content Creation Platforms on the Steem Blockchain
Six Sites You Need to Know About as a New Steemian
How You Can Withdraw Your Steemit Earnings to USD
How to Use Tags to Maximize Visibility for Your Posts and Gain More Upvotes
How The Minnow Support Project Helps You Achieve Your Dreams on Steemit
How I Achieved 200 Followers in My First Month on Steemit
Why I Chose to Invest $100 in Steem
How To Set Up Your Steemit Profile
The Dawn of The Dancing Dreamers
The Dawn of Friendship In a New Age
I'm Just an Island Boy Living in Utah who Loves EDM
!steemitworldmap 40.754539 lat -111.902618 long Salt Lake City, Utah local Steemian! d3scr
An amazing story. He should def get on steemit !
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank you, he is on Steemit now, as of this morning, as @roboraver!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Rick & Morty fans are soooo jealous of that sauce.
Also, can you bottle this luck and let me buy a bit to use during @spl freerolls?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
RIGHT? I wish Utah had a lottery cuz man oh man I'd steal his luck and buy hella tickets :P
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
This is a great story. I can't wait for the Utah Steemit Meet-ups to happen. Let's start planning them out!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Let's do it! I'm so down :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You write such energetic, interesting posts, @rodeo670. I really enjoy reading them.
I've also read some of your other articles for newbies, with tips and info on how you navigated your way on Steemit from the beginning. Thanks for writing those, and for linking to them at the bottom of your page so they're easy to find.
I upvoted you, but right now my vote's not even registering 0.01. But the intent is there! :-)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank you so much, @bananamemos! I'm so happy that you have found my guides helpful, that's why I wrote them! :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=rodeo670
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=the-dancing-dreamers-a-story-of-hitting-rock-bottom-and-being-revived-through-the-power-of-the-rave-meet-tyler-winner-of-the
Want to have your post on the map too?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by SaipanDamashii from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP.
Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
This post has been selected by Altruistic as a post of the day has been given an upvote.
You may join us on her discord server: https://discord.gg/KHB9eJk.
Please kindly upvote this comment in order to keep us helping plankton and minnows that their quality posts are undervalued.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit