My first MP3 Player was an iRiver something-or-other. And actually it was pretty good. It served me well for some years. Now the battery is dead in it and it can only be used by being plugged into a power source. Since I mostly live with my iPod shuffle these days (so much so that I’ve considered getting more iPod Shuffles) I’ve decided as part of the clean up that the iRiver should go. So I am just removing any incriminating evidence from it before I throw it out.
I found some old vocal performances on it that I did… Tori songs, Annie Lennox songs… other randomness. Some photographs too. And now I’m listening to random Sophie B. Hawkins recordings. I have them all on CDs (I have an impressive Sophie collection but that probably surprises no one.) But the truth is they aren’t even on my computer as mp3s… at least not in the media player and iTunes playlists. And within a minute or two of listening to much of this I’ve been in such an amazing head space.
I’ve been struggling for a while to find my inspiration. But surely I know who inspires me. I just need to have easy access to them. I need to have music by Sophie and Rickie Lee Jones and Nina Simone and others at arm’s length. I need to have the photograph of Sophie, Gigi and me on the wall in front of me. I need to be reminded of all the good times. I need to juice those memories and live off them.
What whispers to yourself when you’re finally gone…
I wrote a short something about inspiration at Entertain The Thought. And I was writing about American Idol on my blog… and I found these things I used to have on johnlacey.com. Little things called “What whispers.” It comes from a Rickie Lee Jones lyric. I did these tribute pages to different people who had passed away. I only did two of them… one for Paul Hester (Crowded House drummer who killed himself) and Josh Ryan Evans who was a short person and an actor. I know what you’re thinking “Short person?” Little person, vertically challenged… but don’t make me use the word ‘midget.’ He played Timmy – a doll who had been brought to life by witch Tabitha – on the paranormally themed soap opera Passions. I really liked the quote I had on his page.
My size is an asset to me. People write roles for me.
If I was just another blond-haired, brown-eyed, 18-year-old actor, I’d be left unrecognized. People remember me.
I notice that none of the links on that page about him work any more. It really makes me wonder actually what does whisper when you’re finally gone? What legacy do you have? How quickly are you forgotten?
I think one of the things that really stood out to me about Josh was that we were both born in the same year. He died when we were both twenty years old. He wasn’t here for a long time, but he touched a lot of people.
