Yep. That’s me. A young me. Meeting with Tori Amos, in Norman, Oklahoma for this photo. It would be the third time we had met with Tori that tour. My wife & I attended more than 10 concerts that summer, from New York City to Florida to Iowa. We raised money for RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, and we met backstage with Tori a couple of times.
Celebrity worship isn’t something I’m big into. I think sometimes we over-value celebrity and we push the idea of stars as being role models or ideals when we should recognize them as people.
My wife & I let Tori know we were trying for our first child; Tori told us something to the effect as she was too (SHHH!), she signed a small doll for us, a Sesame Street baby Natasha doll “Come magic Baby, Come. Always, Tori Amos”. A short time later, we would have our first child. Tori Amos would have hers, named Natashya, something my wife (Natasha) and doll (Natasha) found amusing.
I had a chance to meet with her daughter on the most recent tour, and we took the doll, still bearing the signature of her mother, as a reminder of the meeting the year before she was born.
History can be strange that way, and things that motivate us can be different. I’ve known people who were powerfully motivated by books, through song, prayer, a movie or a film.
But even twenty years later, nothing shapes my life in the powerful way that the community around Tori Amos did when I needed it most.
Following a pretty brutal run in with physical violence, it took a lot to get me motivated and back to even halfway normal. It’s difficult for people to understand, in any real way, how quickly your life can be turned upside down.
“You say the world is getting rid of her demons/I say baby, what have you been smokin’?”
“They say your brain is a comic book tattoo/you’ll never be anything”
From that photo in ‘97 on, my wife & I have been advocates for RAINN, fundraisers, supporters, and at times, public speakers on behalf of the issue.
Later this week on Daily Kos, I get to announce something really special about where that journey goes next. Don't worry, still writing here, just another way to change things. In the end, what I learned through the years from many is how to set my goals in life.
'Cause they can't see what you're born to be.
They can’t see me.
They can't be
What they can't believe.
They can’t see what you see.
Happy Birthday, Tori.