Looking back, with my eyes closed, I have had 3 major inspirational influences in my life, which means that inside my head you can find 3 fairly large chunks of information from all three of them.
Steffen Brandt‘s lyrics guided me through life in Denmark and they became the basis of my Danish vocabulary. His philosophy about life – seize the day – live your life before it’s over – live your dreams – has definitely had its effect on my life as well. I think it is safe to say that however sad it was to leave him and his music behind in Denmark he more or less pushed me to London as I could see I had to live my dreams. I still listen to their music often but there now is a distance to the language which no longer feels that natural anymore.
Not surprisingly Bill Nighy is the second one, still very much present. If Steffen Brandt pushed me too London, he was metaphorically standing at the other side of the water pulling me over. If my Danish consists of quotes from TV-2 songs, my English is filled with all possible quotes from films he has been in. He made me realize how cool Brits really were, how I loved the English language, he gave acting a whole new meaning and became the force to get me to give screen writing a go in the first place. Not bad.
The third one however goes quite a bit longer back.
When I was a teenager (gosh that sounds as if I am about to retire!) I was a major fan of The Police. I had a ring band with all their lyrics in it, and knew every single song. When on high school there was another girl in my class who was just as big a fan, and we had invented a game. We would pick a song and turn that song into a drawing, handing it over for the other to guess which song it was. It was big fun. I also wrote a limerick about them which got selected and read in the Dutch radio show De Avondspits (website in Dutch only) in the pop limerick section of the program. I never really fancied Sting but I respected him as a song writer . I did manage to see Sting live once, in the Ahoy in Rotterdam, but I somehow never managed to see The Police, who really were my musical heroes at that time, play.
When I heard they were getting back together to go on tour again I thought it was about time I did something about that, here was the chance to catch up on my past. I have to admit that on the newly released pictures Sting still looks the same, but Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers certainly look quite a bit older! I managed to get a ticket for the 9th of September, they play the Twickenham stadium in London.
There is one thing that annoys me a bit though. If you thought that Sting was a man of principles, think again. Looking at the ticket prices for their concerts, I’d say his principles are clear – and they have everything to do with shoving in loads of money.
But OK, I simply have to see them live, just to be able to tick that off my long to-do-in-life list.
It’s surprisingly becoming a year of concerts, just when I thought I was more or less through with that. Bob Dylan, Tina Dickow, The Police are all lined up and tonight it is time for AIR in Kentish Town.
Today’s question:
Have you had any major inspirational figures in your life? And if so who were they?
Hmmm… tough (but very interesting) question. I guess I’d have to answer no. My inspiration sources are a bit of a jigsaw puzzle: a bit of this person, a bit of that, a bit of someone else… I can’t really pinpoint any major influence, apart from a fascination for volcanoes, books and foreign languages/cultures/places – but specific people… nope, can’t think of any… (not much help, huh?)
This one wasn’t a part of research I was just curious if I am the only one being seriously influenced by other people.
Not really a person, but some grafitti I saw a few years ago. It read:
“You are here
Let’s take a trip through the universe.
Departure: now.
Arrival: you decide.”
It kind of reminds me of you, Ingrid.
I’m afraid I’ve caved in to the rip-off prices and snagged two tix for Sept 8th at Twickenham.
I must admit that I am always in two minds about paying these vast prices at Twickenham and Wembley etc but couldn’t pass at the chance to see Springsteen last year and U2 the year before.
Some of my influences are a bit abstract to be honest…The power and slight melancholy of a highly overdriven guitar chord sustained until it fades, the feeling of total peace I experienced sitting on a wall at the back of a beach on Ko Pangan in Thailand. And finally, the abrasive why-am-I-here introspection I experienced before I started taking Sertraline.
More tangible influences are the lust for a good time my good friend Dave gave me, and the calm appreciation of adventure my second girlfriend Claire gave me….sorry they are a bit idiosyncratic!
Jay
http://transientmusic.blogspot.com
@Anna : I love that quote – it reminds me of Slartibartfast
@grigorisgirl – do I understand it correctly that you are going to see The Police as well? Whatever the answer to that question – you understand the concept of “a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do”, I know.
@jay – everybody gets their influences from somewhere, it’s an interesting thing. And Life is an interesting concept.
And oh @Jill – you need to go to Iceland if you can. :)
Cool question!
I have one person who has influenced me during these last years, since I “met” him, which is Salvador Dalì. I wouldn’t be the person I am now if I hadn’t visited his houses and museum in Catalogna and he’s definitely The One for me, I feel so in touch with him. I probably wouldn’t have chosen to study art if it wasn’t for him so I think I definitely must thank him for showing me a way.
Some of the teachers I had during high school. I still miss them, they were cool in any way.
Last one, I was really struck by Louis Kahn when I saw his son’s film about him. I think his architecture has got its own soul and is pervaded by a strong feeling of spirituality which makes it eternal.
Cool answer!
I like Salvador Dali’s art a lot too. There is this museum here in London which has a lot of his work. And of course his beautiful elephant is solidly planted beside the Thames near the London Eye. You can look at his paintings for hours and still discover new things.
It’s interesting to read about other people’s influences!
Im lucky enough to have tickets as well – I felt a little bad at the price but its good to see that they are giving some money to the Charity Water Aid from the tour so perhaps some principles still exist …
@Mark – OK thanks for mentioning that, I didn’t know that. Which is funny, as I regularly work on the Wateraid website, because they are one of our customers. But respect to the Police for this, Wateraid is certainly a good cause, and I feel better already about the ticket prizes.
Here is the press info about The Police on the Wateraid site for those interested:
http://www.wateraid.org/international/about_us/newsroom/5250.asp