Who has been your biggest influence? Famous or not famous…friends, family… anyone.
For me,I have to say my Mom. In my younger, wilder(stupid) days,I used to vow that I would NEVER EVER be like her…
Now I can only aspire to be half the woman she is…
Yes, I am a brat…and it’s hard work!!
R. Crumb. Not the healthiest influence, I guess, but the more I think about it the closer he and I seem…
Obsession with sex: check.
Obsession with old-time music: check.
Hatred of technology: check.
Hatred of “hype”: check.
Distrust of normal people: check.
Likes Mexican food: check.
Oh, also Charles Bukowski, on the “consumption of alcoholic products” front.
Uke
as for most people, my parents.
the Mahatma, Mohandas K. Gandhi.
Jean-Paul Sartre.
La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit.
H. de Livry
Robert Heinlein. I have a similar writing style. Like using sentence fragments.
On my sense of humor, my dad.
On my sense of compassion, my mom.
On my pathological hatred for all things living, my schools.
On how I deal with it, Robert Herrick and Cliff Burton.
http://www.madpoet.com
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
People I wish influenced me more:
George “Beau” Brummel
S.J. Perelman
H.L. Mencken (minus the anti-Semitism, that is)
Dorothy Parker
Albert Schweitzer (but just for the organ playing)
The one, the only–Groucho.
Alexander Scriabine, John Dowland, Heitor Villa-Lobos (musically)
My mother now, like you Andrea, I did not want to be like her, but now I realize that she is a marvelous woman.
Sister Maria Goretti Zehr. We share the same birthday. I wish to aspire to be as nice and genuine a person as she is. She was my favorite professor of all times. No one can compare to her. I can’t wait to see her when I go down for Xmas. Yes, she knows I am gay…we even talked about gay sex once. I will start a thread.
Unfortunately for me there are not very many gay role-models out there. I really wish there were more diverse, out of the closet people for myself and the even younger generation to aspire to. The current out homos are very stereotypical and few and far between.
Gasoline: As an accompaniement to cereal it made a refreshing change. Glen Baxter
Sqrl, Scriabin is one of your musical influences? Wow! Send me a tape!
Seriously, that is one COOL influence. I’ve always thought of ol’ Alex’s compositions as a musical dead end, and always regretted that nobody followed up on any of his wild and brilliant ideas.
Sure, let me do some recording again. In my newer, folk stylized music, you can hear the influence, but is more comparable to his early work. In my solely instrumental works it is more prevalent. I am currently rehearsing with another singer and as soon as I finish I will try posting some mp3’s and/or wav’s on the net. I will post links back to it as well. Who knows, maybe Satan will love me and have me sell my soul to him for a most riteous record deal. 
hehehhee OH, there was a minor follow-up on Scriabine’s music with his son Julian. Incidently Julian died when he was 11 years old but showed significantly more promise than even his father did. His music showed remarkable maturity for someone his age. I think he was nearly on the same level as Mozart during a similar age. True genius. I believe Julian Scriabine has 11 opus numbers but they are very hard to find in either print or on recording. Also they were all solo piano things if my memory serves me correctly.
HUGS!
Sqrl
Gasoline: As an accompaniement to cereal it made a refreshing change. Glen Baxter
< straight face >
The Lord Jesus Christ
< /straight face >
Okay, now that we got that out of the way…
In all things life, I am equal parts my mom and my dad. And I am very happy for that, as every day I do something that reminds me of one or the other. I really love my dad and loved my mom.
In writing, which I do still ocasionaly, Lester Bangs is the shit. I always hoped that one day I would be fit to hold his white-out.
In terms of a celebrity who impressed me, Martin Luther King.
Yer pal,
Satan
Most definitely my parents,each in very different ways plus a couple of friends who have always been there for me and have shown me the way on several occasions.
I am me… accept it or not.
Mom, Dad
Admiral Jeremy Boorda (former CNO)
Jerry Garcia
Abbie Hoffman,Lenny Bruce,the solid gold dancers
My parents, especially my stepfather. I take after him more than I take after my mother. My mother had me when she was 16, and worked her ass off to get to where she is in life, even though she had a ton of strikes against her. I have a great deal of respect for that. And the fact that my stepfather took me in and raised me as his own since I was a three-year-old and my mom was 19…well, not a lot of men would do that, and even less would do it as well as he has for all these years.
My aunt Laura, who is one of the sweetest, most patient, and most loving people I’ve ever known. If I ever have children, I wish I could be even half as good a mother as she is. She’s a wonderful nurturer, and what few qualities I have in that area came from watching her example.
My maternal grandmother, who has given me a great deal of my spunk. She’s also taught me by negative example, but that’s influence, nonetheless. I know not to let a man go on treating me like crap because of what I’ve seen her go through.
That’s it for now. I don’t really think any famous people have influenced my life, although I have respect for Chris Spielman, who basically quit football, the game he loved, to be with his wife through every moment of her chemotherapy. Their story is really quite touching, and it’s how an ideal marriage should be.
Just to give you all the sniffles, I’ll tell a somewhat unrelated story about them. She’d just gotten her diagnosis of cancer, and they were driving home from the doctor’s office in a state of shock. Chris was behind the wheel, and at a red light he got pissed off, smacked the wheel, and said something like “Why is this happening to us? What did we do to deserve this?” He basically started despairing and almost blaming God.
His wife looked at him and said “How can you say that that, given everything we have?” What a great sense of perspective.
My mom, her sister and her brother. Too many reasons to post here, but all excellent role models and I can only hope I am the same way to my children and nieces and nephews in the future.
And now, for something completely Shirley:
My dog. I’ve learned from her two very important things:
1)Don’t go after the crumb that just dropped, wait for the whole cookie to fall.
2)Stare unblinking at someone long enough and you get what you want.
My Dad.
William S. Burroughs
William Gibson
Jack Kerouac
Roald Dahl
Neal Stephenson
Kevin Smith
H.P. Lovecraft
Robert Asprin
Outside influences on me. Note a pattern here:
Erma Bombeck - the first time I discovered women could be funny and smart.
Rosalind Russell ( ditto above)
Talullah Bankhead-(ditto)
Katherine Hepburn-
Groucho Marx-my icon
Abbott & Costello
Janeane Garafalos-a funny woman with a dark side? My long lost twin.
Ellen Degeneres - in or out, she is funny.
Jerry Seinfield
Robin Williams
Billy Crystal
Whoopi Goldberg
I’m forgetting a few…
My mother. Trite, but it’s true. Watching her raise my sister and I after her divorce taught me that things can suck in general, but that’s no excuse not to care about your loved ones, sacrifice what you can for them and still laugh.
On the same hand, my father taught me exactly what not to be to your family. Don’t get me wrong, he never beat us or was a drunk or anything, but his walking out on my mother for another woman and them ignoring his children taught me the value of having a father (which I try to reflect into my son now) and why you don’t cheat on your partner.
In the famous (well, quasi-famous) category is early 20th century poet, Sara Teasdale from who I’ve learned that even when life is at it’s worst take joy in it because once it’s gone, you’re never going to get it back.
“I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
Well put, Jophiel. I came from a similar situation, but my mother did remarry. I consider myself fortunate to have the step-father I have. He is my father in all senses except biology.
As far as celebrities, the closest thing I have to a hero is John Lennon. He had his share of problems (drugs, etc.); but spoke what he believed in. He also did his best to change the world to a better place. Not to mention writing some of the best music ever made.
Cesar Chavez, my friends Susan, Paul and Asher, my gramma, Eric Hoffer and the phenomenal human being Bill Bailey (the “Kid from Hoboken”).
Regards,
Tom