Be Your Own Hero
A friend of mine and I saw the advanced screening of Whip It last night. Sooo much fun. Highly recommended.
I am especially grateful for the movie having been set in Austin and for glimpses of places I love, like Lucy in Disguise. I used to spend tons of time in in Austin but have fallen off driving so much to be there. This has been good for my home life and for my writing, since if my butt is not in the chair and my fingers aren’t on the keyboard, no writing happens. Regardless, I miss my friends there. And last night, virtually in Austin, I felt a lot of communion with them.
A good number of us will be together later this week to honor one of us who passed away on Friday after a battle with cancer. Starr was one of those people who brighten the lives of everyone they meet. She not only pursued her dreams, she made them happen.
She sang beautifully with her band, The Lovers. She started a headdress company so that others could wear her fantastic creations. I don’t think, in the entire time I knew her, that I ever saw her without something fabulous in her hair. She also helped found an arts nonprofit. Art was so important to her. Her creativity was a living, breathing force of nature.
Of all the amazing things she did, the one that sticks with me most is the story of a song she wrote with the Lovers after dreaming of John Lennon one night. The song is called “Let Yourself Be Loved,” and it speaks for itself. If you follow the link above for her band, it will take you to their MySpace page, and you can listen there.
Sitting in that movie last night, I felt a lot of communion with my Austin friends; it’s been a long time since we’ve all been together. Leaving the theater, the friend I went with and I had the same thought at the same time: Starr would’ve dug the hell out of this flick for the fun of it, the freakiness of it, and for its message displayed on the tee shirts handed out at the screening.
Be Your Own Hero.
Rest well, Starr. We love you.
