Inspiration

I get inspiration from funny places sometimes.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a lot of the time music is one of those places.  My folks started me on the violin when I was three.  When I was thirteen or so I got sick of being nagged about practicing all the time and quit, then a couple years later I picked up the guitar because, duh, guitar is cool.  Well, it turns out violin is cool too, and I still play both instruments.  My kids love it when I break out the violin.  In fact they’ll often fish the violin case out and push it across the floor to me as their signal that they want me to play for them.  Then they’ll grab the bow and try to play themselves.  They also love Disney’s “Little Einsteins” show.  Sibylla, my 3-year old daughter…our oldest, recently told me she wants to take violin lessons, so I guess I’ve rubbed off on her a bit.  Pretty cool.

That doesn’t get her out of karate lessons, though.  No daughter of mine will enter the world without knowing how to defend herself.  But that’s a different topic.

So anyway, my wife and I love Dancing With The Stars.  So do our kids, Sibylla in particular.  A couple weeks ago, Chelsea danced to this awesome, beautiful, haunting song.  My wife and I both wondered who’s song that was, and I found a website listing all the music on DWTS.  Turns out the song is “Eyes on Fire” by Blue Foundation:

After researching the song a bit, I discovered it was used in the soundtrack for Twilight.  Now, I’ve got nothing against Twilight, per say.  But I’ve never had any interest in it.  Primarily because whatever teenie-girls swoon over I’ve, by and large, found worthy of ignoring.  Maybe I’m just biased.  But in my experience, the only thing more annoying than a collection of teenage American girls is a gaggle of teenage Japanese girls, and I question their judgement.

No doubt a bunch of you are thinking I’m a racist for saying that.  Those who are have clearly never been to Japan, or the places that Japanese frequent on vacation.  I have, and let me tell you, I have the utmost respect for the Japanese as a people, a nation, and a culture.  But dear God, the teenage Japanese female, in pack form, squeals and giggles…loudly and incessantly…in a manner that makes my teeth ache.

But that’s not the point.

The point is I’ve never read Twilight or seen the movies, and never intended to.  But this song, well, sings to me, despite it’s association with that franchise.  Not sure how else to say it.  Last night I purchased it on iTunes, and looked up the YouTube video embedded above as well as the song lyrics.  The video resonated with me because of the notes about where it was filmed.  In my submarine training, I learned about how brazen the Soviets were with nuclear safety.  This town’s involvement with that shadowy world struck a chord with me.

Anyway, I have this thing I do with music that I’ve just discovered.  If I really like it, I’ll listen to it over and over, look up the lyrics, and generally absorb the hell out of it.  This annoys my wife to no end, but I like it.  Maybe I’m just weird, but if I like a song, I just don’t get tired of hearing it.  And the more I hear it, the more I like it.

So last night, I went to sleep with this song going through my head.  I can totally understand why they used it for Twilight.  When my wife saw the lyrics, she said “It’s about a Vampire.”  Well, not really.  It was written well before the Twilight movie was made.  So I suspect the original subject matter wasn’t quite so paranormal.

Regardless, as the verses and chorus were echoing in my head, an idea began to form.  I’ve got a bunch of ideas for stories, but this one grabbed me and won’t let go, so it’s officially at the top of my priority list.

Don’t worry, it’s not a vampire story.  It’s a lot better than that.

I got a few paragraphs down tonight.  As I get more down, I’ll leave more glimpses here about what’s coming.  Maybe.