Please Forgive Me, But I Have To Do Some Namedropping

[filkertom]

I don't know how he found it.

People ask me all the time if I ever sent "A Boy And His Frog" to the Henson company. I never did. I never would. Who am I? I'm some fanboy. "Gosh, I'm nobody you ever heard of, but I loved Jim Henson's work, and so I wrote a song in tribute." It would've been humiliatingly pretentious. And, what, did I expect something? A job offer? Positive feedback? A cookie? Muppet swag? I figured they'd be as uncomfortable replying as I would've been sending it.

I wrote it because I needed to write it. Because one of the people who shaped my life had suddenly passed away, and I had a hole in me as big as a talking frog, and so did everybody else who had ever loved the Muppets, and jeez I'm crying just thinking about this. I've never got over Jim Henson's death. I don't know that I ever will.

Anyway.

I got an e-mail the other day from a fellow in England named Geoff Felix. He informed me that he had forwarded timemachineyeah's video to "A Boy And His Frog" to Dave Goelz. Who apparently "really liked it". And who then passed it on to Steve Whitmire. Who also liked it.

I'm wrapping my head around this. A puppeteer who's worked in some of my favorite movies -- everything from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and the vastly underrated Return To Oz and Adventures of Baron Munchausen to Strings -- found that video, and sent it to one of the biggest guns in the Muppet universe, and he and another big gun like my song. Specifically, Mr. Felix said, "I'm just glad that other people appreciated Jim as much as we did.... I just wanted you to know that Dave and Steve also appreciated your tribute, and I am sure that somewhere Jim does too."

I don't push for fame. I really don't. But it's nice to be appreciated by the right people, for the right reasons.

I would much rather Jim Henson be alive than me have written that song. But, things being as they are, this makes me feel really, really good.

So, who do you appreciate today? Good things. Who's making your life easier, less painful, more fun?

Comments

[dhstein.livejournal.com]

whoa. That's amazing. Certainly the song still makes me cry.

I appreciate Dave today. He's stuck at home while I run off to my con to work. He'd rather be with me.

[darkwolf69.livejournal.com]

Bravo, sir. You deserve it, I assure you.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

When you speak from the heart, other hearts hear you Tom. You wrote a really powerful song there.

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

wow

[wormquartet.livejournal.com]

At the moment? You, for making the phrase "I had a hole in me as big as a talking frog" meaningful. :)

That's awesome, man. Congrats on the well-deserved recognition for one of the unlikeliest haunting tear-jerkers ever written.

-=ShoEboX=-

[reyl.livejournal.com]

That phrase makes me want to cry. I'm at the office. Stop it.

But really, that song touched many of the people that Jim's work touched... Funny is easier, but love and loss are so much more powerful.

[que-sara-sara.livejournal.com]

I always appreciate my parents, but most especially today since it's their anniversary.

I'm going to appreciate you for calling on Monday when I really did need it even if I didn't know it.

And I'm going to try to do something different and appreciate myself. After all, I went through that dark place again and came out again because some part of me simply refused to give up. I need to learn to appreciate that in me.

[chaosdancer.livejournal.com]

The Great Gonzo knows your name! That is so cool. :)

That reminds me of that story about Phil Ochs, when John Wayne gave him as an example of everything that was wrong with the country, and apparently Phil was bouncing around the house hollering "John Wayne knows who I am!" So nice to be focused on the positive.

Richard Thompson made my life happier this morning for writing "I Feel So Good" which always gets the dopamine flowing. Got rid of my fibro-aches for a few minutes there, and that was lovely. Just wish I could keep all my fave raves on all day...I'd never need drugs.

[brithistorian.livejournal.com]

At the risk of overrunning your comments page here, I wasn't able to narrow it down to just one person. Today I appreciate:

- My sons, for forcing me to slow down and enjoy life. (By the schedule I had imposed on myself, I should have gotten my Ph.D. this year. Thanks to two wonderful, interfering little boys, I didn't, and I'm likely better off for it.)

- My wife, for loving me and (more importantly) putting up with me. We got married after knowing each other for a month and are still together almost 15 years later, with more good times than bad. It's not a formula I'd recommended to everyone, but it's certainly worked for us.

- dhstein and drzarron, even though we've never met in person, for providing me with examples of how to grow older while keeping a youthful spirit. I wasted far too much of my youth being "serious" - I don't want to waste any more time.

- At the risk of sounding like a brown-noser, you. Not for your music (though I do enjoy that), but for your life itself. I stand in awe of the life of joyful creativity you have created for yourself. You are, to use one of my nephew's favorite phrases, "livin' the dream," and I'm just glad you bring the rest of us along for the right.

Thanks for posting this - stopping to write this comment has really brightened my day.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

Aw shucks, Well thanks!

[minerva-fan.livejournal.com]

This is beyond way cool. :D

[huskiebear.livejournal.com]

That would be you. BFF, co-Bear wrangler and role model for Going For It. You change my life for the better every day.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

That is way cool. During our recent WDW trip, I had a moment to myself, standing outside the Great Movie Ride and looking down at Jim and Kermit's feet in concrete and remember back to another WDW trip which happened to be the day that Jim died. The huge piles of flowers that kept appearing on their square there.

I pulled out my iPod and listened to you sing "A Boy and His Frog" and cried like a baby. So I appreciate you for giving us all that touch stone.

I appreciate my lovely wife for putting up with my crap for all these years.

I appreciate my daughter who is letting me see the world fresh and new again.

and I appreciate all my friends, even when I need to SLAP them, they are still there when I need them.

[solarbird]

iiiiicon ♥!

Meanwhile, at this past Norwescon:

[dubheach.livejournal.com]

I appreciate you honey. For so many reasons.

[lukeski.livejournal.com]

YAY FOR TOM! :D :D :D

[bosswriter.livejournal.com]

Two people come to mind:

You - because you write songs like this that touch the heart and because your wonderful music introduced me to the world of filk.

Janice my partner - her encouragement and love are the pillars that keep me from falling down on my face daily.

PS - This thread reminds I have to get off my butt and get Season 2 of the Muppet Show on DVD

[devospice.livejournal.com]

That is so cool. :)

Who I appreciate most right now would have to be my kids. Because no matter how hard a day I had at work, no matter what crap went wrong and how pissed off I got or whatever, when I walk through the door at night my kids excitedly exclaim "Daddy home!" and then run to me as fast as they possibly can, crash into me at full speed, and each grab onto a leg making it impossible for me to walk. It's the best feeling in the world.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

Tom, if anybody deserves to know how much he's appreciated, it's you. It is so very kewl that you learned that people who knew Jim Henson have heard and appreciate your song.

"I would much rather Jim Henson be alive than me have written that song."

Yes, this. But, since we can't have Jim, I'm glad you wrote the song. It means a lot to me, too.

[solarbird]

It's cool, Tom. The song still makes me cry. Snif. ;_^ It's okay to take the compliment. ^_^

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that. I still cry every time I make someone listen to that song. I'm almost crying thinking about it now. (That's a good thing, by the way.)

[denali1.livejournal.com]

It's well deserved, dude. The song and the video are awesome tributes to a man who is missed pretty universally.

I appreciate my wife, cathain. She is what keeps me sane.

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

Incredibly cool, Tom. (And yes, I still cry for that loss, too.)

I have a paperweight on my desk, inscribed with a quotation from Madeleine L'Engle:

Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.

We -- the fannish communities, the online communities, the people we feel akin to, wherever and however we've met -- we become a part of each other's stories. For me, that includes you and Jim ...

[bardicwench.livejournal.com]

I appreciate all of my friends... and everyone who helped cheer up up when I missed Media Day at faire last weekend... and everyone who gave me rides or offered to make sure that I was able to get to faire this next weekend if my car was still non-functional.

*huggles* I love all my friends and wouldn't know what to do without them.

[opalcorn.livejournal.com]

How wonderful! :) I'm crying, just reading this. Rochndil took me to his office one Saturday so I could see that video. I'm on dial up at home and can't easily download youtube stuff.
I adore 'Muppet's Family Christmas' and always cry at the very end where Jim makes a cameo, telling Sprocket to help him do the dishes. Jim's loss was so tragic, something that I'm sure many of us have never and will never get over.
Thank goodness we have your song.

Who do I appreciate?

[mdlbear]

You, for grabbing my attention every once in a while with something cool, silly, or infuriating.

My wife, for putting up with me.

My kids, who are growing up to be cooler and saner than I ever imagined when they were little.

[erinwrites.livejournal.com]

That is wonderful, Tom. Count me among those tearing up just reading this post. I cried like a baby the first time I heard your song. Thank you for writing it, and for making the world a better place. :)

[lizreay.livejournal.com]

I can't even think about that song without it making me cry. Tried to describe it to my husband once... couldn't, so I played it for him instead. Got both of us.

Today, I appreciate my husband, for so many reasons.

[kilbia.livejournal.com]

That's such neat news! I mean, I know you'd gotten plenty of notes from people like us about how touching the song was (and I did finally work up the courage to give it my first listen), but I can't imagine how extra-special it is to get that kind of positive feedback from folks close to the source of your inspiration.

Today, I appreciate my co-workers for allowing me to rest up and recover, and my housemates for understanding too - even the one I was annoyed with 'cause she kept *nagging* me to do this very thing.

Oh, and you've written enough HP-themed filk that I thought you might appreciate this:

http://www.myspace.com/thetexasmfquidditchworldcup

It's going to be an entire rock concert of HP "tribute" bands.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting that link! I've passed it on to the people who run FenCon; it'll be a good chance for them to pick up some memberships.