I do not know how many times I have tried to sit down and tell this story. I told Stella she was my angel, and I honestly do believe that she is.
My memory of growing up involves a tragic incident that happened when I was 13. I lost my Mom in a truck/train accident. I was in the accident as well, so I lost my Mom, but I survived, it sucked, I felt like I had lost a part of me, I lost my childhood, from that moment on I had to grow up and deal and go to school and try and fit in with everyone and I hated it.
When I was in High School only part of me was there. My mind was always somewhere else, trying to distract me from the harsh realities of life.
I started to make friends with older people, from different schools. I make friends with anyone though, I really do, my school helped me out a lot, everyone I went to school with supported me, I just always felt like they felt sorry for me. There is nothing like being somewhere and feeling like you are just there and you do not know where you fit in.
I had a great friend though, Jenn, who got me out, even though I hated rollercoasters she took me to Adventureland. On the drive there is when I heard the interview on 107.5 KKDM, it was with the singer of my favorite song "Red" it was Sister Soleil. The D.J. Sophia John started asking Stella all of these questions and from the minute I heard her talk I could hear how sincere she was and could tell she had a good heart and I knew from that moment that I was going to see her show at People's in Ames Iowa. So I did, and that show is one of the most memorable shows ever. I was 15 when I saw her in concert, so I hadn't been to many shows. I went to Country shows with my Mom and my Sister but this experience was one of its own.
Stella had such emotion and passion in her performance, she danced, she sang with so much emotion that I cried over a song I had never even heard before. It was the song "Blind" which is what the name of this blog is inspired by "Shine Like The Sun"
To make the experience even more amazing, she hung out after the show to meet everyone, and signed autographs and even when the bouncers were kicking the underage kids out, Stella invited us into her tour bus so we could still get autographs and pictures.
At the age I was, that was the most incredible experience one could have at a concert!
After her show I had become inspired. I had started to write my own thoughts, working through some of my own emotions and I wrote this long entry pretty much about my goal in life and what I seeked out to do, about not taking my family for granted and being forever thankful for my family and friends, for all the people the prayed for me and helped me pull through when I was in the Hospital.
I wanted to make a difference, for a life being saved, you have to figure that there is something you are meant to be, something you are meant to do.
I finished my inspirational post and I posted it on my circa 1996 AOL profile to my geocities website link, not having any idea the impact it would make.
Sister Soleil came to Iowa quite a few times and there was one time where they came to Musicland in Ames, Iowa.
When she did the show in Ames, I managed to have my hands full and my next step was to get pictures with her and her band. I ended up dropping a few things and this girl yelled to me that I had dropped my stuff, her name was Heidi and funny enough we ended up being in contact again. Somehow the motivational page I had posted on my AOL profile, which also had music interests "Sister Soleil" attracted her attention without me knowing we had met. She imed me and it didn't take long to realize that we had met at the show. Heidi was incredibly sweet and she was nice enough to give me Stella's screenname that she got from the flute player.
We were both so nervous to contact Stella, and she told me I should try to contact Stella. So one night I sent Stella an IM and told her how much I loved her music and told her about the show and how much it made an impact. I told her that I was finding a lot of people that were fans of her and I told her that she should start a fan club. She responded immediately with "You are the first to mention it, would you like to be in charge of it?" and my jaw dropped, I responded by saying it would be an absolute honor. She asked me for my number and she told me she was going to call me.......I nearly fell off my chair, Stella, the musician that had become like my idol was calling me!
So I got off the lovely dial up and she called me, and from there it has just been history.
She couldn't sell Drown Me In You anymore, her first record so she sent them all to me, and when I say all, I mean like 30 boxes of merchandise, she sent it to me to promote the fan club, we would get people to get their friends to sign up for the club and in return they could get a CD or a T-shirt, I will never forget the day, I wish I could have had a picture of the amount of boxes unloaded in my garage. I took great care of the merch too. I took great care in promoting. Ask anyone at Gilbert High School in Iowa if they ever heard about me talking about Sister Soleil and they would probably say that I gave them a record, and that our English teacher played the record before our 15 minutes of journaling time.
I weighed envelopes and got dimensions to relay to those that wanted to have a CD mailed to them. I had a system, people paid me for the shipping and I got them their CD or poster or T-Shirt.
Once Stella had known I was legit and trustworthy, I flew out to Chicago and I got to meet her in person. I ended up getting the flu when I got there but in between I stayed with a fan, Colleen and got to spend time with Stella and her Mother. Got to hear some new demos and we planned for the next big thing for the club.
Which is around when I started to discover my passion for graphic design and web design. My last year of school I was actually becoming motivated in the computer classes, applying the club into my graphic design class, designing letterheads and business cards. Than I wanted to start designing the fan club website. Than The Art Institute came to my school and a light started to shine above me, and I had decided I was going to school at The Art Institute for Graphic Design and Web Design.
Before going to school, I was lucky enough to have the time off to go visit Stella in London while she recorded for her pop album in London. Which I wish I could go back and not have as much jet lag, but I got some good photos and footage and the video and the photos are worth a thousand words. It really was a once in a lifetime experience and it could not have happened without Stella.
When I got back to Iowa, I had a few months there and by October I was leaving for school. I moved to Phoenix, all the scripting classes, any compuer related class clicked, my drawing classes did not. I struggled with it. On the other end I was doing my "An American in London" site for class, using the photos, doing my first sitemap and mockup. I got graded for it too, and became closer to having my niche.
After about 2 years in Arizona, I managed to get caught up in being too far away from everyone. I got to have a visit with Stella in California, got to see Venice Beach for the first time, we had some good times!
It sounds like I follow her around where she goes, but timing just ends up being there. When I moved back to Iowa, I moved back just in time for Stella's new band Whorse. Which that is the one thing of video footage I do not have up yet. I will have it up though, must have all the pieces, that are building up to what is going on now. I loved Whorse, maybe its because it was also like my therapy for coming back home in the Winter and I got to hang out with her and her band. Also got to fly in a fanclub member to come see Stella, and drove him around, and we went to shows together, all over Iowa, all the venues I had been to when I saw her as Sister Soleil, well actually particularly one, People's, and House of Bricks, Twisted Parrot, and even a show that was in a barn, even manage to see Incubus and Hometown Hero in concert and headed to People's for the Whorse show.
I traveled to L.A. quite a few times to see Whorse, helped make copies of demos, walked up to people to sign up for the e-mail list. Everywhere I went, I always ended up meeting incredibly nice people. I went to Coachella with one of Stella's friends, Jenn and we had a blast, it was such an incredible experience, I so hope to go again, I love Coachella!
Ended up in a famous person's house and got starstuck and almost got my camera taken away and Stella had my back. I have stories that are meant for times like these to write about them and reflect on how great life has been thanks to meeting Stella.
So to know her as a person, to love any music she has ever come up with, I have always enjoyed her lyrics, because they are real, they are from her personal experiences. Blind is still one of my ultimate favorites. When I first heard "Hello" on Dirty Little Rabbits, I cried. I wanted so badly to be in Iowa experiencing all of the shows, but I couldn't, I was in Arizona, stuck in my own Rabbit hole.
Now I am back though, and its funny because I have not been around, and everyone is wondering who I am, and well now if anyone reads this, now knows who I am. Stella has been my angel. I have more stories to tell, and I will I just have to kind of sort it all out. Till then there is video to check out and my diary of each saga of before I left for Arizona and what I did when I was in Arizona and what I have done since being back home.
I have been trying to link a lot of things together. I spent hours just going over her Discography and seeing what albums are available to get. If you look at the Press interview she did with her friend Jenn, it has a really amazing connection, so I will post it, with credit to Jennifer Topolewski. I am no journalist, I just write what I think, I do record video at places I am at and I do my best to share the love and make sure everyone else can experience what I have been able to.
I am excited for Stella, I am excited for Dirty Little Rabbits, I am excited for this next coming year, I think its going to be crazy intense and its been a crazy ride and its been an absolute honor being a part of it!
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