Wednesday, March 18, 2009

More details

As promised, here is more of an "inside scoop" on my cousin and his journey to being a star. :D

He was one of my closest cousins. Aside from 2 of his sisters and another half breed cousin (like me!) he was the closest thing I had to a best friend for some parts of my life. We'd stay up all night when I spent the night at his house after his two younger sisters crashed for the night, digging through his mom and dad's old album collection, looking for old wicked beats to loop and put lyrics to.

He was always into dance. His whole family was. He was one of 6 children, him being the only "he" aside from his pops. Yep. 5 sisters! He was a middle child, came after 3 other daughters. I got along well mostly with him and the two hot asians that came after him. He, his 2 younger sisters and I would also stay up all night watching and quoting lines word for word from Grease 2. His parents had this amazing fucking collection of every movie known to mankind, and this was BEFORE the days of dvds and shit, y'know??

Each year I came over to visit (it was usually an annual thing because they lived 3 hours away from us back in Cali) he got better and more notorious for dancing. You could tell it was passion of his from WAY back when; whenever you came over their whole fucking house was PLASTERED with picture frames of him and his sisters in dance class with their latest costume, striking a pose for all to get "secretely jealous over but pretend you're happy for". The only one the whole "dance" thing seemed to stick to was Mike, or Mykal, as he prefers to be referred to.

Mike and I got along like most friends do. We argued alot and made fun of each other when we felt threatened or hurt. We shared hopes and dreams with one another, and secrets when we felt it safe enough to. He was one of the few guy friends I had that didn't overstep my boundaries in any way.

Years went by, my family and I moved to Indy, life went on. Next thing you know I'm hearing stories of Mike (Mykal) becoming a backup dancer for muzakal groups like Destiny's Child, (he's the one in orange with braids and a vest!) Rihanna, and Cassie (yes, that is HIM grabbing Cassie's hot ass and dancing with her, and YES he's on the fucking computer screen at the end of the video even earning a "Cassie styled heart container"!!) And then we're getting phone calls from his mom, her asking us to look out for the latest(keep in mind this was years ago, so they, of course, are no longer "the latest") Jennifer Lopez video (Oh how I love Hex Hector's remix, dig the 2:47-2;53 scene, that's him again!!) or episode of Saturday Night Live, cause he was going to be backup dancing for the muzakal guest in it. And sure enough, there he was, using his motherFRAKKING skillz to pay the billz yo. I was like HOLY SHIT! And then if that wasn't enough, he even managed to land a part in The Hot Chick with Rob Schneider (in which he is wearing a bandana and tersely grabs his nutsack.)

All this time all I can remember is us staying up late, having drawing competitions, and me thinking that he had to be the most sensitive and fun guy to hang around with, cause only a guy like him could appreciate Cyndi Lauper's muzak enough to draw me a picture that said "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!" And they do!! And so we did, except he wasn't a girl. Just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe. :)

I finally got to see him face to face again a couple years back. He was on tour with Nelly Furtado as a back up dancer, and they were playing at the Murat, so he hooked up our whole family with free tickets and he got to take a shower in my luxurious 2 inch by 2 inch bathroom before the show, in which I warned him not to use the towels already hanging up on our shower rod because he would most likely be rubbing his face on my ass, and he giggled that old skool fucking giggle that I loved and lived to make him giggle.

I think he may have been shell shocked by my appearance. Things had changed so much since the last time I saw him. I went from being a rebellious, wishing I had an a.k. 47 strapped around my neck wearing, boxer shorts and pant-sagging gangsta bitch, to being a somewhat frumpy looking housewife who couldn't make up her mind if she was a faery or just darkness itself. So I think he may have been spending alot of time trying to analyze what the fuck happened to me. But it was all good though, cause we were still able to cut up and get along, just like we had years ago, and it was like a day had never passed between us since the last time we saw each other. One of the most flattering things he said to me the last time we saw each other face to face was that I was what made him want to pursue a muzakal career, cause we used to sit around and cut up with lyrics and what not back in the day. I even remember him asking me, "How do you come up with the words so easy?", and being flattered at his inquiry then as well.

So HECK YA I'm gonna brag that my cousin's in a movie. And I will be in the front fucking row when it comes out, nachos and jalepenos in one hand and artery clogging butter of the gods bucket o' popcorn in the other, cheering him on every step of the way, cause he's worked HARD to be where he is, and I am damn proud.

4 comments:

kathulhu said...

Yay for your cousin! :) It's sweet that you're so happy for him. A lot of people would be bitter bitch-faces because they weren't the ones living that kind of life. Ya'know?

... said...

Ha! You said bitch-faces!! I like that. A LOT!!

Kiss the sasquatch fer me. And the big one too. And yerself. Woot.

ssas said...

That's so cool. How awesome for him.

I have a famous neighbor. We've lived across the street and been friends for almost 10 years. Other people ask me about him, but to me he's...you know, another neighbor dad, sort of goofy and funny like all the other dads. And he mows his own lawn.

I also know and have met a LOT of very famous writers (had a convo with Mr. GRR Martin last august at Worldcon. He's a very nice man, if not very smiley.) So I guess I'm constantly looking for the person under the fame. Sounds like your cuz is lucky to have you remembering who he really is.

... said...

Sex, that's s'very cool. So now I'm gonna be all owl like and ask "whooooo? whoooo's the famous guy you live so close to?" :D

I've never thought of the importance of feeling like people remember you for who you are. Beautiful perspective Sex.