It’s been a roller coaster of feelings for me, presently.
One of the cutest photos I’ve taken of Micky Dolenz is getting lots of likes, comments, and shares on Facebook. This is the famous, “Pleasant Valley Sunday” photo, where I took Micky to see Pleasant Valley Way in West Orange, NJ, after we had lunch in Parsippany, and he “claimed” he had never been to Pleasant Valley Way before [really?]. Well, Micky had said he had never been, so after lunch I decided to drive him there… Or, he drove us, but I gave him directions, LOL. Whichever. Then we took photos.
Pleasant Valley Way is where Carole King and her then husband and songwriting partner, Gerry Goffin, lived in the late 60s, and was the inspiration for the song they wrote for The Monkees, “Pleasant Valley Sunday”, a number one hit in 1967.
So, yeah, it was pretty cool to bring Micky to that place.
Then, this weekend, I learned that Cynthia Weil had passed.
Cynthia Weil is probably one of the most influential people in my entire life that I have never met or known. Literally, this abstract figure, this artist in my mind’s eye, this person I knew was real but had no tangible connection other than all her words, writing, music, publishing… Cynthia Weil changed my life. And I never met her, or knew her, or spoke to her.
Cynthia Weil wrote “Love Is Only Sleeping”. She co-wrote it with her husband and creative partner, Barry Mann.
Literally the domain I have had and used for over twenty years.
If my domain is proof of nothing else, it is proof that Cynthia Weil touched and effected my entire life on a deeper level.
Yes, Cynthia Weil is a woman has had a strong influence on me.
Cynthia wrote so many songs that have been in so many of our lives…
Cynthia co-wrote “Somewhere Out There”, the first of her songs I ever heard in my entire life, in this life.
I first heard “Somewhere Out There” when I was 4 years old, and it effected me as deeply and emotionally then, as all her songs, and all her counterparts’ songs, effected me when I was later exposed to them in my teenage years and adult years…
Someone wrote on my Facebook and said Cynthia Weil and Carole King were good friends, and that I should read Carole King‘s autobiography.
Oh God, will I. ❤️