In One’s Own Voice
Maybe you have noticed the odd timing of this post. Maybe not. Maybe you are sitting down in the morning and just checking in or maybe did not sleep last night and came here, wondering what if anything was happening to the transparent hypnotist.
Well, it just so happens that I am writing this before it turns into another Tuesday. Cher’s “Turn Back Time” (a regression anthem maybe?) is playing in the back ground. I would really like to say I have it cranking, but I can’t write and rock at the same time any more. So, here I am, writing my Tuesday posting way earlier. Hopefully you’ll forgive this little slip, but something has come up so I cannot be with you tomorrow morning (maybe later).
But back to Cher (this posting is really about her, not me). I heard today that she is performing at Caesar’s Palace (Vegas Baby). Tickets to see Cher in Las Vegas seem to be on sale until the end of October, so I guess she is becoming a Vegas regular. That’s fun. Being raised on the Sonny and Cher show (yeah, I know…that gives my age away), I have to admit to letting my hair grown too long as child. But that is a trauma story for another day.
What this post is really about isn’t really Cher, at least not Cher in her reality. It is about one of the first hypno shows I ever attended. Nope, I did not get up on stage and belt my heart out to “I got you, Babe.” In fact, I hunkered down in my chair and come Hell or high water, I was not going up on that stage. LOL. But, I was transformed in my own way. I saw something completely amazing.
It was the same ol, same ol, guys being asked to pretend that they were modern female rock stars. Thank God. Someone other than myself had to be Cher. Sure, there was a fake Madonna. There was a fake joan Jett. There Was a fake Brittany Spears. Entertaining. Funny even. And then there was Cher. He was a small Korean man, spoke seemingly little English (I talked to him after the show). He might have been in his 40s and he seemed fairly shy, but good humored. Well apparently when the hypnotist gave him the suggestion that he was Cher, it hit a strong cord - literally. From the first note, he belted out Cher’s hypnotic “Believe.” It was incredible. I closed my eyes and I forgot where I was. Suddenly, I was back in my old apartment, listening to the radio and thinking that I needed to buy this new album (CD - it wasn’t that long ago). OMG!!! This guy, this unimposing man, did a better impersonation of Cher than Cher could do herself.
For me, this particular moment in my hypnosis history showed me what an amazing tool it is. When I talked to the Cher-voiced man after the show, he was beaming from ear to ear. He said he felt like nothing he had ever felt before - it was freeing for him. He felt like he could do anything he wanted. I suggested he start a new career as an impersonator. But he had a better answer to my predicable, if not-off compliment. He said he wanted to find his own voice and sing. Maybe not Caesar’s, but maybe do some community theatre or something.
I’d love to tell you the story ends with him playing Curly in Oklahoma (or someone in In the Heights, but I have no idea. I never saw that man again. But I hope he’s out there, singing his heart out - even Karaoke would be good.
But now, whenever I think about Cher, I think about that performance. I think about doing new and different things. I think about the wonderful man. I think about the person I was, who became inspired to help other’s feel the power of finding one’s own voice. Thank you, Cher.
