WEEKEND OPEN BAR: Who Are Your Heroes and What Do They Do?

[WEEKEND OPEN BAR: The one-stop ramble-about-anything weekend post at OL. Comment on the topic at hand. Tell us how drunk you are. Describe a comic you bought. This is your chance to bring the party.]

Whether you’re a poet, graffiti artist, basketball player, or accountant, chances’re that you occasionally stumble into a patch of malaise. In these moments of self-doubt, all forward momentum comes to a halt. The verses clench up, the spray-can nozzle snaps off, the free-throw lines extend, and the numbers stop adding up. For a few horrifying instances, it may seem as though all hope is lost.

That is, of course, until we look to our heroes for inspiration.

Heroes are those individuals whose demonstrations of excellence compel us to push ourselves to our own limits. When artists and athletes and scientists redefine the parameters of possibility, they also remind us that we can do great things. Hell, if all your hero does is provide a brief respite of escapism, your day has still been improved.

We all have our heroes, and with good reason. With this truism in tow, let’s show off the hearts on our sleeves. Grab a beer, make some nachos, and join the party in the open bar.

Who are your heroes and what do they do?

Throughout my days, there’ve been plenty of heroes guiding my path. And if there were a way for me to summon their spirits into a pocket dimension for a keg party, it’d be a wild scene. Ray Bradbury and Patrice Bergeron pounding beers, Warren Ellis smoking a cigarette with Bill Hicks, Hemingway scaring John Fante with frank discussions of lust and horror. If only.

But over the last few years, I’ve been creatively inspired by Devin Townsend more than anyone else. Hevy Devy has won me over by not only being a musician of the most prolific sort, but the most uncompromising as well. One needs only look to the variety found in his four album DTP sequence – spanning from folk to pop to death metal to Enya! – to see that this is an artist who does what he wants.

Moreover, the guy is an incredibly gifted musician who warns about the pitfalls of idolizing technical prowess. This is a sentiment applicable to any field, arts-based or otherwise; you can have all the skill in the world, but if your heart’s not in it, why bother?

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So who do the passengers of Spaceship OL look to for inspiration? Athletes? Artists? Family members?

Who are your heroes and what do they do?