Going to Go Back There Someday

Funmi loved to inspire the best in people. He pushed me towards music and I am all the better for it. I learned how to play ukulele and my favorite song to perform was “Going to Go Back There Someday” from the Muppets. It’s about the longing we feel for our dreams. It was one of Jim Henson’s favorite songs and was performed at his memorial service. To me, it has always perfectly described in the most beautiful way the aching we feel when we want something so badly even though we know it’s so impossible. I also saw it as a double meaning of feeling at home when you discover a new place. I felt it when I visited Funmi’s new house for the first time. I had never been there before, but it felt just like home.

This will most likely to go down as my absolute favorite memory. I decided at the very last minute during this short weekend visit to film a music video. And by last minute, I mean we were saying our goodbyes and I was walking out the door when the idea occurred to me. I always had to head back by early afternoon on Sunday to avoid hitting rush hour traffic in NYC on my way home, but something nagged at me and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to film a music video with Funmi! I’m pretty sure Funmi had work he had to get done as well, he spent almost every second of the last few years on his laptop it seemed, but he was just as excited to help me create my visual and auditory masterpiece (probably how he would describe it, definitely not my words).

So, I went about filming a bunch of artsy and clunky establishing shots. Then I forced Funmi to join me in some exceptionally bad acting. Finally, I wanted to redo a close-up of my face but I couldn’t hold the camera at the right angle above my head. So, Funmi decided he would be my tripod and he squatted down on top of me in the snow. It was the most awkward position he could have come up with. I had gone numb all along my backside from laying down in the snow and now my best friend has his crotch in my face. Needless to say, Funmi made damn sure he got the shot! And we laughed, a lot.