Yesterday a wonderful woman called me from Yma Sumacs past. The things she told me about the private Sumac household was heartbreaking. The things The Diva put up with from those closest to her was STAGGERING. Then a super-fan and friend asked me many Sumac oriented questions and I thought, in their honor, I would post my eulogy to Yma Sumac. I read this at her funeral on Nov 8th, 2008. Yma I never dreamed that first day (11 years ago) when I walked up to your front door, (with shaking flowers in hand) the extraordinary roles that you and I would end up playing in each other’s lives. How could we have known the major twists and turns it would take, the people who would come and go from our lives, and that in the end, we only had each other. The last 9 months, although precious, are not how I want to remember us. I want to remember the happier years, when we’d sit and talk and laugh and go through fan mail. Or when we’d walk through the streets of Hollywood, arm in arm as passers’ by would see us and go “Awww” at the site of a young guy in leather studded bracelets, shaved head and tattoos escorting a little ‘lady of age’ in a huge straw hat and giant sunglasses across the cross-walk. I’ll never forget the time when we went to that expensive glass-wear store on Hollywood Blvd and I dropped something and it broke. I panicked, thinking you would make me tell the storekeeper or pay for it. Instead you said ‘C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, let’s go!” We never walked home so fast in our lives! My happiest memories of us are not the fancy moments where there were cameras everywhere, hysterical fans and, at times, even chaos. That was wild, but I always felt a little detached from that, because I knew the real you and that toward the end...you were quite tired of the effort it took to make public appearances, (as was I!). I even had a few twinges of guilt in “assisting you with your beauty” in some of those later projects, because I knew that after almost 60 years of traveling the world, signing endless autographs and being photographed to no end, you would have rather been at home, watching TV or running around in your house with my little dogs. Having said that, I was also, unmistakably, a fan. I remember the countless times we played your music and looked through my rather extraordinary Yma Sumac photo collection. At such times, I felt it such a privilege to be in your company. Indeed I knew there were a million people who would have loved to have been in my place for those moments. Speaking of which, I am sorry there was no time left for me to get you that iPod you wanted. I knew how much you loved to rock-out to ‘Mambo Confusion’ and all of the latest Euro-dance tracks from Sweden. Despite the terrible agony of knowing you were slipping away from me these last 9 months, I remained strong, for you. I would not fail you, as others had done. We both knew you were decidedly estranged from any family in Peru and that other ‘friends’ whom you trusted and let into your private life, abandoned ship in your greatest hour of need. Please know, that I was there most every day, that I held your hand until the pain subsided, kissed and embraced you and taped to your wall, every single beautiful card fans sent from all over the world. They loved you too and I know how much they meant to you. And I know also, it is for them, that you have chosen to stay here in Hollywood, for all eternity, so that they may visit you from all over the world. You said: “Dahling…everybody comes to Hollywood, at least one time! Now they will come to see Yma...” Please keep in your heart, “Ms. T” and your favorite caregiver, Armi, who helped me and you so much in the end. Those two have been angels to us, and we could not have coped without them. As I said to you just last Saturday, knowing I would never see you face to face again: I have always loved you- so very much, and I hope I never disappointed you. I want to thank you, for letting me in your heart, unguarded at last - as you seemingly never allowed yourself to do with anyone else (for reasons I have come to understand). Finally you gave-in and loved -- and were loved in return. You are proof, that it is never too late…to love. Damon
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 22:22:25 +0000
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