Usually during take-off, I am furiously chewing on gum to keep the pressure out of my ears, gripping my stomach, and loathing the feeling that it is going to float right up, and hit the ceiling of the Boeing 767.
Not Tommy. Cool as a anything, he takes the moistened contact, clamps open his eyelids, and suction cups it right to his eye, then repeats. Who even does that? Takes talent. That's all I can say.
Seeing how my first flight was about 20 minutes late, giving me approximately 10 minutes to sprint through the Atlanta airport to catch my next flight, I was a little too preoccupied catching my breath to notice the young man in the green hoodie and nerd glasses, thoughtfully perusing a book of letters between Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. I settled into my seat, and gave the appropriate acknowledgement/greeting to my temporary travel companion. He remarked on how "old school" my choice of snack was (fruit roll up), and I offered him one. He politely declined, then I watched with fascination as 26 year old Tommy removed his (presumably) reading glasses, and began inserting his contact lenses as the pressure in the cabin increased and we made our ascent into the great blue.
Once the disequilibrium had faded off, then the real conversation began.
Physical Description in his own Words: "Irish-German. 100% Hunky. I come from pretty good stock. Average height, about 6' tall. I think I'm pretty good looking as it goes. I think sometimes it gets me in trouble. I think I have a pretty good physique for a guy who doesn't exercise. I've got sinewy hands and strong fingers. I've got pretty crazy hair most of the time. It's brown. I'm currently pretty casually dressed. I've got my favorite green sweatshirt on. It's a zipped hoodie. I've got one big tattoo, and one small tattoo. And I like these sunglasses that I'm wearing." (He's wearing Ray Bans.) Though he forgot to mention it, one of the first things I noticed was his WWF "Save the Pandas" shirt underneath the green hoodie.
Starting out, young Tommy wanted to be a movie star. Then he wanted to be a famous singer. Now he wants to be both. "Instead of waiting to be discovered, I'm trying to do it on my own time." Back in high school, he wanted to be Jeff Buckley. Eventually, he discovered that he just wanted to be himself. Cake shop proletarian by day, soulful musician by night, Tommy loves making his own sound. He started playing guitar at age 13, and taught himself to play piano at 16, but he has been singing from the beginning. "I've loved music my whole life." His music is a bit Jazzy, a bit Bluesy, and a bunch of other stuff, but one thing's for sure. It's one hundred percent Tommy.
But where did Tommy come from? His parents met at Lawrenceville, a boarding school in New Jersey. "They quarreled a lot, and divorced when I was six. That had the single greatest effect on me psychologically and behaviorally throughout my whole life." Despite the pain of the divorce, Tommy says that he still has two great parents, and he is close with both. He also has one older sister, with whom he is close, but "could be closer." Overall, he says he had a good childhood.
Things that Make Tommy Smile Real Big: 1) Laughing at himself. "I spend a good portion of my time being the butt of my own jokes. Myself never fails to make me smile."
2) Jazz Music: Ella, Miles, Bossanova, Jaoa Gilberto.
3) A&E's version of Pride and Prejudice. "That s*** cracks me up. I have a soft spot for it. I used to watch it with my sister and my mom, and I find the concentrated British vernacular hilarious."
Tommy's happiest memory can be traced back to the night he directed a play while working as a counselor at a summer camp. "I pulled off a very large production in a very short time. It was a triumph." After the performance, his kids dragged him out on stage for applause. He expected a warm reception, but he was not prepared for the magnitude and force of the audience's praise. "Elation" and "Euphoria," were all he could say to describe the moment. It was a sweet reward for all the hard work he had done.
Most Embarrassing Memory: "The last time I s*** my pants, I was wearing white shorts. I think I was six."
Things Tommy Loves to Hate:
1) Rom-Coms.
2) "Pretty much the majority of mainstream popular culture, especially Lady Gaga.
3) Reality TV, or actually most TV. (The exception being cake shows, particularly Cake Boss) "Reality TV just strikes me as contrived reality. Not very candid."
"Yes to Love. At least once. I met this girl the summer I was 23. We were working at the same summer camp in New Hampshire. She was miraculous. I didn't have any idea, at the time, what kind of profound impact she would have on my life. I just knew I was very attracted to her. She was very beautiful. She was flawless to me. She had flaws, and it only endeared her to me because it made her seem more 'my speed'. At first, there wasn't anything that set her apart. I was just lusting after a beautiful woman. And then we took a chance getting involved. For the first time, I allowed myself to be vulnerable, and I was rewarded with a very spiritual connection with her. What set her apart was that she told me that she loved me, even after I had hurt her. And that meant that she loved me, despite the fact that I was imperfect. That was the first time I ever felt okay being a flawed human being. Then we got to know each other in a very deep and profound way. We traveled together. We lived together. She was the keeper of my secrets, my closest confidant, my best friend. And the best sex I've ever had. But I imagine it was only so because of all the things I just mentioned. Eventually there was some dissonance that we just couldn't resolve. We were both honest about it, because we both felt it. So we separated. I think about her still. Strange to me that she's out there somewhere."
When asked if his first real love was his musical muse, Tommy replies, "She is not my muse. My muse is in my head. I think my mistake was me trying to make this girl my muse. I had to realize that my inspiration is within me."
If Tommy met his 16 year old self on the street, he would say, "I think everyone feels like you feel at your age. You must remember that you're not the center of the universe. You have to remember that a life lived only for the self will invariably be a lonely one, and the more you learn to serve others, the happier you will be. You have much talent, but only by cultivating discipline will you yield results. And when you're in college, don't make out with that girl Caitlin. She has herpes."
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