After all this time, I have finally written down why rhinos fascinate me so much. This little exploration was written November 2000 and is dedicated to my best friend, Lyndsey.
Now, concurrently with these library visits, I was head over heels in lust with Dan Aykroyd! :) Lyndsey & I watched Blues Brothers one day and we were hypotised...soon we were watching whatever we could get our hands on with Dan Aykroyd in it! We even watched a horrible Canadian film where he played a blind man! We were beyond obsessed. (see my travel journal to catch my drift!) I started "researching" Dan Ayroyd and the Blues Brothers through the perodicals. I figured there be a lot of stuff available--about the film, about Saturday Night Live, etc--since both things were so unique and caught the attention of the media. I was right and I spent many hours browsing those mircofiche things and printing out pages & pages of cool articles. Mind you, these articles were from 1975-1979 or so, when the show was on. I was big on making a scrapbook at the time, too (I have three books filled with clippings of past favourites).
I shared these gems with Lyndsey, of course. We loved reading about Dan and John Belushi and all the crazy shit they did. But, we also saw how close they were, despite their differences. And I drew comparisons between them (Dan & John) and us (Lyn & I)--we share a similar friendship. A strong, sometimes neurotic bond. More than once, Lyn has told me that I keep her grounded...that I'm her rock, so to speak. Not unlike Dan & John, see: "For Belushi, Aykroyd was a source of equilibrium. The force of Aykroyd's personailty, his diligence, and his integrity were counterbalances in Belushi's life. Where Belushi was erratic, Aykroyd was systematic." We often remarked that we were so opposite, it was amazing we could hang out together! Yeah, even with that "opposites attract" thing in my head, it was still bizarre sometimes. "John would talk about our friendship," Aykroyd recalls. "He talked me up all the time-how much he depended on me and my support, and how we were partners. He always said we were partners. And this just made me glow." (Esquire Dec 1982). Aykroyd's words about Belushi just rang true about my friendship with Lyndsey that I was kinda floored. And happy that we are the best of friends!
A few articles mentioned nicknames Dan had for John and that's what began the rhino obession, believe it or not. Lyn & I thought we were so much like them, why not borrow their nicknames as well? So she became Phantom (as John) and I was Black Rhino (as Dan). Or to be more specific, we compared ourselves to the alter egos of Jake & Elwood Blues. I was the strong, silent type (Elwood/Dan), while Lyn was "loud" & ready for anything (Jake/John). But it wasn't like we used them in daily life or anything, it was just a inside joke to us. Although, I did use the name for my penpal hobby..it never caught on though.
Today, I went searching for those articles to get a quote to show you all what I'm talking about. I found the passage, and it turns out that we had the names reversed! John was the Black Rhino! See--
"I have this company now called Black Rhino Enterprises." Aykroyd beams, suddenly speaking in a clipped businesslike fashion. "Part of it is a T-shirt marketing thing...Where the Black Rhino comes from," he confides, "is that I had a dream one night that I was living way up on this cliff in Canada, overlooking this snow-strewn waste. There was this snorting rhino chained in the backyard. And I looked at it and the face started to look a lot like Belushi," he giggles. "And he was snorting hard and ripping up the backyard and I went out and tossed meat to him. I placated him, helped him, and I realised (his eyes glaze over goofily), 'I need this force in my life.'" (Rolling Stone Feb 22, 1979)
I don't think we intentionally messed that up. I think we just interpreted the way we wanted it to be...made it our own. I see rhinos as a more stubborn "force" in nature...kinda blind and dumb and big. Like me. Well the stubborn bit. I have my own way, and it takes a lot to push me out of those ways. Lyn constantly pushes me, and she has helped me grow as a person. Now, I can see what Dan meant, but it won't change my thoughts about the name...or the animal.
There's only one more thing that furthered my obsession. My mom started buying me rhino items. I guess she started to notice my keen interest in the animal--I'd stop and watch nature shows about them (ha) and just notice them more in stuff--and there you have it. Rhino stuff galore. I wish there was more stuff that featured them, but I do have a nice collection.