I wanted you to call...

I wanted you to call...

[aka TREVOR GUTHRIE CALLED ME!!!]

by Valerie C. Noble

BACKGROUND: When I got the message on Thursday night, 9 November 2000, from Jan of soulDecision, I was utterly STUNNED! I literally screamed in my car after I listened to the message. (My phone doesn't readily work inside the building, so I had to wait until after work to check my phone's voicemail.) If anyone heard me, they probably thought I was being murdered or something. LOL!
Let me just say that I truly didn't care which of the soulDecision guys was going to call me. I would have welcomed a conversation with any one of them. I was equally giddy at thought of talking with Ken or Dave or Trevor. But I did wish that it could be Trevor. After all, we had already met the month before in Marysville (More than a momentary thrill...). It would be fun to see if he remembered that moment at all. Plus I had a bit of a gauge on his personality. And all right, I like him! :) He was sweet and cute when I met him and as I've said before, I am never one to resist such a fellow.
I had to wait THREE whole days before I got the call. And I didn't know who I would be getting it from! The day before the call, I had a Xena convention, which was also quite an exciting event for me. (Palo Alto Xena Con, if you want to read about it.) By Monday morning I was an interesting bundle of nerves.
Who would call me? (Like the secondary title to this essay doesn't give it away...)
What would we talk about? (Ooh, so many interesting things...)
Read on to find out...

10:44am Pacific time, 13 November 2000
The phone rang. I looked at my husband, he handed me the phone. I cleared my throat, then pressed the answer button.
"Hello."
"Hello, may I speak to Valerie?" A man's voice asked.
"This is Valerie."
"Hi Valerie, this is Trevor with soulDecision."
I started laughing. I couldn't believe it! Trevor Guthrie was on the phone with me!
"Why are you laughing? Are you laughing at me?" It sounded like he was smiling.
"No," I replied. "I'm just thrilled, that's all." How could I not be? His rather lovely voice was so close to my ear.
“Oh, you’re thrilled,” he repeated, sounding slightly bemused.
And we started talking. He asked me where he was calling, I told him California. He asked whereabouts and I said near San Francisco. He asked me what I was doing this fine day and I told him that I would be going to work soon. He asked, "No school?" I kinda laughed and said that I graduated from college in 1993.
"How old are you?" He asked.
"Older than you," I laughed.
"No," he said.
“Yes,” I assured him.
"So how old are you?"
"29," I replied.
"Oh wow, you are older than me. A couple of years," he said.
I told him that I had seen him last month. I had to remind him where and he said, "You said you were on the eSquad?"
"Did I?" I asked. "I don't remember saying that. I was the one who came up to you and said your whole name."
"I think you said you were on the eSquad," he said.
We talked a little about that. I know I asked him where he was. They're back in Toronto, in their home country. He was glad to be home and said that they had a couple of days off. He said something about going to Vancouver to relax and write more songs.

I mentioned the Mike Bullard show.
“Umm, no, we’re not doing the Mike Bullard show,” he said. “But I don’t know.”
I laughed. “Don’t they tell you what you’re going to be doing?”
”No, sometimes not.” He gave an example- “Minneapolis held a contest and we were the prize! We had (or have?) to perform for a high school.”
“Gee, they might have wanted to tell you,” I laughed.
”Yeah, the Mike Bullard show. I love that show, it would be cool to be on it. Hmm, we would probably have to perform,” he mused.
Since I really didn’t know what the show was, I couldn’t really comment.
“But if you are there, one of my online friends will probably be there. Ken might know her as Kuddle Me Ken, her name is Ashley. I told her to wink at you for me.”
He kinda laughed. “Okay, she’s going to wink at me?”
“Yes,” I said. (soulDecision actually ended up on Much on Demand that Wednesday. Ashley saw them, but forgot to wink at Trevor! No worries, maybe I'll get a chance to do it myself someday. LOL!)
We got on the subject of "Tonight." I mentioned that I had heard it online. He doesn't like the song. He said it was their first attempt at a jam type thing and he didn't like the way it turned out. I told him that I liked parts of the song. :P He said that they might be adding it to the UK version of their CD because they (UK folks) want a different version of the CD.
“They wanted us to write new stuff, but we figured we’d give them the old stuff,” he said.
"Well, my favorite song on the CD is 'Gravity,'" I told him. "So tell Ken."
“Gravity is our latest single. Do you get MuchMusic?” He asked.
“Yes, the US version, I guess,” I replied. “I have your video on tape. I did videocaptures. I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, that’s cool,” he said. “I don’t think it’s illegal.”
“Well, I do put ‘no copyright infringement intended,’” I assured him.
“It’s cool,” he said.
We talked about Ryan! He said, "It was Ryan's birthday yesterday."
"I know!" I replied. "He turned the big 2-0."
Trevor laughed. "How do you know? Are you friends with him?"
I laughed, then sort of reluctantly said, "I'm a fan of Ryan's. I met him a couple of years ago at a convention and I saw him this year too."
"That's cool," said Trevor. "Yeah, I thought I forgot his birthday. He's in Montana right now, filming a movie with Sandra Bullock."
"He is?" I asked.
"Yeah. So I called him. I didn't get to talk to him, but I left a message with the hotel. I know that he's friends with Justin too, so when I left the message, I said, 'Tell him that Trevor called. And leave a separate message and say that Justin Timberlake called to say Happy Birthday.' So I told Justin, 'Hey, I bailed you out. It's Ryan's birthday. Here's his number if you want to give him a call.'"
I laughed, liking the glimpse into his friendship.
"So," he goes on, "You're the reason, well, not the main reason, but you're one of the reasons that we're on TRL. What's up with that?"
I told him truthfully, "Well, I don't really get chance to call because I’m on my way to work, but I do email every day with the same message: 'Love the song, love the video, adore the felllows.' I am so glad you guys are on TRL!"
He mentioned their most recent appearance on TRL, cohosting with Carson Daly and I told him that I had it on tape and that it was great seeing them on there.
He talked about how they did not realize how big TRL was. He said that they were getting a lot of radio play, but no one knew who they were or what they looked like and it kinda worried them. He told me about how he talked about it with Justin. MTV was the big reason for N*Sync's exposure and soulDecision is definitely getting a taste of that.
Trevor asked me if I was a big Wham! fan back in the day.
"Oh yes," I said. "I loved them."
"Yeah, that's funny. A lot of our fans over 25 liked Wham." He talked about how his older sister (who's the same age as me :P) loved Wham back in the day and she wished that George Michael had kept doing what he did in the early days. Trevor went on about how some bands do killer pop, then change their sound and "crap like that." :P He said that he hopes to do the same kind of music for a couple of years.

"Yeah, my husband thinks that you guys sound like Wham," I told him.

"You don't think so?" He asked.

"Well, if I listen, I can hear it a bit."

"Well, we want to sound like soulDecision," Trevor laughed. But it's obvious Wham and George Michael are a big influence.

He asked me, "So where do you work?"
I laughed, then said seriously, "I work at the county jail."

"No way!"
"Yes," I said. "It's very interesting." That’s what I always say and it’s true.
"Wow, so you're surrounded by criminals all day?"

I told him that I was civilian staff, a clerk, so I stay in the booking office. I told him that I'd like to do something else in the future, but for now I'll just work and play on my websites.

I mentioned that I have a website on them and on Ryan. He said that he would have to check it out. (Yikes, must send him the URL!) I told him that Ryan's mom has seen my site.

"How do you know?" He asked.

"Because she emailed me," I laughed. "She was nice. She talked about how Ryan is not into computers and the like."

"Ryan doesn't have a computer," Trevor said a bit wryly.
“Probably just as well,” I commented. “Ryan’s fans are young and,” I paused, “intense. I mean, I know I can be intense, but I like to think I have a life.”
“No, you sound like you have a good view of reality,” he said, which made me feel better, considering he probably thought I was slightly goofy for liking a young actor like Ryan.

The conversation came to a close.

"Well, I'd better get going," he said. "I have to meet someone for breakfast, even though it's two o'clock in the afternoon."
So we said our good to talk to yous, goodbyes, and all of that.

"Take care, Valerie," Trevor said.

"You too!" I said.

And that was that...

REACTION: First off, THANK YOU to Trevor for yet another wonderful moment! It was very cool talking with you and I hope that one day we get to meet again. If only to get a picture together! :)
A second and very big THANK YOU to my fellow eSquaders and to Jan! This moment couldn't have happened without all of you, so THANK YOU! And Jan, thanks for the thrill of that message. I am ever grateful.
This phone call from Trevor has certainly sealed the deal for me. I am FOREVER FOR SOULDECISION. Having the opportunity to talk to Trevor gave me a glimpse not just of the singer, but of the person. And I liked what I saw...

back out to ENCOUNTERS

©2000 Valerie C. Noble