A:MUSE – Eddie Sung

This is a Grammatical Blog dedicated to three of my favourite words in the English language : AMUSED, AMUSE and A MUSE.

The three words are crucial ingredients (lubricants) to navigate around this unpredictable, messy, often troubling thing called Life.

What great ways to pass our time on this earth. Why sulk and develop ulcers, indigestions, and enemies? It’s best to see things with positive lenses.

It’s fun to be Amused, it’s heartening to Amuse others. And it’s great to be A Muse to others in a creative way or in my case, photograph my Muses when they come to town. Or share scrumptous meals with them before or after a photoshoot.

I keep these three magic mood musketeers (Amused, Amuse and A Muse) close to my heart. It gets me invitations into interesting rooms, intermingling with like-minded happy souls who do not take Life or themselves seriously.

Those with vindictive hearts, bad attitudes and foul mouths tend to be relegated to staying in their acidic homes.

1 – AMUSED

To be Amused is to be pleasantly entertained or be diverted by someone or something happy or funny. A ready smile is ammuntion to ward off the grouches or grouchy situations.

As I said many times, Laughter doesn’t cause cancer.

Me And Slash With His Mirrored Shades (above image). We were just clowning around backstage before his concert performance. My working title for this image is “Ringo Slash”.

I asked him if I could take a picture of MY portrait. Immediately he caught the funny irony of the request, he was amused. A nice light-hearted backstage moment.

2 – AMUSE

To Amuse is to captivate, entertain or bring happiness to someone. A happy time is guaranteed for all parties (pun intended).

Stay amusing always. Be less stressful, be kind to your heart and loved ones.

People congregate around amusing people.

Me And Gene Simmons Of Kiss (above image). A brief lesson on the fine-art of Kissing.

3 – A MUSE

A Muse is a person or imaginary force that gives someone inspiration, motivation, or ideas to create art, sculpture, songs or in my case, images (photographs).

My Muse 1: Dame Olivia Newton-John (above image). It’s hard to take a bad picture of Dame Olivia. She kindly featured a concert image of her, that she loved, in her best-selling autobiography, “Don’t Stop Believin'”.

“Check Out! Page 327” (above image). A highlight of my Life when I received Dame Olivia’s signed autobiography at my home. With “Heart” instructions to “Check Out! Page 327”.

Dame Olivia Newton-John As A Greek Muse (above image). Incidentally, in the movie Xanadu, Dame Olivia played Terpsichore, the Greek Muse of Dance. So I had the privilege of knowing a Greek Muse in my life.

**Blondie’s “Panic Of Girls” Album Centre-Spread**

My Muse 2: Blondie (above image). My image of the band in the middle of a Woodstock wilderness is featured in the centre-spread of their best-selling album, “Panic Of Girls”.

My Muse 3 : Chris Stein of Blondie (above image). My picture of him during the Last Days of CBGB is featured in his best-selling memoir, “Under A Rock”.

My Muse 4 : Debbie Gibson (above image). Debbie kindly featured a concert image I took of her concert in Singapore in her best-selling memoir, “Eternally Electric”.

My Rock Photography Journey spanning over four decades (and counting), is marked by Amusing moments (because I chose to see it that way). I get a kick out of photographing legendary Muses because I like to think we share fun times because we Amuse each other.

Word (A:MUSE perhaps?) usually spreads quickly among visiting troubadours over happy fun times in overseas gigs. I like to think that when rock stars come to Singapore, they reach out to me for some local fun and spicy food.