"Never meet your heroes. They will disappoint you."
"Be your fan's number 1 fan."
I stopped worshipping celebrities around the time of the OJ trial. That was also the same time I started hating the media...cable news in particular. Hmm, what a coincidence. Nowadays with social media, there's even more of a false sense of connection that fans have with their "heroes." Kids are spoiled these days. They can read Lady GaGa's twitter feed 24/7 and get images of her off the web instead of waiting for their latest issue of Teenbeat or Seventeen to arrive in the mail.
Sometimes though a real connection forms, and the social contract of fan/customer and merchant/entertainer changes ever slightly to acquaintance with mutual interests. And if you're really lucky, friendship/brotherhood or sisterhood. People like Questlove, Jon Favreau, Felicia Day, Kevin Smith, 9th Wonder, Phonte, who interact with their fans through forums, twitter, etc., build something real beyond the virtual and impersonal space of the www(Even if some celebrities fake it, they and their publicists have fooled me). I really appreciate and respect those that invest in their fans like that, because people's time and energy are important and to spend it talking with your fans goes a long way. Hopefully, the dividend is fans buying tickets and merchandise.
To disgress even further and cynically break it down for the streets, hos that come up to your car and ask, "are you looking for a good time baby," and strippers who just ask, "Do you want a dance," aren't gonna go as for as hos that give you that girlfriend experience or strippers that sit down and chat with you first. They're in the service industry, so customer service with a friendly smile is key. You catch more flies with honey as the saying goes.
Ok, enough rambling. My point is my "heroes" haven't disappointed me. One factor is that I can't really watch, read, or listen to something that someone has created without respecting them. I know you have seperate the art from the artist, but I can't do that all the time. A perfect example is Kid Rock. I bought Devil Without a Pause on a whim, months before it became popular and catapulted Kid into stardom. Then one night, I saw him on Jay Leno. He wasn't a guest(not famous enough yet) but was interviewed during a Jaywalking segment. Leno asked him some North American geography and American history questions, and he didn't know the answers to any of them. I stopped listening to Kid Rock after that. I don't have time to deal with fucking idiots.
On the other hand, I still listen to Kanye West even with all his flaws. My feelings on the Taylor Swift incident is analogous to those that support the troops and not the war. I obviously feel bad for young Ms. Swift, but I wasn't mad at Mr. West for running up on stage. Without contemplating too much about the situation, it was a funny award show moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment