Celebrity

What makes people go weak at the knees for people they’ve seen in a magazine or on stage?

I’ve never really understood the whole screaming-until-you-faint-at-an-early-60s-Beatles-concert type fan-dom.

I’m on a couple of discussion lists for musicians I love and have admired for years, but hardly ever read them as (especially on one of the lists) the things the fans say freak me out....

I also believe that it’s probably true you should never meet your heroes, especially musicians – will they ever live up to what you imagine them to be (especially when your favourite album by them was made in 1974), and is it worth risking never being able to listen to their music again because it reminds you of the time you completely embarrassed yourself by asking them to sign something (WHY do people want a signature, WHY????)

Don’t get me wrong, I once watched an interview with Tom Waits circa 1979 on Youtube and it made me ache to know him then, in just the way his (early) music makes you want to drink too much, smoke too much and live on the seedy side of town; he doesn’t make it sound glamorous, it doesn’t sound easy, but he makes you want to do it anyway, in that 3am-just- finishing-the-second-bottle-of-wine-wallowing-in-some-woe kind of way.

Anyway, that’s OK, you’re on your own, it’s about the music and drink and you don’t have to let anyone know you ever do that...

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I run a music festival, and recently went to see an acoustic artist play as part of a city-wide music conference / festival type thing, in the hope of booking him. He happens to be part of a very famous band and also happens to be very good friends with one of my school friends. We’d already had email contact and my friend said she thinks he’s up for playing acoustic at my festival next June.

So I go along with Mars, watch the set, have to disguise the fact that I know the words to the songs even though album only came out a week before (was quite excited at prospect of him playing at festival), and go and talk to him afterwards. He is charming, I get bought a pint by the promoter by virtue of the act I look important because of who I’m talking to, he says he will play my festival for free as long as his band doesn’t get booked for that date, he will know this in January and will confirm.

He is also pleased that his accommodation will be my friend’s mum’s house (at which point I think maybe is not the fact my festival is fabulous but that my friend is gorgeous).

ANYWAY. Nice one. Mars and I are watching the next act when she nudges me and points to said famous bloke and two teenage girls who are getting him to sign a copy of his album, then asking for photos with him, then giggling and trying to think of something to say to keep him there, and gushing, and gushing. He leaves and they immediately inspect the album cover and giggle and ignore the band on stage and visibly begin to devise their facebook status updates for the next day.... this makes me sad.

Am I a snob? Am I a killjoy? Or do I just wish people cared more about the music than about the fame?