ALSO, I don't know how specific I can be about this so... I'm not going to be specific at all... sorry. But I get to read fan mail all the time, which is practically my favorite part of the job... and it's HILARIOUS! Like... some of it is UNBELIEVABLE. A LOT of people write as though they are writing to the characters... in really bad grammar. Several people write in all caps with tons of exclamation points about things they are pissed about. My favorite one accused the makers of Y&R of being WITCHES (her words... although she spelled it "withches") because among other things, we have a character who is has the middle name and body of her son. And ... I can say with near certainty that these are NOT joke emails. Hilarious.
So I'd been reading fan mail from late October, and everyone has the same few things to say. They hate this character and this story line and they love this character and this story line-- and these are specific story lines... like I'll get 30 emails about one specific character... EVERYONE hates this character. And the people who hate that character REALLY threaten to not watch the show again. It worried me because even though I'm sure the upper people knew everyone wasn't on board with this specific story line and character, it seemed strange that I was consistently reading that a 20+ year viewer was going to stop watching because of how crappy this story line and character were. (ugh... there is more to this tale (especially since what I just said doesn't even constitute as a tale) but I don't feel like I can share without risking trouble)
Well then I found where the more current fan emails are located and I started to dip into that pile instead. Now people are totally on board with the person that everyone hated 3 months ago. And nobody cares about that character that they loved. And now there is a new character who was a recast, and there are a jillion emails about how he doesn't fill the part very well... but these emails are so kind. They are all like "(actor) is a good actor and seems nice, but he just doesn't work for the part of (character). You should recast (character) and give (actor) a different role on the show." How kind and reasonable. I am just amazed at how much everything changed! It's hilarious and bizarre. And be aware that I'm reading like... 100 emails per day. What I'm saying is based on a substantial amount of samples.
AAAAANYWAY
Today Diane (my roommate) and I went to this bar called Whiskey A Go Go because for her internship, she needed to check out this band (AWESOME)-- she had a plus one ticket (yeah, we needed tickets) and invited me to go.
So we ended up seeing this band called Acidic. The lead is 17 years old and the rest of the members are 19. They were SOOO good! The lead was just incredible on stage. He just had so much charisma and confidence, and definitely seemed like he was 21 or something like that. He seemed like a rock star. Plus he did have a pretty amazing voice. To be fair, I am not sure that I have much of an ability to separate how I might feel about music objectively from how impressed I was that these young kids were doing so well (terrible sentence. Sorry). But I really do think they were great. SOOOOOO energetic!! Plus one of them was SUPER cute, and he would smile adorably at the crowd. They just got accepted into South by Southwest, which is pretty awesome.
Afterwards, went met up with the band while they packed up. At first they obviously didn't care about us too much (although not in a mean way), but then Diane told them why we were there (Atlantic record label) and they got so excited and scrambled for business cards and CDs (although they didn't have any CDs with them, turns out). And then their producer came and chatted with us. That was neat and I felt like the shit... even though it wasn't even about me.
Afterwards we decided to stick around for the second band. Instead of standing by the stage, we decided to go upstairs and have a seat. We ended up sitting at a table with this kid who couldn't have been older than 13, but could have been younger for sure... I reflected over how much this kid must love music to be so young and just sit there alone listening to bands. I wanted to write a story about him.
So the next band is playing, and we're commenting on the super hotness of one of the guys (SUPER hot... and I'll try to find the band name but right now I have no idea), and the fact that they are British from the part of England (London?) that pronounces "weather" like "wev-uh." So the singer pulls this REALLY young boy on stage-- probs 8 years old or something (to be clear, these were the only children there). And the 13 year at our table turns to us and says "why the fuck is my brother on stage?" VERY disconcerting. Although after he says it, I see that the 8 year old is a shorter, blonder clone of this 13 year old. And the 13 year old continues to talk to us, not in an annoying way at all though. It was cute. Later we went downstairs so Diane could have "eye sex" with the hot one and the boy came downstairs a bit later and totally rocked out. Then he talked to the lead of Acidic (who joined the audience) and a man who was clearly the boy's dad took a picture. I think the dad must have owned or managed the club.
We talked to the hot guy after the show (Diane talked. I just looked and absorbed.) Also, someone from So You Think You Can Dance was there... but since I don't watch that show, I don't know who. All I know is that twice someone went up to a group of people and said "I loved you in So You Think You Can Dance!" Impossible to say who in the group they were talking to though.
I LOOOVE getting a chance to evaluate all of this entertainment. This weekend I'm going to finish that script I have to do coverage on, and then I have a film to watch so I can give Present Pictures my opinion on whether the film should be included in Festival Indies, (which is what we've been working on for ... ever now! VISIT THE SITE (please)! I just feel so powerful! Although not in a power hungry kind of way (hopefully). Just... I feel useful.
3 comments:
Your life sounds so exciting! I think I'd really like to take a trip to California sometime. It seems like a place I would really enjoy - save for the earthquakes and mudslides.
Also, I have to say that I couldn't agree more with your assertion that a measure of power is how well you can memorize names.
Example: When I was still in Catholic School - there were obviously differing opinions on all of the priests in the parish. Everyone (well most people) hated the pastor but EVERYONE absolutely adored one priest named Father Mike. Why? Because all you had to do was meet him ONCE and he'd remember your name. He met my grandparents at a school function when I was maybe in sixth grade (possibly confirmation?) and remembered their names when I graduated TWO YEARS LATER! It was amazing. And he would always use your name when he spoke to you "Hi Monique, how are you today?" Crazy.
My dad suspects it was because when he met a person and introduced himself, he would shake the persons hand, look at them very intently, and repeat their name to them. "Hi, Monique, I'm Father Mike."
Definitely one of the most extraordinary people I've known.
WOW! I have NEVER heard of someone like that! My grandma can remember names really well, although I don't think NEARLY that well.
People just LOVE hearing their own names. That's the point.
Also, as soon as I have a permanent apartment, I extend an invite for you to stay with me in California whenever you want!! WhenEVER you want!
(also, no earthquakes yet... that I've felt)
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