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On Groupies and Bloggers: Part I: The Groupie 10/27/2003 5:31:42 AM
How others perceive the artist. A case of projection.
One Sunday morning, I received an email from a previously unknown sender with a subject line reading "crossing paths..." At first glance it looked like the manipulative emails that have become standard amongst spammers: The subject line giving the appearance of being sent by a long lost friend but the content being yet another advert for penis extension.
In this particular instance, it was another sort of manipulation. The email was from a woman who had seen me perform at one of the Les Fetes Du Sisk (a series of art and music festivals that occurred every few months back in 1999 and 2000.) She said that she thought I was “great”, “seemed so cool(and warm) at the same time” and that I had “a great combination of qualities.” This she could tell from witnessing a fifteen minute set of spoken word. She did not mention actually meeting off stage (and I have very clear memories of with whom I spent my off stage time at all three of the festivals in which I participated.) She explained that she hadn't crossed paths with me since because she had been in grad school and these memories came back to her because she had read a blurb about one of my shows.
She did not ask to be kept apprised of upcoming shows, to be placed on my mailing list, or what sort of work I am doing now. She said that she should have asked me for a date back then and seemed only interested in contacting me now me for a date. Mind you that I have no idea who this person is.
Indeed, if getting to know me and determine if I was available were her objectives, it would have been easy to come to a show and chat me up afterwards (despite all my efforts on the publicity front, I don't play the rockstar thing, I'm quite accessible.) The point was that she was basing her interest entirely on my cult celebrity status and memories of a performance that happened 3-4 years prior.
Armed with Google, I did some detective work. I quickly found that she was a fan of a well known English progressive rock band that I also happen to like. However, her fandom had gone well beyond a love of music. The concert reviews she posted to USENET groups assigned all sorts of personal qualities to the band members. At one point she was actively seeking out the musicians’ personal phone and fax numbers. This made me wonder if the email wasn't just an attempt to be a groupie for somebody more local and closer to her own age.
I declined the offer of a date and she seems to have thus far respected my wishes.
