Where Public Al Stops And Private Al Begins

[Diva]

Having had a brief flurry about Suzanne being really easy on the eye [yup, agreed in just about all circles] and that not being reason enough to to publicly go HUMMADEHUMMADEWOOHOO!!!! [or whatever the appropriate euphemism for drool is at this time] on the forum [general consensus seems to be 'don't publicly go HUMMADEetc...'], I thought it might be a good time to touch again on the public/private boundary. Me and my thinking problem...

I live in SoCal and it gets a little more in my face than the average person, I suppose. I came up with a rule of thumb for public figures in general, applying it most commonly to Al because he's the public figure I most commonly encounter from traveling to a lot of his shows. I figured that if some figure-let's call him "Al"-was engaged in some activity that was related to The Business Of Being Al e.g. being the Grand Marshall of a St. Patrick's Day parade in Dallas, signing CDs at a Virgin Megastore in West Hollywood, meeting fans officially after a show or after an after-show at the buses [with some staffer shouting '1 photo, 1 signature, please!' -a situation coming with instructions], that would be generally fair game for commentary, posting, etc. Any time Al is out doing whatever it is that Al would be doing in the course of his everyday life no more belongs on the Internet than anything I do in the course of my everyday life. Al's life outside of The Business Of Being Al isn't his job. Suzanne's life in these circumstances isn't part of the Business Of Being Al either [although she's been a really good sport about it and about us].

It would seem to me that, since Al's image is part of his professional life, discussion of his [public or on-stage] image is on a different level than discussion of his private citizen spouse.

More generally, especially on-line, I tend not to discuss chance encounters with any of the Al-universe [family, the band, Al himself, etc.] on those occasions when I've run into them outside of immediate pre or post-performance settings e.g. in a performance town but 'off the clock', or rare chance encounters in the LA area. I might be pickier about that than the average person but I wouldn't want my own private life subject to that kind of 'reporting'.

Anyway, that's my 27 cents.

Cheers, Diva
and the Long Beach Three, ready for their close ups no matter what the foodgiver typed up there

[fred27]

um ok i didnt get that but if you meant like, if you see Al out and about just walking around with family, dont be all, OMG ITS AL can i have an autograph, kind a deal? if so when we were in monterey, kaffy and i were walking around town, stoped in the camera store to browse, she bought a lense cap, when we left the family was commin down the street, told kaffy, hey look up, as we passed each other we just said, hi, hi, and kept on goin

[TMBJon]

I always try to differentiate between Al and Weird Al on this forum, basically the same way you said Al and the Business of Being Al.

That's also kind of what bums me out about the No "Weird" in Convention Title ordeal.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

It's a real interesting question. Suzanne is indeed a "private citizen" although she does have a certain amount of interaction with Al's fans. Being polite to us would be a matter of sound policy in any case, but we all know that Al and Suzanne both go above and beyond politeness... they are genuinely generous, gracious and friendly well past the basic minimum for Good Celebrity-Fan Relations.

Diva draws a good line about not putting Scenes from Everyday Life with the Yankovics up on the internets. It does happen, people who work in bookstores have LiveJournals, etc., but we don't have to be the ones to do it. We can discuss later what the appropriate response is when you're surfing and come across the bookstore clerk's LiveJournal.

To me at least, the situation is pretty clear at the two extremes:
1) don't pester Al or post about it if you happen upon him in the supermarket produce aisle.

and

2)Don't be shy about showing your enthusiasm if you see Al come down off a stage and start slinking toward you, wearing a red suit.

It's the "penumbra of performance" situations that are a little interesting. Because Al's situation there is different from most celebs. For most of the fans of most of those other guys, I would expect that meeting "their" star is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. And we all know how such an event can take the brains of otherwise normal people offline. Those stars probably never hear much of anything from their fans except variations on "I'm your biggest fan!" and "ZOMG! You are so HOTT!" They never have occasion to hear, or to say, for example, "It's great to see you again!" But Al does. Al hears a lot of "I'm your biggest fan!" of course, but there are also a lot of repeat encounters in his meet & greet lines. And those are the contexts where we might possibly meet Suzanne. My own personal feeling is that if I'm a repeater (and I am, I am) there's a sort of implicit obligation to treat Al a little bit less like a celebrity and a little bit more like a real person. When I talk to married guys I actually know, I don't spend time mentally cataloguing their attractions... if I have seen Al often enough that he remembers me, why wouldn't the same rule apply? And if I were a guy, wouldn't the same rule apply to Suzanne?

[TMBJon]

I do have to take issue with this one point though: If I saw Al at the supermarket I probably would go up and say hi, but keep it brief and then be on my way.

[Akrovak]

I do have to take issue with this one point though: If I saw Al at the supermarket I probably would go up and say hi, but keep it brief and then be on my way.

I'd wish to meet him in the produce area of the supermarket, and (without saying a word) thrust my two overly ripe melons in his general direction, in vain hope that he would squeeze them, ever so gently, but with enough force to let me know his interest rested not with the fruit, but with the bountiful seed contained within. I'd whisper in his ear, "No, go ahead, eat it ... I promise you won't get fat ... you're on a grapefruit diet." And then moan like I was all white and nerdy and stuff.

</fantasy world>

I'd probably just ask for his signature on my Mariners baseball cap (cause, yeah, I'm not nearly that witty (? ... lol ... whatever ... loser!) in real life).

[ludovica64]

I'd wish to meet him in the produce area of the supermarket, and (without saying a word) thrust my two overly ripe melons in his general direction, in vain hope that he would squeeze them, ever so gently, but with enough force to let me know his interest rested not with the fruit, but with the bountiful seed contained within. I'd whisper in his ear, "No, go ahead, eat it ... I promise you won't get fat ... you're on a grapefruit diet." And then moan like I was all white and nerdy and stuff.

</fantasy world>

I'd probably just ask for his signature on my Mariners baseball cap (cause, yeah, I'm not nearly that witty (? ... lol ... whatever ... loser!) in real life).

snort!!!

[BabyBoolie27]

Oh my!!!

You know I think that if I ever saw him in public I would duck behind a magazine rack or something. I would just be too nervous to say anything!!!

[Orthography Enthusiast]

I do have to take issue with this one point though: If I saw Al at the supermarket I probably would go up and say hi, but keep it brief and then be on my way.

I don't think a simple "hi" counts as pestering, if you're not interrupting a conversation or a restaurant dinner or something like that.

[NH Weird Al Fan]

I'd wish to meet him in the produce area of the supermarket, and (without saying a word) thrust my two overly ripe melons in his general direction, in vain hope that he would squeeze them, ever so gently, but with enough force to let me know his interest rested not with the fruit, but with the bountiful seed contained within. I'd whisper in his ear, "No, go ahead, eat it ... I promise you won't get fat ... you're on a grapefruit diet." And then moan like I was all white and nerdy and stuff.

</fantasy world>