World of Weird Al Yankovic

Just stumbled upon this topic--its interesting and its something I've thought about a lot, this whole fan-performer relationship.

The people that woman wrote about are not what I think of as a fan. They are obsessives. I've seen a few of these at Al shows too, but thankfully only a few. One started out as a Friend of The Band (where I see myself now) and she crossed a line (I"m not exactly sure what happened though I've heard a lot of speculation) and was suddenly NOT welcome. She has really dropped out of the scene. I'm pretty sure she isn't on this board at least. The last time I even heard from her second hand was like 5 or 6 years ago. There was another one--who also vanished after RWS--who started out as a fun person and inside of 4 months turned into a nut. Last time I saw her in person she was beating her fists on the door of the bus after a show. Al was sick so there was no meet n greet, and this person felt she was owed time with him and the band. She was demanding to be let on board. She also vanished shortly after that.

Those people are not fans. I am not sure what they are. I think of them as Bad Fans, I guess.

I think fans do respect. I would not dream of disturbing someone famous if I saw them at dinner or otherwise doing something that I would want to be left alone. There is a time and place for fan interactions, and I think those are generally things that the famous person can control--because you never quite know when someone is going off the edge.

I'm a vet and sometimes I see clients out of the office--I'm more than happy to say hi and ask abotu their pet, but if it starts to get into some complex conversation about a medical issue (especially if its about a pet I have never seen) I dislike that and there is no delicate way to back out of that situation. So I try to think about how I'd feel in a situation before I'd go approach someone. Post show, official meet and greet/signing/whatever--that's fair game, but I also think there are rules to those too. Its easy to assume you have a different relationship with someone who is famous than you really do, because you can feel like you know them when you really do not.

Anyway, I think that is all I had to say--its an interesting conversation.

Jackie

If I saw Al out to dinner I wouldn't say anything to him, but if I saw him at The Grove or at the LA Zoo or some other public place, I would go up and say hello. I think that comes with the territory of being a celebrity.

The thing I love about being an Al fan is knowing that there are a lot of great people that are fans also. That's why I'm trying hard to get to AlFest and that's why people have been spending money flying to the previous Al conventions. Al attracts some of the greatest people.

Another thing that has been touched on before in this topic is that Al really cares about his fans. When I went backstage at a Los Angeles concert, he had over 200 people that made up his friends and their families back there. It was insanely packed! Still, he went through each person, taking photos, signing things, and just making casual small talk.

I enjoy his tweets, too. You get to know the small things and quirks of his daily life. We get some photos and some inside of what he's doing. I don't think him tweeting about going to Sea World or whatever really makes a difference or gets too personal because while some people live nearby or some people might base that info on actually going to wherever he is, it's not a huge deal with creepy fans or whatever. Either way, someone's bound to recognize him in public.

I sorta agree with Jon, but to an extent. If Al's at dinner, I'm not about to interrupt his private moment, but if he's at the Grove or whatever with his family, I still wouldn't go for it. It's just the way that Al makes the right decision in keeping his family out of the spotlight that makes me cautious to even go up to him at all.

If someone does go up to Al while he's doing his shopping or whatever, I wouldn't call it a huge invasion of privacy. I wouldn't do it personally, but if someone else does it, I'm not going to judge them or call them creepy. It's just them taking the opportunity to say hi or compliment a song or something.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't blame people for approaching Al in public because as Jon says, it all comes with being a celebrity. Al isn't a celebrity that does stupid things or that's even excessively followed around by paparazzi or I don't worry about that stuff.

Well said, Meli. If I did ever run into Al at the Grove or some other location, I would keep it brief - just say hi and maybe take a TwitPic at most, tell him "Hey I loved Skipper Dan" or whatever he had just finished working on - then let him get on with his life. He probably deals with the "Hey aren't you Weird Al Yanko-vich" sort of thing so often that he wouldn't mind an actual fan whom he has met several times stopping to say hello.

But if it was clear he was in the middle of personal time with his family I would be much more hesitant to stop him.

I would probably have to say hi because if I didn't, I would hate myself forever.

anthontherun @ July 21, 2009 05:28 pm wrote: Yankovich is no longer censored

Good, that was annoying.

Plenty of food for thought and some very wise words from Jackie there. It is difficult sometimes to retain a sense of proportion, particularly when one has travelled very far or whatever, as I have done but luckily, in the final analysis the fact that I'm actually not a rude disrespectful jerk in normal life comes to the rescue and, even though I know I have obsessive tendancies, my natural instinct is to try not to piss people off too much and so sensible boundaries are maintained.

The idea of banging on the bus door is truly scary. I'm not surprised that person became unwelcome!

when i was in monterey for my bday, i was walkin around with kaffy, we went into a camera store, she bought something, and when we came out as we were walkin down the st, Al and family was walkin toward us, as we passed we said hey, Al said hey, and we went our merry way

Yeah, I remember Kaffy mentioning that before. That's how it should be, just like any friends might do. Just as a courtesy, say hello and then go on with your day. I think most of us here would do the same.

Just remember folks, "fan" is short for "fanatic."

Fandom is a very interesting topic. I think most fans are happy enough to get an opportunity to briefly interact with a favorite celeb(be it autograph, etc) then go on their merry way. Thankfully most don't want a lock of hair or their first born child.

I saw fan wars in figure skating fandom(due to many having at least a reasonable access to the skater or coach) and it wasn't pretty. Thankfully I have seen none of that with Al fandom.