Autograph seekers

Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie...

I know you started this thread to complain about the complainers. Fair enough. It just struck me as strange that your first couple of posts ever on this forum were so confrontational. I think most people take the time to register and participate on this forum to be part of the positivity that dominates this particular online community. It appears that your motivation for joining this forum was to pick a fight. That may not be correct, but it's not hard to come away with that feeling from a first impression.

One of the cool things about this and other Setzer/Stray Cats forums of the past is that almost everyone is pretty friendly and respectful of others. Often, they will speak their minds, but there is usually a balance of positive discourse and enthusiasm for Brian, the Cats, and fellow forum members. There's a lot less sniping and bickering than you'll find on most fan forums, where the members seem to be on a mission to prove that they're a better fan than everyone else, or have an insatiable need to be right all the time.

Obviously, this topic was one you felt strongly about. But I hope you will weigh in on things that excite you about Brian, Stray Cats, or even David Bowie, and become a part of the fun around here instead of the frustration.

Welcome aboard!

Aladdin Sane-a-billy

Jean Genie wrote:

What if a bunch of people followed you to work, bugged you before you went into the office, waited all day for you to come out, followed you home, and waited outside to once again bug you for something.

Ahhhhhhhh... you just described the life of a bronze salesman in one sentence...



US Bronze Budge


PS- The worst are the one with the cookies!!

Budgie wrote:

Jean Genie wrote:

What if a bunch of people followed you to work, bugged you before you went into the office, waited all day for you to come out, followed you home, and waited outside to once again bug you for something.

Ahhhhhhhh... you just described the life of a bronze salesman in one sentence...



US Bronze Budge


PS- The worst are the one with the cookies!!

Oooh! Bath-Enn! Are ya gonna sit still for that one?


Nickel-plated-billy

Well, sorry about that. I guess we got off to a rocky start.

JG

rickabilly wrote:

I agree with you, to a point. The whiny posts in the Helsinki thread were deleted, so I don't know that this pre-emptively bitchy thread needed to be started. Did you really register on the board just so you could complain about the complainers?

An autograph is a great memento of an incredible evening. Sometimes, it comes with a even better story. A lot of times, it isn't even about an autograph, but just a moment to personally say thanks, and possibly interact with the artist. Whether they're 13, or 53, I'm not going to tell other fans how they should measure their enthusiasm for Brian, Lee, or Jim. And I don't think most fans who are waiting around feel they are "entitled" to their moment with Brian. They're just there, hoping for the best, expecting nothing, and walk away satisfied regardless of the outcome. Sure, there are obnoxious jerks who will yell something stupid, or post something idiotic, but they're a vocal minority. I actually enjoy hanging out and chatting with other fans while I'm waiting around. There's scarcely time for that when you're jockeying for a seat in a General Admission setting before the show.

Ben, I know you would like your moment with Brian. Sometimes, the best plan is to have no plan at all. If it is meant to happen, it will. I waited more than two hours in 7-degree weather after the 2005 tour opener to get a picture with Brian. Given the frostbite that followed, I did feel a little foolish after the fact, and I actually felt bad that I held Brian up even a second on his way to the warm tour bus. While I never felt "pathetic" I swore I would never do it again. At the Lee's Liquor Lounge show in 2006, I left the bar realizing I forgot to score a ticket stub for Scatman, so I drove back to the bar, arriving just as Brian was leaving. (Thanks for the Karma, Scatman!) I had a slightly longer exchange with Brian, got a much better photo, and really enjoyed watching Brian interact with the other fans in his new hometown of Minneapolis. What I'm saying is, those moments with Brian are thrilling to me, but the ones that "just happen" can be much more rewarding than those that are planned out with expectations piled high.

If you choose to hang out at the stage door after the show, more power to you. It is, after all, a farewell tour. And having fun on your own terms is what rock-n-roll is all about.

Happy to Be Pathetic-billy

Well said rickabilly !!! , well done mate, as for jean genie " put a sock in it " !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whats goin´on here ?
well , i live near hamburg. the mother of my wife lives in hamburg, and i will be there to sleep after the show, so i can have some beer . so when i´m allready there , i will be at the backstage entry of the venue . it is ten minutes by foot.
why not ? perhaps there will be a short handshakin´? or i can take some pics ? or they will even sign my selfmade
fan - t-shirt. i don´t think , i will be waiting for ours. yes. they owe me nothing. but what about just saying hallo , and thank´s for my personally 25 years being with stray cats music ? í am not a stalker. it will be the first time i´ll do that,
for this is perhaps the last chance. if they ignore me.....o.k. bad luck. i hope for a short meet. just for me. so later on i can tell my children . so bad ?

Hi complaints’ complainer,
Don’t know what you’re going on about, I didn’t see the other thread.
You’re right: the fans don’t have a right to expect anything else than a great show, and nor do you have a right to call them ‘pathetic’.

Actually, that’s what someone who’s already had a chance to meet their ‘idols’ might say about others who haven’t had that ‘chance’. Been there, done that.

I agree that a small number of fans on the board can be… how should I put it… a bit scary and extreme in their love for the Cats and Brian in particular. I can understand that could frighten him a bit. But that doesn’t make them all stalkers or potential psychopaths !

Brian represents the dream life that these fans will never have. Living from your music, making enough money for your family from your passion, living the rock’n’roll life, seeing your talents being rewarded and being appreciated as a person.

For most people, that will never happen and having a chance to share a few moments with someone you admire and who has made it in life will bring those people a little closer to this dream – closer than they will ever be to a dream life in a million years. They will treasure that memory forever. You call it ‘pathetic’, I call it ‘human’.

As for comparing it with us common people being stalked when we go to the office, excuse me but do you know how many days a year a ‘normal’ person works? As far as I know most people only have 4 or 5 weeks holiday a year on this planet, plus weekends. They work the rest of the year, usually for around 40 years before they can get retired. I don’t think any artist is on tour for 7 months of the year, every year for 40 years, are they?

Surely the inconvenience is ‘limited’ to the 3 or 4 months of a tour, every few years? I would hope that Brian, Lee and Jim don’t get stalked in their hometown at the supermarket checkout? As much as I love them (oops, I must sound pathetic, I should say ‘as much as I value their artistic contribution to the world of rockabilly’), they’re not Madonna or George Clooney.

I understand it must get a little scary, but everytime I have been outside a gig (which isn’t that many times, honest, oops again) the people there were not maniacs waiting to tear up Brian’s shirt, they were (mostly) normal people with a record or a ticket stub to sign.

Given the limited market they’re in, I wonder if the Cats shouldn’t actually feel ‘grateful’, to some extent, they have such a following of people who will turn up at lots of their shows and buy their releases in duplicate!

OK, they don’t OWE the fans a hand shake after a show, that would be a lot of hands. But sometimes it’s a bit like a good after-sales service: it makes you feel even better about what you have bought.

Maybe you’ve had some bad experiences with either fans or idols to be so judgemental. You don’t have to tell us what it is, it’s your privacy.

I’ve had some bad and good experiences with the Cats. You’ll think that’s extremely pathetic, but a bad experience with someone you admire can be devastating, particularly when you’re younger. I tried to remember they’re only human, just like the people waiting for an autograph, and the good times have helped forget the bad ones.

Would I miss the chance to have a chat with them? No way. Doesn’t mean I’m going to be stalking them!

The only thing I could mumble to Lee once was ‘Hi, I’m FrenchNat from your board’. He answered ‘I KNOW you, how ARE you?’ in a really enthusiastic way. I like to believe he really remembered me from his board, to which he contributes. Well I might not be a spotty 13 years old, but this is a great memory. Simple kindness from someone who’s been, in a way, part of my life for the last 27 years.

Loosen up. Everybody’s there to have a good time, nothing else.
Nat

Great post, FrenchNat.

I agree, very well put Nat, and in your second language as well, i couldn`t have put it better myself !!

Cheers

Dave

yes well said......! nice one

Hi JG.

Just thought I'd say hello and welcome as I intend no malice in my following question.

I gather you're an Autograph seeker as well since you asked Tommy to get you autographed photo's of Brian, Lee and Slim Jim. So what is different in the way you go about and the way other's do? Same end result don't you think?

Like I said, I intend no malice. I think it's a case of live and let live. People have the right to ask for an autograph in whatever way they want. The artist also has the right to say no. At the end of the day if someone says no in all facets of life, we should and really have to respect that. If we then whinge and complain then we should expect a good kick in the a**. I call it karma.

Regards,

René

Thank you, Rene, for pointing out what I couldn't get out of my mind while reading this post!

JG is so quick to point out that Stray Cats owe us (the fans) ABSOLUTELY NOTHING....except her. She needs autographed photos. Don't ever assume that because it's not posted on the world wide web that no one on this board hasn't ever asked for autographed photos, t-shirts, etc. As Rickabilly indicated earilier, you've definitely gotten off to a rocky start.

I don't think it's ever safe to assume that because people are viewing your thread & not posting a response means they agree with you, or "they just don't get it." It makes you sound like a school-ground bully looking for a fight.

For as much as you profess to know about this forum from your "lurking" days, I would think you would have caught on that members don't tell each other how to obtain memorbilia. I don't believe we toss around the word "pathetic" too much either.

One thing you & I can agree on, is that Kid Setzer is a class act. I think we could BOTH learn a lot from her.

Don't worry about posting to any of our responses. We know it just means you agree with us...or you just plain don't get it.

PeroxideBlonde wrote:

One thing you & I can agree on, is that Kid Setzer is a class act. I think we could BOTH learn a lot from her.

Nyawwwww! Thanks PB!

PeroxideBlonde wrote:

One thing you & I can agree on, is that Kid Setzer is a class act.

Here Here. Man I feel old for putting this down, but it's great to come across people from the younger side of the tracks that are like the Kid. It's a nice balance to all the young ratbags you often here about. Good on you Kid, don't change a thing about yourself.

René

pony65k wrote:

PeroxideBlonde wrote:

One thing you & I can agree on, is that Kid Setzer is a class act.

Here Here. Man I feel old for putting this down, but it's great to come across people from the younger side of the tracks that are like the Kid. It's a nice balance to all the young ratbags you often here about. Good on you Kid, don't change a thing about yourself.

René

I'm gonna agree on this one, as much as I hate to give Kid public accolades!!!

This message is gonna be deleted after an hour....I have a reputation to uphold!!

PICKIN' PETE wrote:

pony65k wrote:

PeroxideBlonde wrote:

One thing you & I can agree on, is that Kid Setzer is a class act.

Here Here. Man I feel old for putting this down, but it's great to come across people from the younger side of the tracks that are like the Kid. It's a nice balance to all the young ratbags you often here about. Good on you Kid, don't change a thing about yourself.

René

I'm gonna agree on this one, as much as I hate to give Kid public accolades!!!

This message is gonna be deleted after an hour....I have a reputation to uphold!!

Awwww, you're just a bit softy at heart, aren't ya? I'm gonna quote your message.....just so that it stays here.....more than once.

And I agree......what I've seen - for your age Kid - you've got your head screwed on, and totally give back the faith that all is not bad with the youth of today.....far from it. You were the first to welcome me here, and I got a nice sense about you right from the word go.

Nyawwww guyyyyyyyys! People are going to think that I'm paying you to say all that nice stuff

Kid Setzer wrote:

Nyawwww guyyyyyyyys! People are going to think that I'm paying you to say all that nice stuff

you mean you're not!!!!! I take it all back then

Renéabillity

Kid Setzer wrote:

Nyawwww guyyyyyyyys! People are going to think that I'm paying you to say all that nice stuff

Or that you're registered here under more than one name....... You don't have a husband by the name of Adam, who just got introduced to the Voodoo Kreepers by any chance?

hey, I've just discovered this thread and wanted to say to FrenchNat that I share the same feelings.
Being an autograph seeker doesn't mean being a stalker.
Plus, as it has been said before, a lot of artists have always done that before: staying a bit after their concerts, sharing moments with their fans, the photos, autographs and shaking hands stuff is part of the job,isn't it? I think they would be very disappointed if nobody waited for them at their hotels or backstage...
As far as I'm concerned, I have been a fan since the beginning in France, and saw them everytime they came to Paris, but I've never met them and I regret it deeply because they have meant a lot to me, particularly helped me through hard times in the past, and I think that every fan here can say so.
Now I'm so disappointed that for various reasons I can't do the Nantes and Toulouse gigs that ,yeah, I really hope that tomorrow I'll get a chance to get some photos and/or autographs, just because it's a farewell tour and that just means that there will never be any other possibility, what's wrong with that?Of course if it doesn't happen, I'll be disappointed, but I'll survive!
Haven't seen the thread on Helsinki, so don't understand all that debate, Jeanie...

It's not the french connection but I agree at 100% with Nat too (we awaited together Brian in Paris after a gig without any result, but it didn't matter even we were a litlle disappointed).
Brian, Jim & Lee are like gods for most of us and can you imagine what does it mean to have a little talk (2 or 3 word, not more) with them. I had the chance to talk with Lee, Buzz and Brophy and it's been so cool, nice and I really think they loved to meet their fans.
Anyway, I'll be waiting for the Cats tomorrow night, after the gig: if they come, I'll be the happiest fan in the galaxy; if not, I'll undestand too.

Only a little day before rumble in Paris!!!


FrenchyCat

I hope you all have fun in Paris, guys. So sorry I can't join you. Might see you at the reunion tour in 20 years time?;o)
I'll be in Toulouse with my son on Saturday and in London with Hubby.
Nat

Ok, FYI everybody. I posted my opinion about autograph seekers. It got so negative, that I thought it would be fun to ask for what you all want...tickets, passes etc... I had NO idea that Tommy would actually give me the passes and tickets I requested. Trust me, I was far more shocked than all of you. I was JOKING!

Well, the laugh goes both ways. Tommy gave me the passes and tickets as a joke too. He wanted the crew and Cats to see who this person was that stirred up such controversy on this site.

Well, sorry to make you all mad, but the Stray Cats were so cool and we had a good laugh about the whole thing.

I can't wait for tonight!

Tommy, see ya next week. I can't wait to meet you!

JG

well, I guess I do have 2 cents to throw into this conversation.
for me, it was not impossible at all to meet the stray cats. I've hung out with them like 4-5 times. mostly backstage at their shows where I was invited, once at a hotel lounge. they are really nice people who are interested in what people have to say. I am a guitar player which made conversations easier. I guess it all comes down to how busy their schedule is, and if their being rushed around or not. they got so used to me at one point, that at an outside show the road crew was short staffed, so they had me come in to help guard the equipment and hand them stuff, like whiskey and towels and guitar picks. I did have to miss most of the show though, being on the side of the stage.
anyway, no, not impossible. I think it helps if you stay calm, and act like their normal people.
dont we all love to meet people who bring some joy into our lives? I know I do. hey, without all these fans, they wouldnt be getting a pay check! theres no good reason to try to dash peoples hopes.

Jean Genie, we look forward to seeing photos of you with the Cats soon...no doubt you took some ?



Dave