STEWART COPELAND

While on the way to the Police show with my ladyfriend, I noticed a gaggle of women about the same late-30-ish age as us. One, I noted, was wearing hipster jeans with a somewhat frayed GiTM tanktop. It was black with red Ghost LEDs and spaghetti straps, as you'd expect. Really cool.

So, I found I had a series of thoughts, in sequence.

- Hey, how cool! There's a real Police fan, who saved her shirt from her teenage years and she's probably thrilled to have the chance to wear it again!

- Wait a sec. I wonder if she's here just because the Police tour is the hot ticket of the moment, and she scoured eBay a couple of weeks ago to find and pay some ridiculous amount for a vintage Police top. What a poseur!

- You know, then again, she might have just bought the top at some boutique where they "pre-distressed" it, but she could be a real Police fan from back in the day, and is really excited to be seing them again, so I should cut her some slack, even with her pseudo-collector's shirt.

And then I realized I was psychoanalyzing a total stranger for no apparent reason, and I stopped.

Jeff, I like you.

I'm becoming more cynical with every passing minute.
Again with the fucking typing

i'm guilty too... a year or two ago the gap came out with GiTM shirts for men and this cashmere blend sleeveless sweater for women for $70 - i bought them both. not the real thing, but i had to have it.

my old shirts are no more. i never saved anything and they wouldn't fit me anyway

so, i find myself scouring ebay for that vintage shirt you speak of. i'm sewing patches on cut off jean shorts and the like and i'm going to be a walking billboard for my shows. am i a poseur? am i a geek? am i an obsessed fan? i'm sure many others will ask themselves the same questions about me as you did about that girl... and you know what? it doesn't matter, because i'm happy about my choice of "flair" and i'm sure she was too.

but your story was actually pretty funny.

That's good stuff Jeff....I remember reading something about the nosebleeds being lame at the Seattle show #1 which is the one I was at, and where I was sitting and I realized that I might be considered lame as I was sitting down most of the time. What most people could not have seen or understood, was that I was doing some of the most hardcore kneeslap drumming I've ever done in my life that night! I was so mesmerized by Stewarts drumming, that I felt compelled to play along with him throughout the entire show!! I probably looked lame, but I sure didn't feel like it...

I guess being somewhat younger, my reaction might be more along of the lines of thinking it's kind of sad to see somebody around middle age trying to re-live their youth through a band. It's one thing to be a fan of the music, something else to have your own self-image or identity wrapped up in being a fan of a rock band. Or a fan of anything, for that matter. Sort of like Star Trek people, although that's an extreme comparison.

Good music is good music though, and the Police are that.

[quote="DirtyMartini"]Jeff, I like you.[/quote]

Why, thank you DM. I tend to write little observational anecdotes. Hope no one minds too much.

[quote="Wait and See"] Sort of like Star Trek people, although that's an extreme comparison.[/quote]

To be fair, I happen to know a lot of "Star Trek" people. I work science fiction convention dealers rooms and have done so and been a part of that community for years.

In my opinion, there's nothing inherently stranger about Star Trek fen than, say, your garden variety sports fan who goes to a game in his team colors and maybe calls in or listens to some sports radio program; similarly there's nothing inherently weird about someone who cares to wear a band t-shirt and/or frequent certain messageboards, either.

Having something we're passionate about--whatever that something is, and however we care to express it--is nothing to be ashamed of or embarassed about, so long as it is not interfering with our day-to-day job and activities. One "oddball" interest is not necessarily any stranger than the other, and for what it's worth, the scifi/Trek fandom community is full of some of the smartest and most open-minded folks I've ever had the pleasure to deal with (perhaps because one of the main components in Trek fandom is embracing the ideal of IDIC: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.)

Without getting into a discussion about Star Trek, Star Wars, and so on...it is interesting that there are some similarities in any kind of obsessive fandom. I've posted on some sports boards, and you are right--there is a certain group of people in any fan group who will attack anyone who posts the slightest criticism, however constructive it may be. I think that's what happens when people bind their own identity up with the object of their fascination/support. They feel as if they're being personally attacked.

Or maybe they just have strong opinions, um, like most everyone else, and are expressing them, also like most everyone else.

I actually use that sports-fan analogy a lot with people myself...I wonder if I first heard it from sockii. Wouldn't surprise me. Anyway, today the subject of my out of town travels to see The Police came up in a jewelry store I was visiting...I think probably more folks travel to see bands than we realize. One guy told me he'd seen Bruce Springsteen something like 50 times. And this is a dude from rural Tennessee.

It's the jet age, my friends. Or at least the interstate-highway age.

W&S - I'm not sure what leads you to leap to the conclusion that becasue a "middle-aged" person wears a Police t-shirt they are "reliving their youth through a band." Perhaps they're just feeling nostalgic. There's quite a difference there. I saw the Police when I was 15 - I'd be a liar to say that the reunion didn't make me feel a bit nostalgic for those days when most stories began with "here, hold my beer and watch this." But that doesn't mean I'm living in the past. I think a lot of us on this forum are not necessarily looking back but rather looking around - if that makes any sense.

Along the lines of what Sockii said, I think most of this is just escapism. Nothing wrong with that (unless, of course, it hampers your day to day life in the real world). Whether you're a music fan, movie fan, sports fan, etc. it's all good with me.

And you're right: it's damn good music!

[quote="nathanarizona"]W&S - I'm not sure what leads you to leap to the conclusion that becasue a "middle-aged" person wears a Police t-shirt they are "reliving their youth through a band." Perhaps they're just feeling nostalgic.[/quote]

OR -- going out on a limb here -- maybe he/she happens to like that band.


[quote="jeffdaweasel"]I tend to write little observational anecdotes. Hope no one minds too much. [/quote]

You'll fit in just fine here, Jeff.

Yes, DM, or that. Damn your succint and logical posting!

Here, Nathan. Hold my beer and watch this . . .

Jeff love you post... It was a simpler time in the 80's

cough a-hem "I'm English-lion and I'm a Police fan"

Oh and
" I'm English-lion and I'm 40" osdhfoauoa bijoaio........ I'm o.k I'm O.K. just blacked out there