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Post by eloneen on Apr 6, 2017 11:08:36 GMT
I've seen video of Jeff being very good-natured while signing autographs for fans, really enjoying the interaction, and I've read accounts from fans who have said that he was very gracious and took time to sign lots of autographs. I'm sure he can't do that all the time.
I'm no "Jeff defender." While certainly a musical genius, he's still just a person like the rest of us with lots of flaws like the rest of us. I don't think he's gorgeous, and I certainly don't think he's perfect. I'd be disappointed if I were that guy, too, but I don't think that means that Jeff's a jerk or a diva for not stopping to sign his guitar.
Just my two cents.
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Post by elophile on Apr 6, 2017 11:20:03 GMT
I'll get killed for saying this, but Jeff Lynne never seemed like a nice celebrity to me. There's tons of examples when you can see he is so out of touch with his fans and he doesn't give a shit about doing something about it. On this video you can see there was just one guy nicely asking him for an autograph that would have costed him 2 seconds of his life, yet he passed literally beside him and preferred to ignore the poor guy, leaving him hanging with his pen and his guitar. I'm sure if the guy went there with his guitar it was because it meant a lot to him, yet Mr Lynne couldn't be bothered to move his hand a bit. Helmut83 I have to disagree on this one. Those people who hang around airports with records and guitars to sign are usually "autograph hounds". They aren't real fans . They just turn around and sell the stuff on eBay. Jeff has actually been too generous with them and you can see the result on eBay. At both of the shows I went to in NY I saw them hanging around. They didn't go see the show, they just waited around outside and then used up time that would have allowed more real fans to get a second with Jeff themselves. There is a video on YouTube in which Jeff is politely telling this guy that wants him to sign like 10 albums that his manager told him he can only sign one from now on. Jeff seems so uncomfortable saying it and the guy just keeps hounding him. What fan wants their hero to sign a guitar of all things? An album, cd, program book maybe but He's going to resell that thing! They adopt this pleading tone too but are actually very aggressive. They're professionals at it. I should try and find the video I'm referring to. I think it would change your mind. Jeff could definitely give his fans more opportunities to meet their hero. That's true. But when I was in that crowd waiting to meet him he was being very sweet and attentive to as many people as he could.
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Post by jiminyjellysolo on Apr 6, 2017 14:01:39 GMT
i know what it's like to be a shy person. i can imagine if i were in his position, i'd have good days when i felt i was able to interact with fans. but when you have a problem with shyness, i bet that sometimes a crowd all staring and screaming your name can be so uncomfortable that you just want to go in a hole and hide. i don't think he's an ass to his fans. he is just himself.
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Post by Eloise on Apr 6, 2017 14:26:51 GMT
Helmut83, Since I absolutely love Jeff's music, I absolutely love Jeff but I'm trying to remember that if I had to live with the man, it would be fun for about 3 months and then, I would have to kill him. I have heard that he drinks like a fish, swears like a sailor, and smokes like a chimney and he's not just smoking cigarettes. This would make life with Jeff unbearable after the novelty wears off. Now before any of you get worried, Jeff is in no danger from me. Relax! My point is, it is nice to have somebody else point out his character flaws. Thanks.
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Post by elophile on Apr 6, 2017 14:36:23 GMT
Eloise I, however, have already been trained for years to put up with exactly this sort of behavior. I'd be fine.
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Post by Eloise on Apr 6, 2017 14:43:16 GMT
Eloise I, however, have already been trained for years to put up with exactly this sort of behavior. I'd be fine. Ohhhh, elophile, that stinks. You made a good comment up above, though. I was wondering how people just "happened" to be there to greet Jeff at the airport and I came to the conclusion that there must be a celebrity entrance to LAX so autograph hounds and such know to gather there for a celebrity sighting. Not all autograph seekers are fans.
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Post by elophile on Apr 6, 2017 14:46:10 GMT
Eloise I, however, have already been trained for years to put up with exactly this sort of behavior. I'd be fine. Ohhhh, elophile, that stinks. Oh, it's not so bad. I know this is a gross generalization but I think it's called "living with a musician"
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Post by jiminyjellysolo on Apr 6, 2017 15:09:51 GMT
Eloise I, however, have already been trained for years to put up with exactly this sort of behavior. I'd be fine. i put up with those things in myself everyday. haha! it doesn't always please my boyfriend but bless his sweet little heart, he sticks by me. better to have someone who loves you for what you already are, than for them to try to change you. but i can't even imagine living with that scrutiny and judgement from hundreds of thousands, or maybe millions of fans. i'd lock myself in a closet with a good stash of beer, weed, and cigarettes, piss in a bucket, eat flapjacks that someone slides under the door for me, and never come out.
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Post by Helmut83 on Apr 6, 2017 15:53:33 GMT
I'll get killed for saying this, but Jeff Lynne never seemed like a nice celebrity to me. There's tons of examples when you can see he is so out of touch with his fans and he doesn't give a shit about doing something about it. On this video you can see there was just one guy nicely asking him for an autograph that would have costed him 2 seconds of his life, yet he passed literally beside him and preferred to ignore the poor guy, leaving him hanging with his pen and his guitar. I'm sure if the guy went there with his guitar it was because it meant a lot to him, yet Mr Lynne couldn't be bothered to move his hand a bit. Helmut83 I have to disagree on this one. Those people who hang around airports with records and guitars to sign are usually "autograph hounds". They aren't real fans . They just turn around and sell the stuff on eBay. Jeff has actually been too generous with them and you can see the result on eBay. At both of the shows I went to in NY I saw them hanging around. They didn't go see the show, they just waited around outside and then used up time that would have allowed more real fans to get a second with Jeff themselves. There is a video on YouTube in which Jeff is politely telling this guy that wants him to sign like 10 albums that his manager told him he can only sign one from now on. Jeff seems so uncomfortable saying it and the guy just keeps hounding him. What fan wants their hero to sign a guitar of all things? An album, cd, program book maybe but He's going to resell that thing! They adopt this pleading tone too but are actually very aggressive. They're professionals at it. I should try and find the video I'm referring to. I think it would change your mind. Suppose this guy were indeed an "autograph hound" as you say and not that much of a fan. What does that change? At the end of the day he is just a person asking him politely for an autograph. And you are right that there are jerks who come up with 10 albums for him to sign, or are agressive, or whatever, but this particular guy didn't do any of those things. So he deserves to pay for all of the jerks there are? Besides, what's so wrong about re-selling those guitars on eBay? There will be a happy buyer with his guitar signed by Jeff Lynne and it costs him one second. Members of the old forum will probably remember a user named Kcabnrut who told us of the incident his teenage kid (who was a huge admirer of Jeff Lynne) had with JL, who behaved horribly with him. I know very little about Jeff Lynne, and I don't care that much either other than for his wonderful music, but when I see him on these videos and stories I consinstently get the image of a man totally unaccesible for his fans and even rude to them and I can't help but find it annoying. Is this the same man who keeps on repeating the story of his visit to the Abbey Road studios when his heroes the Beatles were recording, telling us how gracious they were to him and how grateful and excited he was because of that? Eloise made a good distinction in her comment. The fact that he is my musical hero will never make me defend all of his conducts as if they were always right.
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Post by eloneen on Apr 6, 2017 17:04:14 GMT
Helmut83, Since I absolutely love Jeff's music, I absolutely love Jeff but I'm trying to remember that if I had to live with the man, it would be fun for about 3 months and then, I would have to kill him. I have heard that he drinks like a fish, swears like a sailor, and smokes like a chimney and he's not just smoking cigarettes. This would make life with Jeff unbearable after the novelty wears off. Now before any of you get worried, Jeff is in no danger from me. Relax! My point is, it is nice to have somebody else point out his character flaws. Thanks. Nobody's perfect, and I'm certainly not naive about the lives of professional musicians, but this makes me sad. I didn't know Jeff still smoked, and I hoped that he was drinking less now than he did when he was younger. I hope he's happy. (or maybe unhappy enough to be motivated to quit?) I wish him good health and I hope he takes good care of himself. We want him around for a good long while!
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Post by jiminyjellysolo on Apr 6, 2017 17:20:36 GMT
Helmut83, you may well have convinced me that he is indeed not at all good to his fans in a way which goes beyond shyness. that makes me very sad.
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Post by tightrope on Apr 6, 2017 18:25:29 GMT
Helmut83, Since I absolutely love Jeff's music, I absolutely love Jeff but I'm trying to remember that if I had to live with the man, it would be fun for about 3 months and then, I would have to kill him. I have heard that he drinks like a fish, swears like a sailor, and smokes like a chimney and he's not just smoking cigarettes. This would make life with Jeff unbearable after the novelty wears off. Now before any of you get worried, Jeff is in no danger from me. Relax! My point is, it is nice to have somebody else point out his character flaws. Thanks. I've heard he quit smoking long ago and was never into drugs. So much for what we hear right?
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Post by tightrope on Apr 6, 2017 18:30:49 GMT
I'll get killed for saying this, but Jeff Lynne never seemed like a nice celebrity to me. There's tons of examples when you can see he is so out of touch with his fans and he doesn't give a shit about doing something about it. On this video you can see there was just one guy nicely asking him for an autograph that would have costed him 2 seconds of his life, yet he passed literally beside him and preferred to ignore the poor guy, leaving him hanging with his pen and his guitar. I'm sure if the guy went there with his guitar it was because it meant a lot to him, yet Mr Lynne couldn't be bothered to move his hand a bit. I can see all the justifications coming up next like every time some of this happens: " he can't even come out of a car without being bothered", " he's been having to cope with this since 40 years ago", " who knows what he was going through in that moment"... I think in spite of all this it's bad of him to keep on behaving like a diva. Every time he is in public he has that "get me out of here before they touch me" attitude. It was just one fan, and it's not like he has to deal with that all day long as he's always hiding in his den like an armadillo. Heck, people like Paul McCartney or Robert Plant are 100 times more famous than Jeff and they have way much more contact with their fans. Justify him all you want, I find his "unreachability" an ugly feature of his. Maybe they were in a hurry because they were caught in traffic? It is LA after all.
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Post by elophile on Apr 6, 2017 18:37:11 GMT
I've heard he quit smoking long ago and was never into drugs. So much for what we hear right? I heard he quit smoking too. Good for him!! I've wondered sometimes if Jeff enjoys the wacky-tobacky or not because his close friends Joe Walsh and Tom Petty sure seem to. Or they both just do remarkably spot on impression of someone who has "imbibed".
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Post by BSJ on Apr 6, 2017 18:37:30 GMT
elophile , I know the video where they were ganging up on Jeff. Extremely rude and I wouldn't blame him for walking off not signing anything. Why would a grown man fend off these leeches by using his manger as an excuse instead of saying 'I will only sign so many.'? He's probably scared by these types of aggressive encounters. We don't know how many encounters like this he's been through. He's probably battle harden at this point. Plenty of videos I've seen him stop and give his autograph to many fans.
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