Happy Birthday, Frankenbuddha!

Happy birthday, Frankenbuddha!

And morning, everyone else.

I had a very interesting discussion with someone last night about musical fandoms and the place of the fan in them, or how a fan can be active in one. It revolved around that basically, if an artist decided to throw his/her life away and abusing themselves, the fans can't do much about it; if they say something, it's rude and out of place to speculate about the artist private life. If not, they're ignoring a problem and a becoming a part of the web of silence. And you know, you're not in the circle of friends and of course you can't help a person who doesn't want your help and it's not your place, but in this day and age, with the interent, message boards and all, shouldn't be another option to show your concern? One of the reasons being a music fan can suck sometimes is because you can't be active about it like in other fandoms (though, I'm probably wrong about it. Inlight me if so).

So I thought that you might have interesting thoughts about this, because you know, you are Buffistas.

Also, there's a butterfly who tries desperately to come through my window.

Happy birthday, Frank!

Shir, I spent a fair amount of time amongst the Tom Waits fandom while I was writing my last book, and while they can't (or couldn't) do much to help him during his darker days, they are a community. They take special notice of the causes that he champions. They put their time, money and effort to support those things. They try to do right by him, because his music means something to them every day.

Any work of art winds up being a gift that goes out into the world and - if it's resonant - it travels a long way. People respond to that generosity. They feel beholden - but in a good way. Looking for an opportunity to do right.

Skipping-and-ignoring-everything-yet-again to post that, according to th Buffista Calendar, today is Frankenbuddha's birthday.

Happy birthday, Frank! With lots of wishes for a great day and a wonderful year!

Happy birthday, Frank!

Happy Birthday Frank!

Shir-

I am new to music fandom, and while there I doubt one indivisual voice makes a difference, if people have polite, caring things to say I don't see how it would hurt. And I do think fans can be really good about providing support and cheer after someone is clean. Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes is recently clean and posted a really touching blog about it, and fans really did seem to be happy for him, and I would think that would help-- at least as much as us sending Joss and Kai a gift when they had a baby.

Happy Birthday Frank.

I am home with an intestinal bug. Yuueeech.

Happy Birthday, Frank!

Happy birthday, Frank!

Shir, I'm so glad you checked in and you're okay -- I heard about the attack this morning, and I worried.