I've been lurking on the list for a couple of weeks and as a devoted fan of Joni for 34 years I really appreciate the correspondence.
For over three decades I've worked in the television industry as camera operator, unit manager, producer, director and other jobs on my way up, down and back up in the "Biz". I worked with many actors, singers, writers, politicians and other celebrity types. In that business the "talent" we worked with were given respect and distance. I never called anyone by their first name unless invited to do so by the talent and asking for autographs was "verbotten". One of the things that a celeb usually traded for fame and fortune was personal privacy and although fans were expected to be "star struck" we in the business couldn't be, shouldn't be. Sometimes, no, many times the talent wanted to be treated just like one of the crew and so we did, but a friendly attitude didn't necessarily invite familiarity. For example, Debbie Reynolds might be familiar with you, even throw her arm around your shoulders, but don't ever try the same with her as a production assistant discovered when Ms Reynolds banished her from the set for assuming they were friends. While I never met Joni Mitchell I did see her in concert once in the mid-1980s. She was great in concert, and yet not very warm to her adoring audience. Seeing and hearing a genius at work was enough for me, I didn't need to feel loved, too. I'm not criticizing fans for acting like fans. Without them the celebs don't have a market and wouldn't be famous..... or working. Working with celebrities was often fun, could be a pain when they were primadonnas, and sometimes a real privilege when I worked with Gene Kelly, Bucky Fuller, Jimmy Stewart, Chuck Yeager, Roddy McDowell and the list goes on. Thanks for the fun here. Back to lurk mode.
