Positively Fan Street

Postulating on fan behavior through the lens of Van Halen changing their lead singer 35 years ago.

“So, what are your plans for #MayTheFourth?”

I don’t have any special plans. I did start wondering, though.

Farewell, Ray Manzarek

An important thing needs to be noted about my feelings on Ray Manzarek. I went from teenage idolator of The Doors to adult scarily-obsessed fan (like Oliver Stone), and finally, to sober adult capable of contextualizing my fandom where it belonged.

Fandom, Fanaticism and the Question of Art

The nature of nerd fandom is a uniquely strange thing, one that I have yet to see repeated in other fan bases. It fosters the notion that the fans somehow “own” the material as much as the artist, or that they have some sort of legitimate input to bring to the table for the creative process.