A Few Degrees Of Separation From Famedom
The Lemon Twigs at Amoeba
This post is gonna look very self-indulgent, but you should not take it like this, it’s just intended to be funny, like a game. When you review shows, when you take pics at concerts, you sometimes get in direct contact with artists, and the strange thing is that you find yourself involved with artists who have direct contact with the most famous heads in the business. How many degrees of separation am I from these people? Far less than the usual six degrees of separation.
Let me give you some examples, I covered the Lemon Twigs at Amoeba last October, one of Lemons even ‘liked’ one of my tweets promoting the review of their jumpy in-store performance, and I was stunned to see their name on the 2017 Hollywood Bowl 2017 season! Not only they are playing the most famous venue in LA but they are opening for Phoenix! They are also playing Coachella and are even famous in Japan – they are playing the Fuji Rock Festival headlined by Aphex Twin, Bjork… No wonder the two videos I shot were viewed more than 5,000 times combined!
But a ‘like’ on Twitter is not a big interaction, it’s at least some recognition, but what about a retweet? This is what happened with my review of Moses Sumney last October, which was retweeted by Moses himself and then a few others… Moses also plays the Hollywood bowl in September, during a night headlined by Solange Knowles… I also should say that he is Solange’s protégé… which technically places me at two degrees of separation from the queen Bey herself! Me, Moses, Solange, Beyonce!
The amazing KING trio is also playing during the same night, and I have also covered them a few times,…they also retweeted my review… but it’s even better than this, the fabulous trio follows me on Twitter, so does this give me some star power? I am so close, especially because KING were also Prince’s protégés!
Recently, I covered Liz Loughrey’s intimate performance at the Hotel Café, and her guitarist Adrian X, retweeted me and is now following me on Twitter and Instagram! Adrian X is a Grammy Award wining songwriter and producer who has also collaborated with Drake and the Weeknd… This is superstar power right there, and this places me at only one degree of separation.
What should I add? Peter Hook, whom I met during a book signing, liked a few of my tweets and Instagram posts and even commented on a few of them, the Afghan Wigs liked my tweet about Greg Dulli’s show at the Teragram ballroom and they have been following me for a while, the Shelters (Tom Petty’s protégés) liked a few of my tweets about their past shows, and the historic American Cinematheque liked my tweet when I reviewed Nick Cave’s movie!
Spaceland productions (the promoter booking shows at the Echo, Echoplex, the Regent) Amoeba Music, The Roxy Theater, all follow me,,, and recently AXS, the biggest concert promoter of the region, started to follow me? What does it mean? Does this give me really power? Or only the illusion of power? Probably, but it is a fun game to play.
