It's snowing in the Ohio Valley and I think a certain groundhog lied. Shhhhh. I know it's going to get warm again it's just the principle of it. haha. So how's everyone doing? It's been a busy last couple of weeks in my world. Good ones, all good, but busy. I moved last weekend and now have a gazillion and 5 bruises everywhere. So ya know, just looking like a crime scene, no biggie. I have one more thing to put together and then I'm done with putting together furniture. I'm pretty sure my boxes had baby boxes because the cardboard pile is unexpectedly quite large. So I'll be dragging that downstairs at some point once my legs forgive me for walking all over hell's half-acre. Also for dragging heavy stuff upstairs every day. But work is done for today, dinner is in the air fryer, and I'm chilling. Still pretty salty at the thumbtacks I used to put up my fairy lights for abusing my thumbs but it's cool.
This week some of you really smashed on that piss Belle off button. I think when you're around someone for so long you kind of get used to the evolved version of them. So for a lot of you, I'm a blogger who mind vomits day in the life stuff or life lessons once a week. But back before I was her to you, I was me to music. The evolution of my writing career both for fun and as a job isn't where I started online. It's not the purpose of my social media, it's not the purpose of Bachfan20, Justafan, or Bell29, or the reason you know they exist/existed. I know here in 2024, sixteen years after I wrote my first entry on this blog, there are a lot of people who know who I am because of this blog. There are also a ton of you who met me at concerts, on message boards, in fan clubs, artist blogs, or promoting music. We crossed paths because we love the same artist or artists. We've interacted in one of those spaces at some point in the last 20 years. We hung out, became friends, and shared some incredible memories.
Before there was this blog there was Myspace, Cafemom, and Associated Content. Before all that, before social media, I was one of the millions of kids who watched their hero be massacred by the media unable to do anything to stop it. It's why I wanted to be part of the backend of the music business. Yes, I love music more than air. Sure I have musical talent but it's not what I wanted to utilize. I, thanks to watching that destruction have a heart for people. I have the need to research people, headlines, media posts, etc. I watched the media machine build up and destroy one of the most talented people who will probably ever live. His legacy stretches far and wide, and the impact he made will never fade, for us, the kids who grew up captivated. The ones who made our personality judgments on the person and not the media circus. Racism is very much alive and well. They built up this little black kid, discarded the teenager, and did everything they could to destroy the adult. They succeeded. Let's not mince words, they got what they wanted. And they still get what they want at the expense of people who don't deserve to be fed to the machine.
I went into the backend of the music industry to make a difference. To give a heart to people no one would stop to hear. There is no place lonelier than fame. The bigger the star the bigger the target and the more intense the isolation. The OGs will remember we had this conversation also in regards to JB. Which was something that was really highlighted during his Purpose tour. Being the person people scream at means there's never any communication. Running up and sticking your camera in someone's face for a selfie doesn't equal a conversation. It's lonely as fuck at the top. You have people stuck in a fishbowl looking out at the world but no one seeing them. People fall in love with the image and the idea of them. But no one cares about the person inside the image. To quote the late Robin Williams, "I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone." You can be so dedicated to loving an image that you miss the actual person. These people aren't zoo animals but they are treated like them.
That. That is why I wanted to be the person who comes in direct contact with the artists. Because even if only for that brief interaction, whether in person or online, to be the one who makes them feel seen.
I can't believe in 2024 we are still feeding a media machine we know intentionally abuses and manipulates people. You could be innocent as a newborn baby but trust and believe you will be found guilty in the court of public opinion. I've had people say, "Well why is it still a thing then?" I'm going to be really real with you right now. It's still a thing because you buy it, you click it, you share it, and you contribute to the problem and not the solution.
You are their cash cow. Let that sink in.