On Teenage Crushes and Arrogance

One of the things that has given Bird the most joy in the past year of shots and changes is the singing group Celtic Thunder. She loves the music and avidly watches all the shows on PBS. When the latest came out on dvd, I bought it for her and she watched it over and over. She loves Damian McGinty, the 17 year old member of the group. She is interested in all things Irish now, which is a good thing because we are of Irish descent.

We saw that the lads were split up and traveling all over the country to participate in PBS pledge drives. Damian and Paul Byrom were coming to St Louis. I finally decided to take her down there and see if she could get an autograph and maybe a picture with them. It would make the week so much better for her.

We got down there about 6:30 and missed them going in...by minutes. Grrr. I considered and then decided we would go back about the time the taping would be completed. Came home for half an hour and then jumped back in the car and drove back down. So we could wait in the car, I paid the $8 to park in the lot where the bus they were traveling on was.

It was chilly. We stood out there for 20 minutes or so and then the volunteers started coming out. Finally, there came Damian and Paul. Bird was so excited.

Paul came rushing by, saying meaningless things and made a beeline for the bus. There were only six people there. Just six, three of them children.

Damian was a perfect gentleman. Obviously, they were in something of a hurry but he graciously allowed some pictures and signed some autographs (including Bird's cast). She was thrilled.

She is not so thrilled, however, with Paul. She doesn't want his solos on her mp3 player. Her feelings are hurt.

This was such a huge contrast to Harry Chapin. I remember when I went to one of his concerts in college. He went to the lobby after the show and signed autographs for everyone who wanted one. He knew that these people took time out of their day for him, paid their money for him. He was grateful and gave them a few precious minutes in return. Performing is a two way street. There are some performers who realize that.

Performers should realize that there are two essential parts to a performance. One is the person who does the singing/acting/dancing/whatever. The other essential ingredient is someone to watch/listen. Celtic Thunder wouldn't have hit the number one World album on the charts without people like Bird. The members of Celtic Thunder wouldn't have hit the top six spots on the silly top musician on Twitter poll without people like Bird.

The silver lining and sunny street of this is that Bird got to briefly meet Damian McGinty, get her picture taken with him, have her cast signed by him. That far overshadows the pain she got from being ignored by Paul. As she said, she got the important one. And, Bird learned an important lesson in how one can hurt someone without realizing it with arrogance, conceit and self-importance.