JohnMayer
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Read this morning at Los Angeles City Hall...
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I am one of the most media-friendly celebrities around, and my being here this morning is not in contrast with that; rather, it's in keeping with it. There is no doubt that the new frontier of entertainment is taking place informally on the street. Sound bites that used to be given on red carpets and in arranged interviews now take place beside a restaurant's valet stand, and there's no changing that. I don't want to beg the city of Los Angeles to give me 1987 back. I love being a famous musician in 2008. I embrace technology, but I also believe in thoughtfully adapting it to fit within a societal framework. And in the specific areas of both tracking and close-quarter engagement by the paparazzi, there are changes that must be made.
I'd like to define the scope of my argument by first defining what lies outside of it. I'm not here this morning to talk to you about the media at large, blogs, tabloid magazines, or entertainment news shows. I'm not even here to talk to you about photography itself. You don't have to ultimately be photographed to have been dangerously pursued in the attempt of getting a shot. The danger exists in methods and tactics having absolutely nothing to do with picture taking. In fact, removing the camera from the equation is a very effective way of looking at this situation candidly.
A scenario:
It's two o'clock in the morning and you're driving home from a friend's house. You notice there is a vehicle behind you that has no license plate and that has been following you for the last 15 minutes. The driver is so brazen that he or she has even taken to ignoring red lights just to stay behind you. As you begin to turn onto a small neighborhood street just blocks from where you live, you now realize this person has definite intentions of engaging you at your house.
The question I ask you is: Are you in danger?
The answer is YES. Not "depends if you're on TV."
It doesn't matter what you do for a living, and it doesn't matter that there might turn out to be a digital camera on the passenger seat. You are IN danger. Danger is defined as the possibility of suffering harm or injury.ﾠ And without knowing who is following you, you do not know why you are being followed, which brings about a very real possibility for suffering harm or injury.
So what about that camera on the passenger seat? Recently, it's come to serve as all but an official license to encroach on someone's right to protect themselves from threats of danger, along with every traffic law ever devised. It's also the most socially acceptable way to come within inches from someone who you do not know and who does not know you.ﾠ Sadly, if I were someone who wanted to do harm to a celebrity - of which there are many - my best bet in succeeding today would be to hold a camera.
Here's a true story.
Last month at Los Angeles International Airport, forty men, holding no tickets to fly and with nobody to pick up, swarmed an arriving female passenger inside the terminal, shouting at her, disorienting her and denying her a safe exit. Does that sound like something that should be allowed? Should the fact that the forty men were holding cameras change that answer?
Sadly, the very real and present risk associated with being pursued as a celebrity pales in comparison to the daily, imminent danger to the public at large.ﾠ If you've ever raised an eyebrow at an especially bullish driver declaring him or herself the third in a line of cars making a left turn on a light that had just turned red, I ask you to imagine what your reaction would be to watching eight cars do it.ﾠ And it happens not just daily, but turn-for-turn. I don't need to look in my rear view mirror to know it's happening behind me. All I have to do is listen; listen to the dissonant array of car horns as unsuspecting drivers are taken by surprise while a pack of reckless paparazzi muscle through an aging red light.
The person being followed knows there is wanton carelessness behind them. The pedestrian crossing the street, or the car expecting to have the right of way does not. A severe accident occurring from this kind of vehicular pursuit is not a theoretical possibility, but a situational certainty.
What does any of this have to do with photography? Or with celebrity?
The answer is simply, nothing.
This is about safety. Defined as "being protected from danger, risk, or injury."
I don't sit before you today to ask that you ban the paparazzi. I'm asking you to regulate it. Officialize it. Tax it. Legitimize it. A big white P on a yellow license plate says the driver works for an accredited photo agency. Press credentials worn in plain sight do the same. A law governing an acceptable filming distance from an unwilling subject keeps everybody safe and misbehavior becomes accountable. Regulating the paparazzi won't bring an end to modern day media coverage, just as the newly enforced hands-free law hasn't stopped people from talking on cell phones while they drive.ﾠ It's only an adaptive measure put in place to respond to some of the ways that living in a technological free-market can compromise personal safety.
1 hour, 12 minutes post-show.
Chicago...
This has become more than just ticket sales and career advancement.
In fact, this has nothing to do with it.
These shows have transcended.
This is about making 20,000 people feel okay in the world.
Not alone.
Full.
Hopeful.
JOYFUL.
To the magazines, blogs, entertainment shows, et al...
I say to you with my chest out and a big part of Chicago to stand behind me and back me up:
You may have my image, but you cannot take my sound.
Thank you Chicago.
With love for music...
and my band,
David Ryan Harris - Guitar/vocals
J.J. Johnson - Drums
Sean Hurley - Bass/Vocals
Tim Bradshaw - Keys
Brad Mason - Trumpet
Bob Reynolds - Saxaphone
Robbie McIntosh - Guitars/Vocals
john
Comments
my kind of town, chicago is. like i said ...nothing beats this city in the summer.
nothing can beat chicago in the summer you are right. Give me Navy Pier and Michigan Ave. and I am set for the day
Sounds like Chicago was an amazing show. Great town with great musical history.
Maybe these will be your next DVD release... Those who weren't there can only hope.
Photo Courtesy: TMZ
I want all my fans to know that it is with great humility and embarrassment that I have to inform you that I was arrested tonight.
I hope that my forthrightness and honesty will help to ease some of your hurt. Here are the facts.
After my show in Mansfield, MA, I decided to try my hand at mixing the perfect watermelon margarita. Having served more than two dozen, and sipping from each drink as it was delivered, I became very inebriated. The rest makes me sick to my stomach, but here goes:
I thought in my impaired state that it would be a good idea to play Grand Theft Auto 4: Liberty City. It was not. As I left my cousin Roman's apartment with the afternoon to spare, the alcohol (and the loneliness) got to me. The combination of Patron, Triple Sec, Watermelon Pucker and my cousin Roman's misleading promise of the American Dream brought out the darkest side of me.
I decided to walk into traffic and stop a cab. When the driver came to a halt, I opened his door and ripped him from his seat. This is when I began to pummel him without mercy. When he fell to the ground covered in his own bright red blood, I slid into the driver's seat and drove through a busy park with reckless abandon.
I won't lie to you. I hit many, many people. While I can't say how many it was exactly, I garnered 4 white stars and a large police search canvas area. I know I should have surrendered, but I just don't know what got into me. While listening to my favorite hip-hop station, I led police on a three-mile chase through areas dense with innocent people. I was eventually shot, leading my vision to become monochromatic.
I want all my fans to know that I will do my best to redeem myself in your eyes. Though I came-to outside of the Liberty City Police Station two hours later after my arrest, I know that the damage has been done. I have decided from this point on to obey the plot's directive; to figure out just what the hell I'm supposed to do in this game while hitting fewer people and lampposts.
I hope those who hold tickets for the upcoming dates on my tour will still come to enjoy the shows to come.
Regretfully,
John,
proprietor,
Niko Bellic
Comments
i wish i could still count the number of taxi drivers i have punched in the face after indulging in margaritas.
it's not so much the alcohol as it is the watermelon. Watermelon, when combined with Grand Theft Auto causes a 60% increase in the TripleSecus Pummelus region of the cerebral cortex. The only way to reduce this potentially life-threatening condition is to hire me to do your next album cover. Details at Zenpop.
...and no. I'm not kidding.
My Dearest Cousin,
It is shame you left the party so early, you missed a chance to see great big American titties. Not like we had back home, did I not tell you America is the place of dreams? After you left Brucie kept asking about you, kept telling me how much he wanted to work out with you and such........ I am begining to think he has a bit of a crush on you. Just remember the government wants to kill you! They want to harvest your body... and turn it into cheese.
Anyways cousin, it is time I get back to my taxi so maybe you can call me later when your vision returns to normal and we can play a game of pool. No sense on trying when all you can see is black and white......am I right or am I right!
Roman
Comments
agreed.
paparazzi car chases seem terrifying.
I agree with legitimizing paparazzi-ness. I find it hard to believe that legislation (in all countries) has been so slow to acknowledge this and do what needs to be done. Their profession, as it stands, is dangerous towards those that they follow, and also to paparazzi themselves.
If we don't adapt, there is a good chance we will be left behind.
Being a resident of Los Angeles I have actually had friends in other towns ask me what I thought woul be more likely to happen, a devastating earthquake or getting in a car accident due to some sort of celebrity shenanigans (i.e. paparazzi). I said the car accident. It is really out of control out here. Completely ridiculous to invade privacy just because these people made a record or movie. I do think some celebrities do a better job of avoiding the spotlight than others, but they shouldn't have to resort to guerilla tactics just to maintain privacy.