Re: grumpy loopers, genius vs. jerk

[Tom Ritchford <tom@swirly.com>]

>Some examples that immediately come to
>mind:  Richard Wagner, Ezra Pound, Pablo Picasso, Graham Greene, Lou 
>Reed, .

Hey, Lou Reed is very approachable!  I see him pretty often at gallery 
openings
around New York.  A few years ago my girlfriend (who was a big fan of his)
saw and was staring at him as he was leaving a gallery... "is that Lou 
Reed?"
and he very politely waited for her to walk over to him.  "I'd just 
like to shake
your hand," she said, and he said, "Put it there!" (in that 
inimitable voice of his),
shook, smiled at her, and left with a friendly wave.  Really warm and 
non-pretentious.

ObLooping:  OTOH, a famous looper who I won't identify except to say that
he plays with a progressive rock band that has lasted 30 years and with a
seminal ambient musician...  was being driven around by a Friend Of A 
Friend.
Said FOAF had been instructed not to speak to F, er, the
musician, and didn't... except right as he was driving to the airport,
at the very end, they were stopped at a light and he said, "Excuse me,
Mr. Xxxxx, I've been a huge fan of yours for over ten years and..."
At this juncture, Xxxxx interrupted him by yelling "ASSHOLE!" at him
at the top of his lungs and the journey finished in silence again.

        /t