Big names -- and what the audience means to them.

In a recent thread in Food for Thought, someone posted about the big name performers and how stuck up they were. Some can be. Some have HUGE egos. All of the big names have enough drive to make it. They wouldn't be there if they didn't. But the ones that really count understand the value of the audience members. I cited some examples from recent magicians. Let me give you an example from another field entirely, the field of bluegrass music.

A few years ago, they were holding the Maryland Banjo Academy. This is a one week workshop for banjo players who want to improve their skills. People come from all over the world to attend this event. Most of them are people who have a reasonable amount of money -- doctors, lawyers, people like that.

Two well-known performers were on the stage, and there was an open mike. They didn't know it was open. One of them looked out over the swarm of people and said, "Look at all those wannabees. What a bunch of losers!"

The other one said, "Those wannabees and losers are the reason we are up here today."

If those wannabees and losers had not bought their albums and attended their concerts, nobody would have ever heard of those two guys.

The nice one was J.D. Crowe. I won't tell you who the ingrate was.