Okay, I'm bored at work. And I'm feeling like I have some pent-up up angst, so here goes:

What is with all the frickin "fams"?

"Fam" just smacks of the unthinking, unwitting flock of sheep that Prince has gathered to swallow his every word. Year after year, I witness growing numbers of "fams" crowding the Celebration. People that bumrush him in the soundstage anytime he's within 10 feet. People that accost him in the hallways with nonsense stories and irrelevant questions, while wiping the slobbering drool from their chins. People that sit in the soundstage while watching the video screen, and throw their hand up while he's walking by, sending a darting finger-stab into his 'junk'. Man, that was embarrassing for me, and "fam" dude didn't think twice about it. He even made a "I'm never gonna wash this hand" gesture to his friends — repeatedly. Ugh.

It's tantamount to typing in 'U's and '2's and '4's — a tired habit that provides a good indication of an insenient "fam". Why, if a "fam" is so enthusiastic about Prince's originality, and prides themselves on their own originality, are they so prone to follow any transient whim he throws out there? While that particular whim may have stuck around for a while, it isn't simply the way he has always written. It was something manufactured, something calculated, as part of his image. It is not a way to facilitate communication. I have witnessed the fact that he, himself does not constantly write in such a demented form.

We all live in a world of metaphors, where perception outweighs "reality" and "truth". And we all get that. So why complicate writing by using even more metaphors that hide the end meaning? I don't get it, and I get a lot of things. It's not breaking anyone from their routine, or forcing them 'outside the box', it's just cumbersome. Oftentimes, it does more to confuse, rather than convey, meaning.

It's not clever, and it's not original, and I don't buy the "it's a shorthand way of typing" argument either. It's just another way in which the legion of 'followers' think they are taking some Princely thing out into the world to be 'leaders' in their own right.

And it's all fed into by Prince. He tells us we're listening to "real music for real music lovers." He tells us the world would be a better place if we could just take a little piece of the "community" found at the Celebration, and give it out to the rest of the world. He tells us we're New Power Family Members. I think there are some people among us that have actually been falsely led into thinking they're somehow part of Prince's universal family, that he has some kind of personal adoration for them.

Where are the people that are truly caught up in the appreciation for the music, and not the fascination with the celebrity? For all the "fan" vs "fam" argument that has taken place, it seems the intense uncritical devotion that is characterisitc of the word "fanatic", best describes a "fam".

I'll admit I'm not immune to Prince's influence. I, ashamedly, wore a symbol necklace for a time. I even liked Chaos & Disorder for a minute (although never "Right The Wrong"). But then I woke up; I put on the brakes. And now what I want to know, is when so many fools will realize that so much of what Prince has written about in his music, is finding your own way, not following his. What's worse, is that you shouldn't need somebody to tell you that in the first place.

Fams, you may now commence with the lambasting.

Well said.

-Leighsa

i am a fam . . .

erm whats a fam?

It's a "term of endearment". Some of us find it endearing.

I have emailed thoughts that I am sure might upset Prince if he read them. I have argued with him in person. And I still consider myself a "Fam".







There are a lot of generalized statements and assumptions in this post.

fammm


yes


has a nice ring to it no . . .

fammm


i like it

Fam...Fan...U...you...2 ...to...c...see...
it is a play on reality

Prince...symbol...tafkap...Prince
in his music is the evidence

Every 1 follows someone or leads another
Influence abound in this world./sister/brother
So u may criticize or laugh or cry
But your no better

Nobody twists your arm
or forces u to type the web address prince.org
Nobody made u pay out your ass to be part of
his club.

Freedom is a beautiful thing and we be free to
follow whom we want...to call eachother what we
wish

we even be free to take a piss...

or sing the song kiss...or bliss,,,or

i think u got it.

da' pope

So what are you trying to say? You do not like "fam" but only "fan"? Just ingnore the M and see it as an N and you will be fine.. So you wore a symbol sign and you do nomore so now you think everybody should take theirs off? You woke up so now that you woke and and see the light you want everybody to see your point as Prince wants them to see his? The man is about music that is all, MUSIC!! And if he can lead one individual too where he has become in life than it might well be worth it. At least he has grown up and he does not live in the PAST, like MOST in here! And I dont care what anybody says so save your breath dont waste it on me!

Berry said:

Why? It is not supposed to be interchangeable with the word "fan"; Prince is using it as something entirely different. But if you are a "fan", then it is not just semantics, and it is not simply a term of endearment, no?

And there are A LOT of people that fall into the generalizations. Just as all stereotypes start with some amount of truth, I pegged many, many people — even if just the ones I've met personally or online.

Gosh I dislike having a title!

like you said..."bored at work"

Oy ve. Boiler plate responses.

Just as no one forced me to type www.prince.org, no one forced you to respond.

I'm not saying I dislike Prince "appreciators" in general, and I'm not saying I prefer the word "fan" to "fam". I'm saying the "fams" seem to be another animal altogether, and one that is often worse in the way that Prince went to the length of creating the them — by laying out the guidelines in his reproduceable behavior. When you imitate Prince, you're leaning into sacrificing your freedom, rather than exercising it. Following his world puts you into new contraints, just different ones.

I just wish to see more people with their wits about them. I know they exist; I keep in their company. But they are few and far between. A lucid being who has attended the Celebrations has had to have noticed the over-abundance of mouth-breathers in their presence.

Am I taking an absolutely elitist stance here? Absolutely. But that's only because I believe I do know something "they" don't.

ShabasLove said:

Sounds about right.

-Shabas, I'm right with you. I attended the first night festivities
[This message was edited Tue Sep 17 9:19:42 PDT 2002 by nightwing]

Well said.

The only "fams" of Prince are those that he's either sitting down at dinner with or estranged from & fighting in court.

NOT RELATED... GO TO NPGMC FOR A NEW DOWNLOAD...

peterv said:

Cool, thanks Peterv..!!

peterv said:

Also covered in the "Grape Jelly" thread...

http://www.prince.org/msg...&tid=18242

peterv said:

i am only seeing '1+1+1=3' and 'silicon...'
...hmmm..

OK I'll admit it - I'm one of those people staring towards the stage with that glazed over expression staring at the man but you know what I paid my money like everyone else - if that is what I wish to do it is my perogative, right? If I'm going to spend money to see an artist why not spend all my time watching that artist instead of what talking to the people you say are neurotic. And look I didn't even use one u or 2 or 4.

P.S. Besides I can't help but stare - he's the sexiest man I've ever seen in my entire life.

I think you missed the point of the post...

fams was being used to describe what we at the park were calling the lunatics...or the FANATICS.

Fan or Fam...it's all the same to me...it's just what some of those FANATICS were doing that made me agree with the original post.

Stealing stuff from the park..
Accosting Prince every time he twitched...
Causing physical injury to others just to get a glimpse of him..(which is why on one of the nights I ended up with an ice-pack on my leg in the lobby of the park)

It's like, hey, you're at paisley park...get over having to feel him sweat on you.

-Leighsa

ShabasLove said:

~~ 2the9s quietly removes his assless pants ~~

2the9s said:

That has to be one of the funniest fucking things I have ever read on here!

Classic!

2the9s said:

You can keep you hair in the typhoon, though. I have.

...and back away from my symbol necklace. I wear it because I like it. If you read my stuff, you'll know that I'm no sheep.

Baaahhh...

This is one of the best written and most accurate posts that I have ever read on the org. It's sad to watch people at the Park when Prince enters the room.

The story that jumps to my mind is the night when Prince threw a Paisley party after Lenny's last concert in Minneapolis. There were not many people (maybe 100) in the house and NO ONE was on the dance floor. Then Prince enters the room and made his way to the dance floor I'm assuming to have a little bit of fun dancing to his music. Well this didn't happen because everyone in the room after seeing Prince rushed the dance floor and Prince soon found himself smothered. He quickly made his way out of the mass and was not seen again that night.

People (not all, but most) make asses of themselves when Prince tries to be "normal" and join the party.

I am always saddened and sickened by what I see at Paisley and this is magnified at least ten times when people come in from out of town (ie the Celebrations).

The word "Fam" itself makes me want to vomit.

lovemachine said:

thats a fascinating commentary love machine, no really it is

To each his/her own.

18JUMBOSHRIMP said:

I Love SPAM!!!

oh,...uh, ummm...forget it

I don't know why so many people have a problem with the term "FAM."
What's the big deal?
I also see many people on this site every day criticizing others for being fanatics, yet they belong to Princes music club and are here every day till the cows come home.
I think this is just snobbery. People who are too stuffy to admit how much they really are obsessed with Prince trying to put down people who are honest about it.