The Case of the Disappearing Comment Links
January 20^th, 2004
12:10 A. M.

I was just checking Tinmen Don't Dance and The Abyss, and noticed that their comment links were gone. It's a shame, too, because they both wrote things that I would like to have commented about tonight.

I've already sent an e-mail through the "Lavish praise on me" link on Tinmen Don't Dance, but what Pua wrote about on on the 16^th (but I didn't get around to reading 'til just now) was something I'll post about here.

On Pushy Parents

After reading The Abyss today about the play Pua's daughter was in, I started thinking about pushy parents. Then I started trying to think of ways to write about them and not stir up a hornet's nest over the way I feel about them.

I discovered that there is no way for me to express myself on this subject and be nice at all about it. I'll simply say that there are a handful of "artists" out there today who owe their success in part to their pushy parents. I could use names, but I won't. Suffice it to say, the titles of royalty are involved, and these are Pop stars. I shall also say that they can be best described as a smattering of over-emoting divas and a plastic surgeon's freakish creation. (To be fair, though, there are a couple of songs done by the "freakish creation" in the seventies that I actually like.)

My only question is ... do these parents really see talent, or are they treating their children as meal tickets? I mean, I'm wondering if there is some desperate unmet need these people have for fame and fortune. Are they so desperate for these things that they push their hack children to great heights on their marginal talents? And, I'm also wondering how many genuinely talented artists are pushed to the wayside by these jerks and their kids.

Well, I haven't mentioned any names, so I hope there won't be any trouble from this.