My Warped Normal Values

After being in the music and entertainment industries for nearly a decade I’ve seen a lot and I have to be honest, all the interviews and all the parties have really affected my values. Some may even say my values are downright warped. The way in which they’re warped, however, is only when measured against the values many would assume I have thanks to my job. It’s easy to see the stereotypical celeb life on TV (or as pictured above) and think “man, I bet anyone that gets near it gets wrapped up in it,” and I can tell you, yes, it’s affected me greatly. For those expecting me to want to pop bottles and hang out in the VIP, though, I have some disappointing news for you, when it comes to the supposed “good life” I have some very warped normal values.

I don’t pop bottles, nor do I enjoy the act of popping bottles. Do you know what I think champagne is for? Very special occasions with very special people. I have a fantastic bottle of champagne a buddy gave me a few years ago and it’s still waiting to be opened because it’s so nice that the occasion which I open it for has to be a truly important one. The last bottle I “popped” was in celebration of my radio show when it went off the air last year after five amazing years. If you’re popping bottles on a weekly basis exactly how do you indicate when something is special or important?

On a similar note, I think bottle service is bullshit.

I don’t like VIP areas even though at industry events I’m one of the people who can get into them. Seriously, when you’re at an event that has a VIP area usually it’s an expensive, or tough, place to get into. If it’s already tough to get into why make anyone feel like they aren’t a VIP by roping off an area and only letting select people into it? Everyone there is looking to have a good time, there’s no sense in making any paying customers feel alienated, or not good enough.

While I’m on the topic, I don’t get off on being in hard to get into places (wow, that sentence could be really misconstrued). Just like with the VIP area, I don’t think anyone’s “cool” is determined by which clubs they can or can’t get into.

Some people may ask how I can be this way yet still absolutely love a show like Entourage. It’s simple, Entourage is so great because Vince is enjoying the life with his friends. I’m not saying I haven’t enjoyed my fair share of industry parties, but all the best stories I have from them involve the friends I was with, not who else was in attendance. The “we saw so and so” line gets very old very quickly and quite frankly it’s really only interesting for the five seconds it takes to say it unless you’re actually a fan of said celeb’s work. If you’ll notice, in most of my party pics and pics with artists I’m either clownin with my friends, or in the process of making some new ones. Having friends around is what makes a party great, not making some attempt to live like a local imitation of an image from eonline.

The funny thing is, while I have access to a lot of interesting places and things, I’m a million times more likely to be found picking up a karaoke mic than a bottle of champagne. In fact, I’ve been known to say that the only time I pop champagne is when it’s the champagne of bottled beers.

The industry lifestyle has warped me. It’s warped me into normalcy.