Comments on: How to talk to your heroes (and why it’s a good idea)

By: Rookie Avenger

Mon, 10 Aug 2015 16:22:44 +0000

Love this article. I have been very lucky to meet one of my sporting heroes, Mark Webber, and thankfully he lived up to all my expectations. I wasn’t a dick, well I don’t think I was. Very nervous though. In fact, my partner kindly broke the ice for me and I ended up having a great conversation with Mark. Being polite to your heroes is a great starting point.

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By: luke

Tue, 05 May 2015 13:06:22 +0000

Hi Joel, thanks for this post, it’s excellent! The guys at SpeedComms recommended I check out your blog and I’m really glad they did. I will certainly run a quick “Am i being a dick?” check when sending emails out to new contacts in future. Looking forward to reading more of your posts. Thanks, Luke

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By: Rannoch

Wed, 08 Apr 2015 13:56:43 +0000

In the mid 80’s I worked in a video store right in the heart of Soho. Above us were the offices of Palace Pictures who were responsible for some of the best art house movies of the time. Downstairs we held the largest collection of video tapes in the UK ans as a consequence, along with our big city location we found our selves face to face with the rich and famous. Year on, I have wonderful stories but not a single photograph. In the rarefied atmosphere of Video Palace we’d chat with Richard Dreyfuss, talk Kurosawa movies with David Bowie, meet legends like Ingrid Pitt and Ken Russell. I realise now that it was a pretty magical time. We never hassled anyone, we didn’t ask for autographs, there were no camera phones. They were people, dropping by to pick up a film and in the process we got to speak to them about their lives, their movies and their art.

One afternoon we got a call from Alice Coopers tour manager. He asked if we could possibly let Mr Cooper come by the shop after hours. We shut up as usual and half an hour or so later a limousine pulled up outside. Out got Alice and couple of band members. He hung out for an hour or so, talking B Movies with our resident horror film geek and left with a bunch of tapes.

That became routine when Alice was in town, in turn we got tickets and back stage passes.

It’s funny how these things play out. A few years later I was working in music publishing and had the opportunity to ask Mr Cooper for a favour, I was working with an called Donovan who had added backing vocals to Billion Dollar Babies and he wanted to see Alice’s special invitation show at the Marquee in London. Tickets and passes arrived at my office, we went to the show and the party afterwards.

The strangest part of all this was meeting Mr Coopr once again and have him shake my hand and ask how I was doing and what had happened to the old video shop.

Seems that those heroes are pretty much like the rest of us, especially if we treat them that way.

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By: Rui

Tue, 07 Apr 2015 23:20:04 +0000

I do agree with your post. Giving back can be very rewarding and in times, work in your favor. As long as people don’t try to take the piss trying to get to much free information. Great blog by the way.

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By: joelsnape

Wed, 01 Apr 2015 19:59:17 +0000

In reply to sarah.

This is pretty saddening to hear Sarah, but a good point and worth remembering. Thanks for posting.

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By: sarah

Wed, 01 Apr 2015 16:23:09 +0000

I’ve been on both sides of this situation and your advice is spot on. But I’ve had some bad experiences when getting to talk with “heroes” who are men. Some seem to equate “a woman taking an interest in their achievements” with “a woman who wants to sleep with them” (and this assumption seems to be more likely the bigger the age gap). That gets a bit … awkward, or sometimes worse. I guess “don’t be a dick” needs to work both ways.

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