I have always loved “Almost Famous,” the movie starring Kate Hudson and Jason Lee that was based on Rolling Stone writer/director Cameron Crowe’s start in music journalism.
I even wrote a fan fiction back in the day (2001-2002) that was based on a quote Howie Dorough said in TV Guide about the Backstreet Boys and “Penny Lane’s.”
But it wasn’t until the past two or three years that I rewatched “Almost Famous” and fell in love with it even more.
Back in 2000 when the movie came out and I saw it for the first time, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. Sure, I was already “in love” with a musical band (Backstreet Boys), but I had no idea that my life would follow that of William’s (the main character).
Fast forward to now and I understand the movie so much more. I understand where William’s passion comes from. I understand Penny Lane so much more than I ever did back when I started writing that fan fiction.
Penny loved a band. She loved their music. Sure, she got a little frisky with them, too, but it was always about the music to her.
We are not Groupies. Groupies sleep with rockstars because they want to be near someone famous. We are here because of the music, we inspire the music. We are Band Aids.
That quote pretty much sums up everything. And to top things off, having interviewed singers and covered concerts now professionally, I understand William so much more. I understand what Lester Bangs (another rock journalist) tells William at the beginning of the movie.
If you’re a rock journalist – first, you will never get paid much. But you will get free records from the record company.
That goes for any journalist now, but yeah, we don’t make the big bucks people think. But there was some satisfaction and is some satisfaction that I get when I get to cover a concert and write about it. Or take photos of a concert and see them in rpint. Or when that phone rings and you hear one of your favorite singers say your name and pronounce it right.
Jason Aldean said Kare-ruh, not Car-ruh. I about peed myself.
“Almost Famous” is the ultimate fangirl movie. Penny was a fangirl, just in a different time and was a little more mature about it.
