Ask the fans what you’d ask Jim and/or Charlie and the same answers spew forth:
Will you marry me, Jim? (Charlie is ever rarely asked that question, despite a percentage of the female fanbase having eyes for Charlie. None of them ever want to marry him, or are much too classy to ask.)
Why do you sack Derek/Mick/Mel?
Will you ever have Derek/Mick/Mel back?
Where’s Mel?
And currently:
Will you play a gig online for us?
Can we have a show online?
When’s the new album coming out?
Over and over. Especially the Derek/Mick/Mel thing. I’m surprised Andy Gillespie hasn’t had a mention in amongst it yet.
And honestly, to ask the question to the fans in the first place is getting old. The vast majority have nothing new to offer. And if Jim is looking for inspiration than right at this point in time, the fanbase seems the last place he’ll find it. Question like this will just keep him well away! If he really is suffering from the disillusionment of all the pandemic, the ceasing of touring and everything else this year has given us, then THIS won’t help!
And I am not any more innocent. I know what an absolute scratched record I sound like! Keeping on going on about missing him and wishing he was hanging around on Facebook more often. Hardly likely to happen when these are the endless questions thrown at him. “When’s the book coming out, Jim? Can we have an online gig, Jim? Can we have members of the band that have not been in the band for 30+ years back, Jim? Why did you get rid of them in the first place, Jim?” LIKE IT’S ALL DOWN TO HIM! Yes, granted he can come across as a control freak Machiavellian/Svengali sometimes BUT…just for a start MICK WANTED OUT so… and how can a fan worth their salt NOT KNOW this aspect of the story!? I mean, Jesus Fucking Christ! Is it any wonder Jim is staying away from Facebook and the fanbase and not interacting!!
And these hypothesis Q&A don’t help. It’ll just compound his disillusionment and boredom.
I am guilty of this too but actually I seem to have been the only one so far to just say I’d like to say just simply “Hi guys. How are ya? How you doing? How’s things?” Because, you know…that’s all I’d want from Jim. Normal conversation. What’s he listening to right now? What books is he reading? How is he getting through stuff day to day? Hiking is one thing he’s doing, I guess. The daily trek up to the Castelmol. Maybe even that has felt quickly mundane.
The more I ponder the intricacies of his life, the more I think it is just such a different world to mine. That young guy fae Toryglen is loooooong gone! He moves in such different circles. And I could never imagine being in a position where you GENUINELY never have to question whether you can afford to buy something in a shop. I allowed myself to feel that to a very small degree for a fraction of time last year – but I knew I could really. I know it wasn’t a sustainable thing. But now I am back completely to watching every single penny. Like…EVERYTHING that goes into the food shopping basket.
And here I am being some insignificant NOMARK praying for a bit of time from him. Like…it’s just absurd. It really is. Perhaps I insulted him with my comparison I have to him when I told him that I never felt able to contact David Bowie because he seemed otherworldly and completely out of reach, whereas Jim seemed approachable, warm, human, interested, engaging…tangible.
It’s a different life. A different way. And such a contradiction. To want to be the “everyman” in rock star’s clothes…it’s….??
