I have not had many experiences with celebrities, but my 3-year old daughter has provided opportunities for me to meet with a few.

My daughter is a fan of the Monkees, and she watches their TV show and listens to their music at every opportunity.  A friend of my Aunt is the head of entertainment for a local Labor Day Festival, and each year she invites Peter Tork, a former member of the group, to perform.  When she found out my daughter was a fan, she said to my Aunt that we should come to the show and she would make sure we had an opportunity to meet with Mr. Tork.  My Aunt relayed this to us, and we made plans to be there.

We came to the show at the designated time.  Unfortunately, my Aunt had given us the wrong time, and Mr. Tork had already completed his performance and had returned to his hotel by the time we arrived.  My Aunt's friend, when she found out what happened, immediately called Mr. Tork at his hotel, and then told us to go to the hotel (about 2 miles away) and he would meet us in the lobby.  I felt very bad about inconveniencing him, since I guessed he was probably relaxing or eating dinner by this time, but she insisted we go.

We rushed over and had a very pleasant meeting with Mr. Tork, took a few pictures, got an autograph on her favorite Monkee's CD, etc.  I apologized to Mr. Tork for inconveniencing him, but he was very gracious and extremely generous with his time.  We thanked him for meeting with us.  Though my daughter clammed up when he tried talking to her, she certainly knew who he was, and she talked about her meeting with him for weeks afterward.  It was a very pleasant experience.

" don't expect or demand respect because that needs to be earned. "

Before I go into my point, a "pre-point" if you will.  I think EVERYONE should be treated respectfully unless and until they demonstrate that they are not worthy of respectful treatment.  But upon first meeting you, I'm going to assume you merit some basic respect due all human beings and I think you should expect that.

Now, I have mixed feelings about this, because I am very grateful to all 2 or 3 of my fans for appreciating my work enough to write, talk to me, email me, ask for an autograph or sketch.

And luckily (or unluckily) I don't have enough fans that at cons I'm "bothered" by them, although I can see that a multitude of never ending fans, even lovely appreciative people, COULD get to be too much.

The only thing that thus far has annoyed me about some particular fans, and I preface this by saying that I understand that this is MY problem, is that they seem more interested in the movements of these imaginary people than they are in the actual drawing or the craft of the writing.

You see, when I was growing up and reading comics, as much as I loved the characters, I was always in love with the art itself more.  I would prefer an unknown character drawn by an artist whose work I really loved to a poorer artist on a well known figure.  Clearly, this sensitivity was part of the reason I became an artist.

And certainly understand that this is the product I pedal and if I really care about being soley praised for the craft of my work, I should go into fine art (which I will at some point), but in the interest of universal understanding, I bring it up.

I do think fans are very fortunate to have the access to their favorite writers and artists that modern technology allows and I also agree that this has its dark side.  But I also think we ARE lucky to have fans who care so much about our work in the first place.

So there you have it...everyone's right.

Hey Stan, I think you missed my point.  I certainly don't advocate that an artist should "grin and bear it" if a fan (or anyone else for that matter) is being rude or truly difficult.  My point was only that, as people, we should START with respect for each other, then move on from there, rather than somehow start with 0 respect and somehow have to EARN it.  I think respect is something everyone has an innate right to, short of their losing it because (probably) they are being disrespectful themselves.

And yes, I think a fan should try and understand that, if there was a huge line of people ahead of him, and/or a huge line of people behind him (or her), he should try to make it brief as well as pleasant.  That's showing consideration for both the artist and for his fellow fans.

My point was only that, as people, we should START with respect for each other, then move on from there, rather than somehow start with 0 respect and somehow have to EARN it.

Very nice, Dennis.  Happy New Year!

with regards to the Lithgow "incident," who's to say he didn't have a sick family member, fight with his wife, or relative/friend just died? Any of those events (and plenty more, I'm sure) could cause any person to be so distracted.

please don't misinterperate here...i was trying to imply just that.  it would have been real easy for me to turn this into a "he's so rude" situation...quite the contrary.  i have no idea where his head was and he probably was getting ready to tape 3rd rock.  it would be wrong for me to criticize the man not knowing the full story and always try to be clear in that when i relate the tale.