What Makes A Good Celebrity?

Some people are much better at being celebrities than others. A classic one was Michael Hutchence of INXS. He loved being a rock star - the music, the clothes, the travel, the fans, the perks, etc. He unfortunately also had the kind of death that would make him legendary.

My personal favorite is Mick Jagger - he's brilliant. Literally. Last week Gene Simmons made the comment that if the likes of him and Jagger hadn't been rock stars they would have ended up flipping burgers. I don't buy that. Jagger was in the London School of Economics when the Stones got together and after buying into the system and allowing various managers and agents run things for a few years, Mick and the boys found themselves broke in the early 70's.

Jagger got involved and started learning everything he could. To this day, he is the force behind the Stones -- a band that's average member is 63 years of age, a band that has been together for almost 45 years, a band that hasn't had a hit album in years -- but they had the biggest grossing tour of the past 18 months.

Pete Townshend of The Who asked Mick a couple weeks ago how everything was going. Mick replied, "All right." How is Keith? "All right". How is Ronnie? "All right." Ok, Mick, how are you? "Well I'm still fucking running everything!"

Ah yes, a man who has learned that it is not wise to trust your money to anyone or delegate.

Then we come to crappy celebrities - in this case Lindsay Lohan. I don't think I've ever seen her in a film. Her tantrums, and drunken nights at the age of 20 and full blown wackaloon break downs in the middle of a celebrity audience are becoming the norm rather than the exception. This girl should just go back to the Bronx and leave everyone alone.

But every cloud has a silver lining and in Lohan's case, it's Perez Hilton. He's a jovial gay boy from Miami who packed his bags for the bright lights of WeHo (West Hollywood) and now holds court with his laptop at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Sunset & Fairfax. He religiously updates his site throughout the day and just calls it like he sees it.

I appreciate that. His dead on, sometimes catty comments, truly sum up the sentiments of many people - in this case, Lohan. While the rest of the world turns on Entertainment Tonight for their celebrity scoop, I don't think anything can beat Perez. On top of it, he's getting a giggle and seems to be genuinenly appreciative of his new found celebrity -- I say, more power to him and keep up the good work!



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