On fandom.

What's on my mind tonight?.........

I am slowly becoming a poster child for Centricity Music.

Part of me is excited and amused by this, and says, "Give me more stuff! Why stop at poster? Let's go for billboard!"

The other part me says, "Okay, now...isn't enough enough?" and wonders what in the world I am turning into.

Evidence of this transformation: I am currently listening to my Centricity Music playlist, which includes every song I own from any artist on that label. I listen to it often. On my last few roadtrips, the vast majority of the music I picked to listen to was from Centricity, much to the annoyed amusement of my exasperated brother. The book I use as a planner where I write all of my school assignments is a Centricity notebook. There is currently a tube sitting on my desk with a big Centricity label on it, in which they recently shipped a nice poster to me. And that's not to mention the artist merchandise I have, mostly of downhere and Jason Gray.

I don't know why I feel any different about this than, say, Disney, merchandise of which I have always had my fair share, particularly Winnie-the-Pooh. For example, just glancing around my room, I see Pooh Bear's face about three times, and were I to look more carefully, I'm sure I'd find more of him. That has never struck me as odd, nor has it made me wonder about myself. Why the difference?

Maybe because you're supposed to be a fan of Disney. And at the core of the company are characters, that's what drives them, what they are centered around, or at least what their face looks like. And it's alright to go goofy about a character. (No pun intended, but certainly appreciated.) But music...with music, there are no characters to hide behind. There are just the people who make it. And as crazy as I have become about downhere, for instance, I've always been kind of uncomfortable about being a fan of a person. Because it seems way too easy to get carried away and start making the person out to be more than a person. Appreciation can quickly lead to idolization, and there's only one person I want to idolize.

On top of that, these aren't some world-famous people, who have the paparazzi following them everywhere, and people trying to get a lock of their hair to sell on eBay. It might make a little more sense if they were celebrities. But in the grand scheme of things, they're only a little more well-known than me. And regardless of celebrity, I've talked to these people. Being a fan of someone you don't know is different than being a fan of someone you do know. I mean, not many people go around telling everyone they know how great their neighbor is. Whatever the reason may be, it seems much more natural to be a fan of someone you don't know.

And so I'm questioning myself. I question myself often. Have I taken things too far? Part of me says, "If you have to ask that question, then yes, you most certainly have." But the other part points out that maybe I'm just being aware and keeping myself from getting carried away. That latter description tends to be more like me. I have a track record of keeping myself so reigned in that I can't move.

But really, doesn't it make more sense to promote people you do know, whom you know firsthand to have something worthy of sharing with the world? Especially if that something is THE most important thing to share with the world. That's my way of thinking. And as much as I may talk about Centricity, talk to me long enough and you'll probably hear me say just as much about my brother. Either one of them. Or any other member of my family. Or my best friend. I get just as excited when when sharing a memory of them. So I'm pretty sure my head is still screwed on straight.

Bring on the Centricity swag! I will proudly display it. And I will continue to blog about them every other entry, and mention them about every 5 tweets. And burn a lot of gas going to see their acts in concert. Because I really believe in what they're doing. And they're doing it well.

P.S. I promise you, they don't pay me a dime. And I'm not fishing for them to pay me a dime. I have paid them a dime or two. :-)