Perks only part of job for A&E staff, critics

  Angela Salazar   Despite the
alluring perks of being A&E section editor, Salazar is not in
it for the money. To learn more about her "almost famous" world,
write to [email protected].
   

That never happens to us.

We never get kidnapped by rock stars. We never get offered a
thousand dollars for a Rolling Stone cover story. We never even
hang out with groupies.

True, there are some perks to working in the Arts and
Entertainment department of the Daily Bruin, but nothing of
“Almost Famous” proportions.

After seeing the movie in one of Westwood’s many theaters,
I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. Its story is built
on the kind of stuff entertainment writers dream about ““
well, the kind of stuff almost every “fan” dreams
about, I guess: leaving everything behind to do what you love most
while taking a little adventure in self-discovery. In the case of
“Almost Famous” lead character William Miller, the love
is for the music and the adventure lies in a road trip with a rock
band.

The glamorous perceptions of the lives of the rich and famous
are what keep the entertainment industry going. It is the
façade of flawless beauty and charisma that makes movies,
music and money in Hollywood. And the fascination for this
high-rolling lifestyle is what pulls in fans and holds them for as
long as the dream lives on.

In “Almost Famous,” the fast-paced life of rock
music captures 15-year-old William’s attention. As an
aspiring Rolling Stone reporter, he is lured into the world of
Stillwater, a fictitious band. The sex, drugs and rock
‘n’ roll formula that creates real-life legends works
its same magic on Stillwater and intrigues William in the movie.
While touring with the band, he gets a taste of what rock star life
is all about.

But when he writes about his experiences on the road with
Stillwater, the lines between his personal and professional life
are blurred.

Early on in the movie, William is deemed “the enemy”
by the band because his job is to report on their life. After
gaining the band’s trust, he crosses enemy lines and reveals
too much, providing the whole story to readers.

Since the beginning of true stardom, the media has played the
role of the enemy by building stories around celebrities, while
pushing aside stories about “real” people. Maybe
it’s because “famous people are just more
interesting” as Penny Lane, the film’s infamous
“band aid,” (or groupie) says. Or maybe it’s
because we, as the media, just make them seem more interesting.

It’s said that the media has the power to make or break
stars, and in most cases I tend to agree. We can exploit and
manipulate, but we can also promote and publicize. And as long as
we “never make friends with the rock stars” as music
writer Lester Bangs advises in the movie, we can print what we see
and hear in an effort to tell the objective truth.

Our responsibility is to the community we serve, and in the
Daily Bruin’s case, that community is UCLA and Westwood. In
Arts and Entertainment, we strive to satisfy the diverse tastes of
our readership by providing varied, balanced and accurate coverage
of local, well-known, student and campus music, film and theater
productions.

We sort through the free CDs from unknown bands, we watch
low-budget independent films and we go to sketchy theaters in the
seedy parts of Hollywood, all to provide to you, the reader,
quality entertainment coverage (or at least that’s our
goal).

We may not get to tour with *NSync or Britney or interview movie
stars in their homes, but that’s OK because we’re
almost satisfied by the free, bright pink “Almost
Famous” halter tops that are sent our way by eager
publicists. So, maybe we like to live vicariously through the world
we write about. But for us, it’s really all about getting the
story that will entertain you with unique writing, interesting
subjects and fresh perspectives, as much as it’s about
informing you of what’s going on in the artistic world.

So now, as the academic year at UCLA begins, “it’s
all happening” as they say in “Almost Famous,”
again. The entertainment world is brimming with new events and
happening every day.