Anyone Else...

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by vivfox

Also, I was at his infamous 1992 or 3 Roxy show in Phoenix where he had a major temper tantrum from the stage at some audience members offering up his best 2 middle fingers. At that time I was so angry with him I vowed I would never see another solo show of his but when he toured in 2006 all was forgiven and I couldn't wait to see and hear him sing again.

The way you and others have described the audience at that show, I hardly blame him.

Originally Posted by elle

the man you meet now is completely incompatible with the picture from 20-30 years ago. not just that he is incredibly nice and sweet as many others have described when talking about their experiences of meeting him, but he is also… well, for the lack of a better word – so human.

See, I just don't think pleasant public behavior means much of anything. I don't think he was Atila The Hun back then either, but he might have been. If so, I bet he had a lot of incredibly nice and sweet public (and private) moments too, even while being abusive at other times.

Abuse is a hard thing to parse. I remember when Mommie Dearest came out, I was really skeptical of Christina Crawford. Whether her accusations were true or not, she benefitted a lot from them. On the other hand, when Bing Crosby's sons from his first marriage came out about him, I really resented it when Bob Hope (a beloved icon) trashed them and said Bing was a great dad. Bob and Bing may have been the closest of friends and I'm sure he was the kindest of buddies, but Bob had no way of knowing what was going on behind Bing's closed doors.

Michele