From here on out, I'm only interested in what's real.

Be honest and unmerciful.

I watched Almost Famous for the first time last night. (IMDB summary: “A high-school boy is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone Magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies them on their concert tour.”) I was struck by the above scene at a party, where our pint sized hero, William Miller, is at a party with the band he’s supposed to be covering for Rolling Stone, and surrounded by fans, including a guy named Vic whose introducing moment is proclaiming to anybody near him: “Mr. Robert Plant, he signed—signed my T-shirt five minutes ago. Please don't smear it. Oh, dear God. Please don't smear it. But five minutes ago, he touched this pen.”

William’s basically told straight up by Lester Bangs that this kind of thing is going to happen: “You cannot make friends with the rock stars…. They're gonna buy you drinks. You're gonna meet girls, they're gonna fly you places for free, offer drugs. I know it sounds great, but these people are not your friends.” And so …