Covering celebrities is rarely glamorous.
First, there’s the question of substance. It’s often difficult to justify writing about Kim Kardashian or Justin Bieber when so many other topics are more newsworthy. Bill Zehme, a best-selling writer who’s penned memorable profiles about the likes of Frank Sinatra and Madonna, once noted, “Stargazing-and-appraising is endemic to our big-dream culture of hope and hopeless envy, and has been for at least nine decades (although never quite like during the last couple of them, when infotainment actually became a word Webster’s defined).”
Then there’s the interview. After tracking down the publicist, it can take weeks to arrange even a 15-minute conversation. I once waited months to talk to Kirstie Alley, only to coincidentally bump into the actress at a Mexican restaurant—and receive a chilling stare in response. (The interview never happened.)
Finally, there’s the writing process. What can a writer possibly say about someone who’s gone through more ink than BIC? As Zehme put it, “My charge in this racket has long been to find new ways to write about people who get written about way too often…in a journalistic subdivision where residency has become more embarrassing with each passing year.” That was in 2002—five years before TV’s TMZ first aired.
Fortunately, this month’s cover story was an exception to all of that. Rather than discuss the details of, say, Nelly’s rumored relationship with Ashanti, our editors decided to cover something more substantive, something at the core of these accomplished individuals: their hometown.
When we explained the goal of the story—to chronicle how St. Louis shaped the lives of its most famous natives—we were overwhelmed by the response. John Goodman called within the week (and without warning) to reminisce about his days in Affton. Cartoonist Mike Peters emailed back, “I’d love to talk to you,” adding that he still returns to Dogtown to visit his childhood home. And within three weeks of losing to the Cardinals in the playoffs, Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard gushed about growing up in Wildwood.
Reading these stories of lessons from long-ago teachers and listening to KMOX from miles away, I’m reminded of what we share in common: Regardless of where life leads us, our hometowns leave an indelible mark. It also reminds me of something else that Zehme wrote, after dismissing the notion that he’s ever written about celebrities: “I have always written about humans, replete with human traits and foibles and issues, who also happen to be famous.”
