Chris de Burgh’s Red Mist Over Irish Times Concert Review
CHRIS de Burgh, has followed the work of Alain de Botton by responding to an unfavourable review in print.
De Botton’s words followed a poor review of de Botton’s book The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, by Caleb Crain in The New York Times. He wrote thus:
“I will hate you till the day I die and wish you nothing but ill will in every career move you make. I will be watching with interest and schadenfreude.”
Perhaps if De Botton’s work were as interesting as his missives it’d be a hit? No another ‘De’ is at, as Chris de Burgh, a man who rhymed “dance” with “romance” and “chance” reacts to Peter Crawley’s review of one of his concerts in the Irish Times.
“A small man appears in suit trousers and a white shirt, giving a little wave, like a businessman happy to have finished a long day of conference calls.”
Dear Mr Crawley,
Ahem:
…How the fond memories came flooding back, more than 30 years of them; you must have a Lexicon of Handy Insults, because you managed to use many of the same ones that have been used so many times before, and still they make me smile at their continued lack of imagination. “Small man . . . shudder . . . warbly tenor . . . mawkish balladeer . . . cringe factor . . . squeaky clean . . . snigger . . . cheesy” etc – yes, they were all there, as used by many of your colleagues before…
How it must have galled you to hear the rapturous welcome I received at the start of the show; how you must have writhed at every standing ovation; how you must have cringed at every call of “Chris, we love you”; how you must have felt isolated as the audience rose to their feet as one, singing, dancing and shouting out for more; how you must have growled to yourself as you left, surrounded by so many happy people, to make your curmudgeonly way to the safety of the street outside…
…Your churlish review is an insult to all those who enjoyed their night out, and in these days of collapsing newspaper sales and an entire new generation on the way who will get their information online, you may be looking for another job sooner rather than later… A leading impresario has described you as “puffed up with his own self-importance”, and a much-loved and successful actress refers to you as “that loathsome little turd”…
I would be very happy to meet with you and pursue these ideas further, but I suspect that you, like so many others of your kind, would lack the courage, like a dog that snarls and barks from a distance yet cowers and runs away at the first sight of reaction. Anyway, the offer is there.
Finally, whatever happens in your career, let me wish you a long and happy life, all the best,
Chris.
PS We were wondering by way of explanation and as you seem to portray yourself as a bitter and unfulfilled man, were you much teased by your school chums in the schoolyard and called “Creepy Crawley”? I think we should be told!
Chris is not normally a name associated with winning. But here Chris seems to be winning. Though what he’s also doing is revealing that what the hacks say matters.
And you thought journalism was dead…
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Posted: 12th, September 2009 | In: Celebrities Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
