Thursday, March 8, 2007

Today's rock stars are:

Sandra Bernhard, Comedian/Actress
"she struts across the stage with a rock-star swagger"
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas)

Kim Light, Gallery Owner, Culver City, CA
"It was a stormy Saturday night, and owner Kim Light seemed pleased at the turnout, achieving a kind of rock-star vibe herself in jeans and a leather shirt. "
Los Angeles Times

Jason Reilly, Dancer, Stuttgart Ballet
"The 27-year-old will soon mark his 10th year with the Stuttgart Ballet, where he's a popular dancer, favoured by choreographers as well as by audiences that have given him rock star status. "
Toronto Star

Sunil Mittal, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, and Kumar Mangalam Biria, Rich guys, India
"Rags-to-riches barons such as Sunil Mittal, stock-market guru Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and 30-something Kumar Mangalam Birla... are largely unknown abroad but have rock star status at home."
Toronto Star

It's a unique group today. I'd be surprised if any of these folks are ever called rock stars again. This is just a bunch of one-hit wonders.

Behind-the-scenes secrets:
Some people have asked me how I go about finding all these quotes in all these newspapers from across the world. It may look like a monumental task requiring staffers around the globe scouring newspapers--but it's not. I do one search in Lexis/Nexis. I type in "rock star" in quotes and search the full-text database. I instantly get a list of about 20-30 articles containing the phrase. I skip over ones that seem to be about actual rock stars. (Bono is written about constantly, it seems) and scan through the rest. I spend more time searching Google for images of new rock stars than anything else. For example, today, Kim Light and Jason Reilly were especially hard to find.

So that's it. No great secret. If you have access to a good library, you can do it, too. Many larger public libraries and any college library provide access to databases like Lexis/Nexis and ProQuest on their websites. Try it, it's fun.