4.3 The Difference between Events and Quotidian Fan Rituals

The difference between events and the quotidian is also highlighted by the types of everyday rituals fans do. While other editions on celebrity music fandom include explorations of the more mundane fan practices (see, for example, Duffett 2013b), Fandom-as-Religion literature focuses on events such as Elvis week and the location of fan pilgrimage, such as Graceland. Such a focus draws attention away from the manner and matter of fans lives the rest of time, when not engaged in events. Similar to McDannell’s (1995) discussion of material culture in the domestic sphere, this type of insight into fans’ quotidian lives is important because it not only provides a baseline level of engagement …show more content…
Nor does fan emotion and action stay consistent even within a visit to Graceland. One might find sorrow at his grave, but laughter and emulation indulging in a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich (one of Elvis’ favorite foods) and a milkshake at Gladys’ Diner (onsite). From participant observation and interviewing, as well as attending dead celebrity memorial events, these occasions are predominantly joyous, while leaving moments for quite reflection. These interpretations forward the agenda of these scholars, including stereotypical interpretations of fans, while unable to capture the distinction of fan action and its variance within and among fans. In response, consider a John Lennon fan, Jerry, his explanation of what he does every …show more content…
The conversation revolved around positive ways the fans integrate the celebrity into their lives. When I responded by telling the disc jockey about Jerry and his everyday ritual, the host said: “You call that positive? Spending three hours a day playing Beatles music?” But, for Jerry, this was a positive and everyday ritual for him. In no way, however, did Jerry consider this a religiously motivated experience, nothing he told me indicated as such and I did not make any such assumption about Jerry’s daily fan action. When I asked Jann, another John Lennon fan, how often she listened to Lennon’s music, she told me:

Jann: My husband and I listen to music almost every night. We have a lot of playlists, and Lennon is on all of them . . . We share a deep love of music. He saw the Night concert, the same day, though we hadn’t even met yet. What triggers is that this music is the soundtrack of our lives.
Me: Do you do anything else when you’re listening to the music?
Jann: I paint, cook, do school work, I’m a teacher, talk, whatever I have to do, music is a constant background. He does a lot of just soaking the music in and reflecting on whatever it is he’s thinking about (Interview December 20,