trying to grok

Celebrity columns always bother me because I doubt they're actually written by the person whose name attracts readers. Celebrity autobiographies bother me less because they often co-credit the actual writer. This is not to say ghostwriting is bad; if people are comfortable working anonymously and are getting paid, good for them. But I want to know I'm reading the real deal. I read this blog because I know you wrote every word of it, apart from quotations, comments, and credited guest entries. And although blogs have taught me that skilled writers aren't as rare as I thought, musical - or plumbing - ability does not necessarily entail writing ability. Writing is hard, and branding someone else's work with a big name cheapens it: the name overshadows the content below it.

In the MSNBC article, Bono

joked that he's "never been great with the full stops or commas."

I wonder what a raw Bono article would read like. I assume his podcast would be more genuine (i.e., spontaneous rather than scripted) and hence wouldn't sound like his column.

And I wonder what Bono would think of ghostsinging, of some nonsinging celebrity taking credit in a field he passionately cares about. Would that hit too close to home?

And I wonder what Bono would think of ghostsinging,
You mean like Milli Vanilli?

AFW,

Girl, you know it's true!

Seriously, no, I wasn't thinking of MV. That is a kind of ghostsinging - possibly the most famous instance - but I was thinking of a nonsinger famous for something else being marketed as a singer. MV were unknowns before they became a Frank Farian project.

I was going to cite Paris Hilton as a hypothetical example, but it turns out she really does have an album out!

Amritas, like Shaquille O'Neal's rap album?

Ha, ha! Yeah, that's pretty much what I had in mind, though apparently Shaq really was rapping (badly, judging from the reviews - I never heard of the album until you mentioned it).