About once a week, I get an e-mail from someone through the contact link on Paul Westerberg.net addressed to Paul Westerberg. Yes, I get Paul Westerberg’s e-mail and it’s really quite fascinating.

At The Craft performance back in September, Westerberg referred to his fans as a fistful of weirdos. He was right. At least he was kind of right.

So far, I’ve had people ask me to sign their First Act Guitar, get them a concert ticket, and come tour in Japan. I’ve had people e-mail to thank me for my music and to tell me I make them happy.

At first I responded kindly telling these people that I was not, in fact, Paul Westerberg but a nerdy girl who had never met the guy. None of them ever responded. Now, I just ignore them and let them think that Paul’s an evil non-responder. It adds to his mystique.

I don’t know why, but it surprises me how very little attention people pay to what they’re reading on any random web site. I think it’s pretty clear that Paul Westerberg.net is a (god I hate to say it) fan site. Nowhere is Paul referred to in the first person and there are no posts about how the line “one needs a match and one needs some ice” means that my only friends are alcohol and cigarettes.

The e-mail continue and in the case of Paul Westerberg, I can kinda see how people think I might be him. We share the same hairdo and his name is in the URL. But yesterday, someone left a comment for Bret Michaels right here on I Will Dare. Now that’s just unconscionable. I look nothing like Bret Michaels and there’s no mention of him in the URL. I don’t wear a rug or a ‘do rag. Though, when I think about it, we both have an affinity for plastic body parts, his are just attached to actual humans and mine aren’t.