Fandom, Digital Etiquette And Celebrity Children…A fan responds.

Recently on The Online Kitchen Party, A Great Big Sea Community Forum on Facebook big name fan Lynda Elstad or @LyndaHere as she is known on Facebook and Twitter posted a picture of a child and their father, one of the celebrities the group follows. The photograph was taken at a charity event in which the father and child were seen together in a small rural community in northern Newfoundland during the Canadian summer of 2017.

It is not the first time fans (me included) have raised questions about Lynda Elstad taking photographs and videos of the said child when out in public and posting them online without the permission of the parents or child (the child is around 10 years old). The child’s name and the celebrity father will not be included in this post to protect their privacy and in particular the rights and privacy of the child.

One of the regular members of the group asked Lynda Elstad whether the photo was one of her photographs and whether she had the father’s permission to take it and post it online. Lynda Elstad replied…“All I am going to say is that you are entitled to your opinion…I am entitled to my own (and the father) is entitled to his. Oh yes, and that I would never share it if he had a problem with my doing so…” Removing photographs of children after they are posted online is too late because people have seen them and may or may not have copies of them.

When Lynda Elstad was further pressed about whether she had permission she stated the father was aware of the photograph and she had sent a copy to his official Twitter account. The tweet and attached photograph were not responded to by the father and only received one like. Other fans also believed the father was aware because of her actions on Twitter. However, sending tweets to official accounts is not permission.

I am wondering how the father was aware of the photograph when the post only received one favourite and he did not acknowledge it himself either through a favourite or a response. In fact he has not responded to Lynda Elstad and her thousands of tweets, photographs and videos in nearly three years. Twitter has a mute button in which account holders can send and receive tweets however, they will not appear in the muter’s timeline or notifications. There is a possibility she could be on mute. The father has stated on numerous occasions on social media that he does not have time to keep tract of what happens on fan pages.

So when pressured Lynda Elstad couldn’t say outright she had the father’s approval. Lynda Elstad went on to imply she had contact with the father outside of social media and sees him at private events where she does not take photographs and videos. “If you think the only place people communicate with one another is via social media, then that is an opinion to which you are entitled.” It is also not the first time she has implied she has a relationship of sorts and permission to take photographs and videos but when pushed further has not be able to clarify or produce evidence.

When further pressed Lynda Elstad was not willing to admit that she had permission to take photographs and videos and argued that her publishing photographs of another person’s child on social media are not other fan’s concern which of course it is. From my past experiences in this fandom Lynda Elstad does not take too kindly to any kind of criticism concerning either her behaviour at concerts taking photographs and videos and distributing them via social media.

There is an element of the fandom that ignores or supports Lynda Elstad’s concert going conduct regardless of the impact on those celebrities she continues to harass with her stalking and camera. The Facebook post attracted 71 likes or people approving her posting a photograph of the child taken without the parent’s or child’s permission. However, many of those who posted the likes also have Twitter accounts that follow the father but not one of them liked the photograph. There is evidence to support that belonging to this group is more important to the fans and they would rather not rock the fandom or page boat.

The fact that so many fans liked the photograph on Facebook raises serious concerns about the participation of adults on social media and their lack of knowledge of the consequences of their actions of posting photographs and videos of their own children and other people’s children online have now and in the future. The administrator of the page Helen Reynolds approved the posting of the photograph although she objected to the discussion and closed the comments sections. The administrator is a teacher in the education system in the United States. Educators and those people who work with children in most countries need permission from the parents or care givers to publish photographs of children as they realise the seriousness of posting photographs online. I am wondering why a person who is a teacher does not see this here.

Lynda Elstad believes her rights to post and publish photographs of other people’s children are the same as the parents which of course they are not. The only people who should post photographs of children are the parents or caregivers and they should be extremely careful about what they post. People should ask the parents or caregivers out of respect. Lynda Elstad has no place in creating a digital identity for a child that is not her own and is not related too in any capacity.

Lynda Elstad supported her right to post photographs and videos because the father had done a video for a charity with the child. The only difference is that the father would have asked the child’s permission and the child agreed. The father would also have control over the content. Lynda Elstad took and posted photographs which the mother, father and child did not agree too. The parents of the child rarely publish photographs online of their child and are extremely private people. When the father does they are done within recommended guidelines provided by experts for putting photographs of children online for example, not showing the face of the child which protects their privacy.

When researching articles about the impact of posting photographs of children online I found lots articles from reliable sources from Australia that give those posting photographs of children online something to think about. I have included a few quotes here for those interested in reading more about this topic and digital etiquette around children. I am sure there is similar research and articles that can be found for the United State and Canada.

“Should You Post Photos of Your Child On Social Media? And when does ‘sharenting’ do too far?” by Emily Blatchford in the HuffPost Australia 30 August, 2017.

“…Because the social media culture we’re currently living in is still so new, we don’t really have any idea if there are any long term implications for our children and if so what they will even be…

Ultimately the decision of whether or not to share photos of your children on social media is up to you, and of course there are many parents (and children) who don’t have a problem with it at all…

If your child is old enough, make sure you have permission. And if they aren’t old enough make sure the father or anyone else involved gives you consent…

“If you still want to stay mainstream, consider changing your privacy settings so only family and friends can access your account, and refrain from tagging your location or giving away personal information. You may also choose to share photos of your children, but not ones that reveal their faces…”

“Social Media: Think again before you post those pics of your kids.” By Joanne Orlando from www.abc.net.au published 27 December, 2016.

“…Posting embarrassing photos of others on Facebook without consent is definitely tricky territory, but what constitutes embarrassing is slightly different for everyone, which makes this new issue even more of a minefield…

Recent research from the University of Michigan asked children and parents to describe the rules they thought families should follow related to technology…

Many kids said parents should not post without asking them…

Asking your children’s consent is also part of the issue and part of the solution…

Asking if the child likes the photos of them and whether you can put it up online can be a very quick and respectful conversation. It also sets up a great approach to you kids understanding of digital etiquette…

“Tinder, Facebook images of children putting them at risk, authorities warn.” By Malcolm Sutton published www.abcnet.com.au on 29 December, 2016.

“… The Human Rights Commission is responsible for protecting child privacy rights in Australia – guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Australian Law Reform Commission released a report called Children, Young People an Attitudes to Privacy, which looked at whether the rights of young people were adequately protected…

The report found the public posting of non-sexual photographs of children could have serious implications for them and lead to consequences that included embarrassment, ridicule, bullying and invasion of privacy.

Russell Crowe, Alan Doyle And The Indoor Garden Party (2017)...A change of plans.

On the 17 September 2017 Russell Crowe announced on his official Twitter page that Indoor Garden Party regular Samantha Barks was unable to attend the scheduled shows in London, Leeds and Dublin. She was being replaced by Irish singer and musician Lorraine O'Reilly. 

Although Samantha, the rest of the cast of the Indoor Garden Party and the fans are disappointed they were all not going to be together, I am very excited about following the traditional media and social media stories of Lorraine O’Reilly’s journey through this project.

Russell stated on his official Twitter account he had met Lorraine O’Reilly last year after he was invited to sing a duet with her on a soon to be released album by the Irish group Bible Code Sunday.

In a recent newspaper article circulated on social media titled ‘The Accidental Album’ published in the Anglo Celtic newspaper on the 23 September, 2017 by Fiona O’Brien, Bible Code Sunday talk about the creation of their new album ‘New Hazardous Design’ and recording with a variety of artists and musicians including Russell Crowe.

“We decided to invite artists we had previously worked with and musical friends to contribute to the album, to add something unique to the project”.

“Russell Crowe had been in touch with the band ever since our song Cinderella Man became a social media attachment to his movie of the same name. Chance meetings at an Elvis Costello gig where he was a guest singer and again on the BBC One Show where he and the band were guests cemented the friendship.”

“When we asked him if he would like to perform on the album, he simply said yes. We are delighted to have him on board and his duet with Lorraine O’Reilly truly is one of the highlights of the album. It is a really personal song to Ronan writing about the death of his parents but when he heard it with Russell it really did it justice and Ronan was happy to pass it over.”

The album will be released on the 29 September, 2017. 

I have included a photograph of Russell Crowe and the band. The photograph is from the official Twitter page of The Irish World. No copyright infringement intended. 

In another article titled “Lorraine’s got something to Crowe about!” by Seamus Enright was published on the 22 September, 2017 in the Anglo-Celt and was circulated on social media describes how Lorraine O’Reilly recorded her song for the album and her inclusion in the Indoor Garden Parties. The article was edited for copyright reasons.

I have also included a copy of the new poster advertising Lorraine O’Reilly’s inclusion in the Indoor Garden Parties. The poster is from the official Twitter account of Russell Crowe. No copyright infringement intended.

Lorraine’s got something to Crowe about! Published on 22nd September, 2017 by Seamus Enright in the Anglo Celtic.

“A Cavan singer-songwriter has recorded a duet with Hollywood star Russell Crowe and is now set to tour alongside the Gladiator star.

Lorraine O'Reilly has been added to the billing on the UK and Irish tour of the renowned actor and musician's 'Indoor Garden Party' concert.

“Absolutely excited, over the moon" is how Lorraine described feeling ahead of rehearsals with her fellow stars before setting off on a multi-venue tour taking in London’s Union Chapel (September 28), Leeds City Varieties Music Hall (September 29), and Dublin's Olympia Theatre on October 1.

The remarkable turn of events for the Kildallan-native arose out of her involvement with UK-based Celtic folk rock band BibleCode Sundays, of whom the vocalist/guitarist is Ronan MacManus, brother of Elvis Costello.

“I recorded with them a couple of years ago and I worked with Ronan on a duet he had written about his parents passing away. The long-and-short is, it was suppose to be on one of their albums but never made it, and it kind of fell by the wayside,” explains Lorraine who has been living and working in England for seven years.

“But last year [Ronan] decided to resurrect the song again, with a bit of a revamp, and a couple of months later we arranged to go to studio. It was then I got a call from him to say Russell Crowe was going to now sing on the duet. Obviously it was something that came as a surprise.”

Lorraine met with Russell in person last March when the star invited his fellow musicians to dinner at London’s Dorchester. “We ended up having a lovely evening, and we kept in contact since.”

Her addition to the list of prestigious ‘Garden Party’ acts came after Russell messaged Lorraine notifying her Samantha Barks (Les Misérables) was no longer on the billing, and asking if the Cavan woman might now fill her shoes.

“I was shocked, speechless is an understatement, but yeah, we’ve been in regular contact since and it’s all very exciting. He’s arriving over to the UK and we’ll be starting rehearsals soon, touring Ireland and the UK.

“It’s scarily real now after Russell tweeted a photo of the concert poster and my name is right there on it,” says Lorraine.”

Cory Tetford And Friends…The Rooms and Crush in Newfoundland.

Cory Tetford @corytetford What an absolute honour to play @TheRooms_NL last night. Just a beautiful bunch to play for! @ChrisLeDrew moved me to tears with his talent! 18 Aug 2017.

Chris LeDrew Cory the honour was mine bud…you slayed it big time…let’s tour the world :) 18 August 2017.

During some down time from Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies, Cory Tetford played two concerts at home in St. John’s, Newfoundland with friends and fellow musicians Chris LeDrew and Paul Lamb. From the social media posts I read both the musicians and fans who  went to these concerts had a fabulous time. 

The first concert was at The Rooms in St. John’s on 17 August, 2017 with fellow musician Chris LeDrew. Some nice photographs and few bootlegged videos were circulated of Cory and Chris performing against a spectacular background of the St. John’s harbour. There was also a great short video taken and circulated on a Facebook page by The Rooms which I really enjoyed. I have enclosed a copy of a screenshot of the post from Facebook. The video was still available at the time of the publishing of this post.   

Cory Tetford @corytetford Can’t wait to play some Crush tunes at Iceberg Alley with @paullambmusic @krismacdrum and #ronaldhynes on the 17th. Rehearsals are awesome! 6 September, 2017.

Paul Lamb @paullambmusic Agreed. Can’t wait. 7 September, 2017. 

Cory Tetford @corytetford So much fun!! @paullambmusic let’s do it again soon!!! 19 September, 2017.

Cory Tetford’s second concert was a reunion with his former band Crush at the Iceberg Gallery Concerts series on September 17, 2017 in St. John’s. Again there were some nice photographs and a couple of short bootleg videos made and circulated through official sources. I have circulated a copy of one of the bootleg videos on my Google + page for those fans interested. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 







Prior to the concert Cory Tetford and his fellow friend and musician Paul Lamb gave an interview with the Newfoundland Herald about their Crush reunion and what makes a successful band like Crush go their separate ways. 

The full interview has been edited for copyright reasons and can be found online. No copyright infringement intended. 

Music Spotlight Crush by Dillion Collins 21 September, 2017 in the Newfoundland Herald.

“Hit-makers of the early millennium, Cory Tetford and Paul Lamb give the fans what they want, reuniting after 12 years as Crush.

King For A Day. Bad Enough. Justified. Each of these were radio hits for Newfoundland rock duo Crush during the early to mid 2000s. Their potentially game-changing album Face in the Crowd propelled the pairing of Cory Tetford and Paul Lamb to must-watch prospect status and a national breakout seemed inevitable as the decade neared the halfway mark.  Then, quietly and almost without warning, Crush vanished. Sure, Tetford and Lamb have never ceased to perform – both are tireless and well-travelled artisans – but the machine that had many calling the duo the next breakout act of Newfoundland and Labrador had all but been shuttered.

Some 12 years later and Tetford and Lamb are set to reunite under the Crush banner for the Iceberg Alley Performance Tent on September 17. In their first interview together with The Herald in over a decade, Tetford keenly recalls the final time Crush performed – October 16, 2004, closing out their Arts and Culture Centre Tour in St. John’s. Safe to say that this reunion has been a long time coming.

“Lambey and I had been talking about this for quite some time. Literally over the last bunch of years we’ve been saying ok, let’s do this,” Tetford began. “We still play together a fair amount. Whenever I’m home we’re playing together, but it’s just me and him with our acoustic guitars. We haven’t gone out and toured and played a Crush show, but we still play together, we’re still best buds. We just haven’t been able to put a Crush show together until now. We’ve been talking about this for at least five or seven years.”

“Even though we’re not an active band playing or haven’t put an album out in a long, long time, we both felt there’s probably enough of a fan base out there where we could at least play once a year, maybe in St. John’s and Halifax and do a show and have it be successful.”…

…Have there been previous talks, previous points where Crush have been on the brink of reformation? Both say yes to that claim, though there has been apprehension that the Crush brand would be greeted with crickets. That thought can largely be dispelled now thanks to early rabid anticipation for the reunion showcase, though the two men front and center on stage that night will be, arguably, the most excited of the bunch.

“I know that Paul and I have played together better now than we ever have. We’re more mature, we listen to each other, have played with each other for 24 years. We’re better, individually, I do believe. I mean that by after you get experience you find your voice more and we found our voice. Together I think we sound even greater, our harmonies are tighter,” Tetford says. “There will be a lot of smiles because we’re playing these songs that were written years ago when we were younger men and we’re now playing them with a little more maturity. I think it will be more satisfying for me and Paul.”

Alan Doyle And 'A Newfoundlander In Canada'...The story of the book from SM.

Alan Doyle has been sharing the story of his new book 'A Newfoundlander in Canada' via his official social media sites including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. 

I have keep a copy of what I think are some of the most significant posts from his official Twitter account from early 2016 and the initial writing of the book to the eventual publishing and book tour in 2017. 

I have written another post called 'Alan Doyle And A Newfoundlander in Canada...A press release for the new book' in April of 2017 about the press release. 

The screenshots are from the official Twitter account of @alanthomasdoyle. No copyright infringement intended. 

Russell Crowe And An IGP Competition In Australia...

I guess it was only a matter of time before I was blocked by Russell Crowe…but I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that we Aussies had been done over again. And this time it was the Russell Crowe IGP competition and a trip to Ireland.

Firstly, I don’t live in New South Wales so I couldn’t enter the competition. And if I was really keen I would have put my foot to the ground and saved my money for a trip to London. As I am at university and have an exam at the end of October I didn’t want to jeopardize my unit grades and course by going off travelling.

Secondly I don’t know much about radio competitions as I don’t listen to the radio. After looking at the conditions of the competition the person had to state why they were a Russell Crowe fan and would be required to answer a series of questions. The last person standing was the winner. I don’t have a problem with the actual winner or last girl standing. But I do have a problem with a second prize been given away which was due to a bungle and not part of the competition.

The competition bungle involved CGee (I won’t use her name but if you are a follower of Russell Crowe’s on Twitter you will know who she is) a long term Russell Crowe fan listening in the United States who took it upon herself to contact the alleged winner on his Twitter account and congratulate him that he had won the competition. The fan responded on his Twitter account that he was looking forward to having a drink with Rusty. Most fans who know Russell Crowe know he doesn’t like being called Rusty. To the best of my knowledge the competition was for an airline ticket, concert tickets and $1000 spending money. There was nothing about a meet and greet. The CGee tweet was picked up by Russell Crowe and circulated to his 2.6 million + followers. Russell Crowe asked the radio station to verify the winner via Twitter.

As it turned out the wrong winner had been declared. CGee apologised and the radio announcers responded ‘no worries’. The tweets were then deleted. Russell Crowe jumped in and awarded another prize to the runner up. CGee is a personal friend of Russell Crowe’s, followed by him on Twitter and an international member of his rugby league club South Sydney. CGee’s husband was/is head of the Reuters news agency in New York City.

CGee despite her ‘mistake’ was supported by Russell Crowe on his Twitter site on Saturday morning by retweeting one of her posts. Me on the other hand was blocked by Russell Crowe after I had raised questions about the competition which to me seemed a little too well organised for that early in the morning. Of course I am not the only person recently to find themselves blocked about stuff on the IGP albums and videos. A fan was blocked when she raised questions that one of the videos for his album for a song called ‘Fight Another Day’ only contained images of males doing extreme sports. She tweeted Russell Crowe videos of females doing extreme sports and was blocked. A fair enough comment that the video was perhaps sexist in only containing males.

Back to the competition. The two final contestants had managed to negotiate Sydney peak hour traffic to be in the radio studio to answer the final questions well before their day jobs I was tweeted on Twitter when I raised a few concerns. By 10 am a photo was circulated with the announcer Whippa and the two winners. The male contestant a young good looking guy in his 20’s had on an AFL jersey from the club Essendon. (Not a middle aged housewife or obese 20 something female or a young guy in a suit on the way to the office). Essendon were playing the Sydney Swans in a finals match in Sydney on that Saturday on the 9 September, 2017. For those of you who are not Australian or live in Australia Fitzy the other radio announcer is an ex-AFL player.

The photo was retweeted by Russell Crowe on Twitter to his 2.6 million + followers. The photo placed the male in the Essendon jersey at the centre of the photo while the young female who was the actual winner was on the left and nearly pushed out of the photo. The competition was for the winner of a competition for Russell Crowe fans not an AFL promotion.

Russell Crowe knows well the value of displaying his South Sydney rugby league club merchandise at important photo opportunities around the world. It is well documented Russell Crowe gives his famous friends and celebrities merchandise to wear to promote his South Sydney Rugby League club. Russell Crowe also wears the merchandise on a regular basis himself.

Russell Crowe is also famous for doing deals that promote himself, his movies and his rugby club through the use of merchandise. In another deal I would like to allege the singer Bon Jovi wore a South Sydney jersey at a press conference in Australia. During the same year Russell tweeted his love for the NFL team the New York Jets on his official Twitter account reaching thousands of fans. Bon Jovi was friends with the owner of the New York Jets and played at their home stadium in New York City. There is a list as long as your arm of the deals Russell Crowe has been involved in.

After a brief read of the completion guidelines offered by Nova 96.7 in Sydney I found two alleged breaches. The first being that for a competition of skill chance plays no part in determining the winner and each valid entry was to be individually judged (by the representative of the promoter) based on the judging criteria of the promoter…and the second ‘that the terms on the condition that their entry and its use by the Promoter will not be in breach of any third property intellectual property rights’.

The second winner won a prize based on chance and that was a bungle and was therefore not entitled to a prize which I believe was deliberate. I would also like to allege that wearing an AFL jersey by the contestant may be in breach of the intellectual property rights unless it had been negotiated before the competition. The photo of the contestant in the AFL jersey was spread around the world on social media and would have been a lot of free and good publicity in particular for a club like Essendon who has been plagued with drug allegations and now reaching the finals against Sydney. It would also open the radio station up to a series of other allegations if contestants were to wear clothing advertising.

I certainly hope the winner of the competition has a great time. To be honest if Russell Crowe hadn't blocked me I would have walked away. For me this isn’t the first time I have been blocked by Russell Crowe. Being Australian I just don’t like the nagging feeling I may have been conned. I certainly don’t have the gift of sucking up and keeping my mouth closed when I see something I don’t agree with. But then that is the great thing about being in Australia and being an Australian we speak up. If people can’t say things without someone being offended then it really isn’t Australia or a place I really want to be.