Monday, December 11, 2017

The French Idol Frenzy

Saturday, France bid farewell to Johnny Hallyday, its biggest rock star ever, with an extravagant funeral procession down the Champs-Elysees, a presidential tribute and a televised church ceremony filled with the who's who of France.

This kind of honor usually reserved for heads of state or literary giants like Victor Hugo, must say a lot about French culture that I can't quite understand.

To me, this behavior is in part childish, nostalgic and might have something to do with a very generous definition of what constitutes renown.

Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra or even John Lennon never reached that level of mass-hysteria in America!

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