http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=145 ... rnd=672756


This completely blows my mind. What sort of parent thinks this sort of mentality is healthy and actually encourages it by bribing their daughter with a trip to Omaha.
Plus, what sort of teenager would want to come to Omaha unless they live in Iowa or a hick town in western Nebraska. The places in fairly cool for being in the middle of the heartland, but not worth a $6,500 trip.
If she is a real fan, she'd know he is kicking it in NYC these days anyways.

Registration required.

Post story here, then, please.

i'd listen to Bright Eyes before i'd register for 'Omaha.com'. Suffice to say, i'm not reading this.

Big O is big draw to grade-A Oberst fan

BY NIZ PROSKOCIL



WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Hey, parents, want to motivate your kids to get good grades?


Michelle Hope

Promise to take them to Omaha.

At the start of the school year, 16-year-old Michelle Hope of Lake Worth, Fla., made a deal with her mom, Dawn. If she got A's in honors English and history, would Mom take her to Omaha?

Dawn agreed, thinking the chances were slim.

Michelle earned the A's, all right.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Dawn said this week during a three-day trip to Nebraska's largest city.

So why would a teenage girl leave the beaches of sunny south Florida for the Big O?


Conor Oberst

Because it's the hometown of another Big O - indie-rock superstar Conor Oberst.

Before flying back to Florida, Dawn and Michelle cruised around town in a silver limousine, visiting places where Conor has been: Creighton Prep; his childhood home, where his parents still live; Sokol Auditorium and a random stretch of Saddle Creek Road. At each stop, Michelle had the driver pull over so she could take pictures.

They went to the Antiquarium, an Old Market bookstore and record shop, where Michelle spent $200 on Bright Eyes records. She already owns the CDs but wanted the vinyl versions. She was thrilled to learn from an employee that Conor bought his first record player at the shop.

They went to Drastic Plastic, another Old Market music store, where Michelle bought five Bright Eyes T-shirts. It didn't matter that she already owns the same shirts. She wanted the ones from Omaha "because they're from his hometown," said Michelle, who wears an "I (heart) Conor Oberst" bracelet around her wrist. From her neck hangs a locket with a picture of - you guessed it - Conor.

OK, by now you might think Michelle is a little obsessed, maybe a little too into Conor. But the soft-spoken teen says she's not a stalker. She's simply a fan.

Other Conor groupies have made the pilgrimage to Omaha, where they wind up on the doorstep of his parents, hoping to catch a glimpse of the 25-year-old. He now spends most of his time in New York when he's not touring the world with his band, Bright Eyes.

It's one thing for out-of-town fans to come to Omaha for a Bright Eyes show or to hunt down the headquarters of Saddle Creek Records while passing through, but it's another to travel thousands of miles specifically to see Conor's hometown, said Jason Kulbel of Saddle Creek Records.

"It's a little weird that they would come this far," he said.

Michelle's mom - who allowed her daughter a budget of $6,500 for the trip - said she would have liked to have seen some of the city's more notable attractions, like the Henry Doorly Zoo, but she's happy that her daughter had such a blast in Omaha.

"I can't even get her to see the big dome," Dawn said, referring to the zoo's desert attraction. "She's only into Conor country."

Sorry, but I see nothing wrong with this. "What sort of parents thinks this sort of mentality is healthy?" The kind who are willing to encourage a silly teenage girl crush for the artist she likes. Adults do it all the time for the bands/artists they like (ie, Elvis fans who pilgrimage to Graceland every year, Beatles fans who go to Liverpool, etc). 'Sides, the mom made a promise and she kept it.

My mom loved me so much that she took me to Las Vegas to see my teen heartthrob, Donny Osmond, when I was a little kid. She even managed to score us backstage access to meet him. Another time, she took me to meet the Bay City Rollers (yet other heartthrobs) at an instore. I thought she was aces for doing that for me and encouraging my stupid little crushes.

Agree with Aural...i don't see the problem here at all. It's great that her parents are encouraging her.

Oh, and this thread should be filed under "who the fuck cares".

The fact that a statement like this didn't come up earlier than the fifth reply in this thread baffles me.

Yeah I don't see a problem with this either. And the kid is buying vinyl so she can't be all bad, even if it is Bright Eyes.

If spending is 6 grand is worth all A's in English for you kid, than knock yourself out, but I would never do it. I'm all for rewarding your kid, but I'm far too cheap for all that nonsense.

I see something wrong with a kid spending $200 of her parents' money on albums she already owns, in addition to the money spent on t-shirts she already owns.

$6500?

I don't think that I had earned / spent $6500 in my life until I was 18 or 19.

Yeah, the money amount seems kinda odd. If yer spending 6500 bucks on a trip to friggin' Omaha, I think it's safe to say yer not exactly "thrifty" . Shit, I could probably live for a year in Omaha for 6500 bucks.

Other than that, you know, I think it's goofy but harmless.

I am all for rewarding your kids for great academic achievement, but like Oldbulee, I could never fathom spending that much on my kid. I would rather throw that $6500 into a college fund or automobile for my child. I had to raise money to go on our Close-Up Club trip to Washington D.C. in high school, so it seems a bit foreign to me to throw this sort of money away for a trip to Omaha. To me, I would have been it would have made more sense to fork out that cash to see a concert rather than drive around Omaha and buy vinyl and t-shirts.
I think you could probably live well in Omaha for about six months on that amount without working.

I don't really have a problem with it either. Some kids just need a bit of motivation.

Also it's strange to see a reference to Drastic Plastic that made it to this board. That's where I bought nearly all of my punk/alternative records, cassettes, and CDs when I was in high school.

$6500?? are you shitting me? did they fucking take a cab there or something? For $6500 I would've bounty-hunted Conor into their living room.

That brought a good laugh to start my work day.