a publicist's worst nightmare, well, maybe

Did anyone catch Paula Abdul on QVC last week? It was Friday, I believe, when she touted her wares on the shop-at-home-extravaganza channel and sounded like a complete lunatic. You have to check out the MSN video so you can watch her total and utter inability to complete thought. I wonder if her back pain medication is set at too a high a dosage. Normal people can find their nouns most of the time. At any rate, she does seem like she is struggling with something, and I hope she gets some help.

However, if she does just enjoy acting ridiculous, why not go for cooky or eccentric rather than substance abusive? To me, that doesn't seem like the image a major celebrity should shoot for. I've heard the conspiracy theory that the American Idol producers want Paula to act like this to fuel the rumor mill and drive up ratings. Yeah, maybe, but honestly you can't fake crazy like that and make it so consistent.

Did you catch the quote by her PR rep (Howard Bragman in case you were wondering), "Paula had a great time and sold a lot of beautiful merchandise." Way to evade the question Howard. But honestly, I think I might have done the same thing. If she is struggling with substance abuse, then it's her rep's job to protect her privacy and personal medical information. As a PR rep you also need to control when and how the message is released about your client's substance abuse problem and recovery if he or she is going through that. There's a very delicate way that information like that needs to be handled.

At the same time, how do you reign in the crazy? I mean, it's your job to look out for your client's image. You can't be with them every second of the day when they're out and about having contact with the other humans. And those seem to be the times when they cause the most damage.

This is why I could never be a personal PR rep. I can't deal with the crazy. I would lose my mind trying to come up with a way to fix their weird problems. My first reaction would be something along the lines of, "Why again am I digging you out of this hole that you dug for yourself? The fact that it's my job is no longer a good enough reason." It's not to say that I don't have sympathy, it's just celebrities do some really stupid things sometimes. If Britney Spears hasn't run her rep off yet, he or she must have gone into voluntary hiding by now.

Someone has to be there to put them back together, and I applaud people who have the sanity to do it for a living. Besides, no celebrity would want me to be their rep because I would never let them leave the house. That's how I would reign in the crazy.

jimmy buffet- i should get into music pr

I went to the Jimmy Buffet concert last Wednesday, and it was amazing!!! As a lifelong Parrothead, I was ecstatic to finally get to see Jimmy live! It made me think that I should really consider a career in concert promotions. I think there could be some exciting perks associated with a musical PR career.

I must confess that I know absolutely nothing about music PR, but I really would like to find out more information. I'm sure some of the disadvantages include really long, crazy hours and a million little things to get done to contribute to the big main event. At the same time, I bet you can get some pretty fabulous tickets to some pretty incredible shows.

This is one of the things that I love most about PR- all the niches. There really is something for everyone. You can work in the music industry, you can do sports PR, and even health care to name a few. I know so many practitioners who are attracted to the health care field because they feel like they get to serve others and improve the quality of other's lives while doing something they love.

Of course there's also the fashion industry, a love of mine, where I bet a supply closet lurks filled with amazing product samples (or at least I dream it does). We can't overlook government and corporate PR as well, however droll they seem to me. I prefer agency world, but I understand the appeal of corporate PR. You can really put your heart and soul into the company and feel like you are making a difference in something you believe in. I think that same sentiment applies to nonprofits public relations as well.

With all that in mind, I assembled a quick list of few blogs I found interesting in some fields. Hopefully you will find them insightful as well.

For sports PR: Sport's PR and Marketing Ramblings from Joshua Milne and Karen's Public Relations Blog
For fashion: PR Couture
For nonprofit: NonprofitPR.com