Tech Support to the Stars

Carl Bialik writes "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Prince, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Bon Jovi, and U2 all have used technical support when on the road, when their Wi-Fi or Xbox or Sidekick needs servicing. The Journal takes a look at the lives of the essential, if overlooked, members of the entourage, the support tech. Joshua Kapellen, of Best Buy's Geek Squad, has been on the road with U2 since 2004. From the article: 'Last March, lead singer Bono needed his Xbox connected while the band rehearsed in Canada. Mr. Kapellen got a call. He hooked up the contraption and a few minutes later was playing videogames with Bono. "It was one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me," says Mr. Kapellen.'"

Comments

Can somebody please explain...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why on earth anybody, anywhere, in the history of the world, would ever care enough about this to utter "mrh?", let alone write a news story about it?

In other news: celebs are human!
In other news: celebs take dumps!
In other news: celebs eat food!
In other news: celebs breath air!
In other news: celebs use tech support!

Re:Can somebody please explain...

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Yes, but celebs also usually take dumps on golden toilet seats, eat better food that you can afford, breath fresher air than you breathe in your normal non-rich neighborhood, and therefore it was logical that they have their personal technician whenever they want to plug something.

The point you missed is, the story is interesting because it turns out some celebs rely on the regular tech support channels the rest of us use / have to put up with.

Re:Can somebody please explain...

[K8Fan]

Maybe he was trying to hook an X-Box to an HDTV? He'd have to get the X-Box in HD resolution, make sure the HD set was configured correctly, make sure he had the right cables and adaptors, and was hooked to the right input. Even something as simple as a component input has two varients YPbPr and YBbCr. Or this could have been a European TV and he needed a SCART adaptor. Or the TV only had an HDMI input - or a VGA - or a DVI.

Whatever. This job can be complicated even for those of us who have been doing this since the 1970s.

What is the story?

[comp.sci]

I am sorry, but defining a few minutes with a celebrity as one of the best times in your life is just pathetic. Stop living off other peoples' lives. The tech support probably required more brains and talent than most celebrities have...
Some celebrities do good things, but most "ordinary" people do way more useful things. When is the last time you described spending time with someone like a doctor or nurse as an amazing time? To me, they are way more important people than any celebrity.

WTFC

[AlterTick]

He hooked up the contraption and a few minutes later was playing videogames with Bono. "It was one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me," says Mr. Kapellen.'"

Seriously, what's people's thing with celebrities? What, exactly, lends a higher level of "cooleness" to playing a video game with a celebrity? Is there something about the way an over-the-hill rocker says "bastard!" when you steal the ball in NBA 2K6 that's significantly better than the way your friends do? Is there something about being in the presence of giant egos that makes the mundane feel exceptional? I end up working for a lot of film and TV people at work and frankly, if it wasn't for the fact that they pay well (and reliably), I wouldn't work for most of them. In fact, we won't work for Nicholas Cage again because he's an annoying nutcase. Maybe it's just my proximity to them that lets me see what bratty, childish gasbags most of them are. Do people in "flyover country" really go this ga-ga over these folks?

Stars are easy

[joel8x]

I used to work at the studios for a major TV station in NYC and I'll tell you, the "talent" are easygoing and are easy to deal with. Its the over-eager assistants that will drive you insane. I believe that the people right under someone "important" (including people right under executives) make dealing with the "stars" a lot more headache-inducing than it needs to be.

Right...

[Comatose51]

Geek Squad, which was sold to Best Buy in 2002, now has nearly 12,000 employees. Technicians like Mr. Kapellen are paid about $32,000 a year, the industry average for computer technicians, according to the Association of Support Professionals.

"Let's face it, computer repairmen are at the bottom of the food chain," Mr. Stephens says, but these glamorous job opportunities "give hope to every geek out there."

Right... Any geek with an ounce of brain would realize that the slim chance of "glamor" does not justify the low pay. Let's pretend that 100 celebs go to the Geek Squad. The chances of being one of those servicing a celeb is still less than 1%. And how much is the chance of playing the XBox with Bono worth? No thanks. I'll take a 6 figure salary and no chance of working for a celeb. It's kind of sad when the coolest thing to happen to Kapellen is playing XBox with Bono. Are geeks that desperate for recognition and popularity?!? Sorry Mr. Stephens "these glamorous job opportunities" does not give this geek any hope. Working for a cool tech company or doing cool research might.

Re:*One of* the coolest things...

[0racle]

No its not. And this is not one of the coolest things.

This guy is at the beck and call of people to plug their consoles in, how is that glamorous or cool.

Misleading title?

[mj_sklar]

Am I the only one who read the title to this article and though this would be about space and tech support? I was thoroughly dissapointed when it turned out to be just about Bono having to call someone to plug in an X-Box...