Chapter 9

OK, since it's been a while since I posted the last chapter, let me recap a bit...and expand on a few things. I went back to some of my old files of saved posts and found some interesting things....

I started the original "Josh Groban Uncensored Corner Pub" in October, 2005, using Delphi Forums, and it was a wild and turbulent ride from the start. I was determined not to censor or ban anyone-- even my enemies who constantly came to my forum to attack what was being said. Those troublemakers were bad enough, but even more troubling were the constant attempts to get the Delphi company to delete posts in my forum-- and to even get my forum shut down. It seems a lot of people didn't want the truth to be told: about the frequent fan complaints at FOJG and Josh's message board, about fan stories of unpleasant experiences with Josh's girlfriend January Jones, with his management personnel, his charity, and his record company. All "negative posts" containing such things were deleted by the mods on Josh's boards, but they were NOT deleted in the Pub. Apparently that didn't settle too well with Josh's "people" and those fans who made it their business to support them and "report" to them about what the "bad fans" were doing. My board was constantly watched for Delphi Terms of Service violations, and Walt of Delphi was apparently too lazy to check out the legitimacy of the complaints. He just swooped into my forum and deleted without warning. I don't know the identity of most of the members who filed the complaints, because they never revealed who they were, but in March of 2006, I did learn the identity of  "cyrse (Scooby)": Lynne Malone of Josh's management team. (For the explanation of how I found that out, see the preceeeding chapter).

One of the last photos of Josh and January together in a magazine was in February of 2006 in US Weekly. Here is an exchange in the Pub right after that photo came out. (I have edited out posts not related to the photo, and taken out other non-related sentences, for the sake of brevity):

From: pillow_lady    2/16/2006 1:27 am
Breaking news...
In US Weekly there is a photo of Josh and January on page 42. The caption says how they were going window shopping on Rodeo Drive after having lunch at the Farm of Beverly Hills on Feb. 8th.
I guess she's picking out more Cr&p for him to buy for her.........

From: karen (marais4)  2/16/2006 10:48 am
To: pillow_lady

That magazine is nothing but trash with color photos.
I'd be embarrassed to be in it and wouldn't believe what they print. JMHO

From: pillow_lady    2/16/2006 11:05 am
To: karen (marais4) 

...would a reporter or photographer even RECOGNIZE Josh and January as celebrities if they saw them?? I seriously doubt it..especially if Josh was wearing his typical baseball hat and grunge...SO, this whole thing just STINKS....... possibly this was Josh and January's PR people's "feed" to US Weekly.....maybe they sent it to them in an email..........

From: PuppyAgain  2/16/2006 12:14 pm
To: pillow_lady

So why do you say it stinks?  what is wrong with a photo of Josh and January going out to get lunch and the window shopping?  I don't understand, but you seem to have a problem with the picture.

From: pillow_lady    2/16/2006 12:21 pm
To: PuppyAgain 
 It stinks because it seems to me like a PLANNED PR thing, not just a chance thing...just more SPIN not close to reality...but I COULD BE WRONG of course.....

From: PuppyAgain  2/16/2006 1:13 pm
To: pillow_lady 
 I haven't seen it.  what makes it seem like a planned PR thing?
   
From: pillow_lady    2/16/2006 5:27 pm
To: PuppyAgain 
 Well, I haven't seen it either, but if it is like the OTHER 300 photos of them together, it is just another shot of them smiling and looking at the camera (i.e. posing like they always have)....I have never seen a celebrity couple show SO little love and affection between each other in photos in my whole life....(take a look at other couples in wireimage.com....)
He might as well be posing with his grandmother...He's shown more affection towards Randy Jackson of American Idol and Broadway legend Barbara Cook than his so-called "girlfriend"....I just think it's VERY odd...
Anyone want to bet $10 with me? That this new photo doesn't show them holding each other close or smiling at each other?? (Holding hands or putting his arm loosely around her waist doesn't count....)
  
From: Ines_Emrys  2/16/2006 5:53 pm
To: pillow_lady 
To me the least affectionate couple award would have to go to Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes... they look like the acting the full 9 robotic yards.
January and Josh look like friends, not extremely affectionate but enough to be on the "pals" level.

From: PuppyAgain  2/17/2006 3:13 pm
To: RachelG27
They look pretty relaxed and natural to me.

From: pillow_lady    2/17/2006 7:16 pm
To: PuppyAgain 

Ping posted it over at joshgroban.com....I win the $10........

From: Scooby (cyrse)  3/8/2006 4:02 pm
To: pillow_lady 
 I dont think he would nustle his fingers underneath his grandma's shirt and touch her bare skin like that!

From: Scooby (cyrse)  3/8/2006 4:05 pm
To: Ines_Emrys 
I agree, Tom and Katie are PR masters at the fake smiles. Josh and January are acting like a normal couple that have to stand there like dorks every time a photographer wants a posed picture. 

Hmmm.... so Lynne Malone came to my forum and pointed out that they are "acting like a normal couple"...... Well, OK, but just a couple of months later they split up. It didn't hit the "news" until June of 2006 when this video came out:
TMZ VIDEO  .... click on the words "star packed night at Hyde" to see the video.

When I posted the link to that video in the Pub on June 8th, Lynne Malone posted this to me: 

From: Scooby (cyrse)  Jun-8 6:31 pm
To: pillow_lady

did you watch that clip?
wow, he said that he and january are split up for the moment.
now he can date you!

Now keep in mind that nobody but me knew the identity of "Scooby". I kept my mouth shut, but her post that day bothered me. Because I have absolutely NO interest whatsoever in "dating" Josh-- he's younger than my own daughter! It was very disturbing to me that Lynne would even say that in jest....and I suppose one reason I reacted that way is because so many people had screamed at me that I was "jealous" of JJ , when I criticized her, and old ladies getting hot flashes over Josh on his message board didn't help things. Yes, I admire Josh's physical beauty, as do almost ALL of Josh's fans. But I also admire the physical beauty of Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, and Roger Moore. That doesn't mean I want to DATE any of those men! Sheesh...These are the reasons I am a fan of Josh Groban: his talent, his voice, his beautiful spirit, his humbleness, his kindness and his intelligence-- mixed in with a bit of mystery! His beauty and sexiness are added bonuses that make good decorations and conversation pieces for a forum like this....lol. Anyway, after Lynne made that "dating" comment to me, it became apparent that Josh's "people" may have viewed me as some creepy stalker who imagined myself dating Josh someday, and so that's why I criticized January. My God, nothing could be further from the truth!! All I could do going forward is to constantly state my reasons for being a fan and running a forum for Josh, when questioned about that, and have hope that Josh and his family and others around him would understand my true motivations someday.

OK, now on to the next controversy in the summer of 2006: the Lunch with Lindy "situation"... or should I say fiasco. Keep in mind my pillows had been banned from Josh's charity, by Lindy, and I had also been banned from FOJG ...by Lindy. I had the strong opinion that Lindy shouldn't be involving herself with Josh's fans in any way-- what a way to brew many problems! But that's her business. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist being naughty again when the auction items were announced and "Lunch with Lindy" was in the list. So bad Louise started a thread as follows:

Announcing a NEW FUND DRIVE: Send Louise to “Lunch with Lindy”!!!
 
Here's a great opportunity for all my loyal JGPub'ers!!!
 
Send your hard-earned dollars to ME, and I will bid and bid and bid until I win the "Lunch with Lindy" in the current GFC Auction. Don't worry if you have to take money out of your retirement account or your kid's college fund, because after all, what could be more important than getting a chance to get YOUR question answered by the Mom of your favorite singer!! (And the money will go for a great cause, too!)
 
Here's how this will work: For every $100 you send me, I will ask Lindy one of YOUR questions! Just think….here's your chance to get answers from Lindy to all those burning questions you have, such as:
 
1) Is Josh going to wear even tighter jeans on the new tour?
2) Is it true that you have a t-shirt that reads: "The Pillow Lady Sucks"?
3) I heard a rumor that Josh called up the folks at Entertainment Weekly and told them: "Screw you a-holes". Is this true?
4) How many times did JJ call you up and ask for Wedding Planning tips?
5) Which Grobanite makes you want to throw up the most?
6) Where does Josh get his hair cut, and is it OK for his fans to camp out there so they can collect his hair clippings to sell on EBay?
7) Is it true that you had that JJ Nip photo hanging over your fireplace, and since they have broken up now, are you going to donate it to Good Will?
8) Rolling Stone magazine quoted Josh as saying: "It's a big F.U. to the American public". Did he really say that, and did you spank him when you found out?
9) Is it true that the caped rodent, arachnid, and small ape sent you a plaque with their photo on it and a caption that says: “The Board Police: Proud Protectors of Josh’s Feelings”?
10) How many times have you looked out your window and seen a car drive by filled with older ladies hanging their heads out the window screaming “We love you Jack and Lindy!”??
 
So dig deep into your pockets, get a second mortgage on your home, or sell that necklace Grandma gave you right before she died (come on, you didn’t really like it anyway, did you?), and send that money my way……and if you send me the most money, I’ll ask YOU to go with me!!
 
(By the way….in case you don’t realize it…..I’m joking about this….but if you have extra money laying around you don’t need, you can still send it to me...I have lots of school loans to pay off…hee hee hee…..)
 
When the auction started, on a whim I signed up and placed a couple of bids. Of course, I never intended to keep bidding on that. Things like that eventually sell for thousands of dollars and in this case, I think the winning bid was around $3000.00. And of course the bidding escalates mostly on the last day of the auction. I placed my bids at the beginning of the auction, knowing that I would never win. What happened next was .... ridiculous. I guess that's a good word for it. Journey and Karen (kmmord) were ALSO bidding on the lunch, and we all started joking around in the Pub about how funny it would be if we won. Somehow, some idiot out there somewhere actually thought we were SERIOUS, and that person started a "bidding group" to make sure none of us won. They started circulating an email asking for contributions from people to "block" the Pubbers in their "plan" to win the Lunch. This was, of course, completely unethical on their part-- it was essentially rigging the auction. I was livid, and of course, got extremely emotional in my posting, and all hell broke loose. Kmmord called me a psycho, Journey was chiming in as "Basic8", "Richard Simmons" and "rubberbaby66" came into the Pub blasting me, acusations of libel started flying everywhere, and I "ranted" (of course) in my defense, and others did too. It was basically just a really ugly and crazy situation. And there were even posts in the thread about Brandy posting photos of Josh's butt in FOJG.... LOL. Anyway, I can't even remember all the details. But thankfully, in the end, someone named "EllenP" ended up winning the lunch. Ellen came into the Pub and posted after she won (but before the lunch) and she sounded very nice. I never heard anything more about the luncheon.

By the summer of 2006 I was fed up with the censorship by Delphi and decided to move to my own website, independent of any forum company. This meant learning how to set up my own forum software, and do all the "technical" stuff myself: set-up, maintenance, etc. It was an interesting learning process, and I found great software by "Beehive" -- and it was free! In September, 2006 I successfully created the forum and started moving most of the threads from the old Delphi forum. I wanted to create a little more "friendly" atmosphere, so I decided to set up new rules and eliminate the word "uncensored" in the forum name. That was not because I wanted to censor, but every forum must have limits. I did not want to allow vulgarity or extreme attacks on fans, etc. I have never done that myself, and I hate to see that happen. Complaints, expressions of anger or outrage ARE allowed, but not senseless "verbal violence" that serves no purpose other than to cause emotional pain in another person. I DID want people to feel free to say what they wanted about issues, but I also wanted the Pub to be fun, informative and supportive of Josh and his career. On October 1, 2006, I officially opened the new "Josh Groban Corner Pub". I was estatic...I had my own forum....I was my own boss.... no more Walt!! And if people wanted to complain about posts in my forum, they would have to send complaints to ME!! It was a great feeling! It was also a VERY exciting time in Josh's world-- in November, 2006, he was releasing his third studio album...AWAKE!

Next chapter: more happenings in 2006"!!