Starstruck
Edward Hopper, Gas (1940)
I need to look up the definition, but in the meantime I’ll explain what happened to me. July 22, 2022, to be exact.
I first paid attention to MGK (Machine Gun Kelly) when his song “Rap Devil” dropped. For those uninitiated, the song was a rap diss against Eminem, and I still think MGK won.
Over the next several weeks and months, I went back through who MGK was, how long he’d been a rapper, and wondered out loud why I was even paying attention. In 2020 he dropped Tickets to My Downfall, followed by Mainstream Sellout in 2022, which were nostalgic bombs of pop/post/punk. Think blink-182. And the songs hit.
Every song I could sing, and every song I found meaning in. I felt youthful listening to the albums.
When people would come over, I’d pull up YouTube videos, beginning with “Rap Devil,” then showing MGK’s freestyle on Funk Flex, followed by the top songs across his albums. Some people liked it. Ashley, my wife, also fell for MGK as hard as I did. On our annual trip to Kennebunkport, every flight, car ride, Sonos at home, we only listened to MGK.
So when his concert came to Climate Pledge in 2022, we went.
I bought the VIP experience. Mind you, I knew the ticket package did not include a meet and greet, but there was no doubt in my mind that for that price he would at least make an appearance in the VIP area. I was so sure I told my chef friend, “Hey, I’m inviting MGK to the restaurant. Keep everything running. I’ll pay.”
My friend did.
The day of the concert, Ashley and I went early because we knew we had VIP and wanted the full experience. This was also our first concert post-COVID. We were pumped.
There at the concert, VIP had a bunch of MGK memorabilia from the tour, albums, etc. We recognized all of it. We met two guys who were best friends who kept saying MGK was coming. Soon everyone around us was saying MGK was coming.
Ashley and I kept our cool, though on the inside, if you could see me, I was nervous, excited, jittery even.
Then, through a curtain, MGK floated out, blunt in hand.
He said quietly to the fewer than 100 people in the room that he was saving his voice. Ashley and I definitely stuck out. I was wearing a blazer, and Ashley had on a cool leather dress-type outfit.
MGK treated the room like a track. He started slowly walking around.
Ashley and I kept getting closer and closer to him.
Note: MGK is 6'4".
So as he neared us, Ashley under his arm, me next to Ashley, we just looked up and DID NOT SAY a word.
We just circled the room with him.
Then, as quickly as he came, he disappeared through the curtain.
We never said a word. AKA, we never invited him to the restaurant. We just froze.
Less than an hour later, the concert started. We were nearly in the front row, belting out every single song, talking to the people around us.
Fast forward to our walk home. We talked about what had just happened.
Ashley said we got starstruck.
My chef friend asked, “Is he coming?”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him why he wasn’t, because I knew for a fact MGK would have. So I just said we didn’t ask him. Defeated.
Almost exactly since that day, we have almost never listened to MGK. Even now, when I try, I think back to that moment.
Fast forward to August 22, 2026.
I am sitting in the lobby of MoMA in NYC, writing to you about what just happened during the previous two hours, flying through six floors of artists, exhibitions and crowds.
Prior to today, I have been in an art wormhole. Reading, watching, buying, listening and talking to anyone about art, the art market, provenance, galleries, artists, etc.
Today is the first day I got to see the Hoppers, Monets, Mirós, Chagalls, Picassos, Mondrians, Kahlos, Riveras, Warhols, Rothkos, Pollocks and more that I’ve been studying.
I got starstruck again.
I’ve been streaming many of these same artworks via my TV and, every so often, reading about the artist on my screen, casting a quick judgment and committing some of what I learned to memory.
So many of these artists’ works are ones I’ve enjoyed alongside Ashley, even though when it comes to art, even my own, we have differing opinions.
Seeing these works in real life does something to you.
No matter how much you read, watch or study, the perspective in real life is mind-bending. And yes, it is that extreme.
I am convinced of three things after today:
The world needs artists to share the collective moment and psyche of a place, time and experience.
Humanity needs to pay attention to what they feel when it comes to art. AKA, slow down. Third-eye shit.
Nothing can replace human-to-human contact in a digital/virtual world. Period.
Definition:
Starstruck (adjective): feeling great or excessive admiration or fascination for famous or prominent people, especially performers.
My definition:
Starstruck: When something you’ve admired from afar is suddenly right in front of you, and everything you thought you knew about it doesn’t prepare you for what it feels like in real life.
-MM
P.S. I did buy an an annual pass.
###
Art Log: MoMa August 2026
Edward Hopper
Piet Mondrian
Morris Graves
Kazimir Malevich
Vincent van Gogh
Marc Chagall
Henri Matisse
Pablo Picasso
Jasper Johns
Mark Rothko
Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Morris
Andy Warhol
Gustav Klimt
Marcel Duchamp
Joan Mitchell
Andrew Wyeth
Frida Kahlo
Diego Rivera