Why Cameron Crowe wears 'uncool' as a badge of honor
toggle caption Neal Preston/Simon & Schuster
If filmmaker Cameron Crowe's career arc sounds like a Hollywood story, that's because it is one. Crowe's 2000 Oscar-winning film Almost Famous is based on his own teen years; he was 15 years old in 1973 when he became a music journalist, landing a backstage interview Gregg Allman. By age 16, he had written his first cover story for Rolling Stone. He'd go on to write about David Bowie, Jimmy Page and other rock stars.
Crowe credits much of his early success with his hometown of San Diego, which tended to come at the end of a band's tour. By that time, he says, musicians were open to talking.
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"Here's a kid that comes to the door with a notebook full of questions based on the music that nobody was really asking them about," Crowe says. "They're like, 'Get that kid in here. Come on, we're bored.
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