Pity Sarah McLachlan

[WretchAwry <vickie@pilot.njin.net>]

I don't have permission to forward this, but it is *not* private
e-mail, it's a post that appeared in the Sarah McLachlan list.
Apologies to those who will be seeing it more than once.  I
think the post's "importance" goes far beyond the Sarah list.

Kate has had similar problems with obsessive fans, most notably 
with Dale Somerville, who ran BreakThrough.  He went from thinking
that Kate was God to thinking she was the Anti-christ.

Even Happy Rhodes, obscure, unknown Happy, has called me to talk
about a fan she was frightened of.  This stuff is scary when it
happens to anyone, and it hits home especially when it's happening
to people we know (personally, or not) and care about. 

Give a thought of encouragement to Sarah McLachlan, a wonderful
artist and a nice person who doesn't deserve this treatment.

And if anyone feels like flaming me for passing along a public 
post, please do it via e-mail.  

Vickie
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Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 09:40:55 -0400
From: ae064@freenet.carleton.ca (Uwe Vandrei)
To: fte@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au
Subject: Possession lawsuit
Reply-To: ae064@freenet.carleton.ca

**B00000000000000

I am the person who is the subject of the song "Possession".
I am not a stalker, nor have I ever committed rape or
murder. I do not have a criminal record.
 
Ms. McLachlan has just been served a Statement of Claim
(City of Ottawa Court House file# 85502/94) in which she is
named as the defendant and I am the plaintiff.
 
Based on my research of her press statements, there seems to
be no doubt that she has undergone a series of negative
experiences related to obsessive fans. These experiences
seem to range from receiving disturbing mail, to someone
stalking her to her residence. However, I contest her
statements that these frightful experiences are reflected in
the lyrical content of the song.
 
My claim that Ms. McLachlan has breached the confidentiality
of my letters is sincere and has a factual basis. I have
suffered profound emotional hardships because of the song
"Possession" and the subsequent controversy associated with
it. However, I have strong suspicions that the difficulty I
am experiencing in resolving this matter with Ms. McLachlan
is not caused by her, but by the actions of her management.
I perceive Ms. McLachlan to be a socially conscientious
person and that if she had full knowledge of the nature of
my complaint she would make visible efforts to resolve the
matter. My
suspicions are that her management has willfully withheld
information from her or has perhaps even deliberately
misinformed her as to my personality and the nature of my
claim against her. I have speculated as to the possible
motivations for such alleged actions by her management, but
such speculations are not suitable for public dissemination.
The primary reason for my lawsuit is to establish a legal,
public venue where these matters can finally be objectively,
candidly examined.
 
Furthermore, I still contend that this matter can be
resolved in a far more congenial, private, and economical
manner if I were simply granted one conversation with Ms.
McLachlan.
 
The only response to my Letter of Demand was a single
telephone call from Mr. Atkins (her lawyer) to my lawyer on
the 31'st of May, 1994. The highlights of that conversation
are as follows:
 
- this telephone call would be his only response;
 
- that I was not "normal";
 
- the themes of the song "Possession" did not originate from
my letters;
 
- he attempted to persuade my lawyer to convince me to drop
the lawsuit;
 
- Ms. McLachlan wanted me to drop the matter;
 
- Ms. McLachlan has been made aware of all correspondence I
have sent to her and she has no desire to communicate with
me under any circumstances. Mr. Atkins declined an offer
from my lawyer for a settlement meeting to be chaperoned by
our respective legal representatives;
 
- Ms. McLachlan will not offer me any personal confirmation
of her wishes on the basis that no matter what she might
tell me I would still not desist from trying to communicate
with her.
 
 
Since her management indicated no inclination for discussion
or negotiation I had no choice but to proceed with the
lawsuit.
 
Documentation is available to all interested parties.
 
Uwe Vandrei                Ottawa, Ont.
 
---------------------------------------------------------------
 
A brief history ...
 
To give you a little background, I will confess to being
quite 'taken' by Ms. McLachlan. Her artistic expressions and
congenial personality have uniquely contributed to my
personal growth. As a consequence, as early as October of
1991 I have been in the habit of expressing my appreciation
for the richness she has contributed to my life. These
expressions started in the form of offering notes of
appreciation accompanied by rather elegant flower
arrangements offered at various concerts that I was
privilege to attend. I must confess that these expressions
escalated to the form of rather confessional letters and
perhaps inappropriately intimate expressions of affection.
 
I met her once, late April '92 and she identified me as the
fan that had sent the flowers and thanked me. We had a
polite discussion and I gave her a little hug before I left.
 
Since Ms. McLachlan never responded to any of my
correspondence, I have no way of knowing what their ultimate
effect was. I did not become aware of the controversy
concerning "Possession" until the 27 October article in the
Ottawa Sun. However, I had no problem identifying myself as
the subject of the song when it was debuted on Ralph
Benmurgi in late March of 1993. Over the summer I sent four
letters expressing my pain that she had taken my personal
confidences and without asking me or at least warning
me, displaying them in public. I received no response. It
was only much later that I was to learn of the mail screen
that was in effect, and I now presume that my letters were
intercepted by someone of a malicious, or at least totally
unfeeling nature.
 
After reading the October 27 article I was horrified. To
learn of her opinion of the supposed subject was devastating
to my personal life and demanded that I investigate this
matter and arrive at some form of mutually acceptable
resolution. On 1 November I called Nettwerk Productions. I
initially spoke with Catherine McLaren (Sarah's PR rep.) and
clearly identified myself (name, address...) and as being
the author of the letters that seemed to have caused Ms.
McLachlan such distress. I was then passed to Terry McBride
(Sarah's manager), who assured me that I was 'not the guy'
and informed me
about the mail screen, which according to him had been in
effect for about one year. I emphatically stated that
whatever his current information may be, I was the true
subject
of the song and I had copies of the letters to prove it. I
offered these letters to be subjected to an independent
content analysis, but Mr. McBride declined. He also refused
me a phone conversation with Ms. McLachlan. I countered that
if Ms. McLachlan was accepting fans at the December 8'th
concert in Ottawa, I would take up the matter with her
personally.
 
The following day I sent an apology to Ms. McLachlan to try
and allay some of her apprehension, and presumably win
enough of her confidence to merit an explanation. There was
no response.
 
On the day of the concert I happened to be working from home
and noticed two rather large men in a car, observing my
residence. I took no notice because there were drug dealers
living next door and I presumed the surveillance was
intended for them. At the concert I noticed what seemed to
be unusually heavy security, and after making inquiries
learned that Ms. McLachlan had been personally threatened.
It was not until
much later that I connected these two circumstances and
began to suspect that the supposed originator of those
threats was me!
 
At this point I became suspicious that Ms. McLachlan's
management's efforts to protect her went beyond her self
interest. I must confess that I was rather disappointed with
her
performance at the December 8'th concert. She seemed quite
troubled to me, small wonder in light of such rumors of
threats. Based on her previous negative experiences with
fans there clearly is a need to protect her, but I consider
my efforts to communicate with her justified. At a minimum,
Terry McBride is obliged to give my claim an objective
consideration, rather than waving me off without even
examining the evidence. I am
determined to investigate this issue until I get
confirmation or denial from Ms. McLachlan herself.
 
I formulated a strategy to generate a mail audit trail. My
goal was to determine if Ms. McLachlan had been made aware
of my efforts to communicate with her, or if my
correspondence was being intercepted. The results were quite
disappointing. Neither of the self-addressed stamped
envelopes were returned to me, but I did receive a perfectly
blunt letter from her lawyer stating that Ms. McLachlan had
no desire to communicate with me, and
the letter even went so far as to threaten a restraining
order. Realize that this is the first official
correspondence I have received from anyone associated with
Ms. McLachlan.
Note that the letter is carbon-copied to Ms. McLachlan, but
I still have no confirmation that she has actually been
informed of this ongoing confrontation.
 
(Service of the lawsuit has ensured that she now knows
SOMETHING is going on. Stayed tuned for future episodes ...)