My First True Fan (On Recognition)

I enter the market. It is a small place, Armenian owned and a few blocks from my apartment. I've  been going there since I first moved here, northeast Glendale, over a year ago. I greet the woman at the counter as I head farther in toward the deli.

Before me is a glass case filled with meats and cheese. I quickly scan over the selection, much of which sounds Russian, or seems to hail from former soviet countries. I like this, it's almost like being back in Armenia. 

Behind the deli glass is an Armenian man who recently began to work here. The few times I have encountered him, he has been friendly, overly so. 

I pay no mind, instead I order a pound of Columbus Mortadella and pound of provolone. 

With a smile he grabs the large package of meat and begins to slice it. I wander off, looking for other items on my shopping list. I return a few minutes later to pick up the packages from atop the glass case. 

As I do the man at the counter begins to speak, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Okay," I respond, though I am generally wary of questions. 

He begins, "In 2011, in Armenia... There was a movie..." 

He has yet to ask the question, but I know where he's going. "Go on," I respond.

"It was a rock opera called Taparum (Wandering in English)," he continues.

Before he can ask, I admit to him, that yes, I played the Archangel Michael in Armenia's first, and so far only, rock opera; a fact only few family members and friends have known. 

I confess that it was not me singing, but rather the front man of the Armenian band Empyray, and that I was given the role intended for him due to coercion and the promise of a high salary; both necessities because I hate acting, it makes my chest feel like there's a black hole sucking in my soul.  

I tell him I never saw the complete movie, having skipped the premier; and thus it was with surprise  i learned learned the lengths this man had gone to procure a copy. 

Having first seen ads for it in Armenia, he was unable to see it in theaters. Once copies were available on DVD, their limited number ensured it was a rarity. Later attempts to have friends lend him a copy resulted in an empty box with a missing disc.

For four years he looked for this movie. It was an active search, it was something he felt he would enjoy, and rightly so as he has seen it many times since; because, unbeknownst to me, in 2015 it became available in it's entirety on youtube.com (the link to which can be found here).

It took five years, and nearly 7,200 miles to encounter my first true fan.