Yes in my early days of travel, I don't remember anyone who had actually been to one of her performances. I'd first ask if they've heard of "Alizee" and I seldom got a yes answer which could of been because of my accent, but it seemed once I mentioned "Moi Lolita", they knew instantly who I was talking about. Then they would say "Oh Alizee!" and it would sound exactly the way I was saying it, but I think part of that is maybe they probably aren't expecting a question like that about a young French singer who at that point was a few years past her big days of success.
After they realized who I was talking about, the ones that did remember her didn't remember other songs I mentioned such as J'en ai marre and L'Alizee which was a number one hit, which again could've been an accent thing. But like I said "Moi Lolita" were the magic words in getting them to remember who she was. It was instant recognition.
It seemed younger people around 20 or so were less likely to remember her, but people in their 30s were more apt such as when I was in the Hotel de Ville area of Paris where Alizee performed JPVA in the blue, I stopped to talk to two 30ish looking women who were taking a smoke break in front of the office they worked in. Then when I was in Lorient, I was there to see the U boat pens from ww2, I walked down to the harbor to an area where I thought they were and didn't see anything and I asked two 30ish young men who had just gotten on a sail boat where they were and they said on the opposite side of the harbor and they said they were headed over there and asked if I wanted to go along with them which was a "Hell yeah!" moment and I did and we had a long conversation which include Alizee who they remembered well and they seemed a little amused that I was such a big fan. I wound up getting a beautiful boat ride with great views of the pens though it was a rainy day.
I visited Pistoia for 2 reasons. Alizee performed there, plus looking at the video, you saw it looked like a beautiful and interesting place to visit.
The same is true of Taormina on Sicily. I thought of visiting it when I went to Italy for those 2 reasons, but when I saw how far south of Rome it was, plus the fact it was on an island and I said that's a little too far, but then I learned that site where she did perform was a Grecco-Roman theater first built in 300 BC and you could see Mt Etna in the background and then I just had to go.
I also visited the Triage Lavoire buillding where ACC was filmed. I'm a big ww2 buff and learned this building was built under the Marshall plan at the end of the war which added some interest for me, plus this wasn't far out of my way in my travels across Europe though I had to improvise to find a way to get into the building.
When I stayed in Le Mans a couple of years ago on the night Alizee won DALS, I had talked to a woman around 40 I say who remembered her, but didn't seem to have a good opinion of her and I had hoped to inquire why the next night, but the place was busy with guests and I never got that chance.
A few pictures below. One is how I got into the Triage Lavoire building. The picture of the pens at Lorient isn't that great because I was mainly shooting video which I could post if anyone wants.
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