The Rock Star Effect

Remember the other day when I thought last night's party was going to be a swanky music industry thing?  Yeah, well it wasn't.  It was a seriously lame office party for some solar energy company, hosted by a London radio station that no one has ever heard of.  So no, I didn't see any celebrities.  And may I just say, when radio personalities say they have a "face for radio", they're not kidding.  It's a real thing.

The party was at the Intercontinental Hotel.  It didn't take me long to figure out I was a bit overdressed.  When I got to the coat check I promptly gave myself a hasty make-under:  I shook out my hair, shoved my blingy costume jewellery in my purse, and put my glasses on.  I'm SO glad the sequined dress I ordered from Macy's to wear to this event hadn't arrived yet -- I totally would have looked like an escort.

Speaking of overdoing it, I think I'm only capable of applying makeup in two ways -- barely there, or 'more is more'.  After following the instructions in a magazine for how to do the smokey eye, I was kind of horrified.  I looked like a farsighted drag queen.  This is frequently the case when I'm trying to do makeup for an evening out.  What am I doing wrong?

Anyway, back to the party.  I was there as a 'plus one' for my friend George, who was there to provide some musical entertainment.  We've been friends for about 4 years now, and all you need to know for the purposes of this story is that George is a good-looking guy, and very nice, but I don't think of him 'that way'.

...until he's on stage.  I kid you not, he started in on his first song and all of a sudden this goofball chatterbox became some kind of Rock God.  Between songs he was doing his best at some kind of stage banter, and I was thinking, yep same old George.  Then BAM!  He starts the next song and George is somehow hot again.  I was a first-hand witness to what I call the Rock Star Effect.

So what's that about?  Am I the only person who's noticed this?  And more importantly, why didn't this work when it was ME on stage?  (Ok, granted, I have all the stage presence of a mic stand, but there were definitely no guys hanging around the stage afterward wanting to talk to me.)  Is the Rock Star Effect gender-specific?  Do tell.