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Send Ryan some Fan Mail! Visit Ryan's Myspace and Facebook
 
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For the first time in thirteen years I really feel like I'm at a loss for words. When I started the Ryan Fan Club in 1998, it was meant to be a little joke. You've heard the story before: I'm out with friends talking about how we'll be famous... I start my own fan club and give out newsletters and membership cards... then more and more people want to join. The joke backfires, and I'm stuck doing something I truly love doing... which is writing and making people laugh. In the beginning, I thought having my own fan club would be a great way to meet women. Yeah, it was, and I'm very fortunate to be able to say that I wouldn't have met my wife if not for the fan club - and now I'm going to be a daddy. Over the years, my little bag of craziness went from being a hand-drawn newsletter, to an innovative independant 'Zine, to a multi-media worldwide balloon of fun. I've made fans and friends all over the world because of the Ryan Fan Club. Everything I shared with the world was done with them in mind. The decision to hang up my pink-ness came about late in 2009. Priorities change... you start to find yourself wanting different things. As I toyed with the idea of it all, I found that there were a few last things I wanted to finish up before I waved good-bye. There's always something buzzing around inside my noggin, and if I don't let myself create it - it just continues to stir until I go crazy. So I made the "Behind The Fan Club" DVD and put out a "Greatest Hits" CD. I can relax knowing I finished what I started. I never did any of this to become a millionaire or anything like that. Before I pull out though, it's really important that I thank a few people who have helped me out big-time along the way. Without Brian Crofton, there would never have been any silly music. And thanks to Johnny San for helping me learn how to find my sound. Chris Morris taught me how to make things pretty on the internet... and that mine can go to eleven. Thanks to Carolyn McNeillie for introducing me to 'Zines, so I could introduce a bunch of new people to them too. Thanks to Steven Medeiros for taking all those photos of me... nobody should have to look at my face as much as you did. Props to Adam Thom for first using the acronym "RFC". And to Peter Fairley for being the Fan Club's true International Ambassador. To my father... thank you for not cutting off my hair in the middle of the night when it was really long. And mom... thanks for rapping on my debut album. I thank my wife Dana for understanding that playing the fool is sometimes just who I am, and that it's all in good fun. I hope she isn't too worried when our daughter ends up with a bigger fan club than me. Lastly, I want to thank everyone who ever read a Ryan Fan Club 'Zine, or clicked on the website. Anyone who randomly spotted me in the grocery store and said, "Hey, aren't you that guy with the fan club?" Thanks to everyone who laughed at my jokes. Thank you to everyone who remembers Toxika, the best friend a neurotic boy could have. And now I have all the time in the world to reflect on thirteen years of good times. I get to be my own biggest fan. Yup, I'm awesome. The end. - Ryan Feb. 2011
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