"In the future, everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes."
Andy Warhol's most famous quotation, arguably. A comment on mass media, I guess, and oddly prescient, given the latterday obsession with reality TV and celebrity culture. What made me think of the quote was reading Rowan's post this evening about his first experience of performing in front of an audience, and enjoying it. Given that I don't 'do people' at all, the idea of me as a performer is not one that would spring too readily to mind, but, ironically, I've probably been seen by a larger audience than at least 99% of the world's population. Why? Because I have, or had, a capacity to answer general knowledge questions, and I've appeared as a contestant on two different TV quiz shows, one of them very high-profile in the UK, certainly at the time I was involved. I've been on TV nine times, in total, not counting repeats (I'm not aware of any, but in this multi-channel age, there's no way of knowing), and I've had my share of being recognised in the street, or in the supermarket. My 'fifteen minutes', I suppose. I didn't enjoy it, predictably. It felt like a violation, of sorts, an exposure to the eyes of the world that I would have been happier without. But, of course, having put myself 'out there' voluntarily, I can't complain. All in all, I'd rather be rich than famous. There's more Howard Hughes than Paris Hilton in my personalty - thankfully!
Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B
I take it you didn't get rich from the TV shows?
ReplyDeleteI've only been ON TV a few times, much to my utter chagrin. Except perhaps for the time I went on a locally produced children's show as a birthday present. That was pretty cool, but so long ago I don't even remember the year or the TV show. I preferred being behind the cameras, and made my living doing that for 25 years. Oddly enough, I performed live from the age of about 14 until I was about 20 in bands, choirs, that sort of thing - I guess being part of a crowd (and no close ups) made it fun.
ReplyDeletePeace <3
Jay
Hello Brian
ReplyDeleteSadly not! I just received some travel expenses and a few small appearance fees. Any other payment was strictly in kudos!
Love & best wishes
Sammy B
Hello Jay
ReplyDeleteI largely enjoyed the actual making of the programmes, helped, doubtless, by the fact that I did reasonably well, but being recognised 'in the street' afterwards wasn't my cup of tea. Would I do it again? If I had the chance to win a large bag of money, I probably would, but not otherwise.
Love & best wishes
Sammy B