soapbox interlude 7: damn machines

What do you think fame is based upon?

The more jaded of my friends will mention the propaganda machine ( powered by cash flow ) and the simple fact that the only way to be famous is to shamelessly self promote.

Now then I have seen the reflection of self promotion. The way the formula works. Find something that works and repeat, repeat, repeat as necessary. Use lowest common denominator tactics and mix in popular games theory, spice with icons and familiar themes, stir to a rhythm that is familiar to more than 51% of the audience. Those that can use sex, preying on our basest nature, others who cannot use sex use comedy spreading a banquet of quips that are as familiar as can be.

It is actually quite easy, once you find the pattern, like drawing celtic knots, Noughts, not’s, slowly amp up your average personality until it shines and with that sparkly glow you will attract the moths. They will admire your skill ( is it is there or not ) they will want to be the center attention, and they will pay you. It is with that payment you will slowly build small fame… won’t you?

I have been retired from performing for 30 months, and I rarely miss the crowd chanting my name… when I do miss it I consider the work required to get it, I consider the effort put in and payout received. After I got the basest truth of how to generate funds down I tried for a loftier goal of preaching to the masses. After I found the balance that fed both cash income and a message that made me feel like I was doing something useful.

I still follow the people who I idolized in the past, those shining examples of intelligence and wit. I watched those who were true masters of their art be trampled under the waves to people who came after, the pale imitators who build upon the shoulders under their feet. I have watched as those imitators would in time forget how they started. They would hang on to the ugliest facets of performing the patter that brings in money but forget ( or maybe have never known ) the fire of independent thought that makes some artists truly stellar. I miss seeing the puppet master , I miss the rock god of magic , I miss sharing the space with Dan and Ryan and performing with Ryan and amber, I miss Kim and Andy and AL and JC and Loki and the boys from Colorado ( this list is long and doesn’t even hit the bulk of the good and great) … I even miss Pedro, which is strange due to the way we met. I never got the chance to see gazo and butterfly but I did see the funniest man I have ever seen …

Find him beg him to unwrap his puppets, and laugh until you cannot laugh anymore. Lee Zimmerman…

Don’t give in to lowest common denominator entertainment, learn to find the obvious joke or point and ignore it , pass by the same thing over and over but cheer the innovator… it’s a shadow industry, a machine that chew people up and spits them out draining the best and offering buoyancy to the mediocre.

In a world where fame is fuelled by shallow beauty and shallower thought, it is a shame to see the brilliant minds overshadowed by the “beautiful people”