Note: Child abusers, homophobes, racists, cult autocrats,dubious healers, clergy who bilk the elderly and the overly trusting, clergy who say one thing and do the opposite: such are the kinds of men and women who have, to one extent or another, sullied a noble institution, religion, as well as their own reputation. Their names and misdeeds surface in the news, they have an unwanted 15 minutes of fame, and then their names and faces begin to recede into dim memory.
The Clintons are by no means the only remarkable characters to come out of Arkansas in recent times. Another of a different sort is evangelist Tony Alamo, whose birth name was Bernie Hoffman.
Hoffman moved to Los Angeles as a young man, changed his name a couple of times and attempted a music career. He was a rough-looking fellow who looked as though he could hold his own in a bar fight.
The music thing didn't work out terribly well, but he and his wife started manufacturing and selling a line of denim jackets and decided upon a career as Christian evangelists. The couple had their own TV show in the 1970s. When she died of cancer, he reportedly told his audience that she would be resurrected and kept her body on display in a temperature-controlled glass coffin for half a year.
Alamo has waged a long war of words against the Roman Catholic Church and against the U.S. government, as well. During the 1980s, he told his followers that the Pope and Ronald Reagan were Satanic devils. In the 1990s, he served a prison sentence--his second--for tax evasion.
In 2008, Alamo was charged with transporting minors across state lines for immoral purposes; he was found guilty in July 2009.
About this Blog
"In the future everybody will be world-famous for 15 minutes." So said the bleached-out, late lamented artist Andy Warhol. Having lived and worked in New York City, Warhol came to fully grasp the hold celebrity has on us. In this very famous sentence, he meant to point out that in a culture fixated on fame, many people will suddenly flash brightly onto the public screen, then--poof--will just as quickly disappear from public view--like shooting stars. Other individuals derive their celebrity from one stellar accomplishment (one hit song, one iconic role, etc.) that they never again match.
This blog is devoted to the one part of our celebrity culture that no one has written much about: temporary/one-shot celebrities.
The pace of modern life has quickened, and now we hear people speaking of someone's 15 seconds of fame. These "celebrities with a lower-case c" who will appear in this blog sometimes come to us from the world of entertainment, sometimes from the world of news. All are fascinating.
The need of our communications media for a continual stream of new material assures that we will have no end of colorful people who go quickly, where celebrity is concerned, from zero to hero (or villain) and back to zero. Now you see 'em, now you don't. What a crazy world, eh?
Temporary celebrities coming from the world of entertainment include one-hit recording artists; TV and movie icons who, although they might have had a great many accomplishments in their career, are remembered for one big role; standouts of reality TV; sports figures remembered for one remarkable accomplishment; and people whose celebrity came from one big role in a commercial or print ad.
News-based temporary celebrities come in many forms: mass/serial killers, other murderers of special note, sex-crime offenders, disgraced figures of government/military/business/media/religion, spies/traitors, hoaxers, femmes/hommes fatale, heroes, whistle blowers, inventors/innovators, and victims.
Celebrity Blogsburg will consider each category in turn.
This blog is devoted to the one part of our celebrity culture that no one has written much about: temporary/one-shot celebrities.
The pace of modern life has quickened, and now we hear people speaking of someone's 15 seconds of fame. These "celebrities with a lower-case c" who will appear in this blog sometimes come to us from the world of entertainment, sometimes from the world of news. All are fascinating.
The need of our communications media for a continual stream of new material assures that we will have no end of colorful people who go quickly, where celebrity is concerned, from zero to hero (or villain) and back to zero. Now you see 'em, now you don't. What a crazy world, eh?
Temporary celebrities coming from the world of entertainment include one-hit recording artists; TV and movie icons who, although they might have had a great many accomplishments in their career, are remembered for one big role; standouts of reality TV; sports figures remembered for one remarkable accomplishment; and people whose celebrity came from one big role in a commercial or print ad.
News-based temporary celebrities come in many forms: mass/serial killers, other murderers of special note, sex-crime offenders, disgraced figures of government/military/business/media/religion, spies/traitors, hoaxers, femmes/hommes fatale, heroes, whistle blowers, inventors/innovators, and victims.
Celebrity Blogsburg will consider each category in turn.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
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i wrote a comment way you would not post it i will five you until tomorrow than iwill rell everyone about this!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAllexus8, kindly consider that I, too, am a Christian and have the greatest respect and admiration for a good minister.
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind, please, that I did not pass judgment on Tony Alamo; a court did that. I am simply reporting what has happened, right or wrong. I went ahead and posted your comments so that someone who thinks Alamo has been wronged can have their say. Meanwhile, Alamo is in a heap of trouble, and in the end, I guess God will be the final judge.