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.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Disgraced political figure Larry Craig

In 2007, Republican Senator Larry Craig of Idaho was arrested and charged with lewd goings-on in an airport restroom.

Craig had represented his state in Congress since 1991 and was on the board of the NRA (National Rifle Association). Rumors had circulated about Craig's sexuality for years, but no charges of any kind were ever filed.

The truly unusual facet of his 2007 troubles was that the senator initally pled guilty to disorderly conduct, yet denied that he had practiced lewd behavior in the Minneapolis men's room. He announced that he would resign from the Senate but later attempted to withdraw his guilty plea and changed his mind about resigning. Craig did not run for re-election and served out his term which ended after 2008.

Like many other former members of Congress, he founded a consulting business.

Craig will long be remembered for his remark that he merely had a "wide stance" when doing No.1.

No comments:

Post a Comment