You have to put Warhol’s quote into context, to see people that he was surrounded by. The parties he hosted at his studio, The Factory, were rife with people wanting to be famous. He could see where it was all going. It was on his doorstep. He was surrounded by all these people. They wanted fame for fame’s sake. The signs were there even then. Drag queens, hustlers, would-be actors, addicts all vying for his attention. No talent, just star struck nobodies.

Obviously, Warhol was being ironic. Surrounded by these hangers-on, with no hope of real fame, he had already, in his work, captured images of those he felt to be truly famous.

I’ve been fortunate enough to see a couple of pieces of Warhol’s work up close and you can almost smell his words, know what he meant. When I visited Centre Pompidou in Paris, I was able to look at his lithograph entitled 10 Lizes. I’m not here to decipher what he meant by reproducing an image of Elizabeth Taylor’s face 10 times. Suffice to say, being bombarded by a large canvas with her image repeated, you inherently understand what Warhol’s idea of fame really was.

It isn’t selling your story to a tabloid, nor is it huge presumption that I am remotely interested in watching you brush your teeth on Big Brother. Nor do I wish to watch you learn how to sing. Learn how to sing, then if I like your finished product, I’ll line your pockets. But if I don’t like it, don’t go crying to tabloids, because I won’t be reading your story. You have to earn my respect before I’m even remotely interested in what you have to say.

Source:

The Independent

March, 2004

© Copyright Holmes Charnley mmiv. All rights reserved.

The high point of presidents' speeches on Memorial days is usually a determination to make America and world safer as a tribute to fallen soldiers. But that statement has been made over and over again. It was made four months before 9/11. Yet peace continues to elude America and world.

As regards this, French playwright Moliere said: "Of all follies there is none greater than wanting to make world a better place." Was he right? Let UN scribe Kofi Annan answer. "I think most frustrating part is that we all know what's wrong and what needs to be done, but we often can't act upon it," he says. That is an admission of failure supreme. The secretary-general and Bill Clinton for example, saw impending genocide in Rwanda. (80,000 slaughtered in 100 days—worse than what Adolph Hitler did to Jews.) Yet they refused to act. (I have said elsewhere that that world body should be scrapped.)

But is past any guide? According to William Shakespeare, "What is past is prologue." The cause of past world pogrom should have provided an insight to our leaders not to repeat history. However, it is not so. Kofi Annan again agrees: "At times, when incredible things are happening and we want to awaken conscience of world, no one wants to move because of bad experiences in past." See what's happening in Iraq now. See what Israel is doing to Hamas' leaders in Palestine—murder in broad daylight. Yet hands of members of world body are tied. One authority said that history is a tale of unfulfilled expectations and failed dreams. This is because we are searching for peace with wrong tools.

When two kings quoted earlier in CHASING SHADOWS! did not see Inferno, terrorist, they decided to shoot and bomb his spirit parents: Hatred, Oppression, Frustration, Injustice, Mistrust, Fear, and Enmity. But these spirits are immune to guns and bombs of these men. The assault fails and Inferno is free to set world on fire. The book is therefore a pure allegory alluding to ineffectual results of violence to thwart violence.

If we do not eradicate these monsters that breed war and terror, killings would continue, and veterans would have fought and died in vain. And Memorial days would continue to come and go. Presidents would give Demosthenian and Ciceronian speeches and exit. But death and gravedom—the ultimate winners—would forever dog our heels, heels of our wives, and that of our children.

ARTHUR ‘ZULU is an editor, book reviewer, and published author. BOOKS PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/21013 CHASING SHADOWS!: A Dream http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/10975 HOW TO WRITE A BEST-SELLER