This morning a guy climbed up to the top of a street light at the intersection of Broadway and 44th. After about 15 min., the cops arrived, followed by EMT. And for nearly an hour thereafter, they tried unsuccessfully to talk him down.
A crowd gathered. And then his real purpose became clear.
He pulled from his shorts pocket his CD and started waving it at the crowd. He even rapped a little, although watching from the seventh floor of the Pararmount building across the street, I couldn't hear a thing.
So is this what it's come to? To get a record deal, an artist needs to pull some really over-the-top reality-TV-worthy stunt? Reminds me of the year I attended the Cannes film festival when one of the filmmakers threw a sofa out of his hotel window in a blatant attempt to grab headlines. Interestingly, years later, I remember the stunt but have forgotten the filmmaker's name.
At the end of the day, it's not the stunts we pull that make the difference, it's the work we create. I have no idea whether this guy's CD is worth the expense of the 39 cops and 4 EMT workers, not to mention shutting down cross-town traffic on 44th Street for nearly one hour.
But, I suppose if you're gonna jump start a career with some blatant publicity stunt, the corner of 44th and Broadway's not a bad place to start.
