15 Minutes: a podcast about fame, with Jamie Berger

Hello All - 10 Episodes Down, A Zillion to go!Intro:This week was going to be a look back on the first nine episodes and some deep and shallow thoughts on fame from me, but early last week, something very 15-minutes-y happened, that really got rolling in the wee small hours of Wednesday, July 27th, 2016.Søren Mason Temple is someone I know from, you know, around. We’re IRL friends and Facebook friends, have a bunch of friends in common here in the 413, bump into each other a few times a year. We used to compete in a monthly trivia night at the bar. Dave Rothstein is a friend of Soren’s whom I’ve met only once before. Søren is a painter. Dave is a snow sculptor, hobbyist photographer, and lawyer. A couple weeks ago, the pair collaborated for a couple days on a time-lapse photo video of Søren making a painting. Then they posted the resulting 16-second video on Twitter. They can tell you the rest.We talked on Saturday, over the kitchen table in Søren’s parents’ art-filled, comfy, Western Mass country house.*** Outro:I really want to thank both Søren and Dave for getting together with me so quickly, while the experience was still, as you can hear, still fresh. Especially Søren, who clearly battled some demons to start talking on that mic. Her unrestrainable smile and renewed delight-mixed-with-dread-mixed-with-astonishment every time she talked about their bizarre week was just the best.Søren and Dave’s experience points out in a very immediate and local way is that being seen, by others, in and of itself, is a very mixed bag, often desired, then undesired, often uncomfortable, unquenchable, useful or destructive, sometimes thrilling, dreadful, the list goes on.You can find Søren Mason Temple on Instagram @siren74 and Dave Rothstein @snowsculpt. You can find links to their time-lapse project video - that’s now up to only 2.7 Million views - the MassLive article about them that they mentioned and other tasty tidbits at 15minutesjamieberger.com or by searching for 15 Minutes and my name to find our Facebook page, where I put weekly info as well as smaller daily find. Among recent posts are a youtube video of Russell Brand talking about fame, and a recent episode of NPR’s On Point that featured Ryan Holiday, author of the new book, Ego is the Enemy. On both the Facebook page and site, you can also find a guide on how to rate and review a podcast on iTunes, because I know you’ve been wondering that, and you can find us. If you’re enjoying this, please take just a couple minutes to rate and maybe even review us on iTunes - once again, it really really means a lot not just to my ego, but to keeping this show going, in many ways.We're also on twitter and instagram at @15minsjamieb.Thanks for listening

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Intro:Matthew Latkiewicz is a writer, most recently of the book You Suck at Drinking - he’s also a graphic designer designer, videographer, creative director, and now TV-show-maker.His first TV series, the comedy-advice-show You Can Do Better, debuts on Tru TV on August 23rd.More important to my, though, is that Matthew, along with Sarah Reid are co-founders of the legendary - Lady Killigrew Cafe in the equally Legendary Bookmill in Montague MA.Ten years ago after nearly a decade and a half in San Francisco, I had applied and gotten accepted to the creative writing MFA at UMASS and had to find a place to live from 3,000 miles away. So I moved back east, closer to my parents and my Upstate NY roots, to Western Massachusetts to get an MFA in fiction. From 3,000 miles away, I somehow decided to move not to the college town, Amherst, nor to what I then saw as a wannabe San Francisco, the up and coming Northampton, but to a tiny village called Turners Falls, one of the five Villages of the town of Montague. I had never lived outside a city in my life before. At first, it was daunting. But I got very lucky in my choice of towns. The Bookmill was ten minutes away, and, quickly, the The vibrant, creative community that formed around Matthew and Sarah’s cafe became the social center for my dog Bo and me - it was my study hall, my writing den, bar, cafe, and, the place where my dog introduced me to my future wife - I’ll tell you that story another time.Matthew and Sarah were these two cool people more-or-less out in the woods who were obsessed with and connected to a community I had just moved away from and was friendly if not exactly friends with in SF, the world of Dave Eggers and Co’s McSweeney's Magazine and 826 Valencia educational and arts center and pirate store. The cafe and bookstore would even put on events by travelling McSweeney’s authors and related music acts.Matthew and Sarah sold the cafe and moved to Oakland several years ago, but we meet and catch up on one coast or the other from time to time. This Spring, I had a drink with Sarah, now an interior designer (smallvictoriesdesign.com) when she came home for a quick visit lately, and she told me that Matthew had just landed a TV show on the cable network Tru.So of course I thought what a great place to run into a friend, reluctantly climbing, or, maybe, being pushed is a good way to put it, up that Fame Wall. We talked on the phone about an hour before Game 6 of the NBA semi-finals, when our Warriors were just peaking, in Game six of their Series with OKC.*** Outro: (spoiler alert!)Creative Control, that seems to be Matthew’s main hope from fame. The ability to make the art stuff he wants to make for a living. He doesn’t seem to care how much fame, just enough to have that control.Don’t let Matthew’s self effacing nature that I’m pretty sure is about to make publicists cringe. You Can Do Better is sure to be at least an interesting show, maybe much more than that. We’ll see, when the show debuts on August 23rd, right before, or after, I’m not sure which, Adam Ruins Everything, on Tru TV. And then we’ll also check in and see how Matthew feels about it then!You will find many things Matthew Latkiewicz-ian at Youwillnotbelieve.usComing up, episode 10!I’ll take a look back at some of what we’ve heard and learned so far, and reflect on the Wall of Fame and its many splendors.Talk to you then.

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This is going up a bit later than we'd like, so, here, more or less verbatim, are the intro and outro for the episode:Hearty White is someone who’s incredibly famous . . . to the people to know and love his work. His radio show, Miracle Nutrition, blesses the faithful on Thursday nights at 7pm on WFMU, the eclectic, extremely independent, and unquestionably legendary radio station based in New Jersey but available anywhere. Go to WFMU.org for more on the station often called the best radio station in America. This is our first hour-long 15 Minutes. By now many of you realize that while 15 Minutes is the name of the show, it is NOT the length of the episodes, but a reference to the Andy Warhol’s now ubiquitous statement about fame. We recorded our conversation right after Hearty’s June 9th episode aired, and during our conversations, I make a couple of references to the that aren’t self-explanatory: I refer to a time Hearty mentions in the show when he and friends spotted Mel Brooks one night when they were out watching the ponies at Calder Race Course in South Florida. I also mention times when Hearty goes up to New Jersey for FMU fund drives and other events, when he experiences his odd fame, is welcomed by more fans than sees at one time anywhere else. That’s about all you need to know for now. I hope you enjoy the episode even a fraction as much as I enjoyed making it.Outro:Just in case it’s not clear to someone out there, I had an incredible talking to Hearty. I have a whole bunch of thoughts about this episode, which was our first 15 Minutes with someone I’d never met before, especially the risks of what I’ll call “fanzone-ing” myself when talking to someone whose work I so highly esteem. Hearty turned out to be a perfect first guest in this risk group because he’s just so gracious and generous. If you’re new to Hearty White, his June 9th Episode would be a great place to start after listening to this. You can find it on iTunes or, again, through WFMU.org.Okay, I’m going save the rest of my thoughts for episode 10, when I’ll indulge in a little reflection of these first few months.For now though, if you’re new 'round these parts, please go to 15minutesjamieberger.com for what you’d expect to find, including info on the first seven episodes you’ve missed (with John Hodgman, Tim Lockfeld, Case Hudson, Mark Berger, Lois Parkison, Annie Duke, and Monte Belmonte) and how you can participate in this exploration of fame. I’ve also posted links on our 15minutesjamieberger.com to just a few of the cultural giants that came up in our conversation. AND, because some people have asked, I’ve also posted just how one can go about rating and reviewing podcasts on iTunes from a phone or tablet. That is, if one wanted to do that. Rate and review a podcastfrom their tablet or phone.Ed Patenaude, thank you infinity for making this sound as pretty as it can possibly sound.Thank YOU for listening.-Jamie

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For the past decade, Monte Belmonte has been the morning host on WRSI, the River, the one and only socially conscious indie-rock/pop commercial radio station in Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley. He’s also a huge social activist and fundraiser in our Valley, raising money for numerous causes pretty much ALL THE TIME.He runs on two hugely successful annual events, Monte’s March, a 40+ Mile walk up our Valley that raises awareness and buckets o’ money for the Food Bank of Western mass, and Monte’s Cancer Connection Campout.He’s also a neighbor here in Turners Falls, and heads up a team that’s breathing new life into our grand old Shea Theater.Monte’s in an interesting place on the ladder up the wall of fame Ray Bradbury told us about in episode 1, as, if you’re of a certain demographic, say 30-50 years old, left leaning, higher-educated person living in a small but signficant chunk of Massachusetts, even if you don’t listen to him, you’ve heard of him, probably heard his voice, and are pretty likely to recognize him on the street. I’d say you’re more likely to recognize Monte if you fit that demographic than you are to recognize our governor, and probably at least as likely to recognize Monte as you would our more nationally known visitors so far, John Hodgman and Annie Duke. That is, whether he’ll own up to it or not, around here, he’s famous. Once he leaves the 413 (area code), not so much. Fame, go figure. We talked about it.

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Lois Parkison is an old friend who happens to be a shrink. She wanted me (Jamie - I still can't figure out whether to go with first or third person here) to talk more about my feelings (about fame). So we did. She blogs at http://thefeministpsychiatrist.com.

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Annie Duke is a poker legend - winner of a WSOP bracelet, the WSOP Tournament of Champions, and of the NBC National Heads’-up Poker Championship in 2010, among other accolades. She was also runner-up to Joan Rivers on Season Two of Celebrity Apprentice. Among other charitable endeavors, Annie is co-founder, along with Don Cheadle and Norman Epstein, of Ante up for Africa. Our first first guest who's been over the Wall of Fame and climbed back, Annie is now retired from both poker and TV and is now a professional speaker, decision strategist, and one of the founders and directors of How I Decide, a nonprofit dedicated to helping youth become skilled decision makers, both in school and out. You can find them at howIdecide.org. Last, and Annie would say, most important, she is the proud mother of four.For more on Annie and videos of some of her work, see https://www.facebook.com/15minutesjamiebergerorhttp://15minutesjamieberger.comThanks!

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Case Hudson tells a story about his father, artist Robert Hudson discovering his fame in farflung places.

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On Saturday I called my dad up to ask him to retell, one more time, the story of the day he shook the hands of The Greatest. Thanks, Pop!

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15 Minutes: a podcast about fame, Episode 2.Tim LockfeldSurfer, Certified arborist, world traveler, skater, erstwhile performer, talks with Jamie about how, when he was coming up as a skater alongside legends like Tony Alva, he became the guy who put skateboarding and punk rock together. He also addresses the dangers of fame, and his relationship with Sharon Stone.

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15 Minutes; A podcast about Fame, with Jamie BergerEpisode OneJohn HodgmanJohn Hodgman is an author, actor, comedian, and host of the Judge John Hodgman podcast. He and Jamie dicscussed the topic at hand after a casual meet-up of John's podcast listeners. The meet-up is also featured here. Find us on iTunes or Stitcher as well, and if you like, please download let 'em know in all and any available ways! (ie, rate us!). You can find us on facebook, twitter@15minsjamieband reach us at [email protected] or by calling the 15 Minutes hotline at 872-215-6467ENJOY!

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