As an entertainer and over-all stage geek, I have a thing where I try to figure out what’s popular. When I was selling tickets for my self-produced shows I was constantly trying to understand why people buy tickets to things. I wanted to understand why people were famous. I wanted to see what made something a best-seller.
I wanted all the people that got me to get to me. When I tried to make my shows popular, it bummed me out. I got tired. I got confused. I seriously have trouble empathizing with people who buy full price tickets because usually i get to go everywhere for free.
It’s not just that popular is generic, it’s that it’s mediocre and mediocre is worse that bad. I like that that previous sentence repeated two words.
Audiences need to be alive. Filled with life. They can’t be disengaged or fake smiling for the sake of the performer. They need to be living fully.
Popular is dead.
Popular is zombie meat – attracting people to a nothing result. Popular is a state with no hope. No pulse. It’s going to a chain restaurant without delighting in the food. We’re here to animate folks. Disrupt and CPR their shit!
Bad audience
(generated for simple explaination)
Good audience
Look around at a mall. You see mummies looking for name brands at low prices. They have no drive. They will get nothing from it. Look at people at a bold art gallery. Something’s happening here.
My success in ticket selling came from doubling down on what I thought was good. My sentinel also thought it was good. My favorite people thought it was good too. They came to trust me being specific and me. I didn’t have to worrry about what people saw or what my identity was. I just stood up for what I wanted to happen with my creation.