Making the Scene

I have a friend who likes to go where it’s happening. She’s been to the Indy 500 and the Kentucky Derby. She’s been to see Jay Leno in L.A., Kelly and former co-host Regis in NYC (even ran in the annual high-heels race), was a judge in the Nathan’s hot-dog-eating contest, and saw Garrison Keillor in Minnesota and Punxsatawney Phil, the famous groundhog, in Pennsylvania. This month she had a terrible dilemma – whether to go to London for Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee or to the Belmont to see a possible Triple Crown winner. She chose the horse race, though, of course, it was to be a disappointment. At least she would get to see “I’ll Have Another” lead the post parade at the start of the event.

Now my friend, of course, could stay home and consume all this stuff on TV like the rest of us – but that’s not good enough. For her, there’s just no substitute for being there.

Theoretically, you would think that the price of admission to all these things would be diluted by the ability to consume them electronically, but it doesn’t work that way. The big events continue to sell out, sometimes in seconds after the tickets are available. Even the pay-per-view tickets for electronic consumption go up in price, not down.

Much has been written about our need to have a collective experience. And I don’t mean those feeble sociial media vehicles like “Jane is reading...” or “Fred listened to…” Personally, I think that’s a little creepy. I don’t necessarily want people knowing what I’m watching or reading, unless I affirmatively want to share it. Some of my friends would approve of what I consume – and others not – so I’m selective about whose business I make it.

But there is no substitute for that live collective event, especially if it’s a competition, like the World Series, the Super Bowl, or even “American Idol” and its spawn, though why they should turn singing and dancing into an Olympic sport with winners and losers is a little beyond me -- but it sells.

For most of us, though, the ultimate experience is actually being there with other human beings, or having some direct participatory experience. It doesn’t have to be a happy thing – it could be a tragedy or a disaster – or even how we avoided a tragedy or a disaster, such as those who missed Flight 93 on 9/11. I had another friend, a reporter, whose flight was cancelled because of snow, forcing him to miss a trip to Jonestown, Guyana, the day of the mass suicide there – he would very likely have been shot to death.

While technological advances over the last half-century have been nothing short of miraculous, even those who consider themselves super-connected and plugged in will discover that there’s just something missing. If you’re there, you really do have something to share. The ultimate need is to tell somebody, “This is what happened to me!”