video killed the radio star

We all love to poke fun at famous athletes, artists, and chefs for ‘selling out.’ Look at the Andre Agassi Nike shoes of my youth. Or any of the myriad pop singers who have gone the route of singing what sells rather than what they might want to. And in recent memory, especially poignant for me, a cook who years ago drunkenly professed his love and admiration (in person; some of you were there) for Rick Bayless, only to see him appear on Burger King commercials shortly thereafter (I still love and admire him)!

So, it is with some sense of irony that I report my own ‘sellout’ moment. I swear I did it for the sheer story value, though writing about it here might impact the story’s telling at future gatherings (if any of my friends actually read this). See, I have signed a contract to be the next big Serbian food commercial actor. Okay, maybe I didn’t actually sign anything, but I’m going to be on tv! Serbian tv. Endorsing a brand of knives and cookware I have no respect for. Only for the fame (I’m not receiving any money nor product in return). Yes, I’ve sold out, but I hope those of you I love and care about will understand: I did it for pure vanity (and story-telling rights).

I think, then, that I might be officially classified as an international tv star. In the last two months I will have appeared on Serbian television for this awful ad, on Lebanese television during a television interview at a restaurant I dined at, and on some Rhode Island show for my participation in Kofi’s (of Bay End Farm) farm dinner. So what if I was merely in the background of the Lebanese spot? Or that I was basically just an extra who happened to be filmed/aired for the farm dinner? I still think it’s official. Hell, let me have my fifteen minutes, alright??