A Sunday Short

The Fear of Impending Irrelevance

The late John Wooden was an American basketball coach and player. He won 10 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) titles in a 12-year period as head coach of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins. He is credited with the quote, "Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.”

Being famous has great appeal for many. Depending on the size of the audience, fame can bring riches, self-satisfaction, admiration, and social connections, but it can also bring anxieties and fears. Fame induces public expectations and a loss of privacy. However, I also believe that many famous people share a fear of impending irrelevance. Many who dwell in the limelight of fame cannot seemingly let go of a celebrity status or notoriety.

Take, for example, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the rock group Rolling Stones, who at 81 years old each, still tour. I assume they “Can’t Get No Satisfaction” staying at home. At that same age, Steve Miller, leader of the band the Steve Miller Band has decided to stay home.

That band had number one hits in the 1970s with:

• The Joker

• Rock’n Me

• Abracadabra

These were followed closely by songs like Jet Airliner, Fly Like an Eagle, Take the Money and Run and All Right Now. Naturally, many other songs were written, produced, and recorded on their albums, but did not make it on Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40.”

As reported in the entertainment magazine, Variety, “The calamitous weather of recent years has taken many lives, caused billions of dollars’ worth of damage and is changing the climate and economies of countries all over the globe. But the Steve Miller Band’s 2025 North American tour may be the first to be canceled due to the ongoing trend of climate change-induced weather disasters, rather than any single event.”

However, the story also admits to ‘soft ticket sales’ at all of the band’s 31 scheduled dates on its American tour. Steve Miller, with a reported net worth of $60 million, certainly doesn’t need the money, but the cancellation may be indicative of the fear of impending irrelevance, using climate change as an excuse.

While Variety markets its make-believe horrors of climate change and the natural devastations that have been going on for eons, one has to know who their primary audience is.