My wife and I spotted “Tan Man” in the line to enter The Wallflowers concert in Salt Lake City on July 19th (Aside: Yes, they have concerts in Salt Lake and yes, there was beer).
How can you not love this dude?
Tan Man did not start a dance party. There was no Guy #3 or even Guy #2. I can’t recall who wrote this (dammit dj!), but someone commented that they guy who started the dance party would have been perfectly happy if nobody had joined him. He was doing his own thing. Same story for Tan Man. He was loving life.
My wife and I, as well as the other couples we were with, were hysterical over Tan Man. It was like crack. We just couldn’t get enough. I just bought the new iPhone 3GS, so of course I pulled it out and started shooting video. I tried to be subtle. I tried to be smooth. I tried – and was successful – in my pursuit of some great footage. When I got home that night I used the super-simple iMovie to make some edits and upload to YouTube. I then added some music and Bam! I had myself a 39 second video.
I didn’t publicize it at all for the first few days. No Facebook status updates. No tweets. Nada. Somehow I had 50 views (and a comment) without doing anything. I’m in no way suggesting 50 views is a lot, but how did people find it? Were they searching for other videos of tan men?
Personally, I’ve now watched it at least a dozen times. I’ve sent it via email and IM to co-workers and friends. Comments back ranged from “Wow!” to “Awesome!” But yesterday I had this funny feeling; a slightly uncomfortable feeling. Should I have posted this? Should I be writing about it now?
In 2009, nearly all phones come with a built in camera. Pretty soon, all will also have some form of video. It’s easy to snap a picture/video and send it to the world (email, text, YouTube, Twitter, etc) within minutes. But should we?
While I think this video is funny, I wonder what Tan Man will say if/when he sees this. Will he laugh too? Will he be ticked off? Will his feelings be hurt because I made a spectacle of him? Did I make a spectacle of him or did he do it himself?
What if I’d posted this video as it was (no music, no editing, no commentary)? Would that have been the same? Would that just be giving others who were not at the concert a taste of what it was like? Would Tan Man have cared then?
I don’t often say or write this, but I’m just not sure. Here’s where you come in. What do you think? Please comment below with your thoughts.
DJ Waldow
@djwaldow
P.S. When I IM’d the Tan Man video to a few co-workers, they immediately shot back with these gems: Tommy Tucker- Keep Good Time (kinda catchy) and Epic Shower (kinda scary).
