Talk:Stoney Burke

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I question the 'importance' tag. The subjective nature of importance is problematic. In this case, I suspect that whoever placed that tag does not, categorically, consider street performers important enough to warrant a wikipedia inclusion; however, that would be a mass media bias, imo. One must consider what kind of influence a performer has had on people, and how many people he has so affected. As a Cal alumnus, I am well aware of Stoney's influence. He is a primary topic of conversation among Cal alumni when chatting about our college days. His inclusion as an extra in various movies is not a reflection of his aspirations to act, but rather his influence on those who have gone on to make major Hollywood films. Now expand that influence several hundred thousand fold (to adjust for the influence he's had on those of us, over the dcades of his career, who have not gone on to make major Hollywood films), and there you have an idea of his importance.

I was just watching 'Matrix: Reloaded' on TV and I swore I saw Stoney Burke. Several years later, I still recognized him instantly. I cannot otherwise describe Stoney's influence on me any more than I can describe the influence of Emily Dickinson's poetry or van Gogh's paintings. To paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart, "I may not be able to define importance (in an applied sense), but I know it when I see it."

If the person who tagged this article wants a recap of his performance, sorry... Lenny Bruce already warned us about falling for that.

• • • Somebody should create a disambiguation page for "Stoney Burke" because there is a short-lived 1962 tv series by that name. Which is probably where the Stoney the Annoying Soap-Boxer got his pseudonym. I'd do it myself but I don't have the mad wiki-skillz. By the way I've seen him around Cal for many years so I have a right to call him annoying.*** —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.12.153.143 (talk) 05:26, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Removing the 'importance' tag. Naysayer 16:16, 24 September 2006 (UTC)