[Dean's World] Dean: Idol Thoughts 3/2

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Posted by Dean:
Idol Thoughts 3/2
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1141354461.shtml


   First off, for whatever reason, I always for some reason feel I have
   to justify why I like this show. And I don't know why I should. To me
   it's just good television. Indeed, it's not just good television, it's
   great television: here you get to see everyday people doing something
   that in the real world 99% of them would never get a chance to do.
   Sure you could argue that it's just a nationwide karaoke competition,
   but so what? Indeed, if it were exactly that, why would you hate that?

   Late last year I was thrilled to see my Chicago White Sox win the
   World Series. Was it because I thought that the White Sox were the
   ultimate embodiment of athleticism? Was it because I thought they were
   giant heroes? Hell no. It was because at some level I loved the game,
   and I loved what it was all about.

   This show never pretends to be something it isn't. They don't put
   these people forward as the greatest singers in the universe. They
   don't put it forward as advancing the next level of singing artistry.
   A Pavarotti will not be produced by this show--and no one said he
   would be. It's a singing competition for pop singers, and that's all
   it is. And why is that a bad thing?

   Like I said, you get everyday people to step up and try to take their
   best shot at that. None of them are anything special except that they
   can sing on-key and have some personality. Why make it more than that?
   Indeed, the show's producers never pretended it was anything else.

   Someone once tried to give me some grief and say that if I really
   understood music I would not enjoy this show. Whuh? Huh? Listen man:
   I've got a person library of literally thousands of compact discs.
   Come over to my house and I'll show you. And my tastes are catholic
   (look it up) in the best sense: I love many, many styles of music, in
   many genres, and from many eras. I've got classical music, jazz, rock,
   rap, country, blues, soul, R&B, and what is euphemistically called
   "World Music," i.e. various forms of ethic music from around the
   world. I used to write music reviews professionally. And I love this
   show not because it's the embodiment of All Things Wonderful
   Musically. No, it's because of what I said before: you have everyday,
   ordinary people, who are given a great shot at meeting a simple
   objective, which is to sing a few simple pop tunes and make an
   emotional connection. That's all it is.

   Hey, in baseball, it's every bit as simple: throw the ball, hit the
   ball, catch the ball, and run to the base if you can. That's all it
   is. [1]Bruce Jenner was arguably (arguably, I know there will be
   dissenters) the greatest athlete of the 20th century. If you doubt it
   was him, maybe it was Muhammed Ali. But so what? What was Jenner's
   batting average? What was Ali's Earned Run Average? Come off it: you
   know the question doesn't even apply. So why pretend that [2]Thelonius
   Monk should somehow be compared to, say, [3]Clay Aiken? The question
   is just dumb. You might as well try to compare [4]Andrés Segovia with
   [5]Keith Richards.

   The game is what it is. Just watch and listen and enjoy.

   Okay, all that aside, I'll give a moderate, minor gloat here. Of
   tonight's results, I said in advance, of the women:

   "Probably going home: Heather Cox and Brenna Gethers."

   Of the men, I was a lot more equivocal, but, I said:

   "Who I'd send home if it were up to me: Kevin and David. Who might be
   going home? Kevin, David, Gideon, Sway, or Will. I think the other
   five are all safe."

   Kevin and David were in the bottom three, and Sway was in my maybes.

   So I'll take my props for being mostly-right again. For whatever
   that's worth. ;-)

References

   1. http://www.brucejenner.com/
   2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelonius_Monk
   3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_aiken
   4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andres_Segovia
   5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Richards