First Attempt....American Idol

After several discussions over the past months with a few friends, I have decided to open a blog that will primarily center around my opinions on culture, art, film, music, TV...whatever. Most of my friends know that I am pretty opinionated and that I enjoy a good dialog, so I want to be able to create a place for that to occur. Feel free to join in on the discussion. I'd love to see your participation.

For this inaugural post, I will attempt to tackle my strange obsession with the mega show American Idol. I've had several friends ask me as of late as to why I am such a fan of a show that is generally regarded as cheesy and way too mainstream for my music tastes. Yes, I will acknowledge that there is some sort of discrepancy between my pseudo-self imposed music snob lifestyle and my love for American Idol. I don't quite get it, but I do love this show. Whether it be for the sheer fact of watching people go out there and make total fools of themselves or seeing people who have worked so hard to achieve a goal finally make it, the show is definitely "must see TV" for me.

I generally disregarded the show for the first few years that it was on. This was mainly due to the general cheese factor that the show brought. Everyone who was on the show was as cookie cutter as that could get. I guess what finally got me was the long haired rocker from Birmingham, Bo Bice. He went on there and was unapologetic about the style that he brought to the show. Even though he turned out a somewhat lackluster debut album, I still liked what he was doing.

Then, in 2006, we saw another Birmingham native come to the show. Some may laugh at me for this statement, but Taylor Hicks struck as musical chord in me that hadn't been struck since I discovered U2 in the 1990's. It wasn't just him per se, it was what he brought to the table. The style, the soul, the performance all got me. My following of Hicks only opened up other musical doors that I had left closed for so long. I mean, I started listening to things I thought I'd never let in: Otis Redding, Donny Hathaway, Michael McDonald...the list goes on. Getting to see my favorite on the show was pretty cool. Maybe it was some sort of projection of my life into his, but it stuck with me. He was a simple guy from the south that was getting to do what he loved.

This year with Idol, its been pretty pathetic for the most part. There's a serious lack of talent on the show this year. When there is talent, its seasoned and sometimes comes off as too good. That kinda bores me. As usual, I grab on to a favorite and stick with it. First it was Sean Michel, but he was quick booted off in Hollywood week, never to be heard from again. But during the tryouts, we came to know the funny man Chris Sligh. His Seal cover was pretty good, but I knew we'd hear more from him. Granted, he probably never did enough to establish himself on the show, but after 6 performances on the show, he got the boot this past week. It definitely made me sad. Maybe it was the projection thing again. He was even closer to my age. I'd even go as far to say that his publicized weight loss has been a big inspiration to me as I venture into that. I figured if he could do it, I most certainly could too. And so far, its working.

Well, I guess I'll wrap this up. I'd love to hear some comments. Tell me why you like the show, or maybe why you hate its existence. Whatever.

Till next time...I'll try to be very regular with this. Keep me to it.