My brush with potential Season 9 greatness

Oh. My. GOD. I know one of the people that made it to Hollywood in upcoming Season 9.

She works at Bloomingdales and she waxes my eyebrows and she's a riot...truly one of my favorite stylists ever. But even better...VFTW has now identified her as a plant, which means that she might actually make it to the Top 36. How cool would that be? Then you haters are going to have to embrace her or die...I'll be rooting for her all the way.

The industry vindicates us!

I love this article, which shows that Kris, Adam and Allison have record deals and careers, and Gokey has thus far been left hanging.

Kris won after all

I know. Damn that Kris and the Kristians that voted for him. The no-talent hack only won because people hate Adam because he's gay.

Sorry. I disagree. I think people LOVED Adam, gay or not. Even Kristians loved him, and voted for him. And I think Kris is going to surprise all you haters and be a stand up guy AND a success. And on a completely separate issue, so will Adam. I plan to follow both of their careers closely.

This year I win!

I must admit, I'm really happy this year. I loved Kris pretty much as soon as I actually saw him perform, I have come to love Adam even though I don't always love his performances, and though I really loved Allison, too, I don't have that horrible rage of injustice I often get when we get down to this. I mean, can we say Katherine McPhee/Taylor Hicks or Diana DeGarmo? Give me a break. This year, I think both Idol possibles are talented and deserving, and I thoroughly enjoyed their performances last night.

When Adam sang "Mad World" I felt like he might have read this blog and taken my advice to heart. His version last night was less screamer and a lot more emotive than his last one, and I think that song is more evocative this way. I thought his version of "A Change Is Gonna Come" was magical, and his version of that Kara DioGuardi mess of a song was as good as it could be considering the material.

Kris performed two of my favorite songs ever...I loved Kris' original version of "Ain't No Sunshine," and I thought last night he was pretty much perfect with it. Really beautiful. And though the judges seemed to think he should have made some spectacle of "What's Goin' On," I thought his version was really nice...much like "Mad World," I think that song is better when you lay back and let it flow, which Kris did. And I thought it was hysterical that Kara flat out acknowledged her stupid song was in the wrong key for Kris - shows she didn't actually care whether or not he could sing it, because she wrote it for Adam. Which was made even funnier by Randy's comment that Kris' voice was a better fit for it. (As if anyone should sing that kind of dreck.)

I get that most people think that Kris has already won his version of the title simply by beating Danny, and that Adam is the only true candidate for AI winner. I get that everyone is positive that Adam is the "talent" here, that he's the performer and the superstar. But I really don't understand why pretty much every compliment to Kris has the tone of praise you give to some retarded kid who manages to correctly identify the square hole for the block in his hand.

This is not to detract from Adam. He is amazing and deserves all the success he gets. But flashy showmanship and the ability to "perform" isn't the only hallmark of talent. Adam has the better voice, he's a bigger stage presence and has a theatrical knack for nailing the emotions in a song. Kris, on the other hand, plays a bunch of instruments, has some pretty uncanny pitch even though his voice isn't perfect, and interprets a song with an innocent, raw emotion that is compelling. You can be talented and relevant and a huge international success with glamour and wardrobe and dry ice if you want to, but you can also be one WITHOUT being Cher.

People dismiss Kris as John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson or any number of singer-songwriter types who do acoustic guitar music heavy on lyrics and emotion. But why exactly is it a BAD thing to be like these guys? Must everyone be Celine Dion to be considered talented?

I LIKE John Mayer. (It took a mixed cd from CP with pretty much the entire contents of Mayer's first album to convert me, but I got over the whole bubblegum toes thing and learned to enjoy him.) It's a hot sunny day and I'm listening to a mix of Josh Rouse, Jack Johnson and Ryan Adams on my iPod. I'm singing along and even repeating some of the songs I like. None of these guys do elaborate stage shows, they don't have the most amazing voices and they can be pretty understated. But I like them. I buy their music. I think they're great artists.

If someone offered me free tickets to an Elton John concert, I would beg off and suggest they find someone else. I would, however, stand in line in the rain to sit in the second balcony to hear Bob Dylan.  I think Springsteen puts on a killer show, but Nebraska and Devils & Dust are my favorites of his albums. And while Led Zeppelin is unquestionably great, I think Robert Plant is pure genius when he's collaborating with Allison Krauss.

I guess what I'm saying is that there are lots of ways to be a great musician.  Kris and Adam each have their own charm. Either one of them deserves to win. They're very different, but they're both big "finds" for the music industry, and they both deserve successful careers. And I'm sick and tired of the Adam folks insinuating that it is some huge travesty of justice if their guy doesn't win.  

To use an overused analogy, some people like the Stones, some people prefer the Beatles, and while Keith Richards is a much more compelling train wreck than Paul McCartney, there's still room on the iPod for both. 

And, of course, some people like Josh Groban and Michael Buble, but there's no accounting for taste.

I still don't understand why he didn't win

Vindication

I was feeling kind of bad about all the vitriol I've been throwing at Danny. My mom really wanted him to win and she was sad to see him go, and after talking to her I thought I maybe had given him a hard time that he didn't deserve.

So just now I started clicking on the links on this page, mostly because I wanted to see who VFTW has selected to replace him (they haven't yet,) and for the first time this year I went to the main AI site, where I found links to "initial reaction" videos taped with the departing Idol immediately after the show. In his, Danny is shell-shocked, agrees that his departure is a shocker, and then immediately talks about laying on his dead wife's casket 10 months ago. Let me guess, Danny. The AI producers told you to bring that up? I mean, you don't want your wife's tragically young death to be the focus of your Idol story, right?

It isn't that I don't have compassion for the guy. I don't like him, but I'm sorry he's had such loss in his life and I'm sure that this is very emotional for him. I just think it's unseemly to bring it up in this context, and a classy contestant would have expressed disappointment but wished the others well. For instance, Allison - who could try to justify petulant moodiness with her youth - was crying and obviously disappointed, but she found a way to smile and said that most of the tears were because she would miss the other contestants, because they were great guys and she was happy for them.

Well done, Danny. I feel better now. Absolved, even.

Still dancing and pinching my arm to be sure it's real

God knows I've been praying for this for weeks, months even, but now that it's happened it's hard to believe. It's like I won some lottery, or or got a fancy new job or got trapped in an elevator with Hugh Jackman.

Danny Gokey is gone. Gone gone gone! Gone gone-ity gone gone, gone gone! WHOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I began to hope early on. About midway through Kris' video of his visit home I thought to myself, "Wow. This seems to be taking longer than Danny's did." So I paid attention to Adam's, and his seemed to too. Could this be an indicator of who the audience really wants to see?! (FYI, I went back and timed the videos and I was correct. Kris and Adam each got a full minute more air time than the Hoke-meister. And yes, I realize I'm a complete saddo. You have no idea.)

I loved that Kris looked surprised to make the finals. I love that Adam looked genuinely worried and very relieved to hear his name. I am furious that the producers did a fast focus on the two finalists when their names were called so that I couldn't see Danny's face.

And I hate Kara more now than ever. Did you see her mouth, "Oh my God, that is so unfair," when the Cheese stood alone? Well, it sure looked like she did to me, and that is beyond tacky. And, for the record, it is NOT unfair. It is justice being served.

Now I'm torn. I'm an Adam convert, but a Kris fan from way back. Who do I vote for? Ye-gods.