1022 With Feet of Clay

1022 With Feet of Clay

Okay, enough, already.  American Idol season eleven sealed it.  Never again will a “singing” competition darken the TV in this joint.

The season finale on Wednesday (5/23/12) was the worst television program since “Supertrain,” “The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican” and “The 700 Club.”  And it’s really tough to beat Paddy (pelican) and Pat (Robertson.)

The Idol final was a two hour and six minute scream fest with more flashy production than an explosion in a costume jewelry factory.  Not flashy enough, though, to hide the fact that if this was about singing, then singing is dead.

One major talent this year: Jessica Sanchez.  She’s a 16 year old kid from California, Filipina-Tex-Mex with a voice that puts a generation of so-called greats to shame, but who was encouraged to screech like a cat in heat instead of to sing.  She came in second.  No worries.  Her future is a done deal.  The winner, Phil Phillips is a Paul Simon wannabe who can’t carry a tune, can’t articulate a word, can’t play the guitar but has great teeth and nice hair.

Sanchez on a quiet day and last year’s winner, Scotty McCreery, are the only two performers in all eleven seasons to make actual music.

But the rest of the cast this year was even worse than the winner and the runner up.  You had Joshua Ledet who showed some promise en route to his exit.  But someone should have told him “this is not the Full Gospel Church on a Sunday Morning or a Motown Soul Club at closing time when everyone is drunk and WANTS to hear screaming just to stay awake.”

There’s a difference between vocal acrobatics and vocal contortions.  Someone tell the music mavens who run this thing.

To be fair, it’s not always the contestants’ fault when they sound lousy.  The producers force styles and song choices on them and they’re often unable to handle the challenges.  No reason the kids who vie for the title can’t pick better stuff.

Enough, already.  Idol, X Factor, the Voice, the Sing Off, America’s Got Talent.  Keep ‘em all.

Oh, and one more thing:  assuming accurate counting, there were ten million more votes for the Idol finalists than there were for the 2008 presidential elections.   And that’s pathetic.

As is this question:  this voting’s on the level, right?

Shrapnel:

--Will someone tell that pathetic paternalistic fundamentalist right wing whack job Huckabee that the Presidential Oath of Office is an oath of office and not a job description?  He’s busy railing against Obama because the president’s “job” is to uphold the constitution, not “give everyone a fair shot,” as Obama intoned the other day.  But even if you consider the oath a job description, that doesn’t make what Obama intoned wrong.

--It’s nice to see that Arizona has satisfied itself that Obama was born in Hawaii.  But that wasn’t enough for the Maricopa County Sheriff who sent his own posse to Honolulu to do its own investigation... at government expense.  Think he’d have done that if Obama were born in, say, Porcupine, South Dakota or Elizabeth, New Jersey?

--City Supervisor John Avalos of San Francisco says he consulted a Ouija board before voting on a non-binding resolution to name a ship after Harvey Milk, the openly gay supervisor who was murdered.  Avalos says he contacted Milk’s spirit and was encouraged to vote for the resolution which passed.  Send your supervisor, U.S. Senators and Representative Ouija boards of their own... their performance will improve.


I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them.  ®
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