Friday, March 4, 2011

On American Idol and crazy mad musical talent

I wasn't going to watch American Idol this season. I thought there was no way it would be good with batshit crazy Steven Tyler and how much does Marc Antony owe on his taxes to make Jennifer Lopez need to do this gig anyway?

I stand here, humbled. First of all, yes, Steven is a nut job, and he leers a leeeetle too much at the cute women in my mommy/female opinion. But he is, as I think many have known for years, a musical genius, and has stayed viable in an industry that throws away talent like used kleenex. And he actually has GREAT COMMENTS and critiques for the contestants. Who knew?

And Jennifer brings heart. She has talent, so brings credibility to the table, and she wants them to succeed.

Now that we are down to 13 finalists, and on the big stage, they are in theory the kids with the STUFF. The men are much stronger than the women on the whole this season. But there are some standouts. And my favorite, because a) I always like someone who swims against the tide a little, but also has the chops to back up their audacity, is Casey Abrams. Randy Jackson said it is always like watching three people perform when he is on stage. He is a red headed and bearded teddy bear, with the most ridiculous sense of musical timing and jazz sensibilities. He plays the upright bass and makes it seem like the hippest instrument around. Someone recently equated him to Taylor Hicks, a winner from a prior season, who was certainly the underdog and not at all the likely candidate for winning all season. But Casey has so much more going on than Taylor ever had. He has sizzle. I don't know that he will win, but I think he will manage to stay in it for a while.

So yes, while I am sure I could find any number of more useful things to do with my time, I watch American Idol. I don't like to call it "reality TV" because frankly, while I know one person who tried out for it back when they came to Boston (she never made it past the producers), I don't know anyone for whom this is reality. And I have enough reality in my life, I need a little dreaming, shooting for the stars with a dash of crazy Steven Tyler and his flouncy pink ruffled shirt throw in.

1 comment:

Sam said...

I can see the mountain where Casey lives from my house. Because I'm cool like that. Or something.