American Idolucinations

Ok. Tonight I watched some of the new season of American Idol. I’ll get to this in a second . . .

If you are reading this and since this is my first post, please don’t expect to see perfect grammar or to find a fount of profound thoughts in this blog. That isn’t why I’m writing it. I’m writing because I find it therapeutic and I hope to connect with folks that have a similar outlook on life. Feel free to rip apart the content or the grammar in this blog, but I can’t promise I’ll respond nor do anything else with your comments.

Now, let’s get back to American Idol. What I experienced in tonight’s show (16-Jan-2007) worries me. Never before have I seen so many people who placed so much importance on an audition for something that in Intelligencia-speak is nothing more than pap. Folks who would otherwise seem cogent and well-adjusted provided some of the worst audition footage I have ever seen. Yet these people think they have a shot at being the one person that a HUGE number of Americans will love listening to. Holy crap! There must have been no oxygen in the Minneapolis convention center!

The question? Who are the people that have pumped up these beings? Where are the parents that should have set REALISTIC expectations for their children? What brand of glue have these so called singers been sniffing? The glue had to be industrial strength no doubt.
I sing. I sing a lot and I can tell when someone strays from the key that they started in. If I audition for something, I know the words to the song well enough that my nerves will not usurp my mental processing. When I audition and I know that my efforts were not as good as they should have been, I can accept it. I do not fall apart while looking for the arms of someone who is over-protective and over-coddling.

Please don’t misunderstand my motives here. I’m not being cocky. I’m not being condescending. I’m realistic and I know something like American Idol isn’t where I ever would be. Nor would I consider myself able to percolate up to such a level. I’m a good choral and small group singer, but a soloist I’m not. However, I do know my musical abilities, including my solo voice, supercede those who thought their auditions deserved some modicum of respect, when what they just did sounded worse than a piglet being slowly slaughtered.

If, in the remarkably unlikely chance someone who auditioned in Minneapolis but shouldn’t have, reads this, please take some advice from someone that isn’t a famous celebrity. Never, ever, ever audition for something like American Idol again! If you can’t keep your voice within one key, don’t even consider singing outside of your own shower! If you are unable to match pitch, focus on some other area of your life! You have a much, much greater chance of making your mark in this world by doing something . . . actually anything else. In short, CHANGE YOUR DREAM!

What I’m saying is we all can benefit from a good helping of realism. Each and every one of us should strive to be great. This I don’t disagree with. But we should also breathe in the stale air of realism. Look at the population of the US. What percentage of the US would be considered famous? One-tenth of one percent? One-one thousandth of one percent? I would gamble no. We are talking about millionths of a percent. I repeat MILLIONTHS of a percent. We have little chance of being the one out of ten million that rises to the upper-most crust of society. This is reality folks. We all face these odds.

Then what do those of us that wish to be famous do? Constantly strive for the greatness you want! What? You just contradicted the paragraph before! No. I said be realistic. Strive and push to be great, but constantly search for what you can be great doing! I’m 39 years old and I still don’t know what it is that I can do greatly, but I know there is something. I may die not knowing what it was that would have brought me fame. If this happens, so be it. I’m happy where I am and I know that every day brings a myriad of changes; changes that may change my life for good or bad. I’m thankful that life does change, but I don’t expect the change will put me in the heady glow of fame. I’m mediocre, average, in the middle, not remarkable. I am what I am meant to be and I’m happy because what I’m meant to be could be so much less than what I am right now.

Copyright JGR 2007, All rights reserved.