American Idol in Omaha

THIS....is American Idol!

Hm. Tuesday night, the American Idol juggernaut landed in Omaha. Actually, to be more specific, they aired the show with the Omaha tryouts that occurred this past August and October.

Gotta say, I'm more than a little ticked at the producers right now.

Let's take a quick look at the very beginning of the show, shall we? Ryan Seacrest begins his voiceover..."over the past seven years, we've been to some of the biggest and busiest cities in the country.."

Uh oh...already I can tell this ain't gonna be good.

As he lists them off and we see short clips of each one, you can just see the setup coming. Here on the one hand we have bustling cities filled with life and vibrance and culture, and then, on the other hand we have...cowtown Omaha. *cue the chirping crickets and fiddle*

If only they had been that nice.

Check out the first 22 seconds of this clip.



Okaaaaaay....so, um, where exactly in that intro is Omaha? Yes, we get it. Nebraska has lots of cornfields. But unless I'm terribly mistaken, the tryouts didn't happen in Old Man Swanson's pasture. They happened at the Qwest Center, near downtown.

In all fairness, they did eventually show a few shots of the city itself. But even then, they kept coming back to the corn. Over and over and over. And over.

You know, I really don't mind them showing the people they showed...the goth girl with the wicked laugh was memorable, as was Chris Bernheisel from Fremont--the 25 year-old kid who couldn't sing but did land a gig, courtesy of Simon, of acting as the on-site reporter for Fox 42 (the Omaha affiliate) once the finale rolls around. Every tryout episode of American Idol is going to have its fair share of...um...interesting personalities and folks that just flat out can't sing. But the choices they made regarding how a city with three quarters of a million people was portrayed was unfortunate.

Here's a few views of Omaha that American Idol missed:

Heartland of America Park, with downtown Omaha in the background

Downtown skyline at night, with the Qwest Center in the foreground

Rosenblatt Stadium, home of the College World Series since 1951

The Old Market...great restaurants and shopping

The Gene Leahy Mall

There's plenty more that I'd like to add, but I've gotta get Kiddo to preschool soon.

Nebraska has enough of an image problem from people who have never set foot in the state without having people who actually have been here perpetuating a bunch of stereotypes. So now, for the 30 million or so viewers that saw this episode, everything they've ever thought about Nebraska has just been reinforced. Right here:

Hmmm...is this 72nd and Dodge?

Thanks a million, Nigel Lythgoe.

I do know this much. One of the things you regularly see in these tryout episodes are people who've been rejected leaving the room and cussing out the judges, the cameras, the producers, small woodland creatures, and everyone and thing that they happen to meet out of their sheer anger at not being selected.

Didn't happen once in the Omaha episode. Not once.

Thanks for representin', Omaha. Too bad American Idol couldn't have returned the favor.

LH

Okay, one last American Idol post today...

...I promise, this will be the last one today. Really.

Back to Melinda Doolittle for a moment. I found a clip of her performance of I'm a Woman, W-O-M-A-N from last night. Watch it, and compare/contrast with her performance of My Funny Valentine that I have linked here.

Both are equally brilliant, but in such different ways. The stylistic range she shows is incredible.

If you have a moment, continue watching the I'm a Woman clip after she finishes singing. Pay particular attention to her reactions when the judges praise her. The woman's honestly bewildered by the gobs and gobs of praise being heaped on her. Like I said in my other post, she has no idea how amazing she is.

I love it. I freakin' love it. No matter what happens in the coming weeks on American Idol, Melinda Doolittle is gonna be a star, and it honestly couldn't happen to a more deserving person.



LH

Did I just hear 311?!?!?!?!

On the subject of American Idol (see the post below), Sweetie and I were sitting in the living room, watching the guys sing on Tuesday night. Blake Lewis was up to sing first.

I immediately recognized the song, but was having trouble placing who it was that originally sang it.

Then it dawned on me. We were listening to a 311 song!!!!

When I was in high school, 311 was a local group in Omaha that was well-known in the area. It was a group of kids from, if I remember right, Westside High School who were a couple of years older than me...and they rocked. Unfortunately, the vast majority of their shows were in "over-18 only" venues, and since I was under 18, that meant I only got to see them once. At a place in Omaha (now closed, I think) called the Ranch Bowl.

Yeah, I was under 18 at the time. I'm such a rebel. Pffffft.

But anyway, they got a record deal sometime in the mid-90's and have been pretty big with the high school/college set since. They have kind of a Red Hot Chili Peppers-meets-Jamiroquai sound to them. Funky, not quite reggae but almost sometimes, not quite rap but almost sometimes...sometimes hard rock, sometimes not-so-much...they're hard to really put a label on. It was cool to see one of their songs done on American Idol in a "hometown-kids-make-it-sorta-big" kind of way. I'll try to ignore the fact that not a single one of the judges recognized the song.

I swear, they're so out of touch.

Hadn't they ever been to the Ranch Bowl?

LH

Melinda Doolittle

Ladies and gentlemen...your NEXT American Idol...
.
.
.
.
.
...Melinda Doolittle!

That's right. Please, executives at Fox, 19 Entertainment, Simon Fuller, whoever might have a say in this...just end the American Idol competition now.

In its place, I'd like a weekly 2 hour Melinda Doolittle concert, please.

This girl doesn't just sing. She can SANG!!! (That's "sing" with attitude...say it out loud to get the full effect of the word.) And the way she commands the stage--good lord, she's a lil' bit Tina Turner, a lil' bit Aretha Franklin, and a lil' bit Gladys Knight.

Would it be sacreligious to say I'd rather listen to Melinda Doolittle than any of those three?

Not that there aren't other extremely talented folks in the competition. There's a few, that in other seasons, I'd consider front-runners.

But this just ain't fair. Melinda's in a league of her own.

And the best part about the whole thing? She's so doggoned humble about the whole thing. And it's not fake humility either, you know, the kind where it's obvious the person knows they're amazing but they're saying all the right things to sound nice. She looks honestly surprised whenever the judges praise her after each of her performances. No, Melinda still has no idea what a gift she has.

Or for that matter, what a gift she is.

Seriously, if you have DVR or a VCR, record American Idol. If you're not a fan of the show, feel free to fast-forward through the other contestants' bits. There's 3 or 4 other folks that are definitely worth listening to if you're so inclined, but I understand if you're not. At the very least, find Melinda Doolittle's song and listen. You will not spend a more enjoyable 4 to 5 minutes in the rest of your week.

Here's a clip from last week's show. Melinda's singing My Funny Valentine. Enjoy.



LH