#2: American Idol left TV after its 15th season, with a splendid Farewell Show last Thursday evening,
I've loved Merle Haggard's songs, and his singing since I first heard his recordings in the late 1980s. My old post on Merle is HERE. Below is a trio of some of my favourites - heck, all his songs are my favourites really - but I've picked three which don't seem to come up often these days: Lonesome Fugitive - the first song of his I ever heard; Footlights - which tells how Merle dealt with his own ageing, and don't we all wish we could kick out metaphorical footlights at times? Lastly, Big City - the song I'd always put on my record player, full blast, back in the UK when we were about to leave on vacation.
'Bye Merle - and a thousand thanks for all the musical pleasures, past, present and future.
Here's a 7 minute clip from the American Idol farewell show last week - it features brief snips from well-known songs, sung by some of the best of Idol's singing finds over the years. I don't recall all the names, but one standout performance is in the last clip, of Jessica Sanchez singing The Prayer.
I was going to post a video of this season's winner, Trent Harmon, singing Sia's Chandelier, but videos at YouTube don't do his performance full justice; better quality is at second video in this article.
And so, it's 'bye 'bye to Idol - maybe not forever. The show has to have been quite a moneymaker for Fox, and we all know that they won't lose any chance to make more money!
I've followed American Idol every season since living in the USA, and before that I watched its original, parent show Pop Idol in the UK. I've always been a sucker for musical talent shows, watched any and all of them. Many people see this as kinda infra dig...so be it. I'm always up for a bit of infra dig!
I love to see ordinary people getting a chance to shine. I admit, though, that as the years passed the show became something it was never intended to be. The original was raw, honest, sweet, real. In these later years it became manipulated by producers, contestants were often not exactly amateur, and too much focus was trained on "celebrity" judges and their antics. It was past time to give the show a rest.
'Bye Idol - but I do suspect you'll return, one day, in some form or other.
4 comments:
Not a Haggard fan, but RIP all the same. The opening chords to "Footlights" is so familiar to my ears...the same as some other popularized song, but I can't say which. Feeling old at the age of 41, Merle laments! Can't sympathize with that...LOL. Lots left at that age and I sure didn't feel aged at that year of life. It's only been the last couple of years that I've been feeling older.
Ditto for American Idol...wasn't into it to miss it...and a hearty good riddance to the "judges". They suffered from too much conceit and elitism for my ability to endure them. I remember one sad faux pas with Harry Connick Jr belittling a talent, but there were many weird moments thrown-in by the other judges, too. And, I only "watched" the show when it was on in the background...too lazy to change channels while I was on the computer or talking on the phone, gaining my attention with particularly good performances or unusually raucous audience moments. The show had many accusations of being rigged with shady deals. The show was free for the viewing, so I'm glad you got your money's worth...LOL.
mike~ Agreed - 41 was way too soon to be feeling old. He was a good looking guy in his younger years, and I seem to remember that his looks did go "off" a bit in mid-life, then he kind of grew into 'em and, with a beard later on, looked fine again.
I can understand why a performer such as he would feel particularly sensitive to looks fading, after being attractive.
I still don't feel really old, though when someone on TV was bemoaning an upcoming 50th birthday the other night, anyjazz and I said in perfect unison - "I wish I could be 50 again - that was YOUNG!" ;-)
I'm left with The Voice for my talent show fix now. The judge/coaches on that show are even more irritating than Idol judges, and contestants are mostly semi-pros, head-hunted by the show. I'm not nearly as keen as I once was, but it's something (the only thing apart from weather warnings) to watch on actual TV, rather than via ROKU.
We had our first bit of weather-related fun, this year, last night - storm system raced through our town with 60-70 mile and hour winds and hail. TV said to expect up to tennis ball-sized hail, but as it happened it wasn't anything near that - barely quarter sized, but coming at our windows very hard in the high wind. Didn't last long.
Several major storms have blown through here in the past month. One night had 80 MPH winds, rain, thunder-lightning for about four hours. The fury of nature, then followed with a beautiful, calm, sunny morning!
Here's an interesting read...you've probably been through Potwin, KS. Click on the "You can try to map your own IP address here" and follow. I checked my "black list" status and I have two violations, probably from the email hijacking I told you about. You said you suspect your email was used for spam, so you may be on the "black list".
http://fusion.net/story/287592/internet-mapping-glitch-kansas-farm/
mike (again) ~ Another short storm tonight, mostly thunder lightning and rain - no hail this time.
Thanks for the link - I checked as you suggested and find all green ticks, so no blacklist status, it seems. Anyjazz said his e-mail went off for a time today - I suspect Cableone is messing around currently, maybe updating or repairing but don't wish to pass on that info when someone calls to report a problem, so have enquirers go through certain steps, which are probably a good thing anyway (changing passwords etc.)
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