Thursday, April 23, 2009

Celebrating the Music of the Tri-State--UPDATED

As you no doubt noticed if you read my “Tri-State Idol” posts, I didn’t say a single negative thing about anybody. And I think you guys know it’s not like me to pull my punches when it comes to singing critiques…

But tonight wasn’t about criticizing someone’s pitch or song choice or outfit. Tonight was about celebrating the music of the Tri-State. That’s why the judges pulled all of their punches too…

Yes, there were some shaky performances, but that wasn’t the point tonight. These people—some as young as four-years-old—were brave enough to take this daunting stage and show us what they had. And what they had was a lot of special.

I should have known being in Ashland, Kentucky, that we would hear a lot of country tonight, but somehow I was still surprised at how much. I was expecting a lot of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, but then it dawned on me that young people today don’t really know their songs. We did get some Whitney tonight, but not until we got to the 30+ age group.

I was also surprised tonight by the performances of the young contestants. I would have expected a lot more Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus or Disney songs. But instead we got a lot more popular songs with lyrics probably a little more mature than the contestants singing them. However, that’s the music young people have today. When I was growing up, music was more subtle. Artists like Prince sang about mature themes, they just used innuendo instead of coming right out and saying it.

Now before I make myself sound any older than I already am, let me give kudos to all of the contestants who took the stage tonight. They should all be very proud of themselves. Also kudos to the judges for handling a very difficult job.

And kudos to Jenny Pemberton and her crew at the Paramount Arts Center for putting on a good show. For a first-time event, I think things went well and I’m sure they’re already looking ahead for ways they can improve it if they do it again next year.

If I had to make a suggestion, I would tell the audience to bring signs for their contestant. I was hoping for at least one…

I would also like to thank Jenny for inviting me to be a part of the action. I enjoyed being there and I hope all of you enjoyed reading what I had to say…

More coming up later…