American Idol

Robison Wells made a comment on Six LDS Writers and a Frog that if you want a lot of traffic to your site, you should mention "American Idol." I do want lots of traffic, and I don't mind mentioning "American Idol" at all.

You see, I like the show. And I don't have any problems standing up and saying, "Hey! I like it!" I know that some people are closet fans, some are screaming maniac fans, and some people are rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth anti-fans. That's okay -- that's everyone's personal choice. But when Tuesday and Wednesday nights roll around, you know I'll be watching. (Unless I have pack meeting.)

I think it's because I see a lot of myself in some of the contestants. I have a really hard time staying on pitch when I sing. In fact, when I was growing up, my mother told me not to sing. She has perfect pitch and it would drive her nuts to listen to me waver back and forth between keys like a drunk pelican. But then my great-aunt told her that the only way I would learn was to let me sing. "Turn on the radio and let her sing along," she said. "She'll get it."

My mother gritted her teeth. But my great-aunt was a music teacher, so she must know something, right? I was never again told not to sing. (I was told to stop talking, but that's another story.) I did get better, and I now change keys a lot less frequently than I did before. I am learning to hear harmony and can actually do it once in a while. Although I never will be pop star material, I have come a long way, baby.

When I see the contestants audition, and the poor things don't know how bad they sound, I feel for them. They want to do this so badly but they don't have the skills to pull it off. Maybe they, too, will get better with practice, but maybe they need to put that dream to the side, and that's the painful part. When you want something that badly, and then you find out you'll never get it, it hurts.

I like seeing the excitement of those lucky few who actually make it to Hollywood, although I have noticed that they're showing us fewer good auditions this year. Maybe some sadistic souls wrote to the network and said they'd like to see more pain and suffering. But Hollywood Week is going to be a ton of fun, when we get to see who rose to the top and what we have to work with this year. You bet I'll be watching.