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October 25, 2004

Sunday Night Idol Thoughts - With Gadge McSexpot

I love Gadge, he loves Idol and he writes a good wrap up. My thoughts will come soon but till then, enjoy the following. I think he makes some great points!

Ahh, the rather disappointing R+B/Soul night. Firstly, Marcia Hines is useless. Secondly, Tassie’s own Amali Ward was barely glimpsable in the audience - but I glimpsed her. Go my eagle eyes. Thirdly, the audience featured many gay men - witness the several dancing along to Hayley, and the obvious bear who gave Anthony the Standing O. The gays, they love themselves a bit of Idol, no?

Anyway, first up was Chanel. You know I love Chanel. Chanel knows I love Chanel. Certain appellate courts are also now aware I love Chanel, and would rather I didn’t do so with as much vigor. I thought this song was a perfect choice for her, and waited for it with the anticipation that hearing she was doing ‘Across the Universe’ on Beatles night brought. Damnit. She just didn’t pull it off, and it was weak, and I wondered, “Why you gots to hurt me that way, baby?” Oh, Chanel. To take the mickey is one thing, but I really, really wanted her to hit this one for six, and she missed it.

But it’s a surprisingly hard song to sing, as a friend once found out when I encouraged her to do it for karaoke. All light and fluffy to begin with, and then Blu Cantrell starts positively wailing away during the second half and if you don’t have a strong enough voice, you get completely lost. Chanel tried, and I want her to stick around, but I worry that she just got herself booted from the competition. Which would make me sad. Weakest on the night, though.

Anthony - interesting that he and Hayley were the two most uncomfortable in front of the camera, I thought. And with the idea of showing flesh. Anthony’s very competent but completely dull, and unless his edge becomes anything more than constant artfully-grown stubble and the occasional pandering to his deeper range, he will remain dreadfully dull. Apparently half of Melbourne has a friend who knows Anthony is gay, so coming out could help, or he could just live a few years of a life that involves Rolling Stone, and the Beatles, and occasionally being seen in public with a shirt that doesn’t button all the way up, and maybe he’d get there. What makes it worse is that there is a fantastic musician inside him (pun intended), because he has been transcendent in the past. It’s whether he can do that on more than one song, that’s the question. Oh, and he also ornamented the song in a way I really wish he hadn’t. Stupid R+B ‘flourishes’ - I hate them most of all, scarecrow.

When Marcia, interrupting Mark to make his point for him, said to Anthony, ‘It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings,’ I thought, ‘Isn’t she up next?’ - an entirely inappropriate, but it turns out accurate, thing to go through my mind. Casey, I think, is getting to the finals. I didn’t quite reach Mark’s levels of ecstacy, for me, but it was a charmingly controlled performance that also managed to show off her range, and it would take a weak fanbase to not propel her to the end. Her and Anthony are the two with the strongest voices (with Hayley just a little underneath) left in this competition, and I’m beginning to think that it will be a power-showdown between the two for the title.

Courtney is a funny guy, though he still can’t take criticism for shit. He also, like Chanel, ended up choosing a song that was too ambitious for him, and it showed. It was piss-funny when Mark asked him whether he had a cold, though, and he shook his head - what, an Idol not making any claim that they’re sick? That never happens. I think he’s really getting a little too certain of his place in the competition, but that this weak performance is likely to open his eyes, if the results do what they should and finally, finally put him in the bottom three. He’s one of only two who haven’t been there yet, and it’s about bloody time he was given something to be humble about, especially as this, as is usual for him, was a strong pub performance, nothing more.

Finally, Hayley. I actually really liked her doing this, and found myself enjoying it more than Dicko. That I’d enjoy it more than Mark was a given, but it was fun, and she did it well, and though I’m beginning to think our Hayley model hasn’t come with Kung-Fu Grip, as she slooowly gets pulled out of overly shiny comfort zone of Canberran cosiness, I hold out hope that she can fully break out with her very natural musical talent. It’s weird, though, to think she’s only 21, because she does seem much older. But I think it means she has a chance to completely break her own mold, which would be good.

Anyway, we’ve two older, weaker singers, two young, plastic performers, and the youngest, with probably the most natural raw talent of any of them. The girls have my vote, but I’m expecting a Chanel, Courtney, Hayley bottom three, with (though I really hope not) Chanel to go. But if you vote for her, she tells you how attractive you are! Cheap validation never sounded so good…

Gadge.