52 Weeks of Memories: Week 4

Singing competitions are always memorable to me. Unfortunately they bring out my inner Simon Cowell. I always loved Simon on American Idol. Sure he was harsh with his comments, but most times Simon was on point. He was honest with his criticism. I wish he went to Columbia’s Top Talent Friday night. He would have flipped the table and walked away.
I joined my roommate and her pastor’s two daughters for the evening as we got to see the top talent at Columbia High School. I believe the children are the future, but it’s not looking bright if most of them want to be singers. I already told my roommate I was going to boo any bad singers. And boo I did via text message to her. I may be crazy, but I’m not THAT crazy. I’m not booing those children out loud so their families can jump me.

The night was dominated by more than 20 off-key singers, with little stage presence, forgotten lyrics and Adele songs minus the pain. If you don’t have that pain, then don’t sing Adele is all I ask. The show also featured a fashion show and step demonstration. Most of those clothes on the models were inappropriate in a major way. It was a pedophile's dream come true. Plus the majority of the models just didn’t know how to do the Naomi Campbell walk. The step team was the best part of the night and they were only about five minutes long. They could have cut the fashion show and some of the singers to make more time for the step team. A guest band performing, Moonlit Dove, should have competed. They performed an original song and were stellar!

Ultimately I was not happy with the final results once they announced the top 11 (there was a tie for 10th place). Malcolm X’s words came to mind: “You've been had. You've been took. You've been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok.” My issue was at least four of the finalist were just plain wrong. If you can’t hold even sing in key or remember the words to your song, how are you a finalist? There were others who weren’t great but still a lot better than some of the winners. Next year they need to make me a judge. I’ll give them the true top 10 picks based on real talent. Somebody needs to be Simon and I will gladly play the part.