So I’m one of those people who doesn’t feel guilty when I don’t give homeless people change. I can walk around with quarters jingling in every pocket, and they can follow me around salivating like Pavlov’s dog, and I’ll keep on talking or singing or counting squirrels without a second look. Now I’m not insensitive, I’ve just become de-sensitized. Even the girl with the bag pipes in the Public Garden and the guy with the banjo at Park Street have become nothing more than background music to whatever I happen to be thinking at the time.

Enter Status Quo.

Over the years I’ve learned I can’t dance. I can drink until I wake up in a toilet bowl, but I can’t even find rhythm there. When I first saw the ads for Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew on MTV, I put some T-Pain on iTunes, marked my calendar and waited to experience something as foreign as mud puddle mattress surfing.

And then I saw them. Status Quo. During the live casting episode, as Mario Lopez introduced the East Coast representatives, shots of Beacon Hill and Boston Common flashed across the screen. Six kids jumping and flipping off benches, and I knew those benches, and wait–I knew those kids. Read More »

Think you have an eye for talent? Are you the next Simon, Randy or (God forbid) Paula?

Well, AI won’t be around again for a few months, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get your talent show fix. (and no, The Singing Bee doesn’t count)

FameCast is an internet-based talent competition where the winner has the opportunity to win $10,000! And in an appreciated twist, the contest isn’t just for singers! Comedians, singers, dancers, directors, and spoken word artists all have a shot at a title in their category.

Fans voted for their favorite performers and all the performers had to do was upload a video of them doing their thing. Way easier than Idol, if you ask me. Read More »

It seems like yesterday that all of us were forced (ok, willingly obliged) to sit through the two hour weekly spectacle of American Idol. I can still hear Simon’s snarky comments, Paula’s drunken ramblings, and Randy’s so-white-how-can-you-be-black-“dawgs” in the back of my mind.

Sanjaya seems to have thankfully faded into pop culture history, and we’re yet to see if the American Idol curse will hit Jordin, or skip over her in a Carrie Underwood manor.

Seriously, didn’t it just end? So why, oh why are there already audition dates for the upcoming season? Is it so brave people don’t have to sit through horrible weather as they have in the past? Is it so Fox and the producers of AI can milk advertisers for even more money by making the show longer? Is it because we just can’t get enough?

Auditions begin on July 30th in San Diego, and snake their way across the country to finish up in Philadelphia on August 27th.

Cities hit in between—Dallas, Omaha, Atlanta, Charleston and Miami. My bet for the winner next year? Some cute farm girl from Omaha who will blow everyone away. I don’t know, just seems like an underdog story ready to be blown out of proportion. Read More »

Aight, aight. Yo. Sorry, I had to do it…I’m going to try and make this brief because—let’s face it—American Idol has gotten a little old this season, and I’m sure we’re all tired of hearing about it. So let me start with the judges….

I know it’s not a fashion competition, but what the hell was Randy wearing? You know he thinks he’s a general in his own mind. Yes, I believe he loves himself that much. Paula—I’m sorry about the bruise on your face, but do you have a speech impediment? To me, she always sounds like she’s talking with a retainer in her mouth, but last night, maybe due to pain killers, it was even more pronounced. And she was obviously tired from her fall cause she was relatively quiet.

Simon—I love you just the way you are. Maybe with a few more buttons undone. I’m sorry that everyone boos you. You’re the only one that makes sense.

Jordin owned Blake last night. Owned. What Simon said about her wiping the floor with him on the last (kind of wretched, but not surprised it was picked) song? Totally true. She walked out on that stage and it was like she’d already won. She knew she had it. And I loved her dress. Read More »