{"id":421,"date":"2009-11-27T11:35:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-27T16:35:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2009-11-28T11:55:41","modified_gmt":"2009-11-28T11:55:41","slug":"in-defense-of-lemgamerican-idoll-emg-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/in-defense-of-lemgamerican-idoll-emg-too\/","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of <em>American Idol<\/em>, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"image_block\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><object type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" data=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/flashback425x150.swf\" width=\"425\" height=\"150\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/flashback425x150.swf\" \/><\/object><\/div>\n<p><em>Although it&#8217;s Saturday, not Friday, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.philly.com\/philly\/obituaries\/76965642.html\" target=_blank>recent passing of Philadelphia singing and tv legend Al Alberts<\/a> necessitates revisiting the following topic.<\/em> <\/p>\n<p><code>This post initially appeared 3\/25\/07.<\/code><\/p>\n<p>True confession time: I envy the contestants on <em>American Idol<\/em>. For that reason alone I cannot stand to watch the show. That doesn&#8217;t mean I don&#8217;t secretly respect the show and all the good it puts forth.<\/p>\n<p>Few of you know this, but I was a child talent show contestant.<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/smQWNiWlwyY?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nPerforming under the stage name <em>James Meara III<\/em>, I appeared on the legendary Philadelphia talent show <em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Al_Alberts\" title=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Al_Alberts\" target=\"_blank\">Al Alberts Showcase<\/a><\/em>. That was me, all right, <strong>Contestant #22<\/strong>. That day, on the air, I told Mr. Alberts I wanted to be a doctor, but that&#8217;s what my parents wanted to hear. In fact, there was nothing more I wanted to be than an entertainer: a singer, a dancer, a drummer, the works.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Alberts was so encouraging. He told me after the show that he thought I &#8220;had it.&#8221; Within weeks of that performance, however, I was kicked off the set of another children&#8217;s show, <strong>Romper Room<\/strong>. I can remember it like it was yesterday: I was sitting behind the set with a few other kids during a commercial break. One of the boys took my red, plastic stegasaurus and wouldn&#8217;t give it back to me as soon as I asked for it. In response, I did what I often did when confronted with such situations: I turned over the table, threw my chair at the boy, and then hit him with a left hook. When Romper Room came back from the commercial break, I was mysteriously missing from the cast, having been quickly escorted with my mother out of the studio.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nSuffice to say I would not be making a return appearance on Romper Room. More damaging to my budding career as an entertainer, however, Mr. Alberts would never call again. I tried to enter some neighborhood talent shows &#8211; church basement fundraisers and carnivals &#8211; but word was out on the street. I was <em>difficult<\/em>, <em>high risk<\/em>, a <em>head case<\/em>.<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZgPrt0mVTv8?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nSo, as I sit <strong>high and mighty<\/strong>, proclaiming that continued seasons of American Idol and all those damn &#8220;reality shows&#8221; will eventually drive me to leave the country, don&#8217;t think I don&#8217;t harbor the dashed dreams of performing my version of &#8220;Send in the Clowns&#8221; for that neckless Brit-twit producer of <em>Teletubbies<\/em>, a former Lakers&#8217; dancer and <strong>MC Scat Kat<\/strong> collaborator, and the only black man in America to willingly play bass for <strong>Journey<\/strong>. I&#8217;ve tried to walk away from it all, but I&#8217;m sure you all know what it&#8217;s like to have that one dream that won&#8217;t die.<\/p>\n<p>By the way, at the risk of embarrassing my oldest friend, but my musical partner in crime, <strong>Townsman Andyr<\/strong>, was also a veteran of children&#8217;s television shows and talent shows. Here&#8217;s a clip of him performing on Romper Room.<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dScRK19od9M?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Let us end with Rock Town Hall&#8217;s Official Eulogy&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"image_block\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<div><object type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" data=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/rip400x602.swf\" width=\"400\" height=\"602\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/rip400x602.swf\" \/><\/object><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although it&#8217;s Saturday, not Friday, the recent passing of Philadelphia singing and tv legend Al Alberts necessitates revisiting the following topic. This post initially appeared 3\/25\/07. True confession time: I envy the contestants on American Idol. For that reason alone I cannot stand to watch the show. That doesn&#8217;t mean I don&#8217;t secretly respect the <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/in-defense-of-lemgamerican-idoll-emg-too\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[170],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}