popping the reality TV talent competition cherry

Ok, so I've had my little procrastination moment this morning and watched Susan Boyle perform on Britain's Got Talent (YouTube won't let me embed the video).

As former a musical theatre junkie, I am intimately acquainted with her song, "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables. Now, I have to say that I was moved by her performance, but I think that that was due--at least in part--to the song itself, which is incredibly moving. To contrast, please listen to Ruthie Henshall (from the "Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert" 10th Anniversary performance in October 1995):

*Tears!* Boyle's excessive vibrato seems empty in comparison to Henshall's powerful but very well-controlled interpretation. Just singing loudly and vibrato-y does NOT a good singer make: Vibrato is not a toy, people! Nor is it a substitute for thoughtful interpretation or musical ability.

I was more impressed by this dude (Paul Potts):

At 0:27, he looks EXACTLY the way I feel when I'm forced to sing in front of people (and also, I imagine, the way people look when they're forced to listen to me sing in front of them). He sounds a tiny bit better than I do, though.

My confession: this is the FIRST TIME I've ever, ever watched one of these reality TV talent shows. You know what this means? I have never encountered Simon Cowell before. There's something quite... sexy, about him, isn't there? It's weird. In the video of Susan Boyle, he does these odd things with his eyebrows, and with Paul Potts, he's playing with a pen in his mouth. I'm a little disturbed. Is he like this on American Idol?

**If you want to listen to another musical theatre exemplar, go to YouTube and type in Lea Salonga.

jam-packed

As I was taking a break from the 19th-Century art history conference today at Columbia, I heard a guitar piddling around, and it sounded kind of like one of my favorite bands. Which was weird, because why would VAMPIRE WEEKEND being playing at Columbia today, when I'm supposed to be in a darkened lecture hall from 9am until 5pm and it's 79 degrees outside? Well, turns out that it was indeed Vampire Weekend testing out the old sound system and that they were going to play at 3pm, followed by Talib Kweli. (Yes, really.)


Needless to say, I skipped out on the afternoon sessions (though I returned, of course, for the cheese and cheap wine at the reception) and stood on Alma Mater's feet to enjoy the 45 minute set and the blazing sunshine:


It was, as the French say, LE AWESOME. I mean, really, I'm just wandering around campus, happen to hear a few random notes of music and discover that one of my favorite bands is playing that day? And it's beautiful out? And the band is LE AWESOME live? This, my friends, THIS, is why I love New York City.

...And for those of you out there who aren't jealous enough, I give you a snippet of the closing number, "Walcott":


Fantastic.

emo lumberjack is not my favorite music genre (thoughts on Fleet Foxes on SNL, or: my dad may be a closet emo hippie)

Emo lumberjacks?
Isn't three guitars kind of overkill?
Long-haired, flannel-wearing falsettos?
Whiny Nirvana?
Seriously, is there like some beard requirement?
I sort of like the song "White Winter Hymnal" [video above] because it reminds me of Joan Baez or Peter, Paul, and Mary songs my Dad used to sing me as lullabies that were really just sad and/or scared the crap out of me (cf. "Puff the Magic Dragon," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?," "Blowing in the Wind," "What Do Ye Do With a Drunken Sailor?", all of which make me want to start crying for some odd reason [well, except for maybe the last]). ...Actually, if it reminds me of all those other minor-keyed songs, maybe I don't like it that much after all.


I confess myself confused. Though perhaps that's my dad's fault.



*Also, the guy on Burn Notice seems like a poor man's Guy Pearce. Thoughts?