Quote of the Day
Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
Walter Lippmann
Congratulations America's Got Talent Winner 2011:
Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr.
But I Dissent From The Decision
First of all, I want to point out that I did support Landau Murphy to reach the final four (along with two other acts). There is an Horatio Alger feel to the story of a once homeless African American man whom just a few weeks ago was washing cars for a living to an uncharacteristic jazz singer crooning Rat Pack (40's/50's Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin) classics on his way to a $1M prize and a Vegas headlining act.
I happen to disagree with the decision; for one thing, unlike the judges, I really don't think his rendition of the Paul Anka hit "My Way" (popularized by Frank Sinatra) was all that great. I've heard the song sung better from a number of artists (in fact, I think I can deliver a decent vocal: as faithful readers know, I sang in my high school choir. And no, it's not true that audience asked for their money back from our performances: in fact, we never charged admission.) Second, I personally don't think a solo singing performance is nearly as difficult as what the other acts did. I have an issue with the fact that solo vocal performances have dominated among different type acts over the past 6 seasons. I somehow think there should be some complexity factor, just like how judges evaluate diving competitions. Plus, I think there are already something like 4 or 5 singing competitions on the air: what are these singers doing that much different that wouldn't fit better in one of the other formats. And note that even when you sing, some songs are easier to sing than others. Take, for instance, the classic Jimmy Webb hit "MacArthur Park", popularized by actor Richard Harris. I have to admit those notes at the end of the song are challenging for any decent tenor.
Talent competitions are heterogeneous by nature and it's difficult to come up with a "one-size-fits-all" measure. Quite frankly, many, if not most of the acts bore me. I think Team iLuminate is talented, but I'm not a fan. What I like to see is some innovative twist on things. A 28-year-old soprano singing opera is not that rare. By far, the most talented and successful winner/alumnus of the show has been Terry Fator. He's a decent singer of various styles, an impressionist, a comedian, and a ventriloquist: he's like an entertainment polymath. There are so many different things he can do with that unique skill set.
I think Jackie Evancho was a special, interesting case: hearing a 10-year-old girl sing like a 30-year-old soprano. I supported her last year, and this year, as I posted yesterday, I supported the Silhouettes. I've never seen an act do what they've done. Some reviewers, like one of those cited above, thought the Silhouettes were a one-trick pony and overly sentimental. In fact, I don't see people paying big money in Vegas to see an 11-year-old singer or a talented dance troupe or even a talented magic act (short of large-scale illusions).
I think Evancho got robbed last year; I don't know if there was some stipulation going on behind the scenes (I can easily see how Evancho's act is not exactly a Vegas act), but last year's winner Michael Grimm, in his early 30's, more of a blue-eyed soul singer, in record sales reported on Wikipedia discography pages, peaked #13 on the US album charts and 22,000 in sales to date. Evancho, who released her CD around the same peak, rose to #2 and 316,000 in sales.
I believe that, with all due respect to Murphy, the Silhouettes got robbed. Maybe it's another "we can't see this as a Vegas act"--but imitating the Rat Pack easily fits in the Vegas mold. I think the Silhouettes exhibited tremendous class and sportsmanship. I would encourage the director of the dance troupe to consider some variation of their act for a tour, sort of an alternative "Up With People" .
I think that the show's producers should rethink how they promote the grand prize to fit the talent. I'm not going to fully flesh out the concept here, but for instance, I would like to see something more like a customized grand prize based on the nature of the act, with a guaranteed $1M. For example, I could easily see the Silhouettes doing appearances at concert halls or theaters, country acts perhaps in Branson, a circus act traveling with Ringling Brothers or appearances with Cirque due Soleil. For other singers, maybe it's an advance on a CD.
A second thing I might suggest is setting up to 4 different categories of performances: individual, group, junior (youth) and novelty. There would be guarantees of, say, up to $250K, for each category, where, say, the semi-finals are category finals, and then one overall winner. I might also have something like a $100K cameo/special-performance award to address the one-trick-pony impressive acts that are difficult to vary on a sustained basis
Political Potpourri
The Republicans evened up the score of sleazy NY politician turnover seats (Chris Lee (R-26) was succeeded by Kathy Hochul (D)) with Bob Turner (R-9) taking Weiner's seat. Sean Hannity could barely contain himself last night, clearly anticipating a rare NYC GOP pickup of a seat last held by a Republican since 1923, which has been held by the late 1984 Mondale running mate Geraldine Ferraro and current senior NY US Senator Charles Schumer. There have been a lot of excuses from the mainstream media, e.g., comparing turnout rates. The fact of the matter is that polls predicted a Turner victory across the board, enough for the Democratic Party to pour in tons of money and get Bill Clinton to support Weprin in the closing days of the campaign.
I would caution Hannity from others from generalizing from one or 2 elections (e.g., the other race to succeed interim Senator Heller, the replacement for former Senator Ensign). People forget that scandals often result in a turnover for at least one cycle, e.g., Mike Flanagan succeeded Dan Rostenkowski in 1994, and Joseph Cao beat William Jefferson in 2008. And keep in mind Turner got 41% of the vote against Weiner last November; incumbency is a natural advantage. There are a number of Orthodox Jews whom vehemently opposed the NY "gay marriage" legislation, which Weprin voted for, and they are not happy with Obama's seeming ambivalent stand on supporting Israel.
What I find is interesting is Donald Trump's decision to do robocalls supporting Turner. Trump has implicitly attacked Congressman Paul Ryan's long-term roadmap to entitlement reforms (of course, Trump has no constructive answers other than to say it's politically stupid to play with the third rail of American politics; what Trump doesn't see is unless Paul Ryan or some other conservative manages to do something about these unsustainable entitlements, there's going to be no electricity running along that third rail, because we won't be able to afford the electricity.)
Speaking of Trump, he still sees us exporting good paying jobs to China, and yes, Trump is now channeling his inner Ross Perot, because he's now hearing that giant sucking sound of jobs disappearing into Mexico as well. Let's look at those good-paying jobs Trump is talking about; the NY Times reported about 15 months ago that the average wage of a factory worker in southern China is 75 cents an hour. No doubt Trump wants those 75 cents an hour jobs back home under his own union contracts...
Now about the HPV vaccine kerfuffle involving Governor Rick Perry: Governor Rick Perry issued an executive order, later overturned by the Texas legislature, which would have mandated HPV vaccination of preteen (age of 10 or 11) girls; among other things, human papillomavirus, an STI (sexually transmitted infection), which, in some strains, can result in cervical cancer. Perry's line of reasoning was that it was reasonable public policy as prevention of cervical cancer (there is less response to the vaccine at preteen ages). Attacks by Perry and Bachmann include dubious claims about its safety and crony capitalism (allegedly regarding financial ties of a top staffer and a modest amount of contributions.)
My position: I think Perry's unsuccessful attempt to unilaterally mandate HPV vaccines (for school admissions) on the grounds that girls will be sexually active and hence may get an STI (sexually transmitted infection) and may develop cervical cancer is rather presumptuous and an unjustifiable intrusion on individual rights and responsibilities. Before coming up with a public policy mandating a particular vaccine I would need to look at the empirical evidence, but generally speaking it's one thing to mandate shots if we are dealing with contagious diseases in public settings, but I don't see STI's in the same category.
What Perry is failing to acknowledge is (1) what he tried to do is merely another application of the same "Big Government Knows Best" mentality displayed by Obama and other progressives; (2) the function of a public sector executive is to carry out policy enacted by the legislature; I have no idea how he thought, in a southern state where even the topic of sex education stirs debate, we now add vaccines to condom distribution: sexual behavior outside of religious or social norms is inevitable, young adults cannot be expected to control themselves and we can't expect parents, in consultation with their own physicians, to responsibly choose the "right" decision of HPV on their own.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Fleetwood Mac, "Over My Head". For most of us fans, this is the hit song that first grabbed our attention (yes, I know Fleetwood Mac had been charting since the 60's but had only a minor impact on the American charts).
