Driving Around

I was driving around today and for a while was behind a car that had a sign on its back windown that said "Singing Lessons - All Age."  Let's put aside the nitpicking about whether it should have read "All Ages" - perhaps the 'S' had come loose and the lack was not noticed by the vehicle's owner.

I bring this up because it got me thinking about the audition process for the show 'American Idol' and specifically for the 2010 season.  I don't watch the bulk of the show, but I do like to watch the auditions.  I do this with the same morbid fascination that I usually reserve for train wrecks.  There are just so many people who are so very eager to display their complete and utter lack of talent on national TV.  They quite often do so with the complete and utter ignorance of what very little talent they have.

In the auditions for the 2010 season, one young woman was turned down by the panel.  She did have a modicum of singing ability.  She wasn't as horribly bad as William Hung.  But she definitely did not have anywhere near enough talent to be considered as a viable contestant.

She took umbrage at the panel's opinions and very irately told them that she DID have talent and that she's got the singing teachers to prove it.  Yes, teachers, plural.  You could see it on everyone's face - perhaps she needed to go back to her teachers and ask for a partial refund of fees paid.  Because if she's had YEARS of lessons from multiple teachers, then she either should have a better singing voice or her teachers should have been more straightforward with her concerning her potential as a singer.  I would guess the teachers were more interested in receiving the fees than in telling the young woman the truth.

Oh, the places my thoughts go when I'm behind a car at a stoplight.

Papillon