Sunday, May 4, 2014

"...Untweeting The Tweet Is Like Unringing The Bell...."

What we've got here is failure to communicate.

Somebody needs to tell these kids which talent is supposed to be front and center.

I'll be more than happy to help.

Coming up.



After last Thursday's controversial "American Idol" results show, Alex Preston and Jena Irene might have had reason to worry about a fan backlash. (They cast the two dissenting votes in an "Idol Twist" round that resulted in fellow contestant Sam Woolf getting sent home.) But now it's another top four finalist, Caleb Johnson, who's catching flak, after one of his shocking post-show interviews has gone viral.

Speaking to After Buzz TV last week about his opinion of social media, Caleb expressed some of his lingering resentment over having to perform the fan-requested Aerosmith ballad "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" — a song he admitted he hates, and arguably his weakest performance of the season — by blasting his followers who supposedly regularly spam his Twitter feed with unwelcome song suggestions.

To dis his superfans (i.e., the people most likely to SuperVote for him) was foolish enough. But his politically incorrect wording made the situation much, much worse.

"[Twitter] gives access to a bunch of retards to talk to me," Caleb said, astonishingly. "I don't really enjoy having to see somebody telling me what song I have to sing. I think at this point of the competition, I can pick and choose my own songs and represent me. I don't need 10,000 people saying, 'You should sing this, you should sing that. Listen to me!' Fortunately, guys, I'm going to listen to myself, whether you like it or not."

Obviously, the use of the dreaded "R-word" under any circumstances would have been offensive and unacceptable. But the fact that Caleb seemed to be directing this slur at engaged, well-meaning fans (as opposed to "haters") was simply baffling… and it was possible career suicide, with the finale and a record contract only three weeks away.

While Caleb's aforementioned Aerosmith cover last Wednesday had been underwhelming, he'd easily rebounded with a tour de force rendition of Whitesnake's "Still of the Night" (ironically, also a fan request) that was actually one of the greatest performances of Season 13. (It even garnered kudos from Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale — on Twitter!) But Caleb squandered much of that goodwill with his thoughtless remark. Many fans, possibly former fans, took to — wait for it — Twitter to vent their anger and disappointment over what Caleb had said.
  
On Saturday afternoon, Caleb addressed this controversy on his Facebook page (but not on Twitter), posting:

"For the record that juvenile comment I made in the interview was not directed towards my fans but to the wackos that send hundreds of hate messages a day to me! You guys are amazing and I cannot thank you enough for your support. Sorry if it offended anybody it was the wrong choice of words. Also I greatly appreciate it when you guys give me song suggestions but it gets really overwhelming at the volume it comes in so please understand ! Rock on !:)"

Caleb's apology oddly didn't quite vibe with what he'd originally complained about to After Buzz TV (he hadn't mentioned anything about "hate messages," only song requests). Nor did he seem to demonstrate a true understanding of the hurtfulness of his words. Whether his Facebook statement was enough to repair any damage done to his reputation and help him maintain his frontrunner status heading into next week's top four show, we will soon find out.

But if Caleb does stay on the show in the coming weeks, it might be a good idea for him to re-enroll in the media training class that was offered at Randy Jackson's "Idol" workshop.



In the interest of staying on point and/or topic, I'll spare you my familiar diatribe about these shows cheapening the art of singing and/or music in general by insisting on turning them into the live performance equivalent of a three legged race at the company picnic.

Although these shows cheapen the art of singing and/or music in general by insisting on turning them into the live performance equivalent of a three legged race at the company picnic.

Meanwhile, there's a skill/talent being increasingly utilized in these situations that isn't getting the slightest bit of attention, let alone its due.

A skill/talent that should actually come with its own sound effect.

The sound of beeping.

More and more, and more often, people in the public line of sight (or "limelight" as your pre-smartphone, pre-flat screen older than dirt parents and/or grandparents used to call it) seem to find it a necessary, even essential, part of their public presentation to mouth off in ways unbecoming a civilized individual, let alone an officer on matters which have little, if anything, to do with their ability, or lack, to keep our attention for four minutes, give or take, with their God given gifts of song.

It should come as no real surprise that the title of that Dixie Chicks documentary has popped to mind.

Shut up and sing.

Can't, in fairness,though, really blame the celebrities, per se' as the fault, dear Brutuses, lies not in our stars, but in the advent of social media and, literally, instant communication allowing those stars to be heard and/or seen, literally, instantly, regardless of how profound, or not, insightful, or not, keen eyed, or not, ill timed, inappropriate and/or moronic.

Or not.

But, mostly, ill timed, inappropriate and/or moronic.

Throw into the salacious soup equal measures of the ravenous hunger and/or thirst people have for sensational, snarky, snotty, back biting, bitch slapping and the ready, willing and ableness of all forms of media to feed that ravenous hunger and/or thirst from a digital diner open twenty four/seven with a generosity of portions that makes the local Thanksgiving feast handout at the Salvation Army headquarters look like a scene from "Oliver" and what you have is grand guignol gossip on a global scale.

Caleb Johnson isn't, of course, even remotely close to the first "celebrity" to place a stylish item of footwear firmly in his potentially profitable pie hole.

And while it seems logical to assume that he never intended his "career" to head that way, he now finds himself eligible for inclusion on a list of "should have been seen and not heard-ers" that boasts such infamous mouthpieces as Alec Baldwin, Mel Gibson, Reese Witherspoon, Donald Sterling.....

....oh, and land sakes alive, let us not forget Paula Deen.

Ya'll.

Again, in fairness, most of the aforementioned talky transgressors committed their conversational hari-kiri in the context of private situations,

If being fully exposed to both video and audio recorders can reasonably defined as private situations.

Mr. Wants To Be The American Idol But Apparently Not Badly Enough To Keep His Mouth Shut Unless He's Warbling Whitesnake, on the other hand, let his fingers to the walking and talking without any more provocation that being asked an innocuous question about social media in one of dozens of interviews the kid has already given.

A softball he could have easily parked over the fence that he turned into a mucky mess that made Pine Tar Pineda look like a poster boy for superior sportsmanship.

See, here's the thing.

And the bottom line.

Whoever is helping this kid to attempt to build a singing career is outrageously remiss in teaching him one of the key fundamentals in any public relations campaign.

A little something that doctors, actually, learn from day one of med school.

First...do no harm.

Then, there's that thing about goals and focus and, more importantly, keeping eyes on the prize.

American Idol is a singing competition.

And those who compete are supposed to be competing as singers.

It's not an episode of Crossfire or The Five or The O'Reilly Factor.

Most people don't really care what Caleb Johnson thinks about anything.

Any more than they are anxious to hear Bill O'Reilly warble Whitesnake.

So, just in case no one has clued you, there, young Idol aspirant, which based on the most current empirical evidence, the fair assumption is that no one has......

The talent with which you are trying to impress people is your ability to sing.

Not your ability to walk things back when you mouth off.

Oh, and not for nothin', but the ability to walk things back is totally way past yesterday's news anyway.

Audiences were thrilled beyond measure the first time it happened.

March 25, 1983.

Motown 25th Anniversary Special.

Michael Jackson.

Moonwalk.

So, Caleb, dude, seriously, with all due respect there, buddy.

Shut up and sing.







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