I hope you enjoy looking around here; feel free to hang out all you like. Mostly I talk about football, American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, a little bit of politics and my last cruise vacation (not necessarily in that order). Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email any time.
1. Thou shalt not sing Whitney, Mariah or Celine unless thou art actually Whitney, Mariah or Celine.
1A. Remember the words to the song you're singing.
2. Just sing the song. Leave runs, vocal tricks, vibrato et al at home.
3. If a song "belongs" to another American Idol performer, don't even try it. "Summertime" is Fantasia's. "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" is Clay's. You will only be a pale imitation, so don't bother.
4. Listen to what Simon has to say and ignore the way he says it; he's a pompous idiot, but he's also usually right.
5. Don't argue with the judges; it just makes you look whiney and ungrateful.
6. Be mentally tough or the show will chew you up and spit you out, no matter how good a singer you are.
7. Sing every song like it's going to be your last and don't take any week for granted because every year someone unexpectedly gets whacked.
8. Any falsetto is too much falsetto.
9. If you didn't get on TV during the audition rounds and Hollywood, you got hosed. Don't complain about it. Thank American Idol for the opportunity and be grateful you don't have to shill for Fox/Freemantle/19E for the rest of your life.
10. Don't read silly blogs and message boards. Do your best because no matter what you do, some hack with a website will write things about you you don't believe and you don't think are true. Suck it up, ignore the blather and prove them wrong!
Dave's Season 10 Idol Glossary
AFE - The Anthony Fedorov Effect, or the tendency to sing power ballads that show off a money note at the end
CCS - Crappy Coronation Song
Dead Man's Spot - The lead-off spot in the order, statistically a dangerous place to have to sing
GDM - Gay Dance Moves guy, Jacob Lusk
IBG - Interchangeable Blonde Girl
O1NS - Obligatory One-Named Singer in the tradition of Trenyce, Mandisa, and Vonzell.
OIG - Obama Intern Girl Molly Swensen
OTP - One Trick Pony
PCC - Psycho Crying Chick Ashley Sullivan
Pimp Spot - Getting to sing last, statistically a very good place to sing
SOB - Stars on Boobs Girl Tiffany Rios
T/AG - Tourette's/Asperger's Guy James Durbin
TCO - The Chosen One
VSC - Very Special Contestant, a singer who is handed a bajillion votes with their touching sob story and massive face time
