Listening to the old phongraph

American idol needs a shot of youth. The show is ostensibly a young show, so why do all the kids sing their grandparent’s record collection. These are young kids who want to be pop stars, but insist on performing the Big Chill soundtrack year after year. Never mind how small you can sound trying to sing Aretha, it’s not exactly topical. A guy sang a 4 year old Keane song the other night, and he may as well have walked on water. What on earth makes an 18 year old think Celine Dion is cool? The sound of Jack Black from High Fidelity rings in my head ‘she can’t like that!

Imagine if you had a succession of stand up comics all doing Ethel Merman, Jimmy Stewart, and James Cagney in their act.

Later this year the idol contestants will team up with Gwen Stefani among others.

Gwen-‘well for starters, I look really hot, can you do that?