As most of you don't know I spent an inordinant amount of time following American Idol this past season.  I had never been drawn into the show before really though I saw a few episodes here and there over the years.  Never voted or went to the boards or anything like that.  But this year was different. 

I started to watch the early audition episodes for the goofball quacks that they highlight just for shits and giggles.  Then one day a girl by the name of Paris Bennett showed up and I thought...well now here's someone worth listening to!

Here was Paris' audition that got me (actually the clip is quite long its only the first maybe 3 minutes...ok whatever, watch what you want):

So that got me to the next week since every now and then you find a diamond in the rough.  Well this is the diamond that made me watch the rest of the season like a man possessed.  I just wanted to hear more from this guy.  This might also make my title to my Suwannee River post make a bit more sense.  I don't think this is how Stephen Foster thought of his song.  Hee hee.  Here's Taylor Hicks' audition.

OK so Simon wasn't the least bit impressed but so what.  Ok so long story short I go onto the boards get hooked on the show and seeing this guy perform and make it.  Also hooked up with a contingency of people from all around the world who loved this guy.  Each Tuesday and Wednesday night I along with a couple others were doing live play by plays for people who were up in the middle of the night in some cases seeing how Taylor did.  I told you I was hooked but it was a ton of fun and I still keep in contact with several of those people.

Taylor wins the whole shooting match and I'm thrilled.  So the guy doesn't quite fit any mould but he just works for me and lots of others it seems.  So now why in the hell did I name this entry the way I did?  Well as it turns out Taylor was in NYC for the lighting of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center and performed 'White Christmas'.  Lets just say it wasn't your granddaddy's version...watch it through and you'll see what I mean.

His first album comes out in a couple of weeks and this song called 'Runaround' will be the first single.  I didn't care for it when I heard the first brief clip a week or so ago but this version seemed like a lot of fun.

OK so there it is, I was an AI junkie this past year but I think its great that a guy that was out playing run down bars barely getting by can achieve what he has.  Fact is that if it wasn't for Hurricane Katrina he wouldn't have auditioned in the first place.  Go figure.