I realize that every blog, news station, and newspaper in Louisville has been hyped up over the Louisville American Idol auditions since the show first decided to come to the city. But this post is not about the auditions as much as it is about the city and how it was portrayed in the auditions. If you’re looking for a recap of last night’s show, the people over at StraitPinkie.com have compiled a nice list of blurbs, pictures, and videos from it.
The three things that they talked about on the show in reference to Louisville were horses, Churchill Downs, and Louisville Sluggers. Really? Is that all anyone can ever find to talk about when talking about Louisville? Why is it that no one takes a walk down Main Street or Bardstown Road before they start raving about Louisville and horses? Don’t they do their homework to see that the only horses in Louisville, minus very few exceptions, are at Churchill Downs?
Not that I want to down Kentucky’s name for horses, or the Derby, or Churchill Downs, or Louisville Sluggers – these things are very much a part of Louisville, but I want people who know nothing about Louisville, people watching the Louisville American Idol auditions from California, to be able to see something other than these stereotypes. Louisville has an amazing art scene. We have breathtaking parks. Our restaurants could rival those of any other city in the world. There are so many things that could have been said about Louisville in those short clips they showed about the city, but instead it was all horses and Derby – all stereotypes.
Not that it was surprising. I guess I just always hope too much that one of these days we’ll be shown for what we really are.
My other complaint is that not one of the 10 contestants shown making it to Hollywood week were from Louisville. There were nine contestants that made it to Hollywood that didn’t have their auditions shown, and I can only hope that one of them was from Louisville. Not that it was American Idol’s fault that no one from Louisville made it through. Maybe we just can’t sing here. Or those of us who can sing move away and audition in different cities like Louisville-born Deanna Brown who was given a ticket to Hollywood in the Phoenix auditions.
Deanna is an amazing singer, and I hope she does well in the competition. If you have any doubt as to how amazing a singer she is, check out this video of her performing with her band. If she does well, maybe at least then we’ll be known for producing an American Idol contestant in addition to horses, the Kentucky Derby, and Louisville Sluggers.
The three things that they talked about on the show in reference to Louisville were horses, Churchill Downs, and Louisville Sluggers. Really? Is that all anyone can ever find to talk about when talking about Louisville? Why is it that no one takes a walk down Main Street or Bardstown Road before they start raving about Louisville and horses? Don’t they do their homework to see that the only horses in Louisville, minus very few exceptions, are at Churchill Downs?
Not that I want to down Kentucky’s name for horses, or the Derby, or Churchill Downs, or Louisville Sluggers – these things are very much a part of Louisville, but I want people who know nothing about Louisville, people watching the Louisville American Idol auditions from California, to be able to see something other than these stereotypes. Louisville has an amazing art scene. We have breathtaking parks. Our restaurants could rival those of any other city in the world. There are so many things that could have been said about Louisville in those short clips they showed about the city, but instead it was all horses and Derby – all stereotypes.
Not that it was surprising. I guess I just always hope too much that one of these days we’ll be shown for what we really are.
My other complaint is that not one of the 10 contestants shown making it to Hollywood week were from Louisville. There were nine contestants that made it to Hollywood that didn’t have their auditions shown, and I can only hope that one of them was from Louisville. Not that it was American Idol’s fault that no one from Louisville made it through. Maybe we just can’t sing here. Or those of us who can sing move away and audition in different cities like Louisville-born Deanna Brown who was given a ticket to Hollywood in the Phoenix auditions.
Deanna is an amazing singer, and I hope she does well in the competition. If you have any doubt as to how amazing a singer she is, check out this video of her performing with her band. If she does well, maybe at least then we’ll be known for producing an American Idol contestant in addition to horses, the Kentucky Derby, and Louisville Sluggers.
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UGH! I was so disappointed with the American Idol auditions. But not because no one in Louisville seems talented. I feel really bad for contestant Mark Mudd from Coxs Creek, Kentucky, and this is my take on how he was treated during his audition.
Okay, so let me be blunt. I think Paula is correct that Mudd isn’t right for American Idol. He doesn’t have that “marketable” look Idol contestants need. He also doesn’t have a terribly strong voice. But the way Mudd was portrayed before, during, and after his audition is what really irks me.
We learned via Ryan Seacrest that Mudd’s great-grand whatever was the MD that patched up John Wilkes Booth after he injured himself assassinating former president Lincoln. And then we go on to learn that the axiom “Your name is Mud” supposedly comes from this incident. That really wasn’t pertinent to Mudd’s audition. But it makes good TV, so never mind how it paints Mark Mudd as a person.
Then comes the disaster of the audition. It was bad. Really, really bad. And then if it couldn’t get worse, the look on Mudd’s face after being dejected by the judge’s panel helped segue into one of the most uncomfortable few minutes of Idol history. People love when Simon makes fun of contestants, but sometimes maybe a contestant is much better off getting away without a snide comment. Mudd was visually hurt after the panel’s reaction to his performance. I think some auditioners’ reactions alone are enough to take some reservation when dealing with a bad performance.
But the one part of the audition that bothered me the most was Simon and Paula’s reaction to Mudd as he walked away from the judges. Mudd bid the panel good-bye with the comment “take care and be careful” and you would have thought he had tossed a pipe bomb in the panel’s direction.
Simon Cowell immediately says “That was a threat.” Kara DioGuardi can be heard off camera saying “What does that mean?” And Paula — who in all honestly may have been reacting out of concern following the suicide of her stalker/fan Paula Goodspeed — tells Mudd that “be careful” “isn’t a normal thing to say to people.” Wow.
I can’t even tell you how many people in my life say “be careful” when parting company from anyone — stranger, acquaintance, good friend, or family. I say it all the time. I sign e-mails “be careful.” It’s just something people from this part of the country say. And Paula’s reaction to Mudd was ridiculous. She went on to say that she was going to fly out of town later that night, as if she was afraid she might not make it until morning if she didn’t.
It seems to me if someone visits a part of the country they’re not familiar with they might want to familiarize themselves with regional colloquialisms and colloquial phrases. And I can’t help but think that if Mudd had simply flung his middle finger in the air and told the panel to f-off less would be made of his departure. So much for southern hospitality on Mudd’s part.
I just feel like Idol when well out of its way to frame Mark Mudd as a scary hillbilly from some bluegrass holler somewhere in Appalachia. And that bothers me more than anything I have seen on Idol in the past seven seasons. If nothing else, I feel like the Idol producers owe Mark Mudd an apology.
It may seem like harmless entertainment to make fun of someone in a situation like an Idol audition, but we can’t forget that Mark Mudd is a real person, not some character on a TV show. I hope that Mudd realizes what the American Idol panel makes of him isn’t reality. It’s rating. And I hope that at some point the current panel has an epiphany that just because they are judges of talent on a TV show they aren’t judges of people and their worth based on a 5 minute audition.
another 15 minutes in the spotlight for Mr. Mudd