Conversation Piece: The world is a talentless hack!

So my co-workers and I were discussing about American Idol. Frankly, I don't even watch the show anymore because America doesn't know what it wants. Then I opened up my Hotmail (yes, I still use Hotmail!) and saw an ad for one of the Las Vegas clubs. They decided that they were going to host a night starring the guy who sung that "Pants on the Ground" song. It'll be a live performance and people could have their chance to see him live.

Now wait a second...

If my brain is correct, Las Vegas is one of those places where you have to have $500 in your pocket, $500,000 in your bank account and 56 girls for every guy (and even then the guy might not get in). So why would I waste all of that just so I can see the "Pants on the Ground" guy live? Then what's the next ad I see: Come meet the cast of "Jersey Shore".

I'm sorry, when did we decide that having no real talent is the same has having true talent? So much to the point that people would hit up the high class places to say they saw these people in person?

Everytime I visit Ariel Publicity's website to look for new MP3s to feature on the blog, I'm presented with a long list of artists. People who have been busting their ass day after day. People who have been lugging gear, hardware and mics to gig after gig. People who hope that everything sounds right and then leave with a check that will barely cover the gas. These are people who are actively seeking that one-in-a-million chance to make it big and get on that Grammy stage. After all, who doesn't want the chance to have Kanye West interrupt them during their acceptance speech?

Instead, we're bombarded with people who because they did something stupid or act in a stupid fashion get advertised as the hot new thing to come see. Do you realize that people who host club nights in Vegas get a least 5 figures for their apperance? 5 FIGURES! Meanwhile, the young upstart group is barely getting half a figure and that's after doing 3 performances in the same day. Not to mention having to do an 8-5 job so they don't have to decide whether to eat or pay rent.

Now the reason I brought up the "Pants on the Ground" guy in particular is because I personally think that sends the wrong message. Now every fool is going to try to make an ass of themselves on American Idol just so they could be noticed by someone and get the same kind of fame. If I remember American Idol it was supposed to be a show that highlighted true, undiscovered talent. That's how we got people like Carrie Underwood, Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson and Adam Lambert (ok, scratch Adam Lambert), but you see what I mean. These were people who deserve all of the accolades that they get. Meanwhile, some old dude -- sings a ridiculous song (yes, I think the song is total nonsense) and now we're fawning over him. Even Brett Favre decided he was going to sing it in the locker room.

I guess the reason this gets me so hot and bothered is that I come from the angle where I've seen friends do whatever it took to take the talent that they had and make something out of it. I have friends from college who still can't catch a break (even though I think they deserve to be bigger than where they are). One of my dear friends, Natalie Martin, is a great singer so how come she isn't doing a show somewhere? Incidentally, Natalie's album is in the Zune Marketplace (under Zune Pass) if you wanted to check it out.

I could go into a whole spazz about American Idol. In fact, there was a "Conversation Piece" I had written long time ago called "When someone wins, the music lover loses" dealing with the fact that for the most part the winners of American Idol go on to obscurity while the runners up go on to stardom (Can someone please explain to me THAT phenomenon?) but I'll save all of this for a future conversation.

Right now, I just wanted to vent a bit about how can we turn basically the un-famous into superstars and leave well-deserving acts on the sidelines to fend for scraps. It shouldn't be that way.

Maybe if I stood outside with my actual pants ON THE GROUND, I could get a gig at Caesars, no?