Someone else noticed, too

It seems we aren't the only ones who have noticed the biases and stereotypes at work in the comments about Justin's hair. From darkparables.blogspot.com:

They also are unaware of their prejudices against non-normal physical attributes. Of course they are all into beauty and cosmetic surgery and looking good for the cameras. But it goes even further. For instance, on idol chat, Rosanna and Kimberly were mocking Justin Guarini's afro, comparing his hair to Bozo the clown. On E's commentary on the golden globe fashions, the hosts -- and Miss Jay a black person with transgender issues should know better-- got a lot of laughs mocking Vanessa Williams and Will Farrell's hair. Why? Because of the afros and curly hair. Why should curly hair and afros bring knee-jerk laughter? Yet, all over television there is a continued mockery about afros which shows that subtle racism is still alive.

Justin's reply, by the way, was to go along with the joke by patting his hair lovingly and saying something to the effect of "Why yes, I stole it and dyed it brown." The setting was light-hearted, and both co-hosts would probably be horrified to know someone saw their actions as "subtle racism." Still, it's worth thinking about how we continue to denigrate differences in our society, even if we do it unconsciously.


On a happier note, Justin is now a correspondent on the TV Guide Channel, appearing on Idol Chat and later on Idol Tonight. Putting aside the Afro issue, Idol Chat has been fun to watch. There's great chemistry between Justin and Kimberly and Rosanna (they keep cracking the show's crew, making you wonder if the show will in fact go on). We're waiting for them to let Justin loose behind the scenes at the tapings of American Idol. That should be a real hoot.

Truthiness and American Idol Bandwagons

We interrupt our irregularly scheduled blogging for a little righteous indignation. . . .

Jessica Shaw of Entertainment Weekly is an example of the worst kind of entertainment writer - one with selective memory who confuses good reporting with her personal desire to look cool.

You might be wondering what inspired this mini-tirade against Ms. Shaw. A sentence. Actually, a quoted sentence of Shaw’s about Justin Guarini in a recent nationally syndicated article about American Idol. The article is a typical one that contains surface opinion, not in-depth substance, retracing - or more accurately, rewriting - Idol history. We’ve all seen them a thousand times by now. Anybody and everybody writes them, which means the writers eventually end up copying each other, repeating the same things over and over and over. Doesn’t matter if the first time something was said it was utter nonsense. If repeated enough, it becomes the truth (or, to borrow from Stephen Colbert, it's "truthy").

That's where Ms. Shaw comes in. Her quoted sentence became our proverbial last straw. So, we are speaking up. Might not be as galvanizing as Howard Beale’s rallying cry of "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!", but, well, it comes close enough for us.

Ms. Shaw’s sentence?

Someone like (runner-up) Justin Guarini, you knew this was never going to be someone who was destined for music superstardom.

As soon as we read it, a word flashed in our brain: Bandwagon. As in, “jumping on the bandwagon”. We looked up the word using Encarta dictionary, and found this:

jump or climb on the bandwagon; to join in something only because it is fashionable or likely to be profitable

Not sure “profitable” applies, but “fashionable” sure fits the bill. It has become fashionable to rewrite Justin Guarini’s history, to use him as the designated target for weak insults, unsubstantiated claims, inappropriate examples, and general fact twisting.

Ms. Shaw has the misfortune of being that one writer too many jumping on the bandwagon, tipping the balance, and spilling a sloppy mess of misguided entertainment writers in front of us. See, we remember what she said in real time, as she commented throughout the first season, and she was not short on compliments of Justin. She even rated his contestant's choice performance on the finale higher than Kelly's. We found a few examples of what she said then, to compare to what she says now:


Finale recap:

You had to know Justin would whip out Get Here for his song choice since his crooning of this lovey-dovey tune made Paula weep oh-so-many weeks ago. Though slightly less soulful than that tear-inspiring performance, Justin proved his vocal range and put every ounce of his soul into the song, proving that he picked the perfect song for his final show.

When Justin is on the stage, there is no way to not get sucked in by his Chippendale's dancer meets choir boy presence.

[T]the guy can hit those high notes and can belt out some impressive sounds. . . .

Final 4 performance of Get Here:

Singing Get Here, one of the original songs that landed him in the finals of the competition, Justin perfected his crooning, romantic voice and even impressed those of us who'd already heard him sing this one. Randy called it 'the best performance in this whole competition,' and Simon said it was 'a great song, fantastically delivered.' A

Route 66:

After last week on loser row, Justin needed a comeback song. He might have been served a little better by a slow, swoon-worthy Chet Baker number, but he performed the hell out of the ever-cool Route 66. He certainly looked the lust-worthy part in a fitted tuxedo with an untied bowtie, and the judges fell for him all over again. Simon hailed the performance as 'great,' while Randy pronounced, 'Justin is back. That was fabulous.' A-

Top 30 recap:

BONUS He's the only contestant whose voice has made Paula cry. Plus, it even seems like the other contestants want him to win because his voice is so awe-inspiring.

So it would seem she did take Justin seriously, despite what she may claim today. Jessica Shaw and those like her who assume the role of expert in the court of popular opinion are fortunate not to have to take an oath "to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Cuz, Ms. Shaw, et. al, your "truthiness" just wouldn't cut it.

A Little YouTube Love

Gotta love YouTube. Not just because it’s where we first discovered that Mentos and Pepsi trick. We also love it because it is the great equalizer in the entertainment business. OK Go made a name for itself with their YouTube videos. Dane Cook made a career for himself through Myspace. No longer are our options for entertainment limited to what some corporate employee decides we should see. It’s all of America, people, and we love it!

Certain on-line music sources like AOL music and Yahoo Music take payment for placement (hey, you didn’t think Mario Vasquez earned his spot on that AOL "best of" list did you? Seriously??). Those places are, therefore, out of reach of the vast majority of entertainers. YouTube, Myspace, Google Video, etc., are open to anyone. Got a video? Got a song? Upload it and let the views begin!

Justin has some fans who've been diligently adding his performance videos to YouTube and Google Video for a while now. The comments on Justin’s YouTube videos reflect what a useful resource it can be for reaching people. Of course, there are the expected comments from hard core fans. But there are also the unexpected comments from people who either never saw the first season of American Idol, or saw it and forgot (or never acknowledged) what a great singer Justin is. We grabbed a few to illustrate our point. The comments are below the video player for each video.

Get Here (in concert 9/29/06)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-OyrUU3gSU

Melhill22
What a beautiful beautiful voice! I didn't watch first season! I just came across Justin here on this site the other night and he is AMAZING!!!!

An impromptu performance of "Sing" before the Georgia State House

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaHTrV4_b3M

Yvning (5 months ago)
I didn't realize how amazing his voice was. It's only when he's away from AI that you see his TRUE talent come out! His best AI performances were his auditions because it was a capella and completely away from the BS...beautiful voice...what can I say? I'm shocked even now!

payette
Wow. I forgot about him, but he's awesome.

Motherless Child

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4psTz266YI

politicalguy2006
Even Simon would stand for that performance! Wow!
It's interesting. If Kelly had never entered AI, Justin would have had much more success than he has had post-idol. I have been a big Justin fan and I'm sad to see that his career is not what it should be at this point. He is so talented!

czarjon
Awesome.

There are loads of other Justin Guarini video on youtube. A good place to start: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=philates