I'm not a music fan, but this show "caught" me.. Our "Big Media" is not interested

[SoCalDem]

in people who can really sing, so they give us Sanjaya (don't know the spelling).

I don't watch Idol, but the few glimpses I have seen prove that the makers of this crappola seem to think that's all we deserve.

The Spotlight Awards on PBS are on now.. and W O W, these young people are TALENTED..but they will no doubt, have to struggle like crazy to get anywhere, while no-talent people get national airtime every week..

Funding of the arts is laughable in this country, and even a tin-ear like myself can see it.

If you get KCET, or if your PBS is showing this, you should tune in & see some really talented young people :)

http://musiccenter.org/education/spot/index.html

[Gatchaman]

1. I don't watch Idol, but I think this Sanjaya thing is sabatage

Supposedly, Howard Stern and a site called votefortheworst.com are promoting this asshole, so he keeps winning even though he supposedly sucks (as I said, I never watch).

Of course, the winners they've had in the past, like Taylor Hicks, also prove your hypothesis pretty well.

I recently saw Stuart Hamm and the Bx3 tour, which is like the G3 tour, only with bass players. There was more talent on display than a hundred Americal "Idols". Tickets were 20 bucks. and you could walk right up to these guys and say hello, too. I saw that Ticketbastard had an auction for a meet-n-greet with Xtina when she was in town, and the tickets went for over $600.

There's no accounting for taste, of course, but I truly feel that people can and will appreciate talent if they are exposed to it. The only way I heard about Bx3 was from a poster on this very forum.

[Initech]

2. It's pretty much a no brainer that most people in this country don't care about the arts

I've seen bands that have more talent collectively than any number of seasons of American Idol combined. Sad thing is, American Idol gets such good ratings that it will probably be on for another 10 years. Most of the bands I've seen in small venues like the HOB will be lucky to get any air time at all. It sucks.

[SoCalDem]

3. The thing about these Spotlight awards is that they are HIGH SCHOOL kids

and are hugely talented.. They are good students too (some have 4.0 gpa) and they are just ordinary kids..It's sad to see so many super talented kids, and they will get no "big breaks" probably, and their talents will be hard to develop.

[A Simple Game]

4. Commercial music has had very little to do with the Arts

for several years. Calling most of todays "musicians" recording artists is being unfair to true Artists. Being a musician today is more about style and looks than about talent.