Pulp Free

American Idols Live “performed” this last Thursday at Scott Trade Center Auditorium. C and I were treated with tickets in one of the Club rooms so obviously I had to say yes. I’ve been a huge follower since my first obsession with Kelly Clarkson (or just the nice to look at Katharine McPhee):

Well - I knew neither of them were going to be there but there was going to be free hot dogs, chicken fingers and nachos!

While I had some hopes of a good time, my expectations of something more than a glorified chorus line or group karaoke like the TV show were quickly dashed as soon as the group came on stage. I now know exactly what it takes to be able to sell tickets to families at $65 a piece…

1. A singer must point to the audience at all times (must be an old television camera trick)
2. When singing male/female duets, the couple can only pretend to like one another, and then move away from one another like somebody just caught them making out as “just friends”
3. A singer should left their legs up one at a time as an excuse for “dancing” or “choreography”
4. Shouting “Hey Saint Louis” or which ever town you’re performing in as a last ditch effort to excite the crowd can only be used a few times in a single show.
5. Running up and down stairs does not qualify as choreography (neither does just walking around)
6. Equally - strobe lights and disco balls don’t make up much in the way as lighting effects.
7. If you’re near the audience and your fans are lining up to get a glimpse of you - when you’re done pointing around (see #1 above) - reach out and try to touch your fans. Don’t shake hands - just touch… or slap - or high five.
8. Most of the group can’t sing very well to begin with - but a horrific mix in a live venue sure doesn’t help much either!
9. If you’re going to sing covers all night - you could at least make them more original… That is unless you’re Blake and then you’re just going to screw it up with your beat-box fads and bad A cappella.
10. Covers of Whitney Houston songs usually never do a singer justice - however LaKisha Jones did a really good job with “I Will Always Love You” - the only stand out (by far) song sung all night.
11. And lastly - Sanjaya Malakar. No more to say about that…

So all in all - an okay night. I can say I’ve hit an Idols show in person now - but I’ll probably never go again… (Unless they’re Club level tickets!) If those tickets weren’t free - I would have thought that the event promoters were out to steal our money! They even had a 30 minute intermission! So - until next season…

I just saw this on the National Severe Weather Alert:

THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT ST. LOUIS

• FROM LATE FRIDAY MORNING UNTIL WEDNESDAY MORNING MAY 16TH.
• AT 8 PM TUESDAY THE STAGE WAS 23.0 FEET.
• MINOR FLOODING IS FORECAST.
• FLOOD STAGE IS 30.0 FEET.
• THE RIVER IS FORECAST TO RISE ABOVE FLOOD STAGE BY LATE FRIDAY
• MORNING AND CONTINUE RISING TO NEAR 31.5 FEET BY MONDAY EVENING.
• THE RIVER IS FORECAST TO FALL THEREAFTER TO LEVELS BELOW FLOOD STAGE BY WEDNESDAY MORNING ON MAY 16TH.
• AT 30.0 FEET… FLOODWALL AT LACLEDES LANDING IS CLOSED.
• AT 31.0 FEET… WATER BEGINS ENTERING THE DOWNTOWN PARKING GARAGE.

We saw reports on the Monday morning news about the flooding starting to happen in St. Joe (near Kansas City) from all of the rain that has been going on. However, we haven’t really been having a whole lot of rain here in Saint Louis since it finally stopped late on Friday (yeah - right AFTER our wedding pictures were taken…)

So it just happens to be a little interesting to see the impact from something happening some 240 miles away and knowing about it almost 3 days in advance - being able to see something like the Weather Service knowing at some level that the downtown parking garage in Saint Louis is probably going to get a bit wet on Friday. Guess we’ll wait and see!