(no subject)

I watched American Idol last night for the first time. I've read about the 3 judges, and I got a kick of out of seeing for myself that Randy Jackson does indeed say "dawg" regularly; Paula Abdul has been dinged in the press for being ditzy, but she seemed grounded & knowledgable enough about music to give decent, if nearly always appreciative, evals; and Simon Cowell was the most interesting commentator of all. He seems the most perceptive and critically discriminating of the 3. I found myself waiting anxiously for his pronouncements, then not being disappointed by them.  He was sometimes boo'ed, perhaps by family members of the singer not being praised by him, and he would kind of irritatedly, kind of "hey, this is the way it is" nod in acknowledgement that he had heard the boos.  There seemed to be a little tension between him and Ryan Seacrest, who must be a wee man, unless some of the women contestants are very, very tall.

Of the singers, I liked Sanjaya's hair a lot but not his singing, and the only one who made the hair on the back of my  neck bristle (for me, a sign of Fabulous Music) was Melinda Doolittle. I take for granted the polish of performers, so it was interesting and startling to see the scruffiness of   the contestants, and endearing to see that they are making the best they can with what they have, presentation-wise.

The reason I tuned it was to see Gwen Stefani perform, and it turns out I was tricked. Apparently I have to watch again tonight for that. I've only ever heard her sing/perform, so it was interesting to hear her  "indoor" voice.