coolmite

Matt, first off, great job making the final five of American Idol. You’re a really talented guy. Actually, you’re probably better suited to songwriting and making music than any of the other five. So this will be a good transition for you.

I know that you’d been searching to find that mix between soul, pop and rock. I’m not sure the Fray is the right way to go for you. Might I suggest drawing your inspiration from another piano man.

Ben Folds.

See, like Billy Joel, Ben Folds told many stories of his life through music. Though his stuff is not as iconic as Billy Joel’s is, he’s really suited to what you are. You’re a hipster. You’re too talented for the room–you know it–and you only show flashes of how good you really are. Ben Folds uses a lot of humor, wordplay and references people can relate to in the stories he tells. At least a lot of them related to me. His first two albums as “Ben Folds Five”–yes, they were a trio–were great for their time. Grunge rock had kind of blown a tire and the rest of alternative music was in between U2 and Pearl Jam albums.

Ben Folds was fresh. Every time you listened to him, you were in a college piano bar, singing along and barely realizing how effortlessly he entertained people.  Ask your boy Anoop about Ben Folds. Being from Chapel Hill, NC, he probably knows all about him. Listen. Learn. Add to your repertoire.

Have fun on tour.

So, I’m sitting here waiting for coffee to brew and ruminating on last night’s events. Last night gave me the opportunity to really reflect on pop culture and what used to be the culture du jour (Culture of the day? That sounds good. I’ll have that.).

First, I watched Idol, which is a cultural microcosm in itself. Adam Lambert is my new favorite singer. I’m hoping against hope that AI has a “Ronnie James Dio” week or a “glam metal” week or a ” cat’s tail crushed by a rocking chair” week. His yelping falsetto is ridiculous. I’ll be wailing like him at the end of every sentence for the rest of the week. He’s awesome. He’s the walking Barry Gibb Talk Show. Adam needs to get that under control, though. Vegasing up Wild Cherry is fine, but that’s only going to take you so far.

That’s the fun of Idol, though. You’ll have people like him who will find or create their own niches for themselves. Except for Alison Iraheta, he’s the most talented and “current” singer on that show this year. She’s unreal when she’s on.

WAAAAAAAAUUUGGGHHHYYIIIIIIIIIIYIUH!

That didn’t translate to print as I’d hoped. Apologies.

Then, some of my college buddies and I talked for an hour for the Pointless Roundtable. We discussed Michael Jackson fashion, Big Daddy Kane, jean shorts (which should never come back), sitcoms, All in the Family, Party Down, That’s Happening, April Fool’s Day pranks and Kentucky basketball. You can find it here at www.pointlessroundtable.com. I can’t explain it, but I was and am way behind the curve on all of these subjects. It’s a good listen. Check it out later today.