Watching American Idol In Austin Wondering Why Fort Worth Gets Left Out

That is Harry Connick Jr. holding an immigrant from Pakistan, currently residing in the Texas town called Houston, holding the Pakistani American in Austin, in the season premiere of the latest iteration of America's pop star generating factory called American Idol.

I, along with millions of others, bailed on last year's American Idol. I don't know who won.

The combo of Mr. Connick Jr., Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban being this year's judges made for a vastly improved American Idol viewing experience, so far.

Harry Connick Jr. is very amusing. Jennifer Lopez reminds me of another Puerto Rican, Miss Puerto Rico, sweet-natured and very easy on the eyes. And Keith Urban is just about my favorite Australian.

So, the auditions started off in Boston and then moved to Austin. Keith Urban wore a "Keep Austin Weird" t-shirt to help with the "Keep Austin Weird" movement.

The capital of Texas is a very attractive town, looks good on TV. I've visited Austin several times since I have been in Texas. Austin sort of reminds me of Seattle, sort of.

So, watching American Idol in Austin last night got me wondering why in the world the American Idol auditions have never come to Fort Worth.

If I remember right the American Idol auditions have come to Dallas, previously. The American Idol auditions have been to towns all over America, to all the major west coast towns, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. American Idol has been all over the east coast, as well. And all over the hinterlands, to places like New Orleans and Memphis and Chicago.

So, why in the world has American Idol never come to Fort Worth? Is not the biggest American Idol winner of all time, Kelly Clarkson, sort of a hometown girl?

Do the American Idol producers not know that Fort Worth is currently internationally renowned as a music venue, what with having one of the world's foremost waterfront music venues in the form of Panther Island Pavilion, located on the scenic, crystal clear Trinity River?

I am fairly certain Fort Worth must have a venue where American Idol auditions could be held. Maybe in that flying saucer looking building that is part of the Fort Worth Convention Center.

Usually the judges sit in a spot with a window behind them looking out on a scene that represents the town they are in. In Fort Worth this might be a bit difficult......

A Stormy Fort Worth Friday In Texas

I sat down to eat lunch, windows open, a nice breeze blowing. And then it hit. Heavy rain and heavy wind.

You're looking at trees blowing in the wind outside my patio.

Rain was being blown indoors, so the windows had to be closed.

About a half hour into the rain I started hearing thunder in the distance. I had a cable station on on the TV, I think it was the Military History Channel. One of those incoming nuclear bomb type warnings went off, you know, that dire, this is a test of the Emergency Broadcasting System type warning.

Only it was a warning for an incoming Severe Thunderstorm. I'd never seen this type warning on the cable stations before. I'd assumed that if I weren't watching network TV that I was safe from localized Weather Drama Queening.

Apparently that is yet one more of my many erroneous assumptions.

The Severe Thunderstorm Watch is now over. For now.

I have no idea if the inclement weather is wreaking havoc with the big American Idol event that starts about 4 this afternoon in the Fort Worth Stockyards. I do know that Casey James is making his way across the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and that this morning he was at a Meet & Greet at an AT&T Store in Grapevine, where he got a text message with the extremely exciting news that he'd be singing John Mayer's "Daughters" on Tuesday.

I don't care for that song.

Hiking The Hot Tandy Hills & Expecting Jesse James Great Great Great Nephew Casey James To Come To Fort Worth Tomorrow

As you can see, by looking at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, it is a bit overcast today. Semi-HOT at 84 and a bit muggy.

I had no giant lizard encounters on the Tandy Hills today.

Today may be the last I am on the Texas Prairie for awhile. BIG STORMS are in our forecast, with a lot of wet stuff, thunderstorms and possible tornado action predicted.

Tomorrow, Jesse James' alleged great great great nephew, Casey James, is coming to town, to the Fort Worth Stockyards, at 4pm to ride in a parade, where all his American Idol fans will, supposedly, scream like rabid fans. On cue. The parade goes down Exchange Avenue, the same route the Fort Worth Herd moves at the exact same time.

Nothing, except for Christmas and extreme weather, stops the Fort Worth Herd from being on the move. Maybe Casey James will be riding with the herd. He did say, on Wednesday, that he was missing Texas. You can't get much more Texas-y than riding with the Fort Worth Herd. He also said he was longin' to be back where he would hear y'all, a lot. And play with his puppy dogs.

I don't know if I'll be fixin' to head to the Stockyards tomorrow to see the manufactured brouhaha over Casey James. Though, I do find that type stuff to be amusing.

Bald Heads, Back Aches, Mountain Biking, Swimming, Hiking & American Idol

Yeah, that's me with my newly shaved bald head and a backache. Yesterday I said I was going to Sprouts Farmers Market around noon and then going to River Legacy Park to go mountain biking in the late afternoon.

The mountain biking did not happen. I believe I had over done a yoga stretch and my back muscle rebelled. The rebellion took place while I was in Sprouts pushing a cart full of fruit and vegetables. I believe my back seized up in what is known as a spasm. It hurt.

Having my back go out on me is the worst. I'd rather recover from a painful surgery than a backache. The pain I was feeling, that came in bursts, was the pain I've felt before that leads to my back going out. So, I was not pleased.

I got out of Sprouts and made it back here, took some ibuprofen and did the stuff I've learned to do to thwart this type disaster.

By the time I sat down to watch American Idol, a half hour after the show started, my back was feeling no pain. It did not take me long, fast forwarding through boring parts, before the DVR was caught up to being live with American Idol. I grew bored waiting for commercials to end.

So, I offed it and went to bed. It didn't matter to me who won the thing, but I was a bit surprised this morning to see that Adam Lambert was not the winner. It seemed like he'd been already crowned months ago.

By morning, no back woes, up way before dawn, in the pool as the sun came up.

But, fresh woes, WeatherBug just went off with a Level Orange Air Pollution Alert. This means if you are old, infirm, have breathing problems or just hate air pollution that you should avoid breathing today. I hit bingo in at least 2 of those categories.

I wonder if this Level Orange thing should stop me from going hiking the Tandy Hills today. Probably not.

David Cook Wins American Idol

It is late. I am seeing if I can semi-coherently do this blogging thing when it's bedtime. Likely not.

So, despite earlier saying I was not going to watch the finale of American Idol, I did catch the last 5 minutes.

One of the reasons I wasn't interested in watching was the so over the top pimping of the little high school David guy, last name Archeletta. On Tuesday the judges made it seem like the other David, Cook, was doggy doo-doo. And that Archeletta was a shoo-in. That seemed the consensus everywhere.

I remember thinking if there is any sense of good ol' American Justice in the viewing public this should piss them off and those fools who actually vote will vote for the Cook option. Cook is the one I earlier said, early on in the season, that he reminded me of one of my runty, ugly cousins.

And it's not just me who, early on, did not see anything positive about David Cook. That obnoxious, though amusing, Brit, Simon Cowell, early on told the one who used to look like my runty, ugly cousin, that he had no charisma.

Well, the one who used to look like my runty, ugly cousin is the winner, by millions of those pseudo votes which determine the winner, you know, votes where people can vote over and over again.

David Archelleta seemed to take the loss well. His dad, not so well.

Hamilton Jordan, Ted Kennedy, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars & Hillary

Once again this morning I was freshly reminded that I am old. I was surprised to learn Jimmy Carter's chief of staff and long time aide, Hamilton Jordan, was dead after a long battle against lymphoma and prostate cancer. He was 63.

When Hamilton Jordan was in the national spotlight he was a young guy, in his early 30s, which is how I still remembered him. The Carter years don't seem all that long ago. But they were.

And then we have Ted Kennedy's Saturday's hospitalization for a suspected stroke turn into him having the worst type of brain cancer, that being malignant glioma, with a very bleak prognosis and limited treatment options. Some are lamenting this being the latest case of the Kennedy curse. I think not. Teddy Kennedy has lived a long life. It is a sad thing though. I hope he bucks the odds.

Moving to the frivolous. Last night I managed to watch pretty much the entire hour of the American Idol semi-finale. I don't care who wins, either David, Archeletta or Cook. I don't think I can make it through the 2 hour finale tonight. I don't think I could make it through it even if I cared who won. Or if I thought it mattered.

Kristi Yamaguchi won Dancing with the Stars last night. I did not watch it, though I sort of like that show. I like watching people do something that I'm pretty sure I could not do, no matter how much training or practice I put in. But there was no way I was going to watch that show's inflated 2 hour finale.

Moving from the ridiculous to the semi-sublime. Hillary beat Obama badly in Kentucky. While Obama beat Hillary not so badly in Oregon. Obama is very near having enough delegates to win the nomination, needing about 77 more. Hillary vowed last night to continue til every possible voter, of the remaining few, has the chance to vote for her.

I wish Hillary as good a luck as she deserves. Same to Ted Kennedy. Lesser so to the 2 finalists on American Idol, I just don't care this year. Did I care other years? I don't remember.

American Idol Final Two

Currently, of my thousands of readers, 69% want me to continue bashing the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, while 61% want me to complain more about TV. Today I'm going to combine the two.

Last night got down to the final two on America's #1 TV show, that being American Idol. The pre-season hype had it that this year's talent was the best ever. But, for me, week by week those left just kept seeming smaller and smaller and weaker and weaker.

By the end it was down to 2 guys and a girl.

The girl had a tendency to shriek, but she did know how to work a stage. I don't remember how to spell the last girl's first name. It starts with an 's' and sounds something like Sigh-eesh-ya. I think the last name is Mercado.

One of the guy's has been pimped to win from the start, that being this really little 17 year old from Utah named David Archeletta. I started off liking him okay, but by the end his shtick had grown old. Apparently he had daddy issues with his dad getting banned from backstage due to causing problems for the little guy. Early on David A. had a tendency to lick his lips while singing that was very Bill Clintonesque. Somehow his trainers got him to stop doing that.

The other guy is also named David. Last name Cook. When I first saw him he reminded me of one of my runty homely cousins. A couple months ago I asked my sister if David Cook reminded her of anyone. She said, yeah, our runty homely cousin (I'm leaving off the name so as to not cause yet one more family feud).

One of the things that can be interesting to see on American Idol is when they make someone over. Like when they turned Clay Aiken from looking like a nerd to not looking so much like a nerd. He was still a nerd though. This year the Mercado girl got greatly made over. And so did the one who used to look like my runty homely cousin. He doesn't look like my runty homely cousin anymore.

This will be my last season of watching American Idol. The amusement/entertainment factor ain't there anymore. I've also bailed on Dancing with the Stars. Also, no more Desperate Housewives. It had grown tiresome and not funny. LOST I watch on the computer because it's in HD and only 42 minutes long without the commercials. I don't even watch The Simpsons anymore. That used to be my favorite. Maybe I am losing my sense of humor. Or I've developed AADD.

Oh. One more thing. At the top I said this would be a combined TV and Bash the Star-Telegram missive. On to the Star-Telegram. And this is also TV related. On the TV page, in the Channel Surfing column we are given yet again the all important how is Texas connected to a show info.

This time it's "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire: Root for the home team as Fort Worth's Kyle Knelp, a University of Texas at Arlington senior, goes for the big money."

I can't wait til tonight so I can do some rooting for the home team.

Paula Abdul is a Precious Gift

Paula Abdul had one of her better moments of ditsy weirdness on Tuesday's American Idol. The 5 remaining singers were to warble 2 songs each. The judges did not do their usual critiquing after each singer sang.

Instead, after all 5 had sung their first song they stood as a group in front of the judges to hear what they had to say.

Well, Paula started with the dreadlocked, perpetually stoned-acting one, named Jason Castro, believed to be Fidel's 4th cousin twice removed. Paula pretty much told Jason she did not like his performance of his first song, that being the only song he'd sung. And then she went to tell Jason she also did not like his second song. Which he had not yet sung.

Paula was, in a very confused way, reading off notes. When the other judges, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell tried to get out of this mess, Paula just got more confused, crying "this is so hard."

The show's host, Ryan Seacrest, tried to get out of the awkward moment with an attempt at humor, saying "Paula is finally revealing her secret power, that she can see the future." Or something like that.

Last year Paula had her own reality show on Bravo, called "Hey Paula." It was extremely painful to watch, but in a good bad train wreck sort of way. We got to see the backstage look at those embarrassing interviews she gave last year that caused a big brouhaha because she appeared to be drugged, drunk or both.

I thought the "Hey Paula" show would be the end of her career, that American Idol would replace her. It was that embarrassing.

My favorite moment of the "Hey Paula" train wreck was a part where Paula was in full whining, crying mode, verbalizing her odd sense of entitlement and her displeasure at being ill-served by her minions. She uttered what I thought would become an infamous quote that Simon Cowell would use at least once, but hasn't, as far as I know. Paula said, "Why don't they appreciate me for the precious gift that I am?"

Below you can watch YouTube video of Paula being very precious this past Tuesday.

Oh My! Someone in the News has a Texas Connection!

Last week, when the latest got booted from American Idol, I was surprised that that newspaper I love to roll my eyes at, that being the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, did not once more mention that the bootee had a Fort Worth connection, in that he was married to a Fort Worth girl and he had visited Fort Worth at some point in time.

Well, today's Star-Telegram did trot out the trite verbiage again, as in "Michael Johns has a Fort Worth connection---his wife, Stacey Vudris, is from here."

No, I do not make this up. My two readers may remember me mentioning this newspaper's oddities before and that one of their employees tried to explain to me that, unlike the Dallas paper (the Star-Telegram also has an odd Dallas fixation) the Star-Telegram tries to be a local paper by giving its readers local connections to its stories. No matter how flimsy. Or pointless.

I don't know if they repeat these local connections over and over and over again because they think their readers have bad memories, or if it is for the benefit of new readers. Last week in a legit news article we had to be reminded, again, that CBS News Guy, Bob Schieffer, is from Fort Worth.

In today's paper, in addition to being told again of Michael Johns important connection to Fort Worth, we were also reminded that LeAnn Rimes is from here, as in "Garland-raised LeAnn Rimes." I don't know if I've seen this "raised" type verbiage before. It's a refreshing change. In the same article, under the heading "The Texas Connections", we learned, in addition to CMT Buckle winning Garland-raised Rimes, that Fort Worth-raised T Bone Burnett also won a Buckle. A Buckle is like an Oscar only you get it for singing country music, not acting.

Now, I came to Texas from a small town in Washington called Mount Vernon. Fort Worth acts more like a small town than Mount Vernon. In 1998 Mount Vernon was rated the #1 Best Small City in America by a legit rating entity. A couple years ago Fort Worth was put on a list by some Washington D.C. lobbying group for being one of the Top Ten Most Livable Communities in the Nation. Fort Worth had a city wide celebration for this esteemed honor. Meanwhile, up in Washington, in a state where towns and cities are often near or at the top of such lists, Tacoma was on the same Top Ten list as Fort Worth.

I asked the Deputy Mayor of Tacoma if his city had a city wide celebration for the wonderful award. He said, no, we politely thanked them, then ignored it. He giggled when I told him Fort Worth had a city wide celebration. He'd been to Fort Worth for a Sister Cities Convention, which was held at a downtown hotel, not the Convention Center. I don't think Fort Worth understands that conventions are supposed to take place at the Convention Center. All my years here I've never noticed downtown being busy with visiting conventioneers, a phenomenon that happens frequently in Seattle and Tacoma.

Back to the Star-Telegram's bizarre need to make connections between people in the news and Texas, no matter how tenuous. My aforementioned hometown of Mount Vernon has a few connections to somewhat well known people. I do not recollect the local paper repeating those connections over and over and over again.

Like, former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, lives in Mount Vernon, well, actually Big Lake, a couple miles outside Mount Vernon's city limits. Conservative talk show host, Glen Beck, is from Mount Vernon. Mike Pegram, Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner and owner of a McDonald's empire and my brother-in-law's boss, has a house in Mount Vernon. And some McDonald's. Cheryl Bentyne, jazz singer with The Manhattan Transfer, she's a Mount Vernon girl who I went to college with. Movie star Jim Caviezel, born and raised in Mount Vernon, his uncle lived 4 houses from mine. Actress Demi Moore lived in Mount Vernon and went to LaVenture Middle School. That's right in my old neighborhood. I did not know Demi Moore when she was in town. Galloping Gourmet, Graham Kerr, is from Mount Vernon. Ross the Intern, from the Tonight Show, grew up in Mount Vernon.

I know of the above not from reading it repeated over and over and over and over again in my local paper, I know the above because I read the Mount Vernon article in Wikipedia. There were others on the Wikipedia list, but I'd not heard of them before, except for a NBA and MLB player or two.

On a positive note, regarding the Star-Telegram, it has been at least a year since I've seen that paper use its obviously embarrassing 'Green With Envy' verbiage. So, it is possible to wise them up if you nag enough and if you clearly reflect back to them how their ludicrous verbiage looks to others. Now, if only someone would do that same favor for me.

Annoying Weather Reports and Kelly Clarkson

Yesterday in a very rare personal whining indulgence I complained about one of my few pet peeves, that being how TV here in Texas can get interrupted during stormy weather by inane TV weatherperson's inane reports.

And so what do my grateful eyes see this morning in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram letters to the editors but an extremely insightful Fort Worth native also bemoaning the insanity of how the local TV stations cover storms. The letter writer is much more adept than I at describing the insanity. I'll copy and paste the letter below. And then below that I've got some fresh whining about another inanity that I've whined about before.

Some Sanity Please!
KXAS/Channel 5 pre-empted NBC’s national news program at 5:30 p.m. during the recent “winter storm.” We then got to see a reporter in the station’s parking lot scuffing slush with his tennis shoe, then a reporter in Dallas on an access road. Traffic was flying by and we then got to see a car turning onto a side street into the slush. Let’s see if he makes it. He does!

There was mayhem in Israel, a presidential race, medical news about the effect of inoculations on children, etc. But we didn’t get to hear about those events; children in Denton were making snow angels.

Interrupt the news if you need to for an emergency, but this type of weather coverage has gotten out of hand. I learned nothing during the 30 minutes that couldn’t have been covered during the regular local news at 6 p.m. Let’s put some sanity back into the news and weather coverage.

— Mary McCoy, Fort Worth

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Okay, I'm back whining now. That photo you see above was taken in the Texas town of Burleson at the premiere of a movie starring Kelly Clarkson. That is she you see entering the movie theater. I've mentioned before how that paper I like to whine about, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, has an odd habit of always pointing out the local Texas connection to any celebrity or pseudo-celebrity. I blogged about this previously which cause odd commentary from the paper's TV editor explaining that this practice has to do with trying to connect the locals to the story.

Now, notice in the paragraph above where I mention Kelly Clarkson being at a theater in Burleson? I did not feel I needed to write Burleson native Kelly Clarkson, or Burleson raised Kelly Clarkson. And I've got readers way outside of Texas who would not know this, if they cared, which they don't. Now, those who read the Star-Telegram live in Texas, live near Burleson, they know Kelly Clarkson is from here.

And yet any time the Star-Telegram mentions Kelly Clarkson they seem to feel they must re-inform their Texas readers that she is from Burleson. This seems sort of insulting, like they are underestimating the memories of their readers.

Just today, on the front page, under the headline, "Kelly Clarkson to Sing for the Pope", it said "Burleson-raised pop superstar Kelly Clarkson...". And then on the front page of the Entertainment section the Star-Telegram, in another article about the same subject, alters its usual Burleson modifier and says "Fort Worth-born pop superstar Kelly Clarkson...". Further down in the article, in case we've forgotten, we are told again that Kelly Clarkson is from Burleson, as in "Clarkson, who grew up in Burleson...".

This week I've not yet noticed the Star-Telegram making note of the Texas connections to the current American Idol contestants. My favorite of those is when the paper repeats for the umpteenth time, "Michael Johns, married to a Fort Worth native, who has visited Fort Worth."