Just eating lunch reminds me how much American Idol sucks
Earlier this afternoon, I decided to run up to Petite Robert Bistro for their $4.50 Soup du Jour, which, regardless of the jour, is always delicious. (Today it was Cream of leek and green bean.)
It seems on Sundays, Petite Robert now offers live jazz. So I took my seat downstairs near the jazz trio — a bass player, a keyboardist, and a female vocalist named Mary Davy. I am assuming this only because the name of the group is on the bistro’s website — the Mary Davy Trio. After doing a bit more research, I discovered they were students at nearby Berklee, which is quite common anywhere with live jazz in Boston. Sadly, however, I have been hard pressed to find anything else on this girl, hence, maybe its made up. During my freshman year in college, some guys I knew formed a band called The Ron Jeremy Experience, yet obviously, none of them were Ron Jeremy.
As I sat there gorging my face with delicious soup while reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (I ordered the import, b/c I was not waiting until May for the U.S. release), I found myself transfixed by Mary Davy and her incredible voice. I was once again reminded how most people who go on American Idol are complete shit, and the most talented of individuals are probably performing just a few blocks down the street from any of us on any given day. Davy sang in both French and English and I don’t believe she is capable of hitting a bad note. She was certainly not bombastic (I hate that diva belting out big notes crap), her vocals were gorgeously smoky. She was somewhat petite, which a shock of curly blond hair framing her face.
I began thinking, what if this girl was on American Idol? How far would she get? Even while singing jazz standards, her voice was wholly modern, and you could easily picture her being championed for a “Adele or Amy Winehouse” vibe. She was just insanely good…which means she would never have any interest of going on Idol. Smart girl.
(In an effort to discover more, I went to the Berklee website, where I was reminded Jason Castro is playing down the street from me later on this week. Hmmm…should I go and check it out? There will be frauen there, right? And its in walking distance. Hmmm…..)
HOLD UP. I think Petite Robert misspelled it. Or someone did. Her name is Marie Davy. And since I found this database, I also decided to see if Season 9 Top 24 contestant Ashley Rodriguez was listed. And yes she was! With a featured track. Some shite called Runaway With Me. It reminds me of Jennifer Lopez. Like some Loubitins inanity. It’s TERRIBLE! TERRIBLE! She also lists her residence as Los Angeles, with the last login from December 2009.
I found a recent video of Marie Davy doing background vocals for a performance of Could You Be Loved with Mario Evon. Again. A bunch of talented singers trying to make it who will never go on American Idol. Another reason people should get out more…and not watch this shit show for anything else besides pure entertainment value.
But check out some of her solos…there are several on Marie Davy’s MySpace. And they’re well worth listening to, trust me. Much more so than anything you hear on American Idol.
Top Idol 
Ok, great musicians are down the street from YOU on any given day b/c you live near Berklee, the most amazing school to ever exist.
Which I applied to and auditioned for (for guitar & writing, I can’t sing that well) because even though I am definitely not the next Hendrix or Clapton, that school is so fraking amazing and I just want to learn from their amazingness. Even though John Mayer and his douchebaggery went there.
Also, keep in mind, Idol is for the dumbshit corporate business side of music & talent, and is a lot about looks, but the lookers who have at least more talent than the Disney Puppets or Justin Bieber the Moppet of Beelzebub. So good people of course wouldn’t always want to go on Idol unless they were desperate and don’t mind being compared to Nickelback, like Chris Daughtry.
Thank you for Marie Davy. I listened to her songs on her myspace and really enjoyed them. Too bad that there is so much great undiscovered talent out there and so much crap on the radio.
One thing I really hate about the audition rounds of AI is the amount of time wasted on people who can’t sing at all. They have to go through several rounds of auditions before they go in front of the judges and it must feel like a slap in the face to kids who are really talented and have put in the work to be passed over so AI can give the audience someone to laugh at instead.
http://www.myspace.com/marikhan …. marie davy is real, there is her myspace, i was singing back grounds wit her that night. go hit her up on mspace or facebook yo she is the nicest person you will eva eva meet… http://www.facebook.com/marie.davy?ref=ts
I think Cook said it before: it’s a crapshoot on Idol. He didn’t intend to audition and wanted to make it big his way, but was thrown into it and got the big prize, which is serendipitous when you think about it. But a lot of the times selection of contestants is dependent on the producers. The producers (and judges) pick the characters/genres they want for Hollywood based on a proportion of backstories with good talent and some struggling musicians. And lulzy characters.
I think a lot of musicians who prefer to work their way through cafes and bars and demos are more likely averse to the idea of those ghastly themes and cheesy videos they have to go through each week.
TI, I found that very engaging. Idol does suck.
Yeah, there’s a ton of undiscovered talent out there. That’s why whenever people would go on about Adam, like, “he’s so talented, the only reason he wasn’t signed before AI must’ve been because they didn’t want to risk signing a gay guy,” I’d think, “no, there’s just a lot of talented people who don’t get signed. There’s probably quite a few people out there with Adam’s talent who are unsigned.”
Yup. Idol sucks. But if they keep discovering Kris Allens they might be good. Which they won’t, ’cause it is more profitable discovering Susan Boyles and Adam Lamberts. So they’ll keep sucking. Hmmm.
I don’t think they were looking for an Adam Lambert, he just happened upon them. If you look at the past seasons they really were looking for Timberlake 2.0. Chris Richardson, Blake Lewis, Matt Giraud, Ace Young, Elliott Yamin to an exent, Danny Gokey, most of season 1….boy band blue-eyed soul. Too bad Taylor Hicks was the representative.
In a lot of the past seasons, Adam wouldn’t have made it past the judges just based on how Broadway he is. I’ve had quite a few friends audition, who are phenomenally talented singers, and make it to various stages, but never to Hollywood. In fact, one of my friends auditioned season 2, made it to the round before the judges, and was cut because he stood in one spot….
I believe eventually, if they had put the work in, people like Adam, David Cook, and Chris Daughtry would have been signed, maybe not to a major label, but signed none the less.
Yeah. There are some people who think that Lambert got where he got by his charisma, hard work and amazing singing ability. Then there are some people like me who thinks that he was a plant all along.
Since no one knows which one is true, they are both theories for the time being.
But regardless of which theory is true, I think Idol lost lots of credibility last season because of Tatiana, that crazy guy who kept singing the same song, all the manipulation during the top 36 round, constant pimping of 2 contestants at the cost of other contestants (and the truth) during the finals and what happened after the finals.
I agree with you that there are a lot of sub-par singers on American Idol…but there have also been people on there who just like Marie Davy, spent time in nightclubs, bars, etc trying to make it in the music business. David Cook, Carly Smithson, Adam Lambert, Chris Daughtry…all were people like this who just never had a national platform. It’s not really fair…which is why I think the ones who recognize who absurd their sudden fame is, and are willing to still put in the work to be an excellent musician or vocalist, will have a career. The rest will fall by the wayside…as they have.
I love when I find unknown singers/bands who are amazing. On one hand, its like, Why the fuck aren’t they signed to a huge label and selling out arenas, but on the other hand its almost like your little secret to enjoy for little money and intimate venues. (this is how my experiences with Jimmy Gnecco/Ours have come about).
You should read How To Kill a Rockstar. It’s not only an amazing story that will change your life, but an interesting look at the music industry.