Subject: [Harp-L] Who the h@ll is Taylor Hicks

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

Tom Costelloe writes:
 
"Some of us don't watch American telly (because we're not interested  in the
current american pop scene, or because we don't like  manufactured bands
relying on TV promotion rather than ability, or  because American telly isn't
available where we live,) is there a list  or bulletin board to discuss
American Idol so the rest of us can talk  about harmonicas?

Oh, I found one via google, it looks great, see  ya folks

http://www.xanga.com/aidol_chat";
 
....and while I understand to a certain degree your feeling left out  by this 
particular thread...(I still read with interest the threads  referring to 
Australian, New Zealand, British,  and other  European and Asian gigs and 
events...despite the remoteness of my ever  being able to attend any of them) ....you 
seem to be missing the  main point...which is that the discussion would never 
have arisen were the  person in focus not a Harmonica player.  Nor is his 
band  "relying on tv promotion".  They seem to have managed on their  own ability 
rather well as a matter of fact, being quite popular in  their local area.  
One of our regular Harp-L posters made mention  here of having heard them play 
before his AI tryout, if I remember  correctly. 
 
 Nothing fake or "manufactured" about that.  Taylor Hicks  is a regular 
joe...a Blues playing harp player/singer, who caught the  imagination of many of us 
precisely because of the unlikelihood of someone  like him even coming close 
to winning such a nation-wide contest. 
 
Most of us aren't at all interested in the American "pop scene"  either. I 
couldn't name a current pop singer.   We're  watching the show because we like 
seeing a musician/singer winning a  recording contract...something I'd wish for 
any one of the harmonica  players I admire.  
 
You dismiss the show as "pop" when the last winners have been  anything but, 
having come from the Country and R&B genres. And  yet....there are harmonica 
players who LIKE pop, and play it on their  harmonicas....so what?  Does that 
make them somehow inferior  because you believe the music you like to be 
superior?  Why  should anyone have to justify their taste in music?  Our differences 
 are what keeps life interesting and us all from boring each other to  
death...all in my most humble opinion, of course.
 
 I found your "chat" room link rather  supercilious.  Especially since most 
of the discussion here   focused on whether or not a Blues harmonica 
player/singer could win the  finals of this particular contest...and what that might 
possibly mean  for the future of our instrument.
 
As far as the thread is concerned....I didn't previously know there  was a 
limit to the bandwidth for discussions on Harp-L, since other  threads have been 
running concurrently. I do so appreciate  your letting us know about the 
limits, especially since all this time  I thought the owner of the list was the 
one to decide which threads  passed muster, on shaky ground or not.  Go figure.  
 
So just what is the harmonica discussion you've been kept from?   I'd be ever 
so interested.
 
Elizabeth