Chris Sligh is one of the people auditioning on American Idol tonight in the Birmingham auditions. He is a patient of ours and used to go to my brother's church. He moved away from Greenville for awhile and now helps with the music at another church here in town. He is really very good, and I do know he makes it to the Hollywood round. I've heard rumors about other stuff, but no one has gotten anything out of Chris- he has been smart and followed his contract. It should make it fun to watch this season if he can keep going...
I told Randy this is all his fault. I usually only watch the last few weeks. He started watching it last year while I was taking some photography classes and got hooked (he said he had to watch it because all of his shows were reruns). This is the first year I've watched from the beginning.
I guess there's always that "six degrees of separation". I have my American Idol story, too. If you remember from two years ago, one of the final 12 was a young man by the name of Travis Tucker. He now sings in one of our bands. On Friday night, one of the singers in my band couldn't do the job, so Travis subbed for him. He is a really down to earth guy and a very good singer. After his "Idol" experience, he could have been (and justifiably so) completely full of himself, but he is the opposite. Even though some of the other singers in our band are older and did not get the exposure he did, he was quite impressed with them and told them so.
I don't watch the show, or almost every other "reality" show, in general. I don't like the genre. About the only show on TV I watch with regularity these days is "South Park".
Was Chris the guy with all the dark, curly hair and the amazing voice? My mom and I just loved him! We called each other after the show, and HE was the guy we were talking about.
In general, I am really burned out by reality shows, but I do watch American Idol and Dancing with the Stars, because of the talent, the fact it rewards hard work and achievement, and motivates people to not just skate along on their abilities but to really improve and make something better of their talent. The only thing I don't like about the show is during the audition phase they give precious air time to foul mouthed, ill-mannered people. Why reward such behaviour with tv exposure? Fox and some of their audience may call it entertainment, but I don't.
I have grown to hate the reality shows that are all about scheming, backstabbing, and alliances that are only good so long as you come out on top. I will not longer waste my time on that.
That was Chris. I really liked him too. The people I've talked to who have heard him sing before have all said he is really very good. I think he was the best last night and one of the best I've seen so far.
The story behind his hair-he tried out for Idol last year and didn't make it. I think he went to Chicago and the were out in the rain waiting to get in and his voice was awful and it was just a bad audition. He said he realized he needed to develop an image for people to remember. He could either get a tatoo, which he didn't want to do, shave his head, which he really didn't want to do, or grow out his curls (we just got HD TV and could actually see the curls). He also said he would always be a little bit big, so he decided to work out some and muscle it up instead of starving to death.
Here is something else interesting about him that the Idol people will probably bring up. He went to school at Bob Jones University for a few years. His parents are missionaries in Germany.
I have heard for sure that he makes it to the top 40. With Paula's reaction last night, I'm not surprised!
Here is a link to his blog about his American Idol experience
http://americanidolmusing.blogspot.com/
He should put Part IV up in the next couple of days. It is interesting reading about the whole audition process and seeing how the people actually get to Simon, Paula and Randy. When he talks about Nigel, it is the same Nigel as the one on Dancing with the Stars.
It is just so cool that you know him Teresa! I must admit that my husband and myself are complete and total idol junkies! LOL....