Of Stars and Idols

Yet another unfortunate victim of the the entertainment/mass media/industrial complex (or EMMIC) is the superlative. Over the years this verbal currency has been devalued as reporters try to be more effusive than the competition. In this extreme, mega environment words like greatness, idol, and star seem to have lost any real meaning. A recent report of the murder of Emily Sander is a good case in point. She was an 18 year old student and for whatever reason decided to make a few bucks getting nude and raunchy on line. She was murdered last week but the story of this young girl was sensationalized by all major news outlets where she was referred to as a porn star. Talk about an oxymoron. There are thousands and thousands of people doing what she did and none of them should be called a star.....let's reserve that word for a miss Katherine Hepburn or a Mr. Jimmy Stewart. Porn is so ubiquitous on the net that it's almost impossible to avoid (try as I might). Why just yesterday when researching the erudite pundit William F. Buckley I mistakenly typed William B. Fuckley...oy, the things that I saw!!
The video above shows a former American Idol finalist, Kelly Pickler, on a US game show. She is known by million, looked up to as a role model by young wannabees and wears the title Idol proudly. Watch the clip and you'll realize how very wrong this is.
Let's re-empower these words by using them more selectively. We can start here and now: This site is great, fabulous, and terrific while most others are merely fine or good.
A site like MrEquipment. com is excellent, especially since founder Colin Muray gave me a nice mention that has sent a flood of interested brass players my way. I'm still not sure what Mr. Equipment does but the site shouldn't be confused with Mr. Medical Equipment or Mr. Drug Paraphernalia, two sites that some of my jazz buddies tell me are incredibly fantabulous.
If you want to see something truly stupendous (it features the tuba...need I say more?) check this out. It will cleanse the palate if the taste of Pickler is still clinging to the back of your tongue like yesterday's souvlaki. (which was superb by the way!!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4_am24J56M