(02-02-2013, 10:27 PM)Babbs234 Wrote: ^^^ That video was very funny Buzz! Bill Murray grew up about 2 miles from me. He was one of 7 kids in his family I think. I went to grade school with his younger brother.

(02-02-2013, 10:35 PM)buzzenator Wrote:

(02-02-2013, 10:27 PM)Babbs234 Wrote: ^^^ That video was very funny Buzz! Bill Murray grew up about 2 miles from me. He was one of 7 kids in his family I think. I went to grade school with his younger brother.

That's probably why I like you so much Babbs...your Bill Murray sense of humor.

I have a number of nephews in their 20s that are big Bill Murray fans, along with me. We always insert Bill Murray lines in the conversation when it is appropriate or not...

..."am I upsetting you princess?"

Quote:With 100 former "Idol" top 12 contestants now competing for the love, versatility definitely becomes an asset, if not a survival tool.

"Some of the ones that are so great but don't win, everybody says, 'Oh, they'll be fine, they were such a great contender,'" says Rushfield. "But the public's attention span can be pretty short."

Quote:Sure, everyone wants to be the next Chris Daughtry or Carrie Underwood. But if your vocals are remarkably bad, you could jump straight from audition week to international stardom as the best of the worst.

Case in point: William Hung. The sonically challenged University of California, Berkeley engineering student so thoroughly ravaged Ricky Martin's infectious "She Bangs" during his third-season San Francisco audition that within days he became an international cottage industry, shaking his bon-bon on talk shows and cashing in on the karaoke circuit.

He may have been denied a golden ticket to Hollywood, but Hung currently ranks 26th in record sales among "Idol" alumni, according to Billboard. His 2004 album, "Inspiration," sold 240,000 copies, reached No. 34 on the Billboard 200 charts and spawned a 40-minute day-in-the-life DVD. Not a bad payday from a couple gallons of gas and parking for the audition.

Quote:With each season, it becomes increasingly difficult to sustain an "Idol" launch for the simple reason that there are more Idols in the marketplace. The challenge has become even greater with "The X Factor" and "The Voice" having joined the mix of singing contestants.

How do you keep the idolatry alive? Take notes from Phil Stacey, a country singer from the sixth season who had his ducks in a row long before the confetti fell.

"He came off the tour and he started playing shows in a circuit based in Nashville and really built a following," says Rushfield. "He began to sell albums out of there and record companies signed him based on that."

The takeaway: Build your base from home rather than chase the Hollywood dream.

"It becomes a real regional thing," says Rushfield. "If they're just focused on Hollywood, they're coming into a world where there are now 100 former Idols and a lot of competition. But out where they came from, there are a lot of people who want to see music and the 'Idol' name means something. If they harness that, they can get a lot going."

(02-05-2013, 07:33 AM)buzzenator Wrote: "It becomes a real regional thing," says Rushfield. "If they're just focused on Hollywood, they're coming into a world where there are now 100 former Idols and a lot of competition. But out where they came from, there are a lot of people who want to see music and the 'Idol' name means something. If they harness that, they can get a lot going."