It's the VMA's on Sunday night, August 25th. I am very excited to watch, but often the excitement easily turns to disappointment when the live singers are lip-synching or auto-tuned to death. It's a bait and switch situation. Fooled many times. Live doesn't mean live anymore. It's live on tape, tape delayed, mouthing the words, etc.
Did you see the documentary 20 Feet From Stardom? If you love music, singing, talent, this is well worth the time to watch it. Not that I didn't already know how flawlessly talented by back up singers are, this tells the story and highlights the lives of four back up singers. Thrilling, exciting, moving, and impassioned. One of the studio engineers pointed out how often today's talent is auto-tuned. Probably more than you'd like to know, really.
I want the sound engineers to turn off all the auto-tune for a night. Let's show the lucky, pitch challenged, for whom they really are. So much of today's talent wouldn't cut the muster or even be able to make the cut on American Idol, The X Factor, America's Got Talent, or The Voice, but they are making tons of money, selling lots of songs, and selling out arenas. Have you heard Britney Spears Vegas performance when the sound engineer turned her auto-tune off? It was shocking and horrific. I think that it was taken down because I haven't found it for years. Hearing that proves how much many of today's singers depend on the sound engineers to make them sound good. It used to be the other way around. It used to be the singers that recorded had such a deep well of talent the engineers just hit record and released it.
I don't really understand why using auto-tune has become so rampant. Okay, for those of you who don't really know what it is, it won't make you a great singer if you can't sing at all, but it helps with those pesky sharps and flats that many singers tend to hit. So Sunday night, I will sit with wild anticipation and, per usual, be disappointed by many of the "live" performances. The only one that hasn't disappointed me on awards shows consistently is Bruno Mars.
Sidebars: I have been behind on everything this week. Pretty much have been feeling behind for the month of August. My baby dog, Chloe, had her other eye removed this week and is now home recovering. She will be fine, but always hard to see the ones you love in pain or discomfort. The Yankees have been on a tear these past 10 days. Pre-season football is happening and I am not there at all. CBS and Time Warner are still in a pissing match so still no CBS and Showtime. Ridiculous. It's time for the adults to make a deal. Enjoy the weekend. It will be great weather in the North East. To all the firefighters in the West fighting the out of control blazes in five States, be safe and thank you for all that you do.
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