|
|||||||||||
| |||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
 Black Country Shop |
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
4th
January
2004
Mark Misses Out
In our last Mark Rhodes article (see below), we were confident of victory against Michelle. However, it wasn't to be. But since the vote, reports have flooded in to the web site we set up to support Mark (www.markrhodes.me.uk), saying that their text and phone messages were ignored by Pop Idol. Nevertheless, a bright future is assured for the 'Stud Muffin', and Yampy wishes him all the best. Now you can't accuse us of jumping on the Mark Rhodes bandwagon all of a sudden - the first Yampy article about him (click here) appeared more than two months ago, when the Black Country Pop Idol hopeful was just one of fifty singers through to the later rounds, and we've followed his story ever since (previous article) So we have to admit to being in smug mode, now that Mark has confounded the 'expert' judges by storming through to next weekend's Grand Final. Back in October, we didn't see much sign of Beacon Radio or Express and Star interest in the hugely talented Darlaston lad. As for Central News, it took till last week for them to wake up properly to the star in their midst. And this morning on GMTV, we had the slightly nauseous sight of their correspondent saying "I always had a sneaking suspicion that Mark would go through". Yes, right, you kept that one to yourself at the time - like all your media colleagues with their in-built bias against anyone with a Black Country accent. Fortunately, the great British public has consistently ignored the press and bookies' preference for Sam, Roxanne, Andy, Suzanne, and others. We have also shunned apparently cynical attempts by the Pop Idol big noises to influence our decision . In the end, we all simply voted each week based on performance and personality, and as a result Mark finds himself in next week's final, up against Michelle (OK, so we didn't get that one right!). Last Saturday, all three contestants were extremely nervous, and were each handed very awkward song choices by the judges. Mark coped best of the trio, particularly in his first song, when he hit the high notes of Back for Good without resorting to a Gary Barlow falsetto. In his second offering, If You Don't Know M e By Now, Mark played it safe with a competent, though slightly plodding, version of the Simply Red hit. Michelle sang well, in her usual slightly nasal way, but was burdened with a stinker of a second song choice. The multi-octave Without You has high notes a police dog couldn't pick up, which Michelle could hit only by starting the song off so low that it made Lee Marvin sound like Minnie Ripperton. I thought she pulled it off though, and was surprised by the judges' criticism of her attempt. Sam had a bit off an off night, especially with his second song, Always by Bon Jovi, which featured two or three quite duff notes. Suspicions that there is a Sam agenda at Pop Idol HQ will not have been allayed by Nicki Chapman's description of this performance as 'awesome'. Nevertheless, Sam is a great talent, and it is difficult to explain why he is not in the final, and Michelle is. The simple reason may be that Sam and Mark are similar in many ways, so potential votes were split between them, whereas Michelle is in a different category completely. If this is an accurate assessment, Mark's achievement in overcoming Sam is even greater - as are his chances next weekend. Mark and Sam are great friends, and the Sam block vote will surely pass to our Black Country favourite. Let's give our phone bill one last hammering, and push Mark to victory next Saturday evening! --> |
|
|
|
|
