well,

its been a while, so i'll try to be brief on this one. The title of this note is a quote that i read just now from Super Bowl Producer Ricky Minor in relation to his advice on why Jennifer Hudson Should lip instead of sing. And by lip, i of course mean lip-sync.

The decision just before she was to go out and perform the National Anthem, was made due to the fact that when performing live, "There's too many variables to go live." He also went on to say "I would never recommend any artist go live, because the slightest glitch would devastate the performance."


Obviously, lip-syncing, auto tuning, and backing tracks, beat detective, sound replacing, these are all the wonderful and powerful tools of modern music making. Today the music you hear in your iPods and online streams, the myspace and facebook accounts, All have in some way, shape, or form, been manipulated, molded, and "perfected" by technology and the producers and musicians and bank rollers utilizing it.

"This was such an important performance, because it's the first time everyone has seen Jennifer... But she's in such a great place, with such great spirits, and time can heal her wounds. She's on fire right now and totally grounded."

So as an artist trying to reconcile the evil that was done to her and hers, instead of being allowed the opportunity to be open, vulnerable, in perfect, for the sake of an artist (and might i be clear, a very good singer), to her public and fans, She was asked to Lip-sync the National Anthem. Talk about an incredibly gross disconnect for an Artist and her Audience, as well as for humanity as a whole.

Maybe this stems from the fact that i truly believe we are all one; that we are connected in some unseen way. Perhaps, that thought process seems overtly spiritual or mundane. In todays society, social, mental, and spiritual disconnect run rampant. Its no shock that these days you can be surrounded by hundreds of neighbors and not know the old lady next doors name. And this is reflective in our music today. (pointing directly towards our western culture).

When you think about a lot of the good singers we have in the pop world (and they aren't that many, but the few that are they can "sang"), a lot of them look to their heroes as inspirations. But its not just for their talent. Many times, the connect comes from an identity, a human trait, story, or life experience that pushes the art of the singer to a level that is Uniquely Theirs: A pure moment of true happiness, or pain, suffering, joy, love, anger. Many times, even the seemingly frivolous of songs sung by these individuals, regardless of content, move people to react and to look within themselves. This is the power of Music.

But i Guarantee you that anyone singer can think of (Ella, Marvin, Stevie, Frankie, Sammy, etc.,) they did not "perform" perfectly. They probably sang out of tunes more times then has been documented. Or forgotten words. Or lost their cool on stage. Missed a step. I could go on, but the point is, as much as we revere these artist for the amazingly hypnotic performances that have captured the hearts of millions, they were far from perfect. But this is not what our (music) world today brings us to.

Today, Our music is polished. The turtle wax of the digital age and production world of recorded and performed music leaves no room for human error. There is zero tolerance 90%.
or 99% for that matter. Everything must be perfect. The human element these days can be synthesized so well, that the average person and even the average musician, can no longer tell the difference. As was evident in Jennifer's performance yesterday (saw the you tube, she sounded good. But thats because it was pre-recorded). and according to the article, Jaime Foxx even called to tell her how great she did. Even he, someone who knows the industry, didn't pick up on the lip job (or, more likely, he did and was being professionally cordial).

So frankly, we don't need the human spirit in music anymore. And it seems to be, in this day and age, a growing phenomena. Eh, phenomena isn't the right word. Lets call it, status quo. Without getting overtly social/political, its a rather Incredible litmus to where we are as a society by and large, and the direction that humanity has been heading in for quite some time now. We would rather be in the zone of safety, then to take a chance. We relish on the thoughts of security rather then the enigmatic embrace of freedom. We become afraid to make mistakes, and so, we do not push ourselves to learn, to fall, and to pick ourselves up again.

These days, Everything is Instant. within a quarter of any given day, you can be in most places of this country, seen a myriad of films and tv shows and books online, and conversed with anyone or everyone you know around the world. The social assembly line takes everything we have been taught to want and need right into our finger tips, right into to our cell phones and laptops and mp3 players and everything else we touch on a regular basis.
So as a society, we expect our entertainment to be the same way: Fast, simple, easily digestible, and fleeting. Totally becoming impersonal, or at best, touching on a brief nerve humanity within the safety and confines of technology.

I would have loved to hear Jennifer sing for real. Perfect show or not. Out of tune and missing words or spot on. To have someone survive the death of three of their closest family members and still be able to smile and keep holding on, is in fact, Beautiful and Powerful, and to have someone tell her at the last minute, "you know what, its the super bowl. This needs to sound good. So i know you've been wanting to sing and get back out there and do your thing, but, just fake it, because,

'That's the right way to do it."