James Sidebottom
There are other currencies besides fame and fortune. And if you buy into another currency, dont worry if fame and fortune get upset. James Sidebottom is my hero du jour. He’s the 25th Australian Idol, the one that was picked in the top 24, but then got kicked off when he said he didn’t actually care if he won the competition or not.
He obviously hit a nerve. The judges got all emotional. ”You can bugger off…” ”You’ll remember this day for the rest of your life!” “How dare he…”
Why were they so angry? So self-righteous? The show is there to find prodigious talent, he has it, what’s the problem? – so what if he hasn’t sold his soul to the fame and fortune factor? In fact it will probably keep him grounded.
The problem to them was that he dared to suggest that fame and fortune weren’t the big apple of his life. He had other currencies of value to him – his chiro-practice, perhaps his family, friends, and his music too. Time with loved ones, the joy of the music, healing the sick, these are ultimately much more important than being an idol. I agree. He doesn’t want to sell his soul for fame & fortune. He doesn’t want what they’re offering. And they felt invalidated by that!
James’ confronted their values. The judges live in a world where fame and fortune IS king. Everyone around them is clamoring for it. Their minders, the producers, the contestants all agree, “We want fame and fortune! It’s the most important thing in our lives!” And the judges are the high priests of that value! They have invested heavily in that currency. Their identity is defined by it more than they realized. How do I know? Because when someone says ‘no’ to it, they take it personally.
If they really thought its OK to have other things in life besides fame and fortune, they would have said, “Good onya, James. You do have prodigious talent, so we hope you stick around.” And gone on with the show with him in the top 24. But no, for them emotionally, it is unacceptable to devalue fame and fortune!*
Oh they justify it by saying, “in order to make it in this business, you have to really want it. There are all these other people who will do anything for it, so don’t stand in their way.” But that’s merely justifying their currency. There’s no reason he can’t have more talent than others, and the show is there to recognize that.
The truth is they kicked him off because he didn’t value their currency of fame and fortune, and that insulted them.
Bottom lines:
1) When you march to the beat of a different drum, the other drummers hate that. Cest la vie. Dont be afraid of standing up for your currency. Jesus said, “don’t be surprised if the world hates you like it hated me.” No-one is liked by everyone.
2) Don’t worry if others don’t buy into your currency. Be like James, and Jesus. Shrug and move on – they don’t have to march to the beat of your drum. Any more than you have to march to theirs. You can still play together.
When two kids meet, who know this secret of tolerance without agreeing, they can play happily together.
* Note: I’m not saying that Dicko, Kyle & Marcia actually think F&F is the be-all-&-end-all, but that emotionally they have invested more into that than they realised, and in this case it caused them to over-reach.
They actually kicked him off because he entered a competition without any desire to follow through to winning that competition. Instead of slamming the judges we could equally be quoting Paul’s call for us to enter the race to win.
I’m sure that they have no problem with those who don’t want fame and fortune, they simply feel that if you enter a competition where fame and fortune is clearly advertised as the prize, you should put in the effort.
If a sportsperson joins an Olympic team and doesn’t value reaching for a personal best and hopefully a gold medal, they’ll be kicked off the squad. it’s not that the coaches and officials think that being at that level as an athlete is all that matters in life, they simply recognise that places on the team should be reserved for those prepared to do what it takes.
The guy wasn’t asked if he “didn’t actually care if he won the competition or not”. Sandilands asked him: “Do you want to win this contest?” Sidebottom replied: “To be perfectly honest, I probably don’t . . .”
It wasn’t about not caring one way or the other, it was about not actually wanting to win. If he didn’t want to win he shouldn’t have entered. He chose to audition without any desire of winning thus potentially taking the place of someone who wanted to win.
If he didn’t want what they were offering maybe he should have stayed at home instead of lining up with thousands of hopefuls and then taking a place in the top 100 and almost the top 24.
There are many things about the Idol machine that I don’t like but in this case I’m with the judges.
He can enter if he doesn’t want to win. Why not? He is a muso, a good one, and a bit of publicity is a good thing for him, but he may be wise to not get too far into the idol machine, because it cramps your style after a while. If he wants to use the Idol machine a bit – good on him, I say.
Call Kyle a “waaa-mbulance” if he feels like Idol is being “used.”
As long as James is good enough, its his choice to stick around, not the judges’. Their job is to decide if he’s good enough. I reckon James has a right to be there if he wants to enjoy the journey. If he’s good enough he’s good enough. Too bad for the other contestants he displaced.
Sidebottom replied: “To be perfectly honest, I probably don’t . . .”
Those 3 little dots are telling. He didn’t have time to explain what he meant, and what I thought he might say is sure different to what went off in Dicko’s mind.
I think the judges were way too emotional for their response to be a well-considered one like yours, Rodney. If that were really uppermost in their minds, I’d have expected them to ask him what he meant, to at least let him finish his sentence. Or say, “well now that its down to 24, don’t you think its time to give your place to someone who is prepared to do the winner’s job?”
Why do you think they were so emotional?
And Paul’s thing about winning the prize – he meant living the Christian life. I’m not sure he was advocating trying to win at everything you enter.
But that’s just me.
“And Paul’s thing about winning the prize – he meant living the Christian life. I’m not sure he was advocating trying to win at everything you enter.”
But surely you realise that it’s up to us as Christians to twist what the Bible says to suit us?
(I’m sure that many churches would still use it that way.)
I still reckon that signing up to Idol is signing up to say “I want fame and fortune” and that you wouldn’t bother if you didn’t crave it.
There are three very concrete reasons I would never sign up for the Idol auditions.
1. I don’t want fame, fortune and all that goes with it.
2. I’m way too old.
3. I can’t sing.
(Of course reason 3 hasn’t stopped many thousands signing on.)
Stop it – I have a throaty cough, and laughing aloud like that sends me into fits.
Ditto on all 3 for me. Well I can sing sort of, but no way good enough for idol.
I sang in a pub in Ireland once, and they took up a collection – to send me home!