I could
see the hurt in her eyes behind her glasses.
Even
though she walked away with a prize, it wasn’t the prize she deserved. I knew
it down deep and so did most of the audience that had attended the talent show that
night.
She is
the reason I had being a judge in anything, especially with something so
subjective as talent.
In the
past, I always did journalism contests at a distance, able to read a story or
examine a photograph without having to look the author or photographer in the
eye afterwards.
Even in
those cases that I later encountered the contestant, I could generally live
with the result since I always felt that I had judged fairly.
This was
not the case on this night in Bayonne
I’m not
sure why I agreed to become one of the judges. One or the organizers asked me
during a conversation with someone else, and when a nod is as good as a wink, I
said, “Why not.”
And
suddenly, I was on the billboard along with a school board candidate, the one
time lead guitarist for Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, and actor, Tammy
Blanchard.
After
years of trying to wrangle an interview with Blanchard, I finally managed to
get a story into our Bayonne
So I was
a bit disappointed when she had to cancel to attend an audition in New York
Sitting
next to George Cummings of Dr. Hook fame was a history lesson of local music,
and a flash back to a time when pop music wasn’t so corporate controlled. He
even sang me the dirty lyrics to his band’s biggest hit, “The Cover of the
Rolling Stone,” and it was all I could do to keep from laughing when we were
supposed to look serious and judge-like.
The acts
varied widely, although nearly all of them involved singing. This is likely why
the one dance act managed to stand out and get awarded.
The
musical acts varied, not only in style, but in era, and this proved somewhat of
a problem since all of the judges were of a particular era, and some of the
contestants – such as this girl – were two and a half generations later.
She
performed one of Adele’s more difficult songs, and struggled through the
beginning slightly, only to finally pull it together at the end.
Other
acts included Frank Sinatra songs, Elvis songs, Motown songs, and perhaps
because the judges were of an age that related best to these many of these acts
scored higher over all.
Some of
the scheduled acts did not show, and so apparently to give the audience their
money’s worth, organizers allowed some acts to go on again.
This
only confused the judging, especially in regards to this particular girl – who
came back with a rendition of “Over the Rainbow” so powerful, it nearly made me
cry.
But some
of the judges felt the second performance should not figure in the final
judgment and so discounted it – although in one or two other cases, previous
performers came back as solo acts and got credit anyway.
The
other problem with the younger performers is that they sang along with the
professionally released recording, and so some judges could not tell which
voice was which, and assumed that the quality they heard best came form the
recording and not the performer.
This was
not the case with the girl who sang Adele and later Judy Garland songs.
Judging
became a confusion of what to include and not, and how to determine tie scores.
I just handed in my numbers and went off to find the men’s room while the
others figured out who got what.
And I
tried desperately not to look around to see that girl for fear I would have to
look her in the eye.
But I
did see her later and how hurt she looked when the organizers announced that
she had won third prize.
It is
one of those moments you remember forever because you know she will feel the
sting of it long after the event has become insignificant, a sting that may
someday derail a potential career, although I hope (mostly for my own sake) it
will inspire her to try harder, to spite us.
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