Blog by Sean Gehon, Friday, February 23, 2007

Summertime - and the living is easy. For many children, taking a few weeks off and spending it at summer camp is an annual tradition. Luckily, my parents didn’t ship me off to some bug infested hell hole known as ‘summer camp’. Some of my friends had the misfortune of not only attending summer camp, but they were forced into band camp (insert flute joke… NOW!) The act of attending a summer camp never really appealed to me. Who wants to spend their summer smelling bad and dealing with bugs?

For those of us who aren’t necessarily ‘summer camp friendly’ comes a new project from the team that brought you American Idol. American Idol Camp is a chance for kids who want to show off their singing talents and spend the summer belting out some of their favourite tunes under the guidance of industry professionals and former favourite Idol contestants. It’s like band camp without the flute. Who wouldn’t love a chance to spend the summer singing and dancing and getting away from the typical summer camp appeal of swimming, campfires, and hiking?

This is the kind of camp I needed when I was a kid. For those of us who are more inclined towards the fine arts and performance, it’s difficult to find a camp to suit our needs. Unfortunately, a camp of this nature (especially having the Idol name attached to it) comes with quite the hefty price tag. For a ten day stint at Camp Idol, parents had better be willing to shell out nearly three thousand dollars for their twelve to fifteen-year-old son or daughter to attend the camp. Is the chance to sing with industry professionals worth three grand? I would have to assume it is, especially if your son or daughter wants to be the next Whitney Houston or Cher. Music legends don’t just grow on trees, you know.

I find myself curious about the true motives behind Camp Idol. Is it possible that producers for the Fox juggernaut are attempting to breed future contestants? After watching this past week's top 24 perform on American Idol I can’t say as I’d be surprised. This year’s batch of contestants are fairly pathetic for the most part. If you were to compare past winners Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, or Fantasia Barrino to this season's contestants, you’d probably find two singers who may be able to compare to their success. Would Fox do something as underhanded as taking advantage of the dreams of young kids? I’d like to say they wouldn’t, but this is also the network that brought us Temptation Island, a reality show designed to break couples up by tantalizing them with sexy singles.

Do you think Camp Idol would be anything like the show itself? After watching American Idol and seeing the way that Simon Cowell treats the contestants, do you think the teachers are anything like him? Sure, Simon is funny and honest with grown adults, but could a twelve year old stand the same berating that a twenty-five-year old endures? I’d like to think that Camp Idol is probably nothing like going through the actual Idol process.

The real question in all of this: Can I pass for fifteen? I would love to attend Camp Idol and have my shot at pretending I’m good enough to sing alongside Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood. I’m pretty sure that with a little botox and a face lift I should look like I’m fifteen in no time. Now all I need is a few voice lessons…

Sean (I want to go on the Amazing Race, screw Idol!)

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