Gary Is Online

Well, I’ll be honest. I happily thought American Idol contestant Danny Gokey would make it all the way to the end. But now after having some time to think, maybe it was very predictable after all. So here is my Monday morning quaterbacking.

You can never fault Danny for his singing. He is awesome! And compared to others on the show, except Adam, he has performed flawlessly. Well, except for one unfortunate…scream…or screech more like. But I don’t think that hurt him much. He was able to laugh about it, and his fans had a forgive and forget attitude.

If I could talk to Danny during the competition I would have told him to show more teeth. It seems on television that a normal gentle grin, such as Danny’s, doesn’t come off nearly as genuine as a full face-distorting, open-mouthed smile. Adam Lambert is a smiler…and we have for sure seen way too much of the inside of his mouth.

The other thing that may have hurt Danny is that he’s never been in the bottom three. Without a scare there was never a call to rally the troops to save him. My wife and I thought he was a ‘fer sure’ deal, but of course we were still dialing like maniacs Tuesday night.

There might be more clues found in who had left prior to Danny. The votes of Matt Giraud may have fallen over to Kris Allen, and those of Allison Iraheta may have gone to fellow rocker Adam.

Danny has also been the target of some ridicule and myths during his Idol presence. One of which was using the unfortunate loss of his wife Sophia in July 2008 to pull at the heart strings of the voters. Another was for making a heart shape gesture with his hands. This normally wouldn’t have been a problem except that with Danny’s many pairs of stylish glasses, it was pretty coincidental that it matched the timing and gesture of an advertising campaign launched by Lens Crafters.

The truth however, may lie in the fact that his wife died from heart complications and his gesture may have been in reference to her, his fans and his foundation, Sophia’s Heart.

I have no doubt that Danny will be picked up by a label soon after the Idol tour. It’s probably best that he is allowed to use the momentum from his Idol experience without being tied into a compromising contract.

My fear though, is that he will be lured in by the 800 million dollar Contemporary Christian Music niche and will become another “Insider Christian Club Sell-Out” pimpin’ the Gospel to “Insider Christian Club Members” in Christian CD’s, Christian Concerts, Christian Motivational Seminars and annual Christian Christmas albums.

I am hoping he will instead go the way of singer artist that happens to be a Born Again Christian refusing to compromise thus reaching out way past “The Club Snobs” all the way to the masses.

Be careful though, Danny. The Club already thinks they own you. They will eat you alive and spit you out if you don’t say, do, eat and wear what they wish. Run! Go Ye Therefore! Save Yourself! Save the World!

It was clear from the beginning that Joan and Melissa Rivers were brought in purely for a ratings ploy. Joan’s ideas throughout the competition were questionable at best, lacking decency, professionalism and any hint of humor. Remember “cluck cluck cluck”?

Donald Trump basically handed control of the board room over to Joan and Melissa’s tirades as they blasted anybody who happened to flip their bitch switch.

Annie, although totally self centered with her “look what I can do” approach to the game, was a much better project manager and fund raiser in every one of her tasks. In the real world Annie’s results and hard driven style to winning and fund raising would have catapulted her to victory.

Perhaps, though, one of Annie Duke’s biggest mistakes through the entire season of Celebrity Apprentice was not realizing that the Trump deck had already been stacked. And it wasn’t in her favor. Donald or the producers were in love with Joan from the beginning and it had nothing to do with her intelligence. They let her explosions walk away with the boardrooms and ultimately the entire show.

Both Joan and Melissa walked out on the show, dis’ing Donald and promising not to return. Joan even abandonded her team in the process. All of these actions would have resulted in immediate and permanent dismissal on any real Business Reality show. But both were allowed to come back, along with Dennis Rodman as though nothing had happened.

I have lost respect for the show itself as far as “business reality”. Donald appears to have sold out to the pressures of being accepted by Hollywood D-listers, lusting after his own status. With his kissing up and compromising he has lowered himself to just short of groveling. From a business perspective, any real owner would have surely picked Annie Duke’s track record over Joan Rivers’ emototional flamboyance.

Maybe there is more to this story than we know. Are there puppet masters behind the curtain pulling the strings? As they say, follow the money. Do the clues lie in who was involved and which charity won? Perez Hilton, Joan Rivers, Joan’s Charity, Kathy Griffin, Cross Dressers at the final event?

Sometimes things don’t make any logical sense because YOU might be the one getting played.

Gary is Online. Now what?

Well, you have to start somewhere. And I’ve decided to start here, today.

A Brief Introduction

I will be brief here but I will give you a much more in-depth intro on my ‘About Gary’ page.

At the time of this writing, I am 42 years old, a married father of two grown boys, one 21 (in three days) and the other 18 and graduating from high school in just over a week. Oh where did the time go?

I am a Pastor’s kid and was raised in the church (Baptist) pretty much all of my life. Even though I am a born again Christian I am now very far removed from the Americanized business model fraud that some people call “the church”. You’ll hear more about that at random.

My interests are, well, the Internet and business. I am a geek to the core. I love to dip my toe into just about anything technical or entrepreneurial that I can.

I am a very passionate, opinionated and frequently sarcastic person and that is why it’s time that I use my personal online spaces as a release. And because my friends and family are tired of hearing it.

So, if you can tolerate me long enough or just have a curiosity into who this nut case is, there will be plenty of material. At the same time I hope to get to know you as well.

For now, thanks for checking out my site and I hope to see you around.