Phone salesman amazes crowd...

[[JiF]Thos]

Not really into American Idol, etc. but this performance was amazing!

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[[JiF]Mike]

Keeps stopping after a few seconds and no sound. Does it on their site too..something wrong with it maybe?

[[JiF]LtWaterboy]

Keeps stopping after a few seconds and no sound. Does it on their site too..something wrong with it maybe?

Mike, try it again - just worked for me today with no probs....

LT

[[JiF]Mike]

Works now. Who knows what happened earlier....and umm...dang!!

[[JiF]Stepovich]

Are there any follow ups??
I wonder if he just practiced this one piece so much that he nailed
it, or if he can do that normally.
Amazing either way.
If I didn't know better, I would have thought he was lip syncing
to Andrea Bocelli...

[[JiF]Mentat]

I saw this earlier on some blog and the comments were rediculous. Some opera "experts" basically ripped him to shreds saying he wasn't even the lowest professional standards etc etc in these long drawn out detailed posts. Quite amazing what the cat dragged in with it.

I thought it was great. My fav comment I saw on that blog was, "I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats."

[[JiF]Stepovich]

Natural talent has a tendancy to bring out some interesting reactions from others, especially
from those who've worked hard to be mediocre

[[JiF]Rhykin]

I wonder why he got booted. Assuming he did, if the show is over.. or if the next season started?

I don't follow it.

Very nice on his part though!

[[JiF]Mentat]

I read a UK newspaper that had a story on him. He has not gone to the next round yet, so we may see more of him. Pagliacci?

[[JiF][AARP]Tissueman]

Mr. Tanner?

Artist(Band):Harry Chapin

Mister Tanner was a cleaner from a town in the Midwest.
And of all the cleaning shops around he'd made his the best.
But he also was a baritone who sang while hanging clothes.
He practiced scales while pressing tails and sang at local shows.
His friends and neighbors praised the voice that poured out from his throat.
They said that he should use his gift instead of cleaning coats.

But music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.

His friends kept working on him to try music out full time.
A big debut and rave reviews, a great career to climb.
Finally they got to him, he would take the fling.
A concert agent in New York agreed to have him sing.
And there were plane tickets, phone calls, money spent to rent the hall.
It took most of his savings but he gladly used them all.

But music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.

The evening came, he took the stage, his face set in a smile.
And in the half filled hall the critics sat watching on the aisle.
But the concert was a blur to him, spatters of applause.
He did not know how well he sang, he only heard the flaws.
But the critics were concise, it only took four lines.
But no one could accuse them of being over kind.

(spoken) Mr. Martin Tanner, Baritone, of Dayton, Ohio made his
Town Hall debut last night. He came well prepared, but unfortunately
his presentation was not up to contemporary professional standards.
His voice lacks the range of tonal color necessary to make it
consistently interesting.
(sung) Full time consideration of another endeavor might be in order.

He came home to Dayton and was questioned by his friends.
Then he smiled and just said nothing and he never sang again,
excepting very late at night when the shop was dark and closed.
He sang softly to himself as he sorted through the clothes.
Music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
(And) he did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.

[[JiF]Sly Gambit]

He's sort of a fraud. Yes he is currently a salesman but he's sung with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra before:

http://www.bathopera.co.uk/Past%20Produ ... aphies.htm

Search for Paul Potts.

It appears that he has had a fair amount of training but was good enough to be a professional opera singer but apparantly not good enough to make a living being an opera singer. That still makes him a lot better than anyone else competing but the idea that he has been practicing in the shower and never trained is a silly one.

[[JiF]Stepovich]

Ha! I knew it!

[[JiF]Sly Gambit]

Ha! I knew it!

Yeah. Takes away a little bit from the performance especially when you read opera affectionados diss him a bit. I don't know what the rules are for that show but I'm kinda surpised that his bio isn't all over the net. It is on wikipedia tho.

Here's both his performances thus far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDB9zwlXrB8

I liked the first one more than the second but I don't listen to much opera. But in the end it's just normal TV ie. they take something good and then spin it better by giving it a 'spiced up' narration. I bet 90% of the people voting on that show are like me and just never hear opera so they don't know how to define 'good'. It's just better than the guy with singing muppets.

[[JiF]Mentat]

No one got my Seinfeld reference...

[[JiF]Mentat]

...and the winner is...