Taylor Hicks vs Lois Gibson

The Tale of Two Women in the life of Taylor Hicks has perhaps come to a conclusion. As an admitted American Idol watcher which resulted in my becoming a Taylor Hicks' fan, I have tried to keep up with what the man has been into since he 'graduated' from the show. Last Summer, an on-line acquaintance directed me to a gossip site featuring photographs of Mr. Hicks on a frothy beach with a young blonde woman. My first impression, viewing the pictures was how his bathing trunks were rather ill-fitting, perhaps he'd had to purchase them spur of the moment.

I stayed on the site long enough to make a comment on how she looked like my kid sister. I was there long enough to be appalled by some of the venomous comments by many of the posters on the site. That was my introduction to the, for want of a better description - underbelly of this man's fan base.

I remember back in the early days of Taylor's run on Idol, I engaged in "conversation" with now past blogger of Hicks' on how he felt almost frightened by the intensity of some of the fans that Mr. Hicks was attracting. I thought he was joking around, but perhaps he meant some truth in that comment. I had very little experience with that, my blogspot pals stopped by here and there to comment, but I hadn't ventured into the Hicks' fan world much. Hell, I was relatively new to blogging and did not even know how to get anything I wrote set up for the hits on alerts. I have, in the past, habitually maintained a relatively low profile on my writing spaces concerning A.I. subjects.

I had written some months past, that I did not think there were two women. It did not seem logical, feasible, believable. (Of course that post went completely ignored by the real hate site, the Caroline Lyders Fan Club.) I told MFOYA I could not find evidence in the photos rendered to conclusively declare I thought that the pictures were of two different women. There were so many more similar target facial points on the photographs than dissimilar. I actually spent a few hours one day examining them. I checked all the MFOYA points and could not come up with a conclusive, "Yes, you are right, they are two different women" and I told MFOYA that much, then blogged about it. Thing is, Lois Gibson is a much better intrinsic artist than I. She can fabricate images out of descriptions, from almost thin air from details provided from witnesses, from bone fragments. It's documented in many reports how she has come through and solved cases, identified people. She's absolutely amazing.

Having said that, during American Idol 5 I was completely smitten by Taylor Hicks. His devil-may-care, lay-it-all-out persona was intoxicating. Watching Mr. Hicks take that Idol stage and rock the house, sometimes sending Simon Cowell home speechless was exciting, invigorating, electric. Taylor Hicks made some excellent television. I was one of the folks who thought when the man walked off that show he was going to change the music world. I really did. But as time passed, that surely did not materialize, and in reality, it was an unfair and unrealistic goal set for the guy. It was monumental he did what he did on that reality television show - that show should be honoring him for that accomplishment. My appreciation for the show is not what it once was because of the short-sightedness behind the brilliant minds behind it. You can be a genius and still lack common sense, it is a fact.

In and through all of the things I have been through during these past months with MFOYA, as well as with the meanness and oddities I have encountered with those anti-MFOYA fans; in a transverse and converse manner, my interest in Taylor Hicks has seemingly been re-ignited rather than snuffed out. Honestly, I had started to lose interest in my blog's subject. I had seen many instances of bad decisions, by inattention to what it takes in today's internet arena to cultivate and maintain fans and I was fading. I admit I wasn't in love with the post-Idol Cd either, it was too commercially washed out and bad decisions were made on singles. I didn't like the basic philosophies I was seeing in some of his 'insiders' either, too many with small town minds and small town visions. The post-Idol Taylor Hicks just wasn't hitting the mark for me. Visiting fan sites in general read silly and pablum fluffy with no interest for me.

I hold hope that this man rises to the occasion and since this news is hitting a more open market, addresses it with that same devil-may-care, lay-it-all-out-on-the-stage persona I first fell in love with on Idol. Should he not - that too is the man's option and prerogative, but choices are what life is all about. I also read Howard Stern was knocking, man, go for it.

Aside from the Easter Bunny 'television moment bit',this is the Taylor Hicks' passion I fell in love with:
"Taking it to the Streets"


"Jailhouse Rock" prime example of how Taylor owned this show: