Well that was fun! Fun, Fun, FUN!!

Thanks for everyone who watched, and supported my friend and hometown team. (I have one of those silver and grey "Team Cincinnati" shirts. They were made by Nick's dad--Nick being the guy who sang the solo on "Low Places", not Nick Lachey)

I was so surprised that Cincinnati won, and evidently Patti LaBelle was too. Well, surprised in the sense of "more than a little miffed." When the winner was announced, she was on stage mouthing "I can't believe it" and "uh uh" as they wrapped up the show. When the other choirs rushed the stage and there was congratulations all around as the cameras turned off, she disappeared into her dressing room. It wasn't until about 45 minutes later that she finally calmed down and came out. My friend's dad said she eventually came into the Cincinnati staging area, where they were still celebrating and packing up, and became a little more gracious. She posed for some pictures and let the Cincy group treat her like a diva for a bit, but it sounds like she never had anything close to "congratulations, you deserved it" leave her lips.

But you know what? She didn't deserve it. Her group was talented, but their songs were all in the lead and back-up format. They weren't a choir, they were Pips to her Gladys (or whoever in her choir played Gladys when they sang). And their Pip parts weren't very difficult (many were just repetitions of the same phrase over and over). I think Cincinnati might not have had the lead talent (indeed, their soloists were their weakest parts), but they blended well and sang like a choir--in fact, they were the only group to perform real choral pieces (like Wonderful World), in which the solos were incidental, not the focus.

None of the choirs really had much idea what the others groups were singing, so they didn't know what the others were going to show up with, so I think they had to guess at what to prepare, and Lachey and his Michigan composer/partner picked a good mix. That's what deserved to win, in my eyes.

As for the show, it was so painful to watch (aside from the singing). You could tell that NBC had no idea what to do with this thing. They had an identity crisis from the get-go: they couldn't decide if they wanted to be mean and harsh like AI (which they did during the auditions) or be anti-mean (as in the post-performance commentary). And the sappy stories! Good grief. The biggest tragedy with that is that it made the genuinely good stories (like the deaf father) seem trite and gooey as well because of all the others. (Side note: My friend was one of the people who had rehearsed the solo in the middle of Wonderful World, but I'll bet they gave it to the woman who's child had died so she could tell her story at the end of the song. She was a weaker singer, but had a better story. Such is reality TV.)

And that host has to be the worst ever. She didn't know how to banter, how to ask questions, how to shut up. She basically didn't know anything--not even how to walk up steps in a long dress without tripping. She would start interviewing the wrong people, and cover up her mistakes with awkward and unfunny jokes. Horrible.

I'd like to think these problems would be corrected next time, but I'll bet there isn't going to be a next time. Patti was a mover/shaker for this, and she'll probably take her producing toys and go home.

Meanwhile, My friend comes home today, after an exhausting night. Nick Lachey chartered a boat for them (and their families) to take a late-night cruise around Manhattan, with dinner and dancing. And he gave them all nice jewelry from Tiffany's. All planned before they knew they had won. He not only knew all his choir members by name (which I suppose you might reasonably expect) but he knew their relatives as well, as my friend's dad verified. He'll certainly make good on his promise to have them sing something on his next album. Class act all around.

Mystic, I'll ask my friend about the sheet music for Bumblebee--if she still has it (they might have returned it all by now).

Thanks again, everyone, for indulging me. It was fascinating to me, even if it wasn't the most polished (or watched) tv show out there..