There's so much here to talk about, I'm not quite sure where to begin regarding Scott MacIntyre. Let me just add though that that spelling's going to cause me problems I'm sure. I mean, it's easy to go from Scott MacIntyre, to Scott McIntyre, to Scott MacIntire, McIntire ... you can see why I'm having a bit of trouble here. I think I'll just copy the darn name into the clipboard so it'll be easy to just paste it where needed.
So where was I? Well, Scott MacIntyre is the guy that the American Idol show decided to show off last on the first episode of Season 8. And I can understand why they would want to keep him until the very end. I mean, the guy's story is compelling, really compelling stuff. And it isn't just the usual compelling where you have a contestant who's suffered something tragic recently, and where American Idol will be that person's way of recovering or rising above the tragedy. Nope. In Scott MacIntyre's case, he's already lived the tragedy. Apparently, he's blind, or at least his vision is so limited so that legally speaking and most probably practically speaking as well, the guy's blind. And he's been that way for a really, really long time. So he's basically lived it.
But Scott MacIntyre hasn't just lived it. He's taken his blindness and moved on from there to lead what appears to be a particularly full and probably fulfilling life. The American Idol episode showed some of this off. Scott went to school, then to college, and then apparently to a school in London. Excellent. So he's educated, and he's been able to travel. Also, they guy skis, although of course he needs a companion to do so, but come on, the blind guy skis. That's cool. I mean, I can see but I couldn't ski to save my life. Also, he does ballroom dancing. Now I'm not going to go into how I feel exactly about dancing in general and ballroom dancing in particular, and I wasn't exactly wowed by Scott MacIntyre's technique when they showed him dancing in the dark (how quaint American Idol) with a partner, but come on, this blind guy most probably dances better than me. I think I'm beginning to have second thoughts about my life all of a sudden. Lol. And yet, not lol. :O
So Scott MacIntyre has gone to school. He's travelled. He skis and dances. Add to that the fact that he appears to have made music a significant part of his life. Now he could have just focused on singing and left it at that. But no. They guy had to learn an instrument. So we learn from this American Idol episode, that while Scott can only see the width of one piano key, he has nonetheless found a way to become a piano player in his own right. I'm amazed. Again, I can see, and I've dabbled in the piano, but I'm sure this guy could outplay me any day. It's too bad the episode didn't show off Scott's piano playing skills, but I'm sure we'll get around to seeing that since apparently Scott MacIntyre will be going to Hollywood.
Now, the guy could have done all this and been fine. But no. He wasn't content to be your average blind guy who can do a lot of things people who can see do. Instead, he's in some ways been exemplary. Hell, he went to college at 14 and finished at 19. Unbelievable. I think at 14 I was still quite the stupid dork. No way I would've survived in college. And yet that's exactly what this guy did. And did I mention that he's blind? And he wasn't content to just be the blind guy who sings and plays the piano. No. Apparently, I read somewhere that he's come out with albums. Will have to hunt around for those. Also, Scott mentioned in the episode that he writes music as well. Now I have a healthy respect for people who can create music. It's one thing to be able to sing and/or lay, but it's a whole different and more difficult task to create music of your own. And apparently, that's something that Scott MacIntyre does as well.
So there's all this stuff that this guy has done in the past. And now Scott MacIntyre has decided to try to take his music to another level, by bringing his performances over to the American Idol stage. Now Scott talks about how he wants in a way to send a message by competing in American Idol. And I get it, in a way his life is the message and the example to other people who may find themselves in similarly disadvantaged positions. So does it make sense for him to audition? Yes it does. It's one thing to live the example in your neighborhood after all, and it's a whole different thing when your example is broadcast into television sets all around America, and around the world. In a way, he's enlarging his base, and that just makes a whole lot of sense.
Now does that mean that he isn't aware of the fact that by taking the Scott MacIntyre brand onto the American Idol platform, he could very well benefit financially and maybe become a huge celebrity? I don't think so. One of the things I was thinking as I watched him talk and watched his audition was that this fellow really is quite smart. Of course, he's smart you may say, since he finished college at 19. But I think there's a whole other different kind of smart to him. He's street smart. He knows what he's doing. But before I get to that, let me just go back a bit to his message.
Now I don't know if people will be turned off by the fact that Scott MacIntyre talks plainly and directly about being blind, about how it's been an obstacle, and of how in some ways, he's overcome this obstacle. I know I don't find it annoying, and I'm hoping most other people won't. The thing is, he could have very well tried to play down his blindness, not mention it at all or barely, basically just try to be treated like every other contestant. Or, on the other hand, he could have pushed to the other extreme and made his entire audition be about his blindess, in a way trying to play to the crowd and garner its sympathy. I would not have been satisfied with either extreme, and I do realize that it can be a difficult balancing act, but I believe that Scott MacIntyre pulled it off in that first American Idol episode. And he wasn't arrogant either. I like that. Basically, he said that this is who I am, this is what I was given, this is what I had to overcome, and here's where I am now. He was just stating his situation plainly. Not trying to overdramatize it, and also realizing its significant so mentioning it, probably to help himself (again, he's smart) but also to be helpful to other people.
Now going back to how smart Scott MacIntyre's audition was, I look at a few thing he did while he was in front of the American Idol judges. One, he realized that the most important judge to impress was Simon. You may love him or you may hate him but it really does seem that in the show that is American Idol, you rise or fall based on Simon's response to you. Which doesn't mean of course that the other three judges have no say. But really at the head of the table sits Simon. So what does Scott MacIntyre do? He puts on a shirt which references London. He mentions that he's studied there and mentions his shirt. He's basically trying to develop even a slight connection to Simon, and looking at the episode, it seems that Simon responded. Also, the other thing is that while he was talking to Simon, he was talking to him in a way which seemed to show that he respected Simon, but he wasn't afraid of him. Not as if they were peers exactly. But Scott was sending the message that wasn't going to debase himself for Simon either. And again, Simon Cowell responded. He said that he thought Scott was a cool guy, which is excellent praise, especially since it was based on a first impression, in what must have been a very stressful situation for Scott.
So while I was watching Scott MacIntyre I was thinking that this guy is smart. And from there I thought that he's really there to play, he's really there to compete fully in American Idol. He put some thought into his shirt. He has a sense of self confidence about him. And that self confidence does make sense after all since I doubt that he would have been able to do many of the things he's done if he didn't have a strong sense of belief in himself.
So Scott MacIntyre went through to Hollywood, and it'll be interesting to see what that stage of American Idol has in store for him.
