The Rise of Supa Noop

I've yet to meet Anoop Desai, but if he lasts much longer on American Idol, I will. That's not to say I'll jet to the West Coast to hang with this nearly unibrowed tenor. Unlike the Days of Daughtry, pressurized tube trips to Hollywood are no longer in the budget. That's cool; countless voyages into the belly of the Idol beast have left me less than enamored with L.A. and deeply distrustful of anyone in a 300 dollar spangly t-shirt. But this post ain't about me. It's about the UNC grad student who just made it onto the live portion of Season 8. This kid's got pipes, a low key vibe and a name that's fun to say. What more could Idol producers want? Well, a pet giraffe or a Mom in rehab would be nice, but you can't have everything. Besides, Noop-Dawg has something else going for him: normalcy. I'm told it's the new freak!

Understand, I don't sully my site with the World's Cheesiest Sing-Off without a lot of forethought (even if it does spike my traffic!). But after interviewing Anoop's college buddies, scouring the web for any and all Desai detritus and lumping it all into this profile, I gotta tell ya: dude's got potential! No,I don't have any inside info, but I have (been forced to) watch every frame of his appearances so far and my sniper's eye knows a ringer when it sees it. Remember, Idol isn't a talent contest; it's a tee-vee show. Thus, Noop's strategically-edited cameos on the show so far - at the end of one show and the beginning of the next - are sure signs that North Carolina's got another hopeful vocalist to exploit, er celebrate. This fact alone represents a lot of future work for your somewhat humble lenslinger, but that's O-KAY!

Why? It's not just because Anoopalooza will allow me to shirk the confines of drive-by shootings and the like. It's because once again the far corners of our nation will have to rethink the state I love. Think about it: an unassuming dude of Indian descent who speaks with no discernable accent, loves all things Southern and can belt out throwback R&B jams like early Bobby Brown? That, dear readers, is a new kind of North Carolinian and I for one look forward to watching him shatter longheld stereotypes. I just feel sorry for his eyebrows. Idol's head stylist is a fully-stocked refrigerator of a man and he's gonna rip those caterpillars out one by one. Remember, you heard it here first.