Sadly, Nick Mitchell has been voted off American Idol. In addition to sweatbands and shiny shirts, Mitchell embraced a fundamental attribute of any brilliant entertainer: a stage name. Never mind the imbecilic judges, who never said it correctly. “Normund Gentle” could have been an Idol contestant for the record books. This week’s Good Music Corner bids Normund ado with a list of his fellow fabulous pseudonyms.

Unless your name is T.C. Love or Andrea Marvel, chances are the name that adorns your birth certificate won’t sell many albums. The music industry is inundated with stage names. Musicians take up aliases for many reasons: to stand out from the crowd, transition between genres or cultivate an image.

Read the bios below, and (without cheating!) see if you can guess each artist’s more well-known moniker.

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Cover songs have long been a staple of karaoke bars, but they are also the ace in the pocket of any great musician.  A good cover song is an art form unto itself, and it is an art form the contestants of American Idol are yet to master.

But what makes a good cover song?

First and foremost: it has to stack up to the original, and unless you are covering [url=http://www.votefortheworst.com/blogs/laura/20080323/britney_spears_good_music] Britney Spears [/url] this can be a formidable task.  Posers are lame, so the second rule of a good cover song: put your own spin on it.  If we wanted to hear an exact mimic of [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AREdXmuhvQs] The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," [/url] we'd listen to the original.  Good covers switch up genres, strip away instruments or utilize a singer of a different gender.  

The following are just a few examples of excellent contemporary covers.  Idols, pay attention!  This is how it's done!

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American Idol is a singing competition.  Unfortunately, we're only five weeks into the show and I'm already sick of the singing. 

Why do we need words anyway?  Without lyrics clogging things up, instrumentals are limitless in scope, and if every contestant on American Idol were required to master an instrument, the quality of music would increase fourfold.    

Basic vocals need little effort: my six-year-old cousin can carry a tune without a single lesson and without reading a line of sheet music.  Instruments, on the other hand, require years of training just to master the basics.  Instrumentalists must learn to read the language of music, where as singers can fudge their way through a chorus without reading a note.

So here is a giant kudos to instrumentalists, who consistently kick vocalists to the curb with the merest flick of their bow or pick.

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American Idol has an Asian problem.  The Asians featured on the show are there for one reason: to be laughed at.  The producers seem to think Asian Americans are either morbidly bad singers (William Hung) or disposable clowns (Sanjaya Malakar).  Asian contestants are not considered serious contenders; they are "cannon fodder."

In response to the stereotyping that is a staple of this small-minded show, this edition of the Good Music Corner focuses on the contemporary music of Asians.  From the sugary froth of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-pop] J-Pop[/url], to Thailand's [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleng_phua_cheewit#Pleng_phua_cheewit] pleng phua cheewit[/url], to the spinning rhythms of South Korea's [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-yYjMg1lvs] b-boy[/url] scene, these are serious musicians with serious chops.

America is a country of many heritages.  Now on it's 8th season, it is high time Idol acknowledged the musicianship of some talented Asians... or even crowned an Asian American Idol.  

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