Eclectic Company: Our Hero, Josh Ledet

Even up here in Long Island, Newsday, the local newspaper of record, began its postmortem by asking “who could have imagined a world in which Joshua Ledet wasn’t in the finale of American Idol?” I know that just moments before it was all over, I smugly announced to all and sundry up here in the North that “our” Josh Ledet was going to be the winner, and that that would finally cement the positive image we have of Lake Charles and Westlake, and that we’re always hoping others will see. But that’s not how it went down. I was certainly disappointed, but surprisingly, not crushed. And that’s given me food for thought.

I was in Lake Charles during Josh’s grand homecoming — I arrived the night of his next-to-the-last week of the competition, and heard him sing John Lennon’s anti-war anthem “Imagine” so beautifully over the noise in the bar where I watched with my friends, that I was moved to tears, as I often am when listening to Josh’s vibrant voice and verve-filled delivery. I saw the signs around town shouting “Geaux Josh!” and sending hopes and prayers for “Our Joshua” to emerge victorious. But I was one of the many who missed out on the Burton Coliseum concert. I didn’t make it to the Westlake parade and I wasn’t invited to meet up with Josh at Sheriff Tony Mancuso’s crawfish boil. And yet I too felt tapped into the tide of warmth and excitement that surrounded Josh, and which he returned to us tenfold. My good friend and theatre production colleague D’Ellen Myers drove Josh around all that homecoming day from one appointment to the next, racking up the miles and the meet and greets. Her assessment was all thumbs up and positive comments about Josh’s aplomb, his sweetness, his genuine enjoyment and slight nervousness about the way he would be received by his friends and family with the American Idol aura and entourage surrounding him. She was charmed up close, just as we had been from afar.

No doubt you were watching when Josh was voted off the island, followed by a wrenching emotional outburst in which J Lo promised him that he was the most amazing talent of the last 50 years, that he would grow stronger from this setback, that his career was only beginning. Maybe you too burst into tears, or turned away from the scene too painful to watch, or wished you could comfort him or for that matter, could be comforted by him. I think that’s what I wanted — to have him tell me personally that he was only temporarily bowed down by this loss, bent but not broken.

Disappointed fans like myself and I’m guessing like you all are wondering if the rumors that always fly about the show — that there’s a fix in, that no one of color can get past a bone-deep American racism, or that Josh’s fans just didn’t dial fast enough or often enough to push him past the post — had anything to do with the ending of our hopes for him for this specific contest.

But that’s the weird thing. Even though watching Josh lose and mourn left me feeling sorrow for him and us, I nevertheless was free of that sick feeling of dread mixed with shame that usually follows from watching someone receive a crushing public blow. I’ve been examining it, and I really think it’s because it’s no dishonor to Josh to bow out a few weeks early, and none to us either. By the time of that performance, Josh had already racked up a slew of winning nights of pure, shining delight, every single week, every single song, for nearly three months, creating and returning to us the simple pleasure and self assurance that comes from justly earned pride. And Josh did that for us. He came from nowhere, from obscurity, from a time and place where for a long time, dreams have been in short supply. And he showed us, with bravery, with love, with hard work, that dreams are possible, and that we should dream them in full measure.

So even though it’s been a disappointing end to a magical trajectory, I think we are all — including Josh — going to be okay. He NEVER let us down, never ever, not once, down to the last glorious reverberating note. And because J Lo was right: Joshua Ledet has one of those voices that appears once in a generation, buoying us up, and filling us with righteous delight. This is certainly not the end of the line. We will be hearing much more from Joshua Ledet.

And now, the VOICE OF THE POSSLQ:

“Is that light I see? Has Leslie forgotten to lock me up? Might as well take advantage. I am the POSSLQ. Most of you know of my existence through Leslie’s writings although the mentions are brief, too brief in my opinion, but that’s another matter.

“Actually today I want to discuss Leslie. Now, I am a retired college professor. I always thought professing was the ultimate gig. Control your own hours, work on a subject you like, hang around with smart people, ogle the chicks; you don’t get paid a lot but clearly there are fringe benefits. But consider Leslie’s so-called job. She listens to music of her choice, apparently all the time judging by her column. She can dangle a favorable mention in the column before performers and score CD freebies, once every two weeks she free-associates her reactions to the music, no hours researching in the library for her, and she plucks electrons out of the air to record these reactions.

“And for this she gets paid . . . genuine American “In God We Trust” currency. How does one get such a job? Well, if you all were to write The Jambalaya News and suggest that Leslie had been around long enough and could be replaced by the POSS . . . ‘Quiet, I hear a noise. No, Leslie, I was just joking, of course your readers want you. Please, just a little more time in the light . . . .’”