Ex-boy band member in 'Canadian Idol'

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a contender! One of the "best" worst singers in this season of Canadian Idol is a ringer.

He's already tasted fame, already inflicted bad music on the Canadian public. Now he's back for another kick. His name is Dave Moffatt. He's 21 years old, from Victoria and his stated occupation is "singer-songwriter." Sound familiar? He should. You may remember him from a Canadian boy band called the Moffatts. Yes, the Moffatts. They live ...

Following the riveting conclusion of last night's episode, where three groups of 16 singers were placed in three rooms, one of which contained the man-eating tiger of failure, the young Moffatt emerged triumphant in the "top-32." The first group of eight performs next Tuesday at 8 p.m. on CTV (Cable 2). Moffatt's group performs June 21.

This kid has what it takes. He oversings, he mugs for the camera, he emotes, he makes googly eyes when he sings love songs. And cocky? You bet! He screwed over his fellow competitors in Tuesday night's "group" competition when he didn't show up to rehearse until midnight. He'd been "sidetracked." His partners were eliminated, but he survived. Perhaps most importantly, far more important than talent, is that he's got lots of confidence. As he said last night, "I'm going all the way."

Yes you are! With our help. Never mind that a professional recording artist who was once signed to a major record label was allowed in the same contest with people who've never even been on stage. Such glaring unfairness is a plus. If Dave was annoying with his three brothers, he should be at least four times as annoying as a solo artist. Let us all pool our votes behind Dave Moffatt. Are you with me?!

I corresponded again with another Dave, the Dave who runs votefortheworst.com (VFTW) - which ran its latest campaign during the latest season of American Idol. He's interested in starting a Canadian VFTW, but unfortunately can't get CTV in California.

He writes, "Thanks for helping spread our cause to Canada! I'm keeping up with everything as much as I can, and we're trying to have the site redesigned for next Tuesday. Worse comes to worse, we keep the site the way it is, support someone and then redesign it in a few weeks. But I've heard there's some awful people, including someone who used to be in that God-awful Moffatts group (people are telling me he's terrible). We're definitely keeping it up and we'll be supporting VFTW for Canadian Idol from the beginning starting next week."

Moffatt has some stiff competition in his group, including the smooth Buble-in-waiting, Vince Benenati. The Italian charmer sang Heaven with almost as much breathy sincerity as Bryan Adams. Suzi Rawn, performing July 5, also shows promise. Her combination of passion, commitment and hilarious vocal affectations is the stuff of dreams. Actually, of all the singers heard over the last two episodes, every single one has the potential to be the worst, if they only work at it.

Now, an important disclaimer: A reader wondered why the Edmonton Sun seemed to be endorsing a plot to sabotage Canadian Idol: "You want the least-talented person to win? If an untalented performer wins, they won't sell a whole lot of CDs, the record company won't make enough of a profit and the show could possibly be cancelled."

My dream comeback would be, "And the problem is?"

Just kidding. I and my new friends at VFTW don't want to ruin Canadian Idol. Far from it. I don't care about record company profits, but I love Canadian Idol almost as much as life itself. I'm glad it is the most popular television show in Canadian history. Problem is, after the first few episodes, it gets boring. After the mass hope-smashing, crying, yelling, forgotten words, blown notes, flop sweat and multiple mutilations of One Fine Day, we're left with competent, but sadly mediocre singers.

By the time we hit the top 10, they're usually all pretty good, but so what? Only one dream gets crushed per week, the castoff is likely to get a record deal anyway and viewers are denied the entertaining spectacle of a truly wretched singer totally oblivious to his or her stunning lack of talent.

Great is interesting, but great singers don't enter Canadian Idol. Good singers who think they're great are just dull. Technical proficiency with nothing to back it up is tedious. Canadian Idol needs a few bad singers to make the top-10, just to make it interesting.

And so, for the good of the show, for the good of viewers starved for quality entertainment and, yes, for the good of Canada, voting for the worst Canadian Idol singer may at least prolong the possibility of hearing someone totally blow that big note in The Greatest Love of All on national television. We're here to help.