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Arts & Entertainment

Have Lyrics Will Travel

Former "American Idol" contest Jordan White is on the bill for this week's Cafe Improv

Five years ago, Jordan White was performing on the most popular show on television. Now he’s preparing to perform on a less-watched show, but one that’s more fitting for his style.

White will perform today, May 28, during Café Improv, the monthly showcase for musicians at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, which is televised on Princeton Community Television (Comcast channel 30 and Verizon FIOS channel 45).

 That other show he appeared on? A little something called “American Idol,” and White is no "Idol" worshipper and doesn’t hesitate to share his very honest feelings about the show.

 “It’s entertainment but it’s not reality,” he says. “I don’t think it’s a reality show at all. I think it’s a staged entertainment show that’s trying to be based on reality, but a lot of people love it and I can’t knock that and it’s getting music out there, I guess.”

He’s critical because he says he saw singers with great voices who didn’t get a chance to sing for the judges. White himself auditioned for two different seasons and says a main reason he eventually reached the third round was because he listened to a producer’s advice about what Simon Cowell and company were looking for.

And his honesty has led to some tricky moments, like an interview he gave shortly after his “Idol” experience.

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 “I told her the truth, which was I think the show’s completely fake and everything,” he says. “And the interviewer, you couldn’t see her face (on television) but she was absolutely mortified, so I countered and said, ‘Oh it’s a great show.’ But since this isn’t live TV right now, I’ll tell you that it’s kind of like finding out that the World Series or the Super Bowl is fixed.”

For his Café Improv set, White will sing about five or six songs, most of them originals, which he says are driven by their lyrics.

 “That’s the main focus, then I work on the melody,” he says of his writing process. “The acoustic form is a little bit toward folk songs but they’re songs that also have an electric and rock base when we play with the band. There’s two versions of each original song, sort of, because one’s a little bit more laid back, people use the term relaxing, then the same exact song is played with a full band, two guitars, bass and drums, and it’s completely different.”

He’s so obsessed with writing lyrics that he’ll sometimes pull over while driving to scribble down lines that enter his head. That results in fragments that he’ll put together.

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 “I have pages and pages of these, basically they’re like orphan lyrics that need the music, which eventually comes but can take a while,” he says.

Some of those orphans turn into songs with titles like “September,” “Where to Begin” and “Quarter Life Crisis,” which he says is a play on midlife crises for younger people.

 When it comes to cover tunes, White makes selections from two seemingly different eras. For acoustic venues like Café Improv, he tends to pick songs by confessional singer-songwriters such as Jackson Browne or James Taylor.

 For shows he plays with his full band, he’ll play songs with a lot of production to them by artists like Lady Gaga or Smashing Pumpkins. Because audiences know those songs, he says it’s an opportunity to share his musicianship. It’s a bit different with original songs people aren’t familiar with.

 “For all they know that could be the best I’ve ever played or the worst,” he says, “and they’ll never know.”

Other artists scheduled to perform during this week’s Café Improv, include Kenny Felton of Monmouth Junction, who sings and dances, pop and dance performer Sharon Lia, Ray Long, who plays guitar and trombone and comedian Gerry Martin.

Jordan White will perform during Café Improv at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, 102 Witherspoon St., Princeton, Saturday, May 28, 7 p.m. Admission costs $2. For more information, including on signing up to perform during a future Café Improv, go to www.cafeimprov.com.

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