Friday, February 27, 2009

Round 2, Complete overview 2/25/09

Hello,

1) Jasmine Murray (TMAR- will be going down). She was okay on Sara Bareilles "Love Song". This was not the right song for and overall I was expecting a lot more. I agree with Randy that a Rihanna song would have been a lot better. (Who knew that Randy could offer intelligent commentary?) I don't even know if she'll get a shot at the wild card. Simon was disappointed with her performance and said she may be a couple of years early. Although I usually hate to agree with him, he's probably right. I probably won't buy this song.

2) Matt Giraud (TMAR- will be going down) "Viva La Vida"- Coldplay. A very disappointing performance. I hate to harp on it but he definitely didn't choose the right song. His "Georgia" during Hollywood week was fantastic. I could only understand about half of the words he was singing. It would be a much better show if the producers allowed them to play instruments in this round. I don't know if I'd download his song if it was free, and I'm a free music freak. With Randy liking him, he might get a wildcard invitation. From what I hear the judges pick two people each for the wildcard show. After that night's performances, the judges pick the final three contestants going to the Top 12.

3) Jeanine Vailes (TMAR- at least she will be getting out of the not rated bunch) She sang Maroon 5's "This Love". She is this year's winner of the cannon fodder queen, which she pointed out. The way she made that point it came out as being sullen. I won't be buying this performance. I'm pretty sure her "AI" journey is over.

4) Nick Mitchell: (TMAR- he will be staying about the same.) For the third time he sang "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going.", the "Dreamgirls" classic. He won't even be getting a wildcard shot, but he was funny at least. He's obviously using this as a stage to further his comedy career. I'll buy this performance, just for the hilarity of it. I wish the MP3 would include him calling Simon "sassy pants".

5) Allison Iraheta: (TMAR- she will be soaring up) She sang Heart's Alone". This was definitely one of the best performances of the night. She comes off as weird and I don't know if I like the red hair. However the girl can sing and I love that husky tone to her voice. I think she's going far. I am definitely buying this performance. She doesn't need to worry about the wildcard as this performance advanced her to the Top 12.

6) Kris Allen (TMAR- he'll be moving up from not rated) The cannon fodder king did a pretty good job. He sang Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror" and I really liked his performance and his funky vibe. I'll probably buy this performance. He advances to the Top 12.

7) Megan Joy Corkrey (TMAR- she'll be going down slightly) She sang Corrine Bailey Rae's "Put Your Records On". Other than her off putting dance, I liked her performance. She has a fantastic voice, although I wasn't overwhelmed by the song choice. Love her voice but I'm so over that song. All the judges love her, I think she has a very good chance of making it to Thursday's wildcard round. We will know the complete Top 12 after Thursday's show. I'll buy probably all the other performances but not this one.

8) Matt Breitzke (TMAR- he'll probably be dropping a bit) He sang Tonic's "If You Could Only See". I like his tone of voice, like his look and thought he did pretty well. I loved the rocking arrangement of that song. Due to the rocking arrangement I would probably buy this song. With three of the judges not liking him, he'll be lucky to make it to the wildcard round.

9) Jesse Langseth (TMAR- she'll probably be staying about the same). She sang Kim Carnes "Bette Davis Eyes". One of the many classic songs from the 80's. I thought she chose a pretty good song, Kim Carnes sort of has the same kind of singing voice. 50/50 on buying this performance. I'm not sure what it is but there is something that bothers me about her. She'll be lucky to make it to the wildcard round.

10) Kai Kalamma (TMAR- he'll be going up slightly) He sang David Ruffin's "What Becomes of The Broken Hearted?". I was surprised by his performance. He's been one of my least favorite contestans so far, but he sounded pretty good. Simon said he'd be a "good back up singer". That's obviously a kiss of death. I'm 50/50 on buying this song. I don't see the wildcard round in his future.

11) Mishavonna Henson (TMAR- she'll probably be going up a bit.) She sang Train's "Drops of Jupiter" I love her voice and thought she was pretty good. I don't know why the judges were hating so much on her. If it was up to me I'd just put her straight into the Top 12. I love her and she has unlimited potential. I will probably buy this performance.

12) Adam Lambert (TMAR- I'm still not sold on him.)Like Danny Gokey, he's one of the producer's pets. He sang the Rolling Stones "Satisfaction". He's in the final spot of the night, also known as the pimp spot. He's definitely confident and one can see his theatrical background in his performance. I also agree with Randy Jackson, he reminds me a lot of Edward Cullen. Cullen is one of the main characters in the "Twilight" series. He would me much more believeable to me in that role, a lot more than Robert Pattinson. I thought Lambert's performance was okay, you could say that he didn't give me satisfaction. Simon said that Mishavonna "left me cold", well Lambert did the same for me. No on buying his version of "Satisfaction".

Allison, Kris and Adam advanced to the Top 12. Mishavonna, Megan and maybe Jasmine and Jesse should be given wild card slots. Jasmine would get the wildcard from me based on her potential.

"AI" ratings have been dropping a lot this season so far. Although I still love this show, I think its days are numbered unless they make drastic changes. There still are 20 + million people watching "AI", but their ratings generally have been down about 10% overall from last season. In fact on the results episode vs. last year's same show, the ratings are down 26%. Last season's ratings were down from the previous years.

My revised Top 36 rankings will be coming tomorrow and there will be some big changes.

Have a good weekend, themusicaddict

Round 2, Quick overview

Hello,

I'll be writing a more complete blog tomorrow. Due to time constraints here's a quick overview.

1) Jasmine Murray (TMAR- will be going down). She was okay on Sara Bareilles "Love Song". I was expecting a lot more. I don't even know if she'll get a shot at the wild card. I might buy this purchase.

2) Matt Giraud (TMAR- will be going down) "Viva La Vida"- COldplay. A very disappointing performance. I don't know if I would download this if it was free, and I am a free music freak.

3) Jeanine Vailes (TMAR- at least she will be getting out of the not rated bunch) She sang Maroon 5's "This Love". She is this years winner of the cannon fodder queen, which she pointed out. It sort of came out as being sullen. I won't be buying this.

4) Nick Mitchell: (TMAR- he will be staying about the same.) For the third time he sand "And I'm Telling You I,m Not Going.", the "Dreamgirls" classic. He won't even be getting a wildcard shot, but he was funny at least. He was entertaining at least. I will buy this performance, just for the hilarity of it. I wish I would include him calling Simon "sassy pants".

5) Allison Iraheta: (TMAR- she will be soaring up) She sang Heart's Alone". This was definitely one of the best performances of the night. She comes off as weird and I don't know if I like the red hair. However the girl can sing and I love that husky tone to her voice. I think she's going far. I am definitely buying this performance.

6) Kris Allen (TMAR- he'll be moving up from not rated) The cannon fodder king did a pretty good job. He sang Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror" and I really liked his performance and his funky vibe singing it. I will probably buy this performance.

7) Megan Joy Corkrey (TMAR- she'll be going down slightly) Other than her off putting dance, I liked her performance. Her voice is so awesome, although I wasn't overwhelmed by the song choice. Love her voice but I'm so over this song.

8) Matt Breitzke (TMAR- he will probably be dropping a bit) He sang Tonic's "If You Could Only See". I like his tone of voice, like his look and thought he did pretty well. I also loved the rocking arrangement of that song. Due to the rocking arrangement I would probably buy this song.

9) Jesse Langseth (TMAR- she'll probably be staying about the same). I thought she chose a pretty good song, Kim Carnes sort of has the same kind of singing voice. 50/50 on buying this performance.

10) Kai Kalamma (TMAR- he'll be going up slightly) He sang David Ruffin's "What Becomes of The Broken Hearted?". I was surprised by his performance. He has been one of my least favorite candidates so far, but he sounded pretty good Wednesday. 50/50 on buying this purchase

11) Mishavonna Henson (TMAR- she will be going up probably a bit maybe) She sang Train's "Drop of Jupiter" I love her voice and thought she was pretty good.

12) Adam Lambert (TMAR- I'm still not sold on him.)He sang the Rolling Stones "Satisfaction". He's in the final spot of the night, also known as the pimp spot. He's definitely confident and one can see his theatrical background in his performance. I thought he was okay

Allison, Kris and Adam advanced to the Top 12. Mishavonna, Megan and maybe Jasmine and Jesse should be given wild card slots.

I'll be back tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Round 2 of Top 36 preview

Hello,

Here's the group who is performing tonight. This is probably the strongest of the three groups. Hopefully this will be a much stronger episode than last week's disappointment. Here's the 12 contestants singing tonight and their current themusicaddict's ranking (TMAR). Unfortunately I have to work tonight, so I'm not sure when I'll see this show on DVR. themusicaddict's review is going to be a bit delayed. I apologize in advance.

First of all one of my favorites, Salt Lake own's Megan Corkrey (TMAR = 2). The following is an unconfirmed rumor but Megan Corkrey may be performing as Megan Joy or Megan Joy Corkrey tonight.

Then in Top 36 order Jasmine Murray (TMAR = 3), Matt Breitzke (TMAR = 8), Mishavonna Henson (TMAR = 10). To get into the Top 12 in the ladies group tonight, you can tell it's going to be tough. Only one of these 12 women will qualify tonight. Thank goodness for the wild card round on March 5th. (BTW a lot of people are hating this format including mj over at mjsbigblog. A contestant only gets one shot and they better not blow it.) Jesse Langseth (TMAR = 12), Matt Giraud (TMAR = 14), Nick Mitchell (TMAR = 18), Allison Iraheta (TMAR = 20), Adam Lambert (TMAR = 21), Kai Kalamma (TMAR = 30). There are two of the not rated singers because I haven't seen enough or anything of them. The first of those two singers is Kris Allen, who we've seen only 7 seconds of singing. There's also Jeanine Vailes, who has been shown only in the rooms episode. She hasn't even had one second of her singing on air.

More and more news is coming out about the wild card show. Apparently two people that can almost count on being there is Ricky Braddy (TMAR = 22) and Anoop Desai (TMAR = 6), who's one of my favorites. There's a rumor circulating that in the wild card round these people will have to sing the song they sang originally in the Top 36. That's supposedly because the band doesn't have the time to work up new arrangements for another song. Here's a solution, get another band.

I'm not liking they aren't allowing the singers to play instruments in the Top 36. I want to see them perform as a complete artist, not just as a singer. Seeing David Cook play guitar helped us understand a lot more about his overall ability. Also his playing the guitar I think helped him a lot.

Have a great day, I'm not sure when I'll be back. themusicaddict

Monday, February 23, 2009

Keira Knightley and Jennifer Aniston


Hello,

A happy Monday to everyone. I don't know about you but I virtually had no interest in last night's Oscars. The only award I cared about is if Heath Ledger won Best Supporting Actor for his role as The Joker in "The Dark Knight". As you probably know by now he did. His competition was Josh Brolin in "Milk", Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder", Phillip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt" and Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road. Out of these movies the only movies I've seen are "The Dark Knight" and "Tropic Thunder". (Hey just like the Academy members!)

I don't consider myself qualified to make a judgement who actually was the best supporting actor. That being said Ledger was fantastic in his portrayal of the Joker and I'm very glad he won. He probably gained some votes because of his tragic circumstances. Either way he gave a hell of a performance.

Video of the day: They Might Be Giants "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)". A very zany video. Remember to check out mtvmusic.com for almost any video that has ever been shown on MTV or its sister channels. Steve Wozniak is participating in this years "Dancing With The Stars". For those who don't know he was one of the co founders of Apple Computer, the only real computer company. He was the hardware guy and created the Apple 2. If you love your iPod, thank Wozniak and Steve Jobs for starting such a great company.

The funniest line from a song in the last few months is in the song "He Hates Me" by Sarah Johns. It's "We could be honeymooning South of the border, if he'd just drop that restraining order." That's also a great song.

Jon Krakauer, the author of the fantastic "Into Thin Air" and the good "Into The Wild", his new book is finally about to be released. He wrote a book about Pat Tillman which he's been working for a few years. It was set to published last year, but he wasn't satisfied with the manuscript. He withdrew it from publication and continued to work on it. There now is a definitive release date. The book "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman" will be released on September 22nd. I'm looking forward to this book.

Apparantally Dan Brown's follow up to "The Davinci Code" is finished. It's been 6 years since the release of "The Davinci Code". "The Davinci Code" is a great book. No release date as of yet. Speaking of great books over the last month or so I've been reading Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series. I hadn't read Stephen King for a number of years. His books just started getting too similar and too freakin' weird. However I had a hankering for King awhile ago, so I started reading "The Dark Tower" series. I'm really enjoying this series. I've already read the first two books "The Gunslinger" and "The Drawing of The Three". Both were good and now I'm reading the third one "The Waste Lands" and I'm absolutely loving it. It's very hard for me to put down. "The Waste Lands" is King at his best and I'm looking forward to the final four books in the series.

Two more music notes: in support of their new CD, "No Line On The Horizon" U2 will be on Letterman five nights in a row from March 6th to March 10th. That should be pretty cool. Want a free CD? Go to pastemagazine.com and you will see a link on the left side. Click on that and you can download the new CD by the Damnwells, "One Last Century". I have listened to a couple of songs from it so far, it's okay.

A belated Happy 40th Birthday to Jennifer Aniston, she turned 40 on February 11th. She's got a lot going for her, but success in relationships is apparently not one. Now she is allegedly dating John Mayer. Why Jennifer why?



Have a great day, themusicaddict

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Top 36 After Week 1

Hello,

This past week was the first of four weeks of the Top 36 performing, here is my updated Top 36. There are the three weeks of singing and then the wildcard round. The number in the parenthesis shows what position they were in on my first ranking following the announcement of the Top 36.

1) Alexis Grace (13) After a very soulful version of Aretha's "Never Loved A Man" she flies to my top position. I dropped Megan to second place because she has yet to perform on the big stage and she may bomb. I hope not. Of course, since we have seen so little of her who knows?

2) Megan Corkrey (1) She's performing this week!

3) Jasmine Murray (2) Again she hasn't performed on the big stage yet, but she will this week. This will be an incredibly tough week to make it to the Top 12, thank goodness for the wildcard!

4) Lil Rounds (3) She will be singing on the relatively week 3 and should make it to the Top 12 easily. I am looking forward to Corkrey, Murray and Rounds all making their debuts on the big stage.

5) Michael Sarver (6) ew.com's "Idolatry" calls him a "good bar singer". They may have something there but I really like him. He has something about him, he's an artist I can see myself getting behind.

6) Anoop Desai (4) He chose that wet noodle of a song, Monica's "Angel of Mine". He would have dropped further but he had shown a lot before that disappointing song choice Tuesday night.

7) Danny Gokey (7) He delivered a solid version of Mariah Carey's "Hero". He would be higher but he's already starting to annoy me. The judges pimping him so hard and how he appears to be using his wife's death to gain votes are both holding him back. I'm not ready to cast him aside yet, but he needs to be a little more sensitive regarding his wife's death. No more friends and family showing pictures of his wife while he's singing.

8) Matt Breitzke (5) Again the only reason he dropped is he hasn't performed yet on the big stage. He performs this week- Wednesday.

9) Scott McIntyre (8) He will be performing on week 3, I am really looking forward to his performance.

10) Mishavonna Henson (9) Another great performer on Week 2. I think most of the wildcard contestants will come from this group. The Week 2 group is extraordinarily strong. Another performer I'm looking forward to her singing.

11) Jorge Nunez (10) He should sail through to the Top 12 as he's on Week 3's weak group. I was really impressed with his Puerto Rico auditions, that is why he is so high on my list.

12) Jesse Langseth (12) I think she'll either be fantastic or terrible. She's performing Week 2.

13) Brent Keith (11) I really like him but I think we have seen the last of him. Making it to the wildcard round is unlikely at this point.

14) Matt Giraud (14) Another very good singer on an extremely tough Week 2.

15) Taylor Vaifauna (20) She soared to 15 due to the fact that she had performed better than I gave her credit for. If she doesn't make it through on Week 3, I think she'll get a second chance in the wildcard round.

16) Felicia Barton (17) Another singer I'm really looking for to. Check out youtube.com for video of her singing the hell out of an Alicia Keys song. (I think if "AI" can get Keys she should be a mentor, as so many contestants have sang her songs this year.) Barton will be on Week 3's show.

17) Ann Marie Boskovich (18) Even though she didn't knock anyone's socks off Tuesday, she still moves up one spot in my Top 36. I like her and definitely think she should get another shot in the wildcard round.

18) Nick Mitchell (Normand Gentle) (16) He performs this week also. He drops on my list as I'm afraid he's mostly a novelty act. Of course he wouldn't be so high if he hadn't amused me quite a bit so far.

19) Arianna Afsar (22) She and Allison Iraheta are mainly moving up due to less than compelling performances by Stephen Fowler, Stevie Wright and Casey Carlson. Arianna will be singing Week 3.

20) Allison Iraheta (24) She sings this week. We'll see if her ascent continues.

21) Adam Lambert (23) I wasn't impressed with his "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the San Francisco auditions. He can sing, he just hasn't given me enough to get excited about yet.

22) Ricky Braddy (NR) One of the main contestants that Paula is pimping. I find that annoying, other than she rightfully pointed out how little screen time he had received up to last week's performance.

23) Nate Marshall (25) I hated his "Disturbia" during Hollywood week. I'm still 50-50on whether I think he's a viable contestant or not. He's singing Week 3.

24) Stevie Wright (20) I didn't think she was as bad as everyone else did, but we won't be seeing anymore of her. Stevie I suggest to practice a lot and wait for 2 or 3 years and try again. You'll only get better.

25) Alex Wagner-Trugman (28) He's still pretty much an unknown at this stage. He's performing on a weak Week 3, so that helps his chances slightly of advancing to the Top 12.

26 and 27) Kendall Beard and Kristin McNamara (26 and 27 last week as well), so far both are essentially interchangeable to me. Both sing Week 3, which probably won't help differentiate them very much in my eyes.

28) Casey Carlson (19) Oh Casey, Casey, Casey :(

29) Stephen Fowler (15) See above!

30) Kai Kalamma (29) He would be lower but there is no place for him to go with Von Smith (Shouty McShouterson), Jackie Tohn and Tatiana Del Torture in the competition. Did he get through to the Top 36 mainly because of his back story?

31) Von Smith (31)

32) Jackie Tohn (30) I have never liked her and Tuesday's performance helps me feel justified.

33) Tatiana Del Torture (32) Hopefully we have seen the last of her.

Not rated this week and last week due to not enough screen time. That usually means these contestants are cannon fodder. The three final contestants are Ju'not Joyner (singing Week 3, which may help), Kris Allen (singing Wednesday), Jeanine Vailes (she is singing on the very tough second week). Let's hope for the best for them.

Remember this week's episodes are Wednesday and Thursday. themusicaddict

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Hello,

Just a quick blog today. Some quick "American Idol" news first. Due to President Obama speaking Tuesday night, "American Idol" will be moved to Wednesday and Thursday night for next week only. (TMAR = themusicaddict rankings after the Top 36 announcement.) My blogs reviewing these shows will be delayed as I'll be working long swing shifts on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I finally get a Tuesday off and "AI" is moved to Wednesday next week.

Here's who will be in the third group on March 3rd. They will be: Alex Wagner-Trugman (TMAR = 28), Nathanial Marshall (TMAR = 25), Von Smith (TMAR = 31) Wow that is a pretty weak group so far! Also Felicia Barton (TMAR = 17, she might not be high enough) Ju'not Joyner (TMAR = Not ranked: very little screen time usually equals cannon fodder.) Arianna Afsar (TMAR = 22), Kristin McNamara (TMAR = 27), Kendall Beard (TMAR = 26) McNamara and Beard are too much alike that they are inter- changeable to me. Jorge Nunez (TMAR = 10), Lil Rounds (TMAR = 3), Scott McIntyre (TMAR = 8) and Taylor Vaifuana (TMAR = 21). This looks to be an exceedingly weak group, by far the weakest of the three. (Of course that is my opinion and I could be completely wrong. Group 1 didn't knock any one out.) The male contestant to advanc to the Top 12 should be Jorge Nunez or Scott McIntyre. The female contestant will probably be Lil Rounds in a landslide. Felicia Barton, Arianna Afsar and possibly Ju'not Joyner might be in the mix as well.

Paula is pimping her premium prospects: In an interview with a magazine, she picked her favorites. She listed Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert, Matt Giraud, Ricky Braddy, Nick Mitchell and Scott McIntyre. Do you notice all of them are men?

Speaking of Gokey the backlash is now forming against him. A lot of people feel he is using his wife's death to garner votes. EW.com's "Idolatry" pointed this out in their new episode yesterday. They aren't the only one making that case. If that's the case, then I hope he goes away soon. Either way he needs to tone it down. Don't have your friends or family show your wife's picture while you singing. A great example of how to handle a family tragic situation is David Cook last year. He was going through a lot of personal turmoil due to his brother's health issues. He handled what was a very difficult situation with 100% class. So far Gokey is handling his situation with very little class and tact. I'm afraid he's going to be this season's David Archuleta, that is not a good thing.

Last but not least, songs rocking my iPod. Yesterday my iPod was really into power- ful female vocalists. On my iPod and iTunes I usually listen to music on the random setting. The last music I listened to not on random was Morrissey's "Live At Earl's Court". I've been going through a bit of a Smiths phase lately. 1) "Explode"- Nelly Furtado This song rocks! 2) "I Am...I Said"- Brooke White I really like her version of this song. 3) "The Look"- Roxette 4) "Teenage Grafitti"- Pink Spiders 5) "Hawaii 5-0 Theme"- Artist Unknown 6) "Say My Name"- Destiny's Child 7) "No Spill Blood"- Oingo Boingo 8) "Breathe (2AM)"- Anna Nalick 9) "Queen of Pop 2"- The Gonna Bees 10) "Romeo and Juliet"- Dire Straits 11) "Since I've Been Loving You"- Led Zeppelin 12) "Bodies"- Drowning Pool 13) "Ghostbusters"- Ray Parker Jr. (Anoop Desai this is a possible song selection you should sing in the wild card round. Please no more sappy ballads!) 14) "Takin Off The Pain"- Ashton Shepherd What a great song! 15) "Horse To Water (Live)"- R.E.M. 16) "Time To Say Goodbye"- Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli. A song featured in one of last year's worst movies "Wanted". 17) "Too Bad About Your Girl"- The Donnas The Donnas are a great rock band that really kick butt 18) "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance"- Sinead O'Connor A great, great song by a very under appreciated artist. 19) "Genie In A Bottle"- Christina Aquilera This still is probably her best song. 20) "The Shortest Straw"- Metallica 21) "Rat Is Dead (Rage)"- CSS 22) "Twisting By The Pool"- Dire Straits 23) "El Scorcho"- Weezer 24) "She's Got The Rhythm (And I Got The Blues)"- Alan Jackson 25) "U Can't Touch This"- M.C. Hammer 26) "Teenage Dirtbag"- Wheatus.

I will be back tomorrow with my Top 36 based on the first round of the Top 36 performances. themusicaddict

Friday, February 20, 2009

Round 1 of Top 36, Feb 17th and 18th, 2009 Part 2

Hello,

Before I get to the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday's "American Idol" shows this past week, I have some other things I would like to mention. For instance, right now I am listening to the standard version of U2's new CD, "No Line On The Horizon". It's available for a limited time on myspacemusic.com. This CD will come in several different formats. It's sort of bizarre, myspace plays all but the last minute of some of the 11 songs. That is probably to dissuade people from recording it and then selling it as a bootleg. It is strange getting into the groove of a song and then it abruptly ends without any sort of warning. Also every few songs one needs to click on an advertisement for the music to continue.

Random "American Idol" news: Am I the only one getting sick of Danny Gokey already? I find him annoying. Unless he starts kicking it up a notch, I'll be having flashbacks of David Archuleta and his complete annoyance last season. Of course pairing him Tatiana on a results show can't help any. Why did she get more air time than him anyway on the results show until he began singing? Let's hope Tatiana's Idol run is finished and that Megan Corkrey and Jasmine Murray's runs are just beginning.

RCA has announced that it has dropped Clay Aiken from their record label. I think he has a nice voice but what hurts him is that he is just so off putting. Something about him just screams "freak". I am not sure what it is, it's not because he's gay. That is aside from his freakishness. Ruben Stoddard has a new CD coming out in June. I hope that it sells well for him, he seems like a cool guy. But does anyone care about him any more. Seriously how weak was the season he was on if he was the winner? I don't dislike either of these former Idols, I just think their 15 minutes of fame are up.

More details are coming out about the Wild Card round episode on March 5th. The information I am relaying comes from joesplaceblog.com. That's a great "AI" fan website. They say that it will probably be a hour long show with 6-9 singers. The fourth place singer from each of the first 3 rounds will get an automatic spot. (That means Anoop Desai don't mess it up this time! Bring the funk!) The judges will pick the remaining singers, probably people from the first 3 rounds. (I would be fine if they also gave Leneshe Young another shot.) From the wild card episode the judges will make the final 3 selections of the final 12. I'm saving it for another blog, but I am not a big fan of this format. If you have one bad week, but are a good singer, you are out of luck.

Sunday I will be unveiling my new Top 36, there have been some big changes following this last Tuesday's disastrous show. By the way the 12 singers that will be singing this Tuesday (their current themusicaddict ranking, after the Top 36 announcement.) Adam Lambert (TMAR = 23), Allison Iraheta (TMAR = 24), Jasmine Murray (TMAR = 2, yes she is one of my favorites), Jeanine Vailes (TMAR = Not Rated. I just don't know enough about her, she has virtually received no air time. She's probably cannon fodder and literally has one shot at "Idol" success.) There is also Jesse Langseth (TMAR = 12), Kai Kalamma (TMAR = 29), Kris Allen (TMAR = NR At least he has received some screen time, although he's probably cannon fodder as well.), Matt Breitzke (TMAR = 5), Matt Giraud (TMAR = 14), Megan Corkrey (TMAR = 1, my favorite after the audition round), Mishavonna Henson (TMAR = 9) and Nick Mitchell (Normand Gentle) (TMAR = 16). What will he do? He will probably at least be entertaining.

Back to Tuesday's show:

7) Casey Carlson: (TMAR = 19) What a disaster! If she sung as well as she rocks a bikini, this competition would be over. Unfortunately for her and us she doesn't. She beat up the 80's classic, The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". My wife said she needs to sing more powerfully, she's right about that. She is gorgeous but wore a butt ugly dress. Randy really went out on a limb (sarcasm alert) when he said "that was not good". Simon said her "singing was atrocious" and that "she shouldn't have been allowed to sing that song". Chance of advancing to the Top 12: .1%. I give her such a "high" rating because you can never count out a miracle happening.

8) Michael Sarver: (TMAR = 6) He sang Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Wanna Be". I liked his version of that song, though I seem to be in the minority. All the judges, except Paula, didn't like him. Simon wanted America to give him another shot because of his likability. That tells me he would have been invited to the wild card show even if he hadn't made the Top 12. I gave him a 10% shot of making it to The Top 12. Obviously I was mistaken on that as the spot that I thought would go to Anoop Desai went to him.

9) Ann Marie Boskovich: (TMAR = 18) She sang Aretha Franklin's "Natural Woman". When I heard she was going to sing that song I said to my wife she will either be great or terrible. I was wrong about that as she was neither, she was okay. I like her voice though. The judges did not like her and Simon said she was "not good enough". I give her a 10% chance of making the Top 12.

10) Stephen Fowler: (TMAR = 15, but dropping like a rock.) He tortured Michael Jackson's "Rock With You". What the hell was that and why did he pick that song? (I listened to Michael's version today and it was as good as I remember. What was up with the terrible arrangement of that song? His performance was very disappointing. He and Casey Carlson were the two biggest disappointments of the night. After Fowler forgot the words in Hollywood week, Simon had the line of the night when he said he "wish you would have forgotten the lyrics". Fowler virtually has no chance of making the Top 12. My chance for him making the Top 12 is .1%.

11) Tatiana Del Torture: (TMAR = 32) Before Tuesday night's votefortheworst.com picked her as the contestant it wants people to vote for in their attempt to derail the "AI" juggernaut. She sang an okay version of Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love For You". Simon said the the most accurate line of the night that Tatiana is a "complete and utter drama queen". He also stated the obvious in that she is "desperate to be famous". I'm hoping she has no chance of advancing.

12) Danny Gokey (TMAR = 7) He sang Mariah Carey's "Hero". Without a doubt he's the producer's favorite. He has received possibly the most screen time out of all the contestants. He has a big built in fan base and a back story the producers love. He easily had one of the best performances on a very weak night. The judges loved, loved, loved him. Paula Abdul said "sold out arenas" and some idiot (Randy) called him the "redeemer of the night". Simon tried to keep things in perspective by not drinking the same kool-aid the other three contestants sang. He called Gokey "good". It's too early to be referring to a singer as a "redeemer".

The three people who advanced to the Top 12 from Round 1 are Alexis Grace, Danny Gokey and Michael Sarver.

I will be back on Sunday. themusicaddict

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Round 1 of Top 36, Feb 17th and 18th, 2009 Part 1

Hello,

Tuesday night's show was very disappointing. I was looking at iTunes and out of the 12 performances I only want to buy one of them. The more I think about Tuesday's night show, the more I'm disappointed with it. What a stink bomb! Let's hope the next two weeks are a lot better. Megan Corkrey sings next week, yeah. Let's hope she doesn't pull a Casey Carlson. Last night Corkrey received screen time!



Tonight's theme was Top Ten hits from when the Billboard charts started, 50+ years ago. That isn't much of a theme. TMAR = themusicaddicts rankings after the show announcing the Top 36. My new rankings will be out Sunday.

1) Jackie Tohn: Tonight's show started off with the person I ranked 30th of 32 contestants. (Four contestants I hadn't ranked due to the fact that I did not know enough about them to form an opinion.) After I see the other four singers and what they can do, I am sure she is going to drop. She is terrible, how did she even make the Top 36? I don't like one thing about her. (Lenesha Young didn't make it but Tohn did?) On one of the many sucky arrangements of the night she killed Elvis's "A Little Less Conversation". Her outfit was ugly. Even though the song was only about 90 seconds it ran on too long. I hate, hate her. She wanted to be a "rockin' entertainer", but she wasn't. She gave herself a grade of A- on the results show, please. On my notes I gave her a 1% chance of making the Top 12, I might have been too generous. (Making the Top 12 either through their first Top 36 performance or through the wild card round.)

2) Ricky Braddy: (TMAR = Not rated.) Can you say "cannon fodder"? He virtually had received no screen time until Tuesday's show. Paula pointed that out, she was also saying he was one of the best singers in her recent interviews. Braddy chose to sing Leon Russell's "A Song For You". What a boring song, please future "AI" contestants do not sing this song. His voice is okay, but why choose such a wussy song? Simon said he has "no star quality" and who can disagree. The sad thing is he was one of the better performances of the night. I give him a 5% chance to advance.

3) Alexis Grace: (TMAR = 13, but streaking up) She sang another Aretha Franklin song, "Never Loved A Man". (I need to add some more Aretha to my iTunes.) This was the only one of the 12 performances I want to spend my hard earned money on. In my opinion this was the performance of the night by a long way. Although she was wearing too much lipstick. She has a very sexy, blues vibe. The girl has a great voice. Simon called her a "dark horse". I call her a contender, especially after tonight's show of suckitude. I really like her. I like her voice and I love her personality. She is great, great, great. I was being a little conservative and only gave her a 80% chance of advancing to the Top 12. I was nervous she might not advance.

4) Brent Keith: (TMAR = 12) He wants to show us who he is as an artist. He did that by singing "Hicktown". A wierd song choice, but I actually liked his rocking version of that song. Kara called it "safe" and he should have "taken more risks". Simon said "nice voice" but "safe but forgettable". I like him more than the judges do. This was probably his last one good shot at glory and he did not do enough. I give him a 2% chance of advancing to the Top 12.

5) Stevie Wright: (TMAR = 20) She rocked out the version of Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me". (BTW: Swift is new issue of Rolling Stone magazine's cover girl.) Randy in one of his robotic utterances "not hot for me". Kara was disappointed and Paula said it was "not the right song". Simon said she had "zero chance to make it through to the next round". This shows that 16 or 17 is too young to be on this show, I would prefer the ages be between 20-29. Alexis is mature enough, but Stevie isn't. I gave her a 1% chance of making it to the Top 12, which is probably 1% too generous.

6) Anoop Desai: (TMAR = 4) An early front runner had a very disappointing showing. After kicking butt in Hollywood with Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative", he sang Monica's "Angel of Mine"? A song that I have never heard and wasn't missing out on much apparently. It's an okay song and Desai has a nice voice. Where exactly does that voice come from? All the judges liked his performance and so did I. However I don't think anyone was overwhelmed. Simon said the song was a "little bit too grown up for you". Simon also said Anoop has massive likability and I agree. He is the kind of person who if he does not make it in "AI", he will be very successful in some other field. I still give him a 75% chance of making the Top 12. If he can make the Top 12, I think he can still be Season 8's "American Idol".

I am not sure how the wild card round is going to work. Seemingly it will have it's own show. I'm not sure if they will have 12 singers that did not make the first cut and give them another shot. (In one of my previous blogs I made some suggestions about who I would add to a wild card round. Briefly I wouldn't mind seeing Leneshe Young, Emily Wynne-Hughes, Ryan Johnson, John Twiford or Raquel Houghton again.)I'm not even sure how far they will go back to select those people who will sing on the wild card show. All I know for sure is that the judges will pick the final 3 of the Top 12 from the wild card show.

I'll be back tomorrow with the next 6 singers from the very disappointing Week 1 Top 12 episode. Week 2 should be a lot better, it's loaded. Among the singers competing that have a chance to be great are Adam Lambert, Jasmine Murray, Jesse Langseth, Matt Breitzke, Matt Giraud, Megan Corkrey and Mishavonna Henson. Unless a miracle happens the rest are cannon fodder. themusicaddict

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Possible "American Idol" wild cards, Leneshe Young

Hello,

Here is a list of some possible wild card contestants I would like to be at least considered to make the Top 12.

Emily Wynne-Hughes: the multi-colored hair girl who wowed in the Phoenix auditions with "Barracuda". She was eliminated during the group round when she forgot her lyrics. She just recently came back from a tour of Europe with her band. I think she should be given another shot.

Raquel Houghton: the former girlfriend of Dane Cook. She was pretty impressive in those woeful San Francisco auditions. Houghton sang a solid version of Dusty Springfield's "Son of A Preacher Man". Unfortunately that was the last we saw of her.

Ryan Johnson: He tore apart Sam Cooke's "Change is Going to Come" in the Louisville auditions. Unfortunately all we saw of him was a few seconds of singing, he was included in a montage with Kris Allen (36), Felicia Barton (36) and Shera Lawrence (cut in Hollywood). All those people in that montage should have received more air time by now.

Rose Flack: I will agree she doesn't have the greatest voice in the world. However she has that earthy vibe. In a world of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, I think she could be equally successful. She would be a lot more entertaining as well.

I also liked Michael Perrelli who sang Third Eye Blind's "Jumper" in Jacksonville. (I couldn't resist the alliteration.) He was an emotional wreck even before the audtion but I liked his voice. Also John Twiford who sang Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed" in San Francisco. He was fantastic in the auditions and then that was the last we saw of him. (Again why is so much time being given to Tatiana Del Torture when we have so many great contestants? Let's hope tonight is her last show.)

The one who was ripped off the worst was Leneshe Young. She sang her self-composed song "Natty" for her audition. An okay song but impressive that such a young person wrote that. After watching her audition I predicted she was going far. I liked her personality, voice and attitude. I don't remember "AI" giving her any screen time in Hollywood. How did she not make the Top 36? I would have put her in the Top 36 over Nate Marshall, Kendall Beard, Kristin McNamara, Alex Wagner-Trugman, Kai Kalamma, Jackie Tohn, Von Smith and Del Torture (screechy).

Tonight's show will be interesting to see how this format works out. There will be the 12 contestants performing and three of them will advance to the Top 12. More may be added later through the wild card. The twelve performing tonight are Alexis Grace, Ann Marie Boskovich, Anoop Desai, Brent Keith, Casey Carlson, Danny Gokey, Jackie Tohn, Michael Sarver, Ricky Braddy, Stephen Fowler, Stevie Wright and screechy. It will be a two hour show and all contestants will be given screen time and allowed to sing. There should always be more of that and less drama.

I will be busy with job related things tomorrow, I should be back Thursday. Enjoy tonight's show, themusicaddict

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Hollywood Week Episode 4 2/11/09 (Part 3)

Hello,

I have a job interview in the morning and then will be working all tomorrow night. I'll not be publishing a blog tomorrow, but I should be back Tuesday. I have a list of some of my potential wildcard contestants. Wildcard contestants will take up 3 spots in the Top 12.

Michael Sarver will be singing on Tuesday's episode and not Matt Breitzke. Yesterday I had read and reported that Breitkze was being switched to this Tuesday's show. Apparently this was a mistake made by the "American Idol" web master. I just double checked the "American Idol" website and they list Michael Sarver in this week's group, but show a picture of Matt Breitzke. So who knows?

Pictures came out yesterday of Joanna Pacitti modeling a Brazilian line of bikinis. She looks pretty good. However in the battle of the bikini girls, my opinion combining body and face is 1) Casey Carlson 2) Joanna Pacitti and 3) Katrina Dorrell the original bikini girl. This will hopefully be my last reference to the bikini girl. 4) Nick Mitchell (Normand Gentle) he said he would dress up like the bikini girl to advance to the Top 36.

Continuing the Top 36 show: Alexis Grace, she is another one of my favorites. I love her singing and she seems to have a great personality. Scott MacIntyre and Lil Rounds also advance. MacIntyre is also known as the blind guy. Hopefully after the competition he will be known as a great singer. Lil Rounds seems like she can be a Whitney Houston in training. Rounds has a big powerful voice. We also find out that Felicia Barton, Ashley Hollister, and Devon Baldwin are not advancing. Also Simon was kind enough to let Hollister know that is was a unanimous decision that she was not advancing. Of course, a few hours later Barton found out she was back in. She was either watching "The Green Mile" or "AI" when she found out. I heard both things.

It was time for another sing off Frankie Jordan sings “The Story” by Brandi Carlisle. She loses the singoff. Jordan seemingly peeked in the audition rounds. Simon was nice enough to tell Frankie that she "wouldn't have won anyway". Simon further went on to say I don't want you to think like you are missing out on a big chance here. That was terribly rude. He also said "no" to Daughtry in the audition rounds. So what does he know? Jesse Langseth was confident about making it into the Top 36. I have no idea what song she sang. She advance in spite of wearing some of the ugliest pants in the history of mankind. Last night her mug shot made it's debut, she was arrested for a D.U.I.

Shera Lawrence and Derik Lavers are out. Allison Iraheta and Danny Gokey both advance to the Top 36. Thankfully Gokey's "best friend" Jamar Rogers didn't. I like Gokey a lot but I was never a big fan of Rogers. Next we have a series of guys advancing to the Top 36: Ricky Braddy, Matt Giraud, Junot Joyner, Jorge Nunez, and Brent Keith. Stephen Fowler didn't do so well on his last chance to impress the judges. He forgot the lyrics twice and then walked off the stage frustrated with himself. However his overall body of work was good enough that he deservedly advanced to the Top 36.

Nick Mitchell advances and we don't need to see him in a bikini. Also overpraised Jackie Tohn and too much camera time Tatiana Del Torture are in. It's time for another singoff between Jackie Midkiff who sings Percy Sledge's “When A Man Loves a Woman” and Nate Marshall who sings Lonestar's “I’m Already There” Marshall wins the singoff. With him and Del Torture advancing, we have at least two drama queens remaining in the competition.

Next Jeanine Vailes, Kai Kalama, Anne Marie Boskovich and Kris Allen all advanced. To this point Vailes has only a few seconds of camera time and we still haven't heard her sing. It looks like she is the ultimate cannon fodder. We have heard Kai Kalama sing a couple of times and heard his backstory. He was losing his voice in Hollywood and sounded terrible. We have seen Anne Marie Boskovich audition twice. Kris Allen was given about 10 seconds of singing time, he was featured in the same snippet of auditions that Felicia Barton was. One last singoff between the welder Matt Breitzke and the oil rig worker Michael Sarver. Thank goodness both advance. I like both of them and both of them sing very well. I also like their sort of everyman appeal.


Now for my Top 36:

1) Megan Corkrey- if you are a regular reader of my blog that shouldn't be a surprise. I do wish she would have received more screen time.
2) Jasmine Murray- the 16 year old Starkville, Mississippi native.
3) Lil Rounds- She has a very powerful voice and I think she will go a long way.
4) Anoop Desai- The Chapel Hill, NC resident. He has really come a long way in the competition.
5) Matt Breitzke- His "Ain't No Sunshine" in the audition round was fantastic.
6) Michael Sarver- Another great singer with everyman appeal.
7) Danny Gokey- His "Kiss Like A Rose" in Hollywood week was very impressive.
8) Scott Mcintyre- I loved his understated "And So It Goes" during the audition round.
9) Mishavonna Henson- She has a great voice but hasn't been given much screen time yet.
10) Jorge Nunez- The best contestant from the Puerto Rico auditions.
11) Brent Keith- He could be a country star someday.
12) Jesse Langseth- She has a powerful voice but has picked some strange songs.
13) Alexis Grace- A great singer with a soulful vibe and great sense of humor.
14) Matt Giraud- The dueling piano player.
15) Stephen Fowler- He needs to bounce back from Hollywood week.
16) Nick Mitchell- He doesn't have a chance to win this competition but I will enjoy him while he is on the show.
17)Felicia Barton- The late replacement for Joanna Pacitti.
18) Anne Marie Boskovich- She is sort of an unknown at this point. Another contestant that needs more screen time.
19) Casey Carlson- She looks great in a bikini. She sang Vanessa Carlson's "A Thousand Miles".
20) Stevie Wright- The 16 year old that came out of the Phoenix auditions. She sang Etta James "At Last". An odd song choice for someone so young.
21) Taylor Vaifuna- One of two SLC auditioners that made the Top 36. Maybe she should be a little higher in this list.
22) Arianna Afsar: She was one of the many who sang "Put Your Records On" in the audition round. My initial impressions were love her and awesome.
23) Adam Lambert- He sang Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the San Francisco auditions. Simon said he had the personality of a ship singer. Whatever that means.
24) Allison Iraheta- 16 She sang "Natural Woman" in the audition round. She hasn't had much screen time yet. Since she is so young and has had so little screen time she is probably cannon fodder.
25) Nate Marshall: A Diva! in training.
26) Kendall Beard- The Texan native sang Martina McBride's "The Ashes" in the auditions.
27) Kristin McNamara- It's hard for me to tell the difference between her and Beard. I don't think either one will go very far.
28) Alex Wagner-Trugman- He taught himself to sing in the closet. My initial impression was that I like him.
29) Kai Kalamma: I don't have anything against him personally but I don't see him going very far.
30) Jackie Tohn- Over hyped.
31) Von Smith- He shouted "Over the Rainbow" in the audition round. He is getting better but I don't see him getting too far.
32) Tatiana Del Toro- go away.

I haven't seen enough of Ricky Braddy, Junot Joyner, Jeanine Vailes or Kris Allen to make a reasonable assessment.

themusicaddict

Hollywood Week Episode 4 2/11/09 (Part 2)

Hello,

Tonight's episode is where we find out the Top 36 of this season's "American Idol". That is if you don't already know it from votefortheworst.com. The Top 36 list that was leaked to votefortheworst.com was 100% correct. Going into this past Wednesday's episode there were 54 contestant remaining and 49 of them were featured in that episode. Here's my question: why is Tatiana Del Torture featured so much. I am all for comic relief and entertainment, but she is neither. She will be one of 12 contestants on Tuesday's episode, the real singing finally begins. I highly doubt she will survive this round.

The format for the next three weeks is a dozen contestants will sing. America will then vote. One man, one woman and the next highest vote getter of either gender will advance. There will be three weeks using that format and then the judges will have 3 wildcard selections. That will make up season's 8's final 12.

Tuesday's episode will have the following men: Danny Gokey, Anoop Desai, Stephen Fowler, Brent Keith, Ricky Braddy and Matt Breitzke. Originally Michael Sarver was suppose to be the 6th man in that group, but yesterday it was announced that Matt Breitzke would take his place. Sarver will perform on one of the next two week's singing episode. Out of this group I like Danny Gokey, Anoop Desai, Stephen Fowler and Matt Breitzke the best. Braddy has hardly been shown this whole season, he is probably also cannon fodder. Keith had already competed in "Nashville Star".

The women who will be singing in Tuesday's episode will be the gorgeous Casey Carlson, the overhyped Jackie Tohn, the emerging Anne Marie Boskovich, the very soulful Alexis Grace, 16 year old Stevie Wright and the annoying as hell Tatiana Del Torture. (No pictures on this blog of Del Torture.)

Also if you haven't heard yet we saw Joanna Pacitti advance to the Top 36, then after the show it was announced Felicia Barton would be taking her place. (For those of you who are Joanna Pacitti fans, her pre "AI" CD is available at last.fm for free. Not all songs are the full versions, but most are. I downloaded and I enjoy it. She is very attractive and has a great voice. I have a feeling we will be hearing from her again.) Apparently Barton got the call while watching Wednesday night's episode of "AI" that she was had advanced to the Top 36. In her audition round she sang a very good version of "Put Your Records On". At least I am guessing it was good as "AI" only showed her clip for 7 seconds. Obviously not much to go on.

Anoop Desai: (36) Kara calls him "soulful" and I really like him. I think he's an early favorite to win the whole thing. Von Smith (36) He was more prepared to hear "no" than "yes" for good reason in my opinion. Smith is the oversing king, although lately he is learning to sing, instead of scream. I still don't like him and think he will get eliminated in his round of 36.

There was then a singoff between Cody Sheldon (No to 36)and Alex Wagner-Trugman (36) sings “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down”. Wagner-Trugman wins the singoff. I didn't think Sheldon's performance was very good. Adam Lambert (36) he is another oversing king. He came out of the disappointing San Francisco auditions. Taylor Vaifanua (36) A great singer out of the Salt Lake City auditions. She might be a dark horse contender. From what I saw she was great in Hollywood.

We are then given too little screen time of the talented Mississippi native Jasmine Murray, the adopt a grandfriend Arianna Afsar, the calender girl Casey Carlson, my personal favorite Megan Corkrey, the very talented Mishavonna Henson, and 16 year old Stevie Wright. Of this group I think Jasmine Murray, Megan Corkrey and Mishavonna Henson have the best chance of advancing to the Top 12. I think Stevie Wright is cannon fodder. I would urge her to mature a bit and try again in a couple of years. I think the youngest someone should be allowed to compete is 18 years old.

Joanna Pacitti (36, then not in the 36, she apparently a little too close to a couple of 19 Entertainment executives) TK Hash, Chris Chatman and Reggi Beasley are all no to 36. Although I liked what I saw of Reggi Beasley's singing. Kendall Beard (36) appeared to be about to hyperventilate. Next we had a singoff between Jenn Korbee who sings “I’m Not Ready to Make Nice”. I thought her singing of that song was atrocious. That is a great song. Korbee loses the singoff although I wasn't really impressed with Kristen McNamara's “I Will Always Love You” either. She wins the singoff and a spot in the Top 36.

I will be back tomorrow with my Top 36, sort of. You will understand tomorrow what I am saying. I will give you a hint of my #1 favorite, she's gorgeous and she came from the Salt Lake City auditions. Oh yeah and she can sing pretty well, not that we have seen or heard enough of her yet.

themusicaddict

Friday, February 13, 2009

Hollywood Week Episode 4 2/11/09 (Part 1)

This is a very, very rough draft. For much more useful blogs read the next two days blogs.

Hello,

This was the episode where we found out the Top 36 of this season's American Idol" The list that was leaked to votefortheworst.com was 100% correct about who would be in the Top 36.

Goint into this show there were 54 contestant remaining and 49 of them were featured in this show. This is my question why is Tatiana Del Torture featured so much. I am all for comic releif and entertainment, but she is neither. Again thanks to mjsbigblog for the following list. I will be back tomorrow with my comementary, including takeing the disqualification of Joanna Pacitti.


In this episode if there aAnoop Desai is IN - VIDEO

Von Smith is IN - VIDEO
Cody Sheldon sings - He loses the singoff - he’s OUT
Alex Wagner Trugman sings “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down”- He wins the singoff - He’s IN - VIDEO (with Cody)
Adam Lambert is IN - VIDEO
Taylor Vaifanua is IN - VIDEO
Jasmine Murray, Arianna Afsar, Casey Carlson, Megan Corkrey, Mishavonna Henson, and Stevie Wright are IN
Joanna Pacitti is IN - VIDEO
TK Hash, Chris Chatman and Reggi Beasley are OUT - VIDEO
Kendall Beard is IN - VIDEO
Jenn Korbee sings - “I’m Not Ready to Make Nice” - She loses the singoff - She’s OUT
Kristen McNamara sings “I Will Always Love You” - She wins the singoff - She’s IN - VIDEO (with Jenn)
Alexis Grace is IN - VIDEO
Scott MacIntyre is IN - VIDEO
Lil Rounds is IN - VIDEO
Felicia Barton, Ashley Hollister, and Devon Baldwin are OUT
Frankie Jordan sings “The Story” by Brandi Carlisle - She loses the singoff - She’s OUT
Jesse Langseth sings - She wins the singoff - She’s IN - VIDEO (with Frankie)
Shera Lawrence and Derik Lavers are OUT
Allison Iraheta is IN - VIDEO
Danny Gokey is IN
Jamar Rogers is OUT - VIDEO (with Danny)
Ricky Braddy, Matt Giraud, Junot Joyner, Jorge Nunez, and Brent Keith are IN
Stephen Fowler is IN - VIDEO
Nick Mitchell is IN - VIDEO
Jackie Tohn is IN - VIDEO
Tatiana Del Tora is IN - VIDEO
Jackie Midkiff sings “When A Man Loves a Woman” - He loses the singoff - He’s OUT
Nate Marshall sings “I’m Already There” - He wins the singoff - He’s IN - VIDEO (with Jackie)
Jeanine Vailes, Kai Kalama, Anne Marie Boskovich and Kris Allen are IN
Matt Breitzke sings - He wins the singoff - He’s IN
Michael Sarver sings - He wins the singoff - He’s IN - VIDEO (with Matt)
Jennifer Hudson - If This Isn’t Love - Video Premiere
Published by mj February 11th, 2009 in American Idol, Video and Jennifer Hudson. 8 Comments
Jennifer Hudson

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Hollywood Week 3

Hello,

Welcome to the new format for themusicaddict. My wife was looking at my blog and made some suggestions. Since she has a better eye for what looks good, I trust her judgement. She both picked and changed the format for me. Thanks beautiful :)

On Day 3 of Hollywood week "American Idol" is down to 72 singers. First we had to suffer through a long preamble by Ryan Seacrest. (The news comes today that Ryan originally tried out as a judge for "AI", but they decided he'd be better as a host. He couldn't have been a worse judge than either Paula or Randy.) Seemingly the producers were only able to clear very few songs for the contestants to sing. The two main songs were the overwrought and corny "I Hope You Dance" and Alicia Keys "If I Ain't Got You". Although that is a much better song. There were also a lot of songs from former "AI" contestants. Strangely enough no one sang a Blake Lewis song! (sarcasm alert)

I've taken this list straight from mjsbigblog.com. Thanks to her for her excellent blog. (36) means they made the Top 36.

Adam Lambert (36)- “Believe” by Cher Lambert continues this season's theme of over singing. He needs to learn to control his voice and have a bit more nuance. Matt Giraud (36)-“Georgia” by Ray Charles I thought this was the best version of this song, at least that made this episode's cut. Both the judges and I really like him. Jamar Rogers (I am so glad he did not make the Top 36)- “Hey There Delilah” by Plain White Ts He's okay but I don't get all the love. Danny Gokey (36)- “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack Great singer but lame song. Another one of my favorite singers. Unfortunately Gokey is another singer who over sang, although he did it just a bit.

Anoop Desai (36)- “My Prerogative” by Bobby Brown I really liked his version of this song, he brought the funk. Jorge Nunez - (36) “Closer” by Ne-Yo It was ok. I had never heard this song before but I really like Nunez's voice. Scott MacIntyre (36)-“Home” by Daughtry I really, really like his version of this song. Kendall Beard(36)-“Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood I have heard a lot of people sing this song, but no one comes close to Carrie Underwood. She sings the hell out of this song. My second favorite version of this song is still Teri Hatcher's version on "Idol Gives Back" last year. Beard's version was okay.

Stevie Wright (36)- “Bubbly” by Colbie Caillat Not very memorable. Lil Rounds(36)“I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys First of all this is a great song and Lil sings it with a great deal of power. Rounds has an awesome voice, she sounded fantastic on this song. I love her and think she's an early front runner. Kristen McNamara “Because of You” by Kelly Clarkson This is not an easy song to sing and she has a great voice. Mishavonna Henson - “Everything” by Michael Buble On my notes I wrote "great, great". 'Nuff said! As I'm writing this I am realizing how many great contestants who I love. There just seems to be a lot of great singers in this years competition.

Tatiana Del Toro - “I’m Your Baby Tonight” by Whitney Houston I was pleasantly surprised by how well she sang this song. However the drama has got to go. She is the only contestant that can drive my wife from the room. Seriously how did she make the Top 36. Alexis Grace “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood I was a little disappointed by her version of this song. She is also one of my favorite contestants.
Kenny Haufpouer (no to 36)- “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz On this song he was good not great. Jasmine Murray (36)-”Tattoo” by Jordin Sparks Another one of my favorites, this is what I mean about deep the field is this year.

Nate Marshall (36)- “Disturbia” by Rihanna Was I the only one who thought his version of this song sucked. I barely even recognized the song. After Tatiana Del Torture, he is the second ranked drama queen. Joanna Pacitti (36, but later dropped like a hot potato) - “I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys She was another one of my favorites. Casey Carlson - “Tattoo” by Jordin Sparks She is gorgeous but her singing was unmemorable. Stephen Fowler (36, but probably was a little close to comfort) -“Time of My Life” by David Cook Stephen you da man, why did you pick such a lame song?

Nick Mitchell as Normund Gentle - (36) “Georgia” by Ray Charles This was not a very good performance. He appears to be kept around for comic relief. He's intentiontally funny unlike Chris Richardson and Sanjaya. Anne Marie Boskovich - (36)“I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack Boskovich has a great voice, please pick a better song next time. JuNot Joyner (36)- “Hey There Delilah” by Plain White Ts I'm sorry this performance was not very memorable. Kaylan Lloyd - (No to 36) “I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys Leneshe Young - (No to 36)“Love Song” by Sara Bareilles Young sounded great on this song, why was she cut over Del Torture? If it's a true wild card this year, I hope she gets one of the three picks to the Top 12. Kai Kalama(36)“Part Time Lover” by Stevie Wonder Another song that I had trouble identifying. Another singer getting way too much love from the judges.

Michael Sarver (36)- “All or Nothing” by O Town Another song I have never heard before. It is by 0 Town so that explains why. (BTW is that O Town or zero Town?) Sarver has a great voice though. India Morrison (No to 36) The one who rapped in the group performance. She was one of the few highlights of the group performances.

There were 13 singers who weren't featured in this episode but made it to the Top 36. Here's the list and my grade for them from A to F.
1) Alexander Wagner-Trugman (C)
2) Allison Iraheta (C+)
3) Arianna Ayesha Afsar (B)
4) Brent Keith (C+ but I need to see more of him.)
5) Jackie Tohn (D) I have not been impressed by her at all, but the judges love her. 6) Jeanine Vailes (no grade due to "AI" not showing her yet. Huh? Couldn't we have taken some of the time devoted to Del Torture and given it to her. We won't hear her first performance until The Top 36 round.
7) Jessica Langseth (B) Apparantally she is the sister of Blues guitarist Johnny Lang.
8) Kris Allen (no grade due to limited exposure.)
9) Matt Breitke (B+) His audition round of "Ain't No Sunshine" was one of the best performances this season so far.
10) Megan Corkrey (A-) Again she is my favorite right now. Unfortunately the "AI" producers aren't giving her enough screen time. We have only seen her once.
11) Ricky Braddy (Another singer not given enough exposure to see what he can do.) 12) Taylor Vaifunana (B+)Wow she has a great voice!
13) Von Smith: A D- but he seemingly is learning to sing with control. We'll see if he learns how to do that in time. He has a great voice when he sings, he sucks when he shouts.

I'll be back later, themusicaddict

Monday, February 9, 2009

Whitney Houston, comeback?



Whitney Houston and Clive Davis. It is about time for Clive Davis to go away. From his constant pimping of himself to him picking terrible songs for contestants on "AI" to sing his time is done.

Hello,

There was a lot of love in the blogosphere yesterday about the Whitney Houston alleged comeback performance at Clive Davis' Pre-Grammy party Saturday night. I excitedly waited for the footage yesterday. It finally became available yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately the 10 minute clip on youtube.com was terrible. She still looks great and her voice sounds good. However the arrangements on the songs were terrible. It is almost like they are hiding something. I wish she would have sang a song in the normal arrangement on at least one song. I have not included this link in my blog because those terrible arrangements made her performance so unwatchable.

Whitney is 45 and she still is great. She is one of my favorite musicians. I am listening to a series of her greatest hits on iTunes now. What a voice and the selection of songs she chose to sing was pretty good as well. There are rumors she will be releasing a new CD this year, but so far there is no confirmed release date. themusicaddict of course will keep you informed.

Here are some classic live performances from the past.


Whitney Houston "One Moment In Time" (Live)


Whitney Houston "I Have Nothing" (Live)


Whitney Houston "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"


Whitney Houston "I Will Always Love You" (Short Version)


themusicaddict

Saturday, February 7, 2009

"AI" Hollywood Week Episode 2



The above picture is of one of the potential Idols sent home that I will miss the most, Rose Flack. Thanks to poptower.com.

Hello,

Here's my review of the Hollywood Episode 2, the painful group performances. Why are we subjected to this? This is "American Idol", not "American Idols". The numbers quoted by Seacrest didn't match, he stated both 107 and 104 people started out this round. There seems to be agreement that 75 people finished this round and are still alive in the competition.

"AI" please, please get rid of the group performances, they only detract from the show. The group numbers in the final 12 are also excruciating. I said to my significant other that if this was the first "AI" I had seen I would have never watched it again. I know that Fox is milking it for all the drama it can, but parts of this show were unwatchable. For instance, anything involving Tatiana.

They were broken into at least 8 groups. Warning spoilers ahead. The next round means they made it to the Top 75. If they have a (36) by their name, according to votefortheworst.com they have made it to the Top 36. The following I got from watching the videos and help from mjsbigblog.com. (That is a great, great website.)

1) Team White Chocolate which featured India Morrison (no to 36), Matt Giraud (36), Kris Allen (36) and Justin Williams (no to 36). They sang the classic song, "I Want You Back". The doo-wop, harmonies and the rapping were all good. I could tell they worked on being creative and original. All four people of this group advanced to the next round.

2) No team name, although they probably should have been called Team Utah. Ahfua, Cisneros and Ahfua are all from Utah. (They seemed to merged the showing of two groups together and calling them one.) Their versions of "Get Ready" were rough. This montage contained Nick Mitchell, Julissa Veloz, Maryn Azoff, Austin Cisneros, J.B. Ahfua, Jorge Nunoz, Shelby Swartwood. Randy said the guys were through and the girls had to go home. The only 4 whose fate we were shown were Nick (36) and Jorge(36). Shelby and Julissa were sent packing.

3) Action Squad: This group featured Alex Wagner-Trugman (36), Ann Marie Boskovich (36) both advance. They beat the hell out of Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow". Fortunataely Ryan Pinkston was sent home. Unfortunately Emily Wynne-Hughes also was sent home. Wynne-Hughes handled the rejection with class and appreciation. Pinkston handled the rejection with stupidity, saying he saw "evil in her (Paula) eyes".

4) The Rainbow Coalition: This group featured Danny Gokey (36), Jamarr Rogers (no to 36), Taylor Vaifuna )36). I can't figure out who the other girl is. I really liked their version of Queen's "Somebody To Love". They all announced to the next round.

5) No Team Name: Jeremy Michael Sarver (36), Adam Lambert (36), Matt Breitzke (36), Jesse Langseth (36) and other unidentified singers sang "Some Kind of Wonderful". This is the first we have seen of Jesse Langseth and I was very impressed. Lambert seems to be a good singer, but he needs to avoid oversinging.

6) Team Divas: (I took it on myself to change the name to Team Train wreck.) They did no favors to Duffy's "Mercy". This team featured Lauren Barnes (no), Katrina Darrell (no), Rose Flack (no) and Jasmine Murray (yes). Only Jasmine Murray (36) advanced to the next round. Darrell will be appearing in a Playboy soon I'm sure, maybe she can be the Hef's new girlfriend.

7) No Team Name: This team featured Muna Hiluf, Tatiana Del Toro and two unidentified singers. All made it through to the next round. The round of 75 was the end of road for Muna (no to 36). Unfortunately Tatiana (36) moved on. She is an okay singer, but the emotional baggage she brings with her isn't worth it. Tatiana must go. Tatiana is a freak and stated, "This means everything to me". Tatiana you getting sent home means everything to me. She almost makes Sanjaya seem cool. Randy originally said "no" in the audition but folded like a broken chair. Randy you could have brought something to this show finally, and you choked.

8) Team Compromise: (Team Drama) Tatiana joined this team for a few minutes. That would have been three of the worst personalities working together. This group featured Nate Marshall (36), Nancy Wilson and Kristin McNamara (36). Marshall sounded the best on Duffy's "Mercy". Marshall and McNamara advanced to the next round. Wilson went home. The enduring memory of her, if anyone remembers her, will be bitter and bitchy.

After this train wreck of a show we lost a couple of my early favorites, Emily Wynne-Hughes and Rose Flack. I really liked Wynne-Hughes take on Heart's "Barracuda" in the audition round. Flack's "I Feel The Earth Move" had it's problems, but she has a lot of charm. I could see her resurfacing in another capacity. Deanna Brown was also sent home. Her audition singing "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was pretty good.

By my count only 16 of the 36 finalists were given screen time in the group performances. I know Fox is using "AI" to get viewers for it's other shows. But since "AI" is by far their biggest show, maybe they should make that show their #1 priority. I wish the first two episodes from Hollywood week would have been at least 90 minutes. I would have liked to see all the group's full performances. Tuesday is the third episode from Hollywood, it will be another hour long show. On Wednesday the Top 36 will be officially announced in a two hour show. We will find out then how accurate votefortheworst.com's leaked list is. I am guessing they are at least 95% correct.

Have the rest of a good weekend, themusicaddict.

Friday, February 6, 2009

"AI" Hollywood Week Episode 1

Hello,

Hey "AI" isn't it about time to change that lame, dated opening to your show. Also the Ryan Seacrest intro "This is... American Idol" has got to go.

147 people made it to Hollywood. Barry Manilow was the "surprise mentor". I guess that means that M.C. Hammer was busy. The 147 contestants came out in line ups of 8. I heard two different numbers of how many advanced to the group round. It was either 104 or 107.

I'm going to complain first. We only saw one brief glance of Megan Corkrey. She was not the only one that was under represented. In future episode's we need a lot more of Alexis Grace, Casey Carlson, Joanna Pacitti, Kendall Beard, Matt Breitzke, Scott MacIntyre and Stephen Fowler.

As always a warning: spoilers ahead. Parenthesis indicate if they made it to the group round (GR) and according to votefortheworst.com the Top 36 (36).

1) Lil Rounds: (GR)(36) Tonight's show started off with someone that is almost sure to make the Top 12. I love Lil Rounds and that big, powerful voice of hers. Her "I Will Always Love You" wasn't without it's problems though.

2) Dennis Brigham: (Hell no!) He begged his way to Hollywood. Judges for future reference don't let them beg their way to Hollywood. Simon commented on Brigham's wierd "facial expressions". Both Brigham and Tatiana Del Toro both begged their way to Hollywood and look how painful both contestants are.

3) Nathanial (Nate) Marshall: (GR)(36)a drama queen of the highest order. He sang a song I have never heard of. I actually think that is better than singing an overused song. The song is "The Anchor Holds", Paula did not like the song. He does have a great voice. The drama has got to stop! Now! He is going to be another polarizing contestant. If this show was "Drama Idol", he would automatically make it to the Top 3.

4) Anoop (Anoop Dog): (GR)(36)In Hollywood he was even better than he was in the audition rounds. I am cheering on the UNC student.

5) Jasmine Murray: (GR) (36) She has a great voice and I think she has a great chance of making the Top 12. She is one of my early favorites.

6) Rose Flack: (GR) (No to 36) One of my favorites even though she doesn't have the best voice. She had a rough time in the "AI" boot camp. She was featured prominently throughout this episode.

7) Stephen Fowler: (GR)(36) We, as "American Idol" viewers don't know much about him. I do know he has a great voice.

8) Jorge Nunez: (GR)(36) Another contestant that I really like. He is also one of my early favorites, but I predict he will be a polarizing contestant as well.

9) Von Smith: (GR)(36) He sucks and he is already one of the most polarizing contestants of this season. Simon Cowell called his song choice "indulgent nonsense". Entertainment Weekly's Michael Slezak calls him "Shouty McShouterson". Dude might be good, but needs to learn how to sing rather than shouting.

10) Nick Mitchell (Norman Gentle) (GR)(36) Another one of my favorite contestants. Apparantally Mitchell is a stand up comedian. He brings levity to the show and he is a surprisingly good singer. He sang "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" in Hollywood just as he did in his audition. I loved his shout out to Seacrest in the middle of his song. He's probably a contestant that does not care about winning, he is just looking for some exposure.

11) Jackie Tohn: (GR)(36)She seems to be a judges favorite, but I don't get it. She's okay and maybe she is a contestant that grows on you as the show goes on. I am just not feeling it for her right now. Was she really wearing a fanny pack in Hollywood?

12) Jamarr Rogers: (GR)(No to 36) Danny Gokey's friend. His "California Dreamin'" was not very good. He does not advance to the Top 36. But according to joesplaceblog.com this morning, he's back in L.A. for something to do with "AI".

13) Danny Gokey: He has some haters in the blogosphere becasue he auditioned for "AI" four weeks after his wife died. I am not going to pass judgement on him, since I have no idea what he was going through. I am glad he tried out though, I really like his voice. His take on Seal's "Kiss From A Rose" was fantastic. Another one of my early favorites.

14) Katrina "The Bikini Girl" Dorrell (GR)(No to 36) Is it a surprise that her "singing" on Faith Hill's "Breathe" was terrible? She moved through to Hollywood seemingly due to Simon Cowell's fandom.

While Dorrell passed through to the group round, we saw Jessica Furney and Sharon Wilbur cut. They couldn't have sung worse than Dorrell.

15) Jeremy Michael Sarver: (GR)(36)He is really good. I am glad we will be seeing more of him.

16) Jesus Valenzuela: When he auditioned the judges had him bring his kids in. He was yet another one of the courtesy golden tickets to Hollywood. He seem surprised he was cut, he should just be glad to even have made it to Hollywood.

17) David Osmond (GR)(No to 36) I ended up really liking him. He seems to be too cool to be an Osmond. I hope he can use this as a launching pad to much success.

18) Emily Wynne-Hughes: (GR)(No to 36) She is the singer who impressed in auditions with "Barracuda".

Next up the horrid, drama inflicted group round.

themusicaddict: Bringing the Regis back since 2009. Go to joesplaceblog.com to see videos of some of the leaked Top 36. Amanda Overmeyer has also released a new CD. That could either be great or a train wreck. You don't need to win "AI", you just need to be on long enough to get exposure. That's the lesson we learned from Bikini Girl.

Hollywood group round review coming soon, themusicaddict

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Puerto Rico/ New York Auditions briefly, Melinda Doolittle



Hello,

This is going to be a quick blog. Warning: spoilers ahead and I'm only going to review the highlights.

1) Jorge Nunez: Unlike Von Smith, he has a strong voice but doesn't over sing. His singing of "My Way" in Spanish was fantastic. He didn't sing as well in English but still have a great voice. I really like him. It does not surprise me that he reportedly has made it to the Top 36.*

2) Jessika Baier: She relentlessly killed Celine Dion's "I Surrender". She over sang that song, she comes from the Von Smith school of singing. She then begged the judges on and on, her segment was way too long. Couldn't have that time gone to a good singer?

3) Melinda Camille: She's a little goofy but I like her voice. She sang "Feeling Good", a song I am not familiar with. She likes dancing naked in her room which is TMI. She is unemployed, but with her being a free spirit that doesn't surprise me.

4) Joe Contreras: the human iPod. He was funny but bad. Simon Cowell said about his performance: it's "everything I hate".

5) Jackie Tohn: For some reason the judges really like her, I am not real impressed with her yet. She seems to be a little over hyped. Sorry Jackie, like the book, I am just not that into you. I didn't like her version of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours". She reportedly makes the Top 36. I hope she showed a lot more in Hollywood.

6) Nick Mitchell (Norman Gentle): He is very campy but I really like him. He brings a shot of much needed humor to a show that goes for the dramatic when it can. His "And I'm Telling You I Am Not Going" was mediocre. (By the way that is a great song, FYI it is on the "Dreamgirls" soundtrack. If you can sing that song well, you are a great singer.) He then needed a chair and sang "Amazing Grace". The jokester can really sing! "American Idol" needs a contestant like him that can bring some humor to the show. Even after he gets cut, he should still be allowed to perform every week for his entertainment value. Surprisingly he makes the Top 36.

7) We saw brief snippets of Ashley Hollister and Kenny Hoffpauer, both were good but their runs ended in Hollywood. We heard a bit from the gorgeous Kendall Beard, but not enough to get an idea of how good of a singer she is. We will see more of her as she also reportedly advances to the Top 36.

8) Monique Garcia Torres: She is the 16 year old from Puerto Rico. I really liked her voice, she barely made it through to Hollywood as the judges split 2-2. She has a great voice but needs more confidence. I think she needs to wait a couple of years and try again. I am confident she would do a lot better. Sadly her dream ends in Hollywood.

9) Alexis Cohen: She's trying to stretch out her 15 minutes of fame. Last year she traumatized us in Philadelphia, this year in New York. Not only "no" that she is not going to Hollywood but "HELL NO!" She is as gimmicky as the Bikini Girl, just not as interesting. Alexis please give up, you will never be the next "American Idol". You wouldn't even be the Winnemuca or Walla Walla Idol.

10) Patricia Lewis Roman: When will the contestants learn not to attempt Whitney Houston songs? (See what I wrote about "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going!) She wasn't very good on "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". Simon says that song is harder to sing than some of Whitney's ballads, which is very surprising. The judges split on her also and she barely made it through to Hollywood. Again that is where her dream died.

Of the 147 contestants that made it to Hollywood, 9 came from Puerto Rico and 26 came from New York. I wish more time was spent on the good contestants, rather than the lame Alexis Cohen, Adeola Adegoke and begger girl Jessika Baier. Apparently only 300 people showed up to the Puerto Rico auditions. I don't think "AI" will go to Puerto Rico again.

My blog received 31 page views and had 19 readers yesterday, which is a lot for my blog. I would like to thank everyone who takes time to read my blog.

One more thing, I received this in my e-mail box this morning:


Melinda's Debut Album "COMING BACK TO YOU" Now Available In-Stores EVERYWHERE!
Have you gotten yours yet?
Go to one of these spots and get it now:

MelindaDoolittle.com
amazon.com

We need your help! If you have an opportunity to visit your local music store and have any problems finding Melinda's album please send us an email to:
alert@melindadoolittle.com

MelindaDoolittle.com Exclusive Combo and MalariaNoMore Benefit! ORDER NOW!! Melinda Doolittle's highly anticipated debut CD - COMING BACK TO YOU - is HERE. ONLY 200 COMBOS WILL BE PRODUCED! LIMITED EDITION COMBO INCLUDES:

- Autographed copy of COMING BACK TO YOU
- First Ever Melinda Official Hoody (only 200 will be produced)
- Provides a net for a family in Africa ($10). For every $10 donated, you are providing a family with a mosquito net in Africa and saving lives!

themusicaddict supports both Melinda Doolittle and her cause for Malaria No More. Melinda I wish you the best of luck in everything you do. Keep me informed and I will keep my readers informed.

I should be back tomorrow with the first of my Hollywood week reviews, themusicaddict

*When I say reportedly making it to Hollywood, I am referring to the list leaked to votefortheworst.com of the alleged Top 36. We will know how accurate that is one week today. That is when "AI" will unveil the official Top 36.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Bringing the Regis back!, Katherine McPhee (picture included)

Hello,

Today I am little off the beaten path today. Justin Timberlake brought the sexy back and I am bringing the Regis back. Yes that is my final answer! (Picture courtesy of television.aol.com.)

Just some random news bits today. Melinda Doolittle's new CD, "Coming Back To You" was released yesterday. She is one of my favorite all-time "American Idol" contestants. A review will be forthcoming. Other news: the gorgeous Katherine McPhee has signed a record deal with Verve records. She is looking to release her new CD by the end of this year. (Picture courtesy of askmen.com.) For the record I thought her first CD was good. I really like the song, "Dangerous".

Some amazing performances this past week by former "AI" contestants. First of all Jennifer Hudson's singing of the National Anthem at the Super Bowl was awesome. It is good to see her recovering from the recent horrifying events in her life. Then there was the equally amazing performance by Fantasia singing "Lady Marmalade" at an event honoring Patti Labelle. Hearing those two ladies singing those songs with so much power is why I love music so much. That is what it is all about.

Taylor Swift has announced she is going on tour, she will be the headliner. Kellie Pickler will be the opening act on all shows. I think Taylor Swift and Sugarland are the best things going in country music right now. Sugarland's performance with Bon Jovi on their song "You Can't Go Home" is breathtaking. Jennifer Nettles singing on that is amazing. She also shines on the heartbreaking "Stay".

Finally this last Sunday was the Super Bowl. This is the first Super Bowl I did not watch since I can't remember when. I was just not interested in the match up. I don't hate either team, but neither team excites me either. Arizona previously had no tradition, other than their tradition of fielding pathetic teams. Instead of watching the Super Bowl, we had family night. That was much more fun!

I will be back tomorrow back to the "AI" beat. Have a great day!

themusicaddict

Monday, February 2, 2009

Salt Lake City "American Idol" auditions.

Hello,

On the nights of Tuesday, February 3rd and Wednesday, February 4th are the first two parts of "American Idol" Hollywood week. Both will be hour long episodes. Part 3 is Tuesday, February 10th and it will be a hour as well. On Wednesday, February 11th Hollywood week concludes with a two hour episode where the Top 36 will be announced. (Of course if you don't want to wait that long, check out votefortheworst.com and get the purported Top 36 list.)

This week I am again working a lot of hours. I have limited time to write so I am going to try and cram the final 3 audition cities into one or two blogs. Salt Lake, my home city, will be today. Warning Spoilers ahead.

Salt Lake City:
13 people from Salt Lake earned golden tickets. I actually expected a higher number than that.

1) David Osmond: As a lifetime Utahan I hate the Osmonds. Any time someone mentions Utah, they seemingly have to mention three things. Those being Mormons, polygamy and the Osmonds. So I was not expecting much from David Osmond. However I quite liked his performance of Take 6's "Something Within Me". He also looks like Chris Cornell. He gets cut in Hollywood however.

2) Chris Kirkham: He came with his friend in a giant rabbit costume. I honestly think that hurt him. That's unfortunate as I really thought he was good. I loved his take on Del Amitri's "Roll To Me" and also the snippet of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" that he sang before Simon cut him off. Cowell, who is the person that is behind the TeleTubbies, not liking a giant rabbit costume seems ironic.

3) Frankie Jordan: I loved, loved her take on Amy Winehouse's fantastic "You Know I'm No Good". There are conflicting reports on whether she made it to the Top 36. According to the votefortheworst.com leaker she didn't. However she seemingly slipped to tmz.com that she was still on the show. I really like her and I would put her ahead of several people on votefortheworst.com's Top 36. For instance I like her a lot more than Von Smith, Jackie Tohn and Tatiana Del Toro. (Someone please tell me that Tatiana Del Toro didn't really make the Top 36.)

4) Megan Corkrey: The Top 36 singer was fantastic. She chose sort of a unusual song, "Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine". I really liked her performance of it. Her voice is great and she is very attractive. I think she has a chance to go a long way in this competition.

5) Austin Cisneros: I thought he was okay but I don't really need inspiration from a 17 year old. Thankfully he did not make it through to the Top 36, because he could have been this season's annoying David Archuleta like candidate. (We do not need any more Archuleta or Sanjaya like contestants.)

6) Jarrett Burns: We were just shown a snippet of him. I really liked him as well and his take on "Put Your Records On". Apparently he wasn't good enough to make the Top 36 though.

7 & 8) Then the show closed with Taylor Vaifuna (Top 36). I think she could turn out to be a really great find or very annoying. I am sort of split 50/50 at this point. Rose Flack: The Rathdrum, Idaho singer. I really liked her version of Carole King's "I Feel The Earth Move". The barefoot, quirky contestant didn't make it through to the Top 36 though.

Tomorrow I will try and review the Puerto Rico and New York auditions. They weren't as bad as I had heard. There were some really good auditioners. As a preview I surprisingly liked Nick Mitchell (Norman Gentle). It is hard for him to be serious but his singing of "Amazing Grace" was pretty good. That is a powerful song.

themusicaddict

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