"American Idol" March 30th Review, Elton John Theme

Hello,

Last night on "American Idol" I thought there would be several train wreck performances, I was very pleased there was only one. I know I don't have to do this, but I'm going to point out the obvious. Elton John is the man, he and Bernie Taupin wrote some of the greatest songs of all-time. 10 of his classics were sung last night and "Country Comfort". He has several other amazing songs that weren't sung last night. Amazing Elton John songs the "AI" contestants didn't sing include "Honky Cat", Philadelphia Freedom", "Crocodile Rock", "Island Girl", "Levon", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart". Again those were the great songs that weren't sung!

Thankfully screen time for the producers has been severely cut back, thank goodness. Now can we get rid of Jimmy Iovine. I nearly always find his opinions worthless, he essentially is as helpful as Randy Jackson. I researched Iovine a bit, to see if he deserves his reputation as a great producer. I would have to say no. He did produce U2's "Rattle and Hum", which is one of their many great CDs. He also signed Lady Gaga in 2007. Those are two big things in his favor.

However he's also credited with giving Eminem's demo tape to Dr. Dre. That's a strike against Iovine for me. He also co-produced 50 Cent's "Get Rich of Die Tryin". That's another strike against him. He has done some good things, but I think he's a long ways from being a legend. Bringing up Lady Gaga doesn't quite make up for bringing us the very over rated Eminem.

11) Jacob Lusk, (down 4 spots) sang "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word". All is right with the world again as he's back in his rightful place on my countdown. A terrible arrangement and a terrible performance. The shows only train wreck of the night. He was just dreadful and I don't understand all the love he gets from the judges. He's ungainly and I'm fearful that his eyes are going to bust out of his head. There's a line in the song he sang, "What have I got to do?" I'll answer that for you Jacob, go home. I'm afraid that he'll be back next week though. Grade: D-

This is how this song should sound:



10) Scotty McCreery (up 1 spot) sang "Country Comfort". The one trick pony strikes again. Jimmy I. calls it one of the best tricks. No it isn't. McCreery does the same thing each week and it's gotten boring. He's stuck in a very limited spot, what would he sing disco week? Can you imagine how bad that would be? I can't imagine sitting through a two hour concert of his. He might be this season's David Archuleta. Like Archuleta he has virtually no personality. He'd be lucky to have a "career" equal to Archuleta's. Let's hope he doesn't, one David Archuleta is more than enough. Scotty Grade: C. David Archuleta and his career: F

9) Naima Adedapo (up 1 spot) sang a reggae version of "I'm Still Standing". Now I know what you are thinking, how did that end up not being a train wreck? It wasn't and that's even with Naima singing with a reggae accent. Not only that Naima, but the 70's called and it wants it's outfit back. Even with all the above, it still didn't end up being a train wreck. It ended up being better than I thought it would be, but it still wasn't spectacular. If it was up to me Naima and Jacob would be the ones going home this week. Grade: C.

Randy called her performance "corny" but said she had "mad flavor". He then did a bunch of nonsensical mumbling. Steven said she was "pickin' a song that fits you". How is either one of those critiques suppose to be helpful? JLo, looking amazing as always, was right on when she said, "better idea than payoff". Grades: Randy: F as always, Steven: D- and JLo: C

8) Paul McDonald (same) sang "Rocket Man". I finally figured out who's singing voice his reminded me of: James Blunt. However Blunt is a much better singer and performer. Jimmy told him to sing it as if it was an encore. Well if that was his encore performance, I'm glad I didn't have to see the rest of the concert. Although that was his best performance that I've seen. It started out cool, but it went downhill. Does he have a chance of being the "AI" Season 10 champ? Not only no, but hell no. I think he'll be sent home in the next couple of weeks. Grade: C+.

7) James Durbin (down 3 spots) sang "Saturday Night Is Alright". I will admit it up front, I hate everything about James Durbin. He has an okay voice, but absolutely nothing else going for him. He has nasty hair and is extremely unattractive. He has all the charisma of a thorn. Also his performance went on too long. If it had been shorter, I would have given him a better grade. Grade: C+.

6) Stefano Langone (up 3 spots) sang "Tiny Dancer". I love how this song was arranged in that the chorus wasn't repeated too much. That really helped his performance. He bounced back from last week's terrible performance of "Hello". Maybe he had heard "Tiny Dancer" before picking it. He must have seen "Almost Famous". I don't think he'll win this, but I could see him finish in the Top 3. Grade: B-.



The rest of these performances were the cream of the crop for the night.

5) Lauren Alaina (down 4 spots) sang "Candle In The Wind". Sure she took a big drop in my Top 11. But that doesn't mean she didn't have an amazing performance. She just had the 5th most amazing performance of the night and there's no shame in that. I did wonder if she knows who the song is about? Also this is just an amazing song. Lauren looked like a star and the dress looked good on her. She has such an amazing voice and she might have the most potential of this season's contestants. I even caught myself wondering is she the next Carrie Underwood? After having that thought I zapped myself with the anti-hype gun. Looking back I was surprised that I gave her only a B- grade. That's what I thought in the moment so I'm sticking with it.

4) Haley Reinhart (up 2 spots) sang "Bennie and the Jets". Haley and her boobs received the night's pimp spot. Haley looked amazing last night. What is it about an attractive woman on the top of piano that is so sexy? I love her voice although I'm not sure she always uses it right. Grade: B+

3) Casey Abrams (same) sang "Your Song". I know I'm probably preaching to the choir, but this is definitely a Top 250 song. "Your Song" is just a great, great song. I didn't like how this episode started with showing the Casey Abrams save/meltdown again. I had watched "The Good Wife" before "AI". It made me think if I were a lawyer, I'd call showing that again prejudicial. Have the "AI" producers soured on Abrams? I also didn't like how the hype machine kicked in when "Hope Has Been Renewed" was displayed on the screen. Someone found my blog yesterday by googling "does Casey Abrams have a mental problem?". That person is not the first person to wonder that.

Anyway on to his performance. He did look a lot better after getting a trim on his beard and his unruly hair. He chose a great song and he sang it with passion. Casey is back and I hope it's not too late. Would winning this competition be a good or bad thing for his mental state. Could he be another Susan Boyle? A person with a great voice but really isn't cut out for the spotlight. Grade: B+.

Randy: "yo yo", then his goofy laugh then you were "absolutely brilliant". I agree with Randy? Egads!

This song grabs one by the throat from the opening note:



2) Thia Megia (up 3 spots) sang "Daniel". Two weeks ago, Thia was 11th on this list. She has one of the best performances last week during Motown week. That wasn't that impressive as last week was a horrid week. However Megia also had one of the best performances this week, and this week was the best week by far of the four weeks I've seen. I like the advice she received about making the song relate to her. She did when thinking about her brother leaving home. Thia definitely had a moment on Wednesday. Grade: B+.

Randy said she had "pitch issues", and picked a "very safe" song. Seriously Randy is an idiot!

Steven Tyler was spot on when he said, with the "right song, the voice appears". It was almost like this song was written for Thia. Can she keep this up though?

The amazingly gorgeous Pia Toscano:



1) Pia Toscano (up 1 spot) sang "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me". Let's get it out, yes Pia is absolutely gorgeous. And as ew.com's Dalton Ross said on "AI" yesterday, that dress fit her like a "glove". In other words it brought out all her feminine qualities. Now if she was only gorgeous, that would be one thing. But she also is an amazing singer. I agree with Randy for her to sing something besides a ballad. Last night she was fantastic, but I'm holding her to singing "River Deep, Mountain High" next week. Grade: B+.

"River Deep, Mountain High":



Pia's version of "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me":



Elton John singing "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me":



themusicaddict

"AI" Top 11 Preview, Part 2, "The Conspirator", The BCS strikes again

Hello,

With the "American Idol" judges saving Casey Abrams last week, it will be the Top 11 all over again. I'm thankful that two of these dreadful contestants will be going home tomorrow, although I would love to see at least 4 or 5 go home. Tonight's theme is Elton John songs. I love Elton John, but this is another theme that is to old for these contestants. Many of John's songs are older than the contestants themselves. Due to their unfamiliarity with the songs and their lack of talent I'm expecting at least 7 or 8 terrible performances. Again thank goodness for being able to watch this show on DVR. For the second week in a row I expect a dreary, horrible performance by Scotty McCreery. I think he's good for singing country music but for not much else. I'm still overwhelmed by how bad his "For Once In My Life" was last week. Hopefully Stevie Wonder and Motown have recovered from his dreadful version.

For comparison and contrast, I will contrast my Top 11 vs. Annie Barret's Top 11. First I'll have my Top 11 following Motown week and then in the parenthesis I will have ew.com's Annie Barret's ranking for that same artist. Overall we mostly sort of agree but there are a couple of major disagreements. I will then write comments, if I have any.

11) Scotty McCreery (Barrett: #1) Obviously this is just my opinion and I don't claim to be a music expert. But how can two people watch the exact same performance and have such wildly different viewpoints? I just thought his performance was absolutely dreadful. His brutal version of that song could not get over soon enough for me. Also Scotty button up you shirt, you look like a poor man's James Durbin.

10) Naima Adedapo (Barrett: #9) We pretty much agree on this lame contestant, it's definitely time for her to go. I'm glad I won't be one of those suckers paying my hard earned money to go see the "AI" tour. I do have a good tour name though: "Jumping The Shark...Again".

9) Stefano Langone (Barrett: #10) Again Barrett and I mostly agree on him. Two weeks ago his performance of "If You Don't Know My By Now" was very good. But last weeks cover of "Hello" made me want to say goodbye to him. However I hope he survives at least one more week.

8) Paul McDonald (Barrett: 4) I just don't understand the appeal of McDonald. Is it his bad dancing? Is it his weak singing voice? I just don't like anything about him and I hope he goes home this week. I don't think be sent home yet though. Again I think that speaks to the weakness of this season's "talent".

7) Jacob Lusk (Barrett: #7) We agree exactly on his ranking. Lusk is a boring, overpraised, wimpy contestant. I just don't get his appeal or why the judges love him so much. He can be horrible and the judges still praise him. Is this the contestant TPTB want to win. If so, why? I'd love to see him get eliminated this week.

6) Haley Reinhart (Barrett: #8) I like her sort of, I still think she has some growing up to do. It would not shock me if she gets sent home this week.

5) Thia Megia (Barrett: #11) Again she's so high on my list not because of how good she is, but because how terrible the contestants this season are. I see her singing something from "The Lion King".

4) James Durbin (Barrett: #3). See above. This is one contestant that I'm never going to like. He's a goofy freak that reminds me way too much of Adam Lambert. Lambert was one of my all-time least favorite contestants. I'm frightened that Durbin might win this season. Lee DeWyze and him winning back to back years. If that doesn't kill this show, nothing will.

3) Casey Abrams (Barrett: #6) Although he probably is my second favorite contestant right now, I don't know how long he'll be around. I'm afraid about how his near nervous breakdown last week will affect him in the voter's eyes. I think he's going to be voted off soon, which then would clear the path for Pia Toscano.

Why couldn't have Alexis Grace been on this season? Is it too late to give her a wild card and install some charisma in this season.



2) Pia Toscano (Barrett: #2) By far the best singer and the most attractive person this season, how can she not win. I agree with Randy, she needs to sing something else besides a ballad though. I know they've already picked their songs, but I think "Island Girl" would be good for her.I'm wondering if she can only sing ballads, let's hope not.

1) Lauren Alaina (Barrett #5) She soared last week, but I still think she has a lot of growing to do. I could see her going home this week but also winning. This season's title is wide open for anyone.

I'm still hoping for an All-Star "Idol", most of the other reality shows have done this. I know that the Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Chris Daughtry wouldn't participate. But I'd love to see Alexis Grace and Alex Lambert given another chance. Also it would "AI" another chance to pimp these contestants. Maybe with these singers having a second chance and a better idea what they are getting into maybe they could truly reach their potential.

Have you seen the trailer for this very cool looking movie about the Lincoln assassination?



Robin Wright Penn looks like she did an amazing job in this movie.

Sport's Update: I have a question, why does CBS treat the Masters with so much reverence? First of all, it's golf. Second of all the drama is all manipulated and who cares anyway? The even takes place in... I tried to do some research on this but then I realized I just don't care enough. Yawn!

On day 19 of the NFL Greedout what is going on? We continue to find out how much of an idiot Dez Bryant is. He has had not one, but two, lawsuits filed against him trying to recover money that was lent to him. Allegedly he has an advisor, Dez I think it's time for you to get a new advisor. I also suggest setting up a budget would be good for you as well. I worry about what many of these spoiled, entitled NFL players are going to do with all their free time. It's easiest to get in trouble when one is bored. It would be good for you guys to find a couple of inexpensive habits. Reading is always good and libraries are free.

The NFLPA is going to start making payments to some of their players starting April 15th. If you been in the league and on your teams roster for a couple of years you can get up to $59,000. Now I know this sounds like a lot of money to average joes, but to these entitled athletes I bet they go through that pretty fast.

It cracks me up that NFL players now have to worry about paying for their own health insurance out of pocket. It's probably the first time many of them realize that COBRA isn't just a snake. Now NFL players I don't want to hear you grumbling about COBRA. Ever since I stopped working for Verizon Wireless, I've taken full advantage of COBRA. It truly has been a blessing in the life of my kids and myself. Where I currently work now, insurance is almost prohibitively expensive. I'm very glad for my kids and I we have COBRA to fall back on.

Now on to Major League Baseball, tomorrow is opening day. I'm very excited for this season. First of all I think Boston should have an amazing season. After picking up Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez in the off season. As long as they can avoid last season's injury bug, I'm expecting big things from them. I think it would be a good season for them to earn their third World Series title in the last several years.

I expect the Braves to build on their last season's success. I'm hoping Chipper Jones can go into retirement having a mostly healthy season. I expect that Atlanta should have a pretty good season.

Those are my two teams that I have high hopes for, now for the three teams I'm worried about. My favorite baseball team without a doubt has been the Dodgers, I've lived and died with them for over 30 years. (Man I'm old.) I've mostly died with the Dodgers, as in that time they've had more terrible seasons than good. Plus they were the league's laughingstock last season with the debacle of the McCourt divorce. In the off season, they didn't make a truly significant signing. That's very scary for a team that needed a lot more punch in their lineup. Unless they add that punch to their lineup I expect another mediocre season from the Dodgers. I'm also worried about how much the McCourt divorce is affecting their finances.

I've been following the Cubs since the mid-80's when I could catch their games on cable from WGN. To be a fan of the Cubs is to know the true definition of fan. The Cubs will have their highlights, but their are many more low lights. It's not like the Cubs haven't spent a lot of money on upgrading their team either. I think their main problem has been team chemistry, it seems they have too many head cases. With interim manager Mike Quade, the Cubs ended last season with a 24-13 record. That leads me to have some cautious optimism for this season. That being said, they are still the Cubs.

Last and probably least I've decided to start cheering for the Pittsburgh Pirates. No one can accuse me of being a bandwagon jumper. This team has even had more low lights than the Cubs. They haven't had a winning season in 17 years. 17 years!! Other than incompetence and greed, how is that possible? Obviously those two reasons are why the Pirates have been so bad. Over the last couple of decades I suggest the team has been known most for the greed and incompetence of their decision makers.

I look forward to another exciting baseball season. If the NFL's Greedout wipes out this season then so be it. The Cowboys weren't going to win the Super Bowl anyway. Then the NBA will probably be having their own lockout once this season is done. I'd be good if the idiots of the NBA have a couple of years of lockout.

The more we find out about the BCS and the corruption it brings to college football, the less I'm surprised. I just want to say all about the scandal going on at Ohio State and Auburn. Is it just my imagination or our those two teams full of the greedy. How many incidents have gone on for those schools in the last few months? Do I even need to bring up the Fiesta Bowl and John Junker. If his name didn't tell you what kind of human he it, nothing would.

themusicaddict

Why I love shuffle on iTunes, Rihanna on Rolling Stone

Hello,

I love the ease of listening to music now days. Do you remember the bad old days of records? (Sorry I'm not going back as far as 8 Track tapes- perhaps the lamest music storage method ever.) Anyway when listening to a record, you would put it on the record player. It would play 5 or 6 songs and then one would have to get up and change it to the other side. That or you would have to get a second record and start over. Don't even think about listening to that record in your car. For music while driving you would have to listen to another outmoded form of entertainment, called radio. Back in the day radio was relevant, believe it or not.

Then came cassette tapes, again only 5 songs per side. But you could listen to these while driving. The sound on tapes wasn't very good, they weren't very durable and so many other things could go wrong with them. I'm glad cassette tapes came and went pretty quickly. Next in the early to mid 80's came CD's. These were a big step up from records and tapes. You could listen to all the songs on a CD and not need to do anything with the CD. Plus the sound was better than both tapes and records. (I know some people would argue records have a better sound, but I just don't hear it.) It took awhile for the car industry to adapt to having CD players in cars.

Then in 2001 iTunes came out. You could put as many songs on your computer as your computer will hold. One can push play and could literally listen to music for days without doing anything else. Of the songs you have on your hard drive, you could then listen to music by artist, album, genre etc. Then these songs could be put on an iPod and take your music wherever you went. My favorite feature of iTunes is the shuffle. Almost always I listen to both iTunes and my iPod on shuffle. I love listening to music like that. I can go from the sweetest softest song to a very hard rocking song. For example, I can go from Bette Midler's "The Rose" to Metallica's "Harvester of Sorrow". You can also set up playlists so that you wouldn't have such a jarring change.

One bad thing about digital music is it can be easily lost if you need to switch from hard drive to hard drive or computer to computer. That's why I only add free digital music, or digital music that's a great deal.

Why I wrote about this subject today is because of 3 songs iTunes played for me on shuffle. One song I'm familiar with but the other two songs I didn't know about. That's because until I ran out of room on my hard drive I would add any song I possibly could. Sure I got a lot of crap on my hard drive, but I also found some gems that way. It's very easy to delete the crap too.

This is a gem I found and iTunes shuffle reintroduced to me this morning:



Next song, yes this song is really by Poison. I know you are wondering, then why haven't I heard it. Well unless you are a big Poison fan, you probably didn't know they made a covers album. It's called "Poison'd!" and this is one of the songs from that CD. This is titled "I Never Cry":



Lastly but not least for today is this Counting Crows song:



Then shuffle reminded me of a couple of cool songs yesterday, one is this Colbie Caillat song, "Magic":



I won't point out that Colbie Caillat tried out for "American Idol", but didn't make it. They were probably too busy putting some of that much lesser talent through. Also I can't remember who, but one of the singers from "Glee" also tried out for the show. Let's hope that the "X Factor" is the final nail in the coffin for "Idol". Then unless "The X Factor" is considerably better, let's hope it goes away quickly too.

Which makes me think of this amazing Sara Bareilles song "Love Song".



I love Tift Merrit. This is her cover of a John Denver song and it gives me goosebumps:



Thank you Rolling Stone for finally putting a relevant musician on your cover. The gorgeous and the amazing Rihanna is on the newest cover. Let's keep it going Rolling Stone. Please no more Howard Stern, Eminem or Lil Wayne. Lady Gaga would be good.



themusicaddict

"American Idol" has become 100% train wreck TV.

Hello,

Seeing the decaying carcass of "American Idol" continues getting sadder each week. Are more people watching this show now for the train wreck aspect? They certainly aren't watching it for the talent and the amazing judges and producers. I use to love to watch this show to watch amazing singers grow and develop. There are very few of those this season and even the best singers have stumbled. The judges continue to be irrelevant. Steven Tyler relies on one-liners, still waiting for something constructive to come out of his mouth. JLo, while looking amazing, remains frightened to utter anything that may sound like a negative comment. It seems that everyone is good according to her. And has anyone figured out what the hell Randy Jackson is saying? The "barnacle" continues to perform at his normal level.

This past episode may have been the worst week in the 5 or 6 years I've been watching "AI". Again, I don't understand what the point of the producers and Jimmy Iovine is. I'm still waiting for them to add something meaningful. The producers profile seemed to be lessened on this last week's show. Are TPTB realizing how little they bring to the show. Can we just completely cut them and Jimmy Iovine out and go to a 90 minute show? Previously I've wished that we could hear the singers sing longer versions of the songs. After this last week I no longer think that's a good idea. That's especially on a week when even hottie Pia stumbles.

Making up my Top 11 this week was tough as there were only 1 or 2 bright spots in the midst of mediocrity. Let the carnage begin. Hopefully Motown will recover from this.

11) Scotty McCreery, down 6 spots from last week, was simply horrific this week. He tortured and beat the hell out of Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life". This was the first of many of the night's train wrecks. Oh man he was completely terrible. First of all who was the nitwit who told him to have his shirt buttoned down so low? Was that suppose to be sexy? It wasn't. The judges were very complimentary, what were they watching? I loved how Randy said he was taking chances. What choice did McCreery have? He had to sing a Motown song and they don't have any country songs. Again Randy why are you still around? Grade: F Randy's grade: F

10) Naima Adedepo, down 2 spots, was brutal as well. She attempted to sing "Dancing In The Streets" by Martha and the Vandellas. Let's start off with the good in her performance. I loved the horns and her performance was less than two minutes. On my notes this is what I wrote: "Ugly clothes, ugly dancing, terrible arrangement". Were those nasty looking clothes rejected from "Battlestar Galactica"?. Neither the producers or the stylists did her any favors. She needs to add excitement to her performance and African dance isn't the thing. That's no disrespect to African dance, just to Naima's mangled version of it. She's just awful and needs to go asap. With the judges save, they should add the judges expulsion. The judges can boot a terrible performer whenever they feel like it. I would nominate Naima for that. Grade: F

9) Stefano Langone, down 5 spots, sang Lionel Richie's "Hello". Did Langone really say he had never heard this song before? How is that even possible? Motown seems to be too old of a theme. Jennifer and Randy said he didn't make a connection. Steven told him to go kiss some girls. Again I don't think the 22 year old has enough life experience. The line "haven't got a clue" is in the song and that described Langone's performance perfectly. I really thought Langone had a breakthrough last week, but this week he was very disappointing. Please can we never have Gordon Ramsey on "AI" again? Also no more promos for "Mobbed" please. No matter how many promos there are, I still won't watch it. I know Ramsey's terrible show needs propping up, but "AI" has enough problems as it is. Can we use the judges expulsion on Ramsey? Please. Grade D+. Gordon Ramsay: Z-

8) Paul McDonald, up 3 spots, performance of Smokey Robinson's "Tracks of My Tears" was okay. Can we all just agree that the original is an amazing song? In this video this is Charlie Sheen, pre crazy, in "Platoon":



I liked the arrangement of this song, but McDonald sings like a strangled chicken. What was up with his hair flying all over the place. In both the performance and results show. Randy said that Paul took it to the cool Paul place, that's not a place that I want to go. Steven Tyler said McDonald is vocally similar to Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. Someone should be insulted by that statement, but I'm not sure who. Jennifer said he's a "complete package". I guess that's right if you're looking for a white elephant gift. Grade: D+

7) Jacob Lusk, up 5 spots, sang the wretched "You're All I Need To Get By". I'm wondering when is the controversy going to start about is Jacob Lusk gay? When we find out he is, it will be as surprising as when we found that out about Clay Aiken and Adam Lambert were gay. I could care less if a performer is gay. I think Elton John is amazing and has had many great songs. Lusk comes from South Central really, I bet he had a rough life. He was better this week than he was the last two weeks. However with how effeminate he is, he's just not very believable singing that song. He's better in making a connection with the audience, Stefano needs to take lessons. However he also is very boring. Why do the judges love him so much? Steven went and hugged him and he also received a standing ovation. What the hell? When he's this high on my list, that's a sign of how bad this week was. Grade: C-

6) Haley Reinhart, up 1 spot, sang Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got A Hold On Me". I listened to the original version of this song and it's just a terrible song. Why did Haley, or whoever, pick this song? Jimmy said she "got nothin' to lose". That's one of Jimmy's infrequent insightful comments. I like Haley's voice and appearance. Her performance started out good, but ended terribly. Again these versions are structured with there being just too much chorus and those few words are repeated too much. Also she wore a nasty outfit. Another contestant that had no favors done for them by the producers or stylists. And was anyone else squeamish by Randy asking her "you feel me right"? Grade first half of song: B+, second half of song: D. Overall grade: C.

Just like Jacob Lusk, this is how bad this last week was when Reinhart's performance is so high on my list.

5) Thia Megia, up 4 spots, sang another amazing Motown song. She sang Martha and the Vandella's "Heat Wave". This is the original:



Yes, love is exactly like a heat wave. That's the perfect description of love. This song is so infectious and fun. Like Katrina and the Waves "Walking On Sunshine" a song that makes me happy and want to dance. Don't worry I won't, I dance about as good as Paul McDonald.

Okay now back to Ms. Megia. Her performance was alright, but she ran out of steam. Again I'm not sure what the point of the producers are again. No help from them for Thia. She's one of the many contestants that have no chance of winning. This show needs to end after this season, actually it needs to end now. That won't happen as with most corporate American decisions greed is in charge. So for season 11, please bring back the mentors. Please dump Jimmy Iovine and the producers right now. Thia Grade: C Iovine and the producers: Grade F.

4) James Durbin, up 2 spots, sang "Living For The City" by Stevie Wonder. He's a contestant that's a complete douche bag. The extended wrestling segment on the results show shows how much once again. So judging him fairly for me is hard. I just wish he was as cool as he thinks he is. However he did pick one of the best songs of the night and did a decent performance of it. I liked the arrangement and how funky it was. The producers actually earned their money on this. It's a lesser known Wonder song, but it's a cool song. (Again I just want to say again, Stevie Wonder is the man!) Now for the bad: Durbin is such a weird looking dude, like Adam Lambert there's too much screeching and what is up with his constant eye twitches? I'm not ridiculing that, I'm just wondering. Is it because he's nervous? Jennifer said he was "serious business". Randy said he "hit your stride" and "unbelievable". He was also given the pimp spot, which means the producers are really pushing him. It seems TPTB realizes he's one of the most commercially viable contestants this season. (Again how shallow is this season's pool?) Grade: C

3) Casey Abrams, down 2 spots, sang Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine". Seriously Motown thanks for all the amazing songs over the years.



Again the producers are getting in the way of these amazing songs. They changed the arrangement on this song. Why would they mess with such an amazing arrangement? That's a nearly perfect song. This is his worst performance of the three of his performances I've seen. Why does it feel like Casey peaked already? Grade: C-

2) Pia Toscano, same as last week, sang Stevie Wonder's "All In Love Is Fair". I liked her dress, she sounds good and she's a gorgeous woman. However that's a damn boring song. Overall she was awful, another performance that couldn't end soon enough. Again I realized how important song selection is. Randy actually made an intelligent comment, when he suggested she sing something mid-tempo or uptempo. I completely agree with Randy, Pia it's time to break out of your comfort zone. I still think she's the one most likely to win this competition. She has a great voice and is very attractive. But this performance was just awful. Grade: D.

1) Lauren Alaina, up 2 spots, sang the Supremes "You Keep Me Hanging On". Again on this topsy turvy week, everything is mixed up. Lauren Alaina is only 16, again she's way too young for this competition. She'd be so much better in a couple of years. She just doesn't have the life experience to properly sing this song. Following the performances of Casey Abrams, Thia Megia and Jacob Lusk she was the best performance of the night to this point. Then after everything was said and done she remained the best performance of the night. Jennifer said she looked "amazing" and had "so much attitude". Imagine how much better the performance would have been if she had some life experience behind her? However this season is so wide open, anyone could win. Grade: B+

This is the "Glee" version:




As much as the performance shows have become train wrecks, the results show is even worse. "AI" was made to be watched on the DVR with all it's filler. This weeks results episode showed why. The filler, let us count them: 1) The group performances- although this one was slightly better than usual. Although it completely isn't needed. 2) The whole wrassling/ Hulk Hogan nonsense. 3) The Ford music video 4) Celebrating Steven Tyler's birthday, what is he now 150 years old? And his band mate Bradley Whitford seems to be 10 years older. (ew.com's Annie Barret was very funny and right on when she wondered how she was surprised that Tyler didn't also celebrate unbirthdays as well.) 5) Mark Anthony's few minutes on the show. Again not as cool as he think he is, I see JLo dumping his lameness soon. 6) The drawn out nonsense of the results, especially the Casey Abrams meltdown. Was that not painful to watch? Of course the producers milked that beyond any sense of good taste.

The results show needs to be cut to a half-hour.

The highlights of the filler, uh I mean the results show: 1) Jennifer Hudson "comes home". Although that made me laugh, as "AI" has almost completely ignored her since her too early dismissal several years ago. I liked her song, "Where You At". She looked amazing and her voice is awesome. 2) Sugarland- one of the best country acts currently going. Jennifer Nettles, wow what an amazing voice. She also is an attractive woman, although it's too bad the "AI" stylists dressed her. 3) The amazing Stevie Wonder taking the stage singing "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours". I love Stevie, but that is one of his obvious songs. Next time he appears on "AI" it would be awesome if he could sing any of these songs:

I love the funkiness of "Superstition". Stevie again is genius.



I love the horns and the funkiness of this song. "Sir Duke":



Again Stevie you are the man. "Master Blastin' (Jammin)" (Live):



It's amazing how wide the gulf in talent is between Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Nettles and Jennifer Hudson compared to this season's "AI" Top 11. I know many people will say that isn't a fair comparison, but isn't that what the judges, producers and Jimmy Iovine are suppose to be preparing them for? Whether they can is another question.

I'm glad the judges saved Casey Abrams, although I'm worried for his mental health now. I think he went from one of the favorites to he'll be booted from the show soon. Now there's 11 people going on the tour. How boring is that going to be? Really other than tweeners, who else is going to want to go to that? Next week "AI" will be kicking off 2 people. Can't they just cut to the chase and get rid of 7 or 8 contestants then? We won't hear from many of these contestants once this show ends, other than as trivia questions.

Please, please end this show once this season is over. You won't be going out at the top, but at least you won't be going out at the bottom either. And right now "AI" is much closer to the bottom than the top. I know 20+ million people still watch this show, but I honestly wonder why they are watching it.

themusicaddict

Thank you Dave, Jackson and Jimmer

Hello,

Thursday night, BYU's amazing basketball season came to an end. It was an amazing ride and there were some incredible moments. I just want to thank everyone that was involved in this amazing ride. BYU has won 3 NCAA Tourney games over the last 2 years. I know for some programs that doesn't sound like a lot. But after 17 years of futility, winning 3 NCAA games and getting to the Sweet Sixteen feels pretty good.

Thanks Dave, Jimmer, Jackson and everyone else for this amazing season.

Next season is going to be a bit rough, BYU's first season in the WCC. At least BYU has a solid foundation for next season. Charles Abuou, Noah Hartsock and James Anderson will be back for their senior years. Brandon Davies may or may not be back for his junior year. Kyle Collinsworth will be going on his mission but I think his brother will be playing next season. He missed most of this season because of injuries. It looks like they have a couple of promising incoming freshmen and probably a returning missionary or two.

I see Kyle Collinsworth having a lot of upside when he gets back from his mission. I think he's going to be a special player as well. I just hope BYU can get a deeper team surrounding him, this season's team just wasn't deep enough. The teams that are relatively deep are doing well in this season's NCAA Tournament. See UNC and Arizona.

themusicaddict

Bigfoot Captured on film in North Carolina!, Sweet Sixteen: Go Cougars!

Hello,

First of all I just want to say, "Go Cougars".

Have you seen the latest Bigfoot video:



Did you enjoy that ridiculous video? Did you think for even one second it was real? No? Either did I. Why are things like this always happening in the South? I'm not going to make any jokes, but I'm sure other people will. Bigfoot apparently is alive and well in North Carolina. For some reason they call him Knobby there. I made the mistake of going to youtube.com and catching a few of these Bigfoot videos. They range from being hilarious (Bigfoot crossing the Mexican border to escape the swine flu) to incredibly stupid (video's of people's feet trying to shake off tape) to unintentionally hilarious. Obviously the above video falls into the last department.

This video is obviously a fake and it's not even a good fake. This is a video that some drunk and bored people make. Thomas Byers of Shelby, NC is the guilty party, Byers taped this last night. I love that he happened to have his camera ready to take this video just as "Bigfoot" was right in front of him. The "actor" portraying Bigfoot is completely unbelievable. People left their comments and one wrote, it's not April 1st yet.

The whole article about this "sighting" is a perfect example of unintentional comedy.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Is-this-Bigfoot-118503409.html

Day 12 of the NFL Greedout. For those of you that are sad about that, I have some good news for you. This weekend in the NCAA Tournament, they go from the Sweet Sixteen to the Final Four. That means 10 games of hard fought basketball with great teams, great players and great coaches. More good news: One week from today is the start of the MLB regular season.

Speaking of things that have no legitimate video proof. The Knicks playing defense! Does anyone have video of this year's Knick team playing defense? The Knicks lost again last night, dropping to 7-10 since the Carmelo Anthony trade. I think Anthony was right in saying this team will be better next year. The Knicks will go out and get some better pieces to surround Anthony and Stoudemire. It's about time for them to receive media coverage of the 7th best team in the Eastern Conference though. By the way Denver won again last night, they are now 11-4 since the Carmelo Anthony trade. Maybe the Knicks whining about the mid season trade hurting them, maybe that's just incorrect. Is the real reason for their lack of chemistry is the fact that they have two black holes on their team? Stoudemire got off 20 shots last night, too bad for the Knicks he only made 6 of them.

I watched a bit of this game and one of the announcers said one of the most inane things I've ever heard. There was about 2 minutes left in the game, Orlando led by 5 points and was about to go to the foul line. The announcer said that New York was in a good position. Huh?

Tonight is Sweet 16 action from the NCAA Tournament. I have to work tonight so I'll miss both games played by the MWC teams. I'd like to see at least one of those teams win. SDSU-UConn should be quite a battle. Have the Aztecs got their nerves under control? Will they play looser, in other words like they did in the regular season? Can an Aztec actually hit an outside shot to open up the paint for Kawhi Leonard? This will be a hard fought game, I think SDSU just barely edges UConn. I have to admit this pick is made more with my heart than with my head.

Tonight's next game will be BYU-Florida, what a great battle this will be. Florida has a chip on their shoulder after losing to BYU last season. They are out to prove that they are a good team. BYU is also out to prove it's a good team and not just the Jimmer show. For BYU to advance, that's exactly what they'll have to do. Jimmer will get his usual 30 points probably. BYU winning depends on his teammates. I think tonight's key for the Cougars is Jackson Emery. He has to play as good as he did against Gonzaga for BYU to win, he's picked a good time to break out of his slump. I would like to see more of a productive game from Charles Abuou as well. No prediction here. I'll be thinking about this game and feeling nervous about it all day. Go Cougs!

Arizona-Duke as much as I would like to pretend that I think that Arizona has a chance, they don't. Arizona feel free to use this quote as motivation. I see Duke winning this game by 15-20 points, although I would love to be wrong. Come on Arizona, I would love to buy one of your hats if you somehow pull off the upset.

Butler-Wisconsin, two similar teams playing each other. In another very close game I see Butler edging Wisconsin. I think all of Butler's close victories will come into play here.

Under appreciated songs of the day.
1) "You Can All Me Al"- Paul Simon:



2) "You're So Cold"- Will Dailey This was a song that I got free from amazon.com. It's on the "90210" soundtrack. I was going to put the video here. However while there are several Will Dailey videos on youtube.com, there isn't one for "You're So Cold".

3) "United"- Judas Priest This is such a great song. I saw Judas Priest in concert back in the day and they were terrible. Also they didn't even play this song. Surprisingly this video only has 57 views.



This is a song that I absolutely love, but just have recently been reminded of. This is Miranda Lambert's "Kerosene". She's definitely a hottie and I love her shirt which says "Mama Tried". I love the nod to the old school singer Merle Haggard. Don't mess with Miranda!



After living in a lame small town, I really love this song.



I blogged about Waylon Jennings yesterday. The man deservedly is a legend. That made me think about his son, Shooter. I've only heard good things about Shooter's music, but I've never checked him out. However thanks to napster.com I'm listening to his music now. From what I've heard so far, I like him quite a bit. A shave and a haircut wouldn't hurt him though.



One more old school classic, I love this George Jones song, "He Stopped Loving Her Today". If this song even remotely applies to you, it's time you man up. Move on already!



themusicaddict

Elizabeth Taylor, Waylon Jennings, Carmelo Anthony tries to reassure Knicks fans

Hello,

For the under appreciated songs of the day, I'm going to stick with Waylon Jennings. He had so many classic songs. Sadly I think Waylon Jennings may be best known for singing the theme song for "The Dukes of Hazzard" TV series.

Well at least that show was able to capture him live:



The theme song from "The Dukes Of Hazzard":



This is my favorite part from "The Dukes of Hazzard", Catherine Bach wearing the famous Daisy Dukes. When I was younger she was a lot more attractive.



It's fine that people remember him that way, but the songs below are the way I remember him. Waylon Jennings is buried in Mesa, Arizona.



I love the message of this song: "Luckenbach, Texas"



Good Hearted Woman:



"Momma Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys":



I really relate to this song after being divorced for almost a year. I love that the song is sung with a sense of humor. "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean":



This is an extremely beautiful song and another amazing Waylon Jennings song: "Amanda":



"Only Daddy That Will Walk The Line":



Day 11 of the NFL's Greedout:

I know this greedout is going to be bad for the players financially, but it seems like it may also be bad in not giving them enough structured time. These spoiled athletes won't have that structure to fill up their lives. Instead of practice, weightlifting, film study etc. they'll be left to their own devices. Within the last week, two Dallas Cowboys have been in trouble with the law. First Bryan McCann was pulled over for driving intoxicated. McCann denies he was intoxicated at the time. Right! Now excellent wide receiver/ major head case Dez Bryant is in trouble. Bryant was issued a criminal trespass warning for his behavior at the NorthPark Center. He apparently has had several issues at this mall previously. He says he's going back to the mall today, he's obviously seeing how far he can push the boundaries.

In spite of a moronic owner, I love the Cowboys. They've been my team for as long as I can remember. However this team seems to attract and sign people that make terrible moral choices. From Hollywood Henderson to Michael "Do you know who I am". Irvin. From the infamous "White House" of the mid 90's, a place where they were free to practice any sort of debauchery they wanted, to Charles Haley's obsession with his own penis.

I'm sure you've noticed the other factor about these players, they all could play. I wish the Cowboys would shift more to players that are talented and also have good moral values. It wasn't a secret that Bryant had some issues before the Cowboys signed him. It has been embarrassing more than once to be a fan of the Cowboys. That's not because of their play on the field, but for their lack of values. I'm worried about what kind of trouble some of these spoiled rich boys are going to get into with unlimited time on their hands. To make it through the greedout unscathed, they need to have a good support system. I wonder how many players have a good support system.

Thanks to espn.go.com for the following: This is Carmelo Anthony responding to the Knicks losing 6 of 7 songs: "I believe, we believe that something will get turned around quickly," Anthony said when asked if the Knicks, losers of six of seven, can jell in the 12 games remaining in the regular season. "We have a little bit under a month to get this thing right to get ready for the playoffs. And right now, we're just figuring it out on the go. As long as we figure it out by the time the playoffs come, I'm not really too concerned about what's going on right now and how it's going on."

I love how he starts out with "I believe" and then it seems he realized he was suppose to be talking how the team was attempting to come together. Remember there is no i in team, but there's an i in impotent. That's what the Knicks are right now. Unless the Knicks first round opponent completely falls apart the Knicks playoff experience will be short lived.

Elizabeth Taylor died early this morning. She was one of those legendary actresses that I was more aware of rather than her work having a big impact on my life. The only movie of hers that I've ever seen is "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof". I saw that film more for the amazing writing of Tennessee Williams than for Taylor. Most of my memories of Elizabeth Taylor are for her times on the tabloids and all her marriages and divorces. That being said, R.I.P. Elizabeth Taylor.

themusicaddict

New York, how's that Carmelo Anthony experiment working out for you?

Hello,

Day 10 of the NFL's lockout. However since this whole thing is mainly about greed, I'm going to start calling it the NFL Greedout.

As with college basketball, I'm not even close to being an expert on the NBA. That being said, sometimes you can know too much about something. It seems that has happened with the so called experts in regards to the Carmelo Anthony trade to New York. I partially understand the underlying logic the Knicks used in making this trade. Billups, Stoudemire and Anthony on the same team, what could go wrong? However I think the question is it's own answer. Why did anyone think that Stoudemire and Anthony on the same team was going to work? They are too similar of a player. After all there's only one ball on the court at a time.

I know the experts will say well give them a training camp and a few adjustments and things will be fine. But they don't have a training camp in the middle of the season. With a potential NBA Greedout next season, there might be a shortened training camp then. Also this trade was made to help for this season. If it wasn't they would have waited to do the trade in the summer.

Since the Carmelo Anthony trade, the New York Knicks are 7-9. That includes an embarrassing meltdown at home last night to Boston. The Celtics outscored the Knicks 25-4 over the last 7:25 of the game. Where was Stoudemire or Anthony to come and save the day? Well they were there sort of, however n either shot 50% in the game. And the Knicks were -17 points were Stoudemire was on the floor. I don't think this experiment is working. Sure things could still work out. As of now it seems this might be the worst experiment since cold fusion.

Also while is ESPN spending so much time talking about the Eastern Conference's 7th place team the Knicks? If the playoffs started today, they would play the Chicago Bulls in the first round. Would New York even have a chance in that series? No! ESPN please focus more on relevant NBA teams, not slightly relevant teams that happen to be in big markets.

Denver traded the (sarcasm alert) amazing Anthony to New York, obviously Denver has completely fallen apart. Right? Well not exactly, Denver is 10-4 since the Anthony trade. The Nuggets are currently the 5th seed in the Western Conference. If the playoffs started today they would play Oklahoma City in the first round. Oklahoma City wins that series. So both teams that had Anthony on them this year would lose in the first round. I don't know exactly what that means but it seems interesting. Maybe Anthony isn't as good as he or the national media think he is.

I love that the NBA playoffs start exactly one month after the NCAA Tournament starts, no I'm not counting the so called first four. Again give me the NCAA Tournament any day. Hard fought and hungry most college players play. Many of them know this is their last shot and do everything they can to maximize it. I also like how the NCAA Tournament only takes 3 weeks in comparison to the 2 month grind of the NBA playoffs. There's something much more compelling about the NCAA's one and done format. In most NBA playoff series, you can lose 3 games and still advance! Give me the NCAA Tournament any day.

I would love the NBA to have their own Greedout. It looks like that will happen as well.

Under appreciated songs of the day. This is two of the all-time greats singing this duet. Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings singing "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang".



All Meat Loaf musci is old school by this point, but this is really old school Meat Loaf. Warning the video features Meat Loaf making out and trying to cop a feel off the backup singer. Disturbing on more than one level. However a great song:



themusicaddict

Sweet Sixteen Top 16

Hello,

Day 9 of the NFL lockout and the world continues to spin.

Obviously I'm no expert on college basketball, but I love to watch it. I especially love March Madness. Can we finally admit that the Big East is vastly over rated, it seems the only teams they can beat are each other. As of right now the Big East is only 9-9 in the NCAAs. As the favored team they are only 7-6. They started out the NCAA Tournament with 11 teams and now are down to 2 teams. (Thanks to backseatfan.com.) That means 9 teams didn't even survive the first weekend. Now I know in a couple of cases Big East teams played each other. But still if they are such a dominant conference, shouldn't have more than two teams advanced to the Sweet Sixteen? The Big East has the 8th best conference record of conferences with two or more teams that made the NCAA. Hmmm.

If we are looking for a power conference, it has to be the ACC. They only started with 4 teams in the Big Dance and still have 3 remaining. All 3 teams are in different regions and wouldn't meet until the Final Four. That means that they can continue to increase the ACC's standing. Right now ACC teams are 7-1, a .875 winning percentage.

The next strongest conference is the little ol' MWC. They are 4-1, which is a .800 winning percentage. They have two teams in the Sweet 16.

The two main themes of this tournament so far for me have been terrible shooting and the dominance of freshman.

Now for my Top 16:
16) BYU: Yes I'm a big BYU fan and Jimmer Fredette has had a solid tournament. The other players have played well and it's good to see Jackson Emery breaking out of his slump. But still being realistic, I think BYU would have to have a few things go right for them to sneak past Florida. I also love how BYU, the most sober campus in the nation, has played in both Las Vegas and will be in New Orleans this weekend.

15) Arizona: The last Pac 10 team looked okay in their win over Texas yesterday. Texas coach Rick Barnes has a reputation for melting down in big situations. He lived up to his reputation yesterday. Although I'll be cheering like crazy for Arizona, I just don't see them defeating Duke. Although if you do Arizona, I'll be adding one of your hats to my collection.

14) Marquette: Admittedly I haven't seen much of Marquette playing. They beat Syracuse yesterday, I'm not sure how impressive that is. Like Barnes, Jim Boeheim teams usually flame out pretty early in the NCAA Tournament. Yes I know he won a title, that team even featured Carmelo Anthony. That's before he held the Nuggets hostage and before he joined the Knicks and went and cried on the bus. Anyway I don't know much about Marquette, but I predict they lose to North Carolina.

13) SDSU: A team I've seen a few times this year and they looked fantastic in the regular season. However in the NCAA Tournament, they have looked shoddy. They've looked tight and uncertain. They still can't make an outside shot and also miss too many layups. They don't look like a senior dominated team. I'm disappointed by their poor play so far. It should be a good battle with UConn, but I think the Huskies prevail. I would give SDSU a more solid chance if they clamp down defensively and that leads to a lot of easy layups. SDSU is playing in Anaheim, which obviously is pretty close to their campus. Maybe the entertaining student section, The Show, will inspire the Aztecs to play as good as they can. Game within the game: Kawhi Leonard vs. Kemba Walker.

12) Richmond: Another team I haven't seen play a lot. They beat the obviously over rated Vanderbilt and then beat another Cinderella wanna be, Morehead St. They run into the buzzsaw known as Kansas, I think the Jayhawks and Marcus Morris are too powerful for Richmond.

11) Florida State: Last night was the first time I've seen them play this season. They have a very well coached team, especially the defense. They play scrappy defense with a lot of commitment and hustle. Apparently they usually don't shoot that well, was that game an anomaly? Or was it just another ACC team rising to the top?

10) North Carolina: The Tar Heels are lucky they got past the Huskies. Roy Williams is a pretty good coach, but North Carolina didn't look like a well coached team yesterday. There were a lot of mental blunders made by North Carolina. That being said this team will go as far as the freshman and Tyler Zeller take them. I think North Carolina gets past Marquette, but then will probably lose to an extremely tough Ohio State team in the next round.

9) Kentucky: The team that plays Ohio State next, R.I.P. Wildcats. I was very impressed with the Buckeyes yesterday. Although superior athletically over Princeton, they didn't show that as much as they should have. The playing under the wraps Princeton team gave them all they wanted. Then Kentucky only beat West Virginia by 8. I wouldn't be surprised that OSU blows them out of the building. By the way where has the gorgeous Ashley Judd been this year?

8) Wisconsin: This team remains an enigma to me. Bo Ryan's eyes still haven't blown out of his face. They next play Butler, I wonder who is going to be the favorite in this game? I may have over ranked the Badgers.

7) Florida: Their best defender, Kenny Boynton, missed practice today due to a sprained ankle. That gives me a little more hope that BYU can sneak by them. Florida is a little bit of an enigma to me as well, but they do have a big upside. Also Florida will be playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. In last season's NCAA Tournament BYU beat them 99-92 in double overtime.

6) Butler: The Bulldogs dodged a bullet the other day in getting past Pittsburgh. Butler had the win, but then tried to give the game back to Pittsburgh. Shelvin Mack, pressure the player on the sideline but don't run into him. That was about Mack's only mistake in the game as he put the Bulldogs on his back and powered them to the Sweet 16. I see Butler getting past Wisconsin. Butler has won two very close games so far, they obviously know how to win that kind of game. From here on out the games should be fairly close.

5) VCU: I guess they deserved to be invited to the NCAA Tournament after all, I'm mocking their mockers. VCU has won both of their games by 18 points, beating two of the better teams in the country. They beat Georgetown and what had been a resilient Purdue team. Their game against Florida State might be one of the best games in the next round. I don't know enough about either team to make a prediction who is going to win.

4) UConn: Like the Jimmer Fredette show rolls on for BYU, the Kemba Walker show rolls on for UConn. Again I think UConn-SDSU will be a battle, but I see UConn pulling out the victory. They should be able to salvage some respect for the so called Big East.

3) Duke: Congrats To Coach K for his 900th win. He's a great coach and also obviously a great recruiter. He also knows how to get the most out of his players. That being said, I hate Duke. They have the Plumlee twins, Kyle Singler and other pasty gangsters. Maybe they should change their mascot to the White Devils? They could have Cherokee Parks, Bob Hurley or Christian Laettner be the actual mascot. What else are those three doing? It seems Michigan exposed a chink in their armor. Now can someone figure out how to exploit that? If I'm Michigan I would have gone for the win at the end of the game. I'm sure a tie would have just prolonged the game and Duke still wins. Also why have Duke players traditionally been so disappointing in the NBA? Has anyone ever figured that out? For instance, the $18 million dollar man, Carlos Boozer, has already missed 23 games this season. He says if he's healthy enough, he will play tonight. Coach T, what that means is he won't be playing tonight. I saw that pattern so many times when he played with the Jazz. He has missed slightly over 1/3rd of the Bulls games.

2) Kansas: They've won their two games by an average of 16.5 points. I don't know if I would call them completely dominant though. They beat an over matched Boston U team and didn't look exactly crisp in their victory over Illinois. I also think Bill Self is one of those coaches that's a better recruiter than coach. Did you notice that there's an "I" in Bill and his last name is Self. I don't know what that means I'm just saying.

1) OSU: Who else could be #1, they've been completely dominant in their two games. They have won their two games by an average of 30.5 points. I know that doesn't matter for next game, but it's interesting to note. I see them can putting a shellacking on Kentucky. They have a solid low post game with Jared Sullinger. I was also very impressed by David Lighty yesterday.

themusicaddict

Jimmermania continues to explode, March 20th Tournament Thoughts

Hello,

I love comparing and contrasting the greed and stupidity of the NFL labor situation vs. the sweet beauty of the NCAA Tournament. I'd really not hear any updates about the NFL until they actually start playing. So no news today, thank goodness. However the NCAA is continuing a marvelous run.

Let's first start with "my" school BYU. Seriously how was Gonzaga favored? This is no disrespect against them. I love Gonzaga and all their Cinderella runs. In Mark Few, I think they have a great coach. Also John Stockton's son, David, plays for them. After being a Utah Jazz fan for a long time, I can never root against a Stockton. That being said is Gonzaga a better team than BYU? No I would say. Are they fairly equal? That's my opinion. Doug Gottlieb picked Gonzaga but what does he know? He really went out on the limb today and predicted Duke would beat Michigan. Way to make a stand Doug! I expect with his east coast bias, he'll to pick UConn to beat SDSU and Florida to beat BYU.

Last night's win was a great victory for BYU, their first run to the Sweet Sixteen in 30 years. All season that's all I've been hoping for is at least BYU makes the Sweet Sixteen. Anything beyond this is gravy. Jimmer said "Fredette About It" to Gonzaga. He had a pretty good game, even by his standards. Fredette hit 11 of 23 shots overall and 7 of 12 three point shots he took. And also a good sign for BYU, Fredette had 6 assists. Fredette played within himself last night most of the game. It's good when his teammates help him. It was good to have Jackson Emery back, meaning him back playing to his high level. Emery broke out of his slump, hitting 6 of 11 shots. He also had 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Emery is the perfect play for this BYU team and as Fredette's running mate.

Also Butler had a great victory beating #1 seeded Pittsburgh in thrilling fashion. That knocks out the #1 seed in the region BYU is in. I don't know if that will become advantageous for BYU or not. Also I could see Butler making another run to the Final Four. They have a very solid team with a lot of experience from last year. Butler next plays Wisconsin, another team they can beat. If they win that they then would play the winner of BYU-Florida. In an ESPN.com poll the vote was evenly split who was going to win the BYU-Florida game.

North Carolina had a very hard fought game this morning, barely escaping with a victory over Washington and Isaiah Thomas. North Carolina's freshmen are really stepping up, especially Kendall Marshall. He had scored 13 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and handed out 14 assists. I really like his game, he's a very exciting player. North Carolina will probably play Syracuse in the next round. I think the Tar Heels can make it to the Elite 8. The ACC is one of the few conferences that is representing itself well. Right now with conferences with more than two teams in the tournaments, the ACC has the highest winning percentage: .8. The Big Ten and CAA are both at .750 winning percentage. Then Doug Gottlieb's favorite conference, The MWC, is fourth. They are 4-1 with two teams making it to the Sweet 16. Update with Duke beating Michigan, the ACC's winning percentage went up and the Big Ten's winning percentage went down.

San Diego State is one of those teams. However I'm getting less enthused about SDSU, they looked horrible yesterday. The only reason they won that game yesterday is because Temple was even a worse shooting team than them. That had to be one of the ugliest games of this season. They are going to have their hands full when they play UConn and Kemba Walker.

Right now Michigan is hanging tough with Duke near the end of the first half. Michigan I have my credit card ready to buy a Michigan hat, if you can somehow beat Duke. The Blue Devils = the original pasty gangsters. Come on Michigan show them that Wolverine bite. Although Duke is probably the ugliest team in the nation, they are good. It looks like Duke is going to have enough to hold off Michigan. Although Michigan is fighting to the end. If Michigan gets too close I'm sure Duke will get a favorable call. It was a great game Michigan, too back that last shot didn't go in. Duke will play the Texas-Arizona winner, which will be played in awhile. I'll be cheering for Arizona, because I wouldn't know to cheer for between Texas or Duke. Also Arizona is one of the teams that BYU beat this season.

I may be back later,

themusicaddict

NCAA Tourney Day 3, Jimmermania. The NFL continues to sink

Hello,

I love the NCAA Tournament so much, especially compared to the millionaires vs. billionaires in the NFL labor negotiations. The NFL and the players are having a he said- she said showdown right now. It doesn't make for compelling theater. It doesn't matter who wins this battle, it only matters how the fans respond to this latest temper tantrum. As fans I say we ignore both sides until they recognize what idiots they are. How greedy and stupid do both sides have to be not to figure out a way to share $9 billion dollars?

Thanks to espn.go.com this is the latest in the NFL fiasco: "The NFL's locked-out players wrote back to commissioner Roger Goodell on Saturday, responding to his letter to them by saying: "Your statements are false."

In their four-page letter, the players told Goodell that during labor negotiations, the league's owners did not justify "their demands for a massive give-back which would have resulted in the worst economic deal for players in major pro sports."

Goodell wrote all active NFL players Thursday, outlining the league's description of its last proposal and cautioning that each day "puts our game and our shared economics further at risk."

I love that last sentence of Goodell. If that's so obvious why aren't the sides at least meeting? I also like Mike Vrabell's suggestion that the owners and players directly talk. They would be bypassing arrogant Goodell and his corporate America minions. I bet the players and owners working together would be able to hash out a deal quicker without the middle men. In fact "American Idol" and the NFL remind me a lot of each other. Greed is hurting both as corporate America is trying to figure out how to resolve their issues. Of course "AI" is a lot further gone. Although I think the greed and stupidity of "AI" should be a cautionary tale for the NFL.

While the NFL and it's players are greedily battling, other sports are actually playing! Major League Baseball is currently going through it's few weeks of optimism with it being spring training. At this point everyone is tied for first place even the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now on to the beauty that is the NCAA Tournament. In the battle of idiot coaches, Kentucky is the first team to advance to the Sweet 16. They beat West Virginia and their prickly coach, Bob Huggins, in today's first game. As Kentucky's reward for getting to the Sweet 16, they'll in all likelihood play #1 seeded Ohio State. Not only are the Buckeyes the overall #1 seed, but they are probably the best team in the nation. I predict OSU will dispatch of George Mason fairly easily tomorrow. That's a game that I have no rooting interest in.

We know that either a 12 or a 13 seed are going to advance to the Sweet 16. That's because #12 seeded Richmond plays #13 seed Morehead State about 5:15 EST today. Pittsburgh plays the upset minded Butler team today. I predict Pittsburgh wins this game, but I think it will be fairly close. If everything holds to the seedings Pittsburgh will play Wisconsin in the round of 16. I predict Pittsburgh will be the first #1 seed to lose in this tournament. Of course I'm not the only one, over 50% of people at espn.com predicted the same thing. I think Kansas will be the second #1 seed to lose. Although with Richmond and Morehead State's first round upset, their pathway got a little easier. Then the #2 seed in their bracket is Notre Dame, a team that doesn't have a lot of history in the NCAAs. I still think Kansas will be the second #1 seed to lose as Duke and OSU are very tough teams.

Although I still dislike Duke with a great intensity. Remember whoever beats Duke I will buy a hat from your university. For instance, I'd love to have to buy a Michigan hat tomorrow.

Florida is in a dogfight right now with UCLA. If UCLA somehow wins, Florida would be the highest seed team to lose.

MWC news: The MWC falls to 2-1 in the NCAA Tourney as UNLV forgot to show up for their game with Illinois last night. San Diego State needs to play a lot better today, than they did against #15 seed Northern Colorado on Thursday. The Aztecs play #7 seed Temple today. I predict that SDSU, who has only won NCAA Tourney game ever, will double their number of NCAA Tourney wins today. I predict this won't be a blow out, I think Temple will keep it close. SDSU is a hungry team, this is the last run for their 4 seniors who play significant minutes. They are playing with a chip on their shoulder, at least they were until their snoozer against Northern Colorado. I expect a much more spirited effort for the Aztecs today.

But as a BYU fan, the big game for me today of course is BYU-Gonzaga. It was 30 years ago this year that BYU advanced to the Sweet Sixteen their last time. It's been a run of mediocrity for BYU basketball since then. While watching neighboring Utah get all the way to the NCAA Finals a few years ago, BYU barely has had a significant moment on the national stage. That is until Jimmermania exploded in Provo last year. The first notice of what was to come of Jimmermania was when Fredette scored 47 points on the Wildcats in Arizona. That was last season and Cougars basketball actually found their way on to ESPN. Then probably his next significant moment on the national stage was last season in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In a thrilling game, BYU outlasted Florida in double overtime 99-92. In their victory BYU ended 17 years of frustration by winning a game in the NCAA Tourney. BYU ultimately lost to Kansas State in the second round last season 84-72.

Of course Jimmermania has been going on this whole season. It started when he was named a preseason All American. Then BYU and Jimmer Fredette have had a good run all season. BYU is currently 31-4. Again they beat Arizona this season as Fredette scorched Arizona again. Fredette went off for 47 points against arch rival Utah on the Utes home floor. Then BYU beat SDSU twice, including on the Aztecs floor. The SDSU student section calls themselves the show, but BYU was the show on February 26th.

Then just a few days later Brandon Davies was suspended for the rest of the season and the naysayers came out in full force. That's justifiably so as BYU is only 4-2 since Davies suspension. And the two losses have been ugly, getting beaten in dominating fashion by New Mexico and SDSU. Of course, a couple of weeks later, BYU got a measure of revenge against New Mexico. Fredette went for 52 points and the Cougars won by double figures.

Watching ESPN this morning, one of their experts predicted Gonzaga would beat BYU. The alleged expert is Doug Gottlieb. It seems that national commentators and experts pick against MWC teams and BYU just out of habit now. Gonzaga has a size advantage with two 7 footers, but is Gonzaga really a better team than BYU? I would say no, but Gonzaga of course could win this game. The game is in Denver which is closer to BYU than Gonzaga. Also BYU travels well so I think it will be a bit of a home court advantage for the Cougars. I'm nervously waiting the start of this game. It's cool that BYU basketball has got so much press this year. Whatever happens today, it has been a fun ride. Go Cougs!

Under appreciated song of the day. I've featured this song before, but I enjoyed this song as it played at the end of my workout today. I extended my workout to listen to all of this song. This has got to be a Top 250 greatest song. It's Depeche Mode's "Strangelove":



I especially love the line, "I give into sin because I like to practice what I preach".

themusicaddict

Please end "AI" after this season, if you are too greedy to do that then at least improve it., NCAA Tourney Day 2 thoughts.

Hello,

"American Idol" had it's lowest ratings since the first season, "only" 19 million people watched it. Yes, that's still more than any other show, but the show continues to drop like a rock. Let's see if we can figure out why. This is by far the weakest cast ever. Literally there are only two people who I would pay to see- Casey Abrams and Pia Toscano. Lauren Alaina has potential, but that's all she has at this point. For future seasons, the age needs to be raised. I would suggest to at least 21, but 15 is way too young. I would also raise the maximum age to 40, many people say 40 is the new 30.

As TPTB continue to extend this show's life, so they can suck every penny possible out of it, it continues to deteriorate quickly. Who watches the show for the judges? Not me, but they are all too nice. This show misses Simon Cowell, the most lucid and intelligent judge ever. They need to also get rid of the "barnacle" Randy Jackson.

Other suggestions: The results show is a hour, cut it to a half-hour. The group numbers always suck, why do they still keep showing them. I know "American Idol" is there to make money, but toning down the commercialism would help a lot. Also cut a lot of the filler, like the Ford commercial. Finally the most obvious thing let the contestants sing the full song. The show can do okay without the judges. Also the worst change for this season is seeing the producers and Jimmy "One Hat" Iovine "advising" the contestants. That doesn't add anything to the show, in fact it hurts the show. I haven't seen an insightful comment made by Iovine or the producers yet.

Day 2 of the NCAA Tournament has been terrible so far, it's 3:25 MST. After a slate of great games yesterday and some upsets, today has sucked. So far the lower seeded team has won every game and a lot of those games haven't been close. Duke destroyed Hampton, no surprise there. Duke won by 42 points and it seems like they were on cruise control the whole game. Tennessee gets the award for team who could care less about being in the tournament. They were demolished by a so so Michigan team 75-45. Now Duke plays Michigan in the third round, not really the third round, but whatever. Anyway whoever beats Duke, I'll go on-line and buy a hat from your university. I know, what an amazing incentive. Go Wolverines!

Later today I'll be cheering for North Carolina and UNLV. The MWC is now 2-0 and should finish the tourney with a winning record, on the strength of SDSU alone.

themusicaddict

March 17th NCAA Tournament Thoughts

Hello,

In the greedy NFL, the story today is how many players will lose their workout bonuses in a lockout. I think that's hilarious.

Meanwhile the greatest 3 weeks of the sports year kicks into full gear today. We are down to 64 teams and they are starting battle today. Unfortunately West Virginia beat Clemson. Morehead State gave a bit of a battle to Louisville, but now the Cardinals are starting to pull away. I'm cheering for you though still Morehead State. I'm also cheering for Princeton and UNC-Asheville.

Also Butler continued winning, just like they did in most of last season's tournament. I just wish Butler still had Gordon Hayward, then he wouldn't be on the Jazz. That was a bad pick by the Jazz. At least he plays most of his games, unlike too many of his teammates.

I love having 4 games on 4 networks, I can literally watch any game I want. That kicks butt!

This is why I love the NCAA Tournament, #13 Morehead State rises and hits a big three with about 4 seconds left. Louisville then has to take the ball full court for the shot. However the shot is blocked by Mr. Faried. Just like that, there's our first upset of the tournament. Congrats to the Morehead State Eagles from the Ohio Valley Conference. The ending of the Temple-Penn State game was also very exciting.

Princeton is giving Kentucky all they can handle. Go Tigers! UNC-Asheville is only down by 5 at halftime to the Panthers. The Panthers seem to have the yips. It seems the Bulldogs can run their offense a bit crisper. Then J.P. Primm getting that third foul before the end of the first half could really hurt the Bulldogs. If it was a hard aggressive foul, it would be one thing. But it was a stupid frustration foul. Go Bulldogs!

For all those idiots who have been dissing on SDSU all season, check them out today. The #2 seeded Aztecs are going to destroy Northern Colorado. Keep your eyes on Kawhi Leonard, he's the man. Only a sophomore, he has a bright future. Also the Aztecs have a senior laden team, so they are prepared to play. SDSU will be getting their first NCAA Tournament win today.

The countdown is on for upcoming games with teams I'm cheering for. Go BYU, USU and SDSU!! I'm going to go watch some basketball, I love this time of the year.

At 2:35 it's time go go watch some more basketball. #1 seed Pittsburgh is beginning to pull away from #16 seed UNC-Asheville. Pittsburgh just has too much talent. Pittsburgh went on to win 74-51. Then Princeton fought with all they had, just come up short against the Wildcats. Now in the next round it will be of the most annoying coaches in the NCAA facing off against each other: Bob Huggins vs. John Calipari. Is there anyway both teams can lose.

San Diego State isn't playing like a #2 seed. Their game with Northern Colorado looks more like a #8-#9 match up. I think SDSU wins this game, but they need to learn a lesson from this game. They need to imagine whoever they play in the next round that their jerseys says Brigham Young on them. The Aztecs need that eye of the tiger like they had against BYU in the MWC title game. SDSU leads the Northern Colorado Bears at halftime 30-24. Steve Fisher you need to go in at halftime and kick some butt.

#12 Richmond vs #5 Vanderbilt looks like it will go down to the end. In most situations I'd be cheering on the #12 seed. However I don't have a rooting interest in this game. Although I'll be cheering on #13 Belmont as they open against #4 Wisconsin. Wisconsin is the epitome of the ugly basketball most of the Big Ten plays. I'm just waiting for Bo Ryan's eyes to pop out of his face.

At 4:10 I'm getting nervous, the BYU-Wofford game kicks off in about a hour. Go Cougars!

SDSU is finally starting to pull away from the Bears. SDSU went on to win 68-50 to claim their first ever NCAA Tournament victory. San Diego State will have to play much better against Temple in the next round. A pet peeve the NCAA calls the first four games, the games that decide which 4 teams will go the 64 team bracket, the first round. So actually today's games are the so-called second round. So if both UConn and SDSU reach the fourth round, they would play each other. That would be quite a battle. Also it would be good to see Kawhi Leonard and Kemba Walker duel.

The second upset of the day happened, #12 Richmond beats #5 Vanderbilt 69-66. Richmond is the Spiders and some of their fans were wearing Spider Man costumes. Hmm.

BYU leads at halftime 33-29, but they aren't looking good. Just from the eyeball test, I think BYU should be dominating this game. It seems the refs were told to swallow their whistles on some fouls committed against Jimmer Fredette, including that preposterous mugging at the 3 point line early in the first half. I like that BYU is using a deeper rotation, although Fredette and Emery played every minute of the first half of course. I also liked that Fredette was pissed off leaving the court. Jimmer come out and dominate the second half. Also thanks to Noah Dahlman missing 3 of 4 free throws at the end of the first half.

BYU you need to play a lot better if you play either Big East St. Johns or future WCC mate Gonazaga.

Also Belmont is giving Wisconsin fits, although Wisconsin has a little breathing room at half. The Badgers lead by 7. Bo Ryan's eyes remain in this face. Then in the first completely non competitive game of the day, #2 Florida are thrashing for UCSB 59-29 at this point. The Gauchos are being taken to the woodshed by the Gators.

Utah State is about to play Kansas State in about 1.5 hours. This game should be a battle. The Wildcats have super stud Jacob Pullen, he might tip the balance towards KSU. He's a very tough player. USU is a well coached team and has 6 seniors so this should be a good game.

BYU held on to beat Wofford, but the game had many anxious moments for me, now it looks like they'll play Gonzaga to go to the Sweet 16. I would think that will be a pretty even game. Jimmer Fredette had another good, but not great, game. However Jackson Emery has got to start shooting a lot better for the Cougars to make the Sweet Sixteen.

Utah State looked awful, playing Kansas State tonight. The Wildcats are just athletically superior and it's obvious. USU has pretty good regular seasons, but once they get to the post season they tend to fall apart. I'm not sure why that is. Also early in the second half, the Aggies are starting to make a little bit of a run. I'm skeptical that they'll be able to keep it up. When a team is barely scoring more than a point a minute, they aren't going to win many games.

I'll probably be updating this throughout the day. I'm getting tired this may be my last update of today. Go Cougars and Aggies.

themusicaddict

Jacob Lusk sucks, "American Idol" just gets worse

Hello,

I'm writing this blog instead of watching NCAA Tournament basketball, although I do have ESPN.com on another tab. I'm cheering for #12 Clemson to beat #5 West Virginia and their idiot coach, Bob Huggins. Huggins is one of the most unhuggable men in America. Unfortunately it was not meant to be. West Virginia beat Clemson 84-76.

Anyway "American Idol" continues it's rapid descent. This show is so craptastic now. All the changes that were suppose to revitalize the show, didn't. And yes I'll acknowledge the irony that I'm still watching it. As soon as this season ends, this show just needs to go away. The show jumped the shark 3 or 4 seasons ago. What happens when a show remains on the air long after it jumped the shark? What's the phrase for that, killed the shark?

Some quick thoughts about last night's show. This legend, Jimmy Iovine, when is he going to show up? His advice basically is be true to yourself to nearly every contestant, he just switches up the words a bit. Also does he have to wear the same hat every show? Yes, I get that he's trying to get publicity for something. I also understand that he's losing his hair, but can he at least switch up the hats? And these amazing producers, when are they going to show how they get their reputation. These two big changes haven't helped the show at all. I miss the mentors.

Jennifer Lopez toned down on the makeup. She looked better and much more natural. I've never understand why a gorgeous woman hides her beauty in make-up. (That's one of the things that used to drive me crazy about my ex-wife. She's till a very attractive woman, but needed her make-up fix everyday.) Make-up is for ugly women like Tammy Faye.

Now on to the Top 5 and the 7 other contestants still on the show. The number in parenthesis is what their ranking is compared to last week.

12) Jacob Lusk (up 1, only because the number of contestants dropped) tortured Heart's "Alone". After Lusk's terrible version he deserves to be alone. A couple of things first about this season's judges favorite. Nearly half the people coming to my blog yesterday, found my blog using the google search term "jacob lusk sucks". I only had 16 people come to my blog yesterday, but 7 of them came because of what I've written about Jacob Lusk previously. As always I watch "American Idol" on DVR, the show just has so much needless filler. Also my DVR stopped working twice before Lusk's performance, it just froze. I was prevented from seeing Lusk's "performance". Lusk was so bad that even my DVR had an opinion. Thanks to my DVR for that. I was able to track down Lusk's performance later, thanks to mjsbigblog.com.

Again all three judges praised him and I don't get why. I was wondering, am I just a hater? Am I the only one that hates him? No, ew.com's Missy Schwartz dislikes him as well along with friends of mine on facebook.com. Why are the producers pimping him so much, putting him in the pimp spot even? The judges also love him, again why? He's terrible and this week he didn't have a choir to come and save him. He almost makes me long for the days of David Archuleta, Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert. I know Lusk is probably safe for a few more weeks, I just don't understand why. Grade D-

11) Paul McDonald (same as last week) sang Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues". Again a great, great song that Elton John sings so well. Add Paul McDonald sucks to the google search terms department. Again the producers stuck him with a terrible arrangement of this song. He moved like a spas around the stage and he just sucks. With the rasp of his voice, I think he would have been much better singing a Rod Stewart song. Jennifer Lopez said he has "so much star quality", really? When are we going to see that star quality? Grade D-

10) Karen Rodriguez (down 2) sang Taylor Dayne's "Love Will Lead You Back" allegedly. I spent a couple of minutes arguing with myself about whether McDonald or her should be #11. Not that it matters as neither one have a chance of winning this season. This show has fallen a lot, but not that much. Anyway this is how the song is suppose to sound:



That's the excellent Taylor Dayne, never understood why she wasn't a bigger star. Do you feel the power of Dayne's version. Now on to Krod, first of all she wore an ugly dress and her hair looked terrible. Did she listen to the original version? Rodriguez's version is boring, weak, the Spanish was unnecessary and distracting and the last note was horrible. She needs to go home now. I wish "Idol" wasn't such a money whore and would eliminate at least 3 contestants this week. This season is so weak that they should only have 7 people go on tour, that is if anyone will go and see them. A mercy grade, Grade: D.

9) Thia Megia (up 1) sang Vanessa Williams' "Colors of the Wind". Megia is getting a lot of criticism for choosing this song but I didn't think Williams version was that bad.



Back to Thia Megia, for some reason her name reminds me of a cartoon character from back in the day whose first and last names also rhymed. I just can't remember the name of that character. Megia points out that 15 or 16 is just way too young to compete on this show. They just don't have the life experience or maturity to sing some of these songs. Megia's voice is okay but its another terrible arrangement. I'm waiting for her voice to really pop, but it never did. Lopez said she had "Adele quality". But Adele is an amazing singer, so how would Megia have her quality? Really? I didn't see that.

8) Naima Adedepo (up 1) sang Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It". This is an amazing song sung by an amazing vocalist:



Back to Naima, one of the most bizarre contestants in the 10 seasons of this show. Again producer Rodney Jerkins underlies the track with a thumping bass sound. Naima also wears some butt ugly clothes. She's helped by picking one of the better songs of the night. However her performance was less than amazing. Grade: C, another generous grade.

7) Haley Reinhart (down 5) sang Whitney Houston's "I'm Your Baby Tonight". She's probably the second most attractive contestant this season, faint praise indeed. Another contestant's song hampered by a terrible arrangement. I don't totally blame her for this performance, the producer should be shot. This arrangement sucked and destroyed what is a pretty good song. I do blame Reinhart for wearing the nasty looking pants and that her voice doesn't sound great. I thought Reinhart did a great job with "Blue" last week, so I expect her to bounce back. However it was during her performance I realized this has to be one of "American Idol's" least talented Top 12 ever. Grade: C-

6) James Durbin (down 1) sang Bon Jovi's "I'll Be There For You". On a night of terrible performances, his was one of the better performances. Following Naima, Paul and Thia he came off looking pretty good. Is there any other way to say this and can we all agree but that Durbin is one of the world's biggest douche bags? Just a quick example: He was too poor to buy diapers? And what was up with his squinting eyes thing last night? He's a poor man's Adam Lambert and no that's not meant as a compliment.

On a terrible night, he was the best of the first 4 performances. He sounded good until he got to the chorus. He's a contestant like Danny Gokey and David Archuleta that will go far in this competition, but I'll never understand why. And why oh why was he sucking up to Steven Tyler? Tyler told him "don't get too poppy". However while writing that comment down, my mind made a Freudian slip. I actually wrote down "don't get too poopy". I think that's the more accurate quote. Grade: C+

Here's the cutoff for the best contestants of the night, the above 7 "AI" could get rid of and this season would continue on just fine.

5) Scotty McCreery (up 1) sang Travis Tritt's "Can I Trust You With My Heart". I actually thought this was one of the best arrangements of the night. He also closed out the song well. However I can't put my finger on what it is, but something about him just bothers me. This is one of the few contestants I actually agreed with what the judges had to say. Grade: C+

4) Stefano Langone (up 8) sang Simply Red's "If You Don't Know Me By Now". On this performance it reminded me how important picking the right song is. He chose a great, great song and it fit him very well. This was the best song and best arrangement of the night up to that point, that was through 6 performances. He sounds good, but the song ran on too long. Again the song choices are really hurt by focusing on the chorus too much. As the show advances, why can't the singers be given more time to sing a song. Grade: I can't definitely decide, either C+/B-

3) Lauren Alaina (up 4) sang Melissa Ethridge's "I'm The Only One". I'm starting to understand why the judges love her so much. Alaina was much better this week than last week's mediocre "Any Man Of Mine". However again at 16, she's too young for this show. She just doesn't have the life experience for this song. Who is she singing this song too, a stuffed animal? She would be so much better if she'd waited at least a couple of more years. One needs to have your heart broken a few times in order to give this song justice. Grade: B.

You can feel that emotion in Etheridge's version:



2) Pia Toscano (down 1) sang Whitney Houston's "Where Do Broken Hearts Go". I love, love Whitney Houston and I think very few people compare to the amazing Ms. Houston. Whitney is not only a great singer but an amazingly beautiful woman.

Again Toscano had the curse of Rodney Jerkins again, this was yet another horrid arrangement. I would have given Pia a better grade if if wasn't for this terrible arrangement. Pia sounds great though and as always she looks gorgeous. I predict she'll be around for a long time. Grade: B-

I loved how Seacrest put his arm around her and she wasn't wanting that. She was pulling away from him. Randy gave another one of his asinine critiques, "Pia is in the competition to win it". Really Randy? I have no clue why they keep on bringing him back year after year?



1) Casey Abrams (up 2) surprisingly sang Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Did Abrams really call this song the song of a generation? That might be, but Nirvana is one of the most overrated one hit wonders ever. Listening to him sing this song, I was reminded how stupid its lyrics are. Again the focus on the chorus caused lyrics to be repeated to the point where it became obnoxious. Casey is by far one of my favorite contestants this season. In fact I think he is this season's Crystal Bowersox. Now that I do mean as a compliment. I'd be surprised if he didn't finish in the Top Two at least. Grade: B

themusicaddict