Hello,
I'm posting a quick blog today. My review of "AI" will be coming Thursday. That's my day off this week. I have a phone job interview tomorrow morning with Verizon. (Wish me luck.) If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I have been working a very low paying, dead end job these last 7 months. It's better than not having a job at all, but not much better. I'm hoping to get a job with Verizon, that would help us financially. It would also be good to have a job where I use my brain. Verizon has a lot going for it.
Some quick news: tonight's "AI" theme is Top Downloads, no one seems to know exactly what that means. I guess we'll find out tonight. Hopefully the Idols will be able to perform something relatively current. That long has been a criticism of "AI" that their themes are decades old. How can you show you're a current artist if the songs are from 50 years ago? No, Adam Lambert's "Tracks of My Tears" did not sound current. This should be an interesting week.
Video of the day: "Thank U"- Alanis Morissette. mrsmusicaddict asked why is she naked in this video? She further said she doesn't have that hot of body. My answer is I have no idea.
Green Day is releasing their new CD on Friday, May 15th. The name of the CD is "21st Century Breakdown". My oldest son, Trevor, his favorite band is Green Day. Also Trevor's birthday is on May 15th. So that's pretty cool. We are going to go and buy the CD that day for him. I'm trying to pass on a love of rock music that I've had my whole life. Music and especially rock music has helped me during some hard times in my life.
Frequent readers of this blog know that I've been reading the Stephen King series "The Dark Tower". I just recently finished the 6th book in the series "Song Of Susannah". Another good book but not great. I still think the fourth and fifth books of the series are the two best books. Those books are "Wizards and Glass" and "The Wolves of the Calla". I'm now reading the series finale: "The Dark Tower". Thanks to the Davis County Library that I'm able to check out those books there. I can't afford to buy the books so I'm very grateful to be able to check them out.
I have been listening to the new Kelly Clarkson CD, "All I Ever Wanted". Am I the only one who thinks she is sounding a lot like Katy Perry on that CD. Katy Perry did co-write two songs on the CD, including the new single "I Do Not Hook Up". This may or may not be intentional. However Kelly just sing using your normal voice, you have a great voice. There's a reason you are a superstar and have left being an American Idol behind. However as Randy Jackson says, the CD is "aight for me"."
R.I.P. Blender magazine. This was a pretty entertaining music magazine. It was one of the magazines that I subscribe to. It was a magazine written with a snarky sense-of-humor and it will be missed. Also amazon.com has an amazing 76 new songs available for download today. Former Idol Lakisha Jones has her new single available for download from iTunes and amazon.com right now. The name of the song is "Let's Celebrate" and it's from her forthcoming CD "So Glad I'm Me". That CD will be out May 19th.
Songs rockin' my iPod: 1) "One Moment In Time"- Whitney Houston 2) "Ring of Fire"- Johnny Cash I'm hoping Adam Lambert's jank re imaging of that song won't destroy it for me forever. 3) "Baby Got Back"- Sir Mix-a-Lot One of the very few rap songs that I absolutely love. 4) "Too Bad About Your Girl"- The Donnas I had a great idea last night. Let's join the musical abilities of the Donnas and Madonna together. They could form a band and they would be the called The MaDonnas. What do you think? Yes I have too much time to think about dumb things at my current job. 5) "Missionary Man"- Eurythmics 6) "Reelin In the Years"- Steely Dan Aren't we all. 7) "I Ran (So Far Away)"- A Flock of Seagulls 8) "Real Good Man"- Tim McGraw 9) "United"- Judas Priest 10) "Shout At The Devil" (Live)- Motley Crue 11) "Bullet In Your Head"- Rage Against The Machine 12) "Bring on The Dancing Horses"- Echo and the Bunnymen 13) "Harder To Breathe"- Maroon 5 This is such a bitter break up song. 14) "Romeo and Juliet"- Dire Straits One of the all-time great ballads. Dire Straits is a very much under appreciated band. 15) "Rock Lobster"- The B52's A great dance song. I remember this song being played at many dances I went to as a young kid. 16) "Don't Stop The Music"- Rihanna 17) "Dirty Diana"- Michael Jackson 18) "I Stand Alone"- Jackyl All are great songs.
I'll be back Thursday with my "AI" review. Have a great week, themusicaddict
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
March 29th Top 11, following Motown week
Hello,
Here is my Top 11. A little more clarification on the theme of Top Downloads. It seems like the 9 remaining Idols will be singing a song from this week's Top 100 iTunes chart.
Mishavonna Henson and Felicia Barton have fallen off my rankings. They should have got a shot at the Top 13 over Michael Sarver or Jorge Nunez. I hope that's not the last we hear from them. I'm going to go in reverse order today. LW = last week.
11) Adam Lambert (LW: 13) He only moved up because there are only 11 positions in my rankings. He zapped two classic songs of all the things that make them great. He absolutely destroyed the Man in Black's classic "Ring Of Fire". With a show that has featured Sanjaya and Haley Scarnato, his "Fire" has to be one of the biggest abominations ever on the "Idol" stage. I also didn't like his torture of the great Smokey Robinson song "Tracks of My Tears". Random note the TV show "American Idol Extra" asked the Idols what are some of their guilty pleasures. Adam Lambert said that Bob Marley was one of his guilty pleasures. Uh Adam, Bob Marley is not a guilty pleasure. Marley is the man and a musical genius who died way too soon. As of Sunday morning Lambert only has 1% of the vote in ew.com's Predict Who Goes Home contest.
10) Danny Gokey (LW: 8) Someone please get him off my TV! Danny Gokey is finally getting votes in ew.com's Predict Who Is Going Home contest. Right now he is only at 8%. Hopefully that means he'll be eliminated soon. I'm so ready for him to go home. I can't take too much more of Mr. awkward and dorky.
9) Kris Allen (LW: 12) Another vanilla performance by Mr. Vanilla. I can't remember what Mr. Vanilla sang this last week. Enough said. The ladies love him and so he's only getting 1% of the votes in the Predict Who Goes Home contest. However as for me I'm ready for a triple elimination of him, Lambert and Gokey.
8) Michael Sarver (LW: 11) Yes I know he was eliminated and his performance of "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" wasn't very good on Wednesday's show. That being said I would still rather see him than the above three. I easily remembered what he sang and his performance of that song on the results show was fantastic.
7) Scott MacIntyre (LW: 6) Unless he has an absolutely amazing performance I think this is his last week on the show. That's too bad as he's one of the most endearing contestants and he's very quick on his feet. He has 61% of the Predict Who Goes Home vote.
6) Anoop Desai (LW:7) He's staying out of the limelight a bit, which seems to be helping him. He probably still has two or three weeks to have a breakout performance. If he doesn't have one soon, he'll be lucky to make the Top 5. He's only getting 2% of the Predict Who Goes home contest.
5) Lil Rounds (LW: 3) She also needs to have a breakout performance as well as she needs to learn to make an emotional connection with the audience this week. If she can't make that emotional connection, she'll be lucky to make the Top 5 as well. Is there a song in the Top 100 she can do that with? Maybe she could sing Taylor Swift's "Love Story" or Journey's "Don't Stop Believing". That last song being one of the most durable songs on the iTunes Top 100. I think it would be hilarious for someone to sing "Home Sweet Home" this week. Lil is only getting 3% of the Predict Who Goes Home vote.
4) Alexis Grace (LW: 4) Yes I know she is eliminated :( I'll go listen to her "Dirty Diana" and I'll feel better. She would have kicked butt during Motown Week. If the judges were going to use the producer's save that was the week they should have used it. We all know they weren't going to use it for Michael Sarver.
3) Matt Giraud (LW: 5) He has soared from 13 in these rankings following two solid performances. His "So Small" and his "Let's Get It On" were both fantastic. The next bottom three he should be in is in the Top 3 finalists. I don't understand why he isn't getting the hype of the other men. I think by far he's the best remaining male contestant. Matt is getting 4% of the Predict Who Goes Home vote. He has the 4th highest percentage of votes.
2) Allison Iraheta (LW: 2) Another solid performance of the Temptations' "Papa Was A Rolling Stone". As has been said on "Idolatry" she is "16 going on 400". I don't think she has a big enough voting bloc behind her to win though. However she may be the most relevant of all the contestants. I think she'll do fantastic this week. She's receiving 0% of the Predict Who Goes Home vote.
1) Megan Joy Corkrey (LW: 1) She jazzed up Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life". Was it her best performance? No! Did I still love it and will I buy it in the future? Yes! Will she win "American Idol"? No! But she'll be my "American Idol". I'd love to see her and Allison in concert together. One a woman who can really mix things and the other built in the classic Janis Joplin mode. I'd be fine having Alexis Grace singing with them as well. Unfortunately for me, she's receiving 20% of the Predict Who Goes Home vote.
Have the rest of a good weekend and go North Carolina!. themusicaddict
Here is my Top 11. A little more clarification on the theme of Top Downloads. It seems like the 9 remaining Idols will be singing a song from this week's Top 100 iTunes chart.
Mishavonna Henson and Felicia Barton have fallen off my rankings. They should have got a shot at the Top 13 over Michael Sarver or Jorge Nunez. I hope that's not the last we hear from them. I'm going to go in reverse order today. LW = last week.
11) Adam Lambert (LW: 13) He only moved up because there are only 11 positions in my rankings. He zapped two classic songs of all the things that make them great. He absolutely destroyed the Man in Black's classic "Ring Of Fire". With a show that has featured Sanjaya and Haley Scarnato, his "Fire" has to be one of the biggest abominations ever on the "Idol" stage. I also didn't like his torture of the great Smokey Robinson song "Tracks of My Tears". Random note the TV show "American Idol Extra" asked the Idols what are some of their guilty pleasures. Adam Lambert said that Bob Marley was one of his guilty pleasures. Uh Adam, Bob Marley is not a guilty pleasure. Marley is the man and a musical genius who died way too soon. As of Sunday morning Lambert only has 1% of the vote in ew.com's Predict Who Goes Home contest.
10) Danny Gokey (LW: 8) Someone please get him off my TV! Danny Gokey is finally getting votes in ew.com's Predict Who Is Going Home contest. Right now he is only at 8%. Hopefully that means he'll be eliminated soon. I'm so ready for him to go home. I can't take too much more of Mr. awkward and dorky.
9) Kris Allen (LW: 12) Another vanilla performance by Mr. Vanilla. I can't remember what Mr. Vanilla sang this last week. Enough said. The ladies love him and so he's only getting 1% of the votes in the Predict Who Goes Home contest. However as for me I'm ready for a triple elimination of him, Lambert and Gokey.
8) Michael Sarver (LW: 11) Yes I know he was eliminated and his performance of "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" wasn't very good on Wednesday's show. That being said I would still rather see him than the above three. I easily remembered what he sang and his performance of that song on the results show was fantastic.
7) Scott MacIntyre (LW: 6) Unless he has an absolutely amazing performance I think this is his last week on the show. That's too bad as he's one of the most endearing contestants and he's very quick on his feet. He has 61% of the Predict Who Goes Home vote.
6) Anoop Desai (LW:7) He's staying out of the limelight a bit, which seems to be helping him. He probably still has two or three weeks to have a breakout performance. If he doesn't have one soon, he'll be lucky to make the Top 5. He's only getting 2% of the Predict Who Goes home contest.
5) Lil Rounds (LW: 3) She also needs to have a breakout performance as well as she needs to learn to make an emotional connection with the audience this week. If she can't make that emotional connection, she'll be lucky to make the Top 5 as well. Is there a song in the Top 100 she can do that with? Maybe she could sing Taylor Swift's "Love Story" or Journey's "Don't Stop Believing". That last song being one of the most durable songs on the iTunes Top 100. I think it would be hilarious for someone to sing "Home Sweet Home" this week. Lil is only getting 3% of the Predict Who Goes Home vote.
4) Alexis Grace (LW: 4) Yes I know she is eliminated :( I'll go listen to her "Dirty Diana" and I'll feel better. She would have kicked butt during Motown Week. If the judges were going to use the producer's save that was the week they should have used it. We all know they weren't going to use it for Michael Sarver.
3) Matt Giraud (LW: 5) He has soared from 13 in these rankings following two solid performances. His "So Small" and his "Let's Get It On" were both fantastic. The next bottom three he should be in is in the Top 3 finalists. I don't understand why he isn't getting the hype of the other men. I think by far he's the best remaining male contestant. Matt is getting 4% of the Predict Who Goes Home vote. He has the 4th highest percentage of votes.
2) Allison Iraheta (LW: 2) Another solid performance of the Temptations' "Papa Was A Rolling Stone". As has been said on "Idolatry" she is "16 going on 400". I don't think she has a big enough voting bloc behind her to win though. However she may be the most relevant of all the contestants. I think she'll do fantastic this week. She's receiving 0% of the Predict Who Goes Home vote.
1) Megan Joy Corkrey (LW: 1) She jazzed up Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life". Was it her best performance? No! Did I still love it and will I buy it in the future? Yes! Will she win "American Idol"? No! But she'll be my "American Idol". I'd love to see her and Allison in concert together. One a woman who can really mix things and the other built in the classic Janis Joplin mode. I'd be fine having Alexis Grace singing with them as well. Unfortunately for me, she's receiving 20% of the Predict Who Goes Home vote.
Have the rest of a good weekend and go North Carolina!. themusicaddict
Saturday, March 28, 2009
"AI" Finals Week 3, March 25th and 26th, 2009 Pt. 2
Hello,
In yesterday's blog I reviewed the first three contestants who sang from this past week. See yesterday's blog for reviews of Matt Giraud, Kris Allen and Scott MacIntyre. TMAR = themusicaddict's rating. BTW, next week's theme is Top Downloads. Yes, that's corny as it sounds. Apparently "AI" couldn't secure the rights to the songs of John Denver. The commercial aspect of "American Idol" continues to increase. I've never seen such a greedy show. Greed is ruining what once was such a great show.
4) Megan Joy Corkrey sang “For Once In My Life” by Stevie Wonder. (TMAR: she'll be staying about the same.) I'll admit I'm an unabashed Megan lover. I love her unique voice and style. I love how she has that weird little dance that she can't completely stop doing. I love how there is no one like her. I know a lot of people don't like her and that's fine. The judges universally hated her. The only compliments she received were about her amazingly hot appearance. Although I didn't like those drapes she was wearing as a dress. Grade A+. Buy: of course. I'll buy almost anything she releases.
5) Anoop Desai sang “Ooh Baby Baby” by Smokey Robinson. (TMAR: Anoop will probably be going up slightly.) It's gutty to sing one of the mentor's songs, especially when he's such a legend. (The band ABC has the song "When Smokey Sings" for a reason.) He did okay but he made the song a bit boring. Randy is absolutely right when he told Anoop to "turn it up next week." Grade C-. Buy: No, not even if I had unlimited money.
6) Michael Sarver -sang “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by The Temptations. (TMAR: Sarver will be going down.) Simon said he "couldn't wait for it to end" and I think he was speaking for most of America. Kara pulled out the nonsense word "artistry". (According to dictionary.com artistry is "a superior skill that you can learn by study and practice and observation".) Someone please get Randy and Kara a thesaurus asap. Simon also said Sarver had "no chance" of winning "AI". Grade D+. Buy? Hell no! However the version he sang on the results show I thought was a 1000 times better. I would buy that version. That made the judges almost consider using their ridiculous judges save. Or at least they faked it pretty good.
7) Lil Rounds sang “Heatwave” by Martha and the Vandellas. (TMAR: Lil will be staying about the same.) She's a great singer there's something missing something. She has no emotional connection with the audience when she sings. I loved how she teared up on her tour of Hitsville though. Now she needs to transfer that emotion to her performances. I don't blame her as that place has a lot of history. Right now she's almost singing like a robot. Technically efficient but emotionally dead. She needs to find a song where she connects with the audience. (A really heartfelt "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" maybe?) She also needs to stop acting like it would be so shocking to be sent home so early. Girl, Alexis Grace is gone so nothing should be shocking at this point. Rounds hair was ugly and my wife said she rushed through the singing of the song. She's absolutely right. Also Simon now knows her name. Grade: B (It would be an A+ if she had any emotional connection.) Buy: nope.
8) Adam Lambert sang “Tracks of My Tears” by Smokey Robinson. (TMAR: There's nowhere for him to go down.)I admit it, I don't get why people like him so much. I heard someone said he made this song current with his interpretation of it. No, he just made it boring. What the hell was with that wanna be Elvis look? I also don't like his voice, it's wimpy. I haven't fully been able to repress my memory in regards to his audition. He attempted to sing Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". After he got through with it, the title should be changed to "Bohemian Tragedy". The judges loved him. Kara again pulled out her word of the night: artistry. (Let's hope Lambert focuses more on the observation part of that definition :) He's one of the few people who the producers would save. Let's call it what it should really be called: the producer's save. Grade: D-. (I realize I'm in the minority on Lambert and Corkrey.) Buy: I cannot think of any scenario in which I would buy that song.
9) Danny Gokey - “Get Ready” by The Temptations. (TMAR: He'll stay about the same.) I'm glad to see that he's finally getting some votes in EW's predict who goes home contest. That is undeniably a great song, but he is undeniably not a good performer. He dances like a white guy, honestly I can't think of anything more rude to say about a performer. Thanks again to Simon for being the voice of reason. He called Gokey "clumsy and amateurish". Randy that's what is meant when one is "keeping it real". Grade: C. Buy? NO!
10) Allison Iraheta sang “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” by The Temptations. (TMAR: She'll stay about the same.) That was not her best performance but overall pretty good. The judges like her, but I'm not sure what Simon meant when he called her a "survivor". For the second week in a row someone was in the bottom three that shouldn't have been. Last week it was Iraheta, this week it was Giraud. Lil this is what I mean by emotional connection. Grade B+. Buy: In a minute.
Quick results show review.
The group performance again was terrible, especially since they are not even singing live. Someone from the show said the screaming from the audience might mess them up. I thought this show was about learning how to be a star.
The slutting of "American Idol" continued with the Ford Commercial with the Idols. We then had Ruben Studdard sing. "AI" if he has not made it in six years, in all likelihood he's not going to make it. Please stop flogging people like him, Taylor Hicks and other previous Idols who have deservedly faded away. I did like his song though. My wife suggested the reason he may not have made it is because of his genre. I agree he would have been much bigger in the past. I tried to think of all the good, current male soul singers and couldn't think of any.
Next was the highlights of the Idol's visit to Hitsville. Back to the show and we find out Adam and Kris are safe, no surprise there. We also find out Michael and Matt are in the bottom 3. No surprise with Michael. Matt being in the bottom three is a complete shock, for him too. His "Let's Get It On" was fantastic.
Next was the creepy performance of Smokey Robinson and Joss Stone singing "You're The One For Me". Smokey what is up with the weird eyes and standing so close to Joss Stone? It felt very stalkerish to me.
That's followed by Allison, Anoop and Danny being safe. No real surprises there. We then have Scott and Megan. Megan goes back to the couch of safety and themusicaddict is happy for at least one more week. Scott is in the bottom three and he joins Matt and Michael in the center of the stage with Ryan. Matt looked like he was going to be very sick. Randy Jackson wasn't very happy about Matt being in the bottom three. That was a real opinion from the Dawg. Ryan then sends/escorts Scott back to the couch of safety.
Then it was time for the highlight of the week and probably the season, Stevie Wonder. At 58 years of age, he still rocks the stage. What else can be said, Stevie is the man. Stevie is a genius. He wrote and sings some of the greatest songs of all-time. It's too bad he hasn't done much the last 15-20 years. Stevie please come back, the music industry desperately needs you. I loved his shout out to Barack Obama.
Then they made poor Michael Sarver sing after Stevie Wonder. That did seem a bit unfair. Maybe Sarver was inspired by Wonder's performance. Sarver busted the jams and tore through "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" like a white Temptation. Where was the urgency, that excellence the night before? I watched this week's three hours of "AI" all in one night due to my work schedule. I read online that Sarver was last week's eliminated contestant and was glad. But after his Thursday performance I wasn't so glad.
After this weeks results I'm now tied for 1144th of 8853 contestants in the ew.com/Predictify Guess Who's Going Home contest.
I'll be back tomorrow with my Top 11. Have a great weekend, themusicaddict
In yesterday's blog I reviewed the first three contestants who sang from this past week. See yesterday's blog for reviews of Matt Giraud, Kris Allen and Scott MacIntyre. TMAR = themusicaddict's rating. BTW, next week's theme is Top Downloads. Yes, that's corny as it sounds. Apparently "AI" couldn't secure the rights to the songs of John Denver. The commercial aspect of "American Idol" continues to increase. I've never seen such a greedy show. Greed is ruining what once was such a great show.
4) Megan Joy Corkrey sang “For Once In My Life” by Stevie Wonder. (TMAR: she'll be staying about the same.) I'll admit I'm an unabashed Megan lover. I love her unique voice and style. I love how she has that weird little dance that she can't completely stop doing. I love how there is no one like her. I know a lot of people don't like her and that's fine. The judges universally hated her. The only compliments she received were about her amazingly hot appearance. Although I didn't like those drapes she was wearing as a dress. Grade A+. Buy: of course. I'll buy almost anything she releases.
5) Anoop Desai sang “Ooh Baby Baby” by Smokey Robinson. (TMAR: Anoop will probably be going up slightly.) It's gutty to sing one of the mentor's songs, especially when he's such a legend. (The band ABC has the song "When Smokey Sings" for a reason.) He did okay but he made the song a bit boring. Randy is absolutely right when he told Anoop to "turn it up next week." Grade C-. Buy: No, not even if I had unlimited money.
6) Michael Sarver -sang “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by The Temptations. (TMAR: Sarver will be going down.) Simon said he "couldn't wait for it to end" and I think he was speaking for most of America. Kara pulled out the nonsense word "artistry". (According to dictionary.com artistry is "a superior skill that you can learn by study and practice and observation".) Someone please get Randy and Kara a thesaurus asap. Simon also said Sarver had "no chance" of winning "AI". Grade D+. Buy? Hell no! However the version he sang on the results show I thought was a 1000 times better. I would buy that version. That made the judges almost consider using their ridiculous judges save. Or at least they faked it pretty good.
7) Lil Rounds sang “Heatwave” by Martha and the Vandellas. (TMAR: Lil will be staying about the same.) She's a great singer there's something missing something. She has no emotional connection with the audience when she sings. I loved how she teared up on her tour of Hitsville though. Now she needs to transfer that emotion to her performances. I don't blame her as that place has a lot of history. Right now she's almost singing like a robot. Technically efficient but emotionally dead. She needs to find a song where she connects with the audience. (A really heartfelt "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" maybe?) She also needs to stop acting like it would be so shocking to be sent home so early. Girl, Alexis Grace is gone so nothing should be shocking at this point. Rounds hair was ugly and my wife said she rushed through the singing of the song. She's absolutely right. Also Simon now knows her name. Grade: B (It would be an A+ if she had any emotional connection.) Buy: nope.
8) Adam Lambert sang “Tracks of My Tears” by Smokey Robinson. (TMAR: There's nowhere for him to go down.)I admit it, I don't get why people like him so much. I heard someone said he made this song current with his interpretation of it. No, he just made it boring. What the hell was with that wanna be Elvis look? I also don't like his voice, it's wimpy. I haven't fully been able to repress my memory in regards to his audition. He attempted to sing Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". After he got through with it, the title should be changed to "Bohemian Tragedy". The judges loved him. Kara again pulled out her word of the night: artistry. (Let's hope Lambert focuses more on the observation part of that definition :) He's one of the few people who the producers would save. Let's call it what it should really be called: the producer's save. Grade: D-. (I realize I'm in the minority on Lambert and Corkrey.) Buy: I cannot think of any scenario in which I would buy that song.
9) Danny Gokey - “Get Ready” by The Temptations. (TMAR: He'll stay about the same.) I'm glad to see that he's finally getting some votes in EW's predict who goes home contest. That is undeniably a great song, but he is undeniably not a good performer. He dances like a white guy, honestly I can't think of anything more rude to say about a performer. Thanks again to Simon for being the voice of reason. He called Gokey "clumsy and amateurish". Randy that's what is meant when one is "keeping it real". Grade: C. Buy? NO!
10) Allison Iraheta sang “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” by The Temptations. (TMAR: She'll stay about the same.) That was not her best performance but overall pretty good. The judges like her, but I'm not sure what Simon meant when he called her a "survivor". For the second week in a row someone was in the bottom three that shouldn't have been. Last week it was Iraheta, this week it was Giraud. Lil this is what I mean by emotional connection. Grade B+. Buy: In a minute.
Quick results show review.
The group performance again was terrible, especially since they are not even singing live. Someone from the show said the screaming from the audience might mess them up. I thought this show was about learning how to be a star.
The slutting of "American Idol" continued with the Ford Commercial with the Idols. We then had Ruben Studdard sing. "AI" if he has not made it in six years, in all likelihood he's not going to make it. Please stop flogging people like him, Taylor Hicks and other previous Idols who have deservedly faded away. I did like his song though. My wife suggested the reason he may not have made it is because of his genre. I agree he would have been much bigger in the past. I tried to think of all the good, current male soul singers and couldn't think of any.
Next was the highlights of the Idol's visit to Hitsville. Back to the show and we find out Adam and Kris are safe, no surprise there. We also find out Michael and Matt are in the bottom 3. No surprise with Michael. Matt being in the bottom three is a complete shock, for him too. His "Let's Get It On" was fantastic.
Next was the creepy performance of Smokey Robinson and Joss Stone singing "You're The One For Me". Smokey what is up with the weird eyes and standing so close to Joss Stone? It felt very stalkerish to me.
That's followed by Allison, Anoop and Danny being safe. No real surprises there. We then have Scott and Megan. Megan goes back to the couch of safety and themusicaddict is happy for at least one more week. Scott is in the bottom three and he joins Matt and Michael in the center of the stage with Ryan. Matt looked like he was going to be very sick. Randy Jackson wasn't very happy about Matt being in the bottom three. That was a real opinion from the Dawg. Ryan then sends/escorts Scott back to the couch of safety.
Then it was time for the highlight of the week and probably the season, Stevie Wonder. At 58 years of age, he still rocks the stage. What else can be said, Stevie is the man. Stevie is a genius. He wrote and sings some of the greatest songs of all-time. It's too bad he hasn't done much the last 15-20 years. Stevie please come back, the music industry desperately needs you. I loved his shout out to Barack Obama.
Then they made poor Michael Sarver sing after Stevie Wonder. That did seem a bit unfair. Maybe Sarver was inspired by Wonder's performance. Sarver busted the jams and tore through "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" like a white Temptation. Where was the urgency, that excellence the night before? I watched this week's three hours of "AI" all in one night due to my work schedule. I read online that Sarver was last week's eliminated contestant and was glad. But after his Thursday performance I wasn't so glad.
After this weeks results I'm now tied for 1144th of 8853 contestants in the ew.com/Predictify Guess Who's Going Home contest.
I'll be back tomorrow with my Top 11. Have a great weekend, themusicaddict
Friday, March 27, 2009
"AI" Finals Week 3, March 25th and 26th, 2009 Pt. 1
Hello,
Thanks as always to mjsbigblog.com that I just can copy and paste her list. Let's review.
Tonight's theme was 50 years of Motown, which is some of the greatest music ever made. Tonight's mentor was Smokey Robinson. He's written over 4000 songs, including some of the all-time greats. He and Motown founder Berry Gordy took the Idols on a tour of the Motown studio. What a great experience, I was very jealous. The Idols don't even realize how lucky they are to be able to see all the things they are seeing.
Why do they make the judges hold hands taking the stage? Why do they have them take the stage that way anyway? Also I'm hoping Kara is one and done after this season. I'm so sick of her. She needs to show more "artistry". Kara learned a new word this week, it's "artistry". She used that word with at least three contestants. She views music through a corporate America prism. I don't want craporate (craporate is what came up when I spell checked this blog) America in my entertainment. The only judge I would keep is Simon. Randy and Paula are dead weight week in and week out. Ryan stop asking those two questions, they don't ever answer them. Another sign of craporate America thinking.
Many of these songs are so classic that they have been covered by someone else and the new versions are also classic. I'll indicate that as I go along. TMAR = themusicaddicts ranking
1) Matt Giraud sang “Let’s Get it On” by Marvin Gaye. (TMAR will be going up.) (New classic version: Jack Black's version is not classic, but it's pretty good.) I'm listening to the original version now and Giraud's compares favorably. He has really grown on me over the last couple of weeks. That's after having solid versions of "So Small" and "Let's Get It On". Randy has started pimping him. It's about time the judges started pimping someone other than the big three, especially when two of those are starting to falter. Simon liked him too and his opinion seems to hold the most sway with the voting audience. I'm not sure how he made it into the bottom 3 this week. He shouldn't have been in the bottom three just like Allison Iraheta shouldn't have been there last week. Grade: A. Buy: Of course.
2) Kris Allen aka Mr. Vanilla. He sang “How Sweet it Is” by Marvin Gaye. (TMAR it would be going down but there's no where for him to go.) When I think of this song I think of James Taylor excellent version. I didn't even know until last night that Gaye sang it also. Where did he get that jacket from? Was the Army/ Navy Surplus store having a sale? Was those numbers on his jacket his birthday? Ahhh! His performance was okay, another vanilla performance though. This was the first of Kara's use of the word "artistry". Simon is liking him as well. I think he has survived to this point based on his looks. He has all the lack of excitement of David Archuleta. (Archuleta is appearing in his hometown tonight and tickets are $25 and $35. Seriously someone would pay that much in this bad economy to watch him try to sing?) Grade: B Buy: hell no!
3) Scott MacIntyre he of the pink ugly pants. (TMAR= He'll be staying about the same.) He slowed the intro and added a jazzy twist to the Supreme's "You Can't Hurry Love". (New classic version is by Phil Collins.) Again he had the funny line of the week when he said "they didn't tell him he was wearing pink pants until 10 minutes before" (paraphrase). I like him, although his voice isn't amazing. He brings some- thing to the stage. He has a very sweet and charismatic personality. If singing doesn't work out, he should go into the ministry. I also think things will work out for him. The judges didn't like him at all. Even Paula struggled to give him positive remarks. Grade: B Buy: no!
# Megan Joy Corkrey - “For Once In My Life” by Stevie Wonder - VIDEO - iTunes
# Anoop Desai - “Ooh Baby Baby” by Smokey Robinson - VIDEO - iTunes
# Michael Sarver - “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by The Temptations - VIDEO - iTunes
# Lil Rounds - “Heatwave” by Martha and the Vandellas - VIDEO - iTunes
# Adam Lambert - “Tracks of My Tears” by Smokey Robinson - VIDEO - iTunes
# Danny Gokey - “Get Ready” by The Temptations - VIDEO - iTunes
# Allison Iraheta - “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” by The Temptations
Part 2 is coming tomorrow and on Sunday look for my top whatever, I haven't decided yet. I've had a lot more recent readers and page views recently. I'd like to thank those who are coming to my blog.
see you tomorrow, themusicaddict
Thanks as always to mjsbigblog.com that I just can copy and paste her list. Let's review.
Tonight's theme was 50 years of Motown, which is some of the greatest music ever made. Tonight's mentor was Smokey Robinson. He's written over 4000 songs, including some of the all-time greats. He and Motown founder Berry Gordy took the Idols on a tour of the Motown studio. What a great experience, I was very jealous. The Idols don't even realize how lucky they are to be able to see all the things they are seeing.
Why do they make the judges hold hands taking the stage? Why do they have them take the stage that way anyway? Also I'm hoping Kara is one and done after this season. I'm so sick of her. She needs to show more "artistry". Kara learned a new word this week, it's "artistry". She used that word with at least three contestants. She views music through a corporate America prism. I don't want craporate (craporate is what came up when I spell checked this blog) America in my entertainment. The only judge I would keep is Simon. Randy and Paula are dead weight week in and week out. Ryan stop asking those two questions, they don't ever answer them. Another sign of craporate America thinking.
Many of these songs are so classic that they have been covered by someone else and the new versions are also classic. I'll indicate that as I go along. TMAR = themusicaddicts ranking
1) Matt Giraud sang “Let’s Get it On” by Marvin Gaye. (TMAR will be going up.) (New classic version: Jack Black's version is not classic, but it's pretty good.) I'm listening to the original version now and Giraud's compares favorably. He has really grown on me over the last couple of weeks. That's after having solid versions of "So Small" and "Let's Get It On". Randy has started pimping him. It's about time the judges started pimping someone other than the big three, especially when two of those are starting to falter. Simon liked him too and his opinion seems to hold the most sway with the voting audience. I'm not sure how he made it into the bottom 3 this week. He shouldn't have been in the bottom three just like Allison Iraheta shouldn't have been there last week. Grade: A. Buy: Of course.
2) Kris Allen aka Mr. Vanilla. He sang “How Sweet it Is” by Marvin Gaye. (TMAR it would be going down but there's no where for him to go.) When I think of this song I think of James Taylor excellent version. I didn't even know until last night that Gaye sang it also. Where did he get that jacket from? Was the Army/ Navy Surplus store having a sale? Was those numbers on his jacket his birthday? Ahhh! His performance was okay, another vanilla performance though. This was the first of Kara's use of the word "artistry". Simon is liking him as well. I think he has survived to this point based on his looks. He has all the lack of excitement of David Archuleta. (Archuleta is appearing in his hometown tonight and tickets are $25 and $35. Seriously someone would pay that much in this bad economy to watch him try to sing?) Grade: B Buy: hell no!
3) Scott MacIntyre he of the pink ugly pants. (TMAR= He'll be staying about the same.) He slowed the intro and added a jazzy twist to the Supreme's "You Can't Hurry Love". (New classic version is by Phil Collins.) Again he had the funny line of the week when he said "they didn't tell him he was wearing pink pants until 10 minutes before" (paraphrase). I like him, although his voice isn't amazing. He brings some- thing to the stage. He has a very sweet and charismatic personality. If singing doesn't work out, he should go into the ministry. I also think things will work out for him. The judges didn't like him at all. Even Paula struggled to give him positive remarks. Grade: B Buy: no!
# Megan Joy Corkrey - “For Once In My Life” by Stevie Wonder - VIDEO - iTunes
# Anoop Desai - “Ooh Baby Baby” by Smokey Robinson - VIDEO - iTunes
# Michael Sarver - “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by The Temptations - VIDEO - iTunes
# Lil Rounds - “Heatwave” by Martha and the Vandellas - VIDEO - iTunes
# Adam Lambert - “Tracks of My Tears” by Smokey Robinson - VIDEO - iTunes
# Danny Gokey - “Get Ready” by The Temptations - VIDEO - iTunes
# Allison Iraheta - “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” by The Temptations
Part 2 is coming tomorrow and on Sunday look for my top whatever, I haven't decided yet. I've had a lot more recent readers and page views recently. I'd like to thank those who are coming to my blog.
see you tomorrow, themusicaddict
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
News N' Notes, Songs Rocking my iPod
Hello,
There's not a lot exciting going on now. "American Idol" resumes tonight with Motown being the theme. Motown is celebrating their 50 year anniversary. There are a lot of great songs in the Motown catalog, let's hope the 10 contestants the good songs. I think Anoop, Matt, Alexis and Megan will be the best tonight. (What's that Alexis has been eliminated? She'll be sorely missed. See her 3 part interview with Michael Slezak on ew.com's "Idolatry".) I hope Michael Sarver, Kris Allen or Adam Lambert get eliminated. I realize it's highly unlikely the last two will be eliminated. I'm ready for all 3 of those people to go.
Other "AI" news: Remember ew.com is having a predict who is going home contest. As of right now you have a little over a day to pick for this week. I pick Michael Sarver will be going home this week. I'm not alone as 58% of people picking think Michael Sarver is going home. Interestingly enough 0% think Kris Allen or Lil Rounds are going home. (Simon her name is Lil, not Little.) Yours truly currently is tied for 727th place out of 8058 contestants. Go me.
A couple of final notes before I get to songs rocking my iPod. Jennifer Hudson is going to be appearing on "American Idol" soon. That way "AI" can continue to take credit for her success, although they had very little do with it. (They gave her the platform though.) She finished 7th place during the third season of "AI". When are they going to have John Stevens, George Huff, LaToya London and Jasmine Trias perform as well? If Hudson is famous because of "AI" why are the rest of those people not popular? They all finished ahead of Hudson. For the record Fantasia won that season. Hudson will be taping her performance after tonight's show and it will be shown at a later date.
Last week amazon.com had the great song available "Fairwell To The Fairground" by White Lies. This week they have another great song available. It's from a CD sampler amazon.com has that is free. The sampler is entitled "Eagle Records Live At Montreaux". It's a collection of performances from the Montreaux festival. The great song from it is Jethro Tull's "Aqualung". Yes I know that is an old song, but this is a different and very cool arrangement. Check it out, what do you have to lose? amazon.com has an amazing 44 free MP3's available this week.
Songs rockin my iPod: 1) "Bullet In The Head"- Rage Against The Machine From one of the best debut CD's of all-time. 2) "Do It Again"- Steely Dan 3) "Now I'm Following You"- Madonna. This is from the "Dick Tracy" movie. 4) "Rock Me"- Liz Phair This is one of her best songs from her best CD by far: "Liz Phair". It's much better than the over hyped "Exile To Guyville". 5) "Heartache Tonight"- The Eagles 6) "I'm Gonna Be" (500 Miles)"- The Proclaimers 7) "Smoke On The Water"- Deep Purple 8) "The Best Damn Thing"- Avril Lavigne 9) "Veronica"- Elvis Costello 10) "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"- The Platters 11) "Rock, Rock (Till You Drop)" - Def Leppard 12) "Best I Can"- Queensryche 13) "(Flesh and Blood) Sacrifice"- Poison 14) "Born In The U.S.A."- The Boss 15) "All Good Things (Come To An End)"- Nelly Furtado One of the best and most under appreciated singers currently on the scene. 16) "Young Lust"- Pink Floyd 17) "Picture To Burn"- Taylor Swift 18) "Rock N' Roll Hoochie Koo"- Rick Derringer 19) "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" (Live)- Megan Joy from "American Idol" 20) "Stone In Love" (Live)- Journey 21) "One Rock 'N' Roll Too Many" (Live)- Syesha Mercado Also from "American Idol". 22) "No Myth"- Michael Penn 23) "What Have You Done For Me Lately"- Janet Jackson. What happened to the fun Janet Jackson of the "Control" and "Black Cat" era? 24) "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink"- Merle Haggard 25) "Good Girl Gone Bad"- Rihanna This is from what could be the best CD of this decade, "Good Girl Gone Bad".
I'm working the next three days, I'm not sure when my "AI" reviews will be online. I won't be able to watch tonight's show until tomorrow morning at the earliest. I'll be back soon though. Have a great week, themusicaddict
There's not a lot exciting going on now. "American Idol" resumes tonight with Motown being the theme. Motown is celebrating their 50 year anniversary. There are a lot of great songs in the Motown catalog, let's hope the 10 contestants the good songs. I think Anoop, Matt, Alexis and Megan will be the best tonight. (What's that Alexis has been eliminated? She'll be sorely missed. See her 3 part interview with Michael Slezak on ew.com's "Idolatry".) I hope Michael Sarver, Kris Allen or Adam Lambert get eliminated. I realize it's highly unlikely the last two will be eliminated. I'm ready for all 3 of those people to go.
Other "AI" news: Remember ew.com is having a predict who is going home contest. As of right now you have a little over a day to pick for this week. I pick Michael Sarver will be going home this week. I'm not alone as 58% of people picking think Michael Sarver is going home. Interestingly enough 0% think Kris Allen or Lil Rounds are going home. (Simon her name is Lil, not Little.) Yours truly currently is tied for 727th place out of 8058 contestants. Go me.
A couple of final notes before I get to songs rocking my iPod. Jennifer Hudson is going to be appearing on "American Idol" soon. That way "AI" can continue to take credit for her success, although they had very little do with it. (They gave her the platform though.) She finished 7th place during the third season of "AI". When are they going to have John Stevens, George Huff, LaToya London and Jasmine Trias perform as well? If Hudson is famous because of "AI" why are the rest of those people not popular? They all finished ahead of Hudson. For the record Fantasia won that season. Hudson will be taping her performance after tonight's show and it will be shown at a later date.
Last week amazon.com had the great song available "Fairwell To The Fairground" by White Lies. This week they have another great song available. It's from a CD sampler amazon.com has that is free. The sampler is entitled "Eagle Records Live At Montreaux". It's a collection of performances from the Montreaux festival. The great song from it is Jethro Tull's "Aqualung". Yes I know that is an old song, but this is a different and very cool arrangement. Check it out, what do you have to lose? amazon.com has an amazing 44 free MP3's available this week.
Songs rockin my iPod: 1) "Bullet In The Head"- Rage Against The Machine From one of the best debut CD's of all-time. 2) "Do It Again"- Steely Dan 3) "Now I'm Following You"- Madonna. This is from the "Dick Tracy" movie. 4) "Rock Me"- Liz Phair This is one of her best songs from her best CD by far: "Liz Phair". It's much better than the over hyped "Exile To Guyville". 5) "Heartache Tonight"- The Eagles 6) "I'm Gonna Be" (500 Miles)"- The Proclaimers 7) "Smoke On The Water"- Deep Purple 8) "The Best Damn Thing"- Avril Lavigne 9) "Veronica"- Elvis Costello 10) "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"- The Platters 11) "Rock, Rock (Till You Drop)" - Def Leppard 12) "Best I Can"- Queensryche 13) "(Flesh and Blood) Sacrifice"- Poison 14) "Born In The U.S.A."- The Boss 15) "All Good Things (Come To An End)"- Nelly Furtado One of the best and most under appreciated singers currently on the scene. 16) "Young Lust"- Pink Floyd 17) "Picture To Burn"- Taylor Swift 18) "Rock N' Roll Hoochie Koo"- Rick Derringer 19) "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" (Live)- Megan Joy from "American Idol" 20) "Stone In Love" (Live)- Journey 21) "One Rock 'N' Roll Too Many" (Live)- Syesha Mercado Also from "American Idol". 22) "No Myth"- Michael Penn 23) "What Have You Done For Me Lately"- Janet Jackson. What happened to the fun Janet Jackson of the "Control" and "Black Cat" era? 24) "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink"- Merle Haggard 25) "Good Girl Gone Bad"- Rihanna This is from what could be the best CD of this decade, "Good Girl Gone Bad".
I'm working the next three days, I'm not sure when my "AI" reviews will be online. I won't be able to watch tonight's show until tomorrow morning at the earliest. I'll be back soon though. Have a great week, themusicaddict
Monday, March 23, 2009
News N' Notes
Hello,
I spent an enjoyable couple of hours watching TV with my wife last night. We watched another excellent episode of "Cold Case". That's the one of the best TV shows currently going. mrs musicaddict then DVR'd most of "Celebrity Apprentice" for us and we enjoyed that. I'm not sure why I enjoy that show, but I do. Usually arrogant celebrities doesn't do anything for me. As a sports fan Dennis Rodman's behavior doesn't surprise me one bit. His agenda always seemed to be more important than what team he was playing for. That continues with "Celebrity Apprentice". Ivanka is a little bit too dispassionate, but she seems to get more gorgeous each week. Please don't tell mrsmusicaddict.
Speaking of great TV, starting last Thursday my three favorite weeks of sports started. That's right, it's time for March Madness. Saturday night was two excellent examples of why I love March Madness so much. First 7th seeded Texas gave 2nd seeded Duke all they could handle before losing in the last minute. Then in a game going on at the same time Gonzaga won on a last second shot by one of their freshmen. Both games ended about 5 minutes apart and CBS cut back and forth between both. That built the tension for two exciting finishes. Thank goodness we don't have to deal with Billy Packer anymore. He was one of the most annoying and arrogant sports announcers of all-time. In fact he might be the most annoying and arrogant sports announcer ever. He's technically called the color guy but he was always black and white to me.
This summer Nine Inch Nails is going on tour with Jane's Addiction and up and coming band Street Sweeper. To promote this tour they have a free sampler featuring two songs from each band. All these tracks are very good and rockin' and you can't beat the price. Go to this website: http://www.ninja2009.com. (I loved how they used the initials from Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction to come up with ninja.) Go to that site and submit your e-mail address. They'll then send you a link to download these tracks. With your e-mail they send you notices about Nine Inch Nails and occasionally more offers to get free music.
Recently thanks to someone very nice I was able to buy some new music at iTunes, which included multiple performances from this season of "AI". I bought 10 tracks and I'll give you the Top 5 of those songs. 1) "Rockin Robin" by Megan Joy 2) "Black Horse and The Cherry Tree" by Megan Joy 3) "Dirty Diana" by Alexis Grace 4) "Give Me One Reason" by Kristin McNamara and 5) "So Small" by Matt Giraud. All 5 songs are excellent and I definitely recommend you purchase them all if you can afford it.
I know I have got away a bit from the MTV music video of the day. That's due to following "American Idol". Today's video of the day is Def Leppard's "Animal". First of all that's a great song. I know the video is cheesy but that's okay. Cheesy is one of the main themes of the 80s.
themusicaddict
I spent an enjoyable couple of hours watching TV with my wife last night. We watched another excellent episode of "Cold Case". That's the one of the best TV shows currently going. mrs musicaddict then DVR'd most of "Celebrity Apprentice" for us and we enjoyed that. I'm not sure why I enjoy that show, but I do. Usually arrogant celebrities doesn't do anything for me. As a sports fan Dennis Rodman's behavior doesn't surprise me one bit. His agenda always seemed to be more important than what team he was playing for. That continues with "Celebrity Apprentice". Ivanka is a little bit too dispassionate, but she seems to get more gorgeous each week. Please don't tell mrsmusicaddict.
Speaking of great TV, starting last Thursday my three favorite weeks of sports started. That's right, it's time for March Madness. Saturday night was two excellent examples of why I love March Madness so much. First 7th seeded Texas gave 2nd seeded Duke all they could handle before losing in the last minute. Then in a game going on at the same time Gonzaga won on a last second shot by one of their freshmen. Both games ended about 5 minutes apart and CBS cut back and forth between both. That built the tension for two exciting finishes. Thank goodness we don't have to deal with Billy Packer anymore. He was one of the most annoying and arrogant sports announcers of all-time. In fact he might be the most annoying and arrogant sports announcer ever. He's technically called the color guy but he was always black and white to me.
This summer Nine Inch Nails is going on tour with Jane's Addiction and up and coming band Street Sweeper. To promote this tour they have a free sampler featuring two songs from each band. All these tracks are very good and rockin' and you can't beat the price. Go to this website: http://www.ninja2009.com. (I loved how they used the initials from Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction to come up with ninja.) Go to that site and submit your e-mail address. They'll then send you a link to download these tracks. With your e-mail they send you notices about Nine Inch Nails and occasionally more offers to get free music.
Recently thanks to someone very nice I was able to buy some new music at iTunes, which included multiple performances from this season of "AI". I bought 10 tracks and I'll give you the Top 5 of those songs. 1) "Rockin Robin" by Megan Joy 2) "Black Horse and The Cherry Tree" by Megan Joy 3) "Dirty Diana" by Alexis Grace 4) "Give Me One Reason" by Kristin McNamara and 5) "So Small" by Matt Giraud. All 5 songs are excellent and I definitely recommend you purchase them all if you can afford it.
I know I have got away a bit from the MTV music video of the day. That's due to following "American Idol". Today's video of the day is Def Leppard's "Animal". First of all that's a great song. I know the video is cheesy but that's okay. Cheesy is one of the main themes of the 80s.
themusicaddict
Sunday, March 22, 2009
March 22, 2009Top 13 following
Hello,
1) Megan Joy Corkrey (LW: 2) Although her "Walkin' After Midnight" was not the best performance, she has been singing some inspired songs. She makes some quirky song choices to go along with her quirky personality. I liked her "Rockin' Robin", even though I didn't think it would be that good. I actually bought "Rockin Robin" and it sounds great. I give her kudos for going old school on Grand Old Opry week with a Patsy Cline song. She has such a unique voice and I bought her "Walkin' After Midnight". She definitely is my favorite remaining singer.
2) Allison Iraheta (LW: 5) Again her "Blame It On Your Heart" was not the best performance. She sang it well though. She also has one of the best voices in the competition. I still don't think she's going to win but I like her a lot. She also needs someone to help her dress better. Her clothing taste has not been very good.
3) Lil Rounds (LW: 6) At least I remember what song she sang. That scores her some points. Although "Independence Day" also was not the most exciting performance. Her performances of late have been deteriorating.
4) Alexis Grace (LW: 1) After being #1 on themusicaddict's rankings for four consecutive weeks she was eliminated from "AI". Looking back, this week there was not many great performances. Her "Jolene" certainly fell into that group. She still shouldn't have been eliminated. Who would you rather see on the "AI" tour, her or Michael Sarver?
5) Matt Giraud (LW: 13) This was probably the best performance of the night and also his best performance. I thought his "So Small" was so great. If he has performances like this week, he could challenge for the "AI" Season 8 crown.
6) Scott MacIntyre (LW: 10) Although I'm in the minority here I loved his "Wild Angels", again that is a song that I've never heard. I thought his was one of the best performances of the night. I also purchased this.
7) Anoop Desai (LW: 7) Another one of the better performances of the week with Willie Nelson's "Always On My Mind". He compared favorably to the original. I didn't buy his version but I did buy Willie Nelson's classic version. Nelson's version of that song is near perfect. Anoop continues to be one of my favorite contestants of the week.
8) Danny Gokey (LW: 4) One of the idiot judges, was it Kara, said she thought that Carrie Underwood would buy his version of "Jesus Take The Wheel". I highly doubt it. Why do the judges keep on hyping these marginal talents? Is it so they can get the producers favorites to the finals. I kind of agree with ew.com's Kristin Baldwin when she calls him the Ghoulish Widower.
9 and 10) Felicia Barton and Mishavonna Henson. (LW: # 8 & 9) Yes, I know both of them are eliminated. I would prefer to see them week after week than Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, Kris Allen, Michael Sarver, Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre. Although I did buy Henson's "Drops of Jupiter". It wasn't as good as I remembered, that girl can really sing.
11) Michael Sarver: (LW: 12) I think he sang "I Ain't Fallin' Asleep Until He Stops Singing". His performance was truly breathtaking, it took his breath about 20 seconds into the song. Although he seems like a very classy guy, it's time for him to go. Please take Adam with you.
12) Kris Allen (LW: 14) Mr. Vanilla Yawn!!!!!! Another contestant the judges overpraised. His "To Make You Feel My Love" was the most boring performance of the night. Another performance I had to look at my notes to remind myself what he sang. That makes sense as his performance probably put me in a coma. It's time for him to go as well.
13) Adam Lambert (LW: 3) I don't even want to think about his train wreck of a performance. Randy called his performance "hot". I call his performance "not". Did you like how Randy noted that Adam sang Jeff Buckley's version of that song. Dawg knows how to use Google.
March 18th, 2009 results night review. First another group performance and another terrible performance. They beat the crap out of Travis Tritt's "Trouble". "AI" producers why do you keep on subjecting us to these terrible group performances? As with Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Kara DioGaurdia, these group performances have got to go. Another thing that needs to go: the Ford music video was horrible again.
Next were highlights of the goodbye party for those contestants that have been voted off. That was Jasmine Murray and Jorge Nunez. The goodbye party is nice but it doesn't make for great TV. The results show is extreme filler. Ryan first asks Alexis her feelings about results night. Was that coincidence? Probably not. Next is Michael Sarver talking about missing his family. The producers continue their shameless pimping. Ryan then makes dumb jokes about Megan's illness. Filler, filler and more filler.
Next are the results. Danny is staying, no surprises. Ryan says to Lil "sit down and enjoy yourself". She had an extreme overreaction. I'm starting to sour on her a bit. Anoop "your safe buddy, take a seat". Then Ryan has Allison and Michael stand up and both of them are in the bottom 3. Ryan made the mistake of asking Paula a question at this point. Please don't ask her questions, she's just not very smart. Even when she has a chance to prepare something, Paula doen't seem intelligent. Allison and Michael are in the bottom three. Michael is very deserving of that but Allison isn't. Allison wore another ugly outfit.
Brad Paisley took the stage to sing "Then". I love Brad Paisley, he's the most relevant country artist performing. However "Then" is not a very good remake of some of his other songs. For instance it reminds me a lot of "Better Than This", same theme and same sentiment. It also reminds me a lot of "The World" and "She's Everything".
Back to the results with Scott MacIntyre. They toy with his emotions. Scott you "can pack your bags... you are going on tour". Megan Joy (or whatever name she's going by this week. Ryan says to her, "You're going on tour as well". He has Matt Giraud stand up as the girls squeal. Ryan: "Matt you are safe". Next is Kris Allen. Ryan says "Welcome to the top ten, you are safe." And a nation of bored people cheer.
Ryan has Alexis and Adam stand up, two early front runners. However in this case there is no doubt who is safe and who isn't. Ryan asks Randy a question and the male version of Paula forgets Alexis' name. Dawg, there are only 11 people left in the competition.
So the bottom three are Alexis, Allison and Michael. Ryan then sends Allison to the couch of safety.
Finally it's time for the gorgeous Carrie Underwood to sing with Randy Travis. Carrie sounds great but Randy Travis sounds sort of ragged. After a good version of that song, it's time for the final results. It's between Alexis and Micheal. Michael is safe. Ryan asks Simon what he thinks. Simon says to Alexis "You were the one we were thinking about saving" referring to the stupid judges save. (Let's just call it what it really is, the producers save.) Unfortunately Alexis did not do a good repeat performance of "Jolene". Why don't they let her sing whatever she wants? After her performance Simon says "you're good but not good enough". Alexis sadly is eliminated.
Remember next week "American Idol" will be on Wednesday and Thursday due to President Obama speaking Tuesday night. The theme will be celebrating Motown's 50 year anniversary. This should be a much better week for performances.
I should be back tomorrow with a short blog. Time got away from me yesterday so I apologize for not writing a blog yesterday. themusicaddict
1) Megan Joy Corkrey (LW: 2) Although her "Walkin' After Midnight" was not the best performance, she has been singing some inspired songs. She makes some quirky song choices to go along with her quirky personality. I liked her "Rockin' Robin", even though I didn't think it would be that good. I actually bought "Rockin Robin" and it sounds great. I give her kudos for going old school on Grand Old Opry week with a Patsy Cline song. She has such a unique voice and I bought her "Walkin' After Midnight". She definitely is my favorite remaining singer.
2) Allison Iraheta (LW: 5) Again her "Blame It On Your Heart" was not the best performance. She sang it well though. She also has one of the best voices in the competition. I still don't think she's going to win but I like her a lot. She also needs someone to help her dress better. Her clothing taste has not been very good.
3) Lil Rounds (LW: 6) At least I remember what song she sang. That scores her some points. Although "Independence Day" also was not the most exciting performance. Her performances of late have been deteriorating.
4) Alexis Grace (LW: 1) After being #1 on themusicaddict's rankings for four consecutive weeks she was eliminated from "AI". Looking back, this week there was not many great performances. Her "Jolene" certainly fell into that group. She still shouldn't have been eliminated. Who would you rather see on the "AI" tour, her or Michael Sarver?
5) Matt Giraud (LW: 13) This was probably the best performance of the night and also his best performance. I thought his "So Small" was so great. If he has performances like this week, he could challenge for the "AI" Season 8 crown.
6) Scott MacIntyre (LW: 10) Although I'm in the minority here I loved his "Wild Angels", again that is a song that I've never heard. I thought his was one of the best performances of the night. I also purchased this.
7) Anoop Desai (LW: 7) Another one of the better performances of the week with Willie Nelson's "Always On My Mind". He compared favorably to the original. I didn't buy his version but I did buy Willie Nelson's classic version. Nelson's version of that song is near perfect. Anoop continues to be one of my favorite contestants of the week.
8) Danny Gokey (LW: 4) One of the idiot judges, was it Kara, said she thought that Carrie Underwood would buy his version of "Jesus Take The Wheel". I highly doubt it. Why do the judges keep on hyping these marginal talents? Is it so they can get the producers favorites to the finals. I kind of agree with ew.com's Kristin Baldwin when she calls him the Ghoulish Widower.
9 and 10) Felicia Barton and Mishavonna Henson. (LW: # 8 & 9) Yes, I know both of them are eliminated. I would prefer to see them week after week than Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, Kris Allen, Michael Sarver, Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre. Although I did buy Henson's "Drops of Jupiter". It wasn't as good as I remembered, that girl can really sing.
11) Michael Sarver: (LW: 12) I think he sang "I Ain't Fallin' Asleep Until He Stops Singing". His performance was truly breathtaking, it took his breath about 20 seconds into the song. Although he seems like a very classy guy, it's time for him to go. Please take Adam with you.
12) Kris Allen (LW: 14) Mr. Vanilla Yawn!!!!!! Another contestant the judges overpraised. His "To Make You Feel My Love" was the most boring performance of the night. Another performance I had to look at my notes to remind myself what he sang. That makes sense as his performance probably put me in a coma. It's time for him to go as well.
13) Adam Lambert (LW: 3) I don't even want to think about his train wreck of a performance. Randy called his performance "hot". I call his performance "not". Did you like how Randy noted that Adam sang Jeff Buckley's version of that song. Dawg knows how to use Google.
March 18th, 2009 results night review. First another group performance and another terrible performance. They beat the crap out of Travis Tritt's "Trouble". "AI" producers why do you keep on subjecting us to these terrible group performances? As with Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Kara DioGaurdia, these group performances have got to go. Another thing that needs to go: the Ford music video was horrible again.
Next were highlights of the goodbye party for those contestants that have been voted off. That was Jasmine Murray and Jorge Nunez. The goodbye party is nice but it doesn't make for great TV. The results show is extreme filler. Ryan first asks Alexis her feelings about results night. Was that coincidence? Probably not. Next is Michael Sarver talking about missing his family. The producers continue their shameless pimping. Ryan then makes dumb jokes about Megan's illness. Filler, filler and more filler.
Next are the results. Danny is staying, no surprises. Ryan says to Lil "sit down and enjoy yourself". She had an extreme overreaction. I'm starting to sour on her a bit. Anoop "your safe buddy, take a seat". Then Ryan has Allison and Michael stand up and both of them are in the bottom 3. Ryan made the mistake of asking Paula a question at this point. Please don't ask her questions, she's just not very smart. Even when she has a chance to prepare something, Paula doen't seem intelligent. Allison and Michael are in the bottom three. Michael is very deserving of that but Allison isn't. Allison wore another ugly outfit.
Brad Paisley took the stage to sing "Then". I love Brad Paisley, he's the most relevant country artist performing. However "Then" is not a very good remake of some of his other songs. For instance it reminds me a lot of "Better Than This", same theme and same sentiment. It also reminds me a lot of "The World" and "She's Everything".
Back to the results with Scott MacIntyre. They toy with his emotions. Scott you "can pack your bags... you are going on tour". Megan Joy (or whatever name she's going by this week. Ryan says to her, "You're going on tour as well". He has Matt Giraud stand up as the girls squeal. Ryan: "Matt you are safe". Next is Kris Allen. Ryan says "Welcome to the top ten, you are safe." And a nation of bored people cheer.
Ryan has Alexis and Adam stand up, two early front runners. However in this case there is no doubt who is safe and who isn't. Ryan asks Randy a question and the male version of Paula forgets Alexis' name. Dawg, there are only 11 people left in the competition.
So the bottom three are Alexis, Allison and Michael. Ryan then sends Allison to the couch of safety.
Finally it's time for the gorgeous Carrie Underwood to sing with Randy Travis. Carrie sounds great but Randy Travis sounds sort of ragged. After a good version of that song, it's time for the final results. It's between Alexis and Micheal. Michael is safe. Ryan asks Simon what he thinks. Simon says to Alexis "You were the one we were thinking about saving" referring to the stupid judges save. (Let's just call it what it really is, the producers save.) Unfortunately Alexis did not do a good repeat performance of "Jolene". Why don't they let her sing whatever she wants? After her performance Simon says "you're good but not good enough". Alexis sadly is eliminated.
Remember next week "American Idol" will be on Wednesday and Thursday due to President Obama speaking Tuesday night. The theme will be celebrating Motown's 50 year anniversary. This should be a much better week for performances.
I should be back tomorrow with a short blog. Time got away from me yesterday so I apologize for not writing a blog yesterday. themusicaddict
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Alexis Grace :(
Hello,
Alexis Grace (TMAR: 1) was voted off "American Idol" last night. All I've got to say is what the hell? Granted her "Jolene" wasn't the best version of that song ever. If the judges are going to use the judges save, they should have used it last night. She was one of the best contestants this season. She was clearly superior to Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert, Michael Sarver and Scott MacIntyre. Of course they had to reserve the judges save in case one of the producer's favorites are eliminated before the Top 5.
More coming Saturday and my Top 12ish coming Sunday.
themusicaddict
Alexis Grace (TMAR: 1) was voted off "American Idol" last night. All I've got to say is what the hell? Granted her "Jolene" wasn't the best version of that song ever. If the judges are going to use the judges save, they should have used it last night. She was one of the best contestants this season. She was clearly superior to Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert, Michael Sarver and Scott MacIntyre. Of course they had to reserve the judges save in case one of the producer's favorites are eliminated before the Top 5.
More coming Saturday and my Top 12ish coming Sunday.
themusicaddict
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
"AI" Finals Week 2, March 17th, 2009
Hello,
Last night was the Grand Old Opry theme on "American Idol". The first mentor of this season is Randy Travis. Does he not have the coolest voice? I thought he was trying to be nice rather than completely telling the Idols what he actually thought.
I thought this episode could be a train wreck but it actually wasn't bad, other than Adam Lambert. I copied and pasted the following list from my favorite "American Idol" website, mjsbigblog.com. She has a great website, I usually check it a couple of times a day. Again I'll rate these songs with a letter grade on the A-F system. Plus I'll also tell you whether I would buy the song or not.
About the judges, is it just me or was Paula especially flighty tonight. I'm beginning to hope that this is Kara's last season. I'm sick of her phrase "the reason we fell in love with you". Also if she tells Alexis to dirty it up one more time, I'm going to scream. Just let Alexis sing, she's one of the best this season.
1) Michael Sarver: ”Ain’t Goin’ Down Til the Sun Comes Up” by Garth Brooks. This was a bit of a disappointing performance. He sang breathlessly, which is something that shouldn't happen on a two minute song. It's about time for him to go back to being an oil rigger. I don't think he's going home, I think he has too big of a fan base. Grade: C, a generous grade. Buy? Hell no!
2) Allison Iraheta: “Blame it on Your Heart” by Patty Loveless. She wore one of the many ugly outfits of the night. In the preliminary video she talked about breaking out some terrible dance moves. Thankfully she didn't. Kara said she's "getting better every week". Randy thought her performance "was dope". While she was singing I turned to my wife and said she could win this whole competition. I love the tone of her voice. This was not her best performance, but she was still solid. Grade: C+ Buy? probably not.
3) Kris Allen: “To Make You Feel My Love” by Garth Brooks. I don't get what people see in Mr. Vanilla. He bores me to tears. I thought his performance was boring and lackluster. The judges really liked him though. In fact Randy had the really unintelligible comment, "tender moments from my dawg Kris." Grade: D. Buy? No way.
4) Lil Rounds: “Independence Day” by Martina McBride. First of all Simon her name is Lil. You are correct Lil is short for Little, but that is not her name. Her name is Lil. Her performance was good and solid, but not overwhelming. Three of the four judges liked it, all except the aforementioned Simon. Simon still by far is the best of the four judges. Grade: C=. Buy? probably not.
5) Adam Lambert: “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. TRAIN WRECK! This song shouldn't be done with a "Middle East flair". This was a terrible performance. Someone had compared him to Daughtry, please he's not even close. Simon was right when he said, "What the hell was that?" He also was hilarious and accurate with people are "throwing their televisions out the window". Mr Irrelevant Randy said his performance was "hot". I'm so ready for Adam Lambert to go home. Grade: F. Buy? hell no!
6) Scott MacIntyre: “Wild Angels” by Martina McBride. I was not on the same page as the judges tonight. I thought MacIntryre's version of this song was fantastic and the best performance of the night up to this point. I loved how he responded to Paula when she suggested maybe he shouldn't use the piano each performance. That would help him connect to the audience more. His response was hilarious, "we could move the piano closer". Grade: B+. Buy? yes.
7) Alexis Grace - “Jolene” by Dolly Pardon. This was a strange arrangement. During the second half of the song, the song starts kicking in. She looks like a star, but this wasn't a great performance. Simon said it's a performance we'll "forget in 10 minutes". He's right and that's probably a good thing. Grade: C. Buy? No.
8) Danny Gokey: - “Jesus Take the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood. It was an okay performance but he's so dorky. The judges continue pimping him though. Why? It was pretty funny when Simon said with that coat on it looked like he "was going on a polar expedition." The hype line of the night was when Paula said that Carrie Underwood would buy his version of that song. I highly doubt it. Grade: D+. Buy? No.
9) Anoop Desai: - “You Were Always on My Mind” by Willie Nelson. Kara in one of her few accurate comments of the night said this song was "almost untouchable". She's right because no one will ever top Willie Nelson's version. Simon said Anoop went from "zero to hero". Grade: B-. Buy: no. However I'm going to buy Willie Nelson's classic, heartbreaking version of this song.
10) Megan Joy Corkrey: "Walkin' After Midnight" by Patsy Cline. Cline is one of the all-time greats of country music. It was obvious Megan was very sick last night. I hope they don't make her perform the lame group number tonight. Let the poor girl rest. She's really trying, but it's hard for her not to do her little Corkrey dance. Again she is beyond belief gorgeous and I love her voice. Simon was right when she said was a "little too made up". Whoever is in charge of make up, does go overboard a lot of the time. Her dress was nasty though. I'm afraid this might be her last week. Grade: B-. Buy? Probably just because I like her voice so much.
11) Matt Giraud: “So Small” by Carrie Underwood. Giraud got tonight's pimp spot and he took full advantage of it. Simon said that he "outsung Danny". Simon, Danny is one of the producer's favorites. The producers probably locked Simon in his dressing room for not pimping up Danny. The judges liked him and his performance showed how good that song is. I didn't fully appreciate that song until I heard his version last night. Grade: A. Buy: hell yes!
Overall not a bad night. Tonight's result show is a big night, whoever advances from tonight is going to be on the "American Idol" tour. Tonight result's show is going to be a battle of fan bases. That's why I think Michael Sarver is safe. Scott MacIntyre and Megan Joy Corkrey are in the most danger. The judges save will only be used for Danny, Lil, Adam, Alexis and maybe Matt.
Definitely tune it in tonight as the lovely Carrie Underwood will be performing.
I probably won't be back until Saturday. Have a great day, themusicaddict
Last night was the Grand Old Opry theme on "American Idol". The first mentor of this season is Randy Travis. Does he not have the coolest voice? I thought he was trying to be nice rather than completely telling the Idols what he actually thought.
I thought this episode could be a train wreck but it actually wasn't bad, other than Adam Lambert. I copied and pasted the following list from my favorite "American Idol" website, mjsbigblog.com. She has a great website, I usually check it a couple of times a day. Again I'll rate these songs with a letter grade on the A-F system. Plus I'll also tell you whether I would buy the song or not.
About the judges, is it just me or was Paula especially flighty tonight. I'm beginning to hope that this is Kara's last season. I'm sick of her phrase "the reason we fell in love with you". Also if she tells Alexis to dirty it up one more time, I'm going to scream. Just let Alexis sing, she's one of the best this season.
1) Michael Sarver: ”Ain’t Goin’ Down Til the Sun Comes Up” by Garth Brooks. This was a bit of a disappointing performance. He sang breathlessly, which is something that shouldn't happen on a two minute song. It's about time for him to go back to being an oil rigger. I don't think he's going home, I think he has too big of a fan base. Grade: C, a generous grade. Buy? Hell no!
2) Allison Iraheta: “Blame it on Your Heart” by Patty Loveless. She wore one of the many ugly outfits of the night. In the preliminary video she talked about breaking out some terrible dance moves. Thankfully she didn't. Kara said she's "getting better every week". Randy thought her performance "was dope". While she was singing I turned to my wife and said she could win this whole competition. I love the tone of her voice. This was not her best performance, but she was still solid. Grade: C+ Buy? probably not.
3) Kris Allen: “To Make You Feel My Love” by Garth Brooks. I don't get what people see in Mr. Vanilla. He bores me to tears. I thought his performance was boring and lackluster. The judges really liked him though. In fact Randy had the really unintelligible comment, "tender moments from my dawg Kris." Grade: D. Buy? No way.
4) Lil Rounds: “Independence Day” by Martina McBride. First of all Simon her name is Lil. You are correct Lil is short for Little, but that is not her name. Her name is Lil. Her performance was good and solid, but not overwhelming. Three of the four judges liked it, all except the aforementioned Simon. Simon still by far is the best of the four judges. Grade: C=. Buy? probably not.
5) Adam Lambert: “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. TRAIN WRECK! This song shouldn't be done with a "Middle East flair". This was a terrible performance. Someone had compared him to Daughtry, please he's not even close. Simon was right when he said, "What the hell was that?" He also was hilarious and accurate with people are "throwing their televisions out the window". Mr Irrelevant Randy said his performance was "hot". I'm so ready for Adam Lambert to go home. Grade: F. Buy? hell no!
6) Scott MacIntyre: “Wild Angels” by Martina McBride. I was not on the same page as the judges tonight. I thought MacIntryre's version of this song was fantastic and the best performance of the night up to this point. I loved how he responded to Paula when she suggested maybe he shouldn't use the piano each performance. That would help him connect to the audience more. His response was hilarious, "we could move the piano closer". Grade: B+. Buy? yes.
7) Alexis Grace - “Jolene” by Dolly Pardon. This was a strange arrangement. During the second half of the song, the song starts kicking in. She looks like a star, but this wasn't a great performance. Simon said it's a performance we'll "forget in 10 minutes". He's right and that's probably a good thing. Grade: C. Buy? No.
8) Danny Gokey: - “Jesus Take the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood. It was an okay performance but he's so dorky. The judges continue pimping him though. Why? It was pretty funny when Simon said with that coat on it looked like he "was going on a polar expedition." The hype line of the night was when Paula said that Carrie Underwood would buy his version of that song. I highly doubt it. Grade: D+. Buy? No.
9) Anoop Desai: - “You Were Always on My Mind” by Willie Nelson. Kara in one of her few accurate comments of the night said this song was "almost untouchable". She's right because no one will ever top Willie Nelson's version. Simon said Anoop went from "zero to hero". Grade: B-. Buy: no. However I'm going to buy Willie Nelson's classic, heartbreaking version of this song.
10) Megan Joy Corkrey: "Walkin' After Midnight" by Patsy Cline. Cline is one of the all-time greats of country music. It was obvious Megan was very sick last night. I hope they don't make her perform the lame group number tonight. Let the poor girl rest. She's really trying, but it's hard for her not to do her little Corkrey dance. Again she is beyond belief gorgeous and I love her voice. Simon was right when she said was a "little too made up". Whoever is in charge of make up, does go overboard a lot of the time. Her dress was nasty though. I'm afraid this might be her last week. Grade: B-. Buy? Probably just because I like her voice so much.
11) Matt Giraud: “So Small” by Carrie Underwood. Giraud got tonight's pimp spot and he took full advantage of it. Simon said that he "outsung Danny". Simon, Danny is one of the producer's favorites. The producers probably locked Simon in his dressing room for not pimping up Danny. The judges liked him and his performance showed how good that song is. I didn't fully appreciate that song until I heard his version last night. Grade: A. Buy: hell yes!
Overall not a bad night. Tonight's result show is a big night, whoever advances from tonight is going to be on the "American Idol" tour. Tonight result's show is going to be a battle of fan bases. That's why I think Michael Sarver is safe. Scott MacIntyre and Megan Joy Corkrey are in the most danger. The judges save will only be used for Danny, Lil, Adam, Alexis and maybe Matt.
Definitely tune it in tonight as the lovely Carrie Underwood will be performing.
I probably won't be back until Saturday. Have a great day, themusicaddict
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
News N' Notes, "AI" preview
Hello,
Remember "American Idol" returns tonight. Tonight's ambiguous theme is the songs from the Grand Old Opry. Before the Top 11 even perform America's majority and Michael Slezak pick Scott MacIntyre as the one who'll be going home this week. That comes from the ew.com/Predictify contest. I'm going to actually wait until I see them perform before I make my prediction. With this theme, it could be make or break for a lot of contestants. I'm expecting more break than make.
mjsbigblog.com states there is an "AI" female staffer saying that the Top 4 of this season has already been picked. This unknown source claims the Top 4 will be Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert, Lil Rounds and Alexis Grace. The first three are the producer's favorites and Alexis Grace is a true break out talent. According to this same source the producers think Lil Rounds is to close to Fantasia and Adam Lambert is too close to Daughtry. I don't think those last two are that similar at all. This source claims the producers want Alexis Grace or Danny Gokey to win. If I'd been made to guess which four would be the finalists according to this source the four I would have picked are those four.
Of course who survives from week to week supposedly is decided by America's votes. However why do you think they added the judges save? I read a comment somewhere that I thought was both funny and accurate. The comment paraphrased is that the only reason for the judges save is to save Lil Rounds if she's eliminated too soon. (I'm sorry I don't remember where I saw that or I would give proper credit.)
If I could decide my Top 4 would be Megan Corkrey, Alexis Grace, Allison Iraheta or Lil Rounds and Anoop Desai. I wouldn't mind seeing Leneshe Young, Mishavonna Hensen or Felicia Barton again.
As you know each week amazon.com and iTunes offers free songs. To be able to download these free songs, all you have to do is to have accounts set up with them. Today amazon.com has 3 samplers available plus a song called "Farewell to the Fairground" by the band White Lines. The samplers are interesting but "Farewell To The Fairground" is excellent. I've already added it to my iPod.
Do you remember the first CD you ever bought? I'm wondering as I've been listening to the first CD I ever bought over the last few days. I've been listening to it in my car driving around. That CD is Bon Jovi's 1988 CD "New Jersey". Although I'm not the biggest Bon Jovi fan, this is still a great CD. It doesn't sound dated and there are a lot of good songs on it. If you like that classic 80's rock sound check out "New Jersey". "Slippery When Wet" is also a great Bon Jovi CD.
Songs rockin my iPod: 1) "Pistola"- Incubus This song really kicks butt. 2) "Pink Triangle"- Weezer One of the many great early Weezer songs, unfortunately their later music hasn't been as good. 3) "Picture To Burn"- Taylor Swift One of the most relevant artists there are. 4) "Physical"- Olivia Newton-John Yeah you're probably wondering what the heck? This is a very good song though. 5) "Babe"- Styx This song holds up very well even after all this time. 6) "Genie In The Bottle"- Christina Aguilera 7) "Run To The Hills" The version I have of this song isn't the original, it's actually from an Iron Maiden tribute CD. The tribute doesn't even list the band. However this is a great version of that song. 8) "Baby Hold On"- The Dixie Chicks 9) "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Live)- U2 If you're of a certain age you remember growing up with this video on MTV. 10) "Twisting By The Pool"- Dire Straits
11) "Holler Back"- The Lost Trailers This is a hilarious song.
12) "Oops... I Did It Again"- Britney Spears. Yes there are some Britney Spears songs I like. 13) "Over The Hills and Far Away"- Led Zeppelin Another classic song by the world's greatest band ever. 14) "Pop Goes The World"- Men Without Hats One of those very quirky 80's songs. 15) "He Stopped Loving Her Today"- George Jones I think this could be a great song for Michael Sarver to sing tonight. 16) "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"- The Platters 17) "Footloose"- Kenny Loggins 18) "Kiss From A Rose"- Seal 19) "Pretty In Pink" Although the name of a classic 80's movie, a rather obscure song. If you hadn't figured it out by now, I'm very much a child of the 80's. By far the best decade for music. 20) "Sadeness (Part 1)- Enigma 21) "Limelight"- Rush
I'm again working a lot of hours this week, so my blogs are going to be less frequent than I would like. I'm going to try to be back tomorrow with some kind of review of tonight's "AI". That show could be a real train wreck.
themusicaddict
Remember "American Idol" returns tonight. Tonight's ambiguous theme is the songs from the Grand Old Opry. Before the Top 11 even perform America's majority and Michael Slezak pick Scott MacIntyre as the one who'll be going home this week. That comes from the ew.com/Predictify contest. I'm going to actually wait until I see them perform before I make my prediction. With this theme, it could be make or break for a lot of contestants. I'm expecting more break than make.
mjsbigblog.com states there is an "AI" female staffer saying that the Top 4 of this season has already been picked. This unknown source claims the Top 4 will be Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert, Lil Rounds and Alexis Grace. The first three are the producer's favorites and Alexis Grace is a true break out talent. According to this same source the producers think Lil Rounds is to close to Fantasia and Adam Lambert is too close to Daughtry. I don't think those last two are that similar at all. This source claims the producers want Alexis Grace or Danny Gokey to win. If I'd been made to guess which four would be the finalists according to this source the four I would have picked are those four.
Of course who survives from week to week supposedly is decided by America's votes. However why do you think they added the judges save? I read a comment somewhere that I thought was both funny and accurate. The comment paraphrased is that the only reason for the judges save is to save Lil Rounds if she's eliminated too soon. (I'm sorry I don't remember where I saw that or I would give proper credit.)
If I could decide my Top 4 would be Megan Corkrey, Alexis Grace, Allison Iraheta or Lil Rounds and Anoop Desai. I wouldn't mind seeing Leneshe Young, Mishavonna Hensen or Felicia Barton again.
As you know each week amazon.com and iTunes offers free songs. To be able to download these free songs, all you have to do is to have accounts set up with them. Today amazon.com has 3 samplers available plus a song called "Farewell to the Fairground" by the band White Lines. The samplers are interesting but "Farewell To The Fairground" is excellent. I've already added it to my iPod.
Do you remember the first CD you ever bought? I'm wondering as I've been listening to the first CD I ever bought over the last few days. I've been listening to it in my car driving around. That CD is Bon Jovi's 1988 CD "New Jersey". Although I'm not the biggest Bon Jovi fan, this is still a great CD. It doesn't sound dated and there are a lot of good songs on it. If you like that classic 80's rock sound check out "New Jersey". "Slippery When Wet" is also a great Bon Jovi CD.
Songs rockin my iPod: 1) "Pistola"- Incubus This song really kicks butt. 2) "Pink Triangle"- Weezer One of the many great early Weezer songs, unfortunately their later music hasn't been as good. 3) "Picture To Burn"- Taylor Swift One of the most relevant artists there are. 4) "Physical"- Olivia Newton-John Yeah you're probably wondering what the heck? This is a very good song though. 5) "Babe"- Styx This song holds up very well even after all this time. 6) "Genie In The Bottle"- Christina Aguilera 7) "Run To The Hills" The version I have of this song isn't the original, it's actually from an Iron Maiden tribute CD. The tribute doesn't even list the band. However this is a great version of that song. 8) "Baby Hold On"- The Dixie Chicks 9) "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Live)- U2 If you're of a certain age you remember growing up with this video on MTV. 10) "Twisting By The Pool"- Dire Straits
11) "Holler Back"- The Lost Trailers This is a hilarious song.
12) "Oops... I Did It Again"- Britney Spears. Yes there are some Britney Spears songs I like. 13) "Over The Hills and Far Away"- Led Zeppelin Another classic song by the world's greatest band ever. 14) "Pop Goes The World"- Men Without Hats One of those very quirky 80's songs. 15) "He Stopped Loving Her Today"- George Jones I think this could be a great song for Michael Sarver to sing tonight. 16) "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"- The Platters 17) "Footloose"- Kenny Loggins 18) "Kiss From A Rose"- Seal 19) "Pretty In Pink" Although the name of a classic 80's movie, a rather obscure song. If you hadn't figured it out by now, I'm very much a child of the 80's. By far the best decade for music. 20) "Sadeness (Part 1)- Enigma 21) "Limelight"- Rush
I'm again working a lot of hours this week, so my blogs are going to be less frequent than I would like. I'm going to try to be back tomorrow with some kind of review of tonight's "AI". That show could be a real train wreck.
themusicaddict
Sunday, March 15, 2009
March 15th Top 16 contestants on "AI"
Hello,
Here's my Top 16 countdown for March 15th, 2009. This follows the episode where "AI" went from 13 to 11 contestants.
Some news and notes before getting to the countdown. Entertainment Weekly magazine is predicting that Danny Gokey will win this year's "AI" crown. Although he's very high in my poll this week, I hope he doesn't win. In other Entertainment Weekly news the latest two "Idolatry" episodes are up. Michael Slezak and Kristin Baldwin discuss Danny Gokey and Kristin's intense dislike for him. She wants America to put the "go in Gokey" and send him home. Obviously he's going to be safe for a few weeks. Also they discuss why Megan Corkrey sang "Caw, Caw" at the end of her performance of "Rockin' Robin". Last but not least Slezak thinks it might be an Adam Lambert, Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta final 3. I wouldn't mind seeing Allison, but I won't be heartbroken over the exclusion of Kris and Adam.
Here's the Top 16: LW = last week
1) Alexis Grace (LW: 1)For the fourth consecutive week Alexis Grace is #1. How could she drop after her blistering take on Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana"? She's solid week in and week out. I think she'll be around for a few more weeks at least. She's growing into a star in front of our eyes. Another thing I like about her is she doesn't get the hype of the big three.
2) Megan Joy Corkrey (LW: 4) The Queen of Quirkiness. Let's get the obvious out of the way. She's gorgeous and also she's a great singer. I absolutely love her voice. She also turned what could have been a song choice disaster into a joyful triumph. I love her but I don't think America likes her as much. With her joining Ryan Seacrest and Jasmine Murray at the center of the stage on the results show, I don't see her around too much longer. That's unfortunate, I definitely could see her being a break out star. I'm hoping she at least makes the Top 10 and goes on the "AI" tour.
3) Adam Lambert (LW: 19) He soared because his take on "Black and White" was fantastic. He didn't destroy it with over singing like he did on "Satisfaction". I thought he was pretty good. He also picked a very good song for himself. He's not one of my favorites, but I have to admit he looks like a rock star. Although I'm wondering what is he going to sing during Tuesday's Grand Old Opry episode?
4) Danny Gokey (LW: 14) The much reviled Danny Gokey, but I thought his performance of "Pretty Young Thing" was exuberant and joyful. (Crap I'm starting to sound like Paula.) He's another one of the big three, as determined by the producers pimping. This group includes Adam and Lil. I'm certain he won't stay this high for too long, but he definitely was one of the best last week.
5) Allison Iraheta (LW: 2) She dropped because I thought she chose a boring song with "Give In To Me". She sang the song with passion. Again I love her voice but the song felt longer than it actually was. It goes back to what the judges continually say "song choice, song choice, song choice". I don't think she picked very well this week. She might have a little trouble with Grand Old Opry week as well. If one can do well on Michael Jackson week and then Grand Old Opry week that says a lot about you as an artist.
6) Lil Rounds (LW: 3) Another great singer slowed down a bit by her questionable song choice. Her take on "The Way You Make Me Feel" was technically proficient. Unfortunately it was also very boring and not very joyful. She's one of the big three so she'll be safe for the next few weeks. However if she wants to win the whole thing, she needs to go back to the level of her previous performances. For instance her "Be Without You" was great. Of the big three she's the one I like the most overall.
7) Anoop Desai (LW: 7) I'm apparently one of the very few who liked his "Beat It". I thought he sang it pretty well, with a great deal of feeling. He's also a natural performer. Unfortunately I don't think he's going to be around too much longer.
8) Felicia Barton (LW: 5) Yes I know she's not in the competition anymore, but I still feel she should have at least made the wildcard show. Hopefully this isn't the last we've heard of her.
9) Mishavonna Henson (LW: 6) Another person who I feel was cut before she should have been. Although not my favorite song, I loved her take on Train's "Drops of Jupiter". She's young, vital and sings with a great amount of joy. If I had a record label I would love to have her and Felicia Barton on my label.
10) Scott MacIntyre (LW: 8) He chose an obscure song, "Keep The Faith", but he sang it very well. This is a song I have never heard of before, I thought he did a great job of singing it. Unfortunately I don't think he'll be around too much longer.
11) Jasmine Murray (LW: 12) Yes, she actually went up even though she was eliminated. She didn't have a big enough voting base. I'm a big fan of hers and at least for me she's very memorable. I loved her "I'll Be There". She chose a song that really fits her and did it well. She also looks great.
12) Michael Sarver (LW: 10) He dropped a couple of notches with his "You're Not Alone". In my notes I wrote why did he choose that song? He sang the song well but he needs to pick better songs. He will not last much longer in "AI" unless he raises his level of performance. He may do very well during Grand Old Opry week though.
13) Matt Giraud (LW: 17) He makes up the Vanilla Three with Sarver and Kris Allen. He put a bit of a funky twist on "Human Nature". However that kind of performance won't keep him around very many more weeks. He's okay but I can't really jump on his bandwagon.
14) Kris Allen (LW: 11) He's the very definition of vanilla. I know the girls like him. He isn't very memorable to me. I always have to look at my notes to remember what he sang. I'd be very surprised if he makes the Top 3 as Michael Slezak suggests. I seriously don't see him in the competition much longer.
15) Jorge Nunez (LW: 9) The poster boy for poor song choice. Why the hell did he choose to sing "Never Can Say Goodbye"? It was a very boring performance. After him and Tatiana I don't think "AI" will ever go to Puerto Rico again. (Yes I know that Tatiana didn't make the show through the Puerto Rico auditions. However that's where she is from.)
16) Ricky Braddy (LW: 16) I decided to keep him around for one more week. He sang Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious" very well on the wildcard show. With hindsight being 20/20 he probably should have advanced over Jorge and maybe even Jasmine.
Jesse Langseth and Kristin McNamara fell out of last week's Top 16 as they've been eliminated.
Other news: Today is selection Sunday. We'll find out who the 65 teams who will be going to The Big Dance. That's otherwise known as the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Congrats to the Utah Utes and the Utah State Aggies for winning their their conference tournaments and earning automatic bids. BYU will also probably be going to the Big Dance. Let's hope BYU can win a first round game finally. It would also be cool to see the Utes advance to the Sweet 16.
Have a good Sunday, themusicaddict
Here's my Top 16 countdown for March 15th, 2009. This follows the episode where "AI" went from 13 to 11 contestants.
Some news and notes before getting to the countdown. Entertainment Weekly magazine is predicting that Danny Gokey will win this year's "AI" crown. Although he's very high in my poll this week, I hope he doesn't win. In other Entertainment Weekly news the latest two "Idolatry" episodes are up. Michael Slezak and Kristin Baldwin discuss Danny Gokey and Kristin's intense dislike for him. She wants America to put the "go in Gokey" and send him home. Obviously he's going to be safe for a few weeks. Also they discuss why Megan Corkrey sang "Caw, Caw" at the end of her performance of "Rockin' Robin". Last but not least Slezak thinks it might be an Adam Lambert, Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta final 3. I wouldn't mind seeing Allison, but I won't be heartbroken over the exclusion of Kris and Adam.
Here's the Top 16: LW = last week
1) Alexis Grace (LW: 1)For the fourth consecutive week Alexis Grace is #1. How could she drop after her blistering take on Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana"? She's solid week in and week out. I think she'll be around for a few more weeks at least. She's growing into a star in front of our eyes. Another thing I like about her is she doesn't get the hype of the big three.
2) Megan Joy Corkrey (LW: 4) The Queen of Quirkiness. Let's get the obvious out of the way. She's gorgeous and also she's a great singer. I absolutely love her voice. She also turned what could have been a song choice disaster into a joyful triumph. I love her but I don't think America likes her as much. With her joining Ryan Seacrest and Jasmine Murray at the center of the stage on the results show, I don't see her around too much longer. That's unfortunate, I definitely could see her being a break out star. I'm hoping she at least makes the Top 10 and goes on the "AI" tour.
3) Adam Lambert (LW: 19) He soared because his take on "Black and White" was fantastic. He didn't destroy it with over singing like he did on "Satisfaction". I thought he was pretty good. He also picked a very good song for himself. He's not one of my favorites, but I have to admit he looks like a rock star. Although I'm wondering what is he going to sing during Tuesday's Grand Old Opry episode?
4) Danny Gokey (LW: 14) The much reviled Danny Gokey, but I thought his performance of "Pretty Young Thing" was exuberant and joyful. (Crap I'm starting to sound like Paula.) He's another one of the big three, as determined by the producers pimping. This group includes Adam and Lil. I'm certain he won't stay this high for too long, but he definitely was one of the best last week.
5) Allison Iraheta (LW: 2) She dropped because I thought she chose a boring song with "Give In To Me". She sang the song with passion. Again I love her voice but the song felt longer than it actually was. It goes back to what the judges continually say "song choice, song choice, song choice". I don't think she picked very well this week. She might have a little trouble with Grand Old Opry week as well. If one can do well on Michael Jackson week and then Grand Old Opry week that says a lot about you as an artist.
6) Lil Rounds (LW: 3) Another great singer slowed down a bit by her questionable song choice. Her take on "The Way You Make Me Feel" was technically proficient. Unfortunately it was also very boring and not very joyful. She's one of the big three so she'll be safe for the next few weeks. However if she wants to win the whole thing, she needs to go back to the level of her previous performances. For instance her "Be Without You" was great. Of the big three she's the one I like the most overall.
7) Anoop Desai (LW: 7) I'm apparently one of the very few who liked his "Beat It". I thought he sang it pretty well, with a great deal of feeling. He's also a natural performer. Unfortunately I don't think he's going to be around too much longer.
8) Felicia Barton (LW: 5) Yes I know she's not in the competition anymore, but I still feel she should have at least made the wildcard show. Hopefully this isn't the last we've heard of her.
9) Mishavonna Henson (LW: 6) Another person who I feel was cut before she should have been. Although not my favorite song, I loved her take on Train's "Drops of Jupiter". She's young, vital and sings with a great amount of joy. If I had a record label I would love to have her and Felicia Barton on my label.
10) Scott MacIntyre (LW: 8) He chose an obscure song, "Keep The Faith", but he sang it very well. This is a song I have never heard of before, I thought he did a great job of singing it. Unfortunately I don't think he'll be around too much longer.
11) Jasmine Murray (LW: 12) Yes, she actually went up even though she was eliminated. She didn't have a big enough voting base. I'm a big fan of hers and at least for me she's very memorable. I loved her "I'll Be There". She chose a song that really fits her and did it well. She also looks great.
12) Michael Sarver (LW: 10) He dropped a couple of notches with his "You're Not Alone". In my notes I wrote why did he choose that song? He sang the song well but he needs to pick better songs. He will not last much longer in "AI" unless he raises his level of performance. He may do very well during Grand Old Opry week though.
13) Matt Giraud (LW: 17) He makes up the Vanilla Three with Sarver and Kris Allen. He put a bit of a funky twist on "Human Nature". However that kind of performance won't keep him around very many more weeks. He's okay but I can't really jump on his bandwagon.
14) Kris Allen (LW: 11) He's the very definition of vanilla. I know the girls like him. He isn't very memorable to me. I always have to look at my notes to remember what he sang. I'd be very surprised if he makes the Top 3 as Michael Slezak suggests. I seriously don't see him in the competition much longer.
15) Jorge Nunez (LW: 9) The poster boy for poor song choice. Why the hell did he choose to sing "Never Can Say Goodbye"? It was a very boring performance. After him and Tatiana I don't think "AI" will ever go to Puerto Rico again. (Yes I know that Tatiana didn't make the show through the Puerto Rico auditions. However that's where she is from.)
16) Ricky Braddy (LW: 16) I decided to keep him around for one more week. He sang Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious" very well on the wildcard show. With hindsight being 20/20 he probably should have advanced over Jorge and maybe even Jasmine.
Jesse Langseth and Kristin McNamara fell out of last week's Top 16 as they've been eliminated.
Other news: Today is selection Sunday. We'll find out who the 65 teams who will be going to The Big Dance. That's otherwise known as the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Congrats to the Utah Utes and the Utah State Aggies for winning their their conference tournaments and earning automatic bids. BYU will also probably be going to the Big Dance. Let's hope BYU can win a first round game finally. It would also be cool to see the Utes advance to the Sweet 16.
Have a good Sunday, themusicaddict
Friday, March 13, 2009
Miscellaneous News n' Notes
Hello,
I have a few moments to write a quick blog. Let's get all the "AI" news out of the way. Tuesday's theme is songs from the Grand Old Opry or some such nonsense. That's such a huge catalog of songs, it's verging on not even being a theme. Obviously it's mainly a marketing ploy more than anything for "AI" and the Grand Old Opry. I'm sort of digging the Carrie Underwood remade "Home Sweet Home", how about you? It's a million times better than last year's boring Ruben Stoddard "Celebrate Me Home".
After one week of ew.com's predict who is going home contest, I'm tied for 461st place. That's out of 5780 competitors. I'm tied with ew.com's "AI" guru, Michael Slezak. (Michael I'm patiently waiting on new "Idolarty" episodes. We were suppose to pick who was going home and answer bonus questions. I was right on Jasmine Murray about her going home. (We were only suppose to pick one person.) For the record I thought her "I'll Be There" was fantastic. I think she's really good. While she was singing I said to my wife that I'm sure that's not the last we'll be seeing of her.
My new approximate Top 15 will be coming out on Sunday. I haven't figured out how many people I'm going to have in my Top whatever. I know there's only 11 remaining contestants, I just want to include some other people who were booted from the show too early. Can we use the judges save retroactively and put Felicia Barton and Mishavonna Hensen back into the running.
Other news: If you get bored on a Sunday night I have a way you can kill a couple of hours. Watch the always amusing "Celebrity Apprentice". The "celebrities" this year include Tom Green, Dennis Rodman, Joan and Melissa Rivers and many other celebrities who are on a downward trajectory. One of the best parts of the show is Donald's daughter Ivana. She is one of the most gorgeous women in the world and is unbelievably smart. Here's a picture of her but it does not do her justice.
I have been so busy lately with my blog, my family and my job that I haven't had much of a chance to watch movies. However I watched "The Changeling" the other day with my beautiful wife. It's a great movie. Angelina Jolie is fantastic in it and it's another very good movie directed by Clint Eastwood. That being said, what a sad dreary storyline. The story about a kidnapped child and the serial killer who kidnapped him is very brutal. It's incredible the trail of misery the serial killer left behind. A very good movie, but not for a first date of if you are looking for a light movie.
Other news: there are rumors surfacing that both "Cold Case" and "Without A Trace" may be cancelled this May. I think that would be a terrible decision. I know the TV executives don't care about quality, they just want shows with great ratings. It's not about art, it's just about money. Although I plead with those same executives to extend the lives of these two great shows. Both shows are well written, have great characters and actors and are very entertaining. If you are a fan like me, please support both shows by watching them and requesting they not be cancelled. BTW: Is it too late to give "Life on Mars" a reprieve?
Recently Michael Jackson announced a 10 date concert comeback based in London. Those initial 10 shows have now expanded to 50 shows. Those 50 shows sold out in 5 hours. Yes, all 50 shows sold out in 5 hours! The concerts start out on July 8th. They should be quite a spectacle, whether intentional or not. As I've written before the man is a musical genius and people are still connecting with that. It's too bad he has such a freakish side as well.
Speaking of freakish here are Top 5 most searched for items according to yahoo.com over the last hour. I think this is indictive of America's slippage into stupidity. I know I'm coming off as a crank. 1) Bristol Palin- apparently she has broken up with her baby daddy. Why is anyone surprised and why is that even newsworthy? 2) Shannon Doherty- something about plastic surgery and her resuming her role on the new version of "90210" 3) "Resident Evil 5" I hadn't even realized there were "Resident Evil" 2, 3 or 4. Nor do I ever have any intention to see the first one. 4) "American Idol" okay I can understand that one. It's in that part of the show that a lot of people like. Also everyone I'm sure is trying to find out what Tatiana is doing. Not! I expect to see her show up in another reality show. 5) Joaquin Phoenix: his lame, wanna be rap behavior. Those last two are both very good at drawing attention to themselves.
The 7 hottest songs rocking my iPod last night. My definition of hottest in this context is songs that are great still even after hearing them so many times. 1) "Paperlate"- Genesis What the heck is this song talking about anyway? I don't know but it's a great song. 2) "Come Dancing"- The Kinks Here's another song that has held up remarkably well over all these years. 3) "Poundcake"- Van Halen Surprisingly the studio version of this song is much better than the live version. It's very rare when it ends up that way. 4) "Smoke on the Water"- Deep Purple This song is almost as old as me and still is a great, great song. This is definitely a classic. 5) "Big Mouth Strikes Again" (Live). This song sounds so good live. I prefer Morriseys updated version over the version he sang as part of the Smiths. 6) "Sugarland"- Sugarland A great, great song by a great, great band. 7) "Gimme The Car"- The Violent Femmes Another classic song by a classic band. I just don't understand why Nirvana has such mythic status and the Femmes don't. Nirvana is the most overrated band of all-time, essentially a one hit wonder.
Have a great weekend, I'll be back Sunday with my "AI" top whatever- themusicaddict.
I have a few moments to write a quick blog. Let's get all the "AI" news out of the way. Tuesday's theme is songs from the Grand Old Opry or some such nonsense. That's such a huge catalog of songs, it's verging on not even being a theme. Obviously it's mainly a marketing ploy more than anything for "AI" and the Grand Old Opry. I'm sort of digging the Carrie Underwood remade "Home Sweet Home", how about you? It's a million times better than last year's boring Ruben Stoddard "Celebrate Me Home".
After one week of ew.com's predict who is going home contest, I'm tied for 461st place. That's out of 5780 competitors. I'm tied with ew.com's "AI" guru, Michael Slezak. (Michael I'm patiently waiting on new "Idolarty" episodes. We were suppose to pick who was going home and answer bonus questions. I was right on Jasmine Murray about her going home. (We were only suppose to pick one person.) For the record I thought her "I'll Be There" was fantastic. I think she's really good. While she was singing I said to my wife that I'm sure that's not the last we'll be seeing of her.
My new approximate Top 15 will be coming out on Sunday. I haven't figured out how many people I'm going to have in my Top whatever. I know there's only 11 remaining contestants, I just want to include some other people who were booted from the show too early. Can we use the judges save retroactively and put Felicia Barton and Mishavonna Hensen back into the running.
Other news: If you get bored on a Sunday night I have a way you can kill a couple of hours. Watch the always amusing "Celebrity Apprentice". The "celebrities" this year include Tom Green, Dennis Rodman, Joan and Melissa Rivers and many other celebrities who are on a downward trajectory. One of the best parts of the show is Donald's daughter Ivana. She is one of the most gorgeous women in the world and is unbelievably smart. Here's a picture of her but it does not do her justice.
I have been so busy lately with my blog, my family and my job that I haven't had much of a chance to watch movies. However I watched "The Changeling" the other day with my beautiful wife. It's a great movie. Angelina Jolie is fantastic in it and it's another very good movie directed by Clint Eastwood. That being said, what a sad dreary storyline. The story about a kidnapped child and the serial killer who kidnapped him is very brutal. It's incredible the trail of misery the serial killer left behind. A very good movie, but not for a first date of if you are looking for a light movie.
Other news: there are rumors surfacing that both "Cold Case" and "Without A Trace" may be cancelled this May. I think that would be a terrible decision. I know the TV executives don't care about quality, they just want shows with great ratings. It's not about art, it's just about money. Although I plead with those same executives to extend the lives of these two great shows. Both shows are well written, have great characters and actors and are very entertaining. If you are a fan like me, please support both shows by watching them and requesting they not be cancelled. BTW: Is it too late to give "Life on Mars" a reprieve?
Recently Michael Jackson announced a 10 date concert comeback based in London. Those initial 10 shows have now expanded to 50 shows. Those 50 shows sold out in 5 hours. Yes, all 50 shows sold out in 5 hours! The concerts start out on July 8th. They should be quite a spectacle, whether intentional or not. As I've written before the man is a musical genius and people are still connecting with that. It's too bad he has such a freakish side as well.
Speaking of freakish here are Top 5 most searched for items according to yahoo.com over the last hour. I think this is indictive of America's slippage into stupidity. I know I'm coming off as a crank. 1) Bristol Palin- apparently she has broken up with her baby daddy. Why is anyone surprised and why is that even newsworthy? 2) Shannon Doherty- something about plastic surgery and her resuming her role on the new version of "90210" 3) "Resident Evil 5" I hadn't even realized there were "Resident Evil" 2, 3 or 4. Nor do I ever have any intention to see the first one. 4) "American Idol" okay I can understand that one. It's in that part of the show that a lot of people like. Also everyone I'm sure is trying to find out what Tatiana is doing. Not! I expect to see her show up in another reality show. 5) Joaquin Phoenix: his lame, wanna be rap behavior. Those last two are both very good at drawing attention to themselves.
The 7 hottest songs rocking my iPod last night. My definition of hottest in this context is songs that are great still even after hearing them so many times. 1) "Paperlate"- Genesis What the heck is this song talking about anyway? I don't know but it's a great song. 2) "Come Dancing"- The Kinks Here's another song that has held up remarkably well over all these years. 3) "Poundcake"- Van Halen Surprisingly the studio version of this song is much better than the live version. It's very rare when it ends up that way. 4) "Smoke on the Water"- Deep Purple This song is almost as old as me and still is a great, great song. This is definitely a classic. 5) "Big Mouth Strikes Again" (Live). This song sounds so good live. I prefer Morriseys updated version over the version he sang as part of the Smiths. 6) "Sugarland"- Sugarland A great, great song by a great, great band. 7) "Gimme The Car"- The Violent Femmes Another classic song by a classic band. I just don't understand why Nirvana has such mythic status and the Femmes don't. Nirvana is the most overrated band of all-time, essentially a one hit wonder.
Have a great weekend, I'll be back Sunday with my "AI" top whatever- themusicaddict.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Round of 13 3/10/09
Hello,
Some quick observations about last night's Top 13 episode. First of all thank goodness someone other than Adam, Lil or Danny had the pimp spot. Tonight it was Alexis and she rocked "Dirty Diana". I'm glad the performers are allowed to play instruments again, although only 3 of them played instruments. I wish we could see the band again. Why are they hidden?
Simon continues to be the only constantly insightful judge. Randy says a variation on about 3 or 4 themes for almost every contestant. Paula sometimes makes relevant comments, but she is so loopy. I think it has something to do with her makeup but Paula was looking very strange tonight. Sometimes that makes it hard to concentrate on what she is saying. At least she's better than Kara, her critiques of late have almost been completely worthless. She said to Danny Gokey you have "joy when you step on that stage". Thanks Kara, that was completely worthless. To Alexis she said, "glad to have you back". Where did she go? Again I hate this new format. With the producers fully hyping contestants, it's easy for good but quiet performers to get lost in the shuffle.
Tonight is the results show and either one or two contestants will be eliminated. It's a closely guarded secret. Simon said two people last night would be eliminated. However there are rumors that there may be some sort of veto the judges can use if a performer they like gets eliminated. For instance, if Danny Gokey gets eliminated tonight the judges can veto that and he'll stay on the show. Carrie Underwood will be singing goodbye to however many contestants go home tonight. We'll be hearing her remake of Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home". I think "AI" is having her sing the farewell song so they can show how successful their show has been. I really only consider five "Idols" successful: Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson. Also Kelly Clarkson and Kanye West will also be singing on the show tonight.
Overall I thought that Michael Jackson was a good theme, in fact it's one of the best themes in "AI" history. Jackson, for all his freakishness, is a musical genius. I even liked some of his lesser or unknown songs last night. I would also love to see a Stevie Wonder theme night. Also have a theme night of a great rock band, for instance Def Leppard. I'd love to see Alexis Grace sing "Love Bites" or "Pour Some Sugar On Me". I'm laughing to myself, what would Danny Gokey sing in a Def Leppard week?
Here's a quick review of last night's performances, my grade and whether I'd buy the song on iTunes or not. Thanks again to mjsbigblog.com in that I can copy and paste her list.
1) Lil Rounds - “The Way You Make Me Feel”. She sang it well but what was with that hideous outfit she was wearing? She needs to wear something that flatters her figure better. The judges fawned over her as usual. She also is very telegenic. Grade: B There's no way I would buy this technically proficient but boring song choice.
2) Scott MacIntyre - “Keep the Faith”. When I first heard this I kept on thinking of the Billy Joel song, "Keeping The Faith. I really like MacIntyre and I'm glad he can play his piano again. This is a song I've never heard before. Simon told him being artistic is good but he shouldn't be "artistic on this show". Huh? Grade: B+. I'll definitely buy his performance as well as buy the Micheal Jackson original version.
3) Danny Gokey - “Pretty Young Thing” Thankfully he didn't go the inspirational song route. By the way this is a great, great song and he did a great job singing it. I'm still conflicted about him though. I still get sort of a David Archuleta feeling from him. However he is a much better singer, performer and has considerable more stage presence. Grade: A-. I'll buy this performance.
4) Michael Sarver - “You Are Not Alone” I thought he gave a pretty solid performance. (This is the sort of song I thought Danny Gokey would sing.) Although I thought he sung it well, he's already lost in the shuffle. My prediction is in a few weeks Sarver, Kris Allen and Matt Giraud will barely be remembered. I don't hate any of them they're just sort of bland. Technically pretty good but not someone I would be inspired enough to call and keep them on the show. Grade: C. I wouldn't buy this performance.
5) Jasmine Murray - “I’ll Be There” I disagreed a lot with the judges tonight, including on her performance. She did a great job singing that song and sounded fantastic. The judges were lukewarm on her though. On ew.com's "AI" predicting who is going home contest, my choice is her. Also Michael Slezak and the majority of voters thinks she's going home as well. It's not that I hate her, it's I don't think she has that big of a voting bloc behind her. I'd rather see her week after week though than most of the guys. Grade: B. It's a toss up on whether I'd buy this performance.
6) Kris Allen - “Remember the Time” A very boring song choice. Again bland and utterly forgettable. A good voice although his guitar playing brought nothing to his performance tonight. He might survive for 2 or 3 weeks, but I can't see him going further than that. Grade C-. Am I going to buy this song? Hell no!
7) Allison Iraheta - “Give in to Me” I was a little disappointed with this song, mostly because of the lamented dread song choice. I love her voice and I liked her performance. It did feel like it ran on a bit too long. She should have sang "Bad" or one of Michael's rock songs. Overall I really like her, this was just not my favorite performance. Grade: B-, mainly because of the song choice. Buy? probably not.
8) Anoop Desai - “Beat It” This is the performance I disagree with the judges the most on. I like his new haircut, he sort of sounded like Michael Jackson. He's also think he's a natural performer. I still like him, but he's starting to lose his front runner status quickly. Grade: A and I'm definitely going to buy this song.
9) Jorge Nunez - “Never Can Say Goodbye” Why, why, why did he pick this song? I thought this was the worst song choice of the night. He's been dreadful the last couple of weeks and this is someone who can be very good. However I'm going to start calling him No Way Jorge. If he keeps on going with these middling performances, there is no way he's going to win. Kara had one of her only relevant critiques of tonight when she suggested that he should have sang "She's Out of My Life". That definitely would have been much better. If tonight is a double elimination he could be gone as well. Grade D- and there's no way I'll ever buy this performance.
10) Megan Joy Corkrey - “Rockin’ Robin” Another weird song choice, but somehow she pulled it off. Megan please pick a much more contemporary song next week. She's very telegenic and by far the best looking woman remaining on the show. She's not getting enough love from the judges. Grade: B and I'm definitely buying this performance.
11) Adam Lambert - “Black and White” Although he struts too much, this is a much better performance than than his terrible performance of "Satisfaction". I love how Paula stated that he and Danny Gokey will probably make the finals. Grade: B+ and I'll probably buy this performance.
12) Matt Giraud - “Human Nature” Another one of the men who are getting lost in the shuffle. He brought a bit of funk to his performance, but overall his performance was only okay. Grade: C and I won't be buying this performance.
13) Alexis Grace - “Dirty Diana” I thought she was fantastic. She had a little bit of a Madonna look tonight. Grade A-. I love her bluesy vibe and she has made a lot of great song choices. She should help some of the other contestants. Not only am I going to buy this performance, this will be the first performance I buy.
Have a good day, themusicaddict
Some quick observations about last night's Top 13 episode. First of all thank goodness someone other than Adam, Lil or Danny had the pimp spot. Tonight it was Alexis and she rocked "Dirty Diana". I'm glad the performers are allowed to play instruments again, although only 3 of them played instruments. I wish we could see the band again. Why are they hidden?
Simon continues to be the only constantly insightful judge. Randy says a variation on about 3 or 4 themes for almost every contestant. Paula sometimes makes relevant comments, but she is so loopy. I think it has something to do with her makeup but Paula was looking very strange tonight. Sometimes that makes it hard to concentrate on what she is saying. At least she's better than Kara, her critiques of late have almost been completely worthless. She said to Danny Gokey you have "joy when you step on that stage". Thanks Kara, that was completely worthless. To Alexis she said, "glad to have you back". Where did she go? Again I hate this new format. With the producers fully hyping contestants, it's easy for good but quiet performers to get lost in the shuffle.
Tonight is the results show and either one or two contestants will be eliminated. It's a closely guarded secret. Simon said two people last night would be eliminated. However there are rumors that there may be some sort of veto the judges can use if a performer they like gets eliminated. For instance, if Danny Gokey gets eliminated tonight the judges can veto that and he'll stay on the show. Carrie Underwood will be singing goodbye to however many contestants go home tonight. We'll be hearing her remake of Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home". I think "AI" is having her sing the farewell song so they can show how successful their show has been. I really only consider five "Idols" successful: Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson. Also Kelly Clarkson and Kanye West will also be singing on the show tonight.
Overall I thought that Michael Jackson was a good theme, in fact it's one of the best themes in "AI" history. Jackson, for all his freakishness, is a musical genius. I even liked some of his lesser or unknown songs last night. I would also love to see a Stevie Wonder theme night. Also have a theme night of a great rock band, for instance Def Leppard. I'd love to see Alexis Grace sing "Love Bites" or "Pour Some Sugar On Me". I'm laughing to myself, what would Danny Gokey sing in a Def Leppard week?
Here's a quick review of last night's performances, my grade and whether I'd buy the song on iTunes or not. Thanks again to mjsbigblog.com in that I can copy and paste her list.
1) Lil Rounds - “The Way You Make Me Feel”. She sang it well but what was with that hideous outfit she was wearing? She needs to wear something that flatters her figure better. The judges fawned over her as usual. She also is very telegenic. Grade: B There's no way I would buy this technically proficient but boring song choice.
2) Scott MacIntyre - “Keep the Faith”. When I first heard this I kept on thinking of the Billy Joel song, "Keeping The Faith. I really like MacIntyre and I'm glad he can play his piano again. This is a song I've never heard before. Simon told him being artistic is good but he shouldn't be "artistic on this show". Huh? Grade: B+. I'll definitely buy his performance as well as buy the Micheal Jackson original version.
3) Danny Gokey - “Pretty Young Thing” Thankfully he didn't go the inspirational song route. By the way this is a great, great song and he did a great job singing it. I'm still conflicted about him though. I still get sort of a David Archuleta feeling from him. However he is a much better singer, performer and has considerable more stage presence. Grade: A-. I'll buy this performance.
4) Michael Sarver - “You Are Not Alone” I thought he gave a pretty solid performance. (This is the sort of song I thought Danny Gokey would sing.) Although I thought he sung it well, he's already lost in the shuffle. My prediction is in a few weeks Sarver, Kris Allen and Matt Giraud will barely be remembered. I don't hate any of them they're just sort of bland. Technically pretty good but not someone I would be inspired enough to call and keep them on the show. Grade: C. I wouldn't buy this performance.
5) Jasmine Murray - “I’ll Be There” I disagreed a lot with the judges tonight, including on her performance. She did a great job singing that song and sounded fantastic. The judges were lukewarm on her though. On ew.com's "AI" predicting who is going home contest, my choice is her. Also Michael Slezak and the majority of voters thinks she's going home as well. It's not that I hate her, it's I don't think she has that big of a voting bloc behind her. I'd rather see her week after week though than most of the guys. Grade: B. It's a toss up on whether I'd buy this performance.
6) Kris Allen - “Remember the Time” A very boring song choice. Again bland and utterly forgettable. A good voice although his guitar playing brought nothing to his performance tonight. He might survive for 2 or 3 weeks, but I can't see him going further than that. Grade C-. Am I going to buy this song? Hell no!
7) Allison Iraheta - “Give in to Me” I was a little disappointed with this song, mostly because of the lamented dread song choice. I love her voice and I liked her performance. It did feel like it ran on a bit too long. She should have sang "Bad" or one of Michael's rock songs. Overall I really like her, this was just not my favorite performance. Grade: B-, mainly because of the song choice. Buy? probably not.
8) Anoop Desai - “Beat It” This is the performance I disagree with the judges the most on. I like his new haircut, he sort of sounded like Michael Jackson. He's also think he's a natural performer. I still like him, but he's starting to lose his front runner status quickly. Grade: A and I'm definitely going to buy this song.
9) Jorge Nunez - “Never Can Say Goodbye” Why, why, why did he pick this song? I thought this was the worst song choice of the night. He's been dreadful the last couple of weeks and this is someone who can be very good. However I'm going to start calling him No Way Jorge. If he keeps on going with these middling performances, there is no way he's going to win. Kara had one of her only relevant critiques of tonight when she suggested that he should have sang "She's Out of My Life". That definitely would have been much better. If tonight is a double elimination he could be gone as well. Grade D- and there's no way I'll ever buy this performance.
10) Megan Joy Corkrey - “Rockin’ Robin” Another weird song choice, but somehow she pulled it off. Megan please pick a much more contemporary song next week. She's very telegenic and by far the best looking woman remaining on the show. She's not getting enough love from the judges. Grade: B and I'm definitely buying this performance.
11) Adam Lambert - “Black and White” Although he struts too much, this is a much better performance than than his terrible performance of "Satisfaction". I love how Paula stated that he and Danny Gokey will probably make the finals. Grade: B+ and I'll probably buy this performance.
12) Matt Giraud - “Human Nature” Another one of the men who are getting lost in the shuffle. He brought a bit of funk to his performance, but overall his performance was only okay. Grade: C and I won't be buying this performance.
13) Alexis Grace - “Dirty Diana” I thought she was fantastic. She had a little bit of a Madonna look tonight. Grade A-. I love her bluesy vibe and she has made a lot of great song choices. She should help some of the other contestants. Not only am I going to buy this performance, this will be the first performance I buy.
Have a good day, themusicaddict
Monday, March 9, 2009
Quick blog today, Miscellaneous News and Notes
Hello,
Just a quick blog today. I'm going to be working 40+ hours this week so my blogs will be limited and short this week. I hope to have a full review of Week 1 of the "AI" finals by Wednesday afternoon however.
As I've written before this just isn't an "AI" blog. Here's some other news and notes: The most highly anticipated tour for me this summer is the No Doubt/ Paramore tour. That should be a fantastic concert. Both acts are fantastic. When you buy tickets to the concert you receive a digital download code. You then can download all 80 songs from No Doubt, including a new song they recorded. No word on when their new CD will be released though.
One of my favorite shows has been cancelled. That show being "Life On Mars". It's been a very entertaining show. It has great characters and I love the evolving storyline. Please ABC let the writers finish out this season and explain the mystery about whether the main character is really in 1973.
I have been reading the Stephen King "The Dark Tower" series. On Saturday I finished the fourth book in the series, "Wizards and Glass". That was the best book of the series up to that point. I've been disappointed with King's work over the last several years, it's become too creepy. However I'm loving this series of books. I'm currently reading The Dark Tower 5: "Wolves of The Calla". The writing continues to be fantastic. King has a real knack of having you fall in love with the characters and really care about what happens to them. I'll probably be done with the whole series in a couple of months.
MSNBC is reporting that tomorrow night's "AI" will be a double elimination. (I haven't seen 100% confirmation of this yet though from official sources.) Speaking of which, ew.com is having a Predict Who Goes Home contest. Check it out, I've signed up to play it. I'm predicting that Jasmine Murray is going home. The contest was started before Wednesday's double elimination was announced. In this contest, Michael Sarver is receiving the most votes to be eliminated this week. EW's "Idol" guru, Michael Slezak, is also predicting Sarver is going home. If there is really a double elimination, I'm predicting Murray and Kris "Vanilla" Allen will be eliminated. There still is 2+ days to enter this contest. See you there.
Even if there is are two person who go home this week, I don't think Sarver will be one. He has a pretty solid fan base. Remember he was voted into the Top 12 over fan favorite Anoop Desai. People also really like him, you can get a lot of votes for being nice. This really isn't a singing competition anymore, if it ever was. I feel pretty confident he'll be around for a two or three weeks at least. Meanwhile Jasmine got into the Top 13 through the controversial wildcard selection process. She was picked by the judges, not by the fans. If it was up to me Danny Gokey would go home this week.
Remember the Top 13 perform tomorrow night, no official confirmation on whether this will actually be a double elimination round. This week will be Michael Jackson week. Also there's suppose to be some kind of twist. Let's hope that is the last twist of the season. The show is good enough without the producers constant meddling. Just let the show have a natural flow.
I'll probably be back Wednesday, themusicaddict
Just a quick blog today. I'm going to be working 40+ hours this week so my blogs will be limited and short this week. I hope to have a full review of Week 1 of the "AI" finals by Wednesday afternoon however.
As I've written before this just isn't an "AI" blog. Here's some other news and notes: The most highly anticipated tour for me this summer is the No Doubt/ Paramore tour. That should be a fantastic concert. Both acts are fantastic. When you buy tickets to the concert you receive a digital download code. You then can download all 80 songs from No Doubt, including a new song they recorded. No word on when their new CD will be released though.
One of my favorite shows has been cancelled. That show being "Life On Mars". It's been a very entertaining show. It has great characters and I love the evolving storyline. Please ABC let the writers finish out this season and explain the mystery about whether the main character is really in 1973.
I have been reading the Stephen King "The Dark Tower" series. On Saturday I finished the fourth book in the series, "Wizards and Glass". That was the best book of the series up to that point. I've been disappointed with King's work over the last several years, it's become too creepy. However I'm loving this series of books. I'm currently reading The Dark Tower 5: "Wolves of The Calla". The writing continues to be fantastic. King has a real knack of having you fall in love with the characters and really care about what happens to them. I'll probably be done with the whole series in a couple of months.
MSNBC is reporting that tomorrow night's "AI" will be a double elimination. (I haven't seen 100% confirmation of this yet though from official sources.) Speaking of which, ew.com is having a Predict Who Goes Home contest. Check it out, I've signed up to play it. I'm predicting that Jasmine Murray is going home. The contest was started before Wednesday's double elimination was announced. In this contest, Michael Sarver is receiving the most votes to be eliminated this week. EW's "Idol" guru, Michael Slezak, is also predicting Sarver is going home. If there is really a double elimination, I'm predicting Murray and Kris "Vanilla" Allen will be eliminated. There still is 2+ days to enter this contest. See you there.
Even if there is are two person who go home this week, I don't think Sarver will be one. He has a pretty solid fan base. Remember he was voted into the Top 12 over fan favorite Anoop Desai. People also really like him, you can get a lot of votes for being nice. This really isn't a singing competition anymore, if it ever was. I feel pretty confident he'll be around for a two or three weeks at least. Meanwhile Jasmine got into the Top 13 through the controversial wildcard selection process. She was picked by the judges, not by the fans. If it was up to me Danny Gokey would go home this week.
Remember the Top 13 perform tomorrow night, no official confirmation on whether this will actually be a double elimination round. This week will be Michael Jackson week. Also there's suppose to be some kind of twist. Let's hope that is the last twist of the season. The show is good enough without the producers constant meddling. Just let the show have a natural flow.
I'll probably be back Wednesday, themusicaddict
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Top 36 following Week 3's songs and Wildcard round
Hello,
Here's my new Top 36, you will notice that my Top 13 does not correlate with the final 13 that made Season 8's finals. That's because if it was up to me I'd have picked a slightly different 13 finalists. I'll write the contestants position, their name, and their position last week. If they made the Top 13, I'll show (13) and my odds of them being this season's American Idol and my rational for that. Got that?
1) Alexis Grace (1) (13) Odds: 10-1. She is my #1 contestant for three straight weeks, that's pretty impressive since she sang all the way back in Week 1. As Simon says she has that Kelly Clarkson vibe about her. Judges please stop asking her to dirty herself up. Alexis, like my advice to Megan yesterday, stay true to yourself. Please keep on bringing that blues feel to the songs you sing. That'll keep you distinct, which is something you'll need as you aren't a producers favorite. You have got to bring it every week. Michael Jackson suggestion, possible "Dirty Diana" or "Smooth Criminal".
2) Allison Iraheta (2) (13) Odds: 50-1 She absolutely kicked butt with her powerful performance of Heart's "Alone". You're probably wondering why such terrible odds, it's because she's so young. I don't know if she is mature enough to have amazing performances week after week. Her apparent strangeness won't help her either. The producers want someone to win that's safe and a lot of time that means boring. They have set up the show to get as close to what they want as possible. That's why I give such good odds to Danny Gokey. That's also why the very boring David Archuleta came in second last season. Of course having talent helps and Allison definitely has that. Her Michael Jackson song suggestion, "Dirty Diana". "Smooth Criminal" possibly would be good song for her as well.
3) Lil Rounds (3) (13) Odds: 2-1. She has that tremendous voice and she showed it on that Mary J. Blige song last week. The producers love her and she has an inspiring back story that the producers will milk for all it's worth. She should be solid week in and week out. Michael Jackson song suggestion "Wanna Be Startin' Something", "Bad" or "Beat It". I would suggest "Billie Jean", but I don't see how they can make that song work with a woman singing it.
4) Megan Joy Corkrey (4) (13) Odds: 20-1. Not a producer's favorite but the judges definitely love her. Simon really likes her and he seems to have a lot of sway over the voting public. I think Michael Jackson week could be a great week for her, a week where she can gain some momentum. Michael Jackson song suggestion: "Rock With You" or "The Way You Make Me Feel".
5) Felicia Barton (13) She could've had a legitimate shot at winning "AI" if she had received a fair shake. As with that Alicia Keys song, she would have tore it up on Michael Jackson week. She was in a terrible position. She only got in the Top 36 because Joanna Pacitti was eliminated at the last minute. I think the judges would have been embarrassed if she made the Top 13. Because they probably thought how would people view us if she made the Top 13, after not initially making the Top 36? Yes, I think the judges are that shallow.
6) Mishavonna Hensen (5) How did she not even get a wildcard spot? She apparently wasn't even in the building when the wildcard contestants were announced. Her take on Train's "Drops of Jupiter" is definitely a song that I'm going to buy. She has a great look and an awesome voice. She has star written all over her, I just don't get what the judges didn't like about her.
7) Anoop Desai (7) (13) Odds: 3-1. What does he have going for him? He has a great amount of likability, how can you not like him? He brings the funk, he's fun, he's charismatic. (No I don't have a crush on him). The producers aren't necessarily the biggest fans but the judges like him. He needs to stick with the "My Prerogative" like performances rather than boring song choices like "Angel of Mine". Michael Jackson week should be right up his alley. Michael Jackson song suggestions: I could definitely see him doing well with "Billie Jean", "Beat It" or "Bad". I could also see him doing well with "Pretty Young Thing" He needs to make the arrangement a little more rocking. (Dear "AI" Band, please no more janky arrangements of songs. The singers need to bring their A game, so should you.)
8) Scott MacIntyre (11) (13) Odds 25-1. I seem to be one of the few who liked his "Mandolin Rain". He sang a great song very well. I hate to write it, but I think he's going to get some sympathy votes. He's nearly blind. I think he will go far on talent alone. I'd recommend he sing a Michael Jackson's ballad. Michael Jackson song suggestion: "Human Nature" or "I Just Can't Stop Loving You".
9) Jorge Nunez (12) (13) Odds: 25-1. I'm glad he's the one from Puerto Rico that made it through to the Top 13. He may struggle with Michael Jackson week. Michael Jackson song suggestions: I would make the same song suggestions that I made for Scott MacIntyre.
10) Michael Sarver (6) (13) Odds: 95-1. I think he'll be one of the first people eliminated. The judges like him as he has a great amount of likability. I think it will be a struggle for him to get past Michael Jackson week. He's really hard for me to come up with a song for him to sing. I would go with something funky but not too challenging. I suggest "Off The Wall" or "Rock With You" Although if he sings "Rock With You", use a different arrangement other than the one Stephen Fowler had. With that arrangement it didn't even sound like "Rock With You".
11) Kris Allen (8) (13) Odds: 100-1 and that might be generous. I was writing a list of the Top 13 from memory. I had to use my notes to remember him. He's sort of bland and very forgettable. He already has sang "Man In The Mirror", so that eliminates one song choice for him this week. I thought he did a pretty good job with that song.
I'd suggest "Just Good Friends" or possibly "Pretty Young Thing". He also should do something that makes him more memorable.
12) Jasmine Murray (9) (13) Odds: 100-1. She's sort of an enigma this season. I haven't been impressed with her as much as I thought I was going to be. She could be hurt by Michael Jackson week as well. Maybe sing "I Just Can't Stop Loving You". I had a hard time thinking of an appropriate song for her. For this week my only suggestion for her is to sing a ballad.
13) Kristin McNamara (27) She was hurt by lack of screen time and being too similar to Kendall Beard. When she finally sang she brought some passion with her. I'm confused that Tatiana got a wild card but Kristin didn't. I absolutely loved her take on Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason". I had to look at my notes to see what song she sang though, so maybe that's something. I'm not a Danny Gokey fan, but I remember his singing "Hero".
14) Danny Gokey (10) (13) Odds: 2-1. He's a producer's favorite and also had Randy, Kara and Paula drooling all over themselves. Again he has a back story that you damn well know the producers are going to milk dry. I'm sure he'll be battling Lil Rounds and Adam Lambert for the pimp spot every week. Even if he doesn't win (let's pray) he's going to go a long ways. votefortheworst.com asks "So on Tuesday, will Danny stop mentioning Sophia, or will he sing "She's Out Of My Life" on a makeshift tombstone? Then again, there's the possibility of singing "Thriller" with backup zombie dancers wearing Sophia's head. And still that wouldn't be as tacky as using your dead wife to get a record deal." I predict he's going to sing something sappy this week. Something like "Heal The World" or "We Are The World". He's going to be using "inspirational" songs all the way through. Ick, that's another thing he has in common with David Archuleta.
15) Jesse Langseth (17) She was definitely original in her song selections of "Bette Davis Eyes" and "Tell Me Something Good". Maybe she was too original.
16) Ricky Braddy (21) I loved his take on Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious". I could see an argument being made for him to be in the Top 13. His coming out party was too little too late.
17) Matt Giraud (23) (13) Odds: 90-1. He's definitely not a producer's favorite and the judges seem to be lukewarm on him. I predict an early expulsion for him. He sang a Jackson 5 song in the wildcard round. He was okay, but I wasn't overwhelmed. Michael Jackson song suggestions: "Baby Be Mine" or "Remember The Time".
18) Matt Breitzke (15) I think he would have struggled with Michael Jackson week.
19) Adam Lambert (16) (13) Odds: 7-1. He's a producer's favorite but not exactly a safe choice with those pictures circulating on the 'net of him. I think that's going to turn a lot of people off whether it should or not. I'm not a big fan of his. I hated his "Satisfaction" in the Top 36. I also thought his "Bohemian Rhapsody" was very wimpy at his audition. Michael Jackson song suggestion: maybe "Black or White"? I'm not sure of a good song choice for him.
20) Nick Mitchell: (20) He should be allowed to sing this week, who else would sing "Thriller". I think he would sing a very campy version of that song as well.
21) Brent Keith: (19) He's already start to fade from my memory.
22) Ann Marie Boskovich: (22) It's hard for her to go any lower as the people for her are very weak.
23) Kendall Beard: (26) Other than her Dad's alligator dance, she's forgettable as well. That's the worst thing that can be said about you in this competition. Tatiana is annoying as hell, but at least she's not forgetable.
24) Alex Wagner-Trugman: (25) He went up in my rankings because he was the least awful of the remaining contestants.
25) Taylor Vaifauna: (14) Bad song choice sinks another contestant.
26) Kai Kalamma: He wasn't good enough to be invited to the show where the wildcard singers were announced. I'm not sure how he made the Top 36 though. He went up because his performance was better than many other terrible perfomances.
27) Ju' Not Joyner: (NR) He sang boring versions of "Hey There Delilah" in both Hollywood and the Top 36 round.
28) Jeanine Vailes (28) She's memorable for the wrong reasons, great legs.
29) Arianna Afsar (18) Why did you choose one of the most boring Abba songs there is and then give it a terrible arrangement? That's the kind of song choice that makes me wonder how serious you were about the competition.
30) Casey Carlson (30) It was enjoying looking at you, not so much listening to you.
31) Stevie Wright (31) I have a feeling we'll hear from her again. That's fine with me, just wait two or three years.
32) Stephen Fowler (32) A case of a singer that didn't live up to his potential.
33) Von Smith (33) I think he has a bright future in imitating Pee Wee Herman.
34) Nate Marshall: (24) Let's pray his 15 minutes of fame are over.
35) Jackie Tohn: (34) I'm still recovering from her torturous performance, at least I repressed the song she "sang". For the record it was a terrible arrangement of Elvis' "A Little Less Conversation".
36) Tatiana Del Torture: Coming soon to a karaoke bar near you. Two words Tatiana: please go away.
Good day, themusicaddict
Here's my new Top 36, you will notice that my Top 13 does not correlate with the final 13 that made Season 8's finals. That's because if it was up to me I'd have picked a slightly different 13 finalists. I'll write the contestants position, their name, and their position last week. If they made the Top 13, I'll show (13) and my odds of them being this season's American Idol and my rational for that. Got that?
1) Alexis Grace (1) (13) Odds: 10-1. She is my #1 contestant for three straight weeks, that's pretty impressive since she sang all the way back in Week 1. As Simon says she has that Kelly Clarkson vibe about her. Judges please stop asking her to dirty herself up. Alexis, like my advice to Megan yesterday, stay true to yourself. Please keep on bringing that blues feel to the songs you sing. That'll keep you distinct, which is something you'll need as you aren't a producers favorite. You have got to bring it every week. Michael Jackson suggestion, possible "Dirty Diana" or "Smooth Criminal".
2) Allison Iraheta (2) (13) Odds: 50-1 She absolutely kicked butt with her powerful performance of Heart's "Alone". You're probably wondering why such terrible odds, it's because she's so young. I don't know if she is mature enough to have amazing performances week after week. Her apparent strangeness won't help her either. The producers want someone to win that's safe and a lot of time that means boring. They have set up the show to get as close to what they want as possible. That's why I give such good odds to Danny Gokey. That's also why the very boring David Archuleta came in second last season. Of course having talent helps and Allison definitely has that. Her Michael Jackson song suggestion, "Dirty Diana". "Smooth Criminal" possibly would be good song for her as well.
3) Lil Rounds (3) (13) Odds: 2-1. She has that tremendous voice and she showed it on that Mary J. Blige song last week. The producers love her and she has an inspiring back story that the producers will milk for all it's worth. She should be solid week in and week out. Michael Jackson song suggestion "Wanna Be Startin' Something", "Bad" or "Beat It". I would suggest "Billie Jean", but I don't see how they can make that song work with a woman singing it.
4) Megan Joy Corkrey (4) (13) Odds: 20-1. Not a producer's favorite but the judges definitely love her. Simon really likes her and he seems to have a lot of sway over the voting public. I think Michael Jackson week could be a great week for her, a week where she can gain some momentum. Michael Jackson song suggestion: "Rock With You" or "The Way You Make Me Feel".
5) Felicia Barton (13) She could've had a legitimate shot at winning "AI" if she had received a fair shake. As with that Alicia Keys song, she would have tore it up on Michael Jackson week. She was in a terrible position. She only got in the Top 36 because Joanna Pacitti was eliminated at the last minute. I think the judges would have been embarrassed if she made the Top 13. Because they probably thought how would people view us if she made the Top 13, after not initially making the Top 36? Yes, I think the judges are that shallow.
6) Mishavonna Hensen (5) How did she not even get a wildcard spot? She apparently wasn't even in the building when the wildcard contestants were announced. Her take on Train's "Drops of Jupiter" is definitely a song that I'm going to buy. She has a great look and an awesome voice. She has star written all over her, I just don't get what the judges didn't like about her.
7) Anoop Desai (7) (13) Odds: 3-1. What does he have going for him? He has a great amount of likability, how can you not like him? He brings the funk, he's fun, he's charismatic. (No I don't have a crush on him). The producers aren't necessarily the biggest fans but the judges like him. He needs to stick with the "My Prerogative" like performances rather than boring song choices like "Angel of Mine". Michael Jackson week should be right up his alley. Michael Jackson song suggestions: I could definitely see him doing well with "Billie Jean", "Beat It" or "Bad". I could also see him doing well with "Pretty Young Thing" He needs to make the arrangement a little more rocking. (Dear "AI" Band, please no more janky arrangements of songs. The singers need to bring their A game, so should you.)
8) Scott MacIntyre (11) (13) Odds 25-1. I seem to be one of the few who liked his "Mandolin Rain". He sang a great song very well. I hate to write it, but I think he's going to get some sympathy votes. He's nearly blind. I think he will go far on talent alone. I'd recommend he sing a Michael Jackson's ballad. Michael Jackson song suggestion: "Human Nature" or "I Just Can't Stop Loving You".
9) Jorge Nunez (12) (13) Odds: 25-1. I'm glad he's the one from Puerto Rico that made it through to the Top 13. He may struggle with Michael Jackson week. Michael Jackson song suggestions: I would make the same song suggestions that I made for Scott MacIntyre.
10) Michael Sarver (6) (13) Odds: 95-1. I think he'll be one of the first people eliminated. The judges like him as he has a great amount of likability. I think it will be a struggle for him to get past Michael Jackson week. He's really hard for me to come up with a song for him to sing. I would go with something funky but not too challenging. I suggest "Off The Wall" or "Rock With You" Although if he sings "Rock With You", use a different arrangement other than the one Stephen Fowler had. With that arrangement it didn't even sound like "Rock With You".
11) Kris Allen (8) (13) Odds: 100-1 and that might be generous. I was writing a list of the Top 13 from memory. I had to use my notes to remember him. He's sort of bland and very forgettable. He already has sang "Man In The Mirror", so that eliminates one song choice for him this week. I thought he did a pretty good job with that song.
I'd suggest "Just Good Friends" or possibly "Pretty Young Thing". He also should do something that makes him more memorable.
12) Jasmine Murray (9) (13) Odds: 100-1. She's sort of an enigma this season. I haven't been impressed with her as much as I thought I was going to be. She could be hurt by Michael Jackson week as well. Maybe sing "I Just Can't Stop Loving You". I had a hard time thinking of an appropriate song for her. For this week my only suggestion for her is to sing a ballad.
13) Kristin McNamara (27) She was hurt by lack of screen time and being too similar to Kendall Beard. When she finally sang she brought some passion with her. I'm confused that Tatiana got a wild card but Kristin didn't. I absolutely loved her take on Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason". I had to look at my notes to see what song she sang though, so maybe that's something. I'm not a Danny Gokey fan, but I remember his singing "Hero".
14) Danny Gokey (10) (13) Odds: 2-1. He's a producer's favorite and also had Randy, Kara and Paula drooling all over themselves. Again he has a back story that you damn well know the producers are going to milk dry. I'm sure he'll be battling Lil Rounds and Adam Lambert for the pimp spot every week. Even if he doesn't win (let's pray) he's going to go a long ways. votefortheworst.com asks "So on Tuesday, will Danny stop mentioning Sophia, or will he sing "She's Out Of My Life" on a makeshift tombstone? Then again, there's the possibility of singing "Thriller" with backup zombie dancers wearing Sophia's head. And still that wouldn't be as tacky as using your dead wife to get a record deal." I predict he's going to sing something sappy this week. Something like "Heal The World" or "We Are The World". He's going to be using "inspirational" songs all the way through. Ick, that's another thing he has in common with David Archuleta.
15) Jesse Langseth (17) She was definitely original in her song selections of "Bette Davis Eyes" and "Tell Me Something Good". Maybe she was too original.
16) Ricky Braddy (21) I loved his take on Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious". I could see an argument being made for him to be in the Top 13. His coming out party was too little too late.
17) Matt Giraud (23) (13) Odds: 90-1. He's definitely not a producer's favorite and the judges seem to be lukewarm on him. I predict an early expulsion for him. He sang a Jackson 5 song in the wildcard round. He was okay, but I wasn't overwhelmed. Michael Jackson song suggestions: "Baby Be Mine" or "Remember The Time".
18) Matt Breitzke (15) I think he would have struggled with Michael Jackson week.
19) Adam Lambert (16) (13) Odds: 7-1. He's a producer's favorite but not exactly a safe choice with those pictures circulating on the 'net of him. I think that's going to turn a lot of people off whether it should or not. I'm not a big fan of his. I hated his "Satisfaction" in the Top 36. I also thought his "Bohemian Rhapsody" was very wimpy at his audition. Michael Jackson song suggestion: maybe "Black or White"? I'm not sure of a good song choice for him.
20) Nick Mitchell: (20) He should be allowed to sing this week, who else would sing "Thriller". I think he would sing a very campy version of that song as well.
21) Brent Keith: (19) He's already start to fade from my memory.
22) Ann Marie Boskovich: (22) It's hard for her to go any lower as the people for her are very weak.
23) Kendall Beard: (26) Other than her Dad's alligator dance, she's forgettable as well. That's the worst thing that can be said about you in this competition. Tatiana is annoying as hell, but at least she's not forgetable.
24) Alex Wagner-Trugman: (25) He went up in my rankings because he was the least awful of the remaining contestants.
25) Taylor Vaifauna: (14) Bad song choice sinks another contestant.
26) Kai Kalamma: He wasn't good enough to be invited to the show where the wildcard singers were announced. I'm not sure how he made the Top 36 though. He went up because his performance was better than many other terrible perfomances.
27) Ju' Not Joyner: (NR) He sang boring versions of "Hey There Delilah" in both Hollywood and the Top 36 round.
28) Jeanine Vailes (28) She's memorable for the wrong reasons, great legs.
29) Arianna Afsar (18) Why did you choose one of the most boring Abba songs there is and then give it a terrible arrangement? That's the kind of song choice that makes me wonder how serious you were about the competition.
30) Casey Carlson (30) It was enjoying looking at you, not so much listening to you.
31) Stevie Wright (31) I have a feeling we'll hear from her again. That's fine with me, just wait two or three years.
32) Stephen Fowler (32) A case of a singer that didn't live up to his potential.
33) Von Smith (33) I think he has a bright future in imitating Pee Wee Herman.
34) Nate Marshall: (24) Let's pray his 15 minutes of fame are over.
35) Jackie Tohn: (34) I'm still recovering from her torturous performance, at least I repressed the song she "sang". For the record it was a terrible arrangement of Elvis' "A Little Less Conversation".
36) Tatiana Del Torture: Coming soon to a karaoke bar near you. Two words Tatiana: please go away.
Good day, themusicaddict
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Wild card round review,
Hello,
We're now down to the Final 13. The finals start this Tuesday's. Yes, the rumors are true, Tuesday's theme is going to be Michael Jackson. That could be a great show or a train wreck. Michael Jackson has not been kind to "AI" contestants this year. (See Stephen Fowler's "Rock With You". That was another terrible arrangement.)
If you miss "AI" and want to see the performances go to mjsbigblog.com, she has links to all the performances. These video clips contain Seacrest's introductions and the judges commentary. (Am I the only one who thinks if the judges go away that would be a good thing? I don't need someone telling me what to think.) Upcoming this week both Kelly Clarkson and Kanye West will be appearing. I understand Kelly Clarkson but Kanye West? It's time for him to go away.
There's also going to be a big twist this week, rumors hint at a possible double elimination. Who knows, but I'm tired of the lame producers messing with the show. Let's just let the contestants sing and let America decide who the next American Idol is.
Coming tomorrow is my new Top 36 and also odds on who's going to win. My Top 36 is going to reflect how I like the candidates, even ones that have been eliminated.
Here's the review of the Wildcard show.
1) Jesse Langseth singing Rufus and Chaka Kahn's "Tell Me Something Good". She sang that with a very bluesy, funky mood. It sounds like the band had fun playing the song. I really liked her performance, but it was too little too late. She felt she did great and for the most part the judges liked it. She didn't advance to the Top 13.
2) Matt Giraud singing The Jackson's 5 "Who's Loving You". He sang with his "bluesy side the judges liked." I thought he was okay and I really liked the early blues feeling the show was starting with. He advanced to the Top 13. I think he will be very lucky to make the Top 10.
3) Megan Corkrey sang K.T. Tunstall's "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree". After Megan's funky performance of this song, I listened to the original by K.T. Tunstall. I also added it to my iPod. This song was on my mind all day. That is a great, great song. Corkrey has a great tone in her voice and I really like her. I like her version of that song better than K.T. Tunstall's. This is definitely a performance I'll buy, if and when I get the money. She has got to get rid of that awkward dance though. I saw some pictures at the Top 13 party and she was wearing way too much makeup. Megan be true to who you are and ignore the producers. If you don't win the competition so be it, being true to yourself is much more important. I get the vibe from you that you know that already. Megan advances to the Top 13.
4) Von Smith sang Elton John's "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word". That was another strange arrangement. He's sort of ugly and there is something very off putting about him. He wouldn't be someone I would want to see for 12 weeks. How did he even make the Top 36? Mishavonna didn't get the wildcard but he did? At least he didn't make the Top 13.
5) Jasmine Murray sang Christina Aguilera's "Reflection" from the "Mulan" soundtrack. She's received some criticism for singing a song from a Disney movie. Who cares where the song comes from especially when it's a great song. Jasmine is finally starting to live up to her potential. Randy said she "improved 100% from the other day" and I mostly agree. She made it through to the Top 13, but I have a feeling it was close. I think she would be very lucky to make the Top 10 as well.
6) Ricky Braddy sang Stevie Wonder's "Superstition". (Stevie Wonder is the man, what a great singer and songwriter.) I finally understand why Paula loves him so much. He was absolutely fantastic singing this song. The band was in full funk mode, it's good to see them again. Producers please never hide the band again. They add sizzle to what is feeling like a too predictable, planned out show. Actually can we just get rid of the producers and let things play out organically? Back to Braddy, he was great. He did not make the Top 13, but maybe he should have after that performance. He can replace the forgettable Kris Allen or the producer's pet Danny Gokey.
7) Tatiana Del Torture sang the Whitney Houston classic "Saving All My Love For You". How about save another song for us? How about just go away? People better suited for the wildcard round include Kristin McNamara, Mishavonna Henson and Felicia Barton. She just went on and on with her drama and the judges kept on saying "we got it". Tatiana go away! Mercifully she did not advance to the Top 13.
8) Anoop "Dogg" Desai went back to his strength and funked out with Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative". (Every time I hear that song it makes me think of Eddie Murphy's joke about Bobby Brown learning a new word.) He has a great voice. I think he has a great chance of winning and for him especially it'll be all about song choice. He should be fairly comfortable singing a Michael Jackson song Tuesday.
I'm not even going to talk about the twist of a Top 13.
Have a great weekend, themusicaddict
We're now down to the Final 13. The finals start this Tuesday's. Yes, the rumors are true, Tuesday's theme is going to be Michael Jackson. That could be a great show or a train wreck. Michael Jackson has not been kind to "AI" contestants this year. (See Stephen Fowler's "Rock With You". That was another terrible arrangement.)
If you miss "AI" and want to see the performances go to mjsbigblog.com, she has links to all the performances. These video clips contain Seacrest's introductions and the judges commentary. (Am I the only one who thinks if the judges go away that would be a good thing? I don't need someone telling me what to think.) Upcoming this week both Kelly Clarkson and Kanye West will be appearing. I understand Kelly Clarkson but Kanye West? It's time for him to go away.
There's also going to be a big twist this week, rumors hint at a possible double elimination. Who knows, but I'm tired of the lame producers messing with the show. Let's just let the contestants sing and let America decide who the next American Idol is.
Coming tomorrow is my new Top 36 and also odds on who's going to win. My Top 36 is going to reflect how I like the candidates, even ones that have been eliminated.
Here's the review of the Wildcard show.
1) Jesse Langseth singing Rufus and Chaka Kahn's "Tell Me Something Good". She sang that with a very bluesy, funky mood. It sounds like the band had fun playing the song. I really liked her performance, but it was too little too late. She felt she did great and for the most part the judges liked it. She didn't advance to the Top 13.
2) Matt Giraud singing The Jackson's 5 "Who's Loving You". He sang with his "bluesy side the judges liked." I thought he was okay and I really liked the early blues feeling the show was starting with. He advanced to the Top 13. I think he will be very lucky to make the Top 10.
3) Megan Corkrey sang K.T. Tunstall's "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree". After Megan's funky performance of this song, I listened to the original by K.T. Tunstall. I also added it to my iPod. This song was on my mind all day. That is a great, great song. Corkrey has a great tone in her voice and I really like her. I like her version of that song better than K.T. Tunstall's. This is definitely a performance I'll buy, if and when I get the money. She has got to get rid of that awkward dance though. I saw some pictures at the Top 13 party and she was wearing way too much makeup. Megan be true to who you are and ignore the producers. If you don't win the competition so be it, being true to yourself is much more important. I get the vibe from you that you know that already. Megan advances to the Top 13.
4) Von Smith sang Elton John's "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word". That was another strange arrangement. He's sort of ugly and there is something very off putting about him. He wouldn't be someone I would want to see for 12 weeks. How did he even make the Top 36? Mishavonna didn't get the wildcard but he did? At least he didn't make the Top 13.
5) Jasmine Murray sang Christina Aguilera's "Reflection" from the "Mulan" soundtrack. She's received some criticism for singing a song from a Disney movie. Who cares where the song comes from especially when it's a great song. Jasmine is finally starting to live up to her potential. Randy said she "improved 100% from the other day" and I mostly agree. She made it through to the Top 13, but I have a feeling it was close. I think she would be very lucky to make the Top 10 as well.
6) Ricky Braddy sang Stevie Wonder's "Superstition". (Stevie Wonder is the man, what a great singer and songwriter.) I finally understand why Paula loves him so much. He was absolutely fantastic singing this song. The band was in full funk mode, it's good to see them again. Producers please never hide the band again. They add sizzle to what is feeling like a too predictable, planned out show. Actually can we just get rid of the producers and let things play out organically? Back to Braddy, he was great. He did not make the Top 13, but maybe he should have after that performance. He can replace the forgettable Kris Allen or the producer's pet Danny Gokey.
7) Tatiana Del Torture sang the Whitney Houston classic "Saving All My Love For You". How about save another song for us? How about just go away? People better suited for the wildcard round include Kristin McNamara, Mishavonna Henson and Felicia Barton. She just went on and on with her drama and the judges kept on saying "we got it". Tatiana go away! Mercifully she did not advance to the Top 13.
8) Anoop "Dogg" Desai went back to his strength and funked out with Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative". (Every time I hear that song it makes me think of Eddie Murphy's joke about Bobby Brown learning a new word.) He has a great voice. I think he has a great chance of winning and for him especially it'll be all about song choice. He should be fairly comfortable singing a Michael Jackson song Tuesday.
I'm not even going to talk about the twist of a Top 13.
Have a great weekend, themusicaddict
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Tatiana- Wildcard selections What the hell?
Hello,
Last night's results show lacked suspense. First Ryan brought up Lil Rounds by herself, how was that suppose to build drama? I don't think there has been an "AI" situation with any less suspense than that. Lil was as much of a sure thing advancing to the Top 12 as there ever has been. Group 2 had Arianna, Taylor, Alex, Kendall and Scott with Ryan saying only one going through. Let's see Arianna, Taylor and Alex were all terrible and Kendall was forgettable. I had to check my notes to be reminded what she sang. So duh Scott was advancing from that group. We know two of tonight's picks and so far there has been no suspense.
The only possible remaining suspense after that was the third person to the Top 12 would either be Felicia or Jorge. However the next group was Nate and Kristin McNamara, no suspense here with "no" to both. Next up, Felicia and Von "butt ugly hair" Smith. Some suspense but "no" to both. This was the first of many shocks for the fans of Felicia Barton tonight. There are two remaining people who don"t know their fate: Jorge "Top 12" Nunez or Ju'Not "cannon fodder" Joyner. Again no suspense here as Jorge makes it through. Only 4 people deserved to make it through from this group and only 3 of them can. This show continued the trend of 2 guys and 1 girl making it through to the Top 12.
Did you see the puppet strings on Simon when Ryan asked him about this crappy format? Simon said the only way Jennifer Hudson and Clay Aiken making the Top 12 was through this format. If Jennifer Hudson didn't make the Top 12 through any format, that is the judges ineptitude. Clay Aiken making the Top 12 via this format doesn't show that it works.
What was up with that hidden audition? I did love a white girl singing the theme song from "The Jeffersons" though. I thought she sang it pretty well.
Now let's get to the travesties of the night! The wildcard selections: before Randy made his first pick I said to my wife that Randy would pick someone that sucks. (It's obvious the judges made these picks as a group.) Sure enough Randy named Von Smith (33), then later he named Tatiana Del Torture (36). That's par for the course for Randy, although again this clearly was a group decision. If the judges have any sense at all, neither one of these train wrecks can make the Top 12. They shouldn't have even made the Top 36.
Paula named her personal favorite, Ricky Braddy (21) and Jesse Langseth (17). Then Kara named Jasmine Murray (9) and Matt Giraud (23). I like Jasmine Murray, although she still hasn't lived up to her potential yet. Matt was awesome in Hollywood, but the things he did to that crappy Coldplay song should be against the law. Simon was able to name the most logical choices of them all. He named Megan (4) and Anoop (7), both of whom are no-brainers. Megan and Anoop both have amazing voices and Megan is absolutely gorgeous.
Let's get to the people who were completely ripped off. Tatiana getting a wildcard shot over anyone is a complete joke. However getting that chance over Felicia (13), Kristin McNamara (27)and the exquisite Mishavonna Henson (5)is completely ludicrous. Von Smith getting chosen over a horse turd is outrageous, how did he even make the Top 36? Now he has a chance to make the Top 12? Jesse is not terrible but her getting selected over Felicia Barton is a travesty.
Tonight we have 8 contestants fighting it out for the final three spots. Here they are and my percentage for them to make it to the Top 12. I'm listing them in order of my chances of them actually making it to the Top 12. Right now we have 6 males and 3 females. The top 12 is looking very white. So much for diversity.
1) Anoop Desai: 95% as long as he brings his A game.
2) Megan Joy Corkrey: 80% as long as she brings her A game.
3) Ricky Braddy: I think his chances of making the Top 12 are excellent because he's Paula's stated favorite. I think she'll personally do her best to get him into the Top 12.
4) Jesse Langseth: 50% I'm surprised she made the wildcard round. Although she is considerably better than the person she replaced at the last minute. According to joesplaceblog.com, she replaced Arianna Afsar at the last minute.
5) Jasmine Murray: 50% She must have really impressed in Hollywood as she was lackluster in the Top 36 round. I think she has the potential, but can she turn it on enough tonight?
6) Matt Giraud: 40% If he's as good as he was in Hollywood with "Georgia", his chances of advancing to the Top 12 are a lot higher. If he goes the crappy Coldplay route again, he'll virtually have no chance to advance.
7 & 8) Then we have Randy's two picks: Von Smith (1%) and Tatiana (hopefully nil). The only reason Tatiana would make the Top 12 would be to gain the car wreck audience. There's no other logical reason she would advance. Someone commented at ew.com that if Tatiana harms herself after she is inevitably rejected again, that will be on the producers. She clearly is mentally unstable.
Other "AI" news: Paula is threatening to quit when her contract is up in a year. Please do Paula and take Randy and possibly Kara with you. With the ratings dropping drastically, and will continue to drop with Tatiana making the wild card round, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the second to last year for "AI". The changes the producers made this year has caused more harm than helped. Producers you can still save the show.
I'll be back Saturday at the latest. Judges please ignore the producers and pick intelligently the final three contestants for the Top 12. Have a good day. themusicaddict
Last night's results show lacked suspense. First Ryan brought up Lil Rounds by herself, how was that suppose to build drama? I don't think there has been an "AI" situation with any less suspense than that. Lil was as much of a sure thing advancing to the Top 12 as there ever has been. Group 2 had Arianna, Taylor, Alex, Kendall and Scott with Ryan saying only one going through. Let's see Arianna, Taylor and Alex were all terrible and Kendall was forgettable. I had to check my notes to be reminded what she sang. So duh Scott was advancing from that group. We know two of tonight's picks and so far there has been no suspense.
The only possible remaining suspense after that was the third person to the Top 12 would either be Felicia or Jorge. However the next group was Nate and Kristin McNamara, no suspense here with "no" to both. Next up, Felicia and Von "butt ugly hair" Smith. Some suspense but "no" to both. This was the first of many shocks for the fans of Felicia Barton tonight. There are two remaining people who don"t know their fate: Jorge "Top 12" Nunez or Ju'Not "cannon fodder" Joyner. Again no suspense here as Jorge makes it through. Only 4 people deserved to make it through from this group and only 3 of them can. This show continued the trend of 2 guys and 1 girl making it through to the Top 12.
Did you see the puppet strings on Simon when Ryan asked him about this crappy format? Simon said the only way Jennifer Hudson and Clay Aiken making the Top 12 was through this format. If Jennifer Hudson didn't make the Top 12 through any format, that is the judges ineptitude. Clay Aiken making the Top 12 via this format doesn't show that it works.
What was up with that hidden audition? I did love a white girl singing the theme song from "The Jeffersons" though. I thought she sang it pretty well.
Now let's get to the travesties of the night! The wildcard selections: before Randy made his first pick I said to my wife that Randy would pick someone that sucks. (It's obvious the judges made these picks as a group.) Sure enough Randy named Von Smith (33), then later he named Tatiana Del Torture (36). That's par for the course for Randy, although again this clearly was a group decision. If the judges have any sense at all, neither one of these train wrecks can make the Top 12. They shouldn't have even made the Top 36.
Paula named her personal favorite, Ricky Braddy (21) and Jesse Langseth (17). Then Kara named Jasmine Murray (9) and Matt Giraud (23). I like Jasmine Murray, although she still hasn't lived up to her potential yet. Matt was awesome in Hollywood, but the things he did to that crappy Coldplay song should be against the law. Simon was able to name the most logical choices of them all. He named Megan (4) and Anoop (7), both of whom are no-brainers. Megan and Anoop both have amazing voices and Megan is absolutely gorgeous.
Let's get to the people who were completely ripped off. Tatiana getting a wildcard shot over anyone is a complete joke. However getting that chance over Felicia (13), Kristin McNamara (27)and the exquisite Mishavonna Henson (5)is completely ludicrous. Von Smith getting chosen over a horse turd is outrageous, how did he even make the Top 36? Now he has a chance to make the Top 12? Jesse is not terrible but her getting selected over Felicia Barton is a travesty.
Tonight we have 8 contestants fighting it out for the final three spots. Here they are and my percentage for them to make it to the Top 12. I'm listing them in order of my chances of them actually making it to the Top 12. Right now we have 6 males and 3 females. The top 12 is looking very white. So much for diversity.
1) Anoop Desai: 95% as long as he brings his A game.
2) Megan Joy Corkrey: 80% as long as she brings her A game.
3) Ricky Braddy: I think his chances of making the Top 12 are excellent because he's Paula's stated favorite. I think she'll personally do her best to get him into the Top 12.
4) Jesse Langseth: 50% I'm surprised she made the wildcard round. Although she is considerably better than the person she replaced at the last minute. According to joesplaceblog.com, she replaced Arianna Afsar at the last minute.
5) Jasmine Murray: 50% She must have really impressed in Hollywood as she was lackluster in the Top 36 round. I think she has the potential, but can she turn it on enough tonight?
6) Matt Giraud: 40% If he's as good as he was in Hollywood with "Georgia", his chances of advancing to the Top 12 are a lot higher. If he goes the crappy Coldplay route again, he'll virtually have no chance to advance.
7 & 8) Then we have Randy's two picks: Von Smith (1%) and Tatiana (hopefully nil). The only reason Tatiana would make the Top 12 would be to gain the car wreck audience. There's no other logical reason she would advance. Someone commented at ew.com that if Tatiana harms herself after she is inevitably rejected again, that will be on the producers. She clearly is mentally unstable.
Other "AI" news: Paula is threatening to quit when her contract is up in a year. Please do Paula and take Randy and possibly Kara with you. With the ratings dropping drastically, and will continue to drop with Tatiana making the wild card round, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the second to last year for "AI". The changes the producers made this year has caused more harm than helped. Producers you can still save the show.
I'll be back Saturday at the latest. Judges please ignore the producers and pick intelligently the final three contestants for the Top 12. Have a good day. themusicaddict
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Round 3 review 3/3/09
Hello,
Before I get to my review, I really hate, hate this format. It sucks, one bad performance and it's all over for a contestant. I prefer Season 7's format, a contestant could build some momentum and gain voters. I don't even know if David Cook would have made the Top 12 with this format. The biggest negative using this format is that David Archuleta probably would have won last year. Archuleta is so mediocre. I also hate that the band is hidden somewhere. Of course as with anything involving corporate America, it all comes down to money and metrics. Who cares if the product suffers in the corporate America world? You'd think that Fox would be a little more protective of the #1 show in America.
Interacting with the band really helps some performers. I also hate in the Top 36 round the singers can't use instruments. That's another thing that really helped David Cook. Having them sing without them playing an instrument or interacting with a band isn't how it's going to be when they are out on their own. If "AI" is really trying to create a music superstar, why don''t they replicate the actual experience as much as possible?
The first half of tonight's show was terrible. In the parenthesis contains my chances of them advancing to the Top 12 based on tonight's show. The second part is how they'll do in my next Top 36 rankings. I copied and pasted the singers and the songs they sang from mjsbigblog.com. Thanks MJ.
1) Von Smith (.001% TMAR: about the same) He sang “You’re All I Need to Get By” by Marvin Gaye. He's finally learning restraint. Now he's just annoying and it seemed like that song lasted forever. When Simon Cowell compared him to Clay Aiken, I think that's all that needs to be said.
2) Taylor Vaifanua - (.001, TMAR: going down) She sang “If I Ain’t Got You” by the amazing Alicia Keys. Ryan said "the pride of Hurricane, Utah", maybe not after that performance. I like her nice, husky voice, but she's a mediocre performer. She's going to be voted off with no chance at a wildcard. Simon was absolutely right when he said that her performance was "very generic" and "bland". After less than inspiring performances by her, Stevie Wright, Jasmine Murray and Arianna Afsar, "AI's" minimum age should be raised to 19 at least.
3) Alex Wagner-Trugman - (.001% TMAR: With so many bad performances in the top 36 he might be saying about the same. The bottom third of the Top 36 is terrible.) He sang “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” by Elton John. I like his sense of humor and it was obvious he was nervous. He started out well, but when he started growling the performance really suffered.
4) Arianna Afsar - (.0001% TMAR: going down) She sang “The Winner Takes it All” by Abba. First of all why did she choose that song? Second what was with that janky arrangement? Terrible arrangements of songs continues to mar this season. Other than she's attractive, there's nothing good to say about that performance.
5) Ju’Not Joyner - (10%, TMAR: he'll be moving from not rated.) He sang “Hey There Delilah” by The Plain White Ts. The judges really liked him, but I didn't. I hated his arrangement of that song. I had to listen to The Plain White T's recording of that song to purge my memory of his dreary performance.
6) Kristen McNamara - (5% With her battling Felicia Barton and Lil Rounds, her chances of advancing from tonight's show are slim. TMAR: up) She sang “Give Me One Reason” by Tracy Chapman. I really liked her arrangement of that song. Up to this point by far the best performance of the night. She's goofy, that might also hold her back.
7) Nate Marshall - (.0001%, TMAR- going down) Freak! He tortured “I Would Do Anything for Love” by Meat Loaf. Oh man, did his performance suck! It was awful, awful, awful. What a complete and utter train wreck! Simon said he was "verging on excruciating", No Simon he was excruciating. Paula said he sang the "Boy George version of this song". That's probably her most accurate comment of the night.
8) Felicia Barton (75%, TMAR going up) She sang “No One” by Alicia Keys. Eight performances in and this is only the second good performance of the night? I love her voice. I'm glad she got a second chance also and she took full advantage of it. How did she not make the original Top 36 and Nate Marshall did I'll never understand. This was by far the weakest of the three groups in the Top 36. I can think of several people who were better than tonight's clunker performances.
Just for the record here are some people who are better than the bottom third of the Top 36, or at least couldn't be any worse. 1) David Osmond 2) Leneshe Young 3) Jessica Furney, 4) Emily Wynne-Hughes, 5) Rose Flack, 6) Frankie Jordan, 7) Chris Kirkham and 8) Michael Perelli.
9)Scott MacIntyre - (50%, TMAR: about the same)He sang “Mandolin Rain” by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. First of all I love this song and I love the lyrics. (What was Simon talking about anyway?) He's really likeable. The 800 pound gorilla in the room, no one wants to criticize the blind guy. No one wants to come off as insensitive. That being said, I really, really like him. He may not be the most exciting contestant ever, but either was Blake Lewis or David Archuleta.
10) Kendall Beard - (.001, TMAR: about the same). She sang “This One’s for the Girls” by Martina McBride. Of the two blondes that I couldn't keep track of, she'll be the one who will be easiest to forget. A very mediocre performance of that song. If that was her best performance, she didn't belong in the Top 36 either.
11) Jorge Nunez - (50%, TMAR: about the same. He sang “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” by Elton John. I really like him. The song started out slow and I couldn't figure out what he was doing that was bothering me. Then I read Michael Slezak's review over at ew.com. Slezak pointed out "Well, the whole thing was awfully overwrought, dude. I mean, when each word is sung at Full Emotional Throttle, it kind of leaves the performance without any way to crescendo, y'know?" I absolutely agree with him. (Although Michael I have no idea how you and the judges like Ju'Not Joyner.)
12) Lil Rounds - (99.9%, TMAR: because she's already so high, she'll stay about the same.) She sang “Be Without You” by Mary J. Blige. I admit this is a song I've never heard and I'm not a Mary J. Blige fan. However Lil Rounds is awesome and I love her powerful voice. I see Rounds going very far in this competition. I can see Rounds taking over the Whitney Houston mantle, because Houston doesn't seem to be interested in having it anymore.
From tonight's show I'm guessing that Lil Rounds and Felicia Barton will make the Top 12 and the male contestant will either be Jorge Nunez or Scott MacIntyre. The wildcards from this show in my opinion should be Kristin McNamara and who doesn't get voted in out of Nunez or MacIntyre.
I have to go, I have a new Top 36 to write. I'm not sure how much my Top 12 will have in common with the Top 12 that starts next week. Remember tonight is the results show and tomorrow is the one hour wildcard round.
Have a good day, themusicaddict
Before I get to my review, I really hate, hate this format. It sucks, one bad performance and it's all over for a contestant. I prefer Season 7's format, a contestant could build some momentum and gain voters. I don't even know if David Cook would have made the Top 12 with this format. The biggest negative using this format is that David Archuleta probably would have won last year. Archuleta is so mediocre. I also hate that the band is hidden somewhere. Of course as with anything involving corporate America, it all comes down to money and metrics. Who cares if the product suffers in the corporate America world? You'd think that Fox would be a little more protective of the #1 show in America.
Interacting with the band really helps some performers. I also hate in the Top 36 round the singers can't use instruments. That's another thing that really helped David Cook. Having them sing without them playing an instrument or interacting with a band isn't how it's going to be when they are out on their own. If "AI" is really trying to create a music superstar, why don''t they replicate the actual experience as much as possible?
The first half of tonight's show was terrible. In the parenthesis contains my chances of them advancing to the Top 12 based on tonight's show. The second part is how they'll do in my next Top 36 rankings. I copied and pasted the singers and the songs they sang from mjsbigblog.com. Thanks MJ.
1) Von Smith (.001% TMAR: about the same) He sang “You’re All I Need to Get By” by Marvin Gaye. He's finally learning restraint. Now he's just annoying and it seemed like that song lasted forever. When Simon Cowell compared him to Clay Aiken, I think that's all that needs to be said.
2) Taylor Vaifanua - (.001, TMAR: going down) She sang “If I Ain’t Got You” by the amazing Alicia Keys. Ryan said "the pride of Hurricane, Utah", maybe not after that performance. I like her nice, husky voice, but she's a mediocre performer. She's going to be voted off with no chance at a wildcard. Simon was absolutely right when he said that her performance was "very generic" and "bland". After less than inspiring performances by her, Stevie Wright, Jasmine Murray and Arianna Afsar, "AI's" minimum age should be raised to 19 at least.
3) Alex Wagner-Trugman - (.001% TMAR: With so many bad performances in the top 36 he might be saying about the same. The bottom third of the Top 36 is terrible.) He sang “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” by Elton John. I like his sense of humor and it was obvious he was nervous. He started out well, but when he started growling the performance really suffered.
4) Arianna Afsar - (.0001% TMAR: going down) She sang “The Winner Takes it All” by Abba. First of all why did she choose that song? Second what was with that janky arrangement? Terrible arrangements of songs continues to mar this season. Other than she's attractive, there's nothing good to say about that performance.
5) Ju’Not Joyner - (10%, TMAR: he'll be moving from not rated.) He sang “Hey There Delilah” by The Plain White Ts. The judges really liked him, but I didn't. I hated his arrangement of that song. I had to listen to The Plain White T's recording of that song to purge my memory of his dreary performance.
6) Kristen McNamara - (5% With her battling Felicia Barton and Lil Rounds, her chances of advancing from tonight's show are slim. TMAR: up) She sang “Give Me One Reason” by Tracy Chapman. I really liked her arrangement of that song. Up to this point by far the best performance of the night. She's goofy, that might also hold her back.
7) Nate Marshall - (.0001%, TMAR- going down) Freak! He tortured “I Would Do Anything for Love” by Meat Loaf. Oh man, did his performance suck! It was awful, awful, awful. What a complete and utter train wreck! Simon said he was "verging on excruciating", No Simon he was excruciating. Paula said he sang the "Boy George version of this song". That's probably her most accurate comment of the night.
8) Felicia Barton (75%, TMAR going up) She sang “No One” by Alicia Keys. Eight performances in and this is only the second good performance of the night? I love her voice. I'm glad she got a second chance also and she took full advantage of it. How did she not make the original Top 36 and Nate Marshall did I'll never understand. This was by far the weakest of the three groups in the Top 36. I can think of several people who were better than tonight's clunker performances.
Just for the record here are some people who are better than the bottom third of the Top 36, or at least couldn't be any worse. 1) David Osmond 2) Leneshe Young 3) Jessica Furney, 4) Emily Wynne-Hughes, 5) Rose Flack, 6) Frankie Jordan, 7) Chris Kirkham and 8) Michael Perelli.
9)Scott MacIntyre - (50%, TMAR: about the same)He sang “Mandolin Rain” by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. First of all I love this song and I love the lyrics. (What was Simon talking about anyway?) He's really likeable. The 800 pound gorilla in the room, no one wants to criticize the blind guy. No one wants to come off as insensitive. That being said, I really, really like him. He may not be the most exciting contestant ever, but either was Blake Lewis or David Archuleta.
10) Kendall Beard - (.001, TMAR: about the same). She sang “This One’s for the Girls” by Martina McBride. Of the two blondes that I couldn't keep track of, she'll be the one who will be easiest to forget. A very mediocre performance of that song. If that was her best performance, she didn't belong in the Top 36 either.
11) Jorge Nunez - (50%, TMAR: about the same. He sang “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” by Elton John. I really like him. The song started out slow and I couldn't figure out what he was doing that was bothering me. Then I read Michael Slezak's review over at ew.com. Slezak pointed out "Well, the whole thing was awfully overwrought, dude. I mean, when each word is sung at Full Emotional Throttle, it kind of leaves the performance without any way to crescendo, y'know?" I absolutely agree with him. (Although Michael I have no idea how you and the judges like Ju'Not Joyner.)
12) Lil Rounds - (99.9%, TMAR: because she's already so high, she'll stay about the same.) She sang “Be Without You” by Mary J. Blige. I admit this is a song I've never heard and I'm not a Mary J. Blige fan. However Lil Rounds is awesome and I love her powerful voice. I see Rounds going very far in this competition. I can see Rounds taking over the Whitney Houston mantle, because Houston doesn't seem to be interested in having it anymore.
From tonight's show I'm guessing that Lil Rounds and Felicia Barton will make the Top 12 and the male contestant will either be Jorge Nunez or Scott MacIntyre. The wildcards from this show in my opinion should be Kristin McNamara and who doesn't get voted in out of Nunez or MacIntyre.
I have to go, I have a new Top 36 to write. I'm not sure how much my Top 12 will have in common with the Top 12 that starts next week. Remember tonight is the results show and tomorrow is the one hour wildcard round.
Have a good day, themusicaddict
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