Just a quick update on my blog yesterday about will this be the year of way too many amazing singers dying, I saw this morning on-line that George Jones is in the hospital. Neither Jones, 80 years old, Merle Haggard, 75 years old or Willie Nelson, 79 years old, are getting any younger.
This is easily my favorite George Jones song:
This is my favorite Merle Haggard song, but it was a bit harder to pick:
My favorite Willie Nelson song, it's one of the most amazing convergences of singer/song ever. This is the live version of "Always On My Mind".
This is the version with the background singer, which gives it just that extra bit of feeling:
Writing my blog yesterday I stumbled across the full version of Roger Waters performing "The Wall".
I've watched/listened to the above Roger Waters performance three times already. It's an amazing live performance of "The Wall". Roger Waters is still sounding good in this performance that was filmed only two years ago. My favorite parts are 1) When he sings a duet with himself and 2) The intro into "Run Like Hell", where Waters plays the fascist dictator, and then the actual "Run Like Hell" are just amazing. Starting at about 1:32 is where this concert takes off. See below:
Is Jordin Sparks the most unheralded "American Idol" winner ever? If she is, that's a complete shame. She was amazing her season of "American Idol", remember she won over incredible singer Melinda Doolittle. However Sparks truly showed her chops the other night when she sang "I Will Always Love You" at the Billboard 2012 Music Awards. She sang that song in their tribute to the amazing Whitney Houston. Sparks is looking amazing and very grown up. She also sounds amazing hitting that big final note just like Whitney did. Sparks I would say and also spine tingling.
And because I love Melinda so much, here's an awesome performance from her:
I love that the circle has now come complete for Kelly Clarkson. She was discovered because she won Season One of "American Idol". Now she'll be appearing on a reality TV show of her own. She'll be joining John Legend (sorry Lionel Richie), Jennifer Nettles and Robin Thicke (huh?) on the new singing competition show "Duets". I also saw Kelly on that same Billboard Music Awards. She had been battling her weight for years, but she looked absolutely svelte and gorgeous Sunday night.
Has "American Idol" been a success? Yes, very much so. Have had as many singers become big stars as one would expect? I would say "no" and that it's not even close. Name the superstars from "American Idol": Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood is all. Also the show hasn't produced a major star since 2005. Not exactly a hit maker is it? I would say the biggest star since 2005 would either be Daughtry, the lame Adam Lambert or the gorgeous Katharine McPhee. This week the 12th season's winner will be announced. I'm burned out by the lame judges and haven't watched this season of the show. I wonder how many "American Idols" can you name? I've already given you two and here's a picture of one of the superstars:
Now that we have two, how many more can you name? No, Adam Lambert didn't win. But I do wonder why they are still trying to make him a star? No, David Archuletta didn't win either, thankfully he's on a LDS mission now.
Although I watched last season it took me a few minutes to remember who won, Scotty McDreery. He extended the reign of boring male singers to 3 years. He followed Lee DeWyze, who I'm wondering if he's back selling paint at the paint store? It's obvious his career will never go anywhere. Then Kris Allen has been doing okay, but he won't be a big star either.
Now that's six winners of "American Idol", how many of the other four can you name? Here's the other "winners" of "American Idol": Fantasia Barrino, Ruben Studdard, Taylor Hicks and one of my favorites, David Cook. I'm still so glad he won that year, knocking out Archuleta.
So how are you doing so far? How many of those did you guess? Now do you want a real challenge?How many of the second place finishers can you name? The second place finishers have mostly gone away. I'll give you some hints. One of them is on one of my favorite new shows from this season. One of the other second place finishers never seemed to fit on this mostly pop show, but she was easily the most talented of her season. Two other second place finishers I already mentioned above. Another second place finisher is probably more famous for his sexual orientation than his singing. I believe he also appeared on the ironically titled "Celebrity Apprentice". If you shake your head a bit, you might be able to loosen the name of who finished second place last year. How many of the 4 other second place finishers can you name?
Here's the wikipedia link including at least the Top 10 finishers from all 11 previous seasons and the contestants of this season:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_Idol_finalists
Let's go back to another singer from "American Idol". Carly Smithson is someone that I can't believe never made it, she has an amazing voice:
Sports notes. I'm so glad that the Thunder knocked off the Lakers to advance to the Western Conference Finals. The Thunder-Spurs matchup should be a hell of a series. That series starts on Sunday. In the Eastern Conference I hope to catch at least the last quarter of tonight's Heat-Pacers game. LeBron James and Dwayne "The Man" Wade put on an amazing show Sunday afternoon. When the Heat are firing on all cylinders, they are a thing of beauty to behold.
Although both the Clippers and Lakers are eliminated there's still at least one good team playing in LA. My Dodgers have been so much fun to watch this year. They've been playing so well. I heard someone speculate the other day that the reason the Dodgers are playing so much better might be because their ownership situation is cleared up. I can see that making a difference, but can it really be making that much of a difference? Maybe so.
I was flipping back and forth to this past Sunday's Sunday Night Baseball. I flipped on just in time to catch Scott Van Slyke hit that pinch hit 3 run home run. That proved to be the winning runs and it was a very cool moment. Although it's only been a quarter of a season, the Dodgers do have that feel of being a team of destiny this year.
Let's look at some of their numbers. The Dodgers have the best record in Major League Baseball at 29-13. In fact, the Dodgers are much closer to a .700 winning percentage than anyone is close to them. The Dodgers have won 5 games in a row and 10 out of 12. According to espn.com, LA's chances of making the playoffs are an incredible 92.9%. They lead the NL West's second place team, San Francisco, by 7 games. Oh yeah and Matt Kemp has set out the last few games with that injured hamstring. If healthy he's due back May 29th.
On the other hand a team that I also love, but definitely doesn't have the feel of destiny, is the Boston Red Sox. It's good to see that Kevin Youkilis should be coming back today. That makes me feel better. Although I wonder if it seems like the Red Sox have only been teasing me over their last 11 games. After a horrendous, ump slobbering his gum on Bobby Valentine, injuries galore, Josh Beckett melting down the Red Sox have regained their mojo just a bit. They have won 9 of their last 11 games.
However I just don't feel that this is going to be the year of the Red Sox (36.9 Poff%). Even after they won 9 of 11 games, they are still in last place in the AL East. Boston is tied with the hated Yankees (24.9 Poff%) at 21-21. Both teams are 5.5 games behind first place Baltimore (43.2 Poff% ), which is the team Boston played and beat last night. I'm guessing that the entire AL East is waiting for the Orioles to completely collapse and begin to play like the Orioles of old again.
The Atlanta Braves are also playing fairly well, they are 26-17 and first place in the NL East. Meanwhile the Pirates and Cubs, well never mind they are the Pirates and the Cubs.
themusicaddict
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