"AI" Season Finale Part 3

Hello again,

My last blog ended with my review of Keith Urban and Kris Allen's duet. Next Jasmine Murray, Megan Joy, Lil Rounds, Alexis Grace and Allison Iraheta all took the stage singing Fergie's "Glamorous". That segued into Fergie taking the stage singing "Big Girls Don't Cry". Fergie was looking amazing and that led to the reformed Black Eyed Peas taking the stage. They sang their new song "Boom Boom Pow". I had heard a lot of good things about this song, but had never actually heard this song. Honestly I was sort of bored by it. I'm a big Black Eyed Peas fan, but definitely not a fan of that song.

Next was another one of those lame Golden Idol Awards, this award was for Best Attitude. And the "winner" was Katrina Darrell aka Bikini Girl. (How many girls will we see wearing bikinis next season, including some girls who shouldn't be wearing bikinis.) Again another contrived producer's excuse to get her back on the stage in her bikini. She doesn't have the prettiest face ever but her body is near perfect. She started singing "Vision Of Love", sounding okay. Then out of nowhere Kara D. took the stage joining her in a sort of duet. There's some speculation whether this was a surprise to Darrell or not. In the end it doesn't really matter. Two interesting things about this performance, the first is Kara has a pretty amazing body as well. Even more amazing is that Kara can sing. That last thing was a revelation. She should use her exposure to get her singing career going. That would be a favor to all "AI" fans. She isn't that good of a songwriter and she's a terrible judge.

Next up was one of the many highlights of the night. Cyndi Lauper, looking amazing at 55, and Allison Iraheta sang a new arrangement of Lauper's "Time After Time". That cool new arrangement could be a hit today. Two great singers singing one of the classic 80's songs. That led into Lionel Richie and Danny Gokey taking the stage for a two song duet. They first sang a song "I Just Wanna Go" (or something like that) and that was an okay song. Then thankfully Richie and Gokey sang one of Richie's classics "All Night Long". That was great at least Lionel's part. Unfortunately Gokey stunk up the place with his less than vocals and his horrible white boy dancing. (Right now on Idolatry", Michael Slezak has a five part interview with Gokey. I could only watch about the first half of the first episode. Gokey is really annoying and he has a really off putting personality.)

Next up was Adam's journey. It seemed like the crowd response was louder for his journey than for Kris Allen's. That led into two great performances. Adam took the stage and sang a very good version of Peter Criss's "Beth". Although I was wondering why Lambert was wearing the "Edward Scissorhands" look. Kiss then joined him on stage and did fantastic versions of "Detroit Rock City" and "Rock N' Roll All Night". That was extremely cool. Although Adam your patented screech has got to go, it's so annoying. It only detracts from your performances. Later Gene Simmons was questioning Lambert's rock credentials, I think he's nuts. Lambert is a great rock singer, even though he doesn't fit that prototypical rocker look.

It was so good to see some true rock and roll on the Idol stage. There was more rock and roll yet to come. Next up was guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana. He played the guitar part on his hit "Black Magic Woman" like the master he is as the Idols sang. That led into Matt Giraud singing some of Rob Thomas's "Smooth". Another song that Santana had rocked with his guitar. That was very cool and the rock and roll wasn't done yet. Next it was the final Ford video, thank goodness for the DVR.

Steve Martin then took the stage with Megan Joy and Michael Sarver. Martin played the banjo and Sarver and Joy sang his original composition "Pretty Flowers". I wasn't expecting much from that collaboration but it turned out to be very cool. Ryan asked Steve Martin who he thought was going to win. Martin had the line of the night with, "I know it's a long shot, but I hope I do".

Next the Top 13 Idols sang Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" which led to the 64 year old Rod Stewart taking the stage. He sang one of his classics, and in my opinion probably his best song, "Maggie May". That is a very, very cool song and he still has the pipes to sing it. He wasn't like some of those old disco singers "AI" had dug up for disco week.

Speaking of dug up, we then had to put up with the return of Tatiana Del Torture. She's so damn annoying. The Top 13 returned to the stage singing Queen's "We Are The Champions" with Queen. (Rumors swirl that Queen would like to work with Adam Lambert, but my question does he want to work with them?)

At the 2:00 hour mark we are about to find out who the winner is. For me a very anticlimactic finish after all those great performances. I could care less who wins once the most talented of the bunch, Allison Iraheta, was voted off. In a fairly big upset Kris Allen is the winner. Please Kris Allen use some of your winnings to buy your Mom a dress and please burn that nasty red thing she was wearing. Kris Allen then was punished for winning by being forced to perform "No Boundaries" again. I'm sure Lambert was happy he didn't have to sing that janky song again.

So ends another season of "Idol". I'm glad that it's over, it's so nice to have my Tuesdays and Wednesdays back again. Although when it starts getting cold I'll be hankering for Season 9 of "AI" to begin. Hopefully the producers will make some big and productive changes before then. Kara has got to go. We need judges that know the difference between what "early Aerosmith" is and what it isn't. All the time they cut from the mostly lame judge critiques can go to giving the singers more time to sing. (Imagine that the singers having more time to sing on a singing competition. "AI" producers that is why us fans tune in. We don't tune in for Simon Cowell, Ryan Seacrest or the seemingly never ending torrent of filler.) I'd actually like the Idols to sing the full song, no matter how the long the song is. They can always expand the show. We really don't need the judges telling us what to think.

Also the producers need to find a good song for the winning Idol to sing. Maybe even recycle a song that has been around for awhile. I can't think of an artist that hasn't done at least one cover in their career. I know they won't but it would be nice to get rid of the Ford video. I would also like to have to see the Idols have more time so they can prepare more for their songs.

Hopefully soon I'll find some time to write my No Doubt and Paramore full review. Let me give you a quick heads up. My wife and I watched "Seven Pounds" last night. Whatever you do skip that movie. It's too long and so slow moving. It's a very boring, winding and pointless movie. It tries to tap your emotions but it just bored me.

themusicaddict

Check out the latest Idolatry, including a season ending three parter. They also have a 5 parter of Michael Slezak interviewing Dny Gokey Slezak nor I liked him

Adam Lambert is officially coming out of the closet. Kara D. talked about it on The View and allegedly he's going to out himself in RS. Again y do people care?

Susan Boyle continues to charm the world. This past week was the semi-finals of Britians Got Talent. After a rough start, she finished with power. Finals Sunday

"AI" Season Finale Part 2

Hello,

I'm sorry it has taken so long to get to this part of my review of the "AI" season finale. Right now I'm in the middle of five straight days, being gone from my house for 11 hours each day. Thankfully I have lunches and breaks when I write quick mobile blogs. Tonight I actually went in and expanded some of my mobile blogs. I just get to the point where I really want to expand on a point, but with only 160 characters I can't.

On with the review of results night for the finals: Ryan Seacrest called this show The Final Showdown and also "one of the biggest nights on television". The hype machine known as "American Idol" continues to be as subtle as a sledgehammer. There were just under 100 million votes for the finale. Don't get me wrong I love "Idol" but by the end of the season I'm ready for it to be over, especially with this season's less than exciting three. It was so nice to come home this week and not have to worry about watching "AI" this week. I'll have to open up some time for TV when the excellent "Mad Men" starts up again soon.

Next was a segment of the show where Randy Jackson was ruthlessly mocked for his stupid "for me, for me" phrase. The way that video was cut was pretty funny. That is one of the 7 phrases he now says, that's up from the five phrases he was using last year. Can we just get rid of him? You'd think the producers would watch that film clip and realize how little Jackson adds to the show. Yeah, I know they won't. He'll be around as long as he wants.

The other judge clips mocked Kara in how she breaks bad news to contestants, usually attached to the word "sweetie". Then Ryan said Paula had the biggest vocabulary. One of the biggest ditzes on TV has the "biggest vocabulary"? Those words must come from her word of the day desk calender. Rereading those last two paragraphs I keep on thinking to myself why do they keep those three judges. The producers lack of changes is what is going to drive this show into the ground. I'd be very surprised if this show survives to it's 11th season. It it survives to it's 11th season it would probably be on the WB.

The Top 13 took the stage in matching white outfits singing Pink's "So What". That actually sounded pretty good. I was thinking please let the camera stay on the gorgeous Megan. She is such a fine looking woman and she now has blond hair. I'm anxious to see what kind of careers she, Allison Iraheta and Alexis Grace will have. I'm not really caring about what kind of career Kris Allen has. For Danny Gokey all I'm hoping is that he fades into obscurity as quickly as possible. My opinion recently dropped even lower of him when I found out he's trying to finangle a spot on "Dancing With The Stars". "Stars" apparently now has a pretty loose definition. Since when did coming in third on a reality show make one a "star"?



Last season's winner, David Cook, then took the stage and sung his new song, "Permanent". Now like Carrie Underwood, he's a true star. It's always good to see him back on the "Idol" stage. I'm so happy that he defeated David Archuleta last season. "AI" made that song available on iTunes to raise money in honor of Cook's brother, who recently died.

Ryan then announced the first of three Golden Idol Awards, this one honoring Nick Mitchell aka Norman Gentle. He won the award for outstanding male performance. That led to his performing "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" for the fourth time this season. He has sung that a lot of times, but I still laughed as much as I did the first time he did it. He's such a breath of fresh air and I still think he should be on "AI" every week. He could be a co-host. He's such a breath of fresh air for such a heavily structured show.

Next it was time for this season's jankiest female personality, Lil Rounds. She sang "Cue The Rain" with Queen Latifah. The song was okay. If that is the last time that I ever see Rounds that would be fine with me. She never lived up to all her early season promise. She was one of the biggest disappointments of the season. That led into the next performance when Anoop Desai and Alexis Grace sang "I'm Yours" with Jason Mraz. That was okay, but I'm not sure why that song is so popular. I don't even know if that is one of his 10 best songs.

We then had to see a torture worse that water boarding, Kris Allen's "Idol" journey. I took that as a perfect opportunity for a bathroom break. The part I saw though, I kept on thinking he really won? His "Heartless" performance was fantastic but for me, that was his only highlight of the season. That led into his performance of "Kiss You Now" with Keith Urban. Keith Urban looked like a true star and he overwhelmed Kris Allen so much in star quality. Sometimes when the Idols sing with a much more experienced singer, you remember how much these Idols have to learn.

Part 3 will hopefully be coming this weekend. Also coming up reviews of Green Day's "21st Century Breakdown" and the No Doubt and Paramore concert. themusicaddict

Hello,

Two new songs to check out: "Still Have My Heart" by Caitlin Crosby and "Sugar Foot" by Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears. Both are great and happy songs. Also both are perfect for summer. themusicaddict

Hello,

Out of all of No Doubt's CDs I think the best one is "Rock Steady". It has "Hella Good", "Hey Baby", "Making Out", "In My Head", "Detective" and many other solid songs. Tragic Kingdom is also a great CD. No Doubt is trying to use the tour to stir up their creative juices. They plan on making a new CD, once their 55 city tour is over. That new CD should be out in 2010. themusicaddict