American Idol - Week Whatever

I didn't think it was possible to make the Beatles songs sound crappy, but apparently, it's do-able.

Admittedly, the contestants only had 28 songs to choose from (for some reason), but it's not so much their choice of songs, but rather their hideous performances (for the most part).

I'm not going to rehash all the diatribes that have been written about Kristy Lee Cook. Suffice it to say, she's never heard Beatles songs before?? Seriously??

And one more thing, Kristy ~ Don't change the melody to a well-known and beloved song of the sixties. You were apparently trying to make it sound country, but all you succeeded in doing was ruining a great song.

But enough about her.

As I was thinking about this week's installment of AI, I started to wonder about something.....Has any contestant made it all the way through by only singing ballads? Because it occurs to me, even this early in the game, that the outcome is sort of a foregone conclusion. Simply because all the "tweens" have obviously made their choice, and they appear to be very single-minded in their adoration.

But what happens if the little guy actually is forced to sing an up-tempo number at some point during the competition? Will it matter? Will it make any difference? Cuz he only has one strong suit, and that's ballads.

Don't get me wrong. I think he's a really good singer. But let me point this out once again......

Isn't it about who is gonna sell records? Who's commercial? Face it, out of six previous seasons, there are only two winners who are actually selling records. And I may be wrong, but I think only those two even have record deals anymore. Oh, excuse me. I guess Jordin still has her deal (duh ~ for now). Oh sure, people were all a-twitter about Mr. Soul Patrol, for example. But did he sell any records? No.

And once the newness wears off, our youngster isn't going to sell records, either.

So, if you're looking at the whole thing objectively, there's one, maybe two, contestants who are, in fact, commercial. I don't know why people keep forgetting that aspect of it. It seems like a no-brainer. I guess everyone just gets caught up in the competition and/or the "cuteness" of the Idol wanna-be's.

And, P.S. to those who are pimping Carly. She had a record deal, and sold 200, count 'em, 200 CD's.

So, to rehash this week's performances, they went something like this:

Blah, blah, blah, YIKES! Blah, blah, blah, ISH. Blah, HEY! Then Blah.

(I might have them somewhat out of order of their actual appearance.)

Once again, let's give it up for David Cook (commercial!)

And no, he actually is as good as he thinks he is, Simon.

But to give the little guy his due, this was, to me, begrudgingly, the best performance of the night:



A couple of postscripts, if I may:

• For those who were so enthralled by Syesha's performance of "Yesterday", she didn't hit the high notes. And frankly, I fast-forwarded through the second half of her song, because, let's face it, everyone, including my cat, has done that song at one time or another. And, trust me, Bob Cat is just morose enough to pull it off.

• We can quibble as to whether Kristy or Amanda should have been kicked off first, but I will say that Amanda did not sing one note on key through the entire song. So, comme ci, comme ça, as my dad would say.

Did I Say I Wouldn't Post About American Idol Very Much?

Hey, I'm sticking to that. Really. I mean it. At least today.

The thing is, you just get caught up in it. It's Topic A at work. Everyone's got their opinions, their favorites. It's no use arguing with them. I will say, though, that most people are wrong.

Ha Ha - I'm just kidding. Okay, no, I'm not really kidding. It just sounds kind of rude to say that most people are wrong. Even if they are.

But anyway, I watched this week's episode today (yes, I am behind the curve, but there is actually a good reason why I can't watch the show "live".)

And, even this early in the competition, I have settled on my favorite. I was a bit on the fence before today. I liked this person before ~ this person is original. This person has a great voice. I guess what I was on the fence about was this person's personality. Oh, let's face it, we want to like the person who's delivering the song. That's a big part of the overall entertainment experience.

I didn't know much about this person, in the few performances I'd seen. But now I know that this person is humble, and funny. So, great voice, originality, humble, funny. I've settled on my favorite.

DAVID COOK



Oh, and by the by. Those people who are wrong, and have picked your favorites for all the wrong reasons......Ask yourself, would you buy a CD from your favorite? No? Okay. Then you agree that I'm right. All righty then.


P.S. My second favorite is Jason Castro, but he won't win, of course. But what a breath of fresh air this kid is.

The Inevitable American Idol Post

I don't plan to discuss American Idol here very often. Face it, you read about it everywhere. Who needs another blog about it?

That said, since this is a "popular music blog", it's kind of hard to ignore the biggest "POP-ular" phenomenon of the past seven years.

Granted, the show is cheesy in many ways. And it's manipulated. Let's take this season, for example:

You can't tell me that the 24 contestants who were ultimately chosen were the best of the auditioners. If that's the case, then wow, the rest must have been awful! I could take a look at the contestants' pictures on the AI site and X out the ones who will be leaving in short order. They're just filler.

I watched the pre-season auditions, and, unlike many viewers, I actually wanted to see the good performers, as opposed to the bizarre, "I'm just doing this to get on TV" auditioners. It's fun to try to pick out the really good singers. And there were some really good singers, but for whatever reason, once we got to the "Hollywood Round", we never even saw them again. But I guess they all still have their MySpaces pages, so whatever....

But back to the ones who did make it through to the final 24. Well, we've got a gaggle of interchangeable blondes. We got a few "rockers" (I like how they call them the "rockers" ~ as opposed to what? The "karaoke-ers"?) Bottom line is, we've got the requisite number of contestants that fit into the most popular demographic groups.....the young'ns, the blondes, the "rockers", the "broadway-musical-ers", the "country-ers"; then the ones who don't seem to fit neatly into any of the afore-mentioned categories.

Oh, I almost forgot. Also, we always have to have that one contestant that nobody likes. I think this person is deliberately chosen as well. This year, it's Kady (the one who pouts after the judges rip her to shreds).

As opposed to all the hype originating from the show's producers and judges, I think this season is, by comparison, one of the weaker seasons, as opposed to the GREATEST EVER!**

DISCLAIMER: Anyone who thinks that AI is strictly a singing competition is sadly misinformed.


I'm at somewhat of a disadvantage, in some ways, because I record the show and watch it on the weekends. By that point, I already know who's been booted off. But it's not like I'm going to call in and vote anyway. On the other hand, I do have the advantage of being able to fast-forward through the 85 minutes of commercials and filler, and only watch the 5 minutes of actual program. This saves me a lot of time.

But back to the show......

Already, at this point, some contestants have been sent packing (although not necessarily the correct ones).

So, what we're left with is, again, a bunch of filler and about 4 - 5 actual contenders.

I don't claim to know much about most of these people (it's a bit too early to have them memorized), but my observations at this point:

• Kristy Lee Cook (one of the blondes) ~ I think she's supposed to be country. At least I read that she, at one time, had a record deal in Nashville. Pretty good singer, but she has the same (lack of) personality as Carrie Underwood. I was a big fan of Carrie when she was on AI, but let's face it, she has the personality of a broom. I think KLC is even more wooden than Carrie, and not as good of a singer, by any means.
  


• Kady Malloy (another of the blondes) ~ I hate her. She's a real pain in the ass. Sure, she does impersonations, but can she actually impersonate a real human being? Apparently, no.
  


• Chikezie ~ Anyone with only one name, get off the show! That's a really impertinent gimmick, especially for someone that no one has ever heard of before. Plus, the first week of the semi-finals, he was so woefully off-key, I thought a trap door might suddenly open up, and down he'd go.
  


• Danny Noriega ~ Well, just....ish. I don't like him. He's a bit too "programmed". And what's with the finger-snapping? He's no Bobby Darin singing "Mack The Knife", for god's sake.
  


• Michael Johns ~ the Australian dude. At first, in the preliminary rounds, I thought he was pretty good. He's still okay, but I think he'll hang around more for his looks than for his singing.
  


• Carly Smithson ~ technically a very good singer. But there's been so much backlash against her for previously having a record deal (by the way, her CD only sold 300 copies!), that I think while she will go pretty far, she has no chance of actually winning. Plus, she has been over-hyped. It's not that she's not good. I just can't seem to put my finger on it. Maybe it's just that people root for the underdog, and she seems more like an "overdog".

I won't comment on a bunch of the others, because, frankly, they won't be around that long anyway.

Here are the ones I either really like, or kinda like, or at least seem interesting:

• David Cook ~ one of the "rockers". I like him; he's authentic. He's actually been "rockin'" in real life, not just singing in front of the mirror, like some of the others. Of course, I liked Robbie, too, and he's already gone. The judges basically got him booted off. I don't think they liked him....as a person, I mean. But back to David. He'll probably go semi-far, but he's no Chris Daughtry. But I do like that he's authentic.
  


• Brooke White ~ I like her a lot. She doesn't have the correct age demographic to win, but she will have a career in music, if she wants one. I hope that she writes, too, because she could have a nice career, if that is the case. She's chosen songs so far that highlight her talent. She's also pretty real, it seems, although I do not believe for a minute that she suddenly "discovered music" while she was in beauty school. She plays both piano and guitar; she's an excellent singer. You can't tell me that the light bulb just suddenly came on while she was shampooing someone's hair; "Oh, how about music?" Nah.......
  


• Ramiele Malubay ~ She has a beautiful voice. The first week, when she sang the Dusty Springfield song, it was beautiful and a refreshing change from the "screamers". Very controlled and melodical. No theatrics. That's why she won't win, I guess.
  


• Jason Castro ~ ha ha ~ I have to chuckle, because he's kind of goofy, but I really do think he's got a LOT of talent. And he's got a winning personality; not fakey! I hate fakey. And I thought he did a nice job on the Andy Gibb song. I'll admit, I haven't yet seen his performance of "Daydream", but I haven't deleted it from my recorded programs yet, so I'll still watch it eventually. And why are the judges telling him to lose the guitar? They have such weird biases about stuff. Leave him alone. If he wants to play the guitar, just shut up about it.
  


• David Archuleta ~ well, this kid certainly has it all going for him, doesn't he? Every site I've been on is already predicting him to win. That's putting a lot of pressure on this kid at this stage of the game. I don't think he'll crack under pressure, though. He seems to be a natural. I'll admit, I read all the hype about his performance of "Imagine" before I actually got to watch it for myself, so I was prepared to be underwhelmed. I have to admit, though, he did a really amazing job on the song. I also like that he's real, and not programmed (see Danny Noriega, above). But it's still really early, so anything can happen. But he's definitely the one to watch.

I suppose somebody that I like will be gone before the week is out. That's usually the way it goes. But I guess we'll see.

RAMIELE MULABAY - YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME



DAVID ARCHULETA - IMAGINE