Idol Surprises

"Idols Give Back" was truly a remarkable television event. Though it was sensational in parts and definitely used music to manipulate the emotions, at some point no manipulation was needed for the reaction to certain video clips to be emotional and true. Seeing extreme poverty at home and in Africa, and seeing people dying or in pain, and knowing that the $3.80 I spent on a latte today could save someone else's life such as a child that has Malaria made me want to give and also made me cry. It was a great show and an unprecidented amount of money will be raised by the end of the night. For all of the American Idol haters, the show took a socially responsible stance tonight and for those who watched provided much to think about. So far over $30 million has been raised to help children in the U.S. and Africa. I've raised almost $2000 for the MS Walk through generous friends and that has take a lot of time but is something I'm proud of. I can't imagine the pride that comes from raising $30M.

My first surprise of the night was the impact of "Idols Give Back".

The second surprise was the final results portion of the show. It seemed that it was between Jordin and Chris. I was shocked when it seemed that Jordin was kicked off but then Ryan announced that no one would be kicked off this week. Next week, the bottom 2 will be gone. It was cruel thing to do to Jordin, to make her think she was done, but it is great that she'll have another chance. Next week, voting iwill be very important since this week's votes count towards next week's totals and 2 will be gone.

I don't have a review this week and still hold the opinion that the Top 4 should be Melinda, Jordin, La Kisha and Blake. I have a feeling that next week will be an upset for me. I don't want Chris gone but in order for me to be right, he and Phil will have to go.

Have a good week and if you didn't have a chance, now is your opportunity to make a difference in others' lives. Go to www.americanidol.com/idolgivesback and donate or if you are interested, I am also still raising money for MS and you can check out my MS Walk page by clicking here.

Help those with MS!

Hello Reader,

I set an audacious fundraising goal for this year's MS Walk and I need your help to reach my goal. Can you spare a few dollars? If so, please CLICK HERE! Any amount will help go towards finding a cure for MS helping me and over 400,000 others like me. MS has affected me for the past 6 years and I am fortunate to be able to participate in the walk while so many with the disease cannot.

ProFlowers is matching all money contributed so anything you give will be matched in kind. Don't forget that Mother's Day is May 13th btw. In thinking of work, I thought of mother. :)

Thank you!

Goodbye Sanjaya

It was a rough night on Idol for fans as favorites were put into the bottom 3. LaKisha, Blake and Sanjaya found themselves with the least votes this week and basically what this says is, "Fans, you have been called to action, start voting next week or the upsets will begin with the best leaving the show before they should." When there are too many similar yet strong contestants, the votes become diluted and shared between the most talented which can leave the truly less popular person with more votes in the end. It is kind of like having a Third Party candidate in a Presidential race.

Ultimately and gladly I report that Mr. Sanjaya Malakar ended his residency on the Idol stage. Justice has been served. Sorry Howard, votefortheworst.com and whoever else wanted to play a joke on Idol. You can beat that machine. And, shame on you for using a kid to do that. Sanjaya will probably come away with some entertainment career if he wants it. He's a good-looking, charismatic and entertaining guy who just needs a few years on him. Good luck, Sanjaya.

Country Week -- American Idol Top 6

Country music is not Simon Cowell's favorite, and historically is not the easiest for Idol contestants. That being said, this was a decent week for some and for one in particular more of a disappointment. Martina McBride was the guest and offered thoughtful advice that everyone should have listened to. I'll break it down from my perspective:

Phil Stacey: He did a good job this week though I just can't get past not liking his look. I think he wasn't the worst at all based on this week though and deserves to stick around. He was definitely in his groove with the country genre.

LaKisha Jones: Singing Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel", she over sang and overpowered a song that was probably just to simple for her big and soulful voice. She shouldn't have tried to sing the song as straight as she did. With a different arrangement, it would have been better. My hope is that she doesn't lose too many votes because it is this kind of performance at this stage in the competition that has hurt lesser contestants. Cross your fingers and hope that there is no upset tomorrow.

Chris Richardson: He wasn't awful this week but he also wasn't impressive. Chris probably won't make it past the Top 5 but he is one of my favorite to watch anyway, just in case he blows it out of the water.

Jordin Sparks: Again, this girl was amazing. She gave me chills and even brought herself to well up with tears. She is brilliant and at 17 shows an incredible amount of feeling in singing mature songs.

Sanjaya Malakar: I know I've consistently been hard on Sanjaya but this week he deserves it. Whatever about his hair...I don't even care anymore and actually I do think it is pretty cool that he can wear it any way and still look like a cute kid. His performance was simply not good tonight. When I heard he was singing "Something to Talk About" I thought, "well, maybe but I doubt he'll pull it off." He didn't. Like Randy and my roommate said, it was karaoke at best. I really think that he was the worst this week and should go. Cowell and Seacrest got into a little bickering match after Sanjaya's performance (the bickering between them is getting old) but Seacrest was off-base this time because Simon was right, it was really horrible.

Melinda Doolittle: Another solid performance so I'll talk about her hair. :) Melinda was very sassy and very cute tonight. She had extensions in her hair giving her a new, younger, fun look.

Blake Lewis: It is a toss up between him and Jordin this week but I think I may be most proud of Blake's performance and what he did with a Tim McGraw song. Without disrespecting or destroying the original song, Blake found an arrangement that worked well for him, his style, and his voice and literally made the song his own. It was different for him and he evoked the emotion of the song quite well.

We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Before I depart, I want to echo the sentiments of so many and say that my heart goes out to all of the families, students and others impacted by the shooting at Virginia Tech. There must be great pain for all involved and I cannot imagine for a moment what it must feel like to be the family of the shooter or the families of the victims. Peace be with you.

Nice Dress

I'll admit, I've watched an embarrassing amount of YouTube videos, good and bad, since discovering the site. I've sent links to some that weren't so funny and received links to some that I found to be just plain stupid. This is not the case with the video I'm including below. The video below is Fabulous! Brenda Dickson, a former star of Young and the Restless and most recently a jailbird (you can read hideously written press releases on her website, made this video in 1987. It is hilarious only because she is actually serious. She talks about fashion and make-up and looks ridiculous doing it. Check it out for yourself. It isn't funny at first but over time, you'll love her, girl!



Don't forget to check out Part 2 of "Welcome to My Home" when you're done with this one. You'll get more make-up tips and also invaluable information on nutrition!

Vonnegut

You have most likely heard by now that author Kurt Vonnegut has died. He gave compelling and entertaining interviews and I particularly enjoyed reading a particular one which can be found here. PBS is also streaming an interview here if you're most apt to listen to a writer than to read about him.
Sometimes only the fewest words can express the grandest sentiments and for that reason I say only that you will not soon be forgotten, Mr. Vonnegut.

Idol Chatter

Well, for those who do read my Idol reviews weekly, I'm sorry I missed the boat this week. It was a good week with Ms. J.Lo coaching the idols. I do enjoy J.Lo and her enthusiasm for music and the Idol contestants. I think the people who have done well, continued to do well and Sanjaya was creepy and weird as ever. Usually he isn't so creepy but his facial hair and odd come-hither on-camera face made me feel particularly disgusted this week. Still, it is now a toss-up for me on who I would like to see gone first, him or Phil Stacey. I'm more inclined towards Phil because I just can't stand the guy so I'll go with that. I'm hoping Phil is gone next week and then Sanjaya. That will make for a lovely Top 5. There is still an overall clear talent disparity between the girls and the guys where the girls have a clear advantage but depending on style and people living up to their full potential, Blake or Chris might make it into the Top 2. Hayley was kicked off right on time and I'm glad. Legs only get you so far and though I think Simon was a bit cruel in saying she figured out that she just has to wear as little as possible to stay on the show, he wasn't far off.

Until next week...

American Idol Top 9 Perform!

Another week, another Idol episode. This week Tony Bennett, one of my personal faves, was the guest on American Idol. It was clear that the contestants knew who Tony was and had respect for him which was a good thing. It is very frustrating when there is someone like him on the show, or someone who I as a music fan have great respect for is on the show, and it is clear the contestants don't really know who the artist is.

This season, for the most part, the Idol contestants are actual artists with a true appreciation and knowledge of the profession they are hoping to be a part of. It is a different season from last for me as there is no "Taylor", meaning there is no one I'm totally in love with, but there are a couple who I am passionate about and every week seeing them go up and perform and turn the songs into their own makes me happy and excited about what they'll do next.

Here is my opinion on this week's performances:

Blake Lewis (Mack the Knife): During the class with Tony, Blake went for a change in the tempo of the song. Tony called him on it and made the comment, "This song was written before rap," and explained a little about who "Mack the Knife" would have been (a tough gangster). It was interesting that Blake received this feedback when but not unusual since his creativity hasn't always been seen as beneficial to the original song (Diana Ross week). He wisely took the feedback and lent the proper style to the song. It was a solid performance and he looked good. It wasn't the best of the night but still, he should be back next week.

Phil Stacey (Night and Day): Tony paid Phil a great compliment about his voice. I have to agree that Phil does have a very nice, clear voice. My problem is just his look. He did improve that this week both with wardrobe and with hair. He still didn't really have hair though he had grown some shadow. The key was that he didn't wear a stupid hat. That is the worst look on him. Besides his looks, he did a nice job. The judges weren't that impressed but I actually was. There were a few lovely moments in the song and though there could have been more passion or sexiness involved, I think he gave a solid performance. I'm actually pro-Phil going to the next round.

Melinda Doolittle (I Got Rhythm): How cool is Melinda? She is one of my top contestants (not that I'm unique in that). She was great again and looked cute. I loved that she tells the story every time she sings a song. Randy mentioned this and Paula also talked about her having a beginning, middle and end to each song. Simon poked fun at that but I know what Paula is saying. The songs, even though they are excerpted, feel complete when Melinda sings. I don't know if it is her phrasing or the way she cuts the songs, but she always goes through to the entire feeling of the song. She has to be there next week!

Chris Richardson (Don't Get Around Much Anymore): Chris was cool tonight. That is the best word I can use to describe his performance. He respected the song but still made it his own and brought it into today. There are a few artists who cover the older songs and still add their own flavor and many who cover them in more of a mimic fashion. Chris has the ability to do the former and this earned him high marks from the judges. He looked great tonight too with a style that reminded of the past but also had today locked in.

Jordin Sparks ( ): This girl does not seem 17 at all. She is ridiculously talented and mature. It was pointed out that she differed from Chris in the fact that he took the song and made it young. It seems their biggest criticism of her is that she doesn't seem young enough but I think that is ok. If 'young' would compromise her, she should just be herself and sing as well as she does. Tony mentioned she had good instincts on changing the parts of the song she changed and it was great.

Gina Glocksen (Smile): I like Gina and thought her performance was sweet and vulnerable compared to her previous rockin' exhibits but I don't see her going much further in the competition. In comparing her to everyone else, she isn't on the same level. All of the people above are better performers and better singers. I wasn't digging her look tonight either and I think overall presentation there may hurt her. I don't know if it will be this week but we can expect her to be gone before the Top 5 I would think.

Sanjaya Malakar ( ): The judges have basically given up on even talking about his singing. They did say he performed well otherwise tonight which I have to say he did. He is an entertaining guy and reminded me of the Bollywood style. I still think this guy needs to go but whatever. There are a bunch of nerdy, thirty-something guys who are listening to Howard Stern tell them to vote for Sanjaya to keep him on the show and so they do. They are doing whatever they can to be cool since they aren't cool and think that doing what Howard says will make them cool. You're still not cool! Quit voting for Sanjaya! If you're a 12-year old girl who's in love with him fine but if you're a 34-year old guy trying to sabotage a show, grow up. :)

Hayley Scarnato ( ): Basically, if Sanjaya doesn't go, Hayley needs to. She's now the "legs" of the show. The judges didn't comment on her singing tonight for the most part, just her looks. I don't have much to say either. She is ok but not great and does have nice legs and a nice body. That's why her wardrobe is skimpy and she is still on the show. That's all I have to say about that.

LaKisha Jones ( ): Another solid performance. It is late so I'll say little else here but she should be on again. I think she, Jordin and Melinda are the greatest competitors and though i love Blake and Chris, I don't think they have much on these girls in this particular competition. As artists, they are all viable but I must say, I hope it is 2 girls battling it out in the end!

ABC Monday

I don't usually tune into ABC on Monday nights but since CBS wasn't up for entertaining me, I caught Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor. I didn't realize these shows were comedies!

Dancing with the Stars is pretty cool actually. I have always wanted to take dance lessons and really enjoy seeing everyone practice and perform. The comedy element for me really stems from some evil desire to see Heather Mills lose her leg. It is awful but I share that with you reader. She has to buy new legs for this show because different ones allow her to do different dances. I just don't like her. I've heard that Paul McCartney treated her terribly and even treated Linda terribly but still, I have always had something against her. Her leg didn't fall off but she did wear horrible shoes and the interviewer on the show was even tacky enough to mention it. Fun show!

The Bachelor season premiere showed after DWS and it was very entertaining. Since it was the premiere, the 25 female contestants were introduced and that was great. Most of them looked like they had spent about a week resting in a tanning bed before visiting an amateur hair colorist. They were quite interesting and just as I'm watching now, a few of the girls just substituted tequila for eggs in birthday cake. I like to party but even I stick with the recipe on the cake mix box.

There have been lots of desperate attempts to get Andy's attention tonight," is my favorite quote by one of the girls, Stephanie. It was insane. There was the "girl in the short dress" who did the snake, the crazy steroid Lisa Rinna with small lips girl, the girl who sang the Star Spangled Banner, the girl who did the flips, the girl was was so drunk she fell (hilarious!) and others vying for Andy's roses.

I'm concluding this before the end of the cheesily titled "The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman" but 10 girls are about to go home. I hope the drunk one, the muscular one and the girl who says "heinous" stay because there is sure to be drama with them.

We'll see. With a few of them, if they do get to stay, it must be love.