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  • Vital Idol: Andrew Lloyd Webber Celebrates Me Home

    Last night, Mike, our own writer and editor of this great site said that Andrew Lloyd Webber looked like he could be Austin Powers’ dad. Once he said that, I knew that it was going to be a fun night. Maybe not necessarily for the music because half of the Idol contestants butchered the songs, but more so for the awkwardness of the show and how uncomfortable everyone seemed. Andrew Lloyd Webber? Really? You want Jason Castro to sing this stuff? Only Syesha Mercado truly seemed comfortable and in her element, though David Cook did a good job too.

    Brooke White stopped and restarted the song because she forgot the lyrics. That’s how bad last night was. It would seem that it’s her turn to go home, but I know better than to think it’s a done deal.

    The group opens up with a little ditty from Andy Lloyd Webber called All I Ask Of You. Do you think anyone has ever called him Andy in his entire life?

    Ryno then interviews Lloyd Webber who says that Brooke is very talented and was flawless in rehearsal. I make all my jump shots in practice too. He also says that Jason Castro didn’t listen to him at all. I’m not sure Jason Castro’s attention span allows him to listen to anyone.

    President Bush and his wife (the Bushes?) talked about Idol Gives Back and George thanked America for their compassion. He looked like he was reading from queue cards. But he didn’t look great like this man reading from queue cards.

    Let’s get to the elimination.

    – Ryno brings out both Davids and tells them they are both safe. This means that out of the remaining four, (Carly, Jason, Brooke, and Syesha) three of them are not.

    – There has been a Clay Aiken sighting. I repeat. A Clay Aiken sighting. He kind of looks like the love child of Mrs. Garrett from Diff’rent Strokes and Edward Scissorhands.

    – Leona Lewis is singing Bleeding Love and my girl Jessica just said, “Is her shirt all bloody from her bleeding heart?”

    – She’s been compared to Mariah Carey and I think she copied Mariah’s dance moves as well. She’s doing pretty good impersonating the mic stand. That’s the same dance that Mariah did last week.

    – Syesha and Brooke White are up next. Brooke is safe which means that Syesha, Jason, and Carly are in the bottom three. Syesha’s afro just puffed out three inches further after Ryno read the card. Actually, they aren’t doing a final three, just a final two.

    – Ryno brings out Carly and Jason Castro’s Dread Locks and Jason is safe. America is wacky tonight.

    – Both girls who aren’t safe have to sing again, and after watching each performance, if Syesha goes home, you’ve got your first American Idol travesty of the year.

    – Tonight, Big Rube Studdard is going to celebrate Carly Smithson home.

    – Was it the tattoos? Was it her off one week on one week performances? Was it the fact that she talked about her problems with diarrhea on the air? Her lack of consistency as well as her lack of consistency? I think it’s probably a little bit of all of those, but the fact is, Jason Castro and Brooke White are just more likable to the majority of that fan base.

    – Seacrest out! Wait, did he say Neil Diamond is on next week? Um, can we have Andrew Lloyd Webber again?

  • Random Music Geekdom Plus A Tribute To Phyllis Hyman

    There’s so much crap I could talk about. Beyonce and Jay-Z are officially married, Kanye’s tour is getting rave reviews, Stone Temple Pilots may be recording an album soon, Weezer’s new album cover is indescribably gay, Winehouse is a hot mess…yada, yada, yada. But since I don’t really have anything to focus on, and there’s not a whole lot of really *musical* musical news going on right now, I figured I’d freestyle a little bit and back off a little from the typical topics, so…

    1) Please check out popdose.com. That site features contributions from some of the geekiest music geeks I’ve ever laid eyes on, and that’s said with lots of affection. I don’t always agree with what they say (and they share the typical suburban white attitude to a lot of R&B and hip-hop that gets under my skin from time to time…sidenote: why is it that if you’re black and you point out a trait that seems to be common to another ethnicity, you’re seen as a militant?), but they love their Eighties, they love their Michael McDonald, and they’re all very good writers. It is, hands down, my favorite music-related website around. Bookmark it, but make sure you read here first 🙂

    2) Because I’m a music geek like the Popdose guys, I’m starting to compile a list of the 500 Greatest Albums Made Since My Birth (for the record, I was born sometime in late spring 1976). There’ll be no Beatles, and the best of Motown will get left off, but I actually think I’m gonna go waay over 500 and then will require some paring down. Stay tuned. I’ll probably post it here when I’m done.

    3) I was a little bored (intentionally, I needed some chill time) last night and found myself wandering around YouTube, when I came upon a video clip that moved me so much I had to share it with you.

    Most of you do not know who Phyllis Hyman was. She actually never charted a single on the Billboard Top 100 singles chart (this was back in the days when R&B artists had to cross over in order to chart pop), although she scored something like 17 Top 40 R&B singles over the course of her career (hitting #1 with 1991’s “Don’t Wanna Change The World”. She was equally capable of singing jazzy torch songs as she was singing songs that subtly hinted at funk. She toured Broadway with the Duke Ellington tribute musical “Sophisticated Ladies”, and performed songs written by everyone from Barry Manilow to Hall of Famers and Philly Soul architects Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff. In the process of a nearly twenty-year career, she set the stage for mature R&B vocalists like Anita Baker and Sade.

    This performance is from a show that dates somewhere between 1986-1987. She apparently had just lost a good friend, and the writer of this song, Linda Creed (who also wrote “Betcha By Golly Wow” and “The Greatest Love of All”) had also just passed away from cancer. The woman is sobbing throughout the entire performance of the song and yet still gives it her all. It is a touching performance, almost painful to watch. But listen and you will fall in love with the power of this woman’s voice. I’ve been talking to friends lately about vocalists’ ability to inhabit a song. It’s what separates mere singers from legends. It’s what separates an Ashanti from a Mary J. Blige, you know? Phyllis was not only a great singer, she was a master interpreter.

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=pgT7AyPmjfM (here is the live performance)

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=uucSuUiKvcg (here is the original studio version of the song)

    http://terrencesays.blogspot.com/2006/11/saturday-morning-video-phyllis-hyman.html (a link to a 1992 performance on the Arsenio Hall show)

    Phyllis apparently felt the pain of the lyrics she sang in a very acute fashion. Racked for years by addictions to food and alcohol, feeling like she never got her due as a performer and suffering from bipolar disorder, she committed suicide in 1995.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Hyman

    http://www.phyllishymanstory.com/ (a book on the singer’s life was recently published)

    This, folks, is real music. Enjoy.

  • I Waited Till 6:15 To Post This Week’s New Releases Because…

    Well, because there really isn’t anything out worth your time. To wit…
    Ashlee Simpson “Bittersweet World”: I don’t *dislike” Ashlee Simpson the way I dislike…say, Avril Lavigne. She seems like a nice enough girl, her songs are pleasant without being irritating and that whole “SNL” lip-synching thing didn’t bother me because, well…people lip-synch on TV shows all the freaking time. It’s not like she was presented as this powerhouse diva and then got her spot blown up when the tape skipped, you know?
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=GsulZKXFxK8 (the video for “Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)”)
    Anyway, her third album backs away from the bratty power-pop of her first two albums and goes in a dance-pop direction, with the production provided by Timbaland and The Neptunes’ Chad Hugo, among others. I thought the first single, “Outta My Head”, was super-annoying, so I’m not going anywhere near this unless I get a freebie. However, the woman’s sold 4 million albums in her career, so it’s safe to say she has a pretty solid fanbase. She won’t be worrying about me.
    Carole King “Tapestry (Deluxe Edition)”: For a while, “Tapestry” was the biggest selling album by a female artist of all time, and rightfully so. It’s equal parts sweet soul and confessional singer-songwriter brilliance, with more than it’s share of standards. “I Feel The Earth Move”, “It’s Too Late”, “So Far Away”, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” are just some of the gems you’ll find on this album. Whether you buy this expanded edition (and I swear that it’s been remastered/repackaged half a dozen times) or just cop the original, “Tapestry” is an absolute must-have album.
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=Sb5MORLi8K0 (an excellent clip of “It’s Too Late”)
    Blind Melon “For My Friends”: How can the “No Rain” guys be back?, you ask. Didn’t Shannon Hoon, their lead singer, die from a drug overdose over a decade ago? Well, yes he did, but the band has finally decided to soldier on with a NEW lead singer. Why? I don’t know. But, figuring that I didn’t care much for the band when they were popular (and when their original lead singer was alive), I think it might be a good idea to pass on this one.
    (I don’t know that there’s an updated Melon page and no way I’m subjecting you to that damn Bee Girl)
    Whitesnake “Good To Be Bad”: No, David Coverdale’s not dead. In fact, he’s back with a new Whitesnake album. However, the fact that Coverdale has got to be about 172 by now, coupled with the fact that Whitesnake’s heyday is 20 years behind them, and added to the fact that Tawny Kitaen’s probably a little too old to flitter around on top of a car anymore ends up equalling one album no one in their right mind should care about.
    (I will subject you, however, to Tawny Kitaen: http://youtube.com/watch?v=oKTiwCez6Zs)
    There’s also…
    a love songs collection by Donny Osmond, who I’d make fun of if it didn’t seem like he had so much fun mocking himself…
    Ah, all of the Replacements’ Twin/Tone albums (including “Let It Be”, which critics splooge themselves over) are remastered and reissued today with bonus material.
    “Mess of Blues”, the album singer/guitarist Jeff Healey was working on at the time of his death from cancer, is being released today…
    …and that’s the best of a weak lot, folks. Next week will certainly be better!!
    Get a full list of this week’s releases here: http://www.pauseandplay.com/cdfront.htm