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Tag: American Idol

  • American Idol Season 10 – Who Makes The Final 10?

    I didn’t hear any spoilers for the show tonight, but I did hear that the bottom three was quite unexpected. I’m intrigued, but also very scared.

    They introduced the judges and finally, J. Lo is wearing a semi-tight skirt, but they barely give us a booty shot. Does J. Lo have it in her contract that they can’t shoot a booty shot?

    Sugarland is performing. My buddy Matt Bjorke is probably happy about that. Speaking of my buddy Matt, he interviewed Simon Cowell about his show “The X Factor” at his website, Roughstock. It’s a fun read.

    Jennifer Hudson is also going to perform tonight which is good timing because I recently heard someone compare Jacob Lusk to Jennifer Hudson. There is a lot of negative buzz for Jacob in the Twittersphere and on Facebook (remember when all the negativity used to come from the Blogosphere?) because of his over-the-top singing and his stage theatrics. There was similar negativity for Jennifer back in season three, but it was more so because of what was perceived as an attitude problem because she didn’t like Simon’s negative feedback.

    The crew is singing Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. It was very American Idol-esque, but not bad at all. And really, if you screw up that song, you should just stop singing.

    And just like that, behind the curtain comes Steveland Wonder. My heart is warmed. How many real live legends are able to walk on stage with some American Idol kids and still rock it? He’s singing Signed, Sealed, Delivered. And then he performed Happy Birthday for Steven Tyler.

    Ryno just asked for the lights to be dimmed. He calls up Lauren, Pia, and Scotty. Ryno told them that they’d all be packing their bags… because they’d all be going on the summer tour. Lauren nearly jumped out of her dress.

    Sugarland is out to sing Stuck Like Glue. The lead singer Jennifer Nettles is rocking a salmon colored blazer, green pants, and red shoes with a turquoise scarf tied around her waste.

    They talked about James’ fascination with wrestling. Naima keeps saying that it’s fake. Naima baby, if wrestling was real, people would die inside the ring. And yes, soap operas and movies are fake too. James did a promo as The Miz and said he was awesome.

    Ryno asked Paul and James to the center. And, um, Hulk Hogan came out on stage and James marked out like no one else I’ve ever seen. The Hulkster told them that they were both safe. He said the bad news is that Ryno Seacrest was not safe and threw a great worked punch that Ryno sold terribly.

    Ryno calls up Jacob, Thia, and Stefano to the stage. Jacob is safe, but Thia and Stefano are in the bottom three.

    Naimi, Haley, and Casey are called to the stage. Naima is safe which means that either Haley or Casey is in the bottom three. Casey is in the bottom three. I still think his Nirvana performance hurt him more than helped him.

    It’s Jennifer Hudson time. Or at least half of what I remember Jennifer Hudson to look like time. The girl lost so much weight. I don’t think she could play Effie White anymore. What’s funny is that on the same show that Hulk Hogan appeared on, Hudson is on. Why is that funny? Jennifer Hudson is married to WWE wrestler David Otunga. Good old George Huff was singing background for Hudson.

    I think there’s a good chance that the crew saves Casey if he for any reason is out. But they don’t save either Stefano or Thia. Ryno sends Thia back to safety so it’s between J. Lo’s favorite Stefano and Casey.

    Stefano is safe, which means Casey has to sing for his Idol career. I don’t think the crew should use their save because sooner or later, they’re going to have to save Jacob. But Randall didn’t even let him finish singing and Steven Tyler said they were going to save him. Casey looked like he was going to have a heart attack. He couldn’t believe it. It did make for a pretty great moment.

    Ryno announced that it will now be a top eleven for the tour, but next week, two people will go home. All in all, it was great live TV.

    Photo of Jennifer Hudson by Wikipedia and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

  • The New American Idol Judges Are …

    The new American Idol judges are … exactly who we heard they would be.

    Ryan Seacrest confirmed it on his Twitter account earlier today.

    It’s official: your new #IdolJudges panel is @yo_randyjackson, @JLo & Steven Tyler! RT!

    To me, Jennifer Lopez isn’t a surprise at all. Though not a very talented singer, she’s done more with her talent than almost anyone in the world of Hollywood and music. Did you see any other In Living Color dancers become the biggest female star in Hollywood and top the pop music charts? And, let’s not forget this; this show is in HD and Lopez still looks fantastic.

    The surprise is Steven Tyler. For one, he’s not necessarily someone who I can completely understand when he speaks. His signature wail works on records, but doesn’t necessarily work on a show when it’s his job to critique singers to an audience of some 20 million viewers. Also, he’s almost too professional for these amateur singers. It’s the same reason Michael Jordan would never be a good coach. He’d expect too much out of players who can never be nearly as good as he is. I think it’s the same deal with Tyler. Unless he has the ability to see things that Simon Cowell could see, I really wonder how long Tyler lasts.

    The last thing is that this show is still missing a Simon type of character who is the last word. It really didn’t matter what Randy, Paula, or Kara ever said. Simon had the last word and his word was the word that mattered. Who is going to be that judge this year? That’s where they are empty.

  • The Wednesday Night Awesome: John Farnham “Age of Reason” (1988)

    Johnny Farnham was an Australian teen idol and television actor throughout the 60s and 70s. In the early 80s, he recorded an album with producer and Little River Band principal Graeham Goble. When lead singer Glenn Shorrock left that group, Goble recruited John Farnham to be his replacement. The arrangement was unhappy and short-lived. After years of artistic marginalization, Farnham’s star was finally back on the rise and he felt himself anchored to a band that had always been plagued with complicated internal politics, and was then, in addition, simply becoming less popular worldwide. In 1985, Farnham acheived international stardom with his album Whispering Jack and its signature single “You’re the Voice.” Bye-bye, Little River Band. That hit only dented the U.S. charts, and then, only when it was included on a Greenpeace charity compilation three years after its original release. It would be 20 years before Farnham would have his next brush with fame in America – and that would be only vicariously via David Archuleta’s performance of the song during Season 7 of American Idol. (Simon was the only one at the judge’s table who knew the song – and he called Archuleta’s take on it – rightly – a “theme park” performance.) Despite the fact Farnham remains virtually unknown here (I mean, if Randy and Paula haven’t heard of him, right?), he’s still a big star in Australia, and in 1988, he followed up Whispering Jack with the album Age of Reason, whose gorgeous title track is not only awesome, but gave him a No. 1 hit in his home country.