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Tag: Joss Stone

  • American Idol Season 9 – Idol Gives Back + The Top 7

    I have to share with you a very sad experience. Last night, after I came home from work, I turned on my TV and noticed that I had no cable signal. I looked on the DVR for my saved programs and there was something missing. There was no recording of Tuesday’s American Idol broadcast. Thus, it broke my streak of blogging every single show for my personal website since the start of season two. My oldest son was two years old when I started blogging the show. He’s now ten.

    What’s Left Of Nick And Me?
    I felt empty inside. What was I to do? It’s not like I could go to iTunes and download the show to watch. They let you download the performances, but not the entire show. And why does that even make sense? I felt lost. It was like something was taken away from me. I felt like Nick Lachey after he divorced Jessica Simpson. What was really left of me?

    And I get home today and predictably, the cable is still out. So I had to sneak into the house of my ex-wife while everyone is sleeping to blog tonight’s show for you. That’s how hardcore I am. Oh yeah, and Charter Communications can go run in front of the BART train that also made me late today.

    Tonight is Idol Gives Back which is the charity driven show that they put on every two years. It’s also cut down day to the final seven. Since I didn’t see Tuesday’s show, I really have no idea who did well and who didn’t. But based on the previous weeks, my guess is that not many people did well. In fact, I’d bet that Crystal was the best and everyone else was below her and not close. It’s Crystal and the pretenders.

    On with the show…

    Ryno immediately throws the show to the Obamas. You know you’re big time when you can just throw it to the President of the United States. Is it just me or do the President and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson have similar cadence when they talk. I’m not saying the Pres stole from The Rock, but I guaran-damn-tee you that he’s seen a Rock promo before and might’ve swagger jacked the Rock a bit.

    I’m donating tonight by buying some songs on iTunes.

    Ryno throws it to Queen Latifah who is hosting the live performances in Pasadena. First Ryno throws it to the Pres and then he throws it to the Queen. That’s a U-N-I-T-Y.

    Hey, they let Andrew and Paige Miles back in the building. Is that Didi Benami? I forget Minnie Mouse’s name.

    Jen Garner, aka Mrs. Ben Affleck is the first celeb to show us who we’re giving back to tonight. Obviously, I’m not going to joke about this part of the show because it really is a great idea. But you better believe that when The Black Eyed Peas come on the stage, I’m making Fergie jokes up the wazoo.

    Hey, the original creepy AI contestant, Constantine is on screen. Oh, no, that’s Russell Brand. I think we should have a skinny contest between Victoria Beckham, Russell Brand, and Carrie Underwood. Loser has to eat a hamburger.

    The Black Eyed Peas are performing on Latifah’s stage. My best friend Fergie Ferg is actually looking halfway decent tonight. Well, halfway decent for someone with a face that resembles a baby pony. You have to give it to her on her body though. Like she once said, she works on her fitness. Too bad we can’t give her any exercises for her face.

    Ryno just introduced George Lopez. He’s judging the judges. He calls Randy, Lionel Pitchie. Since he’s the only brother on the show, he’s safe.

    He calls Kara, Karla DiGuido. Since she posed naked for a magazine, she’s safe.

    It’s Ellen’s turn. She’s the Kourtney Kardashian of the crew. Whatever that means. And she’s safe.

    He asks Simon, “Saline or silicone?” Simon’s safe because of the volcanic ash that keeps people from traveling. Ok, that bit didn’t work at all. I love me some George, but he forgot to say, “Sabes que,” at least once. Tonight, he wasn’t a Mexican, he was a Mexican’t.

    It’s time to put someone in the bottom three. Ryno asks Crystal and Casey to join him in the center of the stage. Ryno says one of the two of them was in the bottom three. Casey might as well just walk over there now. Yep, he’s in the bottom three.

    Aaron and Lee are now in the center. Ed Grimley Jr. sang I Believe I Can Fly last night? Man, I was going to call that one. One of the two are in the bottom three. Lee DeWeed is safe. The youngling is in the bottom three.

    Back to the Queen’s side of things, Jeff Beck and Joss Stone are performing I Put A Spell On You. I wonder if Raphael Saadiq is around anywhere. I think Joss Stone is trying to become the American Idol. Someone needs to tell her she’s not being judged and doesn’t have to try to impress Simon so hard.

    Hey, David Arquette was in the audience. I might’ve been the only person to recognize him. I guess the former WCW champion isn’t big enough to be part of the show.

    Big Morgan Freeman and Randy Jackson spent sometime in Mississippi and they want to save the children.

    Junk In The Trunk
    It’s Alicia Keys time. I don’t care what anyone says. Alicia is fine. She does get minus points for breaking up Swizz Beatz’s marriage though. Hey, I guess no one’s perfect. We’ll see a terrible case of noassatall soon with Carrie Underwood, but Alicia absolutely doesn’t have that problem. Even though they’re in LA, she decides to perform her version of Empire State Of Mind.

    Hey, Carrie came on stage earlier than I thought. Luckily for us, she’s wearing a dress that isn’t hugging her hips and backside. If Alicia Keys has junk in the trunk, Carrie’s trunk is empty. Can’t even fit a cooler back there. Carrie’s singing Change. I think I’ll buy this performance as part of my donation tonight.

    Oh, that’s why David Arquette was in the front row. He and Ellen were shown at a food bank. I’ve worked in a kitchen in which we helped to feed people in San Francisco before. I can vouch that it’s a great way to give back. I’m just bummed that David Arquette isn’t wearing his WCW championship belt while helping put the food together.

    I love me some Elliott Yamin. He’s my favorite Idol contestant ever. But why does he wear the Rocky IV beard from when Rocky ran the mountains in Russia? It’s not a good look man.

    Back to the results, Ryno asks creepy girl, Big Mike, and Big Time Timmy Jim to join him in the middle of the stage. Creepy girl gets to go back and sit down. Big Mike is also safe and Teflon Timothy is back in the bottom three.

    The stories that really get to me are the ones where the poor kids are born with HIV and get full blow AIDS as children. Annie Lennox was supposed to perform live, but because of the volcano, she’s not there live. Instead, she performed via video with a shirt that said, “HIV POSITIVE”.

    Mary J. Blige, Orianthi, Randy Jackson, and some other folks whose names I didn’t catch are performing Stairway To Heaven. I think I’ll buy this one too. I also see Travis Barker playing the drums. No one told him about the dress code. I’ve dressed nicer while taking out the garbage in the morning.

    Elton John is performing and unfortunately for probably only just me, he’s not singing Measure Of A Man. That’s my favorite Elton song. I may know only one other person who also counts that as his favorite Elton song.

    You’re out of time, your out of place, look at your face, it’s the measure of a man!

    It’s time to eliminate a sad young man. Ryno first sends Ed Grimley Jr. back to safety so it’s Casey and Timothy who are left.

    And it’s young Timothy who leaves us. Well, it’s only about 14 weeks too late.

    I’m going to buy some songs on iTunes for Idol Gives Back. But, Timothy’s going to have to leave right now.

    Photo of Alicia Keys shared through Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

    Photo of Nick Lachey shared through Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

  • American Idol Season 8 – Motown Showdown

    Smokey in concert
    Smokey in concert

    Ok, so I have to say that last night’s show was one of the more fun Idol shows that I can remember. Many of the performances were better than good and there were only a few that were hard to sit through. Plus, we had Smoke Dog Robinson. What more could you ask for?

    Well, tonight we not only get Smoke Dog performing (with Joss Stone for some reason), but we also get Ruben Studdard and Stevie Wonder. If I were a mean person I’d wonder if the American Idol folks promised a buffet tonight. But I’m not mean.

    And though I wanted to see Steveland do more Burnin’ Up with the Jonas Brothers, it sounds like he’s going to do a Motown medley. That’s all good in my book. What’s Ruben going to do? I’m guessing he’s going to either celebrate someone home, or perform something from his new album which comes out very soon.

    Before I get to the show, did you know that Kara DioGuardi is 38 years old? I’m not usually into older women, but you know, she could probably change that.

    The 10 contestants are doing a Motown medley. Word came out today that these medleys are pre-taped and the contestants lip sync on stage. Really? Someone had to actually research this? Considering that these contestants get hammered for missing notes and being pitchy all the time, I figured they had to be pre-taped. They wouldn’t let them go live especially while trying to remember dance steps.

    Big Rube Studdard is on stage now and he hit one long note and is already sweaty. How did that happen? The song is nice, but it’s not going to be Big Rube’s comeback song.

    They show footage of the contestants flying from Los Angeles to Detroit in a jet. They show poor Scott yawning so they can make fun of him. How the heck was Scott supposed to know the camera was there? Someone on that show has a cruel sense of humor.

    Adam is up first and they’re getting him out of the way first. He’s safe. By the way, his hair-do is back to Adam normal, which is just not normal for anyone else who didn’t go to the Adam Ant or Culture Club school of fashion. I did buy his version of Tracks Of My Tears on iTunes and sadly, it’s a studio version rather than the live version. It’s still nice, but it’s missing the component of him actually hitting those notes live.

    Here’s a bad copy of Adam’s brilliant performance from last night. So far, this one hasn’t been taken down.

    Matt is next up and he either has a huge zit on his forehead or it’s a mole. Have I not noticed that before? Matty is in the bottom three. America, I’m shaking my head at you. But Kris is safe. Of course he is. The guitar is more loved than the piano.

    Lil Rounds is safe, but Michael is not. America, though I’m still shaking my head at you, you got that one right.

    Joss Stone is out singing and Megan just looked at everyone and said, “See, that’s what I’m trying to do. Don’t you get it now?” Actually, Joss is trying the R&B thing a little too hard. I didn’t like it that much. Well, that is until Smoke Dog entered the building. With Smoke Dog and Stevie on the same show, I wonder if they are going for that over 50 demographic a bit hard? Also, it’s kind of hard watching 20-something year old Joss and 60-something year old Smoke Dog sing, “You’re the one for me,” to each other without wondering if Smoke Dog was her long lost grandfather.

    Who is going to join Matty and Michael in the bottom three? Not Allison because she is safe. Anoop’s upside ya’ head is safe as well. Danny is safe and smiling.

    Scott and Megan are up together and Megan was looking so pretty until she made this face to pretend that she was surprised at the bad feedback she received from the judges. It’s kind of hard to explain, but she bugged out her eyes, sunk in her cheek bones, puffed out that cleft above the upper lip, and I think gave herself a double chin. It was a frightening two seconds, but then her face went back to normal and all was well in the world again.

    Scott is in the bottom three. Scott kind of looks like (believe it or not) “The Greatest American Hero”.

    America, at least you got two out of three right.

    Randall Jackson says Matt rocked the mike and doesn’t deserve to be there. Ryno sends Scott back to safety.

    Stevie Wonder is doing a medley that starts off with My Cherie Amour. He moves onto Superstition and right when I expected the Jonas Brothers to come in and screw up Stevie’s lyrics, they were nowhere to be found.

    Are we at the point where Steve just needs to cut off all his hair? Is there a reason for the dreadlocks if they cover only the latter half of his head? I love Steve more than maybe any entertainer on earth. I’m just trying to help.

    Paula and her smooshed together boobs were dancing to Overjoyed while Stevie was singing. It started off a little rough for Steve as he forgot where the mic was, but he started to sing his ass off. Stevie then finished off with a song I didn’t recognize and neither did the rest of the contestants. They were hootin’ and a hollerin’ for Superstition and had to do some pretending with this song.

    Matty is safe. Michael Sarver now has to sing for his American Idol career. He better not be too proud to beg. Because he has zero chance to overwhelm these judges and get saved. Carrie Underwood will send him back to Home Sweet Home.

    Michael actually did a better job tonight than he did yesterday. But Simon still sent him home.

    Photo by jcrawford3505 and shared through creative commons

  • What Kind Of Fu**ery Is This? Best Of Music 2007

    I hate putting these lists together. Ok, I lied. I love doing it. But it’s so hard. Putting all of the songs and albums together that I heard in 2007 into one conclusive list is tough. There are even things that came out in 2007 that I know are good, but that I haven’t even listened to enough to make a solid decision on.

    Vital Idol

    But let’s start with the American Idol stuff. I guarantee that I’m the only one thinks about Idol albums on “best of” lists like this. In 2007, a bunch of Idol albums came out with the best being Elliot Yamin’s self titled debut. Carrie Underwood followed up her big hitter rookie album with another strong album titled Carnival Ride. I’m certain more than one song on the album is about Tony Romo. Kelly Clarkson argued with Clive and released an album that’s emotional and all her own, but yikes, does that mean I have to listen to her downpour of depression? Even Katharine McPhee dropped an album that was actually decent. It bricked (and caused her to get dropped from her record deal), but it was much better than it had any right to be. In late 2006 (but they count here for me for being so late in the year), Fantasia and Taylor Hicks put out good albums, though both didn’t sell. And Hicks’ debut got him dropped from his deal. So much for the idea that all Idol winners are stars. Also, Ruben Studdard’s third album dropped and it was a mess and a half. Not surprisingly he was also dropped from his deal as well. There were others that I didn’t get a chance to listen to like Kellie Pickler and Bucky (that dude should just drop his last name).

    The two albums that dropped late in the year were from Season 6 winner Jordin Sparks and runner up Blake Lewis. While Lewis is going to get shredded because he doesn’t have a great singing voice, his album is the better of the two. It’s creative and in a style you’d expect from him. Sparks’ isn’t creative, and that’s the downfall. She’s at a weird age in which she’s too old to be Hannah Montana and too young to be a sexy songstress. I’d expect much better from her in the years to come. As for Blake, he’s probably not going to last long in this game, but he gets an E for effort. At least Break Anotha was hot.

    One Shot

    I still haven’t been able to give enough time to Lupe Fiasco’s second album, The Cool. I love the single, but in order to put it on a list like this, I have to give it more than just the random listen that I did. I apologize to Lupe. Next time, release your album a little earlier bruh.

    Big Ups

    There are a bunch of albums that I really liked, but didn’t love, or simply haven’t listened to enough to know if I love or not. Unless it’s something I know I’ll love immediately, music and me aren’t necessarily always love at first sight. Joni Mitchell’s Shine is impressive considering I wasn’t raised on Mitchell and thus haven’t heard a lot of her classic work. But when two of my closest friends both told me to give it a shot, I did. And when one of them decided to send me all the songs in e-mail, I really couldn’t say no. To say I was impressed is an understatement. I was also impressed with Bruce Springsteen’s Magic. It’s really the first album of his that I’ve given a hard listen to since The Rising. The single Radio Nowhere was genius. Chrisette Michele is an artist that didn’t get much love, and one can understand why. It’s not a pop album at all. Her I Am is an album that I had to listen to more than once in order to get it, and I don’t even think I’ve fully gotten it yet. It’s very much an R&B/soul/jazz clash that’s void of bubble gum. Joss Stone’s Introducing … is a fun album that takes advantage of her voice and gives her good material to work with. She does good stuff with not only Common, but Lauryn Hill, and no one did anything with Lauryn Hill except for her own ego.

    Maroon 5’s It Won’t Be Soon Before Long came strong out of the blocks with the funky Makes Me Wonder and stayed strong throughout. Talib Kweli and Common also hit with albums this year. Kweli’s Eardrum was consistent throughout and for rap fans, is right up there with the best hip hop releases of the year. But I thought there was definitely something missing. It might just be Kweli. I love his rhymes, but he lacks charisma, and that’s why I think I’d rather listen to a lesser rapper like Kanye, but also one who makes complete songs, even though toe to toe, he can’t flow with Kweli. Common’s Finding Forever wasn’t as good as Be, but it found many spins in my iPod. Spins? To me, The People was one of the bangers of the year. Timbaland took the “featuring …” to another level with Shock Value. It was chock full of radio ear candy. One of the things I love about Timbaland is that he simply enjoys getting people to go crazy in the clubs, but he is not afraid of experimenting with different types of artists. He’s not going to go completely left, but he’ll rock with One Republic and The Hives and then on the same album throw a bone to his old buddy Magoo. He still can’t rap though.

    Ne-Yo and Rihanna converged with Hate That I Love You and at that point, I pretty much considered them one and the same. I found Ne-Yo’s Because Of You superior to his first album. Maybe it was the title track that I loved so much. But I just found more reasons to listen all the way through. Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad was the one album that you could’ve thrown on at a party and not had to worry about changing the music for an hour. She had the biggest single in the world and seemingly grew up right before our eyes. Have you seen the video to Hate That I Love You? If not, go now. You can always come back here. I won’t mind.

     

    One Love

    The list of albums that I loved is much shorter. Though Alicia Keys hasn’t yet made that one near perfect album, she came closer to that goal with As I Am. It’s a much stronger album from a song writing perspective and as with any Alicia Keys song, you know you’ll get your goodie bag of awesome love songs. Like You’ll Never See Me Again was a brilliant second single. Jay-Z’s American Gangster and Kanye West’s Graduation were the two hip hop albums that I played most this year. With Jay-Z releases, I usually get a copy at least a week and a half before it comes out because someone had a bootleg and burns me one. Don’t worry y’all, I then go buy a copy when it’s finally released. With this one, I didn’t hear it until it dropped. I was slightly worried that it would be rushed, but after it was all said and done, it’s one of the best albums of his career. It’s on the soulful tip like The Blueprint, but is even more retro. And it also features the party jam of the year, Roc Boys (And The Winner Is …). We in the house, house, house. West’s Graduation came out of the gate with two singles that weren’t the type of radio song that you were used to. There was no Golddigger to be found. But he sampled Daft Punk and found his black Kate Moss. Stronger might’ve been my single of the year if I had a vote.

    The release date on Elliot Yamin’s debut album wasn’t circled on everyone’s calendar. But when Wait For You dropped, I knew I’d love probably everything on this album. He waits for his girl in Wait For You, sees warning signs in their relationship in Train Wreck, and then kicks her to the curb and wants to date her friend in Movin’ On. But he makes it all better with the iTunes only In Love With You Forever. Dreamgirls was probably my second favorite movie of 2006 (why Rocky Balboa of course) and even if the acting sucked (which it didn’t, and Eddie Murphy was robbed), I would’ve still loved it because of the awesome soundtrack. Even though technically the soundtrack was released in late 2006, I listened to it more than any other album in the first half of 2007. From Jennifer Hudson’s roaring rendition of Jennifer Holiday’s And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going to the bad a** Steppin’ To The Bad Side, it’s the shortest hour car ride ever. And I’ve probably listened to it no less than 35 times.

    My favorite album of the year isn’t a surprise. It’s not an original choice, but oh well. Amy Winehouse may be locked up at a looney bin with Britney Spears pretty soon, but at least someone in the looney bin will be able to sing. Ok, that was mean. I enjoyed Brit’s Blackout more than I probably should’ve and still think Break The Ice should be sent to the clubs immediately. Winehouse and producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi created soul music that simply isn’t created these days unless your name is Anthony Hamilton. Though Rehab was the hot single, Love Is A Losing Game and Tears Dry On Their Own are the real head turners. Back To Black is one of the few anythings I gave 5 stars to this year.

    Favorite Song Of The Year

    It’s true that I live in a whole different house
    But that doesn’t mean I won’t come around
    I’m still best friends with your mom have no doubt
    We’ll still make time to hang out
    I promise I won’t let you down

    I will admit to liking things that others won’t even dare listen to. One of my favorite songs of the year was the Carrie Underwood song I’ll Stand By You, which was only found on iTunes I believe. My favorite sing isn’t earth shattering and it’s not going to hit the charts anytime soon, but it was the most meaningful to me. Not simply Babyface anymore, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds penned a song that could’ve been written for me. Not Going Nowhere is a love letter to his son about why he and his ex-wife Tracy Edmonds (Edmonds-Murphy?) decided to be best friends. It really touched home with me because my ex-wife and I made a promise to each other that we would put away any hard feelings we have for each other and work to keep our family together. Our two sons are too important for pettiness and so far, we’ve done that. I live 2 minutes away from my boys, have them whenever I want, and life isn’t really all that different. The boys will have to deal with us having new significant others (and they’ve really done great in that area), but having a family with divorced parents is much better than having a divorced family. Thanks ‘Face.

    I know you feel a little scared
    I know you think it’s not fair
    And you think it’s all your fault
    But it’s not I swear
    If it wasn’t for you things could never be so cool
    So I thank you
    For being the one in our life
    That showed both of us we did something right

    (forgive the ads in the beginning)