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Tag: Michael McDonald

  • American Idol Season 9 – And The Winner Is…

    Paula Abdul
    It’s time to see who is the season 9 winner of American Idol. However, it will take us over two hours to get here. Fox usually packs the finale show with performances, goofy skits, and video packages. Tonight, I have heard they’ll also give Simon Cowell a mighty send off. I just hope that they bring back Paula Abdul to help send him off.

    Tonight, let’s do the recap diary style.

    8:02 – It’s been 24 hours since last night’s performances and Lee still looks nervous.

    8:03 – Ryno Seacrest introduces the judges and Randall Jackson is wearing a suit that would make a pimp blush.

    8:06 – Alice Cooper performs School’s Out For Summer with the Top 12, and Siobhan (aka creepy little girl) stole his creepy thunder with her creepiness.

    (By the way Idol, way to understand your demographics with that one. Who’s next tonight, Ozzy Osbourne?)

    8:13 – Kris Allen is singing some new song and I’m still giving anyone 2-1 odds who doesn’t think he’s getting divorced soon. He has that look in his eyes that says he’s on the hunt for new meat.

    8:16 – We get our first Simon Cowell video package, which is a complete waste of time. But at least I got to see Paula.

    8:18 – Creepy little girl and Aaron Kelly are singing How Deep Is Your Love. She looks like she wants to eat him.

    8:19 – The beautiful Bee Gees came out to join them. Barry had to sing his lines to creepy girl, while poor Robin had to sing his to Aaron. That was awkward.

    8:26 – Big Mike Lynche and Michael McDonald are dueting Taking It To The Streets. If Taylor Hicks comes out right now doing his jig, I will smile largely.

    (By the way, Alice Cooper, the brothers Gibb, and Michael McDonald have been the celebrity performers so far, and McDonald is the youngest at a ripe age of 58. American Idol, on the cutting edge!)

    8:31 – Let’s take a moment of silence for Dane Cook’s career. Bow, there it is.

    8:34 – The top 6 girls came out to perform Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful. Lacy Brown led the way and all of America tried to remember if she was on the show or not.

    8:37 – Christina herself came out to sing and she’s still number one on my list of those who I’d request to sing me lullabies before I sleep. Rosie O’Donnell is last on that list by the way.

    (The roaming camera reached around to Christina’s backside, and I have to say that for a skinny girl, she’s got some junk in the trunk.)

    8:47 – The top 6 boys are singing Hall & Oates tunes, which leads me to think…

    8:49 – …that of course, Hall & Oates are coming out. I wonder if they’ll get Scott Savol to get on stage and sing She’s Gone? You think Scott’s persona non grata with Idol? All he did was beat his girlfriend. Come on people, where’s your forgiveness!

    (By the way, I might be the only Idol blog to mention Scott Savol’s name. I’ll do you one better. How about Corey Clark?

    8:51 – Darryl Hall looks like he hasn’t bathed in the year 2010.

    8:52 – Janelle Wheeler who was my favorite Idol contestant to look at, and who also dated Tim Tebow is hanging out with Crystal’s fans in Toledo, Ohio. But she’s not wearing those terrific pants that I love.

    This Girl Can Wear Some Pants

    8:53 – Crystal is out singing Ironic. Wait, does that mean Alanis Morrisette is coming out?

    8:54 – Of course it does! I think she’s making fun of Joey from Full House or something.

    9:01 – Carrie Underwood is performing. Do you remember what I said about Christina Aguilera being such a skinny girl and having junk in the trunk? Well, as far as having junk in the trunk, it’s the same for Carrie, only the opposite. She has one of the more famous cases of noassatall.

    9:08 – Casey James is out singing and Bret Michaels comes out. Wait, isn’t Bret Michaels sick? I have a feeling those guys are going carousing tonight.

    9:18 – Lee DeWyze and Chicago perform, and right after, Ryan throws it to Matt Rogers, the former football player who was on Idol many years ago. Rogers looks about 45 years old with a receding hair line. I don’t want to remember my Idols this way. Go away Matt, just go away.

    9:21 – General Larry Platt and a bunch of extras from the movie Step Up performed Pants On The Ground. Then William Hung joined the fray and let’s just say that he doesn’t speak English any better than you remember. I would be lying if I didn’t say that I enjoyed this better than Lee DeWyze and Chicago.

    9:29 – Yay! It’s Paula Abdul on stage!

    9:34 – Boo! Paula’s gone.

    9:35 – Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, and Fantasia Barrino all came out to sing with Simon. Ten bucks says that Taylor Hicks didn’t get invited.

    9:36 – Damnit! I owe you ten bucks.

    9:37 – Holy jeez! All the terrible ghosts of American Idol contestants past came out to sing for Simon. Mikalah Gordon done growed up. Constantine just winked at me!

    9:38 – Mysteriously absent was David Cook. And for that matter, Jennifer Hudson. Wait, she hates Simon.

    9:44 – The top 12 is out singing Janet Jackson’s Again. Wait, does that mean…

    9:45 – Of course it does! Miss Janet Jackson is on stage sans her weave. Her hair is amazingly short.

    9:49 – And the junk in the trunk award goes to, Janet Jackson. Holy cow. She’s now performing Nasty. And you know who choreographed that video.

    9:52 – I think Randall Jackson is in love.

    9:54 – Please answer this for me once and for all. Is the gap in Crystal’s teeth near the side of her mouth charming or a hot mess?

    10:01 – Ryno’s going to tease us about the results for about five minutes here.

    10:02 – Ok, I lied. He’s getting right to it. And Lee is terrified.

    10:03 – And the winner is… (aw man) Lee DeWyze!

    10:04 – Crystal isn’t a sore loser at all, but you have to think that she knows she was robbed heartily.

    10:05 – I just realized that Lee’s average cover of Beautiful Day is going to top the iTunes charts next week.

    10:06 – I also just realized that this show may be entirely different next year. Good night everyone.

    Paula Abdul photo shared via Wikipedia through the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #25: Gentlemen Prefer Blondie

    sdp45

    STEELY DAN  “Peg” b/w “I Got The News” (ABC Records #12320, September 1977)

    As much as I love lo-fi bands that can’t play their instruments, I also go totally Star Trek for impeccably-produced prog and jazz acts with serious chops and boss material.  No American duo better encompassed this phenomenon, mixing in plenty of post-’60’s LA-outsider snark while at it, than Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the core of Steely Dan.  Nevermind the details, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” was hands-down the soundtrack to the summer of 1974, as I flailed apeshit on a rented raft with a snow-cone down at Oscar’s Beach on any given sun-soaked Saturday.  I can still smell the seaweed and coconut oil.  And I can remember staying up past midnight on a school night in late ’77, just to catch a special radio broadcast of their new LP, Aja, played front-to-back with no commercials.

    sdalp

    It all seemed so “adult” then, so mature…like I was peeking into a world I wasn’t supposed to see yet.  Maybe it was the somewhat sexy subject matter.  Or maybe I was just happy to hear something other than “Hotel California” on the radio.  Either way, I completely flipped over “Peg,” Aja‘s first single, much to the dismay of nearly everyone around me.  This 30-plus-year-old track is now a LiteFM staple the world over, so I don’t need to play it for you, but behold this incredible “behind-the-scenes” clip from YouTube.  Thoroughly entertaining.

    Watch The Making Of Steely Dan\’s PEG on YouTube

    That swing-poppin’ Rick Marotta/Chuck Rainey rhythm section, Jay Graydon’s Sol Hoopii-on-shrooms guitar slides, a mountain of Michael McDonaldses…no nerds on Earth could resist.  And resist they didn’t, as Aja sold millions and “Peg” spent 11 weeks in the Top 40, peaking at #11 first week of January.   1978 turned out to be a banner year for The Dan, as they placed two other tracks from Aja, plus their classic theme from the not-so-classic movie, FM, in the Top 40 by the time school was back in session in September.  And you said you were never going back there.

    I Got The News,” a pumping, pulsating, and very funky album track (featuring a smattering of Larry Carlton and a smidge more Mike McDonald), rounds out this single’s B-side.  Listening to Aja today, it seems very brief, with a total of 7 songs clocking in at just a hair past 40 minutes.  Today’s magnum over-70 minute CD opuses and infinite MP3 playlists dwarf it by comparison, but quality over quantity is what makes The Dan great, and Aja a timeless (and heavily sampled) classic.

    Oh, and just for fun, here’s a link to one of my all-time favorite internet time-wasters, The Steely Dan Dictionary.

    NEXT WEEK: All I want is your extra time and your…uh…something…

  • The Sunday Seven 1/11/09: Just Can’t Get Enough

    Hey, folks…after having guests for a few weeks, I’m back in control of the Sunday Seven and it feels good! So without any further ado, here’s a random trip through my iPod, where I pull seven musical selections and talk about them.

    Track 1: Just Can’t Get Enough by Depeche Mode (1981)

    This was Depeche Mode’s first “hit”, I guess. Well, considering it didn’t do much in the States when it was released, let’s just say that it’s the band’s oldest popular song. This dates back from when Vince Clarke (later of Yaz and Erasure) was in charge of the band. Although Clarke split really quickly, DM kept his sound and, in a move uncommon when it comes to breakups, both parties went on to super-successful careers.

    Track 2: Brass Monkey by The Beastie Boys (1986)

    I knew the time would come when a song came up that I’d already discussed. Needless to say, I love Licensed To Ill, I love Brass Monkey (the song, never tried the concoction), and I wish I had a beer right now because this song always makes me thirsty.

    Track 3: I Was a King by Eddie Murphy feat. Shabba Ranks (1993)

    OK, I need to explain why this song is on my iPod. About a year and a half, I was visiting our own GG back in his home in the Garlic Capital of the World. Looking through his CD collection, I noticed he owned two of Eddie Murphy’s three non-comedy albums (well, OK, his three unintentionally funny albums). I figured there was tons of joke material to be found, so I burned them onto my laptop. Remember when the video for this premiered on Fox? Did Eddie think he was Michael Jackson or something like that? Ooh, and the video’s on YouTube! You guys are in for a treat.

    Track 4: For You I Will by Monica (1997)

    This earnest ballad was written by (you guessed it) Diane Warren and wound up on the soundtrack to the Michael Jordan’s Space Jam. Monica’s one of those singers who had so much potential, and she wound up taking what was probably a too-long break from recording followed by a couple of sub-standard albums. Her last album, The Makings of Me, was a chore to get through. Here’s hoping that she ditches Jermaine Dupri and Missy Elliott and make the album her voice is capable of. I was going to say that this song was originally recorded by All-4-One, but i’d be getting my big-voiced divas confused. That song would be I Turn to You, later recorded and turned into a smash by Christina Aguilera.

    Track 5: Now I’m Here by Queen (1975)

    It’s widely acknowledged that Freddie Mercury had one of the most unique and powerful voices in all of music. I think that voice was used to best effect on hard rocking songs like this. Brian May’s guitar work is fantastic, and Freddie delivers (for him) a restrained vocal performance, complete with those stacked harmonies and a weird screaming effect (is that someone’s voice or is that a guitar?)

    Track 6: Stan by Eminem (2000)

    Stan was the song that convinced me that Marshall Mathers was a genius. I remember listening to this song on a cassette Walkman on my way home from work (I’d bought the tape the day it came out) and being completely bug-eyed by the end of the song. I rewound that tape God knows how many times after the first listen. It’s easily one of the best rap songs of all time, and worth listening to for the simple fact that it makes you remember how talented the guy was. I still get lost in this song when I hear it. Hell, this song made Dido’s career.

    Track 7: Any Foolish Thing by Michael McDonald (1985)

    We end this week’s Seven with a favorite of my buddies over at Popdose, Michael McDonald. This is also the only song in this week’s Seven without video accompaniment. Ah, well. I say this with no snark whatsoever-Michael McDonald is the fuckin’ man. Have you ever tried to sing What a Fool Believes? How does he get his voice up that high? This song’s not one of his best, but it has a pleasant midtempo bounce and a twinkly synth arrangement that makes it perfect to close up shop for the week…

    …Till next time. And as a reminder, if anyone wants to guest-write this column, just email kingdemon01@gmail.com and let me know.