Sometimes, I think I must have been born in the wrong decade. I really love music that was popular in the 70s and 80s. My husband, Bill, was born in 1964, which is eight years before I made my debut on planet Earth. The music that was popular when he was in high school was popular when I was elementary school. I am really hooked on it, though. Maybe it’s because I have older sisters who indoctrinated me with their musical tastes early on. All I know is that I have a tendency to get obsessed with certain types of music sometimes and that seems to be what has happened with me and Styx over the past week or so. Hopefully by Friday, I will have moved on to something else.
Last night, I was recovering from lawn mowing and drinking beer when I suddenly decided to download and listen to three Styx albums. Why? Because I remember at some time during the late 1970s, one of my sister’s friends came over to our house with what was then a brand new Styx album. At the time, I was seven years old and Styx was all the rage. She put the album on my dad’s then state of the art HiFi Panasonic stereo system and our living room was filled with the sounds of Styx playing what seemed like an odd song at the time.
Styx plays “Borrowed Time” live at the Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland in 1981.
I kept remember the part where they jam on the guitars and say “Yes”… “No”… Weird song. I like how Dennis DeYoung was rocking the porn ‘stache that was so popular in the early 80s. Seems like everybody had one. I also like how Dennis pranced about the stage.
As I was listening to this last night, it occurred to me that Styx reminds me a lot of Queen in many ways. The music is very theatrical and kind of “epic”, lots of harmonies and elaborate arrangements. I think I like Freddie Mercury’s voice better and, in general, I like Queen’s music more. But I have to admit, Styx really reminds me of Queen in more ways than one…
I’ve never seen anyone in Styx wear shorts like these…
Based on the above clip, I think Freddie was a better dancer than Dennis DeYoung is too. Uh oh… watching this clip is making me want to download albums by Queen.
“Renegade” is a pretty rockin’ Styx song, though. Great for a morning wake up call. And I have a horrible crush on Tommy Shaw. Need to get my middle aged hormones under control.
Maybe it’s not such a bad thing to be on a Styx kick. I didn’t like some of their later stuff. With the exception of “Babe”, the softer songs like “First Time” and “Don’t Let It End” left me kind of cold. Actually, “First Time” kind of gives me the willies. Dennis DeYoung and that porn ‘stache singing all sensitively about the “first time” doesn’t quite take me back to my “first time”…
I’m sure a lot of people lost their virginity to this song.
I think I’d rather listen to Freddie Mercury sing this…
This is such a beautiful song… I think Freddie is feeling every word.
Hmm… I think maybe my Styx kick might be over now. I really need to explore Queen more.
Katy PerryWe’re coming down to the nitty gritty. Will Hollie finally go home or is my droopy-cheeked Elise done tonight? Or will it be a surprise?
Here were my top and bottom two from last night:
Top 2
1. Joshua Ledet
2. Skylar Laine
Bottom 2
1. Hollie Cavanagh
2. Phillip Phillips
The Queen Experience performed Somebody To Love.
Ryno is going to call everyone down in pairs. He calls down Jessica and Elise. Elise looks worried. She should be. Elise is in the bottom three.
Casey Abrams helps Ryno introduce Stefano. The best I can describe this song (I’m On A Roll) is that he’s doing a terrible Ne-Yo impersonation. I also think he’d finish no better than fifth place in this year’s competition.
Ryno brings up Joshua and Hollie to the center stage. Ryno sends Hollie to hang out with her girl Elise and Joshua is safe.
Katy Perry is on stage performing some song. The best way I can explain her performance is that she’s doing a terrible Stefano impersonation. Just kidding. But I didn’t really get it.
Skylar and Phillip are at center stage now. Skylar is in the bottom three. What? Okay, she won’t last there. Then again, that’s what I said about Colton. But I’m right this time. Skylar is safe. It’s between my droopy-cheeked girl and Hollie.
Give me Elise or give me death!
Damnit! Elise is going home.
Oh well, I’m sad. Elise deserved to be back for at least one more week. Seacrest (sigh) out.
I’m going to be live blogging this show for SonicClash tonight. I know you East Coasters have already seen the show. You’ll just have to pretend you’re watching it again if you want to following with me.
Just refresh every five minutes or so.
Randy is wearing a red bow tie.
They just showed Kris’ wife in the audience and she has that, “I hope he loses so I don’t have to take half from him in three years,” look on her face.
Mikalah Gordon drew the short straw and had to go to Arkansas to watch the show with Kris’ hometown fan.
Carly was able to hang out in her hometown of San Diego to sit with Adam’s hometown fans.
The top 13 performed some wacky song together and Jasmine Murray nearly puked on stage from struggling to try and hit her high note. Whose idea was it for her to get a solo? Michael Sarver did some good eating while he was away.
David Cook is singing Permanent. His brother recently passed away. It was a nice performance and they’re putting it on iTunes and giving proceeds to charity.
They just showed Carrie Underwood’s skeleton in the crowd.
The Golden Idol Awards are back. I know I was looking forward to this part of the show.
Nick Mitchell won for Best Male Performance and to give us a treat, he performed And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going.
Lil’ Rounds and Queen Latifah are performing together. I hope it’s U.N.I.T.Y. You have to give it to the Queen. She can rap, act a bit, and sing a little bit. It’s too bad that she doesn’t quite wear a unitard all that well. Latifah’s had it up to here.
Anoop Doggy Dog and Alexis Grace are singing with Jason Mraz and showing exactly why they got kicked off the show. Way to show us that America wasn’t wrong.
Kris Allen is singing with Keith Urban. Michael Sarver has to be kicking himself. This is probably a dream of his. I think I just saw him shrug his shoulders and go back to the catering table.
The girls (Jasmine, Megan, Allison, Alexis, Lil) are doing Fergie’s Glamorous, which was just in introduction to the real Fergie performing Big Girls Don’t Cry.
Boom, Boom, PowBoth of my kids asked me why Fergie was so ugly. If anyone wondered if they were my kids, you need not worry. They are definitely made of my DNA. By the way, I agree. Fergie’s entire face looks like it was injected with poisonous botox. Her body is 3008, but her face is definitely 2000 and late. Boom, boom, pow.
No matter what you say about The Black Eyed Peas, you have to give them credit for this one. This song absolutely makes zero sense, but it hits like no one’s business.
Yay! It’s time for another Golden Idol. I’m not sure what the category was, but Bikini Girl is the winner. Boom, boom, pow.
They had her perform Vision Of Love for all of about 10 seconds before my wife, Kara DioGuardi Gonzales came out and one upped her. And then she flashed her own bikini. Boom, boom, pow.
Allison is singing Time After Time with Cyndi Lauper. Isn’t Cyndi old enough to be her grandmother? But I have mad respect for Cyndi. She’s realer than a two dollar bill. She’s got that boom, boom, pow. Ok, that’s enough.
Danny is singing Hello. Lionel Richie must have an album out. What would’ve been really wrong is if they tried to duplicate the video and had Scott McIntyre mold Danny’s face out of clay. Ok, that was so terrible. If I was Arsenio Hall, I’d have slapped my hand and said, “bad host”.
There’s Lionel. I knew he had something to sell. I don’t blame Danny for not really knowing the lyrics to Just Go either. Lionel barely knew them. They could’ve given him some classic Lionel to sing, like you know, All Night Long. Hey, that’s just what they did. And Scott McIntyre is on the stage with them dancing his ass off! Ok, that last thing didn’t happen. But everything else did.
By the way, Lionel was pretty outrageous.
Adam is wearing some contraption on his shoulders that looks like something out of Michael Jackson’s closet. Or Janet’s. Or Latoya’s. He introduced KISS. Man, even their face paint looks old. I didn’t know face paint could have wrinkles.
Carlos Santana is on stage and Matt Giraud is singing with him. They started with Black Magic Woman and segued into Smooth. The rest of the top 13 came out and sang for Carlos. Yep, even Jorge. They let him back on stage, but I think he was wearing a media credential around his neck.
For some reason, Steve Martin is on stage. I think I heard somewhere that he has a band. He’s playing the banjo. Michael Sarver pulled himself away from catering to get on stage with Megan Joy and perform with Steve. Can he still be wild and crazy while playing a banjo and wearing glasses?
That performance was reminiscent of those Grammy performances where they basically tell you to go use the restroom so you don’t miss the good stuff.
Oh no, I might have to switch from HD back to regular definition. Rod Stewart just pranced on the stage. Thankfully, the camera director is avoiding the close-ups and sticking to the wider shots. I’m not even going to pretend that I understand this. I’d even settle for Fergie coming back out to frighten my children.
Rod ended by saying, “Thank you kindly.” Sheesh.
The infamous Tatiana won which I think is the last (hopefully) Golden Idol and then she came on stage to sing Whitney. I think it was supposed to be a joke. Or maybe the joke was on her?
Kris and Adam came out to sing We Are The Champions with Queen. I could make that whole joke about Adam being the next Freddie Mercury, but I won’t even do it. It’d rather make more jokes about how Fergie’s face looks like it was stung by 10 mosquitoes.
You know, as my punishment for these jokes, one day, I know I’m going to run into Fergie at the airport and then have to lie to her about how much I like her music. Let’s just hope she’s wearing sun glasses on that day. Large ones. That cover her face entirely. Like she was Darth Vader.
Simon just gave Adam and Kris both props.
It’s now time for the results. They’re claiming 100 million votes were cast last night. That means every person who watched had to vote at least 3 or 4 times. I’m not sure I buy that, but oh well.
And the winner is…
Um, Kris Allen?
Does Conway, Arkansas really have that many people?
Kris has to sing the terrible No Boundaries, which he absolutely screwed up last night, again. He gave the front row of females his hand to touch and they nearly pulled his jacket off. He’s going to have to start making deals with that poor wife of his starting tonight.
You’ll never guess what was one of the last shots before the show went off stage. It was a shot of Justin Guarini clapping like he really meant it, with debris in his hair. That’s your final shot? Did Carrie Underwood’s skeleton leave already?
Well, he was the underdog. He pulled it off. Kris Allen is your season 8 American Idol.
