Jazzlife - because all of life is jazz

Oh, I almost forgot: I had a trip to Toronto for a convention July 11-14. The Jazz Fest was before it. Because of my focus on my trip, I had to skip it this year, so no reports. Sorry.

I missed posting when it came to choosing the Top n10. I wasn’t impressed by ether of the Piggot brothers, but one of them got in anyway.

Of the group who remain, well… I wasn’t terribly impressed with either of the Pigott brothers, but Sebastian got in anyway. The way the judges go on about his lack of singing talent though, I suspect he won’t be there long.

Of the competitors, I think Theo Tams will sail through to the end. I won’t call him the winner yet though; there are 9 weeks to go for surprises. After all, Omar Lunan didn’t make the cut even though he was fantastic… anything can happen!

One of the underwhelming surprises was Adam Castelli making the group. He isn’t that good a singer, and his personality just annoyed me.

You can easily guess that him also being the first person eliminated didn’t bother me.

The best concerts are yet again the paid ones, but what a mix of artists!

Woody Allen brings his dixieland jazz band to Montreal this year. Al Green also performs, and there’s much tribute to Oliver Jones.

On the non-jazz side, Bram Van 2000 performs - but the most important thing is that after 17 years, Leonard Cohen will perform in town!

Tonight the top competitors for the next stage were picked.

Some cuts weren’t a surprise. The African guy Vincent seemed nice but ultimately he couldn’t sing well.

What really surprised me was that many of the people who forgot their words still made it through! A few of the people who didn’t sound good to me the judges liked. Taste is very relative.

The biggest surprises were that many more guys than ladies got through this year and also the fact that they are part of a Top 24 instead of 22. I’m glad they changed it up a bit; that after 7 seasons American Idol has never changed the idea of having 12 guys/12 ladies has grown stale.

Now I’ll just hope that this year the French competitors get beyond the first performance for the public. So far only one did, but she was still cut before the Top 10.

As many early pundits predicted, it ultimately came down to the two Davids - Archuleta and Cook.

Archuleta sang rings around his opponent. Many people thought he had a win in the bag.

I wasn’t one of them. The win by David Cook came as no surprise to me. For several reasons, in fact:

• Youth: Not physical, mental. Archuleta simply wasn’t mature enough to be the champion.
• Underdog: Let’s face it, the public will always root for the person who seems not to have a chance.Especially when David Cook got emotional at the end, I thought he had a good chance of winning. I actually wonder if that helped him to victory?
• The popularity contest: ultimately that’s what Idol is. The winner is often determined by how many girls vote for them. More of them would ultimately choose Cook over Archuleta because he had the hunkier feel. Archuleta just didn’t have it yet.

In the end, the win won’t matter. Ruben Studdard won the second one, but runner-up Clay Aiken has had more of a career so far, regardless of Ruben’s management issues.

Other things on the show:

- Brooke White had a few note mis-steps, but she still got to sing with Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills and Nash fame. That was cool!

- notice how Jason Castro sang Hallelujah this time without a mistake.

- the Rocky boxer theme for the finale was fun, especially having Michael Buffer open. Unfortunately, this was also where David Archuleta first showed his intellectual inexperience.  He just didn’t sell it.

Canadian Idol time now. One I can actually vote on!

American Idol 2008 has been over for several weeks now and everything I have to say now is stale-dated, but I still have to say it:

Top 5

Brooke White was eliminated here. That comes as no huge surprise… she just wasn’t talented enough here. She was good, and she became a sweetheart to many (me included), but she was ready to go.

Top 4

Unlike Brooke this wasn’t an upsetting elimination week. Jason Castro simply didn’t perform well during the rock n’ roll week, forgetting some lyrics and just not giving great performances. In himself he was just too laid back this time - for me, and I suspect for many of the voters.

Top 3

While she did outperform the two people I just mentioned, I never thought that with her weird personality that Sayesha Mercado would be here. Especially after her obnoxious smile during the group performance of One Sweet Day that I’ve mentioned before (not that the group performed it well anyway) I wanted her gone. Well, it was later than sooner I guess.

[I'll continue this in another post]

- or it am not American Idol results night.

There were 4 strong performances last night (save for Archeleta forgetting some words) and two mediocre ones. Based on performances I expected either Brooke White or Jason Castro to get the axe.

I was mentally preparing myself to say goodbye to Brooke. Instead both she and Jason were safe.

Sayesha Mercado and Carly Smithson were at the bottom… and I’ve been down on Sayesha for some time now, so for me to say she was very good Tuesday speaks volumes!

Carly was cut. In past years, the final six were a case of losing a talented person every week. This year doesn’t seem the case.

First off, I have to say: that opening group number of One Sweet Day was brutal. The group hit some major off-key notes at the song’s bridge!

That song also reminded me how disingenuous and strange Sayesha Mercado is: it’s a sad and somber song, and she was SMILING, for Pete’s sake.

That she was in the Bottom Three made sense. She sings well, but she only imitates, doesn’t innovate. She was annoying enough that I was actually angry that she was safe.

I expected Kristy Lee Cook to be cut - but several weeks ago with her bad version of The Beatles Eight Days a Week. This week she was actually pretty good.

I missed a few days of this, so some of my comments already have answers:

Performance show April 8 2008

The inspirational songs produced a mixed bag of thoughts for me.

I really didn’t like Michael Johns performance of the Aerosmith song Dream On. It really came off as an imitation of the original, not adding anything new to it.

Carly Smithson took on a tough challenge in the Queen song Show Must Go On. The last time we heard it from Idol competitors was Princess P a few years ago. Like Elvis, Freddy Mercury is tough to cover; his voice was so distinctive.

I’m still not sure if the contestants really understand the reasons for it as inspirational: when he performed it, Freddy was dying of AIDS. In fact, he died less than a year after the album with this song came out. I’ve always seen it as his farewell song, and this meaning is a reason why it’s one of my theme songs.

Sayesha Mercado again took on a ballad from a very difficult diva to follow, and didn’t really bring anything new to it. She just hasn’t given us an idea of the kind of performer she’d be.

Brooke White performing a Carly Simon song was a perfect choice for her. I see her very much as our generation’s version of her.

Idol Gives Back, April 9, 2008

Based on last year, I prepared myself to break down in tears most of the show. I surprised myself by being more sturdy this year.

Seeing the drama and tragedy in Africa was still heartbreaking though. When Annie Lennox broke down, I felt it as well. Forest Whitaker and his wife did on a film the next night. That showed a lot of strength on their part.

There were some amazing performances on the show. Annie Wilson proved that she still has it when she sang Barracuda. Likewise the above-mentioned Annie Lennox, who brought the house down. Sheila E. is still one of the best drummers around.

One song that did get to me: the Idols performance of Seasons of Love from RENT. That song has always been one that gets me very emotional.

The comedians proved a mixed bag. Jimmy Kimmel’s Roast on Simon Cowell was superb.
His girlfriend Sarah Silverman had some great zingers as well. One who really failed here though: Robin Williams. A communist era Russian was almost 20 years out of date. Also, his “Meal or No Meal” joke was in very poor taste with the starvation in Africa.

One thing I was glad that they didn’t do this year: they didn’t have an appearance by George Bush. New Orleans devastation was in major part due to his lack of attention to the situation. Showing his face at all last year was offensive.

Results Show April 10, 2008

The three performances that seemed off two nights ago were all in the bottom three: Carly, Michael and Sayesha.

What surprised me a bit was Michael being eliminated so soon. My theory of him being the ringer this year like Melinda Doolittle was before is now shot!

I haven’t posted here in a few weeks. A shame, since some of the eliminations were noteworthy: David Hernandez as the first one cut wasn’t a surprise; after the reveal of his past career as a male stripper, I didn’t think America would tolerate him any more. Amanda Overmeyer being cut so soon wasn’t a surprise either; about her, I had to agree with Simon: she really didn’t seem to have any variety in her performance.

I was surprised and disappointed about Chickezie last week though. I expected him to be cut at some point, but after he showed inventiveness on the first Beatles week, I thought he could go a lot further. Unfortunately Kristie Lee Cook played the patriotism card that week, so even though she’s not terribly good overall, she saved herself.

I have to agree with other pundits on one thing: Sayesha just seems very freaky and phony. What has saved her the past few weeks is that she’s an excellent singer, but in interview she just doesn’t seem genuine. She’s just… off.

This week: Kristy, Ramielle Malubay and one of my favorites Brooke White ended up in the bottom three. Brooke was safe, meaning that Kristy and Ramielle were left. Neither one was a surprise. As I’ve said I don’t think Kristy is that good, and while Ramielle showed talent in Hollywood, but she’s been underwhelming ever since. Ultimately she was cut this week.

Let me reiterate: while I don’t know her, others have said she’s a sweet little lady. I make no criticism of her character. As a performer though I’ve found her lacking.