This bad economy will hurt this blog as well.

Both of my reasons to post here will be harmed, one in a year, one right away:

Jazz will be hurt in 2010; General Motors has been a major sponsor of the Montreal Jazz Fest for over a decade. Due to that company’s major crisis and potential bankruptcy, it has announced that GM will stop this deal at the end of its contract in 2010. The festival will now have to find a new major partner. GM came in when the government forbid cigarette producers from being sponsors (a good thing for sure, and one I hope continues)… I wonder if XM satellite radio is doing well enough to come in? If so, they could be a good fit.

The other thing: while Canadian Idol gets high ratings, the show is too expensive to produce. It will be on hiatus for a year. That will cut down months of posts for me.

Canadian Idol 2008 – no longer a Top 22

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.

Welcome to Bizzaro World 2008

- 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.

American Idol Week Round-up

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!

Womens Performance Show – Feb. 27, 2008

Of the final 10 ladies, only two performed well. There were far too many performances that were mediocre to my ear.

Alexandria tried more to sing than to shout, but it didn’t sound good. Her bride of Frankenstein look didn’t help either. Kady also missed for the second week in a row. I suspect that they will be eliminated tonight.