American Idol 2006--Live Thread I

FOX ^ | 1-16-06

[silent_jonny]

for Tammy

[EmilyGeiger]

I know!! Have you seen it? I like Reese and am sure she did a good job, not sure about the one who played Johnny though.

[EmilyGeiger]

Hate to be a party pooper. But sleep is calling. :)

[silent_jonny]

From what I've heard it's very good--I'm a Cash fan too and I'm eager to see it on DVD. (I hate going to theaters :)

[Wolfstar]

I think I've seen that--is it the one with Bruce Sprinsteen?

Yep, it is. I hate Springsteen's politics, but I'll tell ya -- that jam session was wonderful. Bonnie Rait, KD Lang, and one other good female singer who's name escapes me sang backup. Orbison, Springsteen and some other really top, top guitar players did long guitar riffs. And Orbison was in his best voice. Fabulous.

They do a six-minute-plus guitar jam on the song 'Pretty Woman' that is so extraordinary it fills my whole house with joy. LOL -- even my critters like it.

[silent_jonny]

Good night, my friend :)

[Wolfstar]

Good night, Emily.

[silent_jonny]

I might have to get that CD. I owned his last album on cassette tape years ago and I enjoyed it very much.

[Wolfstar]

I might have to get that CD. I owned his last album on cassette tape years ago and I enjoyed it very much.

You'll like it, I think, especially if you enjoy really top-notch guitar work. I found the CD in Borders bookstore, in their music section.

[silent_jonny]

if you enjoy really top-notch guitar work

I do :) I'm a huge Eric Clapton fan.

[Wolfstar]

Jonny, the CD is titled "Roy Orbison - Black & White Night." When the special was shown on PBS, they called it Roy Orbison in Black & White. It has Jackson Browne, T Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, J.D. Souther, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and Jennifer Warnes.

It has most of Orbison's top hits, 17 songs in all.

It was taped in 1987 and is the only commercially available live recording of Orbison. It was a Coconut Grove jam session done with very little rehearsal, and it has become a classic.

Right now as I type this, I'm listening to 'Candy Man' with great harmonica and guitar.

[Wolfstar]

I do :) I'm a huge Eric Clapton fan.

That's right. I remember you telling me you're a Clapton fan. You'll like this Orbison CD then.

[Palladin]

I'm late getting here tonight because I stayed in the livingroom to watch the iceskating Olympics, and I agree with everyone who said Sasha Cohen is terrific. Hope she holds it together tomorrow for the gold. It's her year.

We got a great look at the AI ladies tonight, and it's pretty easy to see who will be at the top, and who will be at the bottom.

Strong singers with strong personalities were Paris, Lisa, Melissa, Ayla, Mandisa and Katherine.

Mediocre were Kinnik and Kellie.

Forgettable were Heather and Becky and Stevie.

Absolutely obnoxious and a total loser: Brenna.

When I called, I couldn't get through for a half hour for Paris and Lisa. Got through in first 10 minutes for Mandisa, Ayla, Katherine and Kinnik. I don't know if that's an indication of how the vote was going on the east coast.

IMHO, Lisa Tucker blew them all away. Half of them can just go home and stay home tonight.

[silent_jonny]

Thanks :) I'll have to keep my eye out for it.

I'm gonna have to turn in now. Hope to talk to you tomorrow, Wolfstar.

Have a good night :)

[Wolfstar]

Jonny, according to the run-time info on my Windows media player, 'Pretty Woman' runs 6 minutes and 35 seconds. I get up and rock to it with my eyes closed.

[Wolfstar]

Good night, Jonny.

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

Time for the West Coast wrapup, I guess! (Boy do I feel lonely tagging along late like this ... are there any other Californians out here?)

Girls I'd Most Like to See Voted Off the Island:

Heather Cox (WHO let that non-singer in here? Were they judging by voice or cup size? Out, out, damned Cox!)

Li'l Lisa - biggest disappointment of the night. The judges are so batty about cute lil Lisa that they apparently don't even listen to her. She was very pitchy and had a really weird (and unappealing) quality to some of those "big" notes.

Stevie - I'm voting her out for spectacularly bad judgment on the way she approached that song. She CAN sing -- but no, she thought she'd do some stylistic crap instead. That's for later in the competition, honey. Prove you can sing first. (And don't give me this pretentious "trained in opera" thing. It's a completely different approach to music, and probably won't help you at all in pop.)

In the Shape Up or Ship Out Dept.:

The Gherkin - Really not impressive on any level. Breathy, unsupported singing with weak low notes. Blondes like you are a dime a dozen, Kellie.

Paris - Guess I'm out on this limb by myself, but while it was a good overall performance, her low notes made me cringe. Girl, didn't your granny tell you that if you can't SING the low notes, you move it up some? Jeesh.

Brenna - Bad, bad song choice. Simon's right; go ahead and be what you are! You'll either go down in flames (most likely) or shoot like a star, but at least it won't be boring - like tonight's song.

Katherine McPhee - Technically very good, but she phoned that one in. No real emotion in that song at all. She was too busy trying to be cute and appealing to just sing the damn song. Aargh. I hate artificial cuteness. (And what was with that awful outfit? Her abdomen looked huge, like she was Mama Alien ready to birth a litter or something! Eek.)

Becky the Beautiful: Step it up, girl, if you can. That performance certainly did not prove that you can sing.

My faves:

Mandisa - Big, big voice in a real woman and a real performer. Yeah, I'd like to see her lose about 100 lbs, but that was the only *complete* performance I saw tonight. Hope she makes it to the final 12, because I think she was the best thing on that stage tonight.

Ayla - Odd little squinched-up face, but an appealing, unusual, and well-controlled voice. I'd actually LIKE to hear more of her, which I can't say about most of them tonight. (But I can't see her name without giggling. I had dinner with Jean Auel once; did I ever mention that?)

Kinnik - There's a certain suspicion about her being, ahem, post-operative, but aside from that, I liked her performance. Some pitch problems, but she has a real sense of styling the song. I'd like to see her sing again before I make up my mind.

Melissa - There's a certain whiff of the trailer park about her, but I'd like to hear more from her. Wretched blouse and makeup, though. Are they trying to sabotage her or were they her choice?

Hm, looking back over these, I guess I'm just feeling mean tonight! Maybe the boyos tomorrow will cheer me up. :) (But not Bucky. FGS, man, shave and get a haircut!!!)

[twin2]

Good morning,

I am up and out early today for jury duty. I hope I get to put someone as nice as the twins in the slammer.

Can't wait to see the guys tonight.

[EmilyGeiger]

I hate going to theaters :)

Me too! Plus it's too expensive!! We have movie nights at home. My husband brings home his projector and we plug in the dvd player and stereo to it and we have our own theater. We do this twice a month. The only drawback is having to wait for the movie to come out on dvd.

[kevkrom]

If last night is any indication, it's going to be easy to separate the gals into three "tiers" -- those who are shoe-ins for the finals, those who have almost no chance, and the fence-sitters.

On a completely separate note, what the heck is a "slippery Jackson"? Is it something a guy has after watching Becky O'Donohue perform?

Anyway, onto the rankings...

• Paris - An excellent song choice, it allowed her to simply "blow it out". The vocal was excellent, but I thought it was too much of a "Gladys Night impersonation" and that her choreography was too theatric and overdone. My Grade: A-
• Lisa - This is the "favorite" I remember from the initial auditions. She was back in full control and dominated the stage with a standing mic performance. There were some minor pitch problems, but other than that, a very good performance. My Grade: B+
• Mandisa - Song choice was interesting. It wasn't a great fit for her voice, but she still managed to pull it off. She has excellent command of the stage, but will America vote for a "big girl"? My grade: B+
• Kinnik - I think this is more a criticism of some of the other "favorites" rather than praise for Kinnik. She has an unusual tone, excellent diction, but was pushing the limits of where "belting" ends and "over-singing" begins. Given that all the judges thought she was sharp, she crossed that line more often than she should have. I'm also no fond of the strained look she has while singing. My Grade: B
• Katherine - One of the best, if not the best, vocals of the night. On the other hand, her physical performance was hideous -- absolutely no emoting or expression until the very end, where she seemed to relax. A great voice will not carry her if she cannot nail the "performance" aspects as well. My Grade: B-
• Ayla - It looked like she had a little bit of nerves early, but was otherwise solid. She obviously knows her way around a microphone, and it shows. My Grade: B-
• Melissa - Some diction issues, but she was one of the best at having consistency between upper and lower registers. I can't say much bad about her performance, other than I didn't really like it that much. My Grade: B-
• Becky - Very good song choice for her voice, but it needed much more energy. It was too "nice" and there were some diction issues early. At least she's cute. My Grade: C+
• Kellie - If you're going to try and impersonate Carrie, you should at least be able to sing well. This was a "safe" choice, and not done all that well regardless. The transition to the bridge was a mess, and when she wasn't belting, it was boring. Very mediocre (at best). My Grade: C
• Heather - Her upper register and lower register matched very well, unfortunately, neither of them were very good. An extremely dull performance. My Grade: C-
• Brenna - Ignore the fact that I just don't like her. Ignore that I wouldn't have liked her after her intro even if I had never seen her before. Ignore all of the stupid "posing". She was completely, utterly below the pitch the whole way through. Consistent, but flat. My Grade: D
• Stevie - I really, really wanted to like her; a possible early "dark horse". This just wasn't good, however. It was inconsistent, the phrasing (where she took breaths) was choppy, and it was dull. My Grade: D-

Brenna may get saved because she's a "character" plus the endorsement from "vote for the worst". I'll predict Heather and Stevie to be cut.

Girls' overall rankings after Semi-final #1:

1. Lisa Tucker (+1)
2. Paris Bennet (+1)
3. Katherine McPhee (-2)
4. Ayla Brown (NC)
5. Mandisa (+2)
6. Becky O'Donohue (NC)
7. Kinnik Sky (+3)
8. Kellie Pickler (-3)
9. Melissa McGhee (+2)
10. Heather Cox (-1)
11. Stevie Scott (-3)
12. Brenna Gethers (NC)

[kevkrom]

Brenna might be the first outright skank that has ever made it this far in AI

Oh please. Fantasia did everything except wear a "Proud To be A Ho" t-shirt.