Music - Weekly Wilson - Blog of Author Connie C. Wilson

After U2 kicked off the American leg of its current tour in Chicago at Soldier Field on Saturday, September 12^th, the term “suit of lights” will have to take on new meaning. It always used to mean a toreador’s suit in the bullring. But in the three-song encore portion of U2’s fantastic new show, Bono is attired in a suit of actual lights…red ones…and he uses a round hanging microphone that intermittently glows red or blue and from which he dangles, at one point.

The arena show is groundbreaking in another respect: the huge claw-footed space-age spaceship stage. The stage looks like a reject from the Terminator movies or half a lobster. The creative team, headed by show designer and direction guru Willie Williams and executed by Mark Fisher, (who has been integral to the band’s creative sets since PopMart and Zoo TV allowed video to really add to a show’s impact), was immense, and was originally assembled in the tiny village of Werchter, in Belgium. That is because it was built by the Belgian company Stageco, using a high pressure hydraulic system. According to details on U2’s website (www.U2.com), the stage center pylon is 150 feet tall and the rest of the stage is 90 feet tall. It will support 180 tons of video screens, made up of 1 million pieces which take 4 days to assemble. The screen is 500,000 pixels and has 320,000 fasteners. It takes 12 days to load in the screen, stage and universal production equipment, 6 hours to dismantle it, and 2 days to dismantle it and load it out of the stadium.

The next concert, after Chicago, is at Rogers Centre in Toronto on 9/16 and 9/17, followed by Foxborough’s Gillette Stadium on 9/20 and 9/21; Giants Stadium in East Rutherford (NJ) on 9/23 and 9/24; Fedexfield Landover on 9/29; Scott Stadium in Charlottesville on 10/01; Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh (NC) on 10/03; Atlanta’s Georgia Dome on 10/06; the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa (FL) on 10/08; the New Dallas Cowboys Stadium on 10/12; the Reliant Stadium in Houston on 10/14; the Oklahoma Memorial Stium North on 10/18; the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale (AZ) on 10/20) ; the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas (NV) on 10/23; the Rose Bowl in Pasadena (CA) on 10/25; and BC Place in Vancouver (British Columbia) on 10/28. All those places are in for a treat!

The program quote from Williams: “Mark Fisher has been my Siamese twin in the thinking behind U2 productions since PopMart. He’s an architect with unrivalled experience in building rock shows, so his sense of whether something will work is critical. He sent me some initial sketches of the LAX Theme Building across a football pitch…It’s the Theme Building at LAX, Los Angeles International Airport, that crystalized it for me. It’s a very space age looking restaurant with four legs and very sleek curves, and when I imagined it straddling a football pitch (field), I knew I was on to something.”

Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullins, Jr., were definitely on to something and greenlighted the idea in April after it germinated for quite some time. The something they were on to added up to a spectacular sound-and-light show for the stadium crowd, with the band starting off with songs from their newest album (I only like “Boots,” which they played on “Letterman” and elsewhere). They moved on to the crowd favorites for the final 2/3 of the show, such as “Beautiful Day,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “Vertigo,” “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” “Where the Streets Have No Name” and (as one of the three encore numbers), my personal favorite, “With or Without You.” Their lead-in act was Snow Patrol (at 7:00 p.m.) and U2 played from 8:30 p.m. until approximately 11:30 p.m. with no real intermission.

During the playing of “Walk On,” audience members were encouraged to place a pop out life-sized facemask of Aung San Suu Kyi (contained in the program over their own faces. Who, you ask, is Aung San Suu Kyi? She is Burma’s democratic leader and a Nobel Peace Prize winner whose party, the National League for Democracy, won the elections in 1990, after which the ruling junta placed her under house arrest, where she has remained for the past 14 years. With an election looming in 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to run for office because she would win. The other program notes of a political sort detailed how the military dictatorship is trying to wipe out ethnic people in Eastern Burma with 3,300 villages destroyed in the past 15 years and rape routinely used as a weapon of war against females as young as 5. More than 2,100 political prisoners crowd Burma’s jails while an oppressive dictatorship and ruling military junta continues in office, refusing to give way to those democratically elected.

On a happier note, reviews of the show, which premiered on U.S. soil in Chicago on Saturday, September 12^th, from Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune were glowing. Kot declared that the 70,000 plus audience had seen “one of the best stage shows of the past 10 years” and further noted in his review, “Stadium concerts usually tend to feel puffed up and bombastic, but this was downright strange—and wonderfully so.”

During the “Vertigo” and “Elevation” tours, Bono physically ran a track-like stage that was circular in one case and heart-shaped in another. There were also hanging light-up emblems denoting the world’s major religions dangling as changing lighted strands in the indoor show, but this arena show had a huge circular speaker/screen nestled amidst the lobster-claw legs that projected a green clock upon opening, followed by both close-ups of the band and film of space from NASA. The rest of the time, the screen either changed colors dramatically or depicted the band members.

There were also a couple of small bridges (I immediately thought of the Stones’ “Bridges to Babylon” tour) and, at one point, Bono ran the track with a small boy from the audience, only to collapse as though exhausted and lie there for several long moments before resuming singing.

Bono declared, “The 360 Show was designed to make our audience the 5^th member of the band.” Even from the second tier of seats, you entered into the spirit of the sold-out show. One program note declared, “There may be another band with the imagination, ambition and courage to do something like this…but I can’t think who they would be.”

For the far more veteran Rolling Stones, those might be fighting words, as their Steel Wheels Tour way-back-when featured an impressive array of pyrotechnics and a huge proscenium stage, but we’ll all have to wait to see if the gauntlet that has been verbally thrown down by U2 is picked up by the much more senior bad boys from Britain.

Tim Stop Trio Plays at “Market” in Chicago on 7/22

By Connie Wilson

On July 24, 2009

In Local, Music, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews

The Tim Stop Trio (www.timstoptrio.com) played Market, a trendy new tri-level restaurant/bar that opened May 1^st. The restaurant at 1113 W. Randolph is the brainchild of White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams and partner of Mod Construction, and features a 2,500 outdoor garden seating area, an inner dining area with 20 flat screen TVs, and an upstairs roof garden, which is where Tim Stopulus and his Trio held forth on July 22, 2009.

The restaurant offers American cuisine, some served in unique ways. The popcorn shrimp appetizer is served in a look-alike popcorn box, and you can order cotton candy for dessert. The ribs were great, although the side dishes for the ribs (Peruvian corn; gack) were not. I had a girl from Columbia and a girl from El Salvador with me this night, and none of us recognized the Peruvian corn as anything even remotely like “corn.” It tasted mealy, like lima beans. On the bright side, the build-your-own pizza was very good. Waitress Brittany worked very hard to get our table done by the time the band started at 9 p.m. She cannot be faulted.

As mentioned in online reviews, it is noisy inside, so, if the weather is nice, try for the outdoor garden seating or the tables in front of the establishment. [A layer of acoustic ceiling tile might help.] When I called in the afternoon to try to make reservations for four people at 7 p.m. on a Wednesday night, whoever answered the phone said they did not take reservations, which, later, turned out to be incorrect. That person also did not know if there was any entertainment that evening. In fact, after arrival, when we asked our server about the band, she had to seek out a manager to find out that, yes, the Tim Stop Trio and a second entertainer, Chris Buehrle, a very good one-man band, would be playing that night on the rooftop. I had been told on the phone that no food was served on the rooftop but that patrons were welcome to bring a drink to the roof. This last bit of information turned out to be totally incorrect. When I attempted to take a full Diet Coke (in a glass) and a half-full Mojita (excellent) to the roof, a large bouncer outside the elevator refused to allow me (us) to take drinks from the ground floor to the roof, unless the drinks were in a plastic container. The bar said it had run out of plastic entertainers. A four-story walk upstairs was the solution (doors to the roof in front), which was not a bad idea as the elevator may be the slowest elevator in the city of Chicago. (I’ve experienced an elevator this slow once before, but it was in Paris on L’Isle de la Cite and appeared to be at least 75 years old.)

The group is touring behind this released statement: “With all these questions swirling around about Obama’s Economic Stimulus Package and its effectiveness, we, the Tim Stop Trio, decided that maybe it’s time we did our part in boosting the economy. Sometimes, you can’t wait for your elected officials to do the right thing.

In that spirit, the Tim Stop Trio has been proud to announce a series of live free shows across the Midwest, beginning in Iowa City at the Piano Lounge on Wednesday, July 15 and continuing on to the Voodoo Lounge in Cedar Falls, Iowa on July 16 and July 17. On Saturday, July 18, the group performed at Headliners in Ames, Iowa, before moving on to Chicago for the rooftop show at Market on Wednesday, July 22^nd.

Said the release, “We are tired of hearing about people missing concerts due to lack of funds. Live music is not a luxury, my friends; it’s a necessity. Like food, clean water, and SUV’s. We’ve left you no excuse. It’s time to set things right in America, and it starts here.” Brave words! And clever ones.

Group members Seville Lillie (always excellent) on keyboards, Tim Stopulus on guitar and vocals and Justin Hooke on percussion delivered enjoyable background music to a full house. It was difficult to understand the patter in between songs, however. The songs were great, but the talking was hard to hear or understand, if you could hear it.

Among those in the audience were all age groups, enjoying the excellent mojitas and a variety of other signature drinks. The crowd seemed largely to be an affluent group, attired in casual to dressy clothing and it was very much a place to meet and greet.

The songs were often original compositions by group leader Tim Stopulus, a Wake Forest graduate, who said, “Our whole goal right now is to just play as much as possible and make the best music we possibly can.” Later in the evening, a very weird band played on Jimmy Kimmel’s television show. The Tim Stop Trio (especially when the full band is involved) was at least ten times better than the strange guy in the Mohawk with the silver crap on his right cheek who sang in a voice an octave higher than Michael Jackson in his youth on live TV later that night. (Jimmy Kimmel scouts: listen up!)

The group was moving on to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Mo’s Irish Pub for the weekend of July 24 and July 25 saying: “Remember, these are all free shows. In fact, we went to take it one step further. As many of you know, my last name is Stopulus. We cut off the last half of that name (‘ulos’) because nobody could spell it. Well, this week, we’re bringing it back, and we’re dropping the ‘Stop.’ After all, we want you to go see music, not stop. And since we are doing this in the name of the economy, we will be known as the Economic Timulos Package for the remainder of the tour.”

As the group says, “If you love freedom, cone see the Economic Timulos Package in the next few weeks. It’s going to be awesome. And you can take that to the bank.”

You can read up on the band at www.timstoptrio.com and on http://www.facebook.com/timstoptrio. As we walked away…listening, in the distance, to the strains the Beatles “I Saw Her Standing There”, one of the few covers of the night (along with ‘If I Ruled the World,” we all remarked on a totally pleasant and enjoyable musical evening, with a fantastic view of the city from the rooftop venue.

Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon Die Within Hours of One Another

By Connie Wilson

On June 25, 2009

In Movies, Music, Pop Culture, Television, Uncategorized

Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon, three icons of the entertainment business, died within hours of one another. Only Jackson’s death came as a shock to the world. He supposedly died of cardiac arrest, having been worked on by his private physician at his rented house near the hospital and by medical personnel in the emergency room, who pronounced him dead at 2:26 p.m.worked on him over an hour, pronouncing him dead at 2::26 p.m. He had taken a prescription medication, but the announcement also seemed to indicate that his personal physician was with him in his rented home at the time he collapsed from apparent cardiac arrest. That doctor also attempted to revive Jackson, unsuccessfully.

It’s hard to know what to say about the death of a pop icon who rose—and fell—so far. The talented little boy who sang with his brothers as “The Jackson Five” had disappeared many years ago, buried under numerous botched plastic surgeries and aberrant lifestyle eccentricities that had him inviting underage children into his bed, cavorting with a chimp named Bubbles, founding a veritable circus at Neverland Ranch, complete with a zoo and rides, buying the Elephant Man’s bones, and sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber. In the end, Michael Jackson, like all of us, proved to be mortal, no more immune to death’s reach than a Kennedy or a Beatle or a President.

May all three of these icons of our culture rest in peace.

“Like A Virgin” (Records) Means Extinct As Final Virgin Record Store Closes in L.A.

By Connie Wilson

On June 15, 2009

In Music, News, Pop Culture, travel

I was in Los Angeles and witnessing the death of Virgin Record Stores, as the “final 2 days” of sales of all merchandise in the Los Angeles store sounded the death knell of a once-thriving industry,
First, it was Denver and Orlando Virgin Mega-Stores that closed. Chicago soon followed suit. Word was that Virgin Entertainment Group North America was getting extremely low rent in very desirable locations and, as a result of that and the general struggling of the music industry, Virgin was bought out by Vornado and related real estate companies in 2007. In New York, for example, the store was only paying $54 a square foot in an area where rent easily runs $500 a square foot.

The demise of Virgin in Los Angeles (pictured here during its final 2 day sale at 80% off) follows on the heels of the closing of Tower Records in 2006. Tower had been established in 1960. In England, a similar closing Zavvl Music occurred, and FYE closed very recently as well.

The high cost of CD’s, the advent of downloads and MP3’s, a glut of product on the market, and the economic crisis can all be blamed for the fall of Virgin in the United States, but, with the closing of the Los Angeles store, a once-thriving business with locations in major cities has joined Tower Records on the scrap heap.

“American Idol” Rock Week Rocks the House

By Connie Wilson

On May 5, 2009

In Music, Television

Last week, Adam Lambert was announced as being in the bottom three. How did this happen? Beats the hell out of me. He was nothing short of brilliant on May 5 (Cinquo de Mayo) singing Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta’ Love.” His duet with Allison Irahita on “Slow Ride” was exceptional, as well, and Allison’s rendition of “Cry, Cry Baby” (Janis Joplin) was gutsy and great.

Kris Allen and Danny Gokey, by contrast, were just too soft and twinky, as they are not rockers, but more crooners or ballad singers. This was the first week that Danny Gokey might need to fear the bottom of the barrel. His excruciatingly high ending note on the song he chose (“Dream On”) caused Simon to say, “That last note was like watching a horror movie. A little over the top. With Adam, it worked. With you, it didn’t work tonight.”

If there is any justice, Danny will get to experience the bottom of the barrel that he has, heretofore, escaped. Yes, American likes him. Initially, I thought the final would be a mano-a-mano duel between Danny and Adam, but last week’s close call for Adam, plus Allison’s growing self-confidence onstage could spell a finale that features Adam and Allison not dueting, but squaring off against one another for the Grand Prize. Or not. Danny still has massive numbers of fans and the backstory of his recent status as a widower, and Allison still does not have the most riveting personality of the quartet, but the girl can sing. She has the pipes and, I suspect, the most on-air experience of the four, after Adam. (Check her out on YouTube).

The fact that this isn’t turning out to be a Grand Slam for Adam and Danny is interesting and a pleasant surprise. Stay tuned for Wednesday night’s results, which could be surprising. Or not. My prediction, as before: Kris goes back to Conway, Arkansas. He’s a nice guy, a cute guy, a crooner, but does he have the staying power to make it to the Top Two? My guess: no.

Megan Corkrey Misses with (Bob) Marley on “American Idol”

By Connie Wilson

On March 31, 2009

In Music, Pop Culture, Reviews, Television

On March 31, 2009, the final 9 contestants in this year’s “American Idol” performance took the stage and it appeared, to me, that those who earned a “pass” were Scott MacIntyre, Kris Allen, Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert.

Those whom the judges dissed included Anoop Desai, Allison Iraheta, Megan Corkrey and Lil Rounds. The judges also did not seem to like Matt Giraud, but I have a feeling that the public may.

What were the songs and the comments on this night? And who were the “best” and the “worst?”

The very best, for me, as always, was Adam Lambert strutting his stuff while singing “Play that Funky Music, White Boy,” by Wild Cherry from 1976. I have always loved this song, and some may remember that Craig Kilbourne, who disappeared from the late-night airwaves a few years ago, used it as his theme song. Adam used a light show backdrop, did some fancy footwork, and had amazing vocals, as always. He also generously gave credit to Ricky Minor and the band, for, as he said, “hooking me up with that arrangement.” The judges were universal in their praise of Adam’s incredible vocal skills, with comments like “true genius shatters expectations” (Paul Abdul), “You worked it out. Definitely in the Star Zone.” (Randy) and “I cannot wait to get to the show to see what you’ll do” from Kara. Simon, also, declared Adam’s performance as “original’ and said, “Good for you.”

If we rank below Adam (in order from “good” to “weak”) second, for me would be a tie between Scott MacIntyre, who sang Billy Joel’s “Don’t Go Changin'” and Danny Gokey—one of the front-runners—who did a stripped-down version of “What Hurts the Most.” For me, Scott lapped Danny for 2 reasons: 1) I had never heard of Danny’s song; therefore, I did not enjoy it as much as Scott’s and (2) Scott looked better than Danny, with a newly “pouffy” hair-do, black leather jacket and a good, clean look and performance. The judges said, of Scott, “One of the best performances of the night” (Randy) and “Your best performance by a country mile” (Simon). Simon also chose the occasion to point out that Paula’s advice, given on an earlier program, that Scott should step out from behind the piano, was poor advice (which led to the two squabbling at the table, as usual, with Simon telling people to “rewind” to prove his point.

Of Danny Gokey’s stripped-down song (violin accompaniment front and left) the judges said, “This is where you thrive,” (Paula); “Your best performance so far. So much better than the first two. Get a great song. Sing it brilliantly. And do your version.” (Simon). Kara said, “You moved everyone in this room emotionally,” and said she had goosebumps (I wasn’t that “moved,” at home, but I’ll take Kara’s word for her goosebumps.) Randy said, “I felt that the competition starts right now. Very nice.”

I’m puzzled by Matt Giraud’s standing. Last week, he was a standout, doing a great song, and yet he ended up in the bottom three! This week, the judges did not like his rendition of “You Found Me” by the Fray. About the only judge’s comment(s) I agreed with was the one uttered by Kara, who said, “You are a talented guy and you don’t deserve to go home.” I actually liked the way Matt took his keyboard(s) right out into the audience and had adoring fans (mostly girls) surrounding him. However, Randy said it was “Just the wrong song for you” and Simon felt it was “just uncomfortable.” Paula did not like his lack of riffing and falsetto, calling it “more of a sound alike” and saying, “This wasn’t a great performance for you.” Simon said, “I didn’t get it at all,” and added that his performance was “uptight. Not a good commercial song.” Last week, when the judges declared him to be one of the best of the night, he almost bit the bullet. I hope that the fact they didn’t like him this week works in his favor, because he is really good. He didn’t deserve to be in the bottom three last week, and he doesn’t deserve to be in the bottom three this week.
So, who does deserve to be in the bottom three tomorrow night?

Megan Joy Corkrey has been hanging on by her fingertips for weeks now. Why she is still there can be attributed to one judge, Simon, and she seems to have lost favor with him. Megan sang a Bob Marley song “Turn Your Lights Down Low” and was robotic and looked uneasy. The song had about a 3-note range, which reminded me of “Send in the Clowns,” which was written specifically to cover a very limited range because the female lead in “A Little Night Music” couldn’t reach notes beyond those 3 or 4 notes. When Megan sang her Marley song, I was bored and felt it was typical of her last few performances. Randy said,” It was like watching paint dry.” (I don’t think that is a positive comment.) Simon called it “indulgent, boring and monotonous.” Kara declared, “I really like you, but I think you’re in trouble,” suggesting that Megan should have tried some Adele and used her falsetto. I think Megan should try packing, and that she should have been sent packing about 3 performances back, which Simon confirmed with the statement “You’ve been selling that every week.”

I also didn’t like the new aggressive sex symbol side of Anoop Desai and neither did the judges. Anoop selected an Usher song (“This girl’s got a hold on me”) and, while most of the judges felt the vocals were good, and Randy said he had “picked up his swagger,” Simon nailed it when he said his performance was something that seemed ‘as though a bunch of frat guys dared you to get up and sing Usher.” Simon said it was ” a complete and utter mess, if you want my honest opinion. It actually gave me a headache.”

Another usually good performer who was so-so this night was Allison Iraheta. She looked horrible, wearing a red flared dress that had white bands down the bodice that were criss-crossed and which she wore with leggings and fake hairpieces (red) that made her hair look like straw. Simon compared her appearance to Halloween and even Randy, who is hardly a fashion plate, had questions about the outfit. Simon said it looked like something from “The Addams Family.” For me, singing “No Doubt” with guitar, which Simon said “she shouted,” was overpowered by her really ridiculous get-up. Plus, I want Allison to sing biker chick stuff by Joan Jett et. al. However, Allison was, as always, a strong performer vocally, bringing remarks from Kara like “Not your best, but good.” Paula declared Allison’s intonation and delivery to be “masterful,” so I think Allison can probably keep this odd wardrobe hanging in her L.A. digs for another week, but, were I one-armed tattooed girl, I’d be getting ready to pack my bags.

The other low vote getters will, as always, be surprising, but 2 of the 3 should be Megan and Anoop. It’s difficult to predict if Lil, who the judges declared to have sung an “old-fashioned” song will have been saved by her tears and the appearance of her adorable twins, but I’m guessing that will be the case and that means that Allison will end up in the bottom three….again. She really doesn’t deserve to be sent home, but I could live with her being dissed for the outfit alone.

Kris Allen did a very good job on “Ain’t No Sunshine” (When You’re Gone) and Randy declared him to be “in the zone” with Simon chiming in that it was ‘a very good arrangement” and Kris’ “best so far.” Simon added a “well done.” I think that Kris is firmly established as heartthrob material for America’s millions of teen-aged girl voters, so I would expect him to make it through. I’m hoping that Matt’s foray into the crowd will bring him closer to his fans both figuratively and literally, as I’d hate to see him go.

But Megan? Elimination overdue.

Eagles Play Moline, Illinois on Concert Tour on March 20, 2009

By Connie Wilson

On March 22, 2009

In Local, Music, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews

“The Eagles” blew into town on their “Long Road Out of Eden” 2009 World Tour on Wednesday, March 17, 2009, and, clad like adults in suits and ties, Glenn Frey pronounced the sold-out performance to be “the Eagles assisted living tour” and called the group “the band that wouldn’t die.”

Band members Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit—who, with his long hair, looked a bit like the Crypt-keeper, —performed at what used to be known as the Mark of the Quad Cities, but is now officially the I-wireless Center. They appeared onstage with a proscenium arch behind them that had green lights flashing, which seemed appropriate for this day after St. Patrick’s Day concert. The stage was able to have film projected on the backdrop, which was used to good effect during the concert, and there were 2 large screens set up to the left and right of the main stage.

At any given moment, in addition to the 4 “name” performers in the band, there were 9 people onstage. Four guitars, 2 percussion stations, 2 keyboard stations, 3 saxophones and 1 trumpet were used in various combination(s) throughout the evening’s performance.

The band initially performed some new stuff in tight harmony, accapella, from their newest album (“Long Road Out of Eden”) and then segued into “Witchy Woman,” with Glenn Frey, who acted as announcer most of the night saying that the song was from “our favorite Satanic country period.” With lyrics like “a peaceful easy feeling” and “every form of refuge has its price” filling the hall, the crowd loved lyrics/songs like “After the boys of summer have gone,” or “You can’t hide those lyin’ eyes.”

After a brief intermission that lasted no more than 15 minutes, the quartet sat on stools and sang close harmony on “No more walks in the woods” and “I’ve been waiting in the reeds.” Frey announced that they were going to sing what he said his wives referred to as “the credit card song,” an introduction to “Take It to the Limit.”

The famous quartet was ably assisted by musicians like Stewart Smith, their newest member; Richard Blade Davis from New Orleans on keyboards; Greg Smith from San Louis Obispo; Bill Armstrong on trumpet, from Amarillo, Texas; Christian Mostaad on sax, from the Netherlands; Al Garth from Santa Rosa; Scott Krago on drums, who has been with the band since 1994; and Michael Thompson from San Diego on keyboards. Glenn Frey, himself, is from Royal Oak, Michigan (where, he said, “mother” is one-half of a word), while Don Henley, the other leader of the band, is from Texas. Joe Walsh is a New Jersey native.

While playing their song “Dirty Laundry” a very effective montage of various covers of magazines like “People” and “Us” formed the backdrop and, towards the end, fake covers showed Don Henley on the cover of “Time” magazine, with the title: “Don Henley solves Global Warming” and Glenn Frey on a fake cover of “Sports Illustrated” bearing the words, “Glenn Frey Wins Masters.” Joe Walsh’s was a little less topical: “Monkey Sues Joe Walsh.” At times, the light-show feeling of the backdrop reminded me of the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” or light shows I have attended that featured Pink Floyd and/or the Dave Matthews Band.

The show went on for 3 hours and the only “bad” thing about it were the 2 women next to me who had come to the show on a bus and either (a) talked very loudly on their cell phones throughout the concert or (b) sang along so loudly that we couldn’t hear the band members’ voices whom we had come to hear at $168 a pop. When they began to drunkenly boogie (after knocking my own drink to the ground while stumbling in and out of the row for the 9^th or 10^th time), it was apropos that the lyric that was playing was: “Somebody’s gonna hurt someone…” It turns out it was me who was going to be hurt, as Drunken Blonde Number One smacked me right in the face while doing a particularly interesting move that involved climbing over the back of the seat back to dance in the row behind us (to “Life in the fast lane.”)

For an encore, which was prompted by real, regular lighters that were used “back in the day,” not be cell phone lights, as the kids of today use, the band sang “Take it easy’ followed by one of their biggest hits, “Desperado.” All in all, it was a great concert, but the two women next to me definitely detracted from the overall enjoyment.

Final Group Performs; Wild Card Picks Named on “American Idol” on Wednesday, March 4th

By Connie Wilson

On March 5, 2009

In Music, Pop Culture, Television

american-idol-judges2 “American Idol” has spoken, and Lil Rounds, the blind contestant Scott McIntyre, and Jorge Nunez from Puerto Rico, who did do himself some good by showing naked emotion in crying after his rendition of “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me” have advanced to the final twelve contestants.

I agree with the selection of Lil and Jorge, and it’s always nice to see handicapped individuals excel, which is why I wrote an entire piece on Oscar Pistorius, “the Blade Runner,” who was born with no legs but sought to compete on artificial limbs in the Olympics. It’s inspirational to have someone triumph over seemingly overwhelming odds. I only wish that Scott had a better voice, but, hey! There were plenty of bloggers who really dug his voice and delivery. I just didn’t happen to be among them, because, as someone who lived with a blind person for over a year, I know that most of the visually handicapped want to be treated “just like everybody else” and that is what I tried to do during my year as Susan Willoughby’s roommate. And that is what I am trying to do in objectively judging the voices of the remaining contestants and not pandering to one over another simply due to hardships they may have endured.

The “wild card” survivors who will live to fight again another day…(tomorrow, in fact) were announced after Lil and Scott and Jorge had once again sung their songs from Tuesday night. The wild card finalists who will compete against one another for the final three spots included: Von Smith, Jasmine Murray, Ricky Braddy, Megan Corkrey, Tatiana DelToro, Matt Giraud, Jesse Langseth and Anoop Desai.

Undoubtedly the selection of Tatiana will cause the most Internet buzz. She lived up to her Drama Queen image by crying and thanking all in the most emotional way possible. Then, apparently overcome with emotion, she began to walk the wrong way off the stage and had to be snared back by those who had already made it through the eye of the needle and were seated to the left, not the right.

Of those “wild card” contestants who made it through, I have come to the conclusion that Jasmine Murray made it through to the final group to compete on the basis of her looks and Jesse Langseth also seems like a long shot (although, as a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, I’m rooting for her). Megan, the tattooed lady from Utah, has been an obvious judges’ favorite since the beginning, and Anoop has immense likeability. The better singers in the group, however, are Von Smith (whom Simon compared to Clay Aiken), Ricky Braddy (who lacks much charisma, unfortunately) and Matt Giraud, once you get him behind his piano doing his bluesy thing.

The other big scandal rocking the competition seemed rather delayed in coming out (pun intended). That was the revelation (if anyone who watches YouTube wants to call it that) that Adam Lambert is gay. A photo of him smooching another male seems to have caused more buzz than his scorching hot rendition of “Crazy,” which took place in what appeared to be some sort of gay “Zodiac” revue. The minute Adam appeared onstage, with his black eyeliner and his dark black geometric cut, it seemed pretty obvious that, if he weren’t openly gay, he was in the closet (like Clay Aiken was for a very long time).

The question is now being posed: “Will America vote for an ‘American Idol’ who is openly gay?” I can’t speak for the rest of America, but I sure will. What a talent Adam Lambert is! He is in a class by himself, in more ways than one. Good luck to the church choir directors in competing against that! And, for those of you who haven’t checked Adam’s YouTube work out on video yet, I suggest “The Zodiac Show” for the openly sexual prancing and Adam with blonde hair; “Dust in the Wind” for a very stripped-down but touching vocal under conditions that can only be described as less-than-optimal; “Is Anybody Listening” for a campy look at Adam playing a part in a Biblical-era musical that reminded of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat;” and “Crawl Through Fire” for some of the campiest outfits and posing.

We just elected our first African American president. Maybe it’s time to elect our first openly gay “American Idol.”

“American Idol” of Feb. 26th Promotes Adam, Allison & Kris

By Connie Wilson

On February 27, 2009

In Music

The results are in for this week’s “American Idol” competition, as announced on Thursday night’s February 26^th program on Fox.

Ryan Seacrest announced that there were 25 million votes, up a million from last week’s voting, and all of the would-be finalists sang a group song (“Closer”) before the results were announced, Norman Gentle/Nick Mitchell got off one funny line when asked by Seacrest what he would do if he were cut. He said, “I’m looking for employment always.”

There were no surprises. Sixteen-year-old Allison Iraheto, who sang “Alone” by Heart, was the best of the girls, and she was given her ticket to ride first. She then re-sang her Tuesday night song selection. Clad in a dress that was too tight, with high, thick red heels and a black dress with a red-and-white polka dot top, she comes across as a biker chick who can really sing.

As I had speculated on AC in my article yesterday, America’s teenaged girls vote for teenaged boys. Therefore, Kris Allen beat out Megan Joy Corkrey this night, but I would not be surprised if Megan were to be brought back for the “wild card” competition, and I feel the same way about Matt Giraud the piano-playing Kalamazoo, Michigan native

The most accomplished, most talented, most confident performer of the entire competition, Adam Lambert, made it through and if you take a look at his previous work (on YouTube) you’ll see why. Not only does he have range and talent, he is an experienced pro when compared to, say, a church music director from Wisconsin. His rendition of “Crazy” online is, well, crazy. A performance of “Dust in the Wind” (also a Youtube video) shows me that we are at least going to have some really wonderful entertainment to look forward to on future “American Idol” programs. I would pay money to hear this guy sing right now, as he has the polished sheen of a professional performer, which is due to the fact that he IS a polished performer, who has appeared in “Wicked” on Broadway, among other gigs. As another interesting sidelight, you can find some interesting Youtube video footage of Allison Iraheto singing in Spanish. Check that out online before next week’s show.

So, for me, I’m doing better with my predictions, so far, this year. So is “American Idol”, as the attempt to vote Nick/Norman through by the online site “Vote for the Worst” failed.

Adam Lambert & Allison Iraheto Dominate on “American Idol’s” February 25th Show

By Connie Wilson

On February 26, 2009

In Music, Pop Culture, Television, Uncategorized

american-idol-judges22 I can make this short and sweet, or long and drawn-out.

I am selecting short and sweet, which is not normally my style.

On the Wednesday, February 25, 2009, episode of “American Idol” two clear front-runners emerged. Actually, one of them, Adam Lambert from Hollywood, has been out front for the entire competition.

The other, Allison Iraheto, a 16-year-old nearly inarticulate redhead from Los Angeles, blew the socks off the other female competitors. While Allison was not that interesting in her interview segment, the judges heaped praise on her rendition of “Alone” by Heart, saying things like, “You just blew it out of the box. So now we’ve got real singing going on tonight” from Randy Jackson. Or, from Kara, “You don’t even know how good you are.” Paula said, “I think you can sing the telephone book. Congratulations, you did an incredible job.” Simon weighed in with “The competition just started right now.” Clad in a black sparkly strapless dress with a gray belt, the teen-ager reminded of Kelly Clarkson or Pink or any number of other singers who can belt it out, and her remark, tellingly, was, “I don’t even remember what happened.

So, who will the third member of the trio to “get through” be? I don’t know, but I would guess it will be either Megan Joy Corkrey (the girl with one tattooed arm), a 23-year-old Utah native; Matt Giraud, the talented 23-year-old piano bar Kalamazoo, Michigan native, who sang a Coldplay song from Viva La Vida, this year’s album of the year at the Grammies; or Kris Allen, also 23, from Conway, Arkansas, who sang Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.”

The third winner will be the one who (m) the audience voters “like” best. Megan is very likeable, much like Brooke White on another season of “American Idol.” She has a daughter, Ryder, who is 8 years old, and the judges reacted well to Megan’s performance with comments like, “You did everything right” (Paula) to “You look gorgeous, but you oversang at the end.” (I agree with this assessment). Simon pronounced her “relevant, current,” comparing her to Duffy or Amy Winehouse, but said, “I just wish the vocals were a little bit better.” Kara DioGuardi called her “a package artist’ with a smoky jazz quality. If I were a betting woman, I’d bet on Megan Joy Corkrey, save for one factor.
Most of those voting seem to be teen-aged girls. Kris Allen is a very cute 23-year-old Conway, Arkansas boy and did a credible job with his song. Normally, he hides behind a guitar, but, this night, in a totally nondescript outfit consisting of a tee shirt and hair that seemed noticeably darker than when he auditioned previously, he received remarks like,” You showed confidence and personality. It’s very easy to forget someone like you.” Randy said, “Nice jump off, baby.” Only Kara felt that “This was just the wrong song…completely wrong.” Paula said, I’m gonna’ disagree (with Kara) completely. You nailed it.”

So, the vote is split on Kris Allen’s performance this night, but I wonder if teen-aged girls would rather vote for a cute boy than a cute girl?

I could go through the rest of the contestants and parse their performances, but suffice it to say that my original pronouncement that Jasmine Murray (age 17) looked a lot better than she was capable of singing turned out to be true with her rendition of “Love Song” by Sarah Morellis. Jeanine Vailes (age 28) sang a Maroon5 song while wearing short hot pants. It was off-key and the song is pretty monotonous, anyway. That remark summed up a lot of the selections, but not all. Jesse Langseth, age 26, from Minneapolis, Minnesota sang “Bette Davis Eyes” and did “okay” but Randy nailed it when he commented on the “five-note range” that this song and several others have, compared to Adam Lambert’s high notes on the Stones’ “Satisfaction.” Kai Kalama, singing “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” had pitch issues and his performance was panned as “corny, old-fashioned. Nothing distinct. Nothing original. Nothing memorable” (Simon) to Randy’s “Too safe.’ [His hair looked like the Arab guy from “Lost” had been electrocuted in a rainstorm; it was wild and out-of-control, but his singing was neither.]

I really must comment on the Jerry Lewis/Richard Simmons-like split personality of Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle. He sang, “I’m not going” from “Dreamgirls” while wearing white tails, Bermuda shorts, dark socks and tennis shoes. Ryan Seacrest commented, “That is the first time a contestant has gone to second base with our logo,” a reference to Norman/Nick’s shtick, where he hugged the “American Idol” logo and screeched his way through to the end of a very off-key, albeit humorous, performance. Nick/Norman belongs in a revamp of a Jerry Lewis comedy, not in a singing competition. Simon said it best when he commented, “I pray you do not go through to the next round.” Everyone agreed that Norman/Nick’s performance was funny, but, unless we are going to go the Sanjaya Hairdo-of-the-Night route, being funny usually doesn’t get you through to the twelve best singers in the competition. Comments: “Most atrocious horrific comedy. That was funny. At least we remember you. You wear the same shirt, like Simon, every week. You’re fun. You’re memorable.” He was compared to Olivia Newton-John, although I think Jerry Lewis and Richard Simmons are closer. If all of America is dying to laugh at someone for a few more weeks, then Norman/Nick can keep shrieking his way along, but it is quite obvious that he isn’t that great a singer. He could give lessons on how to become less inhibited.

Matt Breitzke, age 28, from Bixby, Oklahoma: “If You Could Only See” by Tonic. Breathy. Weird shirt with embroidery. Sweating bullets. No dancing ability whatsoever. Comments: “Boring. Didn’t suit you. An uncomfortable performance. I really like you, but I absolutely hated that song.” (Simon) It didn’t show you to be the great Matt we saw in Hollywood (Randy). “Not edgy enough. Fell really flat.” (Kara) Not going to be a welder joining the oil rig guy (Michael Sarver), from the looks of it.

Mishavonna Hensen, age 18, from Irvine, California sang “Drops of Jupiter,” another song that was bad, in that it showed little or no range. She wore an odd balloon-skirted outfit and Simon commented, “You act like a 50-year-old.”

I would point out that “American Idol” seems to “save the best for last.” They did last week, with Danny Gokey, and they did this week, with Adam Lambert. Lambert is a pro. He struts around like the spirit of Elvis has inhabited his soul. Some comments: “I don’t’ even have words. You’re in a league of your own.” (Paula) “Brilliant at times, but excruciatingly bad at times. Love it or hate it.” (Simon) “I loved it! One of the most current,” said Randy, citing “My Chemical Romance ” and Robert Tyler and the vampire from “Twilight” as some of the groups or individuals that Adam’s singing summons. Randy said, “Dude, it was the bomb!” Kara commented on the range that Adam showed, which was, indeed, a pleasant change from a night of mostly monotone songs.

Stay tuned for tomorrow night’s (February 26, Thursday, 2009) results.

I can make this short and sweet, or long and drawn-out.

I am selecting short and sweet, which is not normally my style.

On the Wednesday, February 25, 2009, episode of “American Idol” two clear front-runners emerged. Actually, one of them, Adam Lambert from Hollywood, has been out front for the entire competition.

The other, Allison Iraheto, a 16-year-old nearly inarticulate redhead from Los Angeles, blew the socks off the other female competitors. While Allison was not that interesting in her interview segment, the judges heaped praise on her rendition of “Alone” by Heart, saying things like, “You just blew it out of the box. So now we’ve got real singing going on tonight” from Randy Jackson. Or, from Kara, “You don’t even know how good you are.” Paula said, “I think you can sing the telephone book. Congratulations, you did an incredible job.” Simon weighed in with “The competition just started right now.” Clad in a black sparkly strapless dress with a gray belt, the teen-ager reminded of Kelly Clarkson or Pink or any number of other singers who can belt it out, and her remark, tellingly, was, “I don’t even remember what happened.

So, who will the third member of the trio to “get through” be? I don’t know, but I would guess it will be either Megan Joy Corkrey (the girl with one tattooed arm), a 23-year-old Utah native; Matt Giraud, the talented 23-year-old piano bar Kalamazoo, Michigan native, who sang a Coldplay song from Viva La Vida, this year’s album of the year at the Grammies; or Kris Allen, also 23, from Conway, Arkansas, who sang Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.”

The third winner will be the one who (m) the audience voters “like” best. Megan is very likeable, much like Brooke White on another season of “American Idol.” She has a daughter, Ryder, who is 8 years old, and the judges reacted well to Megan’s performance with comments like, “You did everything right” (Paula) to “You look gorgeous, but you oversang at the end.” (I agree with this assessment). Simon pronounced her “relevant, current,” comparing her to Duffy or Amy Winehouse, but said, “I just wish the vocals were a little bit better.” Kara DioGuardi called her “a package artist’ with a smoky jazz quality. If I were a betting woman, I’d bet on Megan Joy Corkrey, save for one factor.
Most of those voting seem to be teen-aged girls. Kris Allen is a very cute 23-year-old Conway, Arkansas boy and did a credible job with his song. Normally, he hides behind a guitar, but, this night, in a totally nondescript outfit consisting of a tee shirt and hair that seemed noticeably darker than when he auditioned previously, he received remarks like,” You showed confidence and personality. It’s very easy to forget someone like you.” Randy said, “Nice jump off, baby.” Only Kara felt that “This was just the wrong song…completely wrong.” Paula said, I’m gonna’ disagree (with Kara) completely. You nailed it.”

So, the vote is split on Kris Allen’s performance this night, but I wonder if teen-aged girls would rather vote for a cute boy than a cute girl?

I could go through the rest of the contestants and parse their performances, but suffice it to say that my original pronouncement that Jasmine Murray (age 17) looked a lot better than she was capable of singing turned out to be true with her rendition of “Love Song” by Sarah Morellis. Jeanine Vailes (age 28) sang a Maroon5 song while wearing short hot pants. It was off-key and the song is pretty monotonous, anyway. That remark summed up a lot of the selections, but not all. Jesse Langseth, age 26, from Minneapolis, Minnesota sang “Bette Davis Eyes” and did “okay” but Randy nailed it when he commented on the “five-note range” that this song and several others have, compared to Adam Lambert’s high notes on the Stones’ “Satisfaction.” Kai Kalama, singing “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” had pitch issues and his performance was panned as “corny, old-fashioned. Nothing distinct. Nothing original. Nothing memorable” (Simon) to Randy’s “Too safe.’ [His hair looked like the Arab guy from “Lost” had been electrocuted in a rainstorm; it was wild and out-of-control, but his singing was neither.]

I really must comment on the Jerry Lewis/Richard Simmons-like split personality of Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle. He sang, “I’m not going” from “Dreamgirls” while wearing white tails, Bermuda shorts, dark socks and tennis shoes. Ryan Seacrest commented, “That is the first time a contestant has gone to second base with our logo,” a reference to Norman/Nick’s shtick, where he hugged the “American Idol” logo and screeched his way through to the end of a very off-key, albeit humorous, performance. Nick/Norman belongs in a revamp of a Jerry Lewis comedy, not in a singing competition. Simon said it best when he commented, “I pray you do not go through to the next round.” Everyone agreed that Norman/Nick’s performance was funny, but, unless we are going to go the Sanjaya Hairdo-of-the-Night route, being funny usually doesn’t get you through to the twelve best singers in the competition. Comments: “Most atrocious horrific comedy. That was funny. At least we remember you. You wear the same shirt, like Simon, every week. You’re fun. You’re memorable.” He was compared to Olivia Newton-John, although I think Jerry Lewis and Richard Simmons are closer. If all of America is dying to laugh at someone for a few more weeks, then Norman/Nick can keep shrieking his way along, but it is quite obvious that he isn’t that great a singer. He could give lessons on how to become less inhibited.

Matt Breitzke, age 28, from Bixby, Oklahoma: “If You Could Only See” by Tonic. Breathy. Weird shirt with embroidery. Sweating bullets. No dancing ability whatsoever. Comments: “Boring. Didn’t suit you. An uncomfortable performance. I really like you, but I absolutely hated that song.” (Simon) It didn’t show you to be the great Matt we saw in Hollywood (Randy). “Not edgy enough. Fell really flat.” (Kara) Not going to be a welder joining the oil rig guy (Michael Sarver), from the looks of it.

Mishavonna Hensen, age 18, from Irvine, California sang “Drops of Jupiter,” another song that was bad, in that it showed little or no range. She wore an odd balloon-skirted outfit and Simon commented, “You act like a 50-year-old.”

I would point out that “American Idol” seems to “save the best for last.” They did last week, with Danny Gokey, and they did this week, with Adam Lambert. Lambert is a pro. He struts around like the spirit of Elvis has inhabited his soul. Some comments: “I don’t’ even have words. You’re in a league of your own.” (Paula) “Brilliant at times, but excruciatingly bad at times. Love it or hate it.” (Simon) “I loved it! One of the most current,” said Randy, citing “My Chemical Romance ” and Robert Tyler and the vampire from “Twilight” as some of the groups or individuals that Adam’s singing summons. Randy said, “Dude, it was the bomb!” Kara commented on the range that Adam showed, which was, indeed, a pleasant change from a night of mostly monotone songs.

Stay tuned for tomorrow night’s results.