First Impressions: Storm was great as usual. So Solid, so confident. A consumate pro. She's doing what she does so easily - I have no doubts that she could crank it to Eleven if and when she needs too. My biggest worry for Storm is that the fact the she doesn't create any drama during the Reality portions of the show causes her to get a lot less screen time. She was only on screen for about two seconds during the Record Studio Segment (Week 1/Reality). This weeks vocal clinic spent no time on her, I guess because she has no vocal problems. Magni got time because the instructor didn't expect him to sing as beautifully as he did, Lukas got time because he was terrified to go to the vocal coach after Jason told him he was hurting his voice (which he is, as I discussed last week),. But Storm? Nothing. Probably after one or two more eliminations, talent simply isn't going to matter - it's all going to be about relative popularity and whether the SN guys can envision that person fronting their band. Storm could probably afford to do some more modern songs in that area.
Oh, and the "Google" line was priceless. In case you don't know Storm's been extremely well, exposed, on the net for years.
Besides the vocal clinic, the big issue in the reality show this week was the battle over the songs. First was Josh, who actually discovered the new songs first and took some time to look them over before alerting everyone else. His first impules had been to just take the song he wanted - but he held off and let everyone else have a look. Then he just took the song he wanted while they were standing there trying to figure out what they all were. The odd part is that he got tons of praise for that move from Supernova. Yeah, ok - I didn't know being a Rock Star meant being a no good underhanded snake. I now stand educated.
The really weird thing about Josh's choice of "Come as you Are" is that he claimed he chose it so he could really ROCK, and then he goes and does an acoustic ("Unplugged") version of the song? What the fuck is up with that? Don't get me wrong, he did it great -- and managed to keep his tendency to oversing undercontrol. It was a fine performance, but not really the performance he needed to give right now.
While I'm on Josh let me just say a thing about Soul Singers and "Melisma" - the tendency to add extra notes to a melody. First of all, I hate the word. It sounds like a freaking disease. I've always called it filegre. People who can't do it, call it "melisma" - because it's make them feel less inferior or intimidated by someone who has that talent. Problem is, there are also a lot of people who think they have a talent for it - and they don't. The point isn't to just sing a bunch of extra notes and make the melody unneccesarily complicated - this tradition comes out of blues and jazz where improvisation is highly valued. This style of singing is really the same thing as what an instrumentalist with a trumpet, sax or guitar might improvise onto the melody. It's a mini solo. For any soloist you have to have a good understanding of a songs key and mode or else you'll wind up hitting notes that just Don't. FIT. into the song. To avoid falling out of the key some singers who like to do this tend to use the exact same set of vocal runs over and over again (Christina Aguilera) really, really fast - so people don't notice that it's just a quick trill being repeated. It's like watching a trumpet playing shake one valve, or a guitarist do a solo with one finger. B. O. R. I. N. G. What people like Stevie Wonder or Marvin Gaye used to do was to enhance the core melody with improvised harmonic lines, not obliterate it in a note storm.Last week Josh was lost in such a storm, this time he found his way home.
The other song fight was between Patricia and Jill over "Helter Skelter". They didn't show it during the performance section of the show, but Jill got in a parting shot at Patrice claiming that her desperation to fight for this one song, was really because her voice and performances had been so weak so far.
Sure, that might have been Jill's ego talking, since she had several songs that were within her vocal range and talent - and Patrice didn't. Storm - in a rare reality segment appearance - was actually the peacemaker, telling Jill that "Patrice really isn't like that". Well, maybe in actual reality she isn't - but this is a big fat fucking game show, and that's how the game is played sometimes. There's no need to take shit personally.
Patrice's actually performance of Helter Skelter was fine. She missed a few notes here and there -- and did really seem to get into the darkness of the song, but it was cool.
Jill did what Jill does on "All Right Now", which is Rock Da house. Her version was much closer to Paul Rogers original than Mig had been last year. Gilby claimed she "oversang" - but you can't oversing Paul Rogers. That guy is a melisma/filigre mother fucker. She did it great Gilby, shut your hole.
Last week I talked a mile about vocal break points in Jill's voice, but this song didn't bring them out at all - nor did the vocal clinic. As long as you don't have to hit those certain notes in full voice, it's a non-problem. Next.
Toby was great last week, but this week - feh. He seemed to be have drown out by the band and was listless. I can't even remember what song he did. Not a good sign. Maybe it was song choice, because even Dave Pirner's-ex Winona "Fast Fingers" Rider couldn't save this "Runaway Train".Dana = Cher. Naw, Dana= Shania Twain minus the hot outfits and superstar producer/husband. Yeah.
Phil did great this week, ole' mush mouth seemed to have finally found his tongue. He actually looked like a rock star for once.
Ryan is running on empty. He did good, but he's just not the personality type for this gig. They SN boys gave him a ration of shit for "not enjoying" himself on stage. Well, maybe he's not - but I do find that comment a bit ironic, particularly considering the fact that he was singing a protest song- Creedance Clearwater Rivals "Favorite Son", which talks about the fate of middle class kids getting sucked into the Vietnam War, while the sons and daughters of millionaires - like our current President - get away with murder. Literally. This is not a happy song, and last year when Ty would smile through his performance - because he was so happy being on stage and performing - people said he was "disconnected" from the song. The fact is, there are no rules for how this is done - this is singing and performing, connecting with the audience. You do it any way that works for you, if that means acting (as in the Theater!) as if it where happening to you in real-time - then you do it. If it means making sure the audience is rocking out - then you do that instead.
Anyway, the problem with Ryan is that he has no stage presence - that's why he looks uncomfortable, he is uncomfortable. He doesn't know how to make the stage his home, and take command of it. He's doomed.
Just an aside - In the theater singers "emote" because the songs are really just telling a larger story, but Ty - who many claimed last year was Mr. Theater - never did that. I bring this up because how people are perceived, regardless of "reality" is going to become crucial soon. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was just today quoted as stating the 80% of Republicans would be Democrats if they actually knew the facts, rather than the bullshit they get fed by Talk Radio and Faux News. I would argue that they probably wouldn't change parties, but they might agree a lot more about critical issues that face us all -- and people allowing perception and agendas to distort fact and reality is not only a problem in politics, it's a problem I soon expect to see on this show, just as we saw last year when Ty was raked over the coals for missing one word in a song, while Jordis was ignored for blowing an entire verse. By some accounts, Jordis was trying to throw the show by completely screwing up "Dream On" on purpose - yet ultimatley she stayed (a little longer) and Ty left. We saw similar favoritism when J.D.'s horrible performances of "We are the Champions" and "Crazy" were swept under the carpet and he went on to win the entire contest. I fully expect to see the same thing this year eventually.
And the people I expect to see the Cult of Personality arise around are Dilana, Lukas and quite surprisingly - Zayra.
Dilana has definately got the "It" factor. She managed to take Deloris O'Riordian haunting celtic melody on the Cranberry's "Zombie" and make it her own. This is a song about surviving the urban warfare of Northern Ireland during the battles between the occupying British Army and "terrorist" members of the IRA. (Kinda like y'know - how we're currently occupying Iraq and quite possibly how the Israelis are about to send ground troops in to take on Hezbullah in Lebanon in a few days) And probably without realizing it, she brought the chaos, terror and fear of that experience home. The dreaded monkey dance is gone - and Dilana has shown that she's truly a gifted and surprising performer. So far she has BROUGHT IT every freaking time, she definately the primary contender at this point in time.The last big drama from the reality show was Lukas reworking of the Stones "Let's Spend the Night Together" into a stomping industrial Manson-esque Metal track. The House Band leader Paul Merkovitz had predicted that Gilby, being a huge Stones fan, would hate it. After that build up, I half expected that Gilby would be the one to jump onstage to join in on the performance as we were warned during the reality portion would happen. Iinstead Jason got up and played with Phil, and Gilby loved Lukas' version. "That's the way to cover the Stones".
Yeah, I agree - it was a really cool version.
And then you had, Zayra. Oh my lord - I can not even begin to describe how much I F.u.C.k.i.N.g. HATE that God damn sappy maudlin stomach turning "Everybody Hurts" song by the R.E.E.M!
Wretch!
But, Zayra managed to make the song tolerable. Even enjoyable. She'd had some E.M.S.L. (English and Music as a Second Language) trouble conveying what she wanted to do to the House Band. "You sound like you want an orchestra -- and we're not an orchestra!" Again it was Paul - Mr. Doom-n-Gloom - who was predicting a disaster. But the HB does not crash and burn, Ever. I have to say that those guys have got it ten times worse that the singers in this contest - and they too - BRING IT - every time. They're awesome, and this time was no exception. Zayra finally has shown how and why she's on this show - the girl can actually sing. I was about to figure she must have a tongue like a garter snake or something, but she really does have talent. It's probably not enough for her to end up fronting Supernova, but it is enough for me to glad she's still around for a few more weeks just so we can see what rabbit she pulls out of her catsuit next.
Lastly, Tommy's comments about "We want Ozzfest" sound like what they want is a singer capable of doing Metal, but not limited by it. It seems to me they want either Dilana or Lukas with Storm having an outside chance - other darkhorse candidates for the final prize may arise, but right now that's how I see it.
Vyan
(P.S. Both Zombie and Favorite Son have been included on the Radio Station attached to his blog for weeks)
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