Now that was one hell of a Rock show. I can't remember seriously when I've seen a better collection of performances on balance, and that includes the Grammys, the American Music Awards and possibly even Live Aid back in 1985. I shit you not -I was blown away.This weeks reality clinic where the hamsters got a chance to watch and critique themselves on video - like the rest of us do - was apparently very - very - helpful. Many historians have told us that Nixon lost the 1960 Presidential Election against John Kennedy because he didn't understand television. I think a ton of these guys just figured it out.
First up was Patrice whose suddenly found the 11 spot on the dial ever since last week. Her Chili'd out version of Higher Ground was steller, and she definately showed that she could front a band even with Tommy Lee the attention-whore extra-ordinaire on the drums. I still have a problem with her vocals being a little too stiff and mechanical, but she's definately learned to control the show and the audience - both in the studio and at home. She's no longer one of the people on the bubble and has become Elite, a serious contender in this competition. I'm looking forward to what she does next week.
Josh's perfermance of Sublime's Santeria was ballsy, and showed a good balance of what he can briing to the table when he's outside his comfort zone. Lazt year "Soul man" Ty, would have done with a little venturing into the unknown - just to help people remember how great his initial hard rocking performance of "Cult of Personality" and "Heatbreaker" were. Josh still isn't really in Ty's class as an overall vocalist or showman, but he did far better than I expected him todo with this song. Although he sounded far better than the original vocalist - which isn't really that difficult truth be told - the main difference is that he seemed comfortable on stage and comfortable doing the song, which is a big change from last week where he looked like he was trying to squeeze out a loaf. Uncomfortable to do - uncomfortable to watch.
Magni is a consumate professional, and although I'm not a fan of Coldplay as I consider them the prime example of the pussification of rock, he made the song not just palatable - but even chilling. This guy can't make a wrong move, he brings it every time. My only worry is that he has a very generic sounding voice, it doesn't have a lot of personality and character that makes it truly unique. Let me give you an example - if a Rolling Stones song comes on the radio you know it's rolling stones as soon as you hear Mick's voice. It's unique. It's distinctive. But is Magni's? I don't really think so. However, he did manage to bring puts some balls into a Coldplay song - without overdoing it - and that's a genuine accomplishment.
Ryan - I have to say it - Ryan fucking blew my mind. Oh. My. FUCK - that was cool. This is a guy I considered to be absolutely be The Weakest Link among the men pretty much from day one. But if anyone felt his pulling his ass out of the frying grease last week was a fluke, they just had a rude awakeneing. His solo piano performance of "Losing My Religion" was absolutely stunning. I had visions of him doing that at Wembley Stadium. It was like seeing Paul McCartney do 'Hey Jude" or Phil Collins doing "In the Air Tonight" at Live Aid. Purely magical. When he performed this I realized it wasn't just him, but most of the performances tonight were just on that level. These guys aren't acting like a bunch of contestants trying to win a prize job - they're active like full on professional performers (which most of them are) -- but World Class performers.
Fucking Holy Fuck.
Dilana. dilana. Dilana. DILANA! God Damnit. She just ruled tonight on "Can't get enough" and hardly seemed to be trying. It's one of the first classic rock songs she's done, and she just killed it. Some of her vocals were right into Jill's range -and shows that we haven't seen anything near her full capability yet - but that's a good thing. She clearly knows when to pull her punches and when to go for the knockout. She remains Elite. As an aside, her reaction to her performance last week on the Cindy Lauper song shows a personal honesty that is rare. Jason Newsted thought her standards were "too high", but I disagree - and said so at the time. She sounded like a neutered cave troll on most of that song. Even though it worked, her tone was just plain bad, and once she had a chance to hear it, she knew it - which shows that she has control of her ego and a great ear. She remains a top contender in this.Anyway our new Weakest Link among the men is now Toby. It's not that there was anthing wrong with his performance of Nirvana's "Penny Royal Tea" wasn't good, it was. It's just that so many people are raising the bar so high, he's just not keeping up IMO. I'm not sure what specifically he needs to do - but he's got to find a way to bump it up a notch, or he's ultimately in trouble.
Zayra - oh zayra - oh lordy. I'm so glad this Puerto Rican girl takes her grooming tips from Brazil. As in Brazillian Wax. Oh God - that outfit. I'm not sure if they keep her on the show because of her performances or to see what crazy shit she's going to wear on stage next. She and Sebastian Bach could share notes on catsuits.Watching Z is like watching a slow motion train-wreck.
Oh no, it's headed for the Bus! Ow! And now the dining car's doing a 540 -- WHAM - oh man, there goes the school! Crash - BANG! You just can't look away, no matter how horrible it gets.
As for the song - "867-5309 Jenny" someone need to type of a memo to her that it's not punk, it was a New Wave song. Yet again Paul "Eeyore" Merkovitz was predicting a disaster due to her changes during the reality segment and yet again magically a disaster did not occur. Even Rafeal thought she should just once, sing and perform the song the way it was supposed to be sung. But even with all that drama Zayra was actually good - again. Frankly, the one thing I'd like to see her do is ditch the nutty clothes and actually trust her voice and performance itself. I know she's about as likely to do that as Pennsylvania Senator Rick Sanitorium is to making a rational decision in his life -- but one can always hope, right?
She did good - not great, but good - and she's not going anywhere, I know damn well better than to predict her rapid exit from the show. I'm done griping about it. She's great eye-candy, great for ratings - even if she can't sing a lick and is a total spaz - but why quibble about stuff like that?
Another one for the weak category this week - was Jill. It's not that she didn't sing or perform well - she did - it just wasn't appropriate for the song. Jim Kerr's original performance of Keith Forsey's "Don't you forget about me" has a smokey, smoldering angst to it. It wasn't strident. It wasn't hystrionic. Jim's not a hystrionic guy. Zayra has been Z-effying her songs to good effect, she has good ideas and an understand of her assets and limitations - Jill doesn't. She performed this song just like she did the Rolling Stone's song last week - like part of the Tina Turner Review. The thing is that Tina knows how to cool things down once in a while and provide some contrast to her over-the-top-ness. People need a breather every once in a while, and Jill seems either unwilling or unable to provide it.
One big surprise tonight that I didn't expect was how much Lukas sucked. Musically and vocally he was fine. I even think he's managed to find a good balance between his whisper to a growl vocal tendencies -- but what's up with dissing the audience like that? You don't sing the God Damn CHORUS of the song while facing the drummer. During the Reality segment he said there's "No Rules" to this thing -- well, wake up fella - that's a freaking rule. Pay attention to the audience. You are there to entertain them, they are not there to be entertained by staring at your ass. (Ok, well most of them aren't) Oh and by the way - open your eyes when you look at 'em. Jesus Criminy. He's acting almost like he's doing a Jordis (on "Dream On") like he's trying to get thrown into the bottom 3 just so he can go home early. Maybe he's playing some type of "strategy" - I don't know. Either way, I doubt it's going to work. He's got mondo credit so far with the SN guys and a strong fan base so I don't expect that this will hurt him significantly. J.D. managed to screw the pooch on both "Crazy" and 'We are the Champions" but by that time his following was strong and vocal. There's no way that the producers of the show and Supernova's label ( which I suspect is either CBS, Mark Burnett or both) is not paying attention.
During the 80's my wife worked for the band Toto and ran their Offical Newsletter (her ex-roomate Laurie still runs it today), and was actually there in the room when Joe Williams (son of oscar winning Soundtrack composer John Williams) auditioned for the band. He pretty much Blew. Them. Away. with an uncanny ability to mimic pretty much any singer around. They hired him on the spot, but when it came time to record the album the label had other ideas. The band already had a fairly well known sound, and they didn't want to rock the boat - so they insisted that on most of their most likely hit singles that the long standing members of the band like David Paich or Steve Lukather do the lead singing. So what was the new lead singer they just hired supposed to do during those songs - bang a tamborine?If you think a label and a producer like Burnett are going to invest this kind of time, energy and money into the Supernova project and not have any say what so ever on who they finally pick, or not pay attention to the level and intensity of voting for specific rockers -- your just about ready to buy this brand spanking new bridge I have for sale, which just happens to have a wonderful scenic view of the Hudson River and lower Manhattan at the low - LOW price of just $5.95 a inch. Operators are standing by right now at 1 888 BULL-CRAP!
JD had such massive fan support by the end there was practically no way he was going to lose -- and the same just might be true of Lukas, even if he doesn't want to win anymore.
Update on what's the F was up with Lukas:
Part of an interview from Source|torontoist.com
quote:Whateva - dude.
LR: Well, I think they see that I’m the real deal, brother. Sure there’s television involved, absolutely, but at the end of the day…the other night I did Celebrity Skin (on the episode aired last night, Tuesday August 1) and forgot the lyrics cause I didn’t believe in the song and the performance. I would rather not pretend to a crowd and try and sell something that I don’t believe in. I mean, they’re not stupid and I don’t want to lie to their face. So I basically had my back turned the whole show. And you know I just try to be honest, because whatever fans I do have out there, I wanna give them my all and my best. Last night I was just off my game, you know?
Storm flipping the switch and doing "Change" by David Bowie was mesmerizing. Again, like Dilana she makes this seem effortless. I am certain, baring any label interferance, that at the end it's going to be the two of them going head to head. She was just dazzlingly sweet doing that song, and showed such a massive shift from her wild-eyed hyper-energetic performances have been so far. She's been a band leader for a long time, she knows how to run the SHOW - and it shows, in spades.
Lastly we have Dana, who seems to have completely transformed herself. She may have been a student these first four weeks, but I think now she's about ready to give some lessons. She just nailed The Who's "Baba O'Rielly" and sent if flying over the left outfield wall. "Going... Going... GONE!!" All growed up and more than ready to Rock. Dana is officially now a serious contender. Nobody - not even bitch-ass Ryan - is going to be talking shit about her begin an "Pop embarrisment" again.
I suspect we'll see Jill, Z and possibly Toby in the B3 tomorrow - but I'm hoping to see Lukas. He deserves it, and probably needs the wake-up call before it's too late.
And for those of you who haven't figured it out yet and love competely useless trivia, the song that plays during the bumper segment of the Reality Show sounds to me like an instrumental versions of Yngwie Malmsteen's "Heaven Tonight".
Vyan
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