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All posts for the month January, 2009

KC at the Bat

Posted by John on January 14, 2009
Posted in: american idol, reviews. Tagged: , . 7 Comments

david-cook-homecoming1Night #2 of American Idol auditions, and the prospects in Kansas City were definitely stronger than in Phoenix. These folks have a lot to live up to, since last year’s winner, David Cook, is from the Kansas City area, and they didn’t disappoint. I have three stars next to names on my list, where last night, I didn’t have any. One person who didn’t get a star was Von Smith, who I was impressed with several years ago when I saw a video of him hitting the money note on “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”. Check it out below:

I raved about that performance for a long time, but tonight’s performance was just horrible. So affected, so overwrought, so overreaching. So what. The great performances came from those folks that didn’t look like they should be singing on TV, but who had pure talent. Take Matt Breitzke, who made Michael Sarver from last night’s show look like Justin Timberlake. And yet, there was something in his voice and his delivery of “Ain’t No Sunshine” that made me root for him. Jessica Furney looks like a poor cousin of Kelly Clarkson, but her version of Janis Joplin’s “Cry Baby” was brilliant. Anoop Desai sang “Thank You” as well as Sarver did last night, and Danny Gokey blew me away with “Heard It Through the Grapevine”.

For my money, Gokey’s got the most potential. He reminds me a lot of Elliott Yamin, and that’s a huge compliment in my book. While Yamin only came in third his season, he sure put Katherine McPhee and Taylor Hicks to shame in relation to sales. In my mind, the best performance ever on American Idol came from Elliott singing “A Song For You”.

Let the Competition Begin

Posted by John on January 13, 2009
Posted in: american idol, reviews. Tagged: . 7 Comments

Michael SarverSo auditions started tonight for American Idol. By far, this is the most painful part of the show for me, but I still watch. Night one…Phoenix. Two words: Pain. Ful. Really a rough start to the show. A lot of the singers they were featuring were 16-year-olds, which really doesn’t bode well for this year’s crop. The night’s hype went to a 20-something singer/songwriter named Scott MacIntyre, who sang a decent version of “And So It Goes”, but honestly, it wasn’t THAT good. There were a few I liked, though. Watch out for Emily Wynn-Hughes, who sang a killer version of “Barracuda”, and Michael Sarver (above), who looks like a bouncer for a rock club, yet busted out a killer version of Boyz II Men’s “Thank You”.

Speaking of AI, Season 6’s Chris Richardson is STILL working on his debut CD. He’s got a sample of a track on his MySpace called “Guilty”, so I did a little digging, and found a YouTube clip of (most of) the song. Very promising, if you ask me. I’m a big believer in this guy, and the fact he writes, plays and sings his own stuff helps back that up. Check out the clip below:

The Direction of Pop Music

Posted by John on January 13, 2009
Posted in: commentary, personal. Tagged: . 3 Comments

Isn’t that what we’re always looking for? You never know where the next huge phenomenon or slowly-building movement is coming from, and that’s part of what makes this whole experience interesting. Add to that all of the different perspectives of people looking at what’s blowing up, what’s up and coming, or what’s on the way out, and it’s never boring. That’s what has pulled me into the whole concept of blogging, and that’s what I intend to do.

apollo1So it’s a new year, and there are a lot of changes going on. New president, new seasons of TV shows (Battlestar, anyone?), new jobs, new challenges, new achievements. For me, next week starts a new chapter in education, with the beginning of my Masters work. Over the past few days, I’ve tried to put things into perspective with what I’m doing and where I’m going, and it can be a daunting task. And then, right in the middle of it, XO really puts an additional oomph on what really matters. Talk about timing.

golden_compassSo here’s the direction of this blog…there is none. While it’s great that folks stop by and read and comment, I can’t blog about stuff that I don’t have a passion for. It just doesn’t connect. For those of you who that statement doesn’t chase off, though, I hope you feel that passion coming through in whatever subject I feel drawn to at that moment. Granted, I get a little over-excited on certain topics (the Shayne Ward posts WILL continue), but overall, I like getting down to the meat of not only the music itself, but its impact on myself and the music-loving public as a whole. There are several people who do the chart posts well and thorough, so I’d rather focus on trends and footnotes. You may not see a post every day, but when you do, I hope it reinforces my “quality over quantity” mantra.

Thanks for coming along for the ride. This stuff would all be rolling around in my head anyway, so why not share it and put it out there for discussion? What fun is music if you can’t share it with someone else?

Pop Goes the Fizzy

Posted by John on January 12, 2009
Posted in: year-end. Tagged: . 3 Comments

Okay…since he’s not going to do it for himself, I’ma take matters into my own hands here. Many of you know Sir Paul of Fizzy Pop, and some of you might know that Paul is getting TROUNCED in the Weblog Awards poll going on here. Modest gent that he is, he has decided that he will not campaign on his own behalf, but you know what? Those of us who admire his ability and wit and charm and frequent payoffs must rally together to make sure that this bundle of pop energy does NOT finish last! “Spartans never retreat! Spartans never surrender! Go spread the word.” (Actually, I am a Spartan. School mascot and all…)

In attempting to figure out just what prompts this modesty, I think I may have spotted the issue. It appears that Mr Fizz has been letting himself go a bit, if Google Images is to be believed…
Fizzy Pop

No matter that he’s a bit older than he lets on, and that he’s sporting a ‘do more appropriate for a grandmother…it’s still El Fizzerino, and we should support him, as he would do for us. (I know it’s overkill now, but I just can’t help myself. The portrait inspires me!)

Cookin’ In the New Year

Posted by John on January 11, 2009
Posted in: concerts, videos, youtube. Tagged: . 3 Comments

Happy New Year to you and yours from David Cook! Not too much earth-shattering news here, other than a college tour planned for next month. Still no word on the next single, although for my money, “Declaration” is the natural pick. Check out the video for the newest member to the Cook entourage, and make sure you’re watching Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday night for a live performance.

Video Notables – Killer On the Dancefloor

Posted by John on January 11, 2009
Posted in: videos, youtube. 5 Comments

My #1 CD of 2007 was Private’s My Secret Lover, which will never see the light of day in U.S. CD bins, but it’s a brilliant body of dance-pop that deserves any accolades it can get. Over a year later, they’re apparently still working singles from the disc. Here’s “Killer On the Dancefloor”:

Two things…Private seems to do the black & white video pretty well, so why mess with the formula. Having said that, some of their videos are a bit low-budget. It’s nice to see that someone sprung for a little extra moolah to give “Killer” some extra oomph.

Above the Fray

Posted by John on January 10, 2009
Posted in: holiday, reviews, videos, youtube. Tagged: . 5 Comments

gothic-marqueeSo back to Beyonce, Boston Terriers and the Fray. Tuesday’s Fray show opened up a more intimate theater tour to promote the release of their self-titled second CD, coming out February 2nd (tour dates here). Getting into the show, however, wasn’t as easy as you would imagine. Several Denver venues, including the Gothic, are general admission, and you have to wait in line until an hour before the show. Seeing how the Fray are hometown boys, and the show was sold out instantly when tickets went on sale (due to pre-sales), the line was long, and the weather was cold. I was a bit chilled by the time I got in the door, but being surrounded by die-hard fans took some of the edge off the cold. Either that, or I was experiencing early stages of hypothermia.

Seriously, though, it’s pretty cool to feel the hometown pride for this band. It reminds me a bit of how Syracuse feels about Benny Mardones, even though he’s not even from Syracuse. There was this sense of “they’re one of us” in the crowd waiting to get in, and people were recounting shows they’ve seen in the past, how much they paid scalpers for tickets (I heard up to $300 for $28 tickets), and of course favorite songs. Personally, I’m really jaded right now, because “You Found Me” has eclipsed any favorites I had on How To Save A Life. In fact, to give you an idea of what the venue looked like, here’s a clip of them doing that very song. Sorry about the cut off at the end, but check out the lamps all over the stage. The video just doesn’t do them justice for the impact they had.

So the show itself was wonderful. As you will find at every concert these days, there were a few tools doing their best to ruin the show for everyone around them, but at a certain point, I tuned out the jerks, and just got immersed in the music. They performed all of the songs that you would expect: “How To Save A Life”, “Over My Head”, “She Is”, “Look After You”, and of course “You Found Me”. The band doesn’t deviate too far from their formula, and some of their biggest hits are ripe for sing-along. There was a LOT of singing along.

The big question going into this show was the new material, since I’ve put myself on radio silence towards that stuff. In order to get tickets for the show, I had to pre-order the Deluxe Edition of the physical CD. That pre-order got me a pre-sale code, and that’s how I only ended up paying face value for the tickets. In addition, I will also get the opportunity to download a live digital release of songs from the tour. See, if you’re going to create a value-added promotion for die-hard fans, THAT’S the way to do it.

As a result, I decided I wanted to experience them live first, and then on the CD when it shows up. Overall, I’m pleased. While the baseline Fray sound remains intact, there are some extremes now. The mellow songs got more mellow, and there is at least one grunge-ish song called “We Build Then We Break”. Highlights for me were “Syndicate”, which is potentially the second single, and “Happiness”, which Isaac dedicated to his “pops” during the encore. Here’s “Syndicate” for your perusal:

Okay, so where do the Boston Terriers and Beyonce fit into this? Well, Isaac had some interesting banter between songs. By his own admission, the Fray is good at many things, but “talking” is not one of them. I think he did fine, though. He talked about his new Terrier puppy, about the holidays, and the family. And while we’re talking about the boys in the band, let’s contemplate just why Mr Fizzy isn’t completely infatuated with Joe King, who SO looks like his type. But the big surprise of the night was the only cover song that I could pick out, and it was a doozy. Check out the video below…

It was great to see that these guys have a sense of humor, as well as the ability to translate what they do in the studio to a live setting. There’s no doubt in my mind that The Fray will debut at #1 the week it’s released, especially if the performance of “You Found Me” is any indication. It’s only competition will be the likes of Melissa Doolittle and Liza Minnelli. What I’m looking for is the longevity. While How To Save A Life went double-platinum, it never got above #14. There’s only one direction to go when you debut at the top. From what I heard, it shouldn’t be a problem for them to get a good run out of the new record as well.

Random Notes – 01-07-09

Posted by John on January 7, 2009
Posted in: interview, music industry, news, Uncategorized, upcoming. Tagged: , , , . 5 Comments

l-lewis-floor– Leona Lewis is writing an autobiography, which will come out in October, and will proceed her sophomore disc. We’ve seen how exciting and riveting these X Factor books can be (Shayne, no offense…), but has she really done enough to warrant an autobiography in the first place? At least in the U.K. she has a back story…here in the U.S., her back story is “came out of nowhere for a #1 record”. Not exactly life story material.

– For all of you Annie fans, fear not. She does still plan on releasing her second set, entitled “Don’t Stop”, in 2009, even if it means doing some type of self-release. Can’t say that I’m surprised, though. There’s been a lot of buzz (both good and bad) on the record, but she owns the masters, so she can go whichever direction she wants. One place I’m guessing you probably won’t see a major label release is the U.S., where she only sold 20,000 copies of “Anniemal”.

k-dioguardia-chair– Great article on Kara DioGuardi over at CNN.com, talking about the type of dynamic they think she’s going to bring to the show. Qualifications, anyone?

With 168 of her songs appearing on multiplatinum albums, you can thank (or curse) her for Simpson’s “Pieces of Me,” Celine Dion’s “Taking Chances,” Gwen Stefani’s “Rich Girl,” Hilary Duff’s “Come Clean,” Christina Aguilera’s “Ain’t No Other Man,” and Pink’s “Sober.” She’s also penned cuts for several products of the “Idol” machine, including Kelly Clarkson, David Archuleta, David Cook, and Katherine McPhee.

BTW, her song with Archie (“To Be With You”) is definitely a high point on his debut. She’s also tipping the guys to have the advantage again this year. I heard an interview with her last month on OutQ that cracked me up. She’s a good ol’ New Yawk girl at heart, and it will be good to get some real world perspective that’s not too brutal or too smarmy.

– What do Beyonce, Boston Terriers and the Fray have in common? Stay tuned…