Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Season 8 - Top 4!!!!

Hello! I had the pleasure of watching 2 of the performances last night with my son, Luke, before I had to leave the house, and he had his share of comments. I am now watching the entire show from the beginning and I will try to remember some of his comments.

Oh, yeah - Slash. His immediate response was "He's a little scary looking. Do you think so, Mom?" Yes, son. Yes, I do. But gosh, son, we must overlook the cigarette hanging from his mouth and his bare chest and remember that Slash is an icon in our rock n roll history in this country. WHAT? No, of course I didn't say that. I'd be willing to bet that Slash can't even remember most of his own rock n roll history. I'm guessing that Rock Night on Idol might just be cuh-razy.

ADAM LAMBERT
Adam is first and he sounds AMAZING in his rehearsal with Slash. Luke's interest is definitely peaked when he sees Adam. "Mom, he looks like a girl. Is he a girl? I don't want to vote for him." I personally think Adam is very... well, beautiful... but I'm sure to a 7 yr old boy who is into Star Wars, Adam is peculiar-looking. Now, onto the singing. I do think this is Adam's niche. Beyond the Broadway slant that he has, I think he should go straight for the ROCK.

Anyway, he begins VERY sharp. Now, it COULD be the fact that the singers, as Ryan just explained, did not get a dress rehearsal... and I was wondering how that would effect their performances... but this is not the first time Adam has been sharp at performance-time. Hey, no one is perfect. We may have discovered that Adam is indeed human and gets a little nervous during clutch-time. He also rushed a few places, but I'm not going to hold it against him. Overall, it was a god performance that suites him WELL. WHOA. Hold on, though. During the guitar solo towards the end... well, it just got a little uncomfortable for me. This is a family show, people. The vision of Adam flicking his tongue out while sneering at the electric player is one that will unfortunately stick with me longer than I want it to. Ugh.

JUDGES ON ADAM
I have paused it. I don't now what the judges are going to say but I predict that they are going to fall all over themselves with praise for Adam. Let's see... Yes, I am correct! Kara. Oh, dear Kara. PLEASE shut up. HA HA HA, they just showed Diana DeGarmo in the audience and even SHE was rolling her eyes at Kara. Chill, Kara. Chill. Poor girl.

ALLISON IRAHETA
Ok, so I caught Allison's performance last night and wasn't crazy about it. She seemed lost and screamy. So much so that her mic was muffling again. Granted, no sound-check... but somebody should've been on top of that. NOT a good song for her. I mean, it's a fine song for her in general... but it's darn BORING for top 4 rock week. Actually Queen's Somebody to Love would've been better than Cry Baby OR Jefferson Airplane's Somebody to Love. Too bad she didn't consider that.

DUET #1: KRIS AND DANNY
Hmmm, I had no idea they were doing duets tonight. Where have I been? Anyway, I can't think of a worse song for Kris to sing than this song. [Allow me to digress for a moment. When I sang and performed in a group in college up in Michigan (it was a bar/restaurant, but it was a family show. Read: FUN) we performed this song. I can be completely unbiased and say that we rocked the crud out of this song - harmonies, lead, band, all of it. That's really all I wanted to say. That's it. We rocked. But anyway, back to the duet.] I thought their harmonies were really good. But once poor little Kris - whom I love - started singing his solo part, it just wasn't a good fit. He couldn't hang - but you know what? He's not supposed to. He's NOT a rocker and has never pretended to be. Danny sounds AMAZING on this song. Strong and confident. Until the very last word when he completely WENT OFF on runs and left Kris in the dust, which just wasn't cool. Save that for yer solo, dude.

Powerful and Compelling, Paula??? Powerfu, maybe. Compelling, nah.

SIDE NOTE
Man, every time I see a commercial for the FOX TV show, Glee, I am filled with great joy. I am SOOOO PUMPED for this show!!!! Yes, I'm a Show Choir girl at heart. Bring it ON. I'm so watching it.

KRIS ALLEN
Well, I really hope Kris can make up for the duet debacle with his solo. LOL! He felt like pee'ing his pants when Slash was playing guitar next to him. That was funny. I like you, Kris.

Ok, SERIOUSLY. I say it every season. I HATE THE LYRICS TO THIS SONG!!!!! It brings back horrible memories of Carly Smithson singing it, which gave me bad dreams for a solid year. Yeah, a year. Which means I JUST STOPPED having nightmares about it.

I liked Kris' performance. They're WAY too hard on him. Obvious that they want him to go home. He will do well once he goes home this week. He will still succeed.

DANNY GOKEY
Danny's singing Dream On? That was Johnsie's song that sent him packing last year. Rememeber Michael Johns? Of course you do. It's a hard song to sing, but it will be interesting to hear Danny's slant on it. Wow, Slash just said it could go either way. Hmmm. I would like to add that I thought Michael Johns did an AMAZING job on this song last year. It suited his voice. Not so much, Danny Boy's... but he has a great voice. Oh, man. That scream at the end was NOT good. It hurt me to hear it. Ouch. At least - not to compare or anything - Johnsie totally nailed that high note last year.

Can someone muzzle Kara? Who is she, anyway?
Simon is so dead-on about it being like a horror film on that last note.

DUET #2: ALLISON AND ADAM
Slow Ride. One of my least favorite songs ever. And Allison is immediately on my nerves by adding an "H" sound to make easy Heezy. Pet Peeve. Anyway, they sound really good together, but she doesn't quite have the energy that Adam does in her voice. But, they are rockers. It was good. Didn't blow me away, but it was good.

BOTTOM LINE
I think it's safe to say that unless something catastrophic happens, Kris Allen is going home this week. He will be fine, though. He will still be just fine in life.

I'm a little surprized they showed the screamy note when recapping the numbers for Danny. bad move.

Discuss!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

How will we live?

I was researching some scriptures to give a friend of mine and came upon this passage. I think it's particularly noteworthy on a day like today. A day when we are filled with hope and wonder over an earthly leader. Don't get me wrong - I'm moved. I'm excited to see the nation energized again. It's good to see people rallying together. This is an historic day and I thank God that I'm alive to see it.

But what are we rallying for? Truly, my heart aches that we celebrate in the streets and throw parades and parties for a man (who, at best, will never be able to live up to all the hype that has been placed on his shoulders, bless his heart!) when at the same time, we suppress, dumb-down, and hide in shame our love and gratitude for our true Lord and Savior. I'm not saying there shouldn't be celebration for our new president. I'm just saying our celebration for the everlasting God should be BIGGER.

So, read this passage from Leviticus 26: (Message Bible)

*****"If You Live by My Decrees..."
3-5 "If you live by my decrees and obediently keep my commandments, I will send the rains in their seasons, the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. You will thresh until the grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting time; you'll have more than enough to eat and will live safe and secure in your land.

6-10 "I'll make the country a place of peace—you'll be able to go to sleep at night without fear; I'll get rid of the wild beasts; I'll eliminate war. You'll chase out your enemies and defeat them: Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand and do away with them. I'll give you my full attention: I'll make sure you prosper, make sure you grow in numbers, and keep my covenant with you in good working order. You'll still be eating from last year's harvest when you have to clean out the barns to make room for the new crops.

11-13 "I'll set up my residence in your neighborhood; I won't avoid or shun you; I'll stroll through your streets. I'll be your God; you'll be my people. I am God, your personal God who rescued you from Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I ripped off the harness of your slavery so that you can move about freely. *****

Now, if you are truly brave, get out your Bible and read the rest of this passage. It gives a glimpse of what will happen when we don't follow the Lord...and it sounds strangely familiar to what is going on now in our world.

I don't know about you, but I want God to set up residence in my neighborhood! I want to be able to sleep at night without fear. I want to still be enjoying last year's harvest and have to clean out the barns to make room for the new stuff!

Send Your rain in due season, Lord.

Let us give You and only You our full attention.

May Your voice be louder
May Your voice be clearer
Than all the others

May Your face be dearer
May Your words be sweeter
Than all the others

Please keep my eyes fixed on You
Please root my heart so deep in You
Keep me abiding that I might bear fruit

Ambition...

Ok, so Abbey just walked into my room with unbridled hope gleaming in her eyes and 2 baby pandas tied to her waist with a sweater as she proclaimed, joyfully, "Mom, I know JUST what I want to be when I grow up!"

Me: What?!?

Abbey: I want to move to Africa and take care of disadvantaged animals.

LONG PAUSE as I looked at her. She looked at me, still smiling. I cocked my eyebrow and waited...

Abbey: You know, like, I could take care of orphaned monkeys and stuff. *BIG SMILE*

And at that, she turned on her heel and skipped off back downstairs.