Wednesday, May 26, 2010

American Idol finale - Lee wins!

Good finale tonight!! Crystal and Lee the final 2 and a night of cool performances.

All the performances got me thinking and I told my family as we all watched that I hope to not see Bret Michaels making a surprise appearance and in the very next segment there he was! It was cool to see him on the AI stage and the respect being given him, just wish he'd slow down but I gotta give props to him.

I really loved the AI alumni song with all the former Idol winners (except for David Cook) singing for Simon. Very nice!!

Janet Jackson's voice sounded so eerily similar to her brother Michael's when she came out singing her slow song. Wow.

Very cool to see that Lee won! Not feeling his U2 remake and I feel that was a lazy choice for him by whoever picks that as a finale song and debut single. I look forward to seeing what he does as an artist. A lot of this season's contestants should have nice careers ahead of them. Congrats Lee!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Songwriting thoughts

Working in the studio today on my new latin album "El camino espiritual" (the spiritual walk) and today in particular I was working on the title track. The song is about memories and loss stemming from rough times I've had in recent years and the loss of my mother.

When I write songs, they usually come from a very personal place. I am a very open book to whoever really takes the time to listen to my lyrics. I usually have an easy time writing songs because of this, because it comes from a personal place and from thoughts that I need to express. Well, I knew writing the lyrics to the title track would be hard so chose to hit this song first so that I could address all these emotions head on and use them as the foundation for my album. I knew it would be hard but I didn't expect them to hit me like a Mack truck. It had been a while since I had dealt with these emotions and had repressed them. Opening a healing wound was not pretty but necessary. It was what I needed to say and I hope everyone can feel that when they hear it.

Monday, May 24, 2010

LOST & Celebrity Apprentice finales

Big night of TV, tonight was the finale of Lost and the finale of Celebrity Apprentice where Bret won! :)

I watched the LOST finale and taped the CA finale but flipped back and forth to see who won.

The LOST finale was very good. Turns out that a lot of fans figured it all out way back in Season 1 with their theories of purgatory. I like how they brought all the characters stories to a head and resolved many of the storylines, even though this was really all about Jack and his road to redemption. Ben's story ending was sad as he stayed behind to resolve things from his life. I believe in the idea of purgatory and I thought that LOST portrayed it sort of how I view it all so I really liked the ending and how it was all done. Am sorry to see the show end and the end of seeing some beloved characters but I am looking forward to seeing what all these actors will do in the future.

It was hard to see Bret walk out there for the finale with a bad limp. It reminded me of all he went through but his positivity shone through and he represented that and what being a good person is all about. Everyone, including his fellow finalist Holly Robinson, were all pulling for him and after showing such dedication - how could he lose? He deserved it. He did a great job. So did Holly. Congrats to them both.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Why Bret why?

I just read that Bret plans on being at the Celebrity Apprentice finale :/ Dammit, I admire his dedication and drive but listening to your body and being around for your family are more important! I hope he's not pushing himself more than his body is ready for. :/

Get well Bret!

Just saw last night that Bret had suffered a warning stroke. :(

Bret Michaels has always been an Idol of mine. Just something about his style and songwriting that I relate to in a big way. "Rock of Love" in all its seasons showed me too much of Bret (lol!) but it also kept him relevant which is something for an 80s hair metal band singer in 2010! He's a survivor, along with Bon Jovi and a handful of acts from that era. Anyway, I'm pulling for him and wanting him to take it easy. I know he feels an obligation to us fans to go out and tour but I don't think there is any real fan out there who wouldn't understand if he just took some months off to be with his family. Somehow, it just doesn't seem to be in Bret's blood to sit and wait to get better. I admire his drive and ambition but I also want to admire it for years to come! My prayers are with him and his lovely family. Get well Bret!!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

American Idol - the Top 3 sing to get into the finals!

Interesting night last night for American Idol. This was the top 3 singing 2 songs (artist's choice & judges choice) to help America decide who should be in the Final 2 and it didn't seem to live up to the hype of the night.

That is except for my pick for AI winner - Lee Dewyze! He was totally on with both of his songs and his confidence was at an all-time high. He had the eye of the tiger and it was very evident that he was there to lay claim to the title last night and not wait until the finals. IMO, he did it. He showed last night that he could raise his game and I think he can still raise it even more next week!

Casey took the safe route and didn't really bring anything new or unique to the table last night.

Crytal's take on Melissa Etheridge's "Come to my window" was solid but didn't compare to the original and Ellen's choice of Paul McCartney's "Baby, I'm amazed" was not only a quite interesting song choice but one that challenged Crystal vocally like no other song did all season.

All in all, I agree with the judges that Lee put himself in the finals with his performances last night. I think that Crystal will be in the final 2 with Lee next week as Casey's performance was rather lackluster BUT there is something about him that has brought him to the top 3 so it wouldn't surprise me to see Crystal go home.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

American Idol's Final 4 give it a go!

Wow, was not really expecting Aaron to go home last week. At least he went home because of Sinatra week which is nothing close to the genre he will do as an artist. Again, it was a weird category to pick with only a handful of contestants and so late in the season.

So, last night we got to see the Final 4 doing Music from the movies. Interesting category but too broad this late in the season as well, IMO. Jamie Foxx returned as a mentor and he did a real good job. I like how he challenged the contestants and I like how he put it in a plain manner to them how he would reward their performance with either receiving a "Contestant" or "Artist" t-shirt from him based on how he thought they did. I really liked that. I read that he was a name that was out there in the rumors and I think Jamie may have been doing a bit of campaigning for the soon to be open judge's chair. After last night, I think he might not be such a bad choice after all.

Lee opened the show doing a Seal song? Not sure that "Kiss from a Rose" was such a good choice and the judges were all over him after his performance. I thought he did well considering the difficulty of the song but he could've picked a better song. My oldest daughter mentioned that he could've done the Goo Goo Dolls song "Iris" from the movie "City of Angels" (one of my favorite movies!) and I must say that would've been a great choice for Lee.

Michael did an MJ song ("Will you be there") from the movie "Free Willy" and I thought he sounded great and I loved the choir and the gospel feel he brought to the song. The judges didn't like it much, thought it was too safe(?!) for him and then there was a whole impromptu skit on what "Free Willy" was about since Simon lives under a rock and never heard of the movie. Lol.

We got a real nice duet with Lee and Crystal next.

Then Casey came out with a ukelele to do a rather bland version of "Mrs. Robinson". He almost went in a Beatles like direction with it that would've made it more current sounding and much more interesting but then he went back to the bland.

Speaking of bland, Crystal did a song from "Caddyshack"(?!). Lol! At least it was a Kenny Loggins song but I didn't agree with Ellen that it was better than the original. It once again was very coffeehouse-ish to me. She is what she is and she doesn't look to deviate much from that at this point.

We got another duet with Michael and Casey that was real good too.

I think the bottom 2 will be Casey and Michael and I would think that Casey gets sent home as the Top 3 gets set.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

American Idol takes on Sinatra?

Still not happy that Siobhan was sent home last week. So my full rooting for Lee begins! :)

This week we had Sinatra week with Harry Connick, Jr as the mentor. He was very good as mentor - the most well prepared and helpful mentor that has been on the show. He also was very involved with the overall show's performances by playing and supplying musicians from his band. Very cool. I really don't get having Sinatra week this late in the season since it really doesn't show us anything that they are going to be doing as artists, which is something they've been stressing all season - especially Kara.

Aaron went first and I thought he did a good job. Casey on the other hand was way out of his comfort zone and looked real stiff.

Crystal did a nice job but once again decided to get mouthy after receiving less than favorable critique. She would be better served being quiet and listening to the constructive critiques that she is getting from judges that like her. She is showing that she's not as open-minded as she should be and that she will need to have any sort of commercial success.

Michael did a real nice job and Lee ended the show with a confidant and strong performance.

I think the bottom 3 will be Casey, Aaron and it should be Crystal who needs a little humbling but I wouldn't be surprised to see Michael in the bottom 3 since he's been there before. Either way, I think Casey goes home today.