New season of American Idol! :)

A new season of American Idol! Always a big family time event in our home to sit and watch and vote!

I predict that this season's final 12 are going to be the most talented ever and that the winner will be one of the most successful Idol winners ever.

Good first show! It was more substance than fluff, we got to see a lot more of the better singers than the trainwrecks. Of course there were trainwrecks to be sure! LOL!

I like that they are planning on focusing more on the contestants and their individual stories this season, as it should be.

I liked Victoria Beckham as a guest judge. She was fair and sympathized with the contestants. I also have really grown to like Kara, she tells it like it is and has no problem putting an unruly or disrespectful wannabe in their place. More on that in a bit.

Made some notes on the contestants:
Boston really brought it! Lots of NY contestants made it which is great since auditions in NY have been pretty bare in bearing talent in the past. Good to see that a lot of the NYers that made the drive really showed their drive and talent.

I really liked 16 year old Maddie Curtis - very sweet girl with a good voice.
I liked Amadeo Diricco's friendliness and getting to know him but I just wasn't feeling his voice. I felt that the song he chose to audition with didn't show off his voice all that well.
We got just a brief glimpse of Luke Shaffer who seemed to have a real nice voice. Also got a brief glimpse of Benjamin Bright, although I thought his voice was just ok.
Then came Andrew Fenlon... first he was brewing all day about having to wait and then when he got his opportunity, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go in! Then he gets in there and right off the bat gives off this arrogant, sarcastic attitude that overwhlemed anything he was going to do vocally. He acted innocent to his antics but I wasn't buying it and neither was Kara who really let him have it. Good for her! I hate that they give people like him airtime but its good to show that there should be a certain etiquette and respect shown to the judges.
After the drama that was Fenlon, it was great to see and hear Ashley Rodriguez! Really liked her voice!
I found Tyler Grady's voice ok but I liked his 70s style look.
I really liked Katie Stevens! Very nice girl who loves her grandma! That struck a nerve with me for obvious reasons. She also had a very good voice to top it off! I hope she goes far.
I really liked nice guy Joshua Blaylock. Nothing wrong with being a nice guy! ;)
I liked Justin Williams story more than his voice but I think his story and looks are what got him to Hollywood. I expect to see him pushed.
I really liked Bosa Mora, he had a nice story and looks like a real good kid. I really liked his voice too!
Last but certainly not least was Leah Laurenti. I always find it sad to hear when a singer is not allowed to sing by their family. Its like telling a bird to not sing, its just not right and very sad. She's so good but had no confidence in her talent because of all the years she was held back. I'm glad that she finally has spread her wings and let her song sing, she has a wonderful voice and I'm so rooting for her! I hope she goes far.

He's back home!

My stepdad came out of the hospital today. Relieved and happy to have him home.

Hmm, 2009 wants to hold on a bit longer!

So, it looks as if last year's luck wants to hold on a bit longer.

My stepdad (my mom's husband) fell in his home and hurt himself pretty bad on Wednesday. Hurt his ribs, back and got stitches on his arms. Then this morning at 4am I got a call from his medic alert that they were sending an ambulance to him because he was having an asthma attack.

My brother kept me updated and it turns out that he just made it to the hospital in time. Was put in ICU in critical condition because he was hypoxic by the time he reached the hospital. Now we wait.... and pray.

It's a New Year!

I am happy to see 2009 go! My mom's sickness and passing totally consumed my emotions and thoughts all year and I must say that I was not looking forward to the holidays at all. It was a rough year for my family but thankfully the holidays went better than expected as I tried and for the most part succeeded in looking at the holidays through the eyes of my children. When the clock struck midnight on New Year's though, all the emotions and thoughts of 2009 rushed back at me. Thankfully, they were feelings and emotions that I had already dealt with so that made it easier to deal with.

As 2010 begins, I look to it as a new beginning. I have 2 albums planned for this year - a new latin solo album and an english rock album with my as yet to be formed band. I know that my angel mom is by me and supporting me now in my endeavors more than ever and that gives me inspiration, confidence and motivation. I'm looking forward to 2010. :)

Long live the King! Thanks Michael

Hi everyone,

I watched the Michael Jackson Memorial as most of the world watched yesterday. It was a beautiful memorial for a wonderful music artist that brought a lot of happiness and light into the world with his music.

For me, it was so much more than that though. You see, the past few years for me have been very rough with personal problems 2 years ago and just when I began healing from those wounds and scars, I began dealing with my mother's health last year. Then that continued to this year where I lost my mom in March and as you can imagine, its been a personal hell the past 2 years or so. With all that happening in my personal life, it should come as no surprise that I began slowly losing myself and what I am passionate about. My music and everything having to do with that aspect of myself began taking more and more of a backseat to all the other problems and issues I was dealing with. I must say that I have been a broken and lost man these past 2 years. Broken from all life had thrown at me and lost as to what I should do about my music. I am a very optimistic person by nature but all the negativity life had thrown at me and feeling let down by life and some of those around me led me down a very introspective path. I am a very giving person and I felt and learned that some of those that relied on me could not be relied on. By the same token, some that I barely knew became ones that I could rely on and that helped balance out my anger and frustration. It was very sobering and made me sad too. So I was broken, lost and sad. Not a good combination of feelings to have. My mother's death was the final straw that sent all the feelings crashing in a downward spiral of introspection but it also helped me to begin finding myself. Like I said, I am an optimistic person and had to find a positive from within all the bad happening in my life. I had many regrets over my mom not seeing me become the success I had wanted to be. BUT, I know she IS looking down at me and will see what I will do. She is the one that introduced me to music as a child as she always liked to listen to all types of music and never pushed any one style of music on me. When the time came that I wanted to do music, she not only supported me but also became my manager and pushed me until I took the reins and ran with it. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had to go back to what I had set out to do with my music - I owed that to her. However, with so long not doing music - it becomes daunting to get yourself back into the mindset of an artist. All the doubts, insecurities and other things that come with being an artist can work a number on you, especially when you've faced so much adversity. I had friends that told me to use my music to work out my sadness and emotions but for a singer/songwriter like me that uses so much emotion in his lyrics and sings that way as well, drawing on these emotions that are still raw is very hard. Its very hard to revisit that pain. I slowly worked my thoughts back to that of an artist but was still finding it hard to make that final push. However, I was finding that peace within myself that I had long been missing.

Then Michael Jackson died. I have always been a fan of MJ's music. He has written and sung some of the greatest music of all time. I always felt a connection to him as an artist in that I knew how it felt to be shy and misunderstood and I can understand how he turned into MJ the performer once he hit the stage. It is something we share in common. MJ was an "old soul" which is why he was able to sing songs well beyond his years even as a child. I always felt that connection as well.

His death and all the recent stories of what he accomplished in music, not only in music but what he was able to do with his music combined with the introspection of my mom's passing made me more introspective as to what I set out to do and haven't done with my music. For those of you that have followed me for years (or have just read my bio ), you know that I had a rock band named Vogue's Rogues and a lot of our music dealt with societal and environmental issues. This is something I had planned to continue to a higher level with my new rock band Society's Soul but all that took a backseat as I explained above. Hearing songs that MJ wrote such as "Heal the World', "We are the World", "Human nature", Black or white" reminded me of the message laden songs I had wanted to write. Also, hearing of all his charitable works. Of course, I am not nor will ever be in MJ's class of what he accomplished but it made me sad and frustrated to see where I was at and all those emotions I had been dealing with but at the same time it started awakening something within me.

Watching the MJ Memorial yesterday and hearing all the stories and accomplishments as well as all the love he had from his fans helped me find myself. Yes I was sad watching it and was moved many times to tears by the outpouring of love and respect BUT it also helped me remember that I have my own story to write and its time to getting back to that story and write some new chapters. 2 vastly different people - my mom and MJ helped me to find something I had been missing for so long. Its said that God works in mysterious ways and as long as you believe and are open to the signs, he will provide and I can attest that he has for me. I am ready to get back to where my passion lays, to doing music. That is why I say thanks to Michael, because in death he continues to inspire. Not only MJ but all the positive messages spoken at the Memorial of what he tried to accomplish with his music inspired me to get back to where my passion is. As for Long live the King - I not only am referring to the King of Pop who will live forever with his musical legacy and what he has given to charities but I also mean it for the King of Kings who worked in mysterious ways to help bring me back from the purgatory of the past few years to showing me that in going through this he was also helping me to find myself.

I'm back! Ready to get to doing and performing new music and working with artists and meeting all my great fans who have stuck by me and support my music.

R.I.P. Farrah Fawcett / R.I.P. Michael Jackson

Yesterday's double bad news of the passing of Farrah and Michael really saddened me as it did a lot of other people around the world. The passing of Farrah really affected me because it reminded me of my mom in how she fought so hard to get better and also her age of 62 which was the same as my mom when she passed 3 months ago. So I already was sad yesterday before the Michael news. Both are American Icons and will be remembered. Micheal's music will live on for generations and along with Elvis, I don't think we will ever see music stars like those 2 again. Having gone through a loss recently, I know the pain and send my deepest prayers to Farrah and Michael's families, loved ones, friends and fans.

Healing has been slow but almost back

My long delayed pre-production on my new album which will be titled 'El Camino Espiritual' (The Spiritual Walk) has obviously been delayed once again as I have gone through and struggled through all the personal issues that accompany the loss of a loved one but I am finally beginning to feel like myself. Have had a hard time since February (which was when my mom began getting ready to come home) with anxiety and its been rough but the bad moments are getting less and so is the anxiety. Hopefully I will be able to get back to my music soon. I would also like to take a moment to thank all of you who have shown me support because it really has helped and meant a lot for me to get and feel all those positive vibes and support. It's been so appreciated and I love hearing from you all!

Thank you to all for all your kind words of sympathy

It has indeed been a rough time for myself, my daughters, my stepdad, brother and my wife but we are supporting and helping each other through this as a family should.

We had her remains cremated and had a wonderful memorial service for her this past Monday.

Have my good days and have my bad moments but I take comfort in that she is no longer suffering after having suffered through so much the past 8 months. I also take great comfort and satisfaction in that I did everything I could for her from taking care of her bills to making sure that everyone was attending to her and her needs at the nursing home and hospital all the way until the day that I brought her back to her home. She fought hard to make it back home and although she only did wind up being home for a little over a week when she made it home that one final time, she did make it home and I helped make that happen for her and I take great comfort and satisfaction in that. I know that she went off to a better life knowing that I was taking care of everything and would continue to take care of my stepdad and brother which I am doing and will continue to do as those would be her wishes."

Sad news regarding my mother

My mom finally returned home on Tuesday 3/3 after being in and out of the hospital and nursing home and not home since Sept. '08. She was rushed back to the hospital Friday afternoon 3/13. We lost my mom Monday morning 3/16 for 10 minutes but thank God that the doctors were able to bring her back to life. She was in ICU in critical condition but unfortunately never regained consciousness and passed away this Saturday morning. She was 62. Rest in peace mom. I'll always love and miss you.

Thank you to everyone who sent their support, love, prayers and warm thoughts all these past months and recently. It helped so much through some rough and dark times. I'll always appreciate it from the depths of my heart. Thank you.

When it rains it pours...

As I had posted before, my mom finally returned home on Tuesday 3/3 after being in and out of the hospital and nursing home and not home since Sept. '08. She was rushed back to the hospital Friday afternoon. I was feeling very sick with a bad flu that I've been fighting all week, almost was hospitalized myself last weekend, and with yesterday's news I really felt worse. Am very stressed and depressed now, on top of feeling sick. Please say a prayer for me and my family.

Como yo escribi antes, mi mama por fin regreso a su casa en Martes 3/3 despues de estar en el hospital y centro de terapia y no en su casa desde Sept. '08. Ayer por la tarde fue llevada de emergencia al hospital otra vez. Yo me sentia muy enfermo batallando una mal influenza toda la semana, yo casi fui hospitalizado esta fin de semana que paso, y con las noticias me senti mucho mas mal. Estoy muy deprimido y con estres, encima de sentirme enfermo con esta influenza. Por favor de decir una oracion para mi y mi familia.

Jorge and Jasmine go home! Kelly sings!

The show started with the new Judges Save rule designed to save an artist that the judges think is wrongly being voted off on AI by America's votes. They can only use it once before teh Top 5 is set and then the next week, 2 will get voted off. I like it. Adds a twist to the show that probably would've saved Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson.

So, I was almost right about who was going home - the real shocker was Jasmine being voted off. I didn't think that she was ready to go home yet. I don't expect for the judges to use their save until much later in the season so I didn't expect them to save her. She was lucky to make it in as a wild card and I wish her the best. She's learned a lot during this process and I hope to see more of her. I like that Ryan was speaking to her after she was eliminated and giving her brotherly words of support. I've always liked that about Ryan and that while he's trying to get a good cry out of them for the TV cameras as he's told, he's there for them as well. That says a lot about him as a person.

Jorge looked so sad, he knew his time was coming to an end. He didn't even enjoy the very good Kelly Clarkson performance. She looked and sounded great. I wasn't crazy about her outfit but its Kelly so she still looked great! Sorry to see Jorge go but not surprising. Hopefully he'll go onto big things too. He seems like a very nice guy.

American Idol Season 8 - Michael Jackson night!

Good 1st night of singing. No one was bad and a lot of the performances were very good to excellent. The judges upped the ante right off the bat by saying that 2 would be voted off today. I knew that this would be inevitable since American Idol is only signed for so many weeks to be on FOX, I just didn't expect it right out of the box.

Simon was in his typical brutal form, Paula seemed in mid-season over the top and tipsy form, Randy was on point as usual with his advice and Kara was kind of in between all of them. Still undecided how I feel about her as a judge.

Lil Rounds opened the show with a very good performance of "The way you make me feel".

I really liked Scott MacIntyre's performance of "Keep the faith". I thought he really shined behind the piano. I felt that Simon had somewhat of a point of picking a song that wasn't one of Michael's huge hits to do but at the same time, Michael is not Scott's style of music and his interpretation of the song was very good. Simon's comment that American Idol isn't about being artistic had to be one of the most stupidest comments I've ever heard on a music show. That feeds right into what critics have wrongly said about the show. What a dolt to say that.

Danny Gokey got the crowd on its feet with an interesting performance that showed off his excellent vocals and interpretation of "PYT".

Michael Sarver's version of "You're not alone" was very good. Nice, solid performance.

Jasmine Murray finally lived up to what I want to see from her with her performance of "I'll be there". Nice vocals and she looked great too.

Kris Allen's performance of "Remember the time" while playing on the guitar reminded me of Jason Mraz. Of course, Randy mentioned that as well. Good performance and the female audience really loved him.

Allison Iraheta was up next and wow, am I fan of her voice. Love the flaming red hair too! Allison is the 1st rocker girl on AI that has it all. I think she's top 3 at least.

Anoop Desai's song choice of one of Michael's biggest hits "Beat it" was a poor song choice. You stay away from the monster hits because you risk sounding inferior if its not beyond superior. Anoop is definitely in danger tonight.

Jorge Nunez' performance wasn't bad but it wasn't a standout performance either. Jorge is in danger tonight as well. Simon's comments to him were uncalled for.

Megan Joy Corkrey's performance of "Rockin' Robin" was cute. I really like her and think she has a lot of potential but she's really in over her head on AI, never having done anything more than school choir.

Adam Lambert's over the top performance of "Black and White" was very good in some parts but way over the top in other parts. I don't know what was up with Paula practically crying over his performance but at least Adam came across as humble and modest this week. I hadn't gotten that sense from him before. Nice to see.

Matt Giraud's performance of "Human Nature" was good.

Alexis Grace' performance of "Dirty Diana" was good but trying too hard.

So, who goes home tonight? Hmm, I definitely think that Anoop and Jorge are in big danger tonight - as well as Alexis, Megan and maybe even Michael Sarver. I like this all the singer's in this year's group but I think that Anoop and Megan go home. :(

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Peace!

American Idol Season 8 - Night 4 of the semi-finalists (Wild card night!)

Interesting show to say the least!

I was pretty happy with the judges picks although it sucked to not see Norman Gentle get one more chance to entertain America in only the way that he can!

So we got 3 singers from Night 1 - Ricky Braddy, Anoop Desai and Tatiana.
4 singers from Night 2 - Jasmine Murray, Matt Giraud, Megan Joy Corkrey and Jesse Langseth.
Only 1 singer from Night 3 - Von Smith.

I didn't think that any of tonight's performances were especially good.
They were all rather solid but uninspired.

Matt got picked based on his bluesy performance but I found Matt's singing not relevant to what would sell today so I don't know why they picked him since they are always talking about the singers doing things that are current and relevant. Matt can sing, no doubt - I just don't know how well the audience will relate to him if he continues in that style. They didn't like his more contemporary style either so Matt's got a lot of figuring to do.

I did not like Megan's performance or singing of KT Tunstall's song tonight either. She has a good look and this is a TV show after all so I think she got in on that, she also has a lot of work to do!

Jasmine Murray did much better than her disappointing 1st performance but she still has to put it all together and make it consistent. She certainly has the looks of a pop/r&b star!

I was disappointed to see that Anoop didn't make the Top 12 but was shocked when they announced that they were making it a Top 13! Very cool! He deserves to be there and he was my happiest choice of the night.

American Idol Season 8 - Night 3 of the semi-finalists

Tonight's show was kind of karoake-ish. Not too many very good performances until the end of the show.

Von Smith opened up the show with a good performance but something about this Jesse McCartney look-a-like doesn't do much for me. He is talented and is passionate about music but there's just something missing that I can't place my finger on.

Taylor Vaifanua shouldn't have done an Alicia Keys song. It wasn't the right song for her.

Alex Wagner-Trugman - I like this kid but the judges were all over him for trying too hard. I liked his performance and thought the growling vocals were good and fun.

Arianna Afsar picked a really bad song to do. I felt bad for her as the judges were telling her how bad she did. She seems like a really nice girl.

I really liked Ju'Not Joyner's interpretation of "Hey there Delilah".

Kristen McNamara was good as well, although she should've picked a more uptempo song rather than make a slower song fast.

Nathaniel Marshall's choice of a Meatloaf song was rather strange. Not a fan of his though. I found him as irritating as Tatiana.

Felicia Barton got her 2nd chance to do her thing and again, picking an Alicia Keys song is a tough act to follow. Not a good choice although she didn't do it half bad.

I'm a big fan of Scott MacIntyre. He's very talented and with his combination of talent, overcoming adversity and being a genuine nice guy - he will go very far!

Kendall Beard had the unlucky task of following Scott but did pretty well with her version of a Martina McBride song.

Jorge Nunez was very good! I was very happy for him and found it cute when the judges were talking to him and he couldn't translate fast enough in his head the words he wanted to express. Paula and Kara seemed to love that!

Lil Rounds was the performance I wanted to see out of the all the performers tonight and she didn't disappoint! Great performance!

I think that Lil Rounds easily wins the top female vote, while Scott takes the top male vote. I would like to see Jorge win the 3rd spot but I think that Ju'Not and Von have a good chance to get in as the 3rd performer.

My mom is finally home! :)

Man, I wish Blogger had some smileys I could use in here! Maybe if someone else knows how I can get some smileys on here, you could let me know! ;)

Anyway, after not being home since September of last year with hospital and physical rehab stays - my mom is finally home today!!!!

What a relief to say the least! Not that I am not stressing her health anymore (far from it since she is still not and will never be 100% healthy) but its just a nice feeling to know that she's finally back where she belongs. This has been such a long journey for my family that it almost doesn't seem real but I'm sure glad it is!

I just want to say thanks to everyone for all their thoughts, prayers and warm wishes for my mother. myself and my family. Thank you for all your support. It will forever be appreciated. :)

Stress and snowstorms

Sounds like a potential song title ;)

Well, stress has gotten the better of me. The stress of coordinating everything for my mom's discharge today and other things I've been working on has really affected me hard the past weeks and has run me down into the ground. Have needed a few days to recharge from 2 weeks of stress-related insomnia (not helped by early morning calls dealing with everything). Its even made driving hard to do and I love to drive! Am trying to take things easy but stress is a bitch! LOL!

My mom's discharge will have to wait one more day as NYC just got hit by a major snowstorm. We're expecting 14 inches by the time its all said and done tonight. Its for the best as the roads, sidewalks and stairs are all too dangerous and slippery today. A fall because of that combined with the dangerous cold would be very bad so better to postpone it one day and be safe rather than sorry. In the meantime, I'll take it easy and rest up for tomorrow.

American Idol Season 8 - Night 2 of the semi-finalists

Well, Night 1 results went as I pretty much expected so I'm off to a good prediction start! :)

My thoughts for Night 2:

Jasmine Murray - This girl has it all - looks and talent so that made it soooo disappointing to hear how she sounded and the song she picked. I think she made a big mistake with her song choice.

Matt Giraud - This guy can sing but also picked a bad song for his voice. Not a good start to night 2.

Jeanine Vailes - Don't remember her from any of the opening week shows but she didn't impress me and I wasn't and am not a fan of wearing shorts for performances.

Norman Gentle!!! Big fan of this guy! Honestly, he CAN carry a tune and his entertainment value is off the charts. I was hoping for Norman to show up and not Nick. Was very happy to see Norman posing at the top of the steps to begin the song. Loved the way out there performance!! Would love to see him on the show because he would add life and personality to a show that takes itself a little too seriously at times. I would much rather watch Norman with one of his off the wall performances than hear Simon making crude remarks to Ryan or the dumb question and answer with the fans that doesn't really do much to add to the show.

Allison Iraheta! Wow, can that girl sing!! She has such a mature sound to her vocals at such a young age and her phrasing and vocalizing is way beyond her years. This girl is for real and she served notice to everyone that she is a real threat to everyone. I don't agree with Kara that she doesn't know how good she is - I think she does and she hasn't shown Kara everything she can do yet.

Kris Allen picked the perfect Michael Jackson song that you can do something with. He sounded really good.

Megan Joy Corkrey was very good vocally and the camera really loved her. She looked great. Her performance was a little awkward but at the same time it was cute as the little rocker chick tried to dance, that will get better with time though.

Matt Breitzke was good but I agree with Randy that if he was going to do a rock song then it needed the edge a rock song should get. I agreed with Simon that his performance was good but boring.

Jesse Langseth was good and she's really pretty but her schmoozy attitude put me off a bit to her.

Kai Kalama disappointed me as he picked a very safe song that seemed easy for him to sing.

Mishavonna Henson suffered the same problem as Matt Breitzke.

Adam Lambert will have to show me more to win me over. His over the top performance of a Stones song would've been laughed off on Rock Star. Its hard to tell whether he wants to be a rocker, emo or Joe Jonas wannabe! He hasn't convinced me of any of the above but he definitely has the Broadway star down and that's not a compliment when being on a show such as AI.

My thoughts are that Allison easily gets the most votes as Top Female. Unfortunately, I do think that Adam will get in and I hope to see Norman make it, if its even just to piss off Simon. LOL!

American Idol Season 8 - Night 1 of the semi-finalists

Season 8 of AI is underway and as you already know, that's time for my family to get some quality couch potato time in front of the TV!

Some thoughts on the auditions and Hollywood week. The whole bikini girl thing was ridiculous, from Kara's catty exchange with her to Simon and Randy putting her through. What drama during Hollywood week!! Wow! It was good to see how passionate some are and were about their music and big shot at making it. I so felt for Rose and Lineesha, I would've liked to see them both go through. I'm a big fan of Danny Gokey and I totally admire the friendship and support that his friend showed throughout the whole process. I'm not one that has a lot of close friends so I always admire true shows of friendship such as he showed to Danny. I'm also a big fan of Norman Gentle. The shoutout to Ryan while doing his song was priceless! LOL!

Last night was the 1st round of the semi-finals and I like that they've brought back the old way of voting people in with the highest vote getting male and female voted in along with the 2nd highest vote getter of the night. I also like that they have brought back the wild card round because that is how Clay Aiken and Jennifer Hudson got a 2nd shot at getting in and deservedly so.

Well, here are my thoughts on the 1st round semi-finalists:
Jackie Tohn was pretty good but I'm not too fond of her. Seems to try too hard to be a rocker chick and last night was no different. That outfit was horrible too! She looked like Olivia Newton John at the end of Grease!

Ricky Braddy was very good.

Alexis Grace was also very good and I loved her look. Love the pink highlights! Very cool.

Brent Keith was good and will make a good country artist. I like that he played straight for his intended audience and didn't make apologies for it.

Stevie Wright sounded overwhelmed by her moment to sing. I felt for her and didn't like Simon being so harsh with her. Shocker I know. By the time the judges critique had gotten to Simon, she got the point and didn't need him piling on. I'm glad Kara called him out on it.

Anoop Desai was very good.

Casey Carlson picking a Police song to do was a bad idea before I even heard her sing. The song was WAY too big for her. I agreed with the judges criticism and Simon seemed to learn from his bashing on Stevie Wright and at least gave some helpful criticism. Now that's not too hard, right Simon?

Michael Sarver was good but I had wanted him to be very good.

Ann Marie Boskovich was good.

Stephen Fowler was disappointing. I really wanted him to do well but doing a Michael Jackson song? What was he thinking? Anything Michael sings works for Michael and pretty much Michael only. Stephen has a lot of potential, he's just dropped the ball twice already in showing it.

Tatiana Del Toro... the audition and Hollywood week drama queen. Honestly, I didn't want her to make it because of all the dramatics and over exposure on her antics but I must say that she can sing. Sing she did last night, I must say that I thought she was the best female singer of the night. I see she toned it way down last night. It seems that she saw how she came across and was portrayed during the auditions and Hollywood week and if indeed it wasn't her as she mentioned last night, then I can see how she would be embarrassed by how she came across. As much as she loves attention and boy does she, I think she's also smart enough to see that she needs to tone it down and not come across as so whiny and annoying if she wants America's votes.

Big, big fan of Danny Gokey. Honestly, I predict him as this season's winner already. This guys sings with heart and emotion and gets into the heart and soul of a song's lyrics, reminds me of me in a lot of ways. Of course, his story is one of deep despair and amazing triumph in the face of adversity so who can't love that? I agree with Simon that his performance wasn't his best but it was very good.

Danny easily is the top male vote getter and Tatiana should be the top female vote getter but if there's a voter backlash against her then I see Alexis Grace being the top female vote getter for the night. The second highest vote getter also going in IMO will be either Anoop or the roughneck Michael Sarver. Should be an interesting night.

Very happy but cautious

I just came back from seeing my mom at the physical therapy rehab place and got some great news, it looks like we'll have my mom back at home by the end of the month or the 1st or 2nd of March at the latest!! Wow!! Its hard to believe its almost over and that we'll have her back home. Almost 7 months of hospital stays, setbacks, sadness, frustration, tears and more is almost over. Its so hard to explain all the feelings but they all end in being very happy, just still very cautious since a setback can ruin it all. Been down that road a lot throughout this journey but I'm optimistic and have faith in God that the worst is finally over.

Back to doing what I love!

My mom's health has stabilized and we hope to have her home this month or next so now that she is close to coming home, I am getting back to doing what I love ~ working on my new latin pop/rock album to be titled "El Camino Espiritual" (The spiritual journey). The past 2 years have been very hard on me with personal problems with my wife in 2007 and just when things were getting and feeling normal and I was finally back mentally and emotionally to where I wanted to be to begin work on what I love to do, then my mom's health situation began and threw me for a loop again. It has indeed been a spiritual journey for me these past 2 years and I have a lot to reflect on and let out through my music. It will definitely be the most personal album I have recorded to date. I have always been a very introspective songwriter and singer and you can learn a lot about me through my music but I think this will be step beyond all I've previously done. It should be quite the experience for me.

My fans have always been so important to me and I've always tried to reach out and let them know, you can see that especially on MySpace. I've posted on my MySpace blog for my MySpace fans & friends to give me their opinion on which is their favorite song from my first 2 albums "De un corazon a otro" and "Rockero soy". If you haven't already and are a MySpace user, stop by my blog and give me your opinion. It's always cool to hear what my songs mean to my fans.

A not so merry Xmas and not so happy new year

Well, my mom's health issues have continued. Since my last post about my mom in October, she had 2 hospital stays while in rehab. She had one in November that set her back a bit but she came back from that hospital stay more determined than ever to get her health back and not lose any of the progress she had gained to that point. It was good to see, it made us all optimistic. However, in December she developed a cold (probably from visitors seeing their relatives) and it got progressively worse until she was admitted back into the hospital again, this time on Xmas eve. It was a very sad day for my family because we had all, my mom included, planned to have my mom home for Xmas. Indeed, she had even been told that should could get a day pass for 2 days to spend Xmas at home but with her health not good, my mom had decided against it. Still, we rather she had been at the rehab place than in the hospital! Needless to say it was a very sad and bittersweet Xmas for my family. I did my best to put on a brave face but I had my breakdown moments in private. Thank god for my kids and seeing their happiness at getting their xmas presents. Their smiles and happiness made me forget everything for a little while. My kids can always do that for me.

My mom was back at the rehab place before New Year so that was good. She was back at the rehab place on the date of my grandmother's (her mom) death, and I must say that December has always been a hard time for me since her death over 20 years ago. This December has been especially hard and I've been even more reserved and quiet than I usually get this time of year. Also making it hard is seeing that people I thought I could count on weren't as there for me as I thought they were. Lesson learned I guess. I must say though that people that I barely knew, at least in person, such as my MySpace friends were extremely amazing in how they showed they cared, supported me and showed that for my mom and me through their thoughts and prayers. Really amazing and meant so much to me. However, back to what I was saying... having my mom there on New Year's was hard. On New Year's I usually look back on the year and evaluate what I've done, haven't done, what's gone on throughout the year, etc. and just thinking of my mom still not home as the New Year began and the old year ended made me really sad for her. My family has a tradition where we all call each other within minutes of the New Year's ball drop and not being able to call her and not hearing her voice really made me sad and I had to retreat in private to compose myself. My stepfather has had it especially hard through all this so we spoke to him for a bit on New Year's and I think it really made him happy. That's all I can ask. I've gotten very close to him through all this with mom. Gotten closer to my brother as well, its been tough on all of us.

In the midst of cloudy days came a ray of sunshine!

In the midst of the cloudy days surrounding my past few months, finally a ray of sunshine shone. I got a message at the beginning of December that MTVTr3s.com took notice of my Ropa Rockero clothing and wanted to include it in their 2008 Holiday Gift Guide! On December 17th it went live!! 2 days after my birthday so that was nice! It was right on the home page in a topic titled "Need last minute gift ideas?" - on page 6 of the MTV Tr3S Holiday Gift Guide 2008 there it was, one of my Ropa Rockero shirts being recommended along with other cool items! That was definitely so cool and brought some much needed sunshine to my life. A big thank you to Sandra!

The struggle continues for my mom

The past 2 weeks have been really hard and crazy with things going on with my mom's health. Its been a depressing time with lots of long nights of worry and despair on my end. I'm a very optimistic person but the past 2 weeks tested that as I saw my mom weak not only physically but mentally and spiritually as well. The physical weakness is to be expected after all she's been through but it was the mental and spiritual weakness that worried me because without that, one can't fight back to get better. I can understand how she got there after everything she's been through in the past few months but its still not anything you want to see a loved one go through. I felt helpless but I tried to be there for her as much as I could, to let her know that not only I was there and cared but also to remind her that she had her grand-daughters to think about and fight for. I was able to convince her to finally accept to go to a physical therapy center for rehabilitation. She had been refusing to do this for the longest and I kept on urging her to do it because at the hospital and at home, she was not going to do what she needed to do to get stronger but at a rehab place they would push her to exercise and begin moving and feeling vital again. She was transferred on Friday 10/17 to the rehab place and began her physical therapy on Monday. She's already showing signs of getting her old self back and that is such a huge relief!!! Knowing how it goes, I know that she'll have some setbacks along the way but I also know that once she begins to see some results and starts to feel better that will push her to do more and that's what we want. So, coming full circle I am back to being optimistic! Its been a crazy time but I hope to end this year with my mom home and healthy for the holidays! That's all I want right now.

Back to blogging but first let's step back a bit

Hey everyone,

Been a long time since my last post but before I begin let me just pick up where I was before... I'm glad that David Cook won. I love his song "The time of my life" and the message it has. I wish him the best in his career. David A.'s song "Crush" is nice and I wish him nothing but the best of course as I wish almost anyone striving for their dreams.

Well....

It's been a rough past few months. Before I get to that though, I must backtrack a bit to explain what else has been going on with your favorite artist (that's me I hope!). Last year was a very rough year for me, was going through a serious rough patch in my marriage that in the end worked itself out but during that time I had stopped doing my music and working with my other artists. That in turned made my year rougher as the thing that fills my soul with purpose and life had faded. As things got better on the personal front, I found myself needing to get back to that other side of my personal life that I felt I had neglected. I felt frustrated, sad and a bit angry with myself that I had let that happen but family had to come first so I don't regret that. Still, I found it hard to get back to where my head was at before 2007 happened. Slowly but surely and through much introspection and frustration, I found the artist inside and began working towards getting to work on new music and working with new artists. I must admit that it took a long while to get there, much longer than I would have ever imagined. Anyway, so here I was ready to finally get back to things when life decided to throw another curveball my way...

My mom, who had a heart attack and open heart surgery 10 years ago, began having health issues starting back in June when she passed out at her doorstep after coming home from the store on a very hot day. All sorts of tests were done including a stress test and everything seemed fine but in my heart I felt that this would only be the beginning. Man, do I hate being right! Over the past few months my mom has been hospitalized 6 - 7 times (I've lost track already!) with various problems and complications from those initial problems. Some of the more recent issues have been more serious including gall bladder surgery which she had complications from and wound in ICU for almost a week and then they found an obstruction in her artery that required an angioplasty. Even after all this, she's already been back to the hospital for stays 2x more and she's in the hospital now with another complication from everything she's been through. I tell you, its been very rough and I almost feel like a hospital worker with how much I've been to the hospital in the past few months. I've not only had to be there to keep my stepdad and brother informed and calm, informed, etc. - I've also had to do that with my own family, more specifically my girls and its been rough being strong for them and at the same time trying to keep them informed. I can't just tell them that their grandma will be ok when she keeps winding up back in the hospital so that makes it harder for me since I don't lie to my kids. Kids are smart and they can tell if you're not being straight with them so I try to be as straight with them as possible without making them worry too much. So, its been rough on all us. I've wanted to get back to my music, I feel ready, I feel its time, I feel I need to BUT I can't while all this is going on. I have to let this play out and see what God has planned for my mom and my family first and foremost.

I want to thank everyone, my friends and all my MySpace friends who have done an awesome job of lending me support and encouragement through these tough times. Its in tough times where you see who your real friends are and I feel truly blessed to have friends and fans that have taken me and my family's troubles to heart. Thank you for all the messages, e-mails, comments and prayers - it has done my soul a lot of good to see such good hearted friends and fans there for me. THANK YOU.

America's Next Top Model crowns a new Cycle 10 winner!

Yes, I watch America's Next Top Model! Of course I do! LOL! I've watched every cycle of ANTM and this cylce's winner Whitney was a bold and brave choice by Tyra and the judges! I say bold and brave only because I totally applaud their decision to crown the plus-size (for modeling, in the real world her size 12 is pretty normal) Whitney the newest winner. It sends a great and healthy message to young girls everywhere that you don't have to starve yourself to make it in fashion and modeling. Whitney can be the role model that young girls can look up to and relate to in a real way. Kudos to Whitney and more kudos to Tyra and the judging panel on their progressive and open-minded choice.

American Idol gets down to the final 2!

I was happy to see Jason go. As much as I was a fan of his when this began, I have become that disappointed in him in recent weeks. He just doesn't seem to want a serious career. Even after being booted and doing the media rounds, he comes across as if he's not taking anything seriously. That's a shame because there are hundreds of thousands of other singers who would gladly step in his place and would take things seriously. I hope he shows some maturity and a real sense of priority to his music as he is talented and it'd be a shame to see him waste away this opportunity that has been given to him.

I was happy to see Syesha make it and do well this past week. Even though it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that she would be going home against the 2 Davids, she accounted well for herself and I hope and expect her to go on to big things with her music. Good luck Syesha!

So, it all comes down to the 2 Davids in the Finals. Not a surprise after contestants Carly and Michael were voted off. They were the serious threats to the Davids and their departures made the 2 Davids a lock IMO. Let's hope they both do better than this past week which was a bit underwhelming. I thought Syesha was the more solid of the 3 but even if she did perfect performances this week I think she still would've gone home with America voting for the more popular Davids.

I'm hoping that David Archuleta is the winner and I hope he has a great week this week. Simon and the Producers seemed to target David A. this week after news of his Dad being banned from the backstage area broke out. As bad as the Dad may be, the issue was taken care of and they shouldn't be taking it out on David A.

The Top 4 go tonight

Yikes, been missing in action here! Doh! Sorry! Anyway, my thoughts on the last 2 weeks is that Brooke should've been gone after Broadway week. Carly should not have been sent home.

Jason should've gone last week, not Brooke. In last week's Entertainment Weekly they had an article on a week behind the scenes with the contestants and one of the revelations of the article was that Jason blew off rehearsal time to hang out with his brother and friend. Look, I know they miss their families, etc. but they are also in this to win, not to slack off now! Anyway, when the reporter asked Jason about it, he said he doesn't really care much anymore and that he's ready to go home at this point. Oh really? He's got it. There won't be another vote from this household for him. And just so you know, we take voting in this household seriously! LOL! My daughters vote after the show and they have done up to 300 votes for our past favorites such as Jordin and Carrie.

I'm hoping Syesha shines tonight so that Jason can go home as he's ready to.

Kristy is gone and 6 go Broadway!

Kristy went home last week. Mariah week did her in, even though she did better than a few others IMO. Syesha and Brooke were indeed in the bottom 3 though and that should serve notice to them to pick up their game.

It was Broadway week and Syesha did just that IMO. Her performance began a little boring but then she picked it up and did a great job. Her vocals fit the song really well too.

Jason's performance was not the best vocally but I liked the emotion he displayed for the song and its lyrics.
I am an emotional type singer in that I like to show lots of emotion in my vocals so that the listener can hopefully feel the emotions behind my lyrics. I get that from Jason and I really like that aspect of his performance.

On a side note, it was cool to see KISS' Paul Stanley in the audience. That excited me as he's a huge idol of mine. I've had fans over the years tell me that my voice is similar to his and I consider that a compliment. I just wish I had the career he did!

Anyway, back to the show! Brooke imploded again. Her nerves are clearly getting to her. While she got praised for beginning over last time she made a mistake, you just can't keep doing that and for it to happen again just comes across as her being unprepared. It totally sent her into a small tailspin and Simon was right when he said she spent a large part of the song trying to not make anymore mistakes instead of just singing. I also didn't get the emotion from her again. She's going backwards now instead of progressing. Very disappointing.

David Archuleta must've been jumping for joy with this week in line to do. He did a great job as usual.

Carly oversang a bit in the middle of the song but sounded strong and solid.

David Cook was very good.

Bottom 2 is Jason and Brooke with a toss-up for Carly or Syesha for the 3rd but safe person. It can go either way but with this being Brooke's 2nd bad week in a row and probable 2nd straight week in the bottom 2, I think Brooke goes home before she has a breakdown on stage.

Michael is gone and the Lucky 7 sing Mariah!

I had 2 out of the 3 bottom contestants right last week but I didn't see Michael Johns going yet at all. By all the talk on the local radio stations, the DJs and women all loved him. It seems the same can be said about David Cook so hopefully he goes too! LOL! Yeah, I know... bad Mario!

Last night's mentor was Mariah Carey and I figured it would be an interesting night of hits and misses and I was right. I'm a big Mariah Carey fan and was a huge fan of her older material early in her career. I hated to see her go through all she did after doing "Glitter" and her breakdown but I'm glad that she's come back stronger and better. I'm also really happy to see her back to the style of singing where she is using her full vocals instead of the light singing she was doing in recent years. As a mentor she did a good job. She came across very down to earth and she was very helpful to the contestants in giving them ideas and melody lines for their ideas for her song. It was all very interesting to see and must've been a great experience for the contestants.

David Archuleta was in full effect doing "If you believe" from the movie "Prince of Egypt" which Mariah dueted with Whitney Houston. Great way to start the show.

Carly did "Without you" and while it was good, I agree with Simon in that it sounded as if it never really got where it needed to go.

Syesha took on "Vanishing" and while they kept saying she was smart for picking a lesser known Mariah song, with 160 million albums sold world-wide I think there are not many lesser known songs of Mariah's. For true Mariah fans, this song is a favorite because it is such a great song with amazing vocals. Syesha did a nice job but she didn't get the song where Mariah got it and that is probably enough to turn off Mariah fans to voting for Syesha.

Brooke's performance of "Hero" just left me flat. She was overly nervous, her voice never seemed to be in the right key and it was just a very disappointing performance.

Kristy's version of "Forever" was nice. She keeps soldifying who she is as an artist even if she isn't the best. That is an important quality that she is showing and will help her score a record deal in the near future.

I didn't like David Cook's version of "Always be my baby" at all. It was definitely original though! ;)

On the other hand, I loved Jason Castro's version of "I don't want to cry".

So who goes to the bottom? IMHO, I think the bottom 3 will be Brooke, Carly and Syesha although everyone is in danger except for Archuleta. I think Brooke gets to go home 1 week too late. (She was upset this week because she missed her sister's wedding).

Ramiele is gone and the Top 8 do inspirational songs

Ramiele was sent home last week and unfortunately it was time. She was clearly not ready and not yet sure of her identity and how to use her vocals to their best light. She's a cutie though so we'll hear plenty from her in the future.

Last night the Top 8 did Inspirational songs to kick off "Idol Gives Back" week. As those of you who follow me and my music know, I love to write inspirational music. I truly believe that music has the power to heal, inspire, motivate, move and bring positivity to society and always try to have positive messages in my music. Even in seemingly dark material of mine, that is usually just a superficial layer that if you look past it and dig a little deeper into my lyrics you will see a hidden positive message. My lyrics are a reflection on my personality and how I view things and being an optimistic and positive person, I like to let that be seen through my lyrics. So, with all that said, I was happy to hear last night's theme and am looking forward to "Idol gives back" tonight.

Michael chose "Dream on" and I found it good until the end when he tried to hit the Steve Tyler falsetto screams. Uh no, shouldn't have tried that. No no no. LOL!

Poor choice of song for Syesha to pick Fantasia's "I believe". That is a song so closely associated with an AI winner that it shouldn't even be considered because you will be compared harshly and rightfully so. Fantasia also has a very unique voice which makes the comparison stand out even more. I totally agreed with Randy and Simon in that I also found that she was doing a very good talent show performance but that she totally lacked Fantasia's emotional connection and conviction to the song that made Fantasia's version so special. Syesha continues to pick BIG songs and they are poor choices.

Jason's "Somewhere over the rainbow" was very very good. I'm glad the judges loved it too.

I love Martina McBride's "Anyway", it has an awesome positive message that helped me get through some rough times last year so I was happy to hear Kristy do a very good job with the song. Kristy continues to make very good song choices and she is really connecting with who she is and wants to be. Syesha should take notes.

David Cook's version of "Innocent" was interesting. I'll leave it at that.

I am a HUGE Queen and Freddie Mercury fan and I thought Carly would do well with "The show must go on" but that song swallowed her alive. It was her worst performance IMO. Very disappointed by her performance.

David Archuleta's version of "Angels" was excellent. 'Nuff said.

"You've got a friend" is a song that I did with my band Vogue's Rogues on our "Desecration of an Innocent World" CD so its obviously a song near and dear to me. Brooke's performance was nice but felt a little mechanical for some reason. I'm just not seeing a lot of the emotional connections to the songs that she was getting before. I hope she can get that back soon.

With it being "Idol gives back" tonight, I don't expect anyone to go home but if they were to have a bottom 3, for me it would be David Cook, Syesha and Carly with Syesha going home.

No one will be going home tonight which will make tonight all the more easier to enjoy.

Top 9 is reached and Dolly Parton night?

Hey, I was 2 for 3 with last week's bottom 3. Ramiele squeaks by again and Syesha is again shown no love. It was Chikezie's time though and he knew it. Good luck Chikezie Eze! Gotta love that name!! :)

The Top 9 performed last night and it was Dolly Parton week! Kind of a weird choice for theme of the week but she is a good mentor and legend in the business and that came across well last night.

The performances were a bit scattered all over the place all night long though.

Brooke opened the show and her performance was solid but not exciting. I'm not seeing the emotion of the songs coming through on her performances and that is going to hurt her soon. She needs to connect better with the songs to get the most out of them. She'll be safe though.

David Cook didn't impress me with his arrangement, the vocals were interesting. After last week's Chris Cornell rip-off and not giving credit where it was due, I watched him with disappointment and skepticism last night. It'll take a while for me to warm up to him again.
Bad news for David after the show where he was rushed to the hospital with a high blood pressure. From what I read, he has a relative battling cancer and the person is having a hard time recently and that combined with the pressure and tension from being on the show, etc. seems to be taking its toll. I hope David can deal with it all and that his relative gets better.

Ramiele was better last night. She seemed focused and confident and her vocals were good. She still needs to pick better songs to really show what she can do.

Jason seemed back to his singer-songwriter style last night and gave a solid performance.

I loved Carly's performance and vocals. I also thought that last night she looked the best she has looked so far, I don't know what Simon was talking about but Simon and fashion are 2 things that don't exactly go together. LOL!

David Archuleta's vocal performance was great, loved it. Best of the night. The tone he has in his vocals is amazing. He is definitely blessed with an amazing voice. I was glad to see him with a slower tempo song since he reminds me of Josh Groban and that style of song is perfect to show off his voice.

Kristy sounded good and with it being a country themed week she should be safe this week.

Syesha made a poor choice of picking a song that most people associate with Whitney Houston. Trying to do a mix of Dolly and Whitney's version just left certain parts sounding empty and other parts not full enough. She picked a song way too big for her.

Michael sounded great and I was very impressed with the performance.

Bottom 3 is difficult so I'll pick Syesha, Jason and Brooke. Although picking the bottom 3 is hard this week, picking who is going home seems easy. Bye bye Syesha.

The Top 10 does their birth year songs

Interesting theme for the night. The judges seemed a bit passive tonight and the performances were on and off all night. Not the best AI night for sure.

First we got Ramiele doing Heart's "Alone" which was a risky choice considering that song distinguished Carrie Underwood as a frontrunner when she did it. Ramiele was said to be sick and I can see how that probably affected her singing and pitch but still, the song seemed too big for her. She did some nice solid big notes in there though. All in all, I am becoming more disappointed with Rami as she still hasn't stepped it up like she should be able to. It seems she doesn't know how to pick a song to best highlight her vocals.

Jason's version of Enrique Iglesias doing "Fragile" was not good. "Fragile" is such a great song, one of my all-time faves so I was hoping Jason, who I have been a fan of would do something good with it. However, it never reached where he was trying to go with it. Hearing Jason agree with Simon that his guitar playing was sloppy and that maybe he should've practiced more really disappointed me. Is Jason getting complacent this early in the show? Not good.

Syesha sounded great. Very professional sounding vocals and performance. She has stepped it up since being in the bottom 3 in the first week. Good for her.

Chikezie sounded good last night as well, even though Randy and Simon didn't seem to like it.

I was not crazy about Brooke's performance. Maybe it was like with "Fragile" in that "Every breath you take" is one of my all-time favorite songs and The Police and Sting are 2 of my favorite artists. Just sounded like Brooke never got on the attack with the song and that lack of edge and urgency that Sting brings to the song was very missing IMO.

Michael was very good and has shown that he can do Queen well. IMO Queen should consider approaching him for the band as he is a much better choice than Paul Rodgers who made me cringe trying to Queen songs. I am a HUGE fan of Queen and especially Freddie Mercury and only George Michael had impressed me up to this point doing Queen songs. After last night though, although he's not nearly in the same league as Freddie or George, I think he would make a good frontman for Queen.

Carly, why did you have to pick "Total eclipse of the heart" to sing? Aaaaaah! That is one song that I have heard so much in my life that if I never hear it again in my life that is a-ok with me! LOL! Man, she deserves to be in the bottom 3 just for picking this song! Ok, not really but it was brutal to sit through hearing that song. LOL!

What did David A. sing? Seems very few know! Listening to the radio this morning, the DJs were discussing it and one of them actually knew the song and mentioned how this song spent 20 weeks at #1 in Australia where the artist is from. It was an ok performance. Hard to compare it to anything though. Simon made a comment of how he'd be shocked if David picked this song and the DJs mentioned how it was a dig by Simon at David's dad who is rumored to be picking the songs for David to sing. Interesting.

Kristy made a great choice to pick a song that would be hard to get her voted off. Simon was right to say that it may have been the smartest song choice a contestant has ever picked. I love that song too.

I wasn't crazy about David Cook's performance and even more so since he didn't give Chris Cornell any credit for the song idea. For those that don't know, Chris Cornell did the original rock version of this song that David C. did last night. Chris' version is much better. Not cool of David to not give credit where its due, especially since you're covering the person's version of it.



All in all, I didn't like last night much. My bottom 3 picks are Ramiele, Chikezie and Jason. Jason is safe and Chikezie goes home.

AI Eliminations - Top 10 is reached!

Tonight was the AI eliminations to get to the top 10 and what a weird show it was.

The opening show Beatles medley was not very good. They should just scratch that one right off the tour IMO.

I had 2 out of 3 right. Carly was just a crazy pick by America to be in the bottom 3. Very strange. Thankfully she was saved. However, so was Kristy. She was last contestant standing again and she even mentioned that yesterday in her video clip. I was not sad to see Amanda go at this point. She just was too uncompromising and not really offering any different looks or sounds. I'm sure we'll hear some more from her in the future but she'll need to listen to people in the business when they tell her to change things up a bit. Only AC/DC can get away from doing the same things year after year. :)

America may have had the bottom 3 a bit off but they weren't wrong in their choice of who to send home. Good luck Amanda!

AI does Beatles x 11!

Another night of AI doing Beatles songs! Fun! Not really. LOL! Not the biggest Beatles fan and it led to me agreeing with Simon more than ever last night! Blech! LOL!

Amanda opened the show and I hate to say it because I liked her whole rocker chick vibe and look but I agree with Simon in that she needs to change it up. Her performances are becoming more and more like one big performance and unfortunately you've seen one performance and you've seen them all. I hope she changes things a bit. Her voice reminds me of Dilana who was on RockStar INXS except that Dilana knew how to use her look and voice to its best advantage. Let's see if Amanda can change before its too late. I did like her defense of trying to show what it would be like to see her in a show but she also has to adapt a little to the show that she's on. Like Chris Daughtry did, he never changed who he was but adapted the songs within the show's format, etc. to show him in his true form.

Kristy went next and while her voice was better, her performance was rather bland. She just needs more experience.

David A. is back as I knew he would be. There was no way he'd have 2 bad performances in a row and he didn't disappoint. Great song choice and very good performance.

Michael just didn't do anything for me again with another indulgent song choice. Its cool to do songs that mean something to you as you can give more emotion to the lyrics but at the same time, this is a competition and he needs to draw the line at doing indulgent songs as opposed to doing songs that can really let him show off his vocals.

I liked Brooke's song choice and the performance was nice BUT it did seem a bit too cutesy, as was some of her faces up there when the judges were offering their critique. It wasn't nearly on the level of Melinda Doolittle's "aw shucks" attitude but it was getting in that area. I'm glad to hear her say that she would be getting back to her style of performing next week. I assume that means she'll go back to playing behind a guitar doing her best Phoebe from "Friends" impersonation! =)

David Cook was good but he also has to change it up a little. I think last week's judge's glowing comments went to his head a bit. This week should help humble him a bit.

Carly was very good! Loved her explanation for picking the song "Blackbird". Something that all artists can relate to. I still don't understand how Simon works with artists since he just doesn't show that he understands or can relate to them the way Randy and Paula do.

I was not crazy about Jason's song choice or performance. I'm still a big fan though.

Syesha totally redeemed herself last night with that performance of "Yesterday". I loved everything about her performance, she was very into the song and it showed.

I liked Chikezie's vocals until the song went all country again. Not sure what to make of the whole thing. It left me with mixed feelings. I hope he's safe though.

Ramiele's song choice was more upbeat but it still bored me a little which is disappointing because I really like her.

Bottom 3 is interesting to pick this week as few were really good. I'll say that Chikezie, Kristy and Amanda are the bottom 3. Amanda will be safe and Chikezie will go home. :(

Wk. 1 - The Final 12 goes down to 11

I was 3 for 3 but I got the safe person and person exiting wrong. :(

David should've been the safe one. I don't think he deserved to go yet and wonder if this vote for the worst crappola that seems to go on every year is already rearing its ugly head. Based on the performances, Kristy should've gone but maybe David's controversy caught up to him. We'll see if another bad performance goes unpunished next week.

Syesha seems to have been handed a little humility and hopefully she steps it up next week.

Oh well. I think we'll hear a little more from David H. in the future.

Wk. 1 - The Final 12 sings!

They introduced the new set and I liked it. Not a drastic change except for the band and the audience being much closer to the stage and around the judges. The band so spread apart is kind of weird but it works for the show.

Big night for AI with being able to do songs off the Lennon & McCartney catalogue. BIG songs! Admittedly, I'm not the biggest Beatles fan but I do respect their music and lyrics especially. For those of you that follow my music, you know that my lyrics tend to lean towards deeper topics so I definitely appreciate their lyrics. I agree with Simon that these songs can be tough if you pick the wrong songs.

Syesha started off the show and I liked that she undersung for once but it seemed like that made her boring. I think the song was too big for her and her performance was forgettable. That's what you don't want to be on AI.

Chikezie absolutely did a Charlie Brown on the pitcher's mound to me and blew my socks off! :D
His arrangement was amazing as was his performance. IMO he was the performer of the night and had every reason to be as happy about it as he was.

Ramiele needs to stop singing about losing her friends that she's just barely begun knowing on the show and start concentrating on the fact that this can make a career for her! She really needs to step it up! C'mon Ramiele!!

Jason continues to provide solid singer/songwriter performances. I'm a fan!

Carly was very good but I wasn't overly thrilled with her performance for some reason.

David Cook has improved with each show IMO and he definitely is becoming a dark horse in this competition. Another very good performance.

I'm a fan of Brooke's and I loved her emotional, heart-felt rendition of "Let it be" which is one of the greatest songs ever written IMO. I love that she also played the piano. Randy's comment that this was probably something she has dreamed about since she was a kid was so right on. Randy always seems to "get" what the artists are doing (or trying to) and where they are coming from as artists.

David Hernandez was good but it wasn't the best song to do what he was trying to do. I have to say that I liked Tiffany's version better! :D

Amanda, Amanda, Amanda... I'm just not feeling her anymore. It just seems like the same song and performance over and over. She needs to change it up a bit.

Michael Johns vocal performance did nothing for me. I liked how he performed it though.

Kristy's idea of country-fying "8 days a week" sounded like a good idea in theory but in practice it was a trainwreck. That was the worst performance and arrangement of the night. As Simon would say, it was absolutely dreadful. :(

David Archuleta finally stumbled and I'm sure that the other contestants were privately a little happy about it. There were rumors that they were getting upset with all the publicity he's gotten and how some have said that he's already the clear-cut winner. Simon tried to open that door a little with telling David Cook that he's becoming a front-runner. I expect David A. to come back strong though. He was clearly not comfortable with the song or lyrics but could it all have been a pre-calculated mis-step by David? Hmm.

Randy was on with his advice and critique as always. Paula too stepped it up and didn't just parrot what Randy was saying. Simon was his usual rude self. I cannot stand his disrespecting Paula and I'm glad that Paula spoke up when he rudely told her to shut up. He also needs to pay attention to the show that pays him so well. His saying "what is the Irish girl's name?" is inexcusable and disrespectful. At least have the respect to remember the names of the singers who are counting on you to help them build a career in this business. Also, his childish jabs at Ryan need to stop. It has nothing to do with the show and its just a waste of time.

All in all, it was a good night but I think the bottom 3 will be Kristy, David H. and Syesha with David H. being safe. Kristy goes home tonight.

Semi-finals Wk.3 eliminations

Well, I think America got this one mostly right and so was I! ;)

I agreed with Kady and Luke going home even though I like them both.

I had a feeling that the controversy and negative attention would catch up with Danny. He seems like a sweet kid though and its a shame that his past caught up to him and we won't be seeing more of him. I think he added some personality to the show.

I wasn't happy to see Asia'h go but I probably wouldn't have been happy with any of the other girls leaving either. AI lost a classy contestant in Asia'h though. I was watching the local FOX station's news tonight after the eliminations and I was upset to see former contestant Constantine (that's upsetting enough! LOL!) on there saying that he wasn't surprised to see Asia'h go because as he put it, "who would buy tickets to see her in concert?". Talk about nerve!

I liked them all and I wish them all the best! Unlike some other former AI contestants, I hope to hear more from them in the future!

Semi-finals Night 3 - the girls

We're almost there! We're almost down to the Top 12. Lots of good singing tonight. It will be hard to see someone go after tonight's performances.

The show began with Asia'h Epperson and sounded great doing Whitney Houston.

Kady Malloy went next and I noticed more of an effort from her to be "on" with her smiles and personality. Unfortunately for her she picked a slow sad song which didn't let her show more of her personality. Her vocals however sounded very good IMO. Side note: I love that Queen song she did. Freddie Mercury recorded this song "Who wants to live forever" when he had already been diagnosed with AIDS and knew he was going to die soon. At that time in the 80s, AIDS was basically a death sentence and he had already begun losing weight and feeling the physical ravages of the disease. I can understand writing a song like that when going through something like that. That whole writing about life's pains and bitter experiences is something us songwriters use to express our emotions of negative things to try to make something positive and useful for others out of it. I'm an emotional singer and like to use my emotions to drive my lyrics but I can't imagine myself being able to sing that song going through what he was going through.

Amanda Overmyer has been fading to me. I didn't like her performance. She was looking down most of the time and looked like she was either distracted or trying hard to remember the lyrics. She also didn't show much emotion in her face. Her vocals sounded good but I can't rave about her like the judges did. Wish I could. :(
I hope she picks it up when she makes it to the Top 12.

Carly Smithson sounded good. I felt like she really picked it up last night and I loved her power vocals.

Kristy Lee Cook's country version of Journey's "Faithfully" was very good.
Journey is one of my all-time favorite bands and Steve Perry is one of my all-time favorite singers (but you already knew that from reading my personal bio, right?). In fact, Journey's "Escape" album is what turned me onto rock music! Before that I listened to disco and pop. Journey opened my eyes and ears to another world and the rest as they say is history. :)

I wasn't particularly wowed by Ramiele Malubay's performance but I think she is definitely headed to the Top 12.

I loved Brooke White's acoustic performance of Pat Benatar's "Love is a battlefield". It sounded like something Pat would do in concert to make the song different. Brooke definitely is showing a real artist side to her that should take her far. I disagree that the band should've come in half-way. I can see the song done like that but I really liked Brooke's interpretation of the song.

Syesha Mercado was good.

Overall, I think all the girls were good in their own ways while some were really good. Who do I expect to go home? Being that Kady was in the bottom 3 last week and that Simon trashed her again, I think she'll be going home tonight. I think Kristy is the second to go. I don't know how popular they are but I could also see Asia'h and Amanda being in danger tonight. I hope they stay though!

Semi-finals Night 3 - the guys

Final night for the guys to show their stuff and lots of stuff going around the net about 2 of the guys that made it for an interesting night. To AI's credit or discredit (depending on how you look at it), they kept the focus on the singing and didn't discuss the rumors and internet stuff going around.

Luke Menard opened the show with a not so good version of a Wham song. Simon seemed to be already tired with having to be there and give his opinion. He of course had to be give his "opinion" in Simon fashion.

David Archuleta went next and was cool to see him using the piano for his Phil Collins song "Another day in paradise" which is one of my all-time favorite songs. For those of you familiar with my Vogue's Rogues songs, my song "A view from a gutter" is inspired from this Phil Collins song. Anyway, I liked David's singing although I wasn't wowed by it as I usually am.

Danny Noriega is one of the 2 with the internet buzzing about his past YouTube rant about baby Jesus, etc. I found his performance pretty good but I wonder how the internet buzz will affect people's votes for him. I think he will definitely feel some sort of backlash for it.

David Hernandez has the internet and offices abuzz with word of him being a stripper in a gay club so who knows how this affects him votes-wise. It adds some backstory to what otherwise had been a contestant with a bland personality. Singing wise though, he was one of the best of the night.

Michael Johns didn't do anything for me with his singing last night. Seems to be trying too hard to be the next Michael Hutchence and there will only be one of those.

David Cook's rock version of Lionel Richie's "Hello" was interesting. I liked it but wasn't totally crazy about it. It was a very risky and bold song performance though.

Jason Castro was the vocal performance of the night! Jason knows his singer/songwriter style very well and he knows how to make songs work into that style. He continues to impress me. I predict that he is going to make a record company out there a lot of money after he's done with AI.

Chikezie was good. I like how he stylized his vocals to fit the song. Simon's focus on that Whitney Houston had done the song, even though Chikezie listed about 3 other performers of the song in the past and even though Whitney wasn't the original singer of this song, was just dumb. Without knowing the other versions, Simon again had an incomplete idea from which to judge his opinion on.

All in all, the guys were very good last night. I wonder how the controversies surrounding David and Danny will play out with the votes but I think in the end it won't matter on Thursday. I think Luke goes home and Chikezie.

Semi-finals Wk.2 eliminations

Well, another night and another 4 eliminated.

I was 2 for 4 again, although technically I could be 3 for 4! ;)

I liked Jason Yaeger but this is a guy that wasn't really shown in the weeks leading up to the semi-finals so he faced an uphill battle right there. I'm glad that even Simon gave him props for his vocals and I hope he continues on his musical path.

I was a little surprised to see Robbie Carrico go. In the past 2 weeks I thought that Idol watchers would vote for certain guys based on looks and age and that's why I have said those that I have said. What I have noticed with this season's crop of singers is that the judges did an awesome job of finding 24 really good singers. There are no Sanjaya's in this bunch. The AI audience has responded by being more serious with their voting as well. That usually doesn't happen until later into the show when there are less contestants but with the contestants all being good then there really aren't many bad decisions that can be made regarding the singers with less talent moving into the Top 12. Anyway, with news all over the net that wannabe rocker Robbie's hair was a wig and with the judges saying that they didn't feel convinced that he was a rocker, it seems that the fans also took note of this and weren't convinced of his vocals and hair either.

Alexandrea being voted out was the right call IMO. I don't think she was the underdog she made herself out to be since the judges really liked her and her performances BUT I do think that she created the image of being an underdog not only in her head but in the fans heads as well. That wound up working against her. I like that she saw David Archuleta being so upset over her being eliminated and went over to him to give him a big hug. Very nice of her.

Alaina and Cady were the other 2 of the bottom 3 and I was not happy with that. I totally expected Cady to go and it looks like Cady did as well. I was very suprised to see Alaina go. I felt really bad for her that she didn't think she could sing afterwards. I've always wondered how and why (besides contractual obligations) someone would sing the song that got them eliminated. I'm glad that the girls (Asia'h in particular) got her to sing. Way to go Alaina. I think that Ryan and Paula were correct in saying that this is only the beginning of her musical career now that she has had AI exposure. I can easily seeing her getting an offer from "Grease" on Broadway ( http://www.greaseonbroadway.com/ ) as she probably now has more exposure than the winner of the Grease show. She can also sing, is young and is blonde - she's tailor-made to be Sandy on Broadway. I hope Broadway comes calling.

Finally, I was really happy to see that Ryan made fun of Simon for his Bullwinkle impersonation! Simon said it was a code but IMO it's just childish and unprofessional to be doing that. Leave stuff like that for off camera. Sigh, its going to be a long season with Simon. I'm glad the singers are all so good!

Semi-finals Night 2 - the girls

Well, the girls came, they sang and I was still under-whelmed with the singing this week. :(

Not that any of the singing this week by the guys and gals was bad. It wasn't, in fact there was a lot of solid singing but outside of David Archuleta no one was great.

Carly Smithson opened with a nice, solid rendition of a Heart song but she can do so much more it seems yet hasn't picked a song IMO that has really let her shine. She has the potential though. I agree with Simon that Carly, Ramiele and David are the Top 3.

Syesha Mercado once again under-whelmed me. I want to like her but showing her as an actress did little to make me accept her and like her more.

Brooke White picked a perfect song and style for her. She even looked a bit like Carly Simon. Her singing was solid and the song fit her and her vocals great.

This was not the best song or night for Ramiele Malubay. I didn't think the song let her shine much until she got to the bigger notes of it. It seems she over-analyzed her song selection based on internet talk calling her Ramiele Lullaby (which is a cute nickname IMO) and that led her away from a strength that helps her show her big vocals.

Kristy Lee Cook was good, although her performing was a little stiff.

Amanda Overmyer is a favorite of mine but beyond the cool pants she had on, I didn't like anything else including her hair. Her voice was solid but the song selection was pretty bad since it did little to show her range.

Contrary to the judges, I really liked Alaina Whitaker's vocals and song pick.

Alexandria Lushington again did nothing for me with her vocals, attitude or saying in her pre-performance clip how she is an underdog. I don't know how she is saying that when not only was she picked to the top 12 girls but was also raved about by Randy and Paula last week.

I really like Kady Malloy and I agree that she loses something when she performs. She is a very pretty girl with a great smile yet she gets flat when she gets in front of the camera. She has a Britney style and look to her that even extends to when she is just listening to the judges critiques. If you've ever really watched Britney do an interview, etc. she is "on" when she is talking but the minute she stops talking she gets this "bored" look to her face. It's not true boredom but just that look of it and Kady is doing the same thing. Not good, she needs to turn it up and show more of this personality that she has. Could it be that all the great imitating that she does has left her with little know-how on how to show her own personality? I don't know but I hope she can turn it around. C'mon Kady!

I liked Asia'h Epperson's performance. She struggled a bit (and we were told after just how sick she had been all week) at the beginning but she turned it up and left it all out there on the stage. Kudos to Asia'h!

Picking the 2 that will go home from the girls this week is just as hard as it was picking the 2 guys that might go home. I will say though that I think Alexandrea and (sniff, sniff) Kady will go home.

Semi-finals Night 2 - the guys

AI was on last night so I'm back with my thoughts. Hope you're enjoying them. So, last week we had 60s night, tonight we had 70s night and I found the guys underwhelming for the most part.

Michael Johns opening the show didn't help as it set the tone for a show full of vocals that were solid but nothing great (well almost).

I agreed with the judges on Jason Castro in that his vocal was a bit safe and that he needs to put the guitar down and show that he can command the stage as a solo singer as well. He reminded me last night of Teddy Geiger (with dreads!). When I mentioned this out loud to my family as we were watching my daughter made a funny name for him - Teddy Dready! LOL!

Luke Menard was much better than last week and I enjoyed his rendition of Queen's "Killer Queen". I didn't agree with Simon (shocker I know) in him telling Luke that he lacked charisma (everyone lacks charisma if you compare them to the great Freddie Mercury) yet found him too theatrical. And Freddie wasn't?

I totally agreed with the judges on their critique of wanna-be rocker Robbie Carrico. His vocals lacked intensity and edge and it just came across as him thinking he could get by on his looks and a safe vocal. Chances are he will be safe though.

Danny Noriega did really well. I like the kid and hope he does well. His vocal was very solid. I'm not sure how well he will do in the english market but if he can speak spanish and ever decided to go into the spanish market, I think he has a look that would do well in latin america. He reminds me of Ray Reyes of Menudo fame.

David Hernandez was very solid and good as usual. I really liked how he changed the song, it showed a lot of style and his vocals were very good.

Jason Yaeger sounded good to me but Simon doesn't seem to like him or get him. Considering this poor guy didn't get much, if any, publicity in the weeks leading up to the semi-finals, it almost looks like he's being singled out as a non-favorite by Simon to ensure he doesn't make it into the Top 12.

Chikezie did well. I liked learning the origin of his name. I'm glad that he said he liked his suit from last week. I get annoyed with artists that get embarrassed how they looked in the past, etc. His comebacks to Simon are hilarious.

I'm not a fan of David Cook but I found his performance good. Simon seem peeved that the contestants were being very vocal in defending themselves against his attacks but oh well! It seems he likes to give his "opinion" as he puts it but can't take it when an opinion is going back his way. He actually had the nerve to say that he offers his criticism constructively but a lot of his critique has little value to it. I defend him when it does but he hasn't shown much of that so far.

David Archuleta did a spine-tingling performance worthy of all the praise it received. I've seen some other reviews of AI on the net that said that David Archuleta's winning AI is inevitable and I've been saying that all along so far. This kid is amazing. His voice and the way he chooses to stylize a song is amazing for someone his age. Hell, its amazing for anyone of any age. This kid is simply amazing.

With only 1 great performance and 9 good, solid ones it makes tomorrow's elimination difficult to predict but I'll say that Jason Yaeger and David Hernandez go home although they don't deserve to. If it was up to me, Michael Johns and Robbie Carrico would be going home based on yesterday's performances.

Hopefully the girls can step it up tonight. I expect them to.

Semi-finals Wk.1 eliminations

Well, not bad. I was 2 for 4 on my predictions of who would go home. On the guys side, I thought Colton and Garrett would get the young girls vote. Interesting to see them go home already. I would've have picked Garrett over Luke in terms of vocals since Garrett still needs experience and confidence. Was surprising to see him go in the first night of eliminations. Simon telling Colton to get a job and do singing on the side was just rude, even if it may be realistic. It truly mystifies me how Simon can be a music executive yet not really understand an artist's heart and soul. Music and singing is not just a hobby for those that are passionate about it, it is something that they feel to their core. It is not just part of who an artist is, it is who they are. It is their passion, their dreams, their heart and their soul and no one should try to throw a wet blanket of negativity on that. I'm thankful that Randy and Paula are there to give them notes of confidence in their talent in what to many of them is their lowest point in their fledgling musical careers. I know Simon is just trying to portray the business side of it but IMO there is still room for heart in business, especially when dealing with artists.

Paula's music video was very reminiscent of her older videos and the song was cool for a dance track. The ending with Paula, Ryan, Simon and Randy posing was a bit cheesy though. LOL!

Semi-finals Night 1 - the girls

So, the girls went last night and Simon was still in his nasty mood. So much for the nice Simon of the auditions. Honestly, when he is in his better moods, he gives much better advice and even pays better attention than he does once the show actually gets underway. Strange.

The girls were a mixed bunch, some were good and some not so much, but at least Ryan gave us a heads up that a bunch of them were sick. However, we were only actually told about one of the girls being sick once the show began. It might've helped to know all the girls who were sick to better be able to evaluate them fairly.

Well, here are my thoughts on the girls voices and performances.

Kristy Lee Cook looked sick (she was the one that was publicly mentioned on the show as being sick) and her voice seemed to suffer because of it. Very pretty girl though. Hopefully she gets a bye this week because of being sick.

Joanne Borgella was not very good. Her voice seemed very thin as she got higher.

Alaina Whitaker was a wonderful surprise. I don't recall her getting shown much during the auditions or Hollywood shows but this girl can sing! She also seems to have a really nice personality as well. Her face reminds me of Joss Stone.

Amanda Overmyer is a rock goddess and should easily make it into the Top 12. Of all the singers, male and female, she has the best combo of pro ready sound and image. We will definitely be seeing a lot more of her whether or not she wins or doesn't win AI. I think she's great. I knew that Simon wouldn't get her scatting or the song and there's just something wrong with a judge who doesn't know the songs the contestants are doing (how does he judge its comparison?) and doesn't like or understand certain genres like country and R&B?

Amy Davis was good but the song she picked was too slow and became forgettable. She also looked a bit sick so that may have hurt her vocals a bit.

I love Brooke White and her bubbly, happy-go-lucky personality. I thought she lost a little in her voice shen she went higher but she should be safe. Simon's obsession that she is too nice was such a stupid waste of time. Here they are telling some of the other girls to be themselves and then they are trying to change Brooke from who she is. I guess Simon is one of those that walks through life cynically and with a cloud over their heads. As for me, I'm a glass is half full person and I like Brooke's positivity!

Unfortunately I have to agree with Simon about Alexandrea Lushington. I just didn't get her vocals or performance and thought it was a bit trying too hard (which is a pet peeve of mine). I also wasn't crazy about her attitude, seemed a bit too full of herself and over-confident.

I really liked Kady Malloy and didn't like Simon's attack on her. Comparing her personality to a pencil wasn't funny, it was just flat out rude and mean.

I like Asia'h Epperson and I want to see her get into the Top 12 as a tribute to her Dad. She has a nice husky voice that reminds me of Toni Braxton. I don't know if the pop songs that get used on AI will help her to really showcase her vocals but I want to see her in the Top 12 so she can show us what she's got.

Besides Amanda, Ramiele Malubay is my 2nd favorite. She's a cutie and she can sing too! She easily makes it into the Top 12. I look forward to seeing and hearing lots more from Ramiele.

I like Syesha Mercado and really was looking forward to her performance but hearing it left me flat. I thought she just oversang the heck out of the song and it didn't do anything for me.

Carly Smithson was good but I also felt she oversang her song just to show off how strong her voice is. She has a lot of potential but she'll have to tone it down a bit to let her vocals really shine.

All in all, I was much more impressed with the guys (which is rare, since the girls are usually so much better). I think Amanda, Carly and Ramiele can give David Archuleta a run for his money but as of now, I still think that he is the front-runner.

So, who goes home tonight from the girls? Hmm, I'll say Joanne and Amy.

Semi-finals Night 1 - the guys

First off I'll say that I agree with the judges choices for the final 12 guys and of the final 12 girls I would've kept the girl with the disabled daughter.

So, last night the guys did Round 1 of the semi-finals and they brought it! I think of all the seasons of American Idol (and I have watched them all!), this is the best semi-finals group of guys ever.

Simon was back to his annoying and smug self which was rather annoying. Randy gave out a lot of great advice last night and I usually find myself agreeing with him. I guess its the producer in me that sees things from the same perspective he does. Paula looked sleepy last night but her advice was pretty right on last night as well.

When did AI begin to do theme nights on the semi-finals? Very strange and strange to use up a theme so early on. Oh well.

Onto the guys and my thoughts on their performances.

David Hernandez - this guy can sing! His image is on the plain side which is why I think that Simon is not crazy about him but his singing should take him into the Top 12.

Chikezie was pretty good. I liked his old school R&B. He got extra points from me for his comeback to Simon on who dressed him - Charlie Chaplin? LOL! Great comeback! He was a little too defensive to the criticism though and that might wind up hurting him for votes.

David Cook is ok. Something about him doesn't do it for me though. He looks like he's trying to sound like Daughtry but he performs like Constantine.

Jason Yeager was pretty good. I would like to see him make it for his son. Cute kid! Reminds me of Steve Irwin's (R.I.P.) daughter Bindi! :)

I expected more from Robbie Carrico. I didn't think his performance was very good but he has a lot of potential.

I am predicting right now that there is no guy that can beat David Archuleta! This kid is amazing and humble to boot! He seems shy and a little dorky and that reminds me of me. Dorky and talented, a great combo IMO! :D

I like Danny Noriega! His Elvis song was good! I could do without his pants riding low in the back but he gave it a good go! Is it just me or does he remind anyone else of Ugly Betty's Justin? :D
Simon was a bit much with his critique on Danny.

Luke Menard was good but his song was too safe and I have to admit that Simon was right when he said it was forgettable. Unfortunately that might get him sent home on Thursday.

Colton was good. I like his personality and think that he would be a good addition to the Top 12. He has a good voice as well.

Garrett Haley was nice and along with Colton looked like they were right off a Tiger Beat cover somewhere. Garrett seems like a nice guy but I think his voice needs more strength and more confidence.

Jason Castro was very good. Very bold performance and he pulled it off excellently. He easily makes the Top 12.

Michael Johns is like David Cook in that he doesn't do much for me but last night he brought it home with the Doors song. Good vocals and performance!

Well, that's my thoughts on last night's show and the performances. My guess would be that Chikezie and Luke go home Thursday night.

Bring on the ladies tonight! Let's see what they got!

Carrie Underwood & Keith Urban concert

I just got back a little while ago from seeing the Carrie Underwood / Keith Urban concert at Madison Square Garden and it was great!

I've been to dozens of rock & pop concerts over the years and have seen everyone from Ricky Martin to Kiss, etc. I even took my daughters to see Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers in December and enjoyed it! I love going to concerts and truly enjoy myself. With that said, I'm a big fan of country music yet this was my first country concert!

I'm a big fan of Carrie Underwood. She is my favorite female singer, I think she has an amazing voice and I love the lyrics of her songs. She deserves every award she has won. I was really looking forward to her. Carrie opened the show and the crowd was into her concert but I could tell that it was really a KU crowd. Carrie has definitely grown as a performer and her multiple outfit changes and props were very cool as were her video backdrops for her songs. She did most of the songs off her "Carnival Ride" album and her singing of "I know you won't" brought tears to my eyes. She was amazing. I can't wait to see her in concert again.

I'm also a big fan of Keith Urban and knew his concert would be like a rock concert. He didn't disappoint. From his intro to the HD camera following him overhead (which put the video onto a big screen behind him), it was a really good and fun show. I didn't realize that Keith is a outstanding guitar player. That totally impressed me. Halfway into the show, he and his bandmates walked up the ramp that led way out into the audience and he brought his band to the people! That was way cool! They did a bunch of his biggest hits there in what came across as a very intimate setting in an arena. By this time Keith had the crowd eating out of his hand. He went back to the mainstage and played a bit before actually getting off the stage to sing and play among the audience. VERY cool!! The crowd was going crazy as he walked among them and walked up to the lower level to play. THEN out of nowhere, he took out a marker - signed his guitar and gave it to a shocked fan! WOW! That was so cool! Like I said, I've been to dozens of concerts and I've never seen any artist do that! It was a great concert and I would love to see both of them again. I hope they make a DVD of the concert because I would love to get it.

Hollywood Week

After weeks of watching the AI audtions, next week begins the Hollywood shows. Time to get serious. Let's see how many singers do the usual partying instead of getting serious deal. You would think by this point and after seeing so many AIs that singers would be wise to stay focused and not do the partying thing during Hollywood week but we always see it happen. DOH!

Should be good. The commercials show the contestants using instruments so that should be cool to see.

The auditions were interesting. Simon was unusually nice for most of the auditions. Is Simon getting soft on us? Something tells me that the abrasive Simon we all expect will be back soon!

Lots of waste of time singers just taking up TV time by either not being serious, coming in with attitudes or just being dumb to get themselves on TV. I didn't find many amusing this season, instead I found them annoying. Some of the contestants were memorable like Renaldo Lupaz and his "You are my brother" song and Temptress (very sweet girl) to name a few. Some of the singers shown were quite good and I can see them easily moving on. BUT, Hollywood tends to bring out the best and worst in some of these singers - especially the ones that have never travelled, etc. so we'll see. Bring on Hollywood!!