Virginia Is For Families

This week we will have a fun time watching the American Idol finale. I’m still not over last year’s party and the cartwheel Fergie performed while she and Heart were singing Barracuda. Who knows what gems are in store for us this year? The last show showcases a lot of talent and it seems to get better every year. The stage itself is fabulous if somewhat dangerous when it starts falling down around the entertainers.

My main hope and prayer is that Jennifer Hudson will show up and remind us all that the outcome of the voting is a minor issue. I have been listening to her sing this morning and gathering together some of her work.  One of them is her performance of Somewhere at the Patti LaBelle gathering earlier this year.
I love this performance for several reasons.
It is very original.  And Jennifer has a way of just missing the traditional note you expect her to hit (or maybe you don’t) in dramatic moments during the song that sends chills up the spine. She has a huge voice, awesome range and a dramatic presence. And she has an exotic, physical beauty that matches her music.

The band leader nearly knocks himself out trying to support her during the song. At one point he looks like he is beating one of the band members. It’s great.

Patti is out of her seat in the audience looking like she is ready to go to heaven.

There are some other great videos in this collection. Someone did some wonderful portrait photography on one of them. And here is Whitney presenting Jennifer with her Grammy for Best R and B Album. And then there’s  one of Simon Cowell graciously and somewhat eloquently eating humble pie when he talks to Jennifer on Oprah. They replay some of his comments to her when she was a contestant. And he’s not too far off the mark when he tells her she needs to learn to control her voice.   And finally we have her singing on Letterman while his band has an  opportunity to share some reflected glory.

It’s like training a race horse. Rachel Alexandra won the Preakness the other day beating all the boys but it took a lot of training. Simon rode her like the small person he can be  but it helped her as well. And Jennifer is the down to earth and very tough former fast food worker who climbed a hard road and is learning to deal with tragedy along the way.

She is an amazing person and as talented as any of the greatest names in the entertainment business. I hope we will see her later this week.

And what about the finalists? They are sort of swallowed up amidst all the chaos. I hope that Kris will win but it seems more likely that Adam will carry away the prize. They both will do really well. Adam probably will feel constrained at some point by a win but who knows?

Will either one of them be as successful as Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood? It’s not likely. Adam has his niche. But the day of the screech has gone down the road into the history of rock and roll. Kris fits well in the current climate of musical genres.

But none of them can do what Jennifer does when she reaches up to the stars while performing on stage.

Danny sang Dance Little Sister.  It’s an unfamiliar tune by Terence Trent Darby picked by Paula.  He did a pretty good job but we would have picked something a little more laid back and bluesy.

Kris sang Apologize by One Republic.  We have heard this song and vocally he did an excellent job.  But perhaps playing the piano distracted the audience from his performance.  Let’s ask ourselves what the girls want to see.  One.  Kris partially hidden behind a piano?  Two.  Kris swaggering around the stage in full view?

I’m going with the second choice.

Adam sang One by U2. The beginning was heartfelt and touching.  And then he went into screaming mode which was even a little pitchy in spots.  By the end however he was safely back on earth.  It reminded my of a rollercoaster ride at my favorite amusement part.

And then they performed their own picks.

Danny sang You Are So Beautiful by Joe Cocker. It was heartfelt and very nice.  My wife felt that it was a fitting tribute to his wife who is tragically no longer with us.   Danny changed the song in a nice way and did a good job.  Would I ever say anything bad about this performance?

Not in a million years.  I may not be the brightest person in the world.

But I refuse to be the poster boy  for The Idiot’s Guide To Dodging Dinner Plates either.

Kris sang Heartless by Kanye West. We are not familiar with this song but liked some of the chord progressions.   It’s not something that showcases his talents but at least he got out from behind the piano and swaggered a little with just his guitar.

Adam sang Crying by Aerosmith.   This song is definitely the best rock scream of this generation and Adam did a good job.  Unfortunately the backup singers could not keep up and that was a distraction.  The song is a classic and Adam did not bring anything new to it.  But you have to cut him some slack after  his very original rendition of the U2 song in his first performance.

All in all an interesting evening with no big blunders.  Paula heard a bad note that no one else seems to have heard.  But then Simon put her in a headlock for quite a long time so maybe she was not hearing very well for awhile.  Those two really need to get a room if they haven’t already.  We all know about opposites attracting but we don’t necessarily want to see or hear about it.

Who is going to be leaving us tonight?  I haven’t done very well in terms of picking winners and losers the past few weeks.  I had Kris going home first followed by Danny.  Then Allison was going to beat out Adam for the prize.

Sadly none of this has happened.  And I didn’t see any shots of Allison last night.  Was she at the show?  Or was she so mad she decided to stay home and work on her first platinum album?   Alright.  Enough stalling.  Danny is going home tonight.

Scuse me.  I need to go hide.

so·lar plexus

Function:
noun
Etymology:
from the radiating nerve fibers
Date:
1771

1 : a nerve plexus in the abdomen that is situated behind the stomach and in front of the aorta and the crura of the diaphragm and contains several ganglia distributing nerve fibers to the viscera 2 : the pit of the stomach

I remember when I first discovered James Bond and the writing of Ian Fleming back in the early sixties.   Coincidentally it was during the time that I was becoming a teenager and learning about certain subjects that I discovered in more fascinating detail between the covers of From Russian With Love and Goldfinger.

James Bond was so cool back when we didn’t even know what the word meant.   He personified a confident attitude and in this sense helped me to see how very far I had to go in that department.

If I had only had the good looks of a young Sean Connery, the fighting skills of a Green Beret, the backing of a Secret Service and the scripts that guaranteed he would win every fight I could have been so confident as well.

But I was in Junior HS and being called to the principal’s office had me shaking in my boots.  I did manage to try out a few of his lines on a couple of girls but when they would start shaking with laughter I realized I was missing the mark.

James Bond knew how to hit the solar plexus.  I remember reading that term often in Fleming’s books.   He used  it a lot.   Because James Bond hit the bad guys in the solar plexus and the reader experienced his confidence and his strength in a visceral way as well.  Even President Kennedy got a kick out of him.  And after he expressed how much he had enjoyed From Russia With Love sales in this country boomed.

The music from the James Bond movies often has this same quality and it has flourished over the years in part because it reminds us of James Bond and his two dimensional world of danger and confident, physical responses to it.   Bond protected the world from evil and he had a sexy smile.

What a great combination.

So the great songs from the Bond movies are available on Amazon MP3 .   I downloaded and have been enjoying them this morning.  Today is going to be a day filled with music.  Later we have American Idol.

And here is an idea for the folks at AI for next season.  Why not have a James Bond night?  Let the young stars experience the tunes that have charmed generations and made quite a few young men think to themselves “Hmmm.  I think I will ask her out on a date.  What’s the worst that can happen?”

And don’t forget to invite me to the show AI if you decide to do it!

Carly Simon
Play Nobody Does It Better

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Paul McCartney

Play Live and Let Die

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Craig Ferguson / I Wish I Was James Bond

We really enjoyed AI last night as the contestants showed their Rock And Roll talents.   Also it was the first time they sang together as part of the competition.  Adam and Allison clearly beat out Kris and Danny in this area.

But then Adam and Allison should be the final two contestants in this year’s contest.

Adam sang Whole Lotta Love. He did well and managed to get the down and dirty inflections into the song.  It’s impossible to avoid comparing his version to the original.  In this sense it was the germ free version of the song.

I cannot help watching Adam and thinking about Elvis however.  He just looks more  like The King and so seeing him sound like Robert Plant  is confusing.  Every once in awhile I started thinking  that Elvis may have really died back in the seventies after all.  And then he got bored and reincarnated as Adam Lambert after deciding that THIS time he wasn’t going to have all that  “women trouble”.

Allison sang Cry Baby and it was awesome. Janis Joplin must have been jamming with Elvis up there and missed him terribly  because  she also took the reincarnation train back to earth.   She has been waiting for the right moment to hook up with him and it’s been difficult because he has changed.

But she is a clever girl and she finally figured it out last night.  These two did an awesome number together and it was for me the most entertaining moment of the show.

Elvis and Janis sang Slow Ride on stage together. I never would have dreamed it could happen.  And they looked so good!  Happy, well adjusted and scrubbed up shiny and new.

It’s amazing what a few years in the Heavenly Abode will do for you.

Kris sang Come Together. And he did a great job.  He actually managed to make the song his own and onces again scored a major victory in the artistic sense.  His acapella and his take on the song were wonderful.  Hopefully Kris will be with us another week.

Danny sang Dream On. The improv part was good but Adam would have done an better job with it .  Danny shouldn’t have done a song that put him in Adam’s ballpark.  Everyone noticed.   It’s like a fighter who decides to slug it out with the champ and so goes  toe to toe.  Unless he gets very lucky he’s going to get beat.  And Danny got beat.  Sorry Danny.

Danny and Kris sang Renegade. The harmony parts were very nice.  And it was a good choice of songs because they both are on the block at this point.  It’s just a question of who is going to leave us first and I take back what I said last week about Kris going home this week.

I also said it would only take a small misstep to change the order because all of these contestants are so talented.  And Danny’s scream put him into fourth place. Welcome to the top three Kris.

And welcome back to earth and stardom Elvis and Janis.

Update:  Durn it!!  Allison got kicked off.  All the little girls voting for the cute guys did her in.  Oh well.  But you have to give her credit.  The girl can SING!

And give her credit for the best, most dramatic swan song, in IDOL HISTORY!  It was the bomb as Randy would say.  This girl has heart.  She can sing and I would go downtown to see her in person anytime.

Go Allison!

Live Led Zeppelin
Play Whole Lotta Love

01-whole-lotta-love-boogie-chillun-lets-have-a-party-hello-marylou-going