Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of my Wordpress blogging adventure. 

Not much has changed since then. I am still trying to relax and you will still see photos here of subjects that are primarily attempting to help me (us?) do just that.

Now I have four or five blogs and three of them are very active. I am happy to have made it this far and appreciative of those who were around last summer and still hang around here sometimes.

Hopefully things will progress in the second year. But blogging is about having fun unless you are making a living doing it. Are any of us making buckets of money?

If the answer is no then we should be doing things we enjoy when we blog! Right? There are Template Tombstones littering the Internet and many of them in my estimation belong to bloggers who were not enjoying themselves. They were not happy with the “progress” they were making perhaps. They were trying to do what the experts said they should do instead of what their hearts hoped they would do.

And they were not making money either. I met some of them in the past year and thought they were pretty wonderful people. No doubt they still are. Wherever they are.

Let us have a moment of silence as we remember some of their most memorable posts.

Thank you. Amen. Have a great Monday.

More Writing

4:39 of Billy Jean by David Cook. How long will it stay up? Who knows. But it’s here now and I would like to share it with you.

It’s a treat. Very nice. The guitar riff at the end is cool.  David didn’t come up with this version but  he saw that it was good and he’s a talented guy.

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She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene
I said don’t mind, but what do you mean I am the one
Gonna dance on the floor in the round
She said I am the one who will dance on the floor in the round

She told me her name was Billie Jean, as she caused a scene
Then every head turned with eyes that dreamed of being the one
Gonna dance on the floor in the round

People always told me be careful of what you do
Don’t go around breaking young girls’ hearts
And mother always told me be careful of who you love
Be careful of what you do ’cause the lie becomes the truth

Billie Jean is not my lover
She’s just a girl who claims that I am the one
But the kid is not my son
She says I am the one, but the kid is not my son

For forty days and forty nights
The law was on her side
But who can stand when she’s in demand
Her schemes and plans
Gonna dance on the floor in the round
So take my strong advice, just remember to always think twice
Do think twice

She told my baby that’s a threat
As she looked at me
Then showed a photo of a baby cries
Eyes would like mine
Gonna dance on the floor in the round,

People always told me be careful of what you do
And don’t go around breaking young girls’ hearts
She came and stood right by me
Then the smell of sweet perfume
This happened much too soon
She called me to her room

Billie Jean is not my lover
She’s just a girl who claims that I am the one
But the kid is not my son
So take my strong advice, just remember to always think twice

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Ramiele Malubay sang Hearts Alone. She was a little pitchy but did show an amazing amount of power for such a tiny person. And she is sick too. Not an inspiring performance and it may land her in the bottom three.

Jason Castro sang Fragile and looks more comfortable now that his guitar has returned. The accappella went smoothly. He’s cute but uninspiring for the past several weeks as Simon noted.

Syesha Mercado saing If I Were Your Woman and went beyond past performances with a mature, controlled and yet emotional performance. One of the best performances of the night and hopefully she will get a break tomorrow night.

Chikezie Eze sang If Only For One Night. It was a pretty good arrangement and his voice sounds really good. However it may not keep him out of the bottom three as some of the excitement from several weeks ago has gone away.

Brooke White sang Every Breath You Take and stumbled on the start. The arrangement was dull and she may end up in the bottom three tomorrow.

Michael Johns sang We Will Rock You /We Are The Champions and once again did a good job with a Freddy Mercury song. The back up singers didn’t do him any favors as they were off key. But he feels these songs and sounds great.

Carly Smithson sang Total Eclipse of the Heart. Great start and ending but was screaming a bit in the middle. She improved this week and left the passivity behind so she should stick around for another week. She just needs a great arrangement and a passionate attitude. And she needs to take notes when David Cook sings.

David Archuleta sang Make A Noise. We are not familiar with this tune and are not sure if we got the title right. He seems to choose songs with a message but maybe should just find a great arrangement. Not his best performance. He is being passed by several contestants as he seems to be coasting on his initial popularity.

Kristy Lee Cook sang God Bless the USA and turned in her best performance. Maybe she has tapped into the patriotic feelings out there. If so it was a very clever move as Simon noted. Credit goes to this young woman for remaining positive and working hard even though she is in the bottom three every week. She looks great and may be following the Kelly Pickler path to success as a country artist.

David Cook blew us away with his rendition of Billie Jean. He is very original and established himself as the person to beat in the competition. He has lost the cocky attitude and when he sings he is no longer looking down his nose at the audience. But the main thing is that he is an amazing talent and tonight turned in one of the best performances ever on AI.

Many of the contestants need to find good or even great arrangements at this point to stay in the competition. And they are always being urged to get out of their comfort zones. What many of them don’t seem to realize is that you can be in your comfort zone through part of the song and then make an effort to stretch yourself towards the end. Build the song to reveal something as you reach the end. Too many performances this week had a predictability about them. Everybody here can sing but none come close to David Cook as he slowly stretches a song to its outer limits in a satisfying way.

We take back what we said about no one in this class having the ability of Clarkson, Underwood or Sparks. David Cook may surpass them all. We really didn’t like him the first few weeks and his progress to date is amazing. Hopefully he will forget about the guitar and concentrate on movement and imaginative interpretation in the weeks to come. On his present course he can possibly take AI to places it has not been before when he is actually given time to sing an entire song.

We look forward to that with great interest.

I couldn’t help but notice that Jordin was in the news yesterday. Apparently she went with President Bush to Africa and while she was over there she sang The National Anthem. Anybody who heard Jordin sing The National Anthem knows that she nailed it and probably will become associated with it in a way that Kate Smith was associated with God Bless America in her generation. I saw a few of the NY Giants shed a tear over it or maybe they were just thinking about the upcoming game. Or not. We know how that turned out.

Jordin sang lights out and the next thing we know she is singing in Africa after a ride on Air Force One.

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http://blog.washingtonpost.com/on-the-plane/?hpid=news-col-blog

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And the President had this to say about Jordin ( Where have you been Mr. President?) :

“Raising awareness about malaria means that she has got great compassion and a big heart.”

And that’s the truth. Some may say that my fascination with Ms. Sparks stems from her gorgeous visage or the wonderful notes she can hit without half trying. But I am here to say that my fan-cination goes much deeper than that. Jordin is a wonderful old soul and American Idol was simply a vehicle for her to be upon her way into the hearts and minds of young people around the globe. Because we all know how much they can use a great role model. And this young lady is she.

My only mood swing comes as I think about the President. It certainly is “Good to be the King” as they say. All he has to do is pick up the phone and ask for the girl who did such a great job singing at the Super Bowl. And there she is with her bags packed and ready to go! I’ve been trying for months now to get her to go out to dinner with us. I even put in a word upstairs to help the Giants with their Super Bowl aspirations.

Nothing! Well maybe it’s not that bad. She is starting her tour with Alicia Keys within spitting distance of Virginia Beach. So The Big Guy did answer one of my prayers.

And there is still time. Grab a feed if you want to see how this turns out. Oh, I know, you think you ALREADY know how it turns out! Well let me ask you one simple question my all seeing friend. . .

Who did YOU think was going to win the Stupid Bowl? Here’s Jordin singing at the big game

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More Jordin Sparks

http://davidnotes.com/2008/02/01/1154/*

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Vote for Jordin in this years BET AWARDS SHOW

HERE  !!

This is where you can write a message of support

for Jordin and she can see it.  Vote for her too !

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