It’s Tuesday, and not only will you get me for this hour, but you get a BONUS hour of me watching Tommy Lee go to college. OK, not really.
MAILBAG!!
Idolhead Ed (who also writes CI reviews – you can find him at MediaFiends via Sir Linksalot) writes:
“Were you at the show or did you watch it on TV? You didn’t seem to see it the way I did for sure. As for
the standards this is the one time a singer can’t cheat. You either sing or sink.”
Well, Ed, I don’t get to go to the show. Murtz is the guy who sees it live at the theatre. The closest I’ll get to the John Bassett Theatre is if I decide to go to the Canadian National Comic/Sci-Fi/Anime/Horror/Gaming Expo at the end of the month. Most of my thoughts are written “live”, before I hear what the judges have to say. I sometimes change my mind on the second viewing, but if I do I’ll probably make a note of it in The Inside Pulse.
Anyways, I disagree about cheating when singing standards. Josh was able to hide his deficiencies fairly well last week. John “Red” Stevens was never exposed when singing standards, but for everything else his limited range got exposed.
OK, back to the rambling prologue. Last week, Darryl, Casey and Aaron were bottom three, and the judges didn’t seem to give a damn. And now the Sweet Six are going to tackle “Classic” Rock, which presumably means rock from the 60’s and 70’s and not “anything you hear on Q107”. Speaking of “the mighty Q”, way to piss off your listeners with the Rolling Stones swerve last week.
This should be interesting, as I think four singers – Aaron, Melissa, Rex and Suzi – are well suited for this genre. Josh, of course, is in his own world, but as long as he doesn’t try to sing the Jose Feliciano version of “Come On Baby Light My Fire” he should be OK. Casey… I think Casey’s screwed. I think she’ll have to sing a ballad because she doesn’t have the “rocker” mentality, but the judges will call her on it because they want her gone. I’m actually interested in how they treat Melissa this week, because they’ve been warming up to her, but I’m unsure if that’s because they wanted Darryl and Casey out of there. Is she truly someone they want to win, or is she simply a pawn to help get Josh into the Final Two?
“Last week on Canadian Idol” and credits
Here’s your host – as always – Ben Mulroney. We’ve got a real live rock band here, and Ben thinks it’ll be a real knock down, drag out battle. He encourages voters to, well, vote. And here to talk the talk and walk the walk are the judges.
Jake Gold expects the contestants to step up and be believable.
Farley Flex thinks this will be a good test for the Idols as solo artists.
Sass Jordan thinks that the challenge will be to bring the energy.
Zack Werner doesn’t care for questions – he just wants to hear some rock and roll.
Ben intros the “classic” rock era where we see stills of several artists. And here’s the band, including (again) Oren Isaacs on bass. Now here are the Idols, and one singer seems to have not gotten into the spirit of things. I won’t say who, but she kinda looks like Jewel. They’ll sing after the
Ad Break
We’re back, and first up is from Calgary (pause) Alberta, Canada, it’s Melissa O’Neill singing “Alone” by Heart, which unfortunately means she’s gonna get compared to Carrie Underwood here. She’s off the beat to start, and it’s not bad, lots of emotion, and sufficiently different from Carrie that I dug it. Oh, and the band is good, giving her the “Rock Star: INXS” feel that the Idols need tonight.
Jake – Thank the band for giving you that dynamic. You were definitely believable.
Farley – The same thing he says every week about Melissa. He likes her – we get it.
Sass – Hillary, Jessica and Ashlee better watch out.
Zack – I want to be critical, but you sing like you just don’t give a f—.
Ben brings up the Carrie Underwood thing, and says Melissa smoked her. I’m not real sure about that, but at least Melissa didn’t go for the big hair.
More to come after the
Ad Break
We’re back, and singing “Turn The Page” by Bob Seeger (and later Metallica), it’s “Sexy” Rex Goudie. The hat is back, and he’s playing to the band to start, but still, he’s flat to start. He brings the energy once he gets to the chorus, and I suppose that counts for something. But to me, it’s still not that great.
Farley – You’re stiff as a rock but roll with soul (what?). Really good performance.
Sass – You got it down, Rex.
Zack – I could pick that apart, that was a lot of contrived nonsense, but it probably don’t matter anyways.
Jake – (to Zack) A very nice backhanded compliment. It’s all about passion, and that’s what you have.
Ben – You make the judges happy, you make Canada happy – You rock, Rex.
And it looks like we’re only getting one singer per segment, because it’s time for another
Ad Break
Ben’s in the crowd, and it’s time for “Karaoke” Casey LeBlanc with “I’ll Stand By You” by The Pretenders, which is a good choice for Casey. Unfortunately, she sings it with only slightly more passion than she normally does – you can tell because she gestures more. Almost guaranteed worst performance of the night right there.
Sass – Your best effort so far (i.e. Thanks for coming out).
Zack – That was pretty good.
Jake – You sang it with heart, you sang it with feeling, you’re best performance so far.
Farley – See Jake.
It’s time for another performer (I’m shocked) and it’s Aaron Walpole with Foreigner’s “Hot Blooded”. And after about 2 seconds, he’s blown away Casey’s performance. Once again, his theatrical training kicks in and really helps his performance. I can’t say the singing was super, but overall it was what you look for in a rock song.
This, by the way, was my wife’s favourite performance of the night.
Zack – It has a vaguely Ramada Inn feel to it, but that’s the song, and you still rocked it.
Jake – It’s unfair for the rest of the performers.
Farley – We know you were going top ten. We love you.
Sass – I love you because you have a sense of humour. You sang the cheese and you grilled it.
Ben – You look like you were giving 5 million percent.
Now it’s time for your blatant advertising, in the guise of getting new hairstyles.
Ben promises more cowbell after the
Ad Break
We’re back, and it’s time for Jon Dore and he’s sporting a porn moustache, but sadly no mullet. But, he’s giving away free moustaches. Ohhhhkay.
Back to the music with Suzi Rawn singing “Piece of My Heart” by Janis Joplin. And I think she’s having mike problems, because it sounds like the band is overpowering her, despite her seemingly singing at the top of her voice. That aside, this is probably the performance of the night, edging out Melissa.
Jake – You brought the pain. It was all there.
Farley – It’s nice when the song fits your voice. Good job.
Sass – It’s feisty, it’s emotional, and it works.
Zack – This is what you do, so you either win Canadian Idol tonight or you go home.
Ben – Rock and roll ain’t no noise pollution, and we’ll prove it after the
Ad Break – you’ll prove it with Josh? Seriously?
It’s time for the final performance of the evening, and it’s Josh “the Enigma” Palmer, and he’s singing “Layla” by Derek and the Dominoes. You may remember this from last week’s “Rock Star: INXS”. And I think he’s having the same mike problems as Suzi. Probably his best performance so far but still, I think that Jordis sang better than Josh. Nice touch with the guitar at the end though (The wife thought it was kinda silly). Not so nice touch with the band hugs after. Blatant sucking up, as far as I’m concerned.
Farley – Well done.
Sass – You ran out of steam halfway through, but that dramatic ending was great.
Zack – Ignore the guitar part – that was cheating. We found six kids who can rock.
Jake – Vocally, it’s a hard song to sing. I don’t know why you picked it, but you rocked out at the end.
Ben – Rear naked choke on Josh.
Here’s the recap, and we’re outta here.
