TheAgitator.com
Idol Blogging
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008Okay, I admit it. I’m an American Idol junkie. I’ve DVR-ed the show fairly religiously the last two years. I usually lose interest once it’s down to 2-3 people. But for now, I’m going to blog the shows, and you can discuss amongst yourselves in the comments section. So tonight, it’s the men.
David Hernandez. Sang Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour,” a favorite of mine. Good choice for the first song. You want something upbeat. And it’s hard to be downbeat with Pickett, a Hammond, and backgrounds singers. Started really well. The falsetto was nice. Still, a little droll overall. Not a bad start, though. Simon I think got it right. The kid needs more energy. His nerves showed, too.
Chikezie. Sang “I Love You More Today Than Yesterday,” by Spiral Staircase. Better be good if you’re going to hop on stage under the pretense of just one name. I don’t think he pulled the song off. He was off key at the beginning, and never really got back on track. Unlike Simon, I liked the late 60′s, early 70′s vibe. I just don’t think the guy sang very well.
David Cook. I liked this guy in the audition and Hollywood rounds. Sang “Happy Together,” by the Turtles. Sort of a weird choice. I don’t think he’s got the right voice for the song. A weird beginning. A little better as it picked up. And it was fa un song, which helps for the opening week. Also, I kept wanting him to sing about Golden Grahams. Should be good enough to get him to next week. But I hope he picks something that better suits his voice next week.
Jason Yeager. The Agitatrix doesn’t like the “weird skunk thing” in his hair. Also, what the hell did they do to his son’s hair? And”Moon River?” Bad, bad choice for the first week. He sang it fairly well, but I really think the formula for the early weeks is upbeat stuff that gets the crowd going, and that voters at home want to sing along with. I’m with Simon on this one. Idol’s young audience probably won’t identify with it. He could be in trouble.
Robbie Carrico. Sang Three Dog Night’s “One Is the Loneliest Number.” This guy looks like Brett Michaels. Interesting song choice. The beginning was shaky, but he ended it pretty well. I want his voice to have more character. It just doesn’t right now. Pretty vanilla. He should be fine for now. But he needs to distinguish his sound if he wants to stick around.
David Archuletta. Really likable kid. “Aw shucks” humility, and a tremendous voice. Sang Smokey Robinson’s “You Better Shop Around.” I don’t think it was a very good song choice, but he can definitely sing. And between the voice and the teen girl vote he’s going to rack up, he’ll go very, very deep in the competition.
Danny Noriega. Pleasantly surprised. I didn’t think this guy could pull off enough gruff for Elvis. Also, best stage presence of anyone so far. Looked really comfortable. He started much better than he finished. Agitatrix sez, “His pants are a little bit tight.” I think Simon was a little hard on the kid. I think he’ll be fine this week. Also, who’s the stylist for Idol? Why do all the men look like they just woke up from a 4-hour nap?
Luke Menard. Hey, a Hoosier! Sang Harry Nilsson’s “Everybody’s Talking.” I love this song, but it’s not a good choice for Idol, particularly the first show. He oversang the best parts of the song, like where the line “sailing on a summer breeze” falls into a minor key. His voice also wasn’t particularly distinct or interesting. Early call: He’s going home this week.
Colton Barry. I love the song. In fact, “Suspicious Minds” is my favorite Elvis song. I don’t really like this guy, but he did a respectable job. A little breathy at the beginning. But not bad for a nervy first performance. He won’t get far, but he should be fine this week.
Garrett Haley Before he took the stage, he said people say he looks like Leif Garrett or Peter Frampton. I’m thinking more 80′s hair rock. He’s also sporting an atrocious teenage mustache. Sang a really slowed-down version of “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.” Struck a 70′s teen idol pose for the entire song. He’ll probably advance, but it didn’t do much for me.
Jason Castro. A little Lovin’ Spoonful. Best performance so far. Hit on everything you need to the first week. Upbeat, breezy, good stage presence, confident, and put his own mark on the song. I like this guy. Very well done.
Michael Johns. Looks like Michael Ian Black. I liked this guy a lot during the audition stages. And now, this was the best performance of the night. Head and shoulders above everyone else. Sang The Doors’ “Light My Fire.” Fantastic. Moved around the stage with confidence. Vocal wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t matter. This guy’s got rock star written all over him.
Predictions: Johns, Archuletta, and Castro are the early favorites. Menard and Yeager go home this week.
Radley, you watch this crap? Ugh. Though maybe you can explain something to me: why the hell is this so popular?
My wife and daughter watch this garbage religiously. I USED to watch in the beginning and only for the bad ones. The last few years, even the bad ones are over the top and seem to be purposely being bad and somewhat rehearsed in their stinky reekiness taking ALL the fun out of it.
My opinion…Reality TV (and I classify AI and all those other contest shows as reality game shows) has turned the already vapid wasteland of television into a blackhole of refuse and mind-numbing stupidity. Its kind of like watching Jerry Springer in 20 different formats.
B and I got hooked a couple of years ago, too, Radley. Good on you for admitting it and subjecting yourself to the kind of comments you are going to get.
Last night the worst was Garrett (the only one we whipped past on our TiVo), followed closely by Chikezie. Then Chikezie had the bad sense to call out the judges. By the time someone gets to the top 24 – even by the time they get to Hollywood – it is absurd for any of them to be anything other than humble and thankful to the producers for putting them in front of 30 million people.
The best were definitely the three you identified. They pretty plainly had something last night that the others did not.
As for Idol’s popularity, I think it’s pretty easy – talented, pretty people singing familiar songs for a chance to go from nowhere to stardom. Judges that are a good mix of positive encouragement (Paula), sometimes-constructive criticism (Randy), and honest critique (Simon). Editing that keeps things moving pretty well and tells the “it’s all for my [son/sick mom/loving parents/asshole dad/other touchy feely thing]” story of each contestant. Direct participation in the result. And the chance to relate to both your 80 year old grandma and your 8 year old nephew with one show.
Those who honestly compare American Idol to Jerry Springer have either not seen either show or have gone so far down the “blackhole of refuse and mind-numbing stupidity” that their critical thinking skills have eroded away.
I don’t always agree with you, but your Idol sensibilities about last night are right on the button.
It looks like the winner could be a guy this year unless they’ve been holding something back from us this year among the girls.
Good assessments, the last two were my favorites of the night as well.
I always watch the initial auditions, telling myself that I’ll lose interest once they narrow the field. I almost always get sucked in and stick around until either the end, or until there’s nobody of much interest left. I was hoping the kid who lived in his car would stick around for the final 24, but he started to take himself too seriously and it bit him.
Michael Johns FTW.
Tom – Carly Smithson (née Hennessy) is really, really good. Of course, she could get voted off because of the ringer controversy. She’s already had a major label deal, complete with 2 million spent on promotion of her album (it flopped), and Randy was one of the execs at her record company.
For some reason she wasn’t there last night. If you counted the section of girls watching, there was only eleven.
These posts will serve to improve the speed at which I’m able to scroll. :P
I get bored watching it, due in part to some of the lame song choices. Still, I’ve got to give FOX credit for stumbling upon something incredibly positive within the reality framework. The show encourages everyday people to explore their talent and rewards those who shine through. Notwithstanding the sometimes conspicuous good looks of the finalists, the show does a pretty good job of calling attention to people who’ve worked hard to develop their skills.
As an army of braindead talentless starlets rampages around Hollywood, we should probably be grateful that a show like this ever made it off the ground.
For a second I got Spiral Staircase confused with Spiral Stairs and thought that one of the contestants actually sang some obscure Pavement song. Now THAT would get me to watch Idol…
Garrett Haley looked like a gene splice between David Coverdale and Rick Ocasek…with a voice best suited for one of the Banana Splits. Yikes.
Some talent last night, but overall felt very weak…maybe the ladies can do better. I agree with who Radley thinks is gone.
This is the only prime-time weekday show I TiVo. One of those guilty pleasures.
I’d like to joing Adam W. and ask, “Radley, you watch this crap?” I could only imagine trying to see Roger Waters, Geddy Lee, or that guy from Cinderella try to get on stage and belt one out.
I could care less how they look and am more impressed with what they have to say than how they say it. the political, social, and emotional empathy of R. Waters of Pink Floyd and the social awareness of Peart’s lyrics, of Rush, are much more moving than these copy cats.
I would be impressed if they actually wrote their own music.
You are right Zappa Crappa, this is just “Jerry Springer Sings.”
Thousands of musicians all over the world are spending years honing their skills and perfecting their music making talents and song writing abilities. By and large most of them are ignored. Instead we celebrate these folks on this show who just show up and sing. Rather silly I think.
I’ll stick to watching Monday Night RAW!.
The most disappointing thing to me is that they didn’t put that kid Josiah on the air. If you had him, Castro, Archuletta and Johns you would have strong competition in the guys. It’d be 4 guys drawing from very different audience bases. As it is now, I’m not sure they can keep up the audience intensity for the guys, since you do have the 3 that are so much better. And only 1 really (Johns) that looks like he has a strong chance of winning. Maybe things will change, but I really like the addition of Josiah, the Emo, modern indie rock, Ben Kweller-type.