Wednesday, August 06, 2008

American Idol Weekly

I'm going to try to keep my mass-Idol posts to a minimum of one per week for the rest of the tour, unless there is breaking news about any individual artist from Season Seven, as they have taken up so much of this blog over the past 4 or 5 months. Then again, so have Rondsay/Rohan (seems like most people think Rohan is the proper celebrity couple name, but I will continue to label them Rondsay, though it doesn't make much logical sense).

Yesterday was Tuesday, meaning Jason Castro Date Night! Best video blog to date, to be sure. It featured a lounging Jason Castro, who, about halfway through the video, fully laid down in his tremendously laid back ways. Always sexy.

[Courtesy of Jason Castro]

I'm not gonna lie -- I wish I had run into him in Central Park, girlfriend or no.

David Archuleta also blogged yesterday from the bus:
Heeey everyone! Just wanted to say thanks to all of you for voting on Teen Choice Awards for both Cook and me! It was a lot of fun even though we were both pretty tired haha, but that's my first award for an award show! And it's all thanks to you guys! So now I guess I'm getting my first surfboard huh? lol crazy. Anyway I just wanted to thank you guys for an exciting time at the TCA's! You guys have been awesome fans, and you definitely showed it to everyone else that night! After traveling back and forth, coast to coast with a delayed flight haha, we're back in New York and have another show in Long Island tonight. That's all for now though. Talk to you guys later.

I swear it's the lack of sleep that keeps him so stunted. He has a habit of sleeping at 2:30am or later and rising relatively early. Poor, poor kid.

And since we're on the subject of American Idol, I may as well give you an overview of how I thought the concert went:
Chikezie Eze: fantastic job. Chikezie was actually one of my favorites on the show, and I've always thought he was prematurely voted off. He does have an incredibly smooth voice and a great ability to rev a crowd up.

Ramiele Malubay: I'd heard not great things about her set. I stayed for her first number, "I Want You Back" (Jackson 5) and proceeded to spend the rest of her set standing in line for the toilet, as I'd made it into the seats only minutes before Chikezie's set. Someone had to be the martyr, and that was the relatively weak Ramiele, unfortunately. It's not that she's not good -- it's that her voice is soft and pretty, but not rich and full enough to fill such a large arena (which wasn't nearly as large as I remember it being back in 2001!). She lacked energy in her dancing as well, but that can be fixed.

Michael Johns: great. I wasn't really a fan of the "We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You" mash-up, but I loved his rendition of "It's So Wrong, But It's So Right". I'd like to hear more of him doing blues numbers. When he made chatter, he sounded a little worn out, as so many of them did.

Kristy Lee Cook: not bad. She got her set off to a great start with a fun, upbeat number. And then she killed her momentum by singing "God Bless the USA," at least in my opinion. Apparently I'm not the only New Yorker who thought so. It's a kind of touchy subject in the area, but oh well. She did much better than she did on American Idol, but unfortunately, her set did little to make a fan out of me.

Carly Smithson: fantastic. She is so beautiful in person, let's get that out of the way. She really is. Her husband stood in my area throughout the show and was bombarded by fans throughout. I thought she got to show her range far better than she did on the show, from the soft and tender to the screamy. I'm not typically a fan of Evanescence, but she did a phenomenal job on all songs and I left an even bigger fan of hers. Her speaking voice, too, was sandy. I hope they're all taking care of their voices!

Brooke White: funny! Brooke was a lot more personable and funny than I thought she'd be! Her mic stand misbehaved during "1,2,3,4" so she had to stand in a very unnatural position (and stop playing the guitar) to sing into it, but smiled throughout. Afterwards, she made a funny comment about the stand and its issues. I wasn't a fan of her album version of "Yellow", but in person -- with the help of those fuzzy projected stars -- it was touching. Her husband, too, roamed around the sound "booth" section.

Jason Castro: reliable :). He sounded as expected, very laid back. His personality really came through in the chatter. He said that, "People say there are good audiences and bad audiences, but hey, everyone's here for a good time, so there are no bad audiences." (Or some such.) He then introduced "Daydream" with, "Everyone should daydream, because daydreaming is good." I couldn't help but smile.

Syesha Mercado: flawless. Her voice is absolutely flawless. She was indubitably the best voice of the season, but her personality was her downfall. She wasn't particularly personable in concert, but showed off her performance skills like no other. I didn't feel very good about the ice-skating costume of a dress and shoes, but if we're going to stick to talking about her voice, phenomenal.

David Archuleta: soaring. His stage skills could use a little help -- especially with the scripted chatter, but I have nothing bad to say about his actual performances. He was extra cute bouncing extra hard (I think he even bounced himself off his piano bench at one point) on "Angels" and unconsciously made some near-sexy faces while he concentrated on playing the piano. His voice was clear as a bell and beautiful on "When You Say You Love Me." Nothing unexpected.

David Cook: made for the stage. Cook, more than anyone else, had the chance to show off his ability to sell it to a crowd, and he really, really did. His chatter was natural, his performances fun and engaging. Not usually a fan of "My Hero"-type music, but the way he broke the song down made it much more bearable and dare I say fun for the audience. He is definitely a gentleman, pointing out that everyone present was missing out on the Teen Choice Awards, and acknowledged DArchuleta's fans for winning little David the Most Fanatic Fans surfboard. He also looked really good, guyliner and all. One complaint: the mic made his speaking voice unnaturally high (higher than it was on the show and in person when I met him). Distracting, but his singing was still great -- neither Davids' voices were compromised by their day trip to Los Angeles, thank goodness.

I have one thing and one thing only to say about the finale number: get DArchuleta out of that Mormon missionary outfit!

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