I’ll be blunt.
Bucky: Good job. Perfect song for him. He seemed relaxed. He seems a bit sunnier than the song – which is one of the most corrupt songs in recent history (hahahaha LOVE IT) … but he had fun, he isn’t crippled by self-consciousness like some of the others are. (cough – Katherine – cough) I don’t like watching people who give a shit what I think of them. I like watching people who are being so much themselves that it doesn’t MATTER what I think of them. Bucky has that. I enjoyed watching him. He seems comfortable in his own skin – and I’m telling you, after watching all the other yahoos up there try to be something they’re not, or try to give off a certain impression – Bucky’s natural-ness with himself is a breath of fresh air.
Ace: That was so bad and he thought it was good! He’s delusional. I literally covered my eyes at one point, to spare myself the spears of embarrassment shooting through my soul. I felt harassed by Ace’s performance, and I resent it. Also, Ace: please stop just standing at the mike, and holding both your arms out to the side as you sing – thinking that this is somehow powerful and exciting. It is not. What does it mean? That is not a “gesture”. Gestures need to be specific and need to have some MEANING. Homework for you: watch Barbra Streisand sing. There is not a random gesture to be found. Everything is specific, and comes from a specific place. Watch Aretha Franklin sing. Does Aretha just stand at the mike, with her arms out to the side like a crucifix, and expect us to be mesmerized? No. Everything she does COMES FROM SOMEWHERE.
Amateur.
OmyGod, and how ’bout him telling Queen what he wanted and being SO DISSED by them? “No, I won’t do that. Not on my song, anyway.”
Awkward moment!!!!!!
Kellie: I thought she was awful. I just don’t even think she has a good voice. I don’t get it. She’s also not a good performer. She’s stiff, and self-indulgent, and … way too pleased with herself. It’s just not something I ever care to see again. Her vocal choices were not specific, I had no idea what she was talking about … Blah.
Chris: Good job. I agree with Paula (I can’t believe I’m saying this) – that his last note was pretty damn fantastic. He threw his heart into it, and it seemed like he knew what he was singing about (the main problem with this group of yahoos – almost NONE of them know how to frickin’ sing a lyric and mean it, and know what they’re talking about. grrr. It makes me cranky). I thought Chris did a good job. I love that song, too.
Katharine: I’m over her. I thought that was terrible. She plays it safe, and it shows. There’s so much more power there, but she chooses not to use it – and that’s the sign of a true amateur. Sorry, Katherine fans. I was not impressed. I didn’t think she could hit those notes either – I winced as she did it. Not good. I would not pay to listen to that. And my same criticism of eveyrone else: I didn’t get the feeling that she knew what the hell she was singing about.
I’m sick of this group of singers, frankly. They’re pissing me off.
Elliot: He was awesome. Again: I think he could connect more to THE LYRICS – but unlike Katherine, all of his high notes he hit with ease, and grace. I didn’t wince once. I knew he could hit them. That’s a hard damn song too – and he made it seem easy.
Taylor: I loved the last part of his song. I thought the first half was boring and … kind of spastic, in a very very GENERAL WAY. Taylor: stop being general. It makes you look stupid. Also, his eyes are dead. He’s singing “crazy little thing called love” and his body is gyrating about but his eyes have no expression. Bizarre. I laughed out loud when he went to kick the mic stand over and MISSED! hahaha I hated his pseudo Fred Astaire bull crap up and down the stairs. Not good enough, dude. If you’re gonna choose to do that, then do it right. Because you know why? People who are STARS do that stuff right. It all, again, comes down to gesture. To quote John Wayne: “If you’re gonna make a gesture – just MAKE IT.” Don’t do the IDEA of the gesture and then expect us to buy it. That’s what Taylor’s jumpy uppy downy stairsy stuff was: it was an IDEA of a gesture, and he hoped we would mistake it for the real thing. But I did enjoy the last part of it. I liked his vocals then – the whole Taylor thing really kicked in – he went up an octave – and it was very cool.
Broken record comment: I still got the feeling, though, that he didn’t know what he was saying.
Paris: Okay, honey. You’re sweet and all but you’re showing that you’re an beginner and you have no idea what you’re doing. Also, who the hell is dressing you? It’s like they are searching for Paris’ image – and they need to stop. Just let her be herself And if she doesn’t know who that is – then that’s a problem. But Paris, here’s the deal: If you are going to make your hair long and straight, then you need to WORK THAT SHITE OUT before you go on camera … You kept moving your hair out of your face as you sang, and … Honey, that just doesn’t fly with professional singers. No matter WHAT you wear, you have to seem comfortable, and unaware of it. But you looked horrible, like an action figure doll or something. And what was UP with your gestures? They were cliched, and … unconnected. Strange. Like when you made a bicep curl on the word “hero”. No. Please don’t do that, Paris. That’s a hard song, and I guess she did a good job – but because of her amateur-night fiddling with hair, and her amateur-night gestures – I would get distracted, and forget to even listen to the song. NOT GOOD. I loved Simon’s comment and I wish they would have let him elaborate. I found it “weird” too.
In terms of vocals, I would say it’s a toss-up between Chris and Elliot – although I think in terms of sheer ease and fun – Bucky was the winner last night.
Who will be in the bottom 3?
Ace, definitely. Probably Katherine. I think Paris should be, too. But for some reason, other people really LOVE this girl so I don’t think she’ll be in the bottom 3. Probably Bucky will be in the bottom 3, too, and that bums me out. There is no justice in this world.
UPDATE:
Mejack writes: “He clearly has the stapp-jesus-on-the-cross-arm-outstretched thing down.” hahahaha Glad to know I’m not the only one who notices that random gesture that he does EVERY WEEK.
Jess writes: “It was nice knowing you, Ace, and by “nice” I mean it totally sucked.”
Come on Kellie Pickler, kiss me deadly
Okay, I lied. I couldn’t stop myself after seeing the Pickle. Did she not look like a Lita Ford wannabe?
Anywho, notes so far …
Bucky: This is probably my favorite Queen song, and I appreciate Bucky’s take on it. It’s not great, but I’m happy…
I get what you’re saying about Bucky having fun, but his performance was just so-so to me. It didn’t impress me, but I didn’t think it was bad either.
On Paris, I thought the strength of her singing outweighed some of the clumsy stage antics. But that’s me.
Lady …You make me laugh!
I have been devouring all of your entries . You have such a fantastic tone and you inspire me to expand my exposure to other writers..(Just read Smart’s “The Sweets of Evening”)That said, when I read your entry today I couldn’t help but chuckle..I LOVE that you watch American Idol! Your comments were right on the money, and lady, you are funny!
I thought the whole “Queen” tribute was a bad idea to begin with…
I’m actually going back to read 74 Facts again because it was so beautiful..It left me “Wanting”. Wanting more, wanting a reason, wanting closure, wanting explanation, wanting the moments after each fact and before each fact…Which is, I’m sure, what you wanted..
It was just like when a fantastic book has ended and you don’t wan’t to lose the characters..lol…Don’t worry I’m not a stalker!…lol
I simply loved it.
I also can’t get the image of you and your friend dancing as teens, faces so hot you ran to the wall to press your face against the coolness..You have really made some lasting images for me..
I really look forward to reading more..
Okay, enough..I know…I never know when to stop..:)
Have a great day.
I didn’t even think her vocals were that good. I love her personality, she seesm sweet – but Paris needs a lot of work.
Leslie – hahahaha I love that you brought up Beth and I pressing our red sweaty faces against the tiles … hahaha we still laugh about that!!
I did get your beautiful comment on my “facts about me” page and it was very much appreciated. I’m glad you’re finding a lot here on this here blog that you like.
And I love this comment about 74 Facts:
//wanting the moments after each fact and
before each fact//
Thank you for saying that – yes, that is exactly what I wanted! Facts are funny things … you think you might be getting the whole story, but there’s a whole WORLD around each fact!!
What is this you say? Ace sucked and Queen shot down his proposed arrangement? I missed it all! NOOOOOOO!
At this point, I’m like Miracle Max with Humperdink, aren’t I?
For shame, ‘Fly. For shame.
Oh nightfly, it was good GOOD television! (And by that I mean: shriekingly awkward.)
They said to his face, “No, no, no, we won’t do that to a song we wrote.”
OUCH!!
I love how you started this: “I’ll be blunt.”
Bwah! As if.
I’m normally so blunt I need to start things by saying, “I’ll be obtuse.”
lisa – hahahahahaha Originally I wrote “I’ll be brief” but then looked at the post and realized I wans’t brief at all!!
Holy Crap, Sheila! I totally agree with everything you said.
Which is the opposite of what ANY of my friends think.
I thought Kellie, Katharine, Ace and even Paris were HORRIBLE.
Here is what I told my friend last night: They just don’t get it.
Queen is/was something different, something special and something unlike anything you have ever heard or will ever hear again.
Their songs are weird and wonderful and if you don’t get it, you won’t be able to sing it.
I loved the fact that Chris sang a Queen song that not many people knew. Singing one of those songs you hear in stadiums or on mainstream radio seemed like a cop-out to me.
Pickler, Ace and Paris’ performances seemed like a weird parody of Queen with their hooker boots, fingerless gloves and creepy stares into the camera.
Look, if they wanted to impress me, they would have put on a pink striped unitard and pranced around on stage as if they were performing the world’s first rock opera.
That’s how Freddy did it!
Oh and I forgot to mention: My nephew DVR’d Idol and then during commercial breaks we would go back and watch Taylor trying to kick the mic stand and missing over and over and over again.
God, I got way too much pleasure out of it!
DeAnna – hahahaha Totally!! “hooker boots” galore … like: what?? But they didn’t have any FUN with all of it.
Everyone’s too careful, precious, and self-conscious. Even Taylor with his hoppy-skippy-bunny-rabbit dance moves – it wasn’t free and open and expressed – it was still, somehow, held back …
I saw a Queen tribute concert here in NYC – with local musicians, drag queens, flamboyant performance artists, gospel singers (this one chick came and did “Somebody to Love” and brought the house down – straight out of a Harlem church – AWESOME), an opera singer came to do “Barcelona” – people rode bikes across the stage – men dressed as women flounced around in aprons … But!! Every single person on that stage had the PIPES to back it up – and they also just were thoroughtly and totally themselves at all times.
It was awesome. I never got to see Queen live – but that was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to in my life. It was PACKED, too. There was a person there wheeled in on a hospital bed with an OXYGEN TANK next to him. It was that important to him to be there.
Here’s the deal: I won’t lower my standards for them just because they’re on American Idol. I can’t do that. I love great singers. You step up to the plate and you sing great?? I’ll be right there with you. But I just can’t overlook the stilted awkwardness of most of those performances last night!
I thought Pickler was just awful, too, but I thought that mainly because I was also a huge fan of Rock Star: INXS, and Suzy McNeil, one of the contestants, rocked Bohemian Rhapsody so hard that I thought I was being nitpicky with The Pickle. But now that I have your agreement, I’ll just say she sucks and not feel bad about it.
THANK YOU.
Finally someone agrees with me about McFeeble. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE tells me that I am wrong about her. One person went as far to say that I was jealous of her. Yikes.
Jess – I’ve been reading some other responses out there on this here Internet and a lot of people say, “That was such a hard song! Kudos to her for trying!”
No. To quote Yoda: “Do or do not. There is no try.”
An interesting perspective. You may have put your finger on why Bucky manages to stay in the game week after week. Even I almost never call him as the loser even when I find his vocals only so-so but I wasn’t sure why. But yes, he seems very comfortable in his own skin and not to give a damn what you think, but not in an arrogant way just in a “this is me” way.
The rest I’m not sure what I think because I don’t usually pay much attention to a singer’s antics. I remember reading a story some years ago about a singer whose teacher taught her that musicians who move to their music were simply trying to distract from an inferior performance and true singers don’t do any of that stuff. Which seems to come from a whole different place. It may be that I’m more like that, as I’m very rarely mesmerized by what a singer does on stage. Rarely. Yet as an actress I imagine that’s the first thing you would look at, and that doesn’t make it wrong by any means, just philosophically different. I’m mostly musing out loud, I’m not arguing. You’ve just made me think…
Exactly, Sheila. Have fun with it….watch Freddy Mercury perform because he didn’t just SING the songs…he PERFORMED them.
These kids were merely trying to sing a song.
Queen just wasn’t a great choice for American Idol.
Now, Freddy in hooker boots? Yes!
It’s not that it’s the first thing I look at, Dean. It’s that these things are not irrelevant, and bad gestures, or meaningless gestures – take away from the overall impression. All of this stuff is PART of what makes someone a good performer – and all of these people are missing “it”, in my opinion.
And I look at them as performances, Dean. These are performances. It’s not a radio program. How they use their bodies, how they present themselves – is part of the whole thing.
And about gestures and making half-assed or meaningless gestures – or like Paris nervously fiddling with her hair: Any singer worth his or her salt knows how to gesture. That’s just part of the art of being a singer. Look at all the greats, and it’s true.
And the whole not-being-able-to-connect-to-a-song thing is just shameful and true of mostly all of them.
DeAnna – hahahahaha
I loves me some Freddie!!
A final word: I know the singers I like. Some of them have kick-ass vocal pipes – others not so much – but their performance-power is undeniable.
One thing they all have in common is that they can pour their authentic selves INTO the song – and have me “get it” on the other end.
This is a gift – and obviously not many people can do it.
Janis Joplin did it. Aretha did it. Judy Garland did it best of all.
I know these people are “greats” – and not everyone can be Aretha or Judy – but they better at least have a SENSE that that is what will be required of them.
They need to SHOW UP.
You can’t “phone it in”.
The fact that Paris was fiddling with her hair and making awkward gestures tells me that she was not comfortable doing these things — and so was “phoning in” the gestures. Great stars never do that.
Paris is young. She is being WAY over-managed right now. Her image changes week to week – they are trying to ‘sell’ her. She seems very lost to me.
Again, I like her personally – and I am amazed at her strength, dealing with all of this at such a young age – but sorry. It’s just not good enough for me.
NONE of them are, come to think of it. haha But we deal with what’s in front of us, and hopefully we all move on, none the worse for wear.
And Dean, yeah, I so agree with the Bucky “this is me” thing. I can’t imagine he’ll win this thing – but he really seems to have kept his own sense of self intact.
I enjoy watching him because of that. I root for him.
whoo-hoo!
I’m so sorry I missed Pickler singing “Fancy” – one of the greatest camp classic songs of all time. Right up there with “Dark Lady” by Cher!
Well I’m not disagreeing so much as you’re making me think.
I listen to far more music than I watch so like I say, my brain comes at it from a different angle. Although you’re right about a singer really becoming the song. To me Frank Sinatry may have been the greatest of all time with that, and the few times I’ve seen videos of his performances he blew me away with his stage presence.
I think a lot of Taylor’s problem, at least for the people who don’t like him, is that he’s struggling with the fact that he’s a singer/songwriter who typically has both a guitar and a harmonica with him on stage. He’s actually struggling because he doesn’t have those as a crutch. You could even tell in that one episode (you may have missed it) where Paula asked him what he was hiding in his hand and he revealed he had his harmonica. He wasn’t allowed to play it, but he NEEDED to have it. I found it an insightful moment. Rose and I picked up his self-produced CD and it’s VERY good, and he wrote the songs, produced it himself, and played guitar and harp on it. He’s THAT kind of musician. Which is part of what I’ve recognized him all along, and been a fan of. When he’s done here here’s going to make it big because he’s GOOD, and that’s where his talents lie: singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist.
You’re right about Paris being overmanaged. She too is struggling and somewhat out of her element, but for completely the opposite reasons, she’s young and being pushed in all kinds of unexpected directions for her.
Er, I wrote that sentence weird. It should have said, “Well I’m not disagreeing with you, it’s that you’re making me think.”
Or, “I’m not disagreeing with you. You’re just making me think.”
Oh screw it, now I’m just babbling. %-)
Dean Esmay: Superfan. :)
Dean – hahahahahaha I love it!!
“You’re making me think so much that I have forgotten how to express myself”
No just kidding. I totally hear what you’re saying. I guess I wish Taylor’s eyes weren’t dead and I wish he wouldn’t clap for himself – but other than that: I do like him!
THE MERCURY TEST
Usually and to the horror of some, I sing along with most of my favorite music, but I hardly ever sing Queen songs. Why? Theyre just too hard, too difficult to sing. And that was very clear tonight on American…
Sorry, but Chris is a one note act. He is the same every week and never tries to show what else he can do. Screaming isn’t singing. The 90s are over, dawg. And you send the wrong signals with that glitter shirt, belt chain and eyeliner.
Taylor was the best entertainer that night. Frankly, he is the most well rounded performer on the show. Eliot is the better singer. But he has no stage prescence.
This is what I think of Simon’s comments about Taylor:
http://jameshudnall.com/blog.php?/weblog/the_next_tv_based_movie/
Here’s what TWoP said about Taylor:
“Taylor jettisons the gimmicky yet serene “We Are the Champions” for “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” which no one has been able to sing on this show without looking like a total asshole. Check it! The streak is alive! It’s like there’s a rhinoceros loose in the studio. Nobody is safe, not the judges, not the band, not the audience, and certainly not the mic stand, which takes a Jared-Leto-in-Fight Club beating. I don’t even know if there was singing involved, because Taylor scares the hell out of me.”
“certainly not the mic stand. . .” Bwah!
James – what are you sorry for? So we disagree. Big whup.
Lisa – hahahahahahahahahahaha
I cannot LIVE without Television without Pity!
And James – another comment:
to SOME members of the audience the eyeliner, the glitter shirt, the belt-chains,etc. may have been just the RIGHT message. Lots of my gay guy friends think he’s a hottie.
And – you know – considering that he’s singing a song by a band named QUEEN …
rock on sheil!
Mitchell – hahaha I’ve never heard of this James Hudnall person in my life, and he shows up with that tone?? And that ‘tude??
GO CHRIS!!!
By the way Mitchell: help me: what is Jennifer Holliday up to now? Do you know?
I believe we already covered this on our martini-soaked evening but I have no memory of it.
i dont think we did..the answer is… not much..on a big scale anyway..im sure she tours and she does a lot of aids charity stuff..but no record contract or steady gig..so sad..such a freakin talent…those AI kids dont even deserve to hold her Tony award while she dusts the shelf!!!
It’s called a joke, people. Sheesh!
James – your comment was a joke? It doesn’t sound like a joke. You just kinda show up out of nowhere and lecture me about why my opinion is wrong. I’ve never even heard of you before. Why should I get your sense of humor based on that one comment?
bye bye Bucky!
mere – i’m sad!! It should have been Ace!
I thought they both sucked. In fact, I think most of them suck. I can deal with Chris. Elliot is good, but he sucked doing Queen. His voice was good… but he just seemed hollow emotionally. I agree with what you said about connecting with the song.
Yeah – in general, it’s not the best group of singers. How about their group number last night – doing the Queen medley? It sucked!! They all just seemed so stiff and … phony. LIke – they’re puppets, just doing what they’re told. It was just a more high-tech version of the Brady Bunch singers.
I guess that’s part of the whole American Idol thing but it was REALLY awkward to watch, I thought.
I didn’t see the group song. I only saw tuesday nights show. I don’t think half of them knew anything about Queen. It was pathetic.
Totally.
I loved when Simon said to Ace, “It was like ‘We will rock you gently.'” hahahaha
Freddie Mercury was one of a kind – it really makes you realize how special he was, when you hear bad unimaginative singers try to do his stuff.
definitely. I think that at least 5 of them should have been voted off.
Going into this season, all I read was how talented this season’s singers are..and so far they seem very “blah” to me. Other than Chris, if any of them win, I can’t see myself running out to buy their CD. Most of them I can’t believe made it as far as they have, it’s mind boggling.
I’m very curious to see how they do next week, I think Taylor will do well on the Rod Stewart songs.
Ten bucks says Ace will sing “If You Think I’m Sexy” next week. God, I hate him.
curly – I was afraid you would be mad at me because I haven’t caught McPheever. hahahaha
Actually, last night – watching her father CRY when watching a video of her singing …
I was a MESS!!!!! So so sweet!
And I really have to ask: who likes Ace? Honestly? Who is voting for this dipshit no talent? Bucky goes home and Ace stays?
Also, gotta say it: Ace’s eyebrows look suspiciously like Renaissance Fair eyebrows. There’s a whiff of Ren Fair about Ace that makes me dislike him all the more.
OMG, yes! And you KNOW how I feel about Ren Fairs! Ack! I share your friend’s hatred! Who is it again? Mitchell? Those things are my idea of hell, topped only by being force fed a spoonful of mayonnaise while trapped in a room with Al Roker.
It’s cool that you’re not down with the KMcPhee. I’m actively hating on Taylor and Chris so we’re even. :) Katharine totally yelled her song the other night. I still love her but I don’t think she did well at all. None of them did. When Taylor tried to kick over the mic stand and missed? I do believe I yelled, “YOU ASSHOLE!” immediately afterwards. And I also hate how he claps for himself and says, “Soul Patrol” a million times. Shaddap, tool!
Um, sorry. He riles me up. Not since Constantine have I been so agitated by an AI contestant.
Oh and KMcPhee’s crying Dad (aka my future father-in-law)? It made me a bit misty too. That was so sweet. Oh man, where’s my snotrag?
OK, so this ISN’T the place for me to get my intervention for Ace-Hatred. (Acetred?) And if Ace busts out “Forever Young” it will be the perfect storm – seriously, it could suck so hard that it sets new records for low barometric pressure. I may flip out and look like Ahnold at the end of Total Recall.
This is my aforementioned kick-ass Bohemian Rhapsody rendition from Rock Star: INXS
My sister Meredith hates Ace so much because of his “square bangs”. Notice his hair next week. His bangs form a perfect sqare space on his forehead. Idiot.
I have AI set on our DVR. I only was able to take about 15 seconds of Ace and I fast forwarded through the entire damn thing. I just couldn’t stomach listening to the whole thing. I absolutely cannot stand him. I’m preparing myself for another Ace related hissy fit next week, as much as I know he’ll suck, enough morons will buy into his crooner act with the Rod Stewart songs and keep him another week.