American Idol - The Third Set Of 12

Von Smith - He didn’t sound that good to me, but to be honest I had a really hard time hearing him clearly over the noise of the heat in my house no matter how loud I made the tv. I definitely didn’t like the song, but I’ll hold off totally judging the performance since I could hardly hear it,. The judges liked it and I‘m assuming they could hear it better than I could.
Taylor Vaifanua - SI thought she sang beautifully, but her liquid leggings didn’t go with her dress and the shininess was distracting. And apparently she sang a song she had already sung - which would be an issue is the audience had seen her sing it twice, but despite how much the judges like to insist on it being a singing competition and that the contestants have to shocase their range and versatility, it is basically a popularity contest, and we haven’t seen enough of the contestants yet to really know or care if she sang a repeat song.
Alex Wagner-Trugman - I did not like the beginning, but once her got to the chorus it was much better. He needed a snazzier outfit though - all he needed was a backpack and he would have been ready for school.
Arianna Afar - Another one who sang in a range that gets eaten by my heat - the notes I could hear sounded nice and strong. But she was super boring - just stood there and moved her arms out once or twice. Work on some stage presence, girl.
Ju’not Joyner - Sang a song I really like, but I did not like the arrangement at all - way too slow and kind of depressing. I think he should have sung something by Seal - he had that same kind of tone to his voice.
Kristen McNamara - Another song I hated the arrangement on - she changed too many notes on this song so the tune was almost unrecognizable. She sang well, I just didn’t like what she did with the song itself. Her dress was also not particularly flattering (what were the weird flowery things on the shoulders?), and it seemed more like something you would wear to a lunchtime bridal shower than on stage to rock out.
Nathaniel Marshall - This guy is quite a character, and you just have to like that he sang Meatloaf. I though he sang well, and while he has a personal style I don’t particularly love (lip piercing, constant headband) it suits him.
Felicia Barton - The second chance girl - she got kicked off originally and was brought back because another girl in the top 36 was really good friends with some producers and they had to ask her to leave to avoid controversy. I think she did a good job with her second shot - she sang nicely, performed well and chose a good outfit.
Scott Macintyre - Um, let’s see; he’s really talented, apparently a genius, and he’s blind. Think he’ll get some votes?
Kendall Beard - She didn’t sing that well, and what the heck was on her belt? She wore a really cute yellow dress, and I agree that it needed a belt to add a little extra style, but what was the big bunch of “flowers” hanging off of it? It looked like Spanish moss spray painted various colors. Ugly. And she has the distinctin of being the first performer I saw that was bad enough that Paula only commented on her looks. She also looks just like Tamra from The Real Housewives of the O.C. Not that that means anything, I just had to mention it (although that reveals that I watch The Real Housewives of the O.C., which is maybe something I wanted to keep to myself).
Jorge Nunez - The beginning was so boring! He had such a look of feigned earnestness on is face, blech. It picked up a little when he hit the chorus, but I was not moved.
Lil Rounds - Loved her dress! Seriously, does anyone know what it is because I want it (although I would probably need the top to be a different color, yellow doesn’t look as good on me as it did on her). She sang wonderfully (Mary J Blige anyone?), and I think she was one of the few who came across already professionally.

Light As Air

I just saw a new commercial for Wheat Thins where people are floating in a wheat field while Frankie sings "come fly with me." I don't know if this makes me want crackers, but it sure does make me want a trampoline!

Rhapsody in Blah

Isn't it unfortunate when advertisements take a great piece of music and ruin it? The perfect example of this was brought to my attention during the Grammys last night. Rhapsody in Blue is a beautiful song, that has been totally ruined because of the United commercials. Now, it doesn't bother me because it is so linked to United in my head now - what bothers me is those commercials sucked. So now, instead of just thinking "oh United" when I hear it, instead I think about those indecipherable commercials where people were doing fantastical things and nothing made sense or really had anything to do with air travel. Super annoying, and kind of an insult to Gershwin in my opinion. It put the damper on the best part of the Grammys - which were interminably boring and featured sub par performances according to my husband and mother-in-law (I didn't get a chance to watch, nor did I have the inclination).

Let's All Hum Along

In case you were wondering, the song in those Kate Walsh Cadillac commercials is "Stars" by the band Hum. This is of particular interest to me because the guitarist in the band is a friend of my husband's from high school. And he mentions the song everytime the commercial airs, which I guess is good since I wouldn't really notice it otherwise. And it provides a nice break from his mentions of every Electric Light Orchestra song in a commercial which can get a bit tedious(trust, me there are A LOT, apparently ELO can sell anything). Anyway, I thought you'd be interested too - and no, I wasn't suffering from writer's block today, I actually chose this topic out of literally one or two others.

additional note: we have it on fairly good authority that Cadillac didn't bother to secure the rights to the song before using it. Can you say "big fat settlement check?"