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April 8, 2008

It's "Inspirational Song" Week - Oh I Hope Someone Sings "Gonna Fly Now!"

By: The Dude on the Right
Because this is the week we are supposed to give money to the "American Idol" crusade of "Idol Gives Back," to make them look or maybe just feel better about themselves even though the Idol folks, Fox, and AT&T are making boatloads of money off of us just by our watching and texting in our votes, (can you sense my bitterness at their crusade), this week our contestants will be singing "Inspirational Songs."  I'm wondering if one of them will really put the concept over the top and sing "You're the Inspiration" by Chicago.  I'll guess we'll just have to wait and see and then, tomorrow, give all of our money to "Idol Gives Back" instead of paying our mortgage, because who pays their mortgage nowadays even though they have a big-screen TV to watch "American Idol."  Can you still sense my bitterness in their having a charity and asking us to give them money?

Anyway, let's go...

Michael Johns
 - Sings - "Dream On" by Aerosmith
 - Good song choice for him, but he's no Steven Tyler.  Any singing issues could get tossed aside if he was a better performer, with a better outfit.  He so needed to work the crowd better, somehow.  And Paula won't shut up.  Please let her keep it up, this could be a banner week for Paula quotes.

Syesha Mercado
 - Sings - "I Believe" by Fantasia
 - So, let's suck up based on a previous Idol contestant, that I would say a majority doesn't know her music anyway.  Again, singing well enough, she did hit the high note, but I don't think she performed or connected with the crowd the way she needed to in order to make her a star.

Jason Castro
 - Sings - "Over the Rainbow" the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole version.
 - I'll leave out the "Meet Joe Black" reference, and the fact that I know the version he is doing first because of the radio dude Steve Dahl, and the fact that you would never picture a dude like Iz singing this song, which is actually wrapped with "A Wonderful World," but Jason did a version consistent to the surfer dude he portrays, and Iz would probably be proud.  Too bad he didn't have enough time to do the full version Israel does - do yourself a favor and get Israel's version from his "Facing the Future" album on iTunes.  Make sure you get the right version with both songs.

Kristy Lee Cook
 - Sings - "Anyway" by Martina McBride
 - Sticks with the totally country side, which works for her, but unless the country fans rally behind her, this song might be her downfall because she still doesn't perform.  She sings well, she looks well, but I don't give a crap.  I guess I had to be there because she didn't come off as a performer which is where I think all of these folks need to now work now.

David Cook
 - Sings "Innocent" by Our Lady Peace
 - Can these people pick any more obscure songs?  What the hell are you doing?  He's probably got enough of a fan base to keep him here, but this is a song that is all over the place musically, the band and singers had no clue how to pull it off, and maybe it's one of his favorites, and I will give him credit for probably being the best performer so far, but this was just too all over the place.

Carly Smithson
- Sings - "The Show Must Go On" by Queen
- First off, how do you not tell the history of this song when Freddy Mercury was dying at the time he sang it.  Sure it's inspirational, but Freddy's story about this song is more inspiring.  She's a singer, she knows what she's doing, and she's got a fan base.  This will keep her floating around for a while, she overdid it, but if you want to know about this song, and the ending days of Queen, head to the Wikipedia article.

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "Angels" by Robbie Williams
 - I'll give the dude credit for pulling out songs that people won't really remember until the chorus, and then singing them nicely, and this week he almost put an "Elton John" vibe into his performance thanks to staying at the piano.  The thing though, is if you look at his eyes, he still looks a little lost, in a "How and why and I'm here?" mode.  With this performance, though, he's back to being the one to beat.

Brook White
 - Sings - "You've Got a Friend" by Carol King
 - She sings purty, she looks purty, and you can connect with her.  It was a nice, slow song, but she still doesn't shut up when the judges critique her.  There still seems to be the lacking of performance with her.

Let's wrap this up...

The week was about inspiration, no one sang "You're the Inspiration" or a song from a Rocky movie, and for the most part, none of them, sans David Cook, seems to know how perform outside the safety of the microphone stand.  Carly had a chance but she blew it, and if David Archuleta wins, I don't care what any commenters post, he seems to be trying to set himself up as the next Josh Groban instead of, well, being better than Josh.  Rumors give David's life a complicated story, which is perfect for "Oprah."  His goal should be to get there.

Real singers show up on tomorrow's "Idol Gives Back," or at least popular singers, and then we are back to these people who sing nice enough but can't perform.  Now I've got to go back to my TiVo to see who got booted from "Dancing With the Stars."

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 8:37 PM | Comments (0)