January 11, 2010

American Idol is Coming, Up In the Air is Good, Jay Leno is Moving, and 3-D TV Will Survive.

Another Stu & The Dude's "Weekend Wrap-Up!" podcast has come, and the boys talk about porn.  Well, they sort of talk about porn, namely a sexbot and 3-D-ness, and if anything else at the CES show last week will be a staple of tomorrow because of sex.  There is talk of a new computer, about computer server issues, about beer, about movies bad and good for kids, i.e., The Pink Panther 1 & 2, about movies for adults, i.e., Up In The Air, about TV catching up with "Chuck," and the return of "American Idol."  The dudes don't talk about Jay Leno that much, what with him losing his show and all, but hey, it's topical, and Stu's not really a fan, so why not, there is some Jay Leno talk as well.  So much, so little time, yet Stu and The Dude figure a way to squeeze it into a 20-minute podcast.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:05 PM | Comments (0)

April 28, 2009

It's "Rat Pack" Night. It's Jamie Foxx? Oh, Why Not.

By: The Dude on the Right
Sure, I loved Jamie Foxx in "Ray," I wanted to see "The Soloist" but now will probably wait until it comes out on DVD, and thought he did a big cop-out when, after he made the Miley Cyrus joke, he called himself "The Black Howard Stern" as sort of an excuse, but sure, why not have him be the coach for "Rat Pack" night. Actually, why is he the coach for "Rat Pack" night? Jamie's got stuff to promote, he's popular, but Jamie Foxx aside, what the hell is Paula wearing (My BFF says it looks like she is wearing "two boob cones.")? Oh well, let's get to the singing..

Kris Allen
 - Sings - "The Way You Are Tonight"
 - Starts slow, picks it up-tempo, and did an okay job. Guess it must have been great in the theater because the judges are treating him like he's the next Frank Sinatra, well, all except Simon who didn't think he was all that. 

Allison Iraheta
 - Sings "Someone To Watch Over Me"
 - She sings great, has some sultriness, is wearing an ugly dress, and I hate to make it about looks, but she needs to drop a few pounds to reach superstardom. Again everyone thinks she is the bomb, except Simon. Thank God for Simon keeping things in perspective and trying to keep Judge Kara in her place.

Matt Giraud
 - Sings - "My Funny Valentine"
 - I thought he looked grumpy and wasn't that great, my BFF didn't care for him either and thought he shouldn't have changed the key he sang in, Randy didn't like him, but Simon thought he was all that and a bag of chips. Hmm?

Danny Gokey
 - Sings - "Come Rain or Come Shine"
 - I think he did a great job, actually has been the only person to actually perform up to this point, and that might keep him around another week, but his looks just don't seem to have it for an Idol winner. Sorry, but at this stage you have to have the entire package because we already know you can sing. Randy seemed to want his baby, Kara seemed to want to jump his bones, and Paula, well, she's Paula. Simon, rightly so, gave props to the band for having a great arrangement for him.

Adam Lambert
 - Sings - "Feeling Good"
 - Yup, you might as well just crown him already and not have us have to sit through any more weeks of this. He's into his groove, he knows how to work it, the crowd loves him, and Kara is almost hitting Paula level in her comments.

Well, we know they can all sing, now it is starting to come down to performing and their looks, so in that respect we get an Adam/Kris finale. Danny did great in the performance side this week, but his looks will drop him in the end, Matt will probably be gone next week, and the only thing Allison really has going for her right now is that she is the only girl left. In the end it's Adam's Idol to lose.

On the judges side, Kara is more annoying than Paula if only because she actually has this attitude of "I know more than you," as opposed to Paula who just, well, is Paula, and is it me, or maybe I've just not been paying attention, but has Ryan stopped saying "Seacrest, out!" at the end. I'm too lazy to go back to the tape.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:07 PM | Comments (0)

April 14, 2009

This is "American Idol" and Quentin Tarantino is in Da House! But why?

By: The Dude on the Right
I know I've been lax in my "American Idol" analysis this season, but what the hell, there's no time like the present to start it up again!

Anyway, people were pissed last week because their TiVo missed the ending or cut into whatever show was after "American Idol" because it ran long. To trim time this week, now we can’t hear what all of the judges think about each contestant, instead they are broken into groups of two. You know what? I think they should have a shock buzzer on Kara DioGuardi so she shuts up some times because Randy is usually just inane but we like him saying "Dog," Paula is wacky and we never know what she'll say, Simon has the only comments that matter, and Kara just keeps talking. Well, it’s Quentin Tarantino week. I agree he picks great songs for his movies, but as a vocal coach? I guess we’ll see.

Here we go…

Allison Iraheta
 - Sings - “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”  Aerosmith
 - I generally like her, but thought she overdid the song a bit. I think it came across better live, as Paula and Simon really loved her.

Anoop Desai
 - Sings “Everything I Do, I Do for You” Bryan Adams
 - I thought he was really good singing-wise, and he’s getting a decent stage presence. He’s almost getting a chance to stick around a few more weeks.

Adam Lambert
 - “Born to be Wild” Steppenwolf
 - He’s keeping his persona, he’s trying to channel Elvis body movements, and Simon is probably just licking his chops because he sees the commercial potential Adam has. Simon, though, has the best looks at Paula when she talks. Everyone loves him.

Matt Giraud
 - Sings - “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” Bryan Adams
 - Wow, this is a mess. I really, really, really, didn’t like him. He started nice enough, but in making it his own I couldn’t stand it.

Danny Gokey
 - Sings - “Endless Love” Lionel Richie
 - This dude has no soul. I didn’t care for it, Paula seemed to love it (maybe it sounded better in the studio), and Simon had the right take on his performance. Could be time for him to go.

Kris Allen
 - Sings - “Falling Slowly” The Swell Season
 - I absolutely love this song, but cutting it into pieces really ruins this song, and as okay as he sounds, he doesn’t have nearly the passion that Glen Hansard has and it really needs a true duet partner like Marketa Irglova to be pulled off. I think Kara is crazy for liking his version.

Lil Rounds
 - Sings “The Rose” Bette Midler
 - Well, she can sing, but I thought she was doing better keeping the song toned down. When she hit the middle where she gospel’ed it up, it seemed messed up. She needed to do it one way or the other, and not both. And what did Paula say? Simon had it right becuase f you’re into the R&B, the soul, and the gospel, then why did you pick “The Rose” which is none of them.

Let's wrap this up...
Even with them limiting what the judges said, the show still ran long. Someone needs to adjust some scheduling on Fox. As far as the performances, they can probably just shut the show down now because the person with the potential to be a star is Adam Lambert. That said, I'm thinking Kris Allen or Lil Rounds will be going home tomorrow night. Kris' song choice was too obscure and just plain bad, and Lil Rounds doesn't seem to be able to pick a song in her wheelhouse. The rest were probably good enough to stick around another week, but I've been wrong before.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:27 PM | Comments (0)

April 2, 2009

What's New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up! (Sort Of): Hangin' With no Drug Lords, Kidney Stones, Idol Talk, and Underwear in a Bag.

With The Dude on the Right being out of the country over the weekend and not returning until Tuesday, there wasn't an opportunity to do a "Weekend Wrap-Up!" podcast with Stu Gotz, but The Dude connects with Stu today to podcast with Stu about the vacation that he and his BFF took to Dreams Villamagna in Nuevo Vallarta. The Dude has a nice time down there, even learning about using towels to save your beach chairs and putting your dirty underwear in a bag, but the resort seems to be having some growing pains so sadly he can't highly recommend it at this time (The Dude is hoping to write a full-blown review in a week or so.) Vacation aside, both of the boys watch "American Idol" and have some comments about Megan Joy getting the boot, and Stu isn't a Lady Gaga fan, and Stu also had what he thinks were some kidney stones last week, but thanks to a homeopathic remedy of lemon juice and olive oil, things seem to have subsided. They'll be back on Monday for a normal wrap-up, but The Dude was excited to tell Stu that he didn't see any drug lords in Mexico, to at least there was that.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:35 PM | Comments (0)

March 5, 2009

What's New? A Podcast of: The Dude on the Right & The BFF: Tatiana is Back, The Suburbs, Home Improvement, and a Toaster.

The Dude on the Right and The W.G.N. couldn't align their schedules to podcast today, so The Dude enlists the help of the most special of special guest podcasters, his BFF! The Dude is a little off his game because, well, his BFF gives him butterflies, but he powers through and discusses, with her, things like "American Idol," "Dancing With the Stars," and "The Real Housewives of New York City" which then diverts the podcast into talk of how the suburbs are different from city life (Why are the stop lights so long in the suburbs, anyway?).

Since they have family things coming up, The BFF reminds The Dude of some upcoming events, and since they have home improvement going on at The Dude-Pad, they also talk some painting tips and toaster alignment. Somehow The Dude thinks The BFF's toaster alignment will win.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:40 PM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2009

What's New? A Podcast of: The Dude & The W.G.N. - It's Relative: Valentine's Day Plans, Octomom Talk, Idol Talk, and Barack Obama Talks.

It's a Thursday night, and The Dude on the Right joins The W.G.N. for another "It's Relative" podcast. They do some discussing about Valentine's Day complete with some do's and dont's, they talk about "American Idol," and they talk about Octomom. They also talk a bit about Barack Obama, although President Obama does a lot of the talking. It's a wonder if he sort of wishes he never did the audiobook?

Posted by Rightdude at 8:54 PM | Comments (0)

February 5, 2009

What's New? A podcast of: The Dude & The W.G.N. - It's Relative: Tires, Fat, Scary Movies, Racing, and Jillian Michaels' Clips of the Week!

The W.G.N. is back for another "It's Relative" podcast, and even though The Dude on the Right talks too much, The W.G.N. does remember that he was an important part of office camaraderie. The Dude reminds them both that they can't be commercials airline pilots and that he isn't such a wus when he can't change a flat tire, The W.G.N. went to see "My Bloody Valentine 3D," Bikini Girl is gone from American Idol, and even though you might be sad that Joelle and Carla are gone on "The Biggest Loser," at least Jillian Michaels is in fine form for the "Clips of the week" segment. Happy listening.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:45 PM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2009

What's New? A Podcast of: Idol, Loser, Lost, Survivor, Twitter, and a Lava Lamp!

The Dude on the Right is flying solo for this podcast, and if he's not careful his BFF might just break up with him. The sad thing is it would be over a Lava Lamp, and not something serious like putting the toilet seat down. But relationship difficulties aside, The Dude is also sucked back into all kinds of TV, like "American Idol" (He wants them to get to Hollywood already), "The Biggest Loser" (He hates Joella, likes Jillian's butt-crack, but misses Jillian being a hard-ass), "Lost" (He wonders what the hell is going on), and "Survivor: Tocantin's" (He wonders how you actually say "Tocantin"). And even though The Dude Twitters, he wonders how you can actually "follow" 20,000+ Twitterers.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:09 PM | Comments (0)

January 15, 2009

What's New? A Podcast of: The Dude & The W.G.N.: A Haphazard Opening, Terrorist Geese, Las Vegas, American Idol, and More!

The W.G.N. is back, and no thanks to The Dude on the Right, he sounds great. Yup, The Dude screwed up this podcast by not recording the first 5 minutes of their conversation, and then tries to sum it all up with some talk about the US Airways plane landing/crash in the Hudson River in New York City, but since The W.G.N. knew nothing about it, well, he just tries to reiterate the undocumented story that The Dude told about the terrorist plot of the Canadian Geese. Geese aside, The W.G.N. took a trip to Las Vegas and talks about winnings and losings, about a non-trip to "Thunder From Down Under," and how he really wants to take a college final exam, while The Dude is obsessed with "American Idol," sort of, but at least recognized that Bikini Girl had a nice body though not a great voice, while The W.G.N. professed that he only listened to Bikini Girl, because he only has eyes for one girl. Hmm?

They also talk about the weather, what with Chicago in a deep freeze for The Dude, while The W.G.N. is bitchy about the 50 degree weather he has, but with the schedule The W.G.N. has, well, he might be a more frequent guest for Thurday podcasts, so feel free to comment him at will.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:36 PM | Comments (0)

May 22, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: The Best Singer on the "American Idol" Finale Didn't Win, and Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

The Dude on the Right is still flustered about yesterday's "American Idol" finale during this podcast, and it's not because David Cook beat David Archuleta. Nope, the The Dude is flustered at wasting 2 hours and 5 minutes watching a 2 hour and 2 minute commercial for Fox related programming, or singers we don't care about. Luckily Ryan Seacrest was able to announce the winner before the TiVo programming ran out, but more luckily was that Renaldo Lapuz was given the chance to regale us all with his version of "We're Brothers Forever," or "I Am Your Brother," or who cares, he was great. Other than "Lost," the Spring TV season is now over. Hooray?

Posted by Rightdude at 7:14 PM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2008

David Cook: This is your American Idol!

By: The Dude on the Right
For you west coasters, wondering who won "American Idol" this year, I would like to apologize for spoiling it for you, but for the love of any God, space alien, or cosmos wondering about how we are here on this planet, PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WATCHING THIS FINALE!!!!! (Although, if you TiVo it, head straight for the one hour and eleven minute mark to hear the greatest Idol singer ever).  I watched (some) of it, and here's how it went.

Yes, Ryan Seacrest bragged about how many votes were cast (something like 97.5 gabajillion, or at least 97.5 million votes), split between 56% for David, and 44% for the other David, they did a "here's what's happening in their hometown" clip, and then another lame sing-a-long.  Then David and David did a bad duet of Chad Kroeger's (he's the lead singer dude from Nickelback) version of "Hero," and then a bizarre, crappy, piece of shit, plug for the next Mike Myers film "The Love Guru,", trying to say that Guru Pitka is actually a real person, influencing our two finalists.  Oh my f-ing God!  What in the hell is this total crap? Mike Myers, you are no Sasha Baron Cohen.

The Idol folks then let Syesha come out to show she probably should be the winner, doing a duet with Seal of "Waiting for You," with, of course, Paula Abdul dancing her butt off.  And after about about a 4 minute commercial break we got Jason Castro back, singing "Hallelujah," again.  Yippee, although most of us probably already bought the Jeff Buckley version on iTunes.  And here we go, it's just want we want to see after another song, a product placement commercial for some Ford cars!  Another "Yippee" is in order!

Now we get the girl contestants singing Donna Summer's "She Works Hard for the Money," in group fashion, only letting us remember how hot some of these dudettes were before they got booted from our memories because they couldn't really sing that great, and then, for more lameness, having Donna Summer come out looking almost dazed and confused singing what is going to be her new single.  Do we really want Disco back?  Out of the groove of her latest "hit," Donna's now into "Last Dance," with her having the excitement of, well, I'm sorry for being mean, but having none, letting Syesha show that yes, she is actually a singer.  And now, with the Donna Summer debacle done we get a Diet Coke commercial from like what, 3 summers ago?

Uggghhh!!!  (Can you tell I'm really flustered watching this show?)

At least we got a T-Mobile commercial from like a year or two ago where Dad says to his daughter "Maybe you should have uglier friends."  And then with another commercial break I TiVo'd through, we get Carly Smithson and Michael John singing an overproduced and "why the hell is this being done as a duet" version Joe Cocker/The Box Tops "The Letter."

And at the 43 minute mark, thank the Lord for Jimmy Kimmel!  Oh, my God, it's only the 43 minute mark!  That means there is probably another hourish left before we actually get to find out who is the next American Idol.

Now the guys get to sing Bryan Adam's "Summer of '69."  What the hell is it with having Ameircan Idol people sing songs released when they weren't even born yet, and now, yes, we actually get Bryan Adams to sing something new from him, "I Thought I'd Seen Everything."  Don't get me wrong, I like Bryan Adams, but Bryan Adams?

Yay, now David Cook gets to sing with ZZ Top, doing "Sharp Dressed Man."  For some reason, I don't think I can actually hear David's guitar.

Oh my God, I just can't take it anymore, now I'm getting Graham Nash singing "Teach Your Children" with Brooke White.  Actually, I almost like this performance, but I still can't take it anymore, can't blog about this anymore.  I'm going to watch some baseball now to see if the Cubs, White Sox, or Indians win, and will be back later to just announce who won.

Thank God for TiVo!

Okay, yes, I couldn't resist, I checked back, seeing that the Cubs were losing, and I'm torn between the White Sox and the Indians winning their game, and what do I see back on American Idol, but the greatest singer of all time, the "I Am Your Brother" dude, Renaldo Lapuz.  I actually have him as ringtones for some of my friends!  Screw Fleetwood Mac, Renaldo singing "I Am Your Brother" with the USC Marching Band is a hell of lot better than "Tusk."

It's back to baseball....

Okay, the baseball is boring, it's back to Idol.  Oh crap, it's Jordin Sparks showing, and damn, I hate to be mean again, but why can't she lose a couple of pounds to make herself a totally hot singer?  There's that, and I'm no fashion guru, but what's up with the outfit that explodes her hips?

Oh, thank God, another "product placement" commercial filtered in to the American Idol broadcast.  Yup, there's a movie coming out called "Tropic Thunder," and you might know it now.

Okay, never mind, Carrie Underwood is now on the show, showing why I might want to convert to vegetarianism, with a skirt that, well, umm, I'm going to pause this really quick.  Did I say I love my Tivo yet?

Okay, I'm back, that was quick....

Another group song - it's back to baseball...

The Cubs are still losing, the White Sox are now beating my Cleveland Indians with a home run, I guess I'm back to Idol...

Ughhhh!  Just give me the winner already!  It's been an hour and 47 minutes already!  This is really why I'm starting to hate this show.  And oh my God, they just brought out George Michael, who, surprisingly enough, has a tour to promote, and he's singing "Praying For Time."  Okay, he did a nice job with that.  But, of course, we have to promote his tour!

Finally, please, oh for the love of God, please, just tell me who in the hell is the winner!

Final thoughts from me - get back to why we actually watch the show, quit with the crap.  The result's shows should only be a half an hour long, the contestants should be able to sing full versions of the songs and be given a chance to be performers, and if you are getting mentors for these people, get actual mentors.

And so, David Cook wins "American Idol."  Good for him!  I'm tired, I have to get this posted, and I hope you didn't waste your time watching this two-hour, bloated, version of a finale, and just TiVo'd your way to the end.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 9:04 PM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2008

Who Will Be Your Next "American Idol"?

By: The Dude on the Right
Yippee!  We are down to the two David's, Mr. Archuleta and Mr. Cook, and I'm only still here because, well, it's a Tuesday, there really isn't anything on TV, and I've been doing this damn "American Idol" recap for the entire season so I might as well hang in there for the last of the singing.  Who will win, who will you vote for, will any of them trip and fall on their face (God, that would be great, wouldn't it?), and how much did they have to pay Michael Buffer to say "This... is... 'Americaaaaan Idooool...'",  so...

Let's go...

First thought, quit with the "Oh, we need a theme, let's make this like a boxing match" motif.  We don't care.  We just want to hear them sing, and why are we still going back to Andrew Lloyd Webber?  Yes, I admit, I like "Cats" and "Jesus Christ Superstar," but how many 12 year old girls do?  Just frackin' sing!  And it took them over 14 minutes to get to the ...

1st Round of Songs - Picked By Clive Davis
David Cook
 - Sings "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2
 - It finally looks like he might actually want to be a performer instead of just a singer.  He sounds good enough, is working the stage, and little David might have some problems if big David keeps the night like this. 

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on My" by Elton John
 - This song so much fits into his wheelhouse, and he's trying to keep his eyes open and not squint, but he fades back and forth on the eye-squinting thing that I just can't help but notice it.  He finally worked to break out of his shell, also, actually being a performer, but you still see a little more apprehension, mostly just from lack of experience, I suppose.

Here comes the...

2nd Round of Songs - From the Song Competition
David Cook
 - Sings "Dream Big" by Emily Shacklton?
 - David gets to play guitar, to a song I actually like, in the pop-rock kind of way.  Man, this could almost be a song by Jim Peterik for a "Rocky" soundtrack.  It's kind of cheesy (in a good way), but one, with the right band, could end up on every iPod of people who exercise for inspiration.  I'm guessing Simon isn't familiar with any of the "Rocky" soundtracks.

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "In This Moment" by Ryan Gilmore?
 - Oh crap, David A. is back into his "I need to be the next Josh Groban" moment.  The song is nice enough, but we know exactly where Mr. Archuleta is looking to take his career - to an Oprah Winfrey performance hoping to supplant Sr. Groban.  He is still trying to open his eyes, but it still isn't working.

Here comes the...

3rd Round of Songs - Picked By The Singers
David Cook
 - Sings "The World I Know" by Collective Soul
 - Dude, if you win this thing it will only because you have the most loyal fan base because why in the hell do you pick a sort of obscure song for your finale?  Sure, you sang it nice enough, but do you actually think any of the viewers who would actually vote for you know a song that was popular in, what, 1995?  Let's see, the 13 year old girls weren't even born yet.  So much for converting any of them to your side.  I think Simon still realizes that David Cook, right now, has the best potential for a music career.

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "Imagine" by, umm, duh.
 - Oh, hell, who cares anymore?  He still squints, he still "croons," and the 13 year olds who aren't voting for David Cook probably heard their parents actually play the original version of this song, and are voting for this David anyway.

Let's wrap this up...
I think David Cook is the better performer, David Archuleta needs to really learn how to open up his eyes (that comes with experience), but the more curious thing will be to see, in the year 2013, who might still have a career?  I'm guessing it will be Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Daughtry, and Kellie Pickler.  And maybe next year's "American Idol."  One of these David's will win, but I just don't see long lasting careers in front of any of them.  Maybe they'll prove me wrong.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:46 PM | Comments (0)

May 19, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: I Could Have Won $0.40, or even Millions, I've Got Too Much Stuff, and Here Comes Indiana Jones!

The Dude on the Right realized, over this weekend, that he has too much stuff, and some of that stuff should have been thrown out years ago, like a phone book from 1995, so for this podcast he laments on seeing a movie he didn't care that much about, namely "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," how he didn't win millions, or at least $0.40, and wonders why he still has a hand-held scanner that only scans in black & white. At least he still has a film idea on a 3 1/2" floppy and his hope that "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" will be good.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:59 PM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: Shania Twain is Unattached, Starbucks Almost has Nudity, David Will Win American Idol, and a Tease for Monday.

The Dude on the Right is trying to figure out, during this podcast, how he will skirt the authorities in his trying to woo Shania Twain in either Switzerland or Canada, since he doesn't have a passport and she is breaking up with her hubby. He also steals a story from "The Roe Conn Show" about Starbucks and their naked mermaid, gets some audio he heard on "Howard Stern" as a tease for Monday's podcast, but does know that David will win "American Idol."

Posted by Rightdude at 6:41 PM | Comments (0)

May 13, 2008

A Judge's Pick, A Personal Pick, A Producer Pick, and Yes, Ryan, We know, This is "American Idol."

By: The Dude on the Right
So we've got the final three, it's David Cook, Syesha Mercado, and David Archuleta, and I'm starting to not care that much because this show really has lost the reason why we watch it. 

Let's go...
1st Round of Songs - Picked By The Judges

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "And So It Goes" by Billy Joel
 - So, Paula Abdul tosses David a bone for this song, because all David can sing well seems to be ballads, and David thinks it is a really pretty song.

He still can't open up his eyes if it could save the world, he's pigeonholed himself into his recording contract as a balladeer, and the underlying problem is still that he can't actually be a performer or work the crowd.  He sings nice, he squints, he just can't seem to approach the audience and get the girls to toss their underwear at him.

David, open up your f&#$ing eyes!

Syesha Mercado
 - Sings - "If I Ain't Got You" by Alecia Keys
 - Randy Jackson throws a song into the wheelhouse that is Syesha, and she does her hair right keeping it straight, and dresses nice, and more importantly she sings nice.  I do wish she would have "performed" a little more, but the only problem I had was she let her "glee" at being there mess up the "emotionish" of the song.

David Cook
 - Sings "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack
 - Simon actually gives someone a challenge, and David Cook took this song and almost even made me want to download it.  What the hell is wrong with Randy?  Simon actually knows how this contest works, and...

After the first round I'm going, in order, David Cook, Syesha Mercado, then David Archuleta

Here comes the...

2nd Round of Songs - Picked By The Contestants

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "With You" by Chris Brown
 - He decides for something new, and who the hell told him that this would be the song to make him a star?  He looks so damn uncomfortable now trying to be a performer/singer, and, I'm sorry, he dances like a white guy.  He sings nice enough, but damn, he needs a few more years under his belt to actually be a star.  Sorry, I know the young girls and grandmas like him, but Randy and Simon called things right for him.  He better hope the Producer people pick the perfect song for him or else he better hope his fan-base is super-strong.

Syesha Mercado
 - Sings - "Fever" by, Peggy Lee
 - She needs to quit smiling, although I can understand how happy she might just be to be there in the final three.  She breaks character to be happy, then flips back into serious mode, then back into happy mode.  She's flaunting her voice, flaunting her, hmm, dress and body, but can't hold the "performance" side.  Quit smiling, stay in the "serious" character, and it would have been perfect.

David Cook
 - Sings "Dare You To Move" by Switchfoot
 - He still likes picking slightly obscure songs, decides he'll try to be a rocker with the guitar strapped around his neck, and does his best to rock it out, but sadly, someone has done this before on "American Idol," and they don't give him enough time to actually develop the song.  He could have been great with this song, if he could have actually done the entire song, but if the "American Idol" folks want to know why we are tired of watching the show, it's because the only get half a song to sing.  He could have been so much better.

Second Round: Syesha, David Cook, and then David Archuleta

Here comes the...

3rd Round of Songs - Picked By The Producers of the Show
And "American Idol" Producers, you have now put yourself into "We have to cram as much as possible into this one hour show so we can't actually let them sing a full song and actually develop it, so lets rush right into...

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "Longer" by Dan Fogelberg
 - He squints, but who cares anymore?  I'm almost wondering if he has eyes under those eyelids.  A lame song, he still can't be a performer for it, and still just sits there, on a stool, instead of hitting the end of the stage and wooing the girls.  And no, Randy, he can't sing the phone book.

Syesha Mercado
 - Sings - "Hit Me Up" by, Gia Farrell?
 - So, the "Idol" folks are trying to turn Syesha into a Beyonce/Rihanna?  Do you people even know what you have here?  Gosh, she tried to work it, she worked to sing it, but this is not a song you give someone who you want to be the next Beyonce/Rihanna to try to pull off in a minute and a half, nor try to rehearse in less than a week!  Ughh you "American Idol" producer people, Ughh!  Syesha tried so hard, though, unless David Cook becomes a magic man, I want Syesha to win.

David Cook
 - Sings "I Don't Want To Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith/Diane Warren
 - He's screwed by a lame arrangement with the "American Idol" band, and he is so trying to work it.  The orchestra sucks, he only has 90 seconds to work it, and as much as he tries to promote it, I thought it was kind of lame.  I guess it sounded better on the Idol stage, because in my home, well, I hated it.  I've seen Steven Tyler sing this song, and David Cook is no Steven Tyler, mostly thanks to the band.

You know what, I'm tired of trying to figure out who might win this thing...  So...

Let's wrap this up...

My advice for the "American Idol" folks is to simply quit trying to make the show complicated, quit with not letting the singers sing full versions of songs, and I want Syesha to win because if anyone has grown during this competition, has come out of her shell, and has actually worked to be a performer, it is Syesha.  If you want my opinions on how to get "American Idol" back to actually getting people to watch, I'll just say something simple - quit with the crap, let every contestant sing the full version of the song, and keep the results-show to 1/2 hour.  All we care about on the results-show is who is getting booted.

If you want someone who is a pop-idol, that person is Syesha.  I'm rooting for her!

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:45 PM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up! "Speed Racer," The Dude Leaves his Bunker, and Baseball Nuts.

The Dude on the Right and Stu Gotz are finally reunited for a "Weekend Wrap-Up!" podcast, and they've got a lot to talk about. Sure, Stu saw "Speed Racer" and gives his review, The Dude has to explain that he had a great time shirking his duties and meeting up with a dudette from his school days, and Stu relates that he still can't understand sport uber-fans. The two of them talk about "Survivor," about "American Idol," and Stu tries to give a Netflix review of a movie that The Dude could care less about. Ah, such are Stu & The Dude!

Posted by Rightdude at 6:09 PM | Comments (0)

May 8, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: So, Like, It's Like Idol, Survivor, TV, and Like, So, Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

The Dude on the Right was mesmerized during this podcast because he was intrigued by a dudette who liked to say "like" and "so" a lot while he was eavesdropping on a conversation at Starbucks. The Dude is also a little melancholy about the end of the TV season, what with "Survivor" wrapping up on Mother's Day, and "American Idol" coming to a close soon, but thankfully the Jack Johnson wannabe, Jason Castro, is done singing.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:41 PM | Comments (0)

May 6, 2008

Umm, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame week? What the Hell is That?

By: The Dude on the Right
Ryan Seacrest says we must vote, and I'm saying I don't care how poorly Syesha might do, but vote for Syesha because do we really want a top three finish of all dudes?  It's obvious we don't always vote for the best singers, so for the love of God, don't let "American Idol" become a sausage fest!

It's "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" night, which I really don't understand, except I guess it's songs you can pick which are from the R&R HoF.  But why are the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions still held in New York City instead of Cleveland which is where the Rock Hall is located?  I guess that is a story for another time.  And Paula must be happy because the format is back to normal where she only has to do her talking one performer at a time.  Hooray!

Let's go...
1st Round of Songs

David Cook
 - Sings "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran
 - He is singing okay like he usually does, but he has all of the charisma of, well, he has none.  And why in the hell do you pick a song where the lyrics we all know are "Do do do do, do do do, do do do, do do do, do do...", or something like that.

Syesha Mercado
 - Sings - "Proud Mary" by, Tina Turner
 - She is so much looking better with the straight hair, has nice gams, and almost has seemed to have come into her own as a singer and performer and might now just be the person to be reckoned with if the dudes don't step things up in a big way.  VOTE FOR SYESHA!  Simon didn't like it, but the heck with him, every week is a bad interpretation of someone famous.  Let's just revel in the fact that someone seems to actually want to perform.

Jason Castro
 - Sings - "I Shot the Sheriff" by Bob Marley
 - Yea, go figure, Jason Castro thinks he can sing Bob Marley.  He's trying to finally be a performer, but he's smiling during lines like "I shot him down."  We will see if people don't give a crap about his singing because if after this performance he stays alive well, we know all of the stoners are voting in force.  Simon was dead-on with "utterly atrocious" and "the only similarity was the hair."

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King
 - He's still squinting, but at least is trying to perform.  I'm not saying he should get all "crazy eyed," but dude, get used to the lights, open your eyes, and this performance would have been a hell of a lot better.  David's singing is good, but he's still got to learn to work the girls in the front row.  If he worked just one girl to show true confidence with the ladies it would have been fantastic, and his possibilities would be endless.

2nd Round of Songs

 David Cook
 - Sings "Baba O'Riley" by The Who
 - No, this song is not called "Teenage Wasteland," though many people think it is, and sadly for David he only had a short amount of time to actually sing this song.  What is really starting to piss me off about "American Idol" is they are not having the show done so the contestants can actually perform a song.  This is a song that can't be chopped into pieces for a couple of minute piece.  Ugh, the AI people are ruining this show because I almost thing David could have made this song great had he not had to chop it up.

Syesha Mercado
 - Sings - "A Change in Gonna Come" by, Sam Cook
 - Well, Syesha is starting to show she might actually be the person out of all of these contestants who could actually have a recording career because she was fantastic.  Screw you Randy, Paula loved her, and Simon actually agreed with Paula.  As much as I say VOTE FOR SYESHA!, it might almost be better if she gets booted so she can get out of the "winner of the "American Idol" spotlight" and develop a career like Chris Daughtry.  In any case, Syesha, if you do win, don't let them drag out your career like they did with Jordin Sparks.

Jason Castro
 - Sings - "Mr. Tambourine Man" by Bob Dylan
 - He forgot lyrics, he just doesn't seem to give a damn about being in this competition anymore, and how in the hell did he even think he could pull off Bob Dylan and Bob Marley, so if he is not the one getting booted tomorrow we have found out that this show doesn't really matter anymore because the public just likes a pretty boy, or a stoner-looking boy.

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "Love Me Tender" by Elvis "and do we even need to end that with Presley?" Presley
 - Wait a minute, did he just say, or was he mocking me, that "I haven't really sung a romantic love song on the stage before?"  He's still squinting, the little girls and old ladies still probably love him and will text their hearts out for him, and I'll give him a few props for changing the arrangement a tad, or give credit to whomever might have changed his arrangement.  Whoever did the changes knew David would only have a short time to put this song out and hopefully made it work.  David, dude, you still need to learn how to open up your eyes.

Let's wrap this up...

All I can say is that the "American Idol" producer/director/whoever the hell is in charge of this monster is really screwing this up.  I say that because between last week and this week our contestants don't actually get to sing, nope, they get to sing a bitty-small portion of a song instead of actually getting a chance to perform a song.  The culmination of this was David Cook singing the worst, chopped version of "Baba O'Riley" ever.  Idol people, please, stop.  Get this show back to how we loved it in year one and two, because if next season is like this, well, I don't know if I can stick with it.  "Dancing With the Stars" lost my viewership, my Mom has already ditched "American Idol," but if you don't get back to actually letting the contestants learn to be performers, or at least sing an entire song, I might be done with it next year.

In any case, VOTE FOR SYESHA!  And other than being a dudette, she actually deserves it.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:17 PM | Comments (0)

May 1, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: Happy Birthday to Me!, Vote for Syesha, Jason was Dumber, and Here Comes "Iron Man!"

For this podcast The Dude on the Right talks about getting a haircut, in anticipation of his birthday and having to renew his driver's license, by a dudette who blamed her sounding like she was stoned on a cold rather than, well, being stoned. He is also throwing all of his support to Syesha on "American Idol," thinks Jason might be the dumbest "Survivor" contestant ever, and wonders who he would beckon to visit him during "family reunion day" had he been a "Survivor" contestant. But as his birthday looms, and he gets out of his 40's, The Dude knows it is now movie season, and he can't wait to see "Iron Man" over the weekend.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:22 PM | Comments (0)

April 29, 2008

Neil Diamond is In the American Idol House! But Why?

By: The Dude on the Right
I love Neil Diamond.  I've seen him in 1996, 1998, 2001, and 2005. I've taken some nice photos of the man, I've done some cartoon drawings of the man (scroll down for it), and I have even taken my Mom to his concert back in 2001 which would have been a better experience for her (but maybe not so much of a story), had I splurged on a limo.  He is a singer, he is a songwriter, but hopefully for our last five folks in this contest it will be his performing skills that he can impress on them.  We'll have to see how that goes as the show goes on, so let's just get to it, and here's how I thought the five folks did...

ROUND 1
Jason Castro
 - Sings - "Forever in Blue Jeans"
 - Good choice for him.  It's bouncy, light-hearted, and works with him playing guitar, but he still isn't being much of a performer. 

David Cook
 - Sings "I'm Alive"
 - Good, pick obscure Neil Diamond songs people don't know by a performer who most people know all of his hits.  David did good with the "I'm Alive" song, but most people probably don't want to hear Neil Diamond songs they don't know.  Quit trying to be so "original."

Brook White
 - Sings - "I'm a Believer"
 - "I'm a Believer" is just so wrong for a song for her to sing.  She couldn't hit the low notes, it might have been in the wrong key, and these people playing their own instruments limit themselves because they are stuck behind the mike and can't actually work the crowd.  So far the performing side of anything isn't coming out.

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "Sweet Caroline"
 - So David tried to bust out of his melodic groove with maybe the biggest karaoke song in existence, and he didn't even fill in the "So Good, So Good, So Good" part.  He almost wanted to work the crowd for this song, but then hunkered back to just singing, almost seeming to hope he wouldn't forget the words.

Syesha Mercado
 - Sings - "Hello Again"
 - It's nice enough, but just seems to be lacking some kind of punch that Neil puts into it even though it's a ballad.

On a side note, Paula Abdul has finally hit an all-time high for being clueless.

ROUND 2
Jason Castro
 - Sings - "September Morn"
 - Yea, we get the performer you want to be - the laid-back, hippie dude.  We get it, the dudettes probably like your laid-back attitude, and you picked good songs this week even though I found you lame.  You're lucky the chicks probably dig you.

David Cook
 - Sings "All I Need is You"
 - Yup, another obscure Neil Diamond song, what the hell are you thinking?  Sure, you might be trying to separate yourself and be original, but in a week you had two songs to pick maybe you should choose an obscure one for the first song (good choice though), and then bring reality back with a Neil Diamond classic so everyone could remember that.  You're probably lucky that you are a pretty-boy, rocker-dude, because that is the only thing you bring.

Brook White
 - Sings - "I Am, I Said"
 - You know what, I hate the fact that the band actually joined in because for her, doing this solo, on the piano, was really working for me.  The back-up band ruined it, because as a solo song this was actually a song I liked.  I still hate that she won't shut up when the judges give her their critiques, and I only wish I could see her do this song in a smoky bar, all alone on a piano, just being herself.

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "America"
 - I know you are young, but who in the hell is coaching you on the songs for you to sing?  Of all of the Neil Diamond songs this is probably the worst choice in my head for you.  I guess it sounded better for his live performance because on my TV I didn't like it at all.  Am I hearing something different?

Syesha Mercado
 - Sings - "Thank the Lord for the Night Time"
 - She's at least coming out of her shell and trying to also be a performer, but I think it might be a little too late because, as I'm listening to her, Syesha could have probably turned "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" into a fabulous number, but the problem is the American Idol folks forced these people to do two songs in an hour.

Let's wrap this up...
As much as I love Neil Diamond I still have absolutely no idea why he was involved in this show.  The crappy part is that our contestants didn't need to try and fit two songs each into an hour, they really needed just one song each to fill in this hour - and perform the hell out of that song.  I hate to say this but the "American Idol" folks haven't seemed to realize why we love this show, and it's not for seeing people sing a verse and then a chorus and then being judged by Randy, Paula, and Simon, clipped because of time constraints.  Our time is precious, don't let us feel cheated.

I've pretty much given up on "Dancing with The Stars," and now I'm almost not caring about "American Idol."  Idol Producers, at least let these people try to sing.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:24 PM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: Lee Elia Rants, Carly Smithson is Booted, and RIP Kenneth Keith Kallenbach.

After hearing about the passing of Kenneth Keith Kallenback during The Howard Stern Show this morning, The Dude on the Right realized he actually has a "blowing smoke through his eyes" story, and doesn't do his best to tell the tale during this podcast. He does, though, warn you as you are listening that you might want to watch your podcast volume during his visiting of the Lee Elia tirade about Chicago Cubs' fans. The Dude is also happy TV is back in full bloom, happy that Carly Smithson is finally off "American Idol," and is looking forward to seeing Neil Diamond as the A.I. mentor next week.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:01 PM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2008

It is Andrew Lloyd Webber Week. Shouldn't We Be Paying Attention to the Pennsylvania Election Results?

By: The Dude on the Right
So as a good American I suppose I should probably be hunkered down watching the Pennsylvania Primary Results to see if Hillary Clinton somehow pulls out a chance to solidly beat Barack Obama if only to further confuse who will be the Democratic nominee for President, but, dammit, it is Tuesday night, it is "American Idol" night, and there is more important voting going on in just about an hour.  Sure, it is Andrew Lloyd Webber Week for A.I., and Andrew Lloyd Webber is fantastic, legendary, a mega-force when it comes to musicals, and fine, I'll admit it, I'm a fan of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Cats."  Hell, I even saw "Cats" on Broadway back in 1985, although part of it is blurry as we took a high school bus ride from Ohio to New York City, and since I can't sleep on moving transportation and "Cats" was the first play we saw out there the evening we arrived, let's just say I was nodding off during part of it, at least I think so.  Man, some of those memories are blurry now, and unless my mind is really messed up, we also saw "Noises Off" out there, which I can still watch today and laugh my ass off if done even close to right.  But I digress.

So as much as I do appreciate the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, maybe the "American Idol" folks realize no one there has the personality/performance quality to make it as a pop singer so they're trying to see if they can make some money with them on the Broadway stage.  Maybe Andrew Lloyd Webber will actually get these shlubs to be performers, but I'm still praying for "Bruce Springsteen Week" when he can teach this group about performing, and then Artie Lange from The Howard Stern Show, now that he reneged on his resignation, will have to answer to this equation:  Bruce Springsteen + American Idol = Ball Shocking.

Enough reminiscing, enough praying, let's see how our last six folks sing...

Syesha Mercado
 - Sings - "One Rock 'n Roll Too Many"
 - My prediction is that even though she sings nice enough, and she is trying to perform it as if she were on stage, she's the first singer of the night and only her diehard fans will stick by and vote for her.  Sadly, or maybe happily, she has shown she will be able to make it on Broadway, just not the pop/Idol scene.

Jason Castro
 - Sings - "Memory"
 - This is not a song for "laid-back"-ness, which Jason Castro is all about.  The thing is that people who know the song (like me), will probably think it sucked, but fans who have no concept of the song might actually love it.  He needed to hit the "Jesus Christ Superstar" soundtrack and become Jesus, rather than singing anything from "Cats."  Horrible song choice.

Brook White
 - Sings - "You Must Love Me"
 - Does "forgetting the song" lend her to the bottom of the pack?  Does singing a Madonna song save her?  Once she got over forgetting the lyrics she did okay, but the performance aspect waivered.  Paula seemed crushed, Simon was correct about the stopping thing, and now we will see how strong her fan base really is.

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "Think of Me", I think.
 - So Andrew Lloyd Webber gave David the best bit of advice ever - to open his eyes, and yet he can't.  I guess he's a squinty dude who can sing well, but still lacks the performance skills because if the dude just approached the front of the stage, worked the girls in the front row, he would have shown everyone that he is better than just a good singer.  Simon again is correct.  David has to break out his shell and be a performer - quit standing in the center of the stage.

Carly Smithson
- Sings - "Superstar"
- This song fits in her wheelhouse, but there is still something about her that makes her "over-the-top" for the show.  She still shouts too much, she still seems to have this attitude of "I deserve to win this," and this song was probably a better choice for her, even though I still didn't like it that much.

David Cook
 - Sings "Music of the Night"
 - Yea, fine, you could be on Broadway, too.  You will probably stick around for another week, and at least you seem to try and work the crowd a bit, but you have shown that there isn't a pop-idol in this group.

Let's wrap this up...

Great, this week has shown that we've got six people who could probably be on Broadway, but not one of them has shown that they have the star power to be a pop singer.  Sorry, but I really don't care that much about these people anymore.  We don't need Mariah, we don't need Broadway, now we just need to see if these people can perform, and as I have been re-iterating from week to week, we really need a performing mentor for these folks.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 9:15 PM | Comments (0)

April 17, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: Kristy, Priscilla, and a Cougar are Gone. But Not Google.

The Dude on the Right is in a lamenting mood for this podcast. First he's sad that Kristy Lee Cook got booted from "American Idol," then he really doesn't care that Priscilla Presley got booted but is still sad that Adam Corolla was knocked out of "Dancing With the Stars" competition, he is a little torn that a cougar got shot to death in Chicago, but what makes him most sad is that Google profits makes him remember that he could be worth about $50 million bucks.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:49 PM | Comments (0)

April 15, 2008

It's "Mariah Carey is in The House!" in Your Best Randy Jackson Impression Week

By: The Dude on the Right
I used to be a fan of Mariah Carey back in her singing days, when she was soulful and just different enough from Whitney Houston to make me like them both.  Now she seems to be a lot more about club and dance music, but I guess that's where the money is at.  She's the mentor of this sad-sack of singers, and, fine, most of them aren't sad sacks, but most of them really need to learn how to perform because they can already sing.  I wonder if Kristy Lee Cook will turn a Mariah song into a country song... I guess we'll find out as the show goes along.

Let's go...

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "When You Believe" by Mariah/Whitney?
 - Mariah thinks his singing is just beautiful, and David keeps things slow, which has become his forte.  Nice leather pants, he knows his element and is working it (though I would like to see him branch out and try to rock).  Right now the biggest problem I have with him is he can't open up his eyes enough to look like he is confident.  He's a squinty guy.  Hopefully being first won't hurt him so people don't forget about him by the end of the night.

Carly Smithson
- Sings - "Without You" by Badfinger/Harry Nilsson
- She covered up the tattoo, which is nice, and she picked a song that isn't really a Mariah song which lets her sort of get out the shadow of Mariah for us older folks.  She did good, looks better tonight as a singer, but this is a song that needs a performance, which she didn't give.  Her hope is that Mom's are remember this song from its original heyday, and vote for her.

Syesha Mercado
 - Sings - "Vanishing" by, well, Mariah Carey
 - Sings nice enough, but this song doesn't lead one to be a performer.  I think I'm stuck on the performer part because so far, for the many weeks, no one is looking to be one.  She's "whoa, a whoa, a whoa-ing" all over the place, but even though she sang nice enough, where is the being a star?

Brook White
 - Sings - "Hero" by, umm, Mariah Carey
 - Boo hoo, so your sister didn't plan her wedding properly to not interfere with your being on "American Idol" plans.  She kept it in a key she could sing, did the smart thing and stuck herself at the piano, which I liked but don't know if the public will like it.  She sang nice enough, but there are only a few piano players who can connect with an audience, and she's not there yet.  And she still won't shut the hell up when the judges give their opinions, and now there is some kind of reference to a juicy burger in a bun.  Hmm?

Kristy Lee Cook
 - Sings - "Forever" by, let me guess, Mariah Carey
 - What the hell kind of hug was that, the one she gave to Mariah?  The key seems to be to sing songs no one knows on Mariah Carey night, which makes us not give a damn.  You know what, we want to compare these people to Mariah Carey, and we want them to sing Mariah songs we know even if they are from over ten years ago.  She still looks good, the performance was bland, but I don't mind her sticking around because, well, she is purty and probably has a nice career ahead of her on the country side if she doesn't screw it up.

David Cook
 - Sings "Always Be My Baby" by damn, Mariah Carey, again.
 - Yup, the dudes do have it easier this night because there is no way we want to compare them to Mariah.  His problem is the key seems wrong, just a tad too low, so he can't punch it up to the level this song could be.  He tried to do it at the end, but it's either too flat or too sharp (I always had problems figuring that out).  Sorry David, Daughtry would have done this right.  I guess it sounded better in the studio because Simon, Paula, and Randy loved it.  I found him droning. 

Jason Castro
 - Sings - "I Don't Wanna Cry" by, who would have guessed, Mariah Carey.
 - Good enough, especially for the last song so everyone will remember him, but as nice as it sounded I found him boring as hell.  It must sound better in the studio than on TV because even Simon like him.

Let's wrap this up...

I'm past the singing part because all of us know these folks can sing otherwise how in the hell did they get here, and thankfully Kristy Lee Cook seems to have gotten over her "not being able to sing" stage and is starting to dress hotter, but the bad part about this year is none of them are transforming themselves into performers.  The other crappy part is that they don't need a singing mentor, like Mariah Carey, pimping her new album, nope, these boys and girls actually need someone who can teach them to the next level, of how to touch the audience, and as much as I've been pimping Bruce Springsteen showing up on "American Idol," I'm thinking Neil Diamond, who has a new album coming out that he can promote, might not be that bad a choice, either.  Skip the "Here's how to sing" crap, let's get to "Here's how to perform."

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:33 PM | Comments (1)

April 10, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: Artie Lange, Tiger Woods, and Paula Abdul. How About That Mix?

Lucky for The Dude on the Right he was listening to the West Coast Feed of The Howard Stern Show, so he was able to hear the entire Artie Lange meltdown, resigns, quits episode during the show, especially since it appears Howard might have put the nix on the replays of the show during the rest of the day. With no new information on the fate of Artie Lange, during his Thursday podcast, The Dude talks about it, doesn't relate his theories on what is going on well, but there will probably never be another day when "Artie Lange" and "Stern Fan Network" are #1 and #2 on Google Trends. Tiger Woods and The Masters were dropped in rankings, thanks to Artie, and from The Dude's observation, Kristy Lee Cook did not have a nip-slip during last Tuesday's "American Idol." Neither did Paula Abdul, but the podcast does have a new edition of "Paula Abdul Clips of the Week."

Posted by Rightdude at 6:58 PM | Comments (0)

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)

April 3, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: An NKOTB Warning, Adam's Still Dancing, and Paula Abdul Clips of the Week!

Even though The Dude on the Right is kind of lonely, he does find the time to put together another podcast complete with a quick warning about the return of NKOTB. Boy bands unite! Warning aside, most of his podcast is about TV with the return of "Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites," no London Bachelor, the booting of Steve Guttenberg while Julianne Hough is wearing too many clothes on "Dancing With the Stars," but, most importantly, The Dude got off his ass, or at least paid attention to his TiVo, and brings back "Paula Abdul Clips of the Week!"

Posted by Rightdude at 6:25 PM | Comments (0)

April 1, 2008

As Much As I Love Dolly, These Singers Need Bruce.

By: The Dude on the Right
Tonight's mentor was Dolly Parton, and I know if I were there as a contestant I would be screwed because rather than listening to anything she said I would be just mesmerized with her, umm, voice.  Yea, her voice.  The only thing I would be focusing on would be her big, giant, voice.

In any case, these contestants overcame Dolly's voices, I mean voice, and here's how I thought they did. (And, yes, the opening "April Fool's Joke" during the she show was really lame.  If they really wanted to do it right they would have teamed up with ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" and have millions of people wondering what was wrong with their TV sets.)

Let's go...

Brooke White
 - Sings - "Jolene"
 - A great song for her, and as much as I like her doing the acoustic guitar thing I think she would be more potent if she wasn't sitting on the stool and able to "work" this song more.  She's already got the fan-base so I don't think it will hurt her, but for "American Idol" this needed to be a "performance" song.

David Cook
 - Sings "Little Sparrow"
 - So David, this week, decides to actually do his own arrangement, and Dolly had nice things to say about it.  The country fans might not like it, I did, and although the singing was off a bit at time, who the hell cares?  His confidence is growing and it shows, and for him, I hate to say it, but like a dude named Daughtry, it might be better if he loses.

Ramiele Malubay
 - Sings - "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind"
 - She sings nice enough, but what a wrong genre for her to be in after last week's issues.  She's not country, and she's not rock and roll; I think she needs a "Rihanna Week" to pull her out of her funk.  Sadly she will probably be gone by that night because even though I like her spunk, but she still seems scared.

Jason Castro
 - Sings - "Travelin' Through"
 - Simple enough song, but I don't think he has the fan base to keep him going much longer.  For me I can't envision him on a big stage, but rather doing a lot of acoustic shows in the smaller clubs, with fans that love him.  He hasn't shown himself to be able to command a 20,000 seater, on a big old stage.

Carly Smithson
- Sings - "Here You Come Again"
- This might sound wrong, sexist, or whatever, but she doesn't have the look to pull off this song.  Sure, her voice is good enough, but this song doesn't seem to to in her genre of music.  Randy and Paula (especially Paula) really liked her, but Simon had his issues.  I agree with Simon.

David Archuleta
 - Sings - "Smokey Mountain Memories"
 - Dolly really loves him, she almost even cried.  Damn, I really like this young dude, and even though his voice cracked a bit, on the slow songs he seems to be fantastic.  I still, wish, that he would do something up-tempo to see if can turn into a true performer instead of just wowing the dudettes.

Kristy Lee Cook
 - Sings - "Coat of Many Colors"
 - Please tell me she is going to get off her butt and sing this song to the audience because she is singing great enough in the country genre.  Okay, she got up, and is still singing nice enough, but she needs to learn a lot about performing, and if she wanted to get any mentoring from Dolly it would be how to be a performer and not a singer - if I were her, for this song, I would ask Dolly how I could touch her, umm audiences.  Sadly Kristy was boring as usual.

Syesha Mercado
 - Sings - "I Will Always Love You"
 - She sings purty enough, and I like her sitting on the piano.  She comes across better looks-wise this week, but I really wish she could have pulled off getting her butt off the piano for the ending of the song to really blast it out for the crowd.  She almost had a chance to blow this song out of the house, but instead just sang it.

Michael Johns
 - Sings - "It's All Wrong, But It's All Right"
 - As much as I didn't like a lot of his carrying on with this song, as a "performer" and not a singer he was probably the best of the night, and since Paula talked to long, and my TiVo flipped to "Dancing With the Stars" and "The Biggest Loser," I'm not sure what Simon said.  Doesn't matter, he did great and should stick around until next week when I can re-adjust my TiVo Season Passes so Idol doesn't get clipped.

Let's wrap this up...

The thing that sort of makes me sad is that pretty much everyone on the show right now is great, or at least good singers, but only a few of them seem to have the personalities to be performers.  Every one of them you can picture singing in a smaller club, with a group of fans, but none of them have shown the step to the next level.  I suppose Dolly Parton week wasn't the time to see that (although a lot of them should have gotten tips from her about being a performer rather than a singer), but if the "American Idol" folks want to truly groom any of these kids, bring on a Bruce Springsteen as a two-week mentor to help them become a small-club person, which most of them already are, to a stadium rocker, which he is.  Pimp The Beatles if you must, but teach them Springsteen or The Rolling Stones.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:22 PM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: Welcome "Tripping the Rift" Fans, Poor Chikezie, and "The Biggest Loser" Talk.

The Dude on the Right keeps this podcast kind of short, but he finds enough time to welcome visitors finding Entertainment Ave! thanks to looking up sixsells.com, the website for "Tripping the Rift," which is in the site because of their DVD review. He is also getting frustrated with "The Biggest Loser," and thinks Chikezie was robbed on "American Idol." Hopefully The Dude will quit worrying about the singers and get back to making fun of Paula Abdul.

Posted by Rightdude at 5:22 PM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2008

Is Seeing "American Idol" Live That Much Better than On TV?

By: The Dude on the Right
So it is "Songs the Year You Were Born" night.  Oh, goody, it is "Songs When I Was in College" night, or thereabout.  I'm sure flashbacks will be in order, but I'll only type about them if I think they will be okay for my Mom to read.  Here we go...

Ramiele Malubay - Born in 1987
- Sings - "Alone" by Heart
- A song I totally love, but man she doesn't have the pipes to pull off the chorus for this song and the bombastic sound the Wilson sisters had.  Totally wrong song choice, and I'm sorry she is sick.  Ramiele, quick shaking hands with people and then touching your eyes or picking your nose.  That's how you get sick.

Jason Castro - Born in 1987
- Sings - "Fragile" by Sting
- Does a good job by playing the guitar, it keeps him behind the mike and not having to perform.  The singing is good, the song is sort of boring, but it should be enough to keep him going, especially because I think the dudettes dig him.

Syesha Mercado - Born in 1987
- Sings - "If I Was Your Woman" by Stephanie Mills, I think.
- A really nice R&B performance.  Vocal range was good, performance was good, and this was a great performance that should keep her to the next week.
- What the hell is with all of these 21 year olds?  I remember, sort of, my 21st birthday, and I wasn't singing in 1988.  Thankfully the picture people supposedly took of me on my 21st birthday has disappeared, I hope.

Chikezie - Born in 1985
- Sings - "If Only For One Night" by Luther Vandross
- Chikezie is showing he might be the next R&B singer to blow up across the Universe.  From week to week he shows differences he can tackle, and he actually needs to lose this competition to make his own career, a la Daughtry.

Brooke White - Born in 1983
- Sings - "Every Breath You Take" by The Police
- How boring can you get.  Sure, it's nice on piano, and she screwed up the start, but unless she does something special to get her butt off the piano stool, or straddles it like Tori Amos, as much as I think she is purty, sings purty, and has talent, this week wasn't her best.  So much potential that went away.

Michael Johns - Born in 1978
- Sings - "We Will Rock You " by Queen
- Only a few words need to be written - You are no Freddie Mercury.  I guess a few more words are needed - the band didn't help.  I don't know what the judges heard, but he just doesn't seem to have the persona to be Freddie, at least on TV I guess.  For whatever reason I thought he wasn't that good.  Maybe I should just wonder what is wrong with me, or I need to be there, live.
- I was 10 or 11 when this song came out, the first album I ever bought was "Night at the Opera," and I found "News of the World" fantastic as the years went on, especially with the album art.  I always loved reading "No Synthesisers!"

Carly Smithson - Born in 1983
- Sings - "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler
- A simple choice for her, but for me it just brings back flashbacks of high school.  Ugh!  Okay, singing wise Carly was good, but she just seems to be singing, not performing, and for Jim Steinman songs, as much as it is about the song, it's more about the performance of the song.  She just sang it, whereas Meat Loaf knows how to perform.  She needed to really find Jim Steinman history and how Meat Loaf made those songs performance art.  That is what Jim Steinman did.

David Archuleta - Born in 1990
- Sings - "You're the Voice" by Farnham Johnny?
- Is he just trying to get other people money by singing obscure songs?  That said, I really like the song, like the performance, and I was graduating college when this dude was being born.  He tried to branch out, but I'm guessing in 1990 there are better songs, that people might actually know, that he could have really blown out of the competition.  We'll see if his good looks still keep him in the competition.

 Kristy Lee Cook - Born in 1984
- Sings - "God Bless the U.S.A." by Lee Greenwood
- Gosh girl, I like you, but how the hell did you get this far in the competition.  You sing nice enough, at least this week, sort of, but you aren't a performer in any sense of the word.  Thank your lucky stars you got to the final 10 to go on tour because a lot of other singers are better than you.  And from the judge's comments, what the hell am I not hearing nor seeing on my screen tonight.

David Cook - Born in 1982
- Sings - "Billy Jean" by Michael Jackson
- Nice change of a Michael Jackson song.  If anyone ever says "How do I make a song my own?" this is the performance they should show.  He works the stage, he sings like a rocker, and if he doesn't win he will probably have a fantastic career anyway.  He actually got in touch with a song with the year he was born, and if I had a dollar I might actually download that song version from iTunes. (Dude note: As I laid in bed last night I couldn't sleep because I just had to figure David's version probably wasn't his own arrangement. Sure enough, I did some quick research this morning and guess I missed at the beginning where they said it was Chris Cornell's version. Thought he did a good job, anyway. DOTR)

Let's wrap this up...

From a lot of the comments I'm guessing that the performances came off a hell of a lot better live than on my TV because, well, when I thought some of them didn't do well, Simon-Paula-Randy thought they were great.   I know live is better than TV, but is there that much of a difference.  If the "American Idol" folks want to prove it to me, fly me out for next week's show, otherwise, I don't think anyone did that well this week except David Cook.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 9:26 PM | Comments (0)

March 18, 2008

Watching Singers v. Dancers

By: The Dude on the Right
Last night I sort of watched "Dancing With the Stars," especially for my favorites, Julianne Hough, Edyta, and Kym Johnson.  Isn't it kind of funny that we don't need to reference Edyta with her last name anymore?  Anyway, I don't care about any of the "celebrity" female dancers much (nor the dude celebrities, but I did find Adam Carolla and Penn Jillette fun to watch), wonder why Julianne wore a giant, yellow outfit (rather than a skimpy, yellow outfit), and Kym actually looked hotter than Julianne.  But tonight the dancing is over because tonight is about singing (and cuter dudettes).

My brilliant dancing analysis will come later as their Spring season goes on, but here are my musical musings about tonight and singing, and it's The Beatles night, as opposed to John Lennon and Paul McCartney night last week.  How much did the "American Idol" folks pay for the rights to use these songs that mediocre singers could butcher, anyway? ...

Amanda Overmyer
- Sings - Back in the U.S.S.R.
- Something just sounds wrong, like she's not in synch with the band or something, but it's not working for me.  This song doesn't need a southern twang to it.  And I don't like her bouncing up and down while she is singing.

Kristy Lee Cook
- Sings - You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
- What the hell did you ever listen to on the radio?  You picked the song based on title.  You don't know any Beatles' songs?  It's kind of "new" to you?
- She's cute but the song is in the wrong key (she can't hit the low notes), and if she keeps going on it's because she is cute.  She did hit the high note at the end, but the performance seemed kind of lame.  At least Paula thought she looked gorgeous.

David Archuleta
- Sings - The Long and Winding Road
- You thought "Dang it!" when you forgot the lyrics last week.  Luckily you didn't think "Oh, F&^$, how in the hell could I forget the words to a song in front of 30 million F$#%ing people?"
-  He shows his vocal pipes this week (again) so we know he can sing the slow songs, and if this keeps up he's the next Josh Groban.  He needs to prove he can sing something up-tempo in my book to make it to the ultimate pop level.  He'll be in it for the long haul even if he sucks just because the girls like him.

How stupid was that iPhone commercial.  I understand product placement, but Ryan Seacrest should be fired because he isn't even trying anymore.  Last week he busted on Jim Carrey promoting "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!", and this week it was the iPhone.  Either he is the worst pitch-man ever, or he is the greatest at scripts written up as "Promote this by having the attitude of "What the hell is this shit?"

Michael Johns
- Sings - A Day  in the Life
- This is not a good song to trim, though I thought he did a decent job trying to pull it off.  To do it his way he probably needed a month to work to rehearse it (and a different band), but I think the dudettes will find him cute enough to pull him to the next round.

Brooke White
- Sings - Here Comes the Sun
- She's married.  Damn, so much for fantasies about my future wife.
- No matter what, I think we have already found our next "Carrie Underwood Country Star" no matter if she wins or not.  She performs, is purty, and somehow seems to be able to put her mark on every song.  I don't care what Randy says, what Paula says, or what Simon says, because I really liked her "fly-a-way" performance and her attitude, but Brooke, don't beat yourself up so much because for me it worked.

David Cook
- Sings - Daytripper - The Whitesnake version
- He's sticking with the rocker mode, and this is a song that works for him, but I'm thinking the kids in the audience don't understand the voice box thing.  He should have just stuck to rocking and not gone Peter Frampton on our ass.  There's still something I don't like about him because it just seems he is copying people.

Carly Smithson
- Sings - Blackbird
- She's starting to get that "crazy-eye" look, where I can see the tops of the whites of her eyes, and it well, isn't a good look.  I will, every week, be not liking her only because she had a major recording contract before.  I know that is kind of petty, but for some of the other contestants where this is their first chance, someone who actually has gotten to the precipice, and even though the record company supposedly was her downfall, she has at least gotten there before.  And you know what, I didn't really like her performance this week, either.

Jason Castro
- Sings - Michelle
- He just seems giddy rather than in love while he is singing.  His smile is actually almost scary.  Dude, you need to learn how to drop that smile and make it sincere rather than a plastered-on smile.  The singing was okay, and although Simon thought he looked good, I thought the goofy look sucked.

Syesha Mercado
- Sings - Yesterday
- She's cuter with the tighter hair, with the ponytail.  The straighter hair was okay, but she just needed to pull it back.
- She sings nice, but the performance was boring except for the high notes.  The better place would have been at the front of the stage, not on the stool.  The singing should keep her going on through next week.

Chikezie
- Sings - I've Just Seen a Face
- He has just turned into my favorite "American Idol" contestant ever.  He works every genre, tries to step over party lines, and just seems to try to show that he can try anything.  He's a kind of bizarre dude, but sings perfect for every side.  The only problem is he doesn't know if he should settle into being Usher or Cowboy Troy.

 Ramiele Malubay
- Sings - I Should Have Known Better
- She was the last singer of the night, which is usually the one who is supposed to do the most fabulous version, but I thought her performance was boring, even though she sang alright.  Just an "Umm" for me.

Let's wrap this up...

Why does everyone take this season to bust on Simon.  It seems like an easy joke, but it's not appropriate for people to pretty much dismiss everything he might say.  I really hope they get away from The Beatles' songs, no matter how much they paid for them, because we have now found out that there are a lot of people who can't sing, or arrange, Beatles' songs.  Please let us get to wacky mentors again, because as much as they sucked, they were better than a lot of these people singing songs they couldn't learn from John Lennon nor Paul McCartney.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 9:03 PM | Comments (3)

March 13, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: Ashley Alexandra Dupre (a.k.a. Kristen), Idol Talk, Nice Weather, and a Toilet.

The Dude on the Right changes the way he starts this podcast, which deals with lots of topical topics. Of course The Dude talks a bit about Ashley Alexandra Dupre, a.k.a. Kristen, a.k.a. the dudette who slept with Eliot Spitzer, but he also was able to enjoy some Spring weather hitting Chicagoland. The Dude also gives some thoughts on David Hernandez being booted from American Idol, but wonders about a woman stuck to her toilet, hoping, but doubting, that she had the coolest bathroom ever. The end question is if she was as comfortable on her toilet as the Easter Bunny to the right seems to be?

Posted by Rightdude at 6:19 PM | Comments (1)

March 11, 2008

The Pressure Starts to Hit the American Idol 12

By: The Dude on the Right
We are finally down to the final 12, thank whatever God you pray to, because now I can finally to actually try and get to know the "American Idol" contestants, or at least identify them better, even if it isn't really by their name.  It also helps freeing up my Thursday night TV viewing, especially as "30 Rock" and "My Name is Earl" returns pretty soon, because Idol is back to its appropriate two nights a week.  Enough prologue, the theme of tonight is the Lennon/McCartney songbook, so this night has the potential for some train-wrecks.  Let's get to the show...

Syesha Mercado
- Sings - Got to Get You Into My Life
- Better hair, nice look, bad earrings.
- Thought she started well, but then kind of messed up making it "her own" during the chorus.  Even though, she has the looks, the voice, and has tons of potential, she's starting to be a performer.

Chikezie
- Sings - She's a Woman
- He is really coming into his own and I think he did a great job.  He works the stage, acts just a tad goofy for the song, and at first, when "Idol" started, I didn't like him, but slowly Chikezie is becoming one of my favorites.  Somewhere the "confidence" drug hit this dude.

Ramiele Malubay
- Sings - In My Life
- First impression - wrong song.  Her voice is nice, but after following Chikezie's performance it's almost like following Jerry Lee Lewis back in the old days of rock & roll.  She looks good, sings okay, but the performance was bland.  Paula thought she looked pretty.

Jason Castro
- Dude, you sound like a surfer, a stoner, like, well, you just want to sing, and keep the karma.
- Sings - If I Fell
- He's got the Jack Johnson vibe but with a reggae look instead.  He sings well enough, I like that he's also a musician and maybe sticking to the surfer/reggae attitude will do him well.  I don't think it will get him to the finals, but Paula at least feels his heart.

Carly Smithson
- Sings - Come Together
- As much as I don't like her being in the competition, but damn, I love that accent.
- The voice is there, because it always is, and I do like the version she put together, but even though she almost had a career before, there is something about her look that bothers me.  I think it's her hair.

David Cook
- Sings - Eleanor Rigby
- There's just something about him that I don't like.  I don't know if it's his look, or maybe his attitude, or just seeming to be like Chris Daughtry.  Paula thinks he's a horse, but I just find him, umm, done before.  I don't see him winning but still getting radio play.  The only problem he has right now is not seeming to have a previous band career like Daughtry did.

Brooke White
- Sings - Let it Be
- Good song after a long commercial break to let us forget performances.  She sings pretty, plays pretty, and does that half "playing to the camera" but still "I'm wrapped up in the song so leave me alone" performance well.  Nice.  I like her.  She sings purty.

David Hernandez
- Sings - I Saw Her Standing There
- He seems to try too hard to be a performer, and his singing for this song isn't that great.  I think this was just a total wrong song choice for him from the Beatles' catalog he was given.  He better have a good fan base otherwise he will be gone.

Amanda Overmyer
- Sings - You Can't Do That
- It's the first song that she heard this week.  Bad pants.  She stays true to who she is, but I don't see it getting her to the end of the competition - just not "pop" enough for the show.  She does have the attitude, and the voice, to hit her nitch, but I don't think it will be with "American Idol."  Good week for her, though.

Michael Johns
- Sings - Across the Universe
- It's not a performer song, but let's see what he does with it...  So far it's stale because he can't separate himself from his microphone stand.  Like everyone else, he sings nice enough, but it's not a performance to remember.

Kristy Lee Cook
- Sings - Eight Days a Week
- She knows what to do with the songs, but it was a crappy arrangement.  She's a country singer, she knows it, and looks to follow in the footsteps of Carrie Underwood, but this was not a song that could be turned into a country song in a week.  The song sounded forced, she looks purty, sings purty, but everything sounded wrong.  It was all over the place.

David Archuleta
- Sings - We Can Work It Out
- My advice for him, because he has so much potential, is don't let the "American Idol" folks fuck you up because they let you fuck it up this week.  Forget the hair styling, forget the clothes, forget the pressure, and just, for every week, let yourself have fun.  Sure, it's easier said than done, but that is your forte.  Bounce back to a few weeks ago when you just sang.

The pressure of competition has hit a couple of contestants, some of them picked wrong songs, but the next couple of weeks will start to tell who gets the popularity vote.  And next week come the Mentors.  God, for Howard Stern fans we can only hope that one of them is Bruce, as in Bruce Springsteen.  Artie Lange knows why.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 9:56 PM | Comments (0)

March 6, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: Abducted by Space Aliens, Bye Brett, Voice Mail, Strippers, and Thank a Pig.

The Dude on the Right explains why he thinks he might have been abducted by space aliens during this podcast, but at least he doesn't think he got an anal probe. He also understands, yet still pokes fun, at why Brett Favre got weepy today during his retirement press conference. The Dude also gives his explanation of proper etiquette for voice mail, wishes some of the dudettes on "American Idol" had been strippers, and with the drug Heparin, thinks you should thank a pig and a scientist, pray it's not a Chinese pig, although he has no problem with the scientist being Chinese.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:35 PM | Comments (0)

March 5, 2008

No Reports, yet, of the Dudettes Being Strippers (Damn!), but It's Their Turn for "American Idol" 80's Night

By: The Dude on the Right
So it's 80's night, and it's ladies' night, hope they're feeling right, and wearing clothes that are tight.  I'm gonna stop now and just get to what I thought of the signing...

Asia'h Epperson
- She fell on her roller skates, wow.
- I Wanna Dance With Somebody - Whitney Houston
- Sings well enough and is smart enough to know she isn't Whitney, but she performs well.  Paula is on her feet.  Yay!
- Randy has to show how cool he is.  Dude, we get it.

Kady Malloy
- Who Wants to Live Forever - Queen
- One of my favoritist songs ever, and singing wise I thought she way great.  If she actually did the entire version instead of a shortened version I might actually buy the thing on iTunes, but sadly it was shortened.  The other problem is that I guess they aren't letting these people actually perform, seemingly being restricted to that small circle in the center of the stage.
- And Paula knows where the magic is, but Simon kind of gets it right on the personality side.

Amanda Overmyer
- I Hate Myself for Loving You - Joan Jett
- She almost seems to have lost her confidence and keeps looking at something at the edge of the stage likes she's not sure of herself.  Too bad because she should have bolted this song out of the ballpark.  The singing was okay for it, but for me it seemed timid.
- I guess the judges saw something different or maybe she was singing to them, and for that it would work, but for my TV it didn't.  She almost looked out of it.  Guess we'll see.

Carly Smithson
- On a personal note I don't want her to win because she already had her chance at a recording contract and has the performing experience, but I digress...
- I Drove All Night - Cyndi Lauper (1989), Celine Dion (2003)
- She sang great, her tattoo bugs me, and fine, give her a recording contract but get her off the competition.
- Paula thinks Carly is a dependable dog.

Kristy Lee Cook
- She thought she was a dog?
- Faithfully - Journey
- What are the odds on Randy mentioning he worked with Journey?  We'll see.
- She's a girl, but can't hit the high notes like Steve Perry did?  And what's up with the red tongue?  She would have done better trying to turn this "Faithfully" into a country version.
- Yup, Randy called Steve Perry, "Perry." Paula thinks it could be a country hit, but for me it wasn't country enough except for maybe the looks.  Maybe the red tongue is from medication as it sounds her voice is having problems.

Ramiele Malubay
- Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) - Phil Collins
- I like her, thinks she sings well, but man, this song didn't work for me.  Worst song choice of the night, mostly because she couldn't sing the entire thing to work it.
- Paula is, well, in full Paula mode.

Brooke White
- Love is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar
- She sings purty, she is purty, but this song is all about passion, and her performance totally lacked it.  And what's up with the giant "looks like one of those candy, sucker" rings on the girl's fingers.  I guess I'm just not a fashion guru.  She needed to kick butt on this song, and didn't.
- Randy proves that he doesn't know things, again, and I don't agree with Simon on his take on her performance.

Syesha Mercado
- Saving All My Love for You - Whitney Houston
- At times she sings like an angry Whitney Houston, which is okay, and does a fine job with the rest of it..  She should move on, and with no real comments from the judges I'm guessing they are running out of time, but if you watch her doing Whitney compared to Asia'h at the top of the show, you can see Syesha being the better singer.

Once again I question some song choices because I seem to remember that during the 80's there were many a decent, power song for dudettes to sing, in just about every genre.  Fine, I don't know if they were given a list of songs and were told "Here, pick something from this list," or at least were able to make some suggestions before being told they couldn't sing them, but then again, as I think about it, how many of these girls actually know any decent songs from the 80's because while I was attending high school and college, well, some of them weren't born yet.

Right now most of any of them can be voted off the island tomorrow, I mean booted from "American Idol," because I have no emotions tied into their stories, but when the final 12 time comes next week I think this competition turns in to "cute dudettes" v. David Archuleta.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see for a week.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:29 PM | Comments (0)

The Dudes are in Turmoil, but the "American Idol" 80's Live On

By: The Dude on the Right
So it's 80's night, not to be confused with Ladies' night, and dude scandals are all over the place, from David Hernandez once being a stripper to someone looking like Danny Noriega spouting stuff about Santa.  Doesn't matter, here comes the singing...

Luke Menard
-  Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham!
-  Dude, what in the hell were you thinking?  I know the 80's is a weird place to find music, but umm, Wham!?  Very boring, lame, and how in the hell does this make you shine?
-  Paula Abdul is starting to look to be in rare form tonight.  I hope it keeps going.

David Archuleta
- Another Day in Paradise - Phil Collins
- Does his own piano playing - nice, then works from the piano to the stage to work the crowd.  Outfit blows, but he's got everything this competition wants in someone to win and take control.
-  Simon is correct, though, that David needs to pick things up a bit with a "happier" song.

Danny Noriega
- Tainted Love - Soft Cell
- The problem is that when you try to cover an 80's song, and be an 80's poser, unless you were living in the 80's, you probably can't pose like the 80's.  The song was boring, and at this point I would like to see the list these dudes were given of the songs they could pick.  If he picked this song on his own it's another "Dude, what in the hell were you thinking?"

David Hernandez
- Dude, I know it's embarrassing, but we don't want to know about your boogers.
- It's All Coming Back to Me Now - Celine Dion (and Meat Loaf)
- You are not Meat Loaf, and you are not Celine Dion, because you're not a performer like Meat Loaf, and, well, you're not Celine Dion.  David sang nice enough, but this is a performance song, and for me he fell flat.  He'll still, probably, go on to the final 12, but if you want to know how to be a performer, find some video of Meat Loaf singing this song, or any song.

Michael Johns
- Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds
- I'm guessing, so far, that every one of these people have to pick a crappy song from the 80's because why else would all of these dudes be singing these songs?  I liked "The Breakfast Club," but songs from that soundtrack aren't the best songs of the 80's.
- The other thing I wonder is why Randy Jackson is referencing Michael Hutchence from INXS for this song, unless I missed something, or Randy just thinks this Michael is being Micheal Hutchence.

David Cook
- Hello - Lionel Richie
- I'll give him credit for trying to turn this song into his own, and playing the guitar, but the problem I had is that for him this should have been a 90's theme, with him turning it up another notch and being possessed by either the spirit of Nirvana or maybe The Offspring (ala their version of "Feelings") for the song.

Jason Castro
- Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen (I think).
- Sure, this song has been done by the likes of U2, and Jeff Buckley, and tons of other folks but do you really think any of the kids have heard this song before, except from maybe "Shrek"?  He did a nice job, but is pulling out an obscure song the way to go for "American Idol"?  You sing well, the judges loved it, but will the kids like it?  Hmmm?

Chikezie
- All the Woman (Man) I Need - Whitney Houston (Luther Vandross)
- He did good enough singing, is coming into his own knowing where he needs to be in the R&B nation, but as an "American Idol" finalist, he still has some work.

Part of the problem is that the singers are in that mode of "too many singers, trying to fit too many songs, into a one hour show" so they have to cut the songs pretty much in half.  This doesn't let anyone really be able to state the song, work the song, and then show they are fantastic doing the song.  I don't care what anyone says, and especially if he can pull out some spunk, David Archuleta already has this thing won.  And I still want to see the list of songs these dudes could pick from the 80's because there was some decent music from that decade, but you wouldn't know it from watching the dudes sing.

We'll see how the dudettes sing tomorrow.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:28 AM | Comments (0)

February 28, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: Lying is a Crime, Paula Abdul Needs to be Watched, and Dumb Robbers in Australia

For this podcast episode The Dude on the Right is upset that the federal government can't find Osama Bin Laden, won't make a decision on the Sirius/XM Satellite Radio merger, but instead seems to be worrying about who is lying, Roger Clemens or Brian McNamee. He is also a fan of the boobs on "Survivor: Micronesia," but is worried for the safety of David Archuleta on "American Idol" now that Paula Abdul seems to want to decapitate him.

And, oh yea, he tells a story of some stupid robbers in Australia.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:35 PM | Comments (0)

February 27, 2008

American Idol - The Ten Dudettes Who are Left

By: The Dude on the Right
The dudes tried their best for 70's music, and didn't do to well, so now it's time for the dudettes.  Here's how I thought they did...

Carly Smithson
- The Irish dudette who had a recording contract before. There’s still something wrong about that.
- Crazy on You – Heart
- Like the bouncing, don’t like her tats, picked a good song for her, but I wonder why she doesn’t work the stage more.

Syesha Mercado
- She does do a pretty good baby cry.
- Me and Mr(s). Jones – Billy Paul
- I actually liked the song, even though the judges didn’t seem to like it. Maybe it came across better on TV than in the studio. She still needs to come into her own.

Brooke White
- You’re So Vain – Carly Simon
- Almost seemed to be in the wrong key for her because she couldn’t hit the low notes, but even though, it was good. I still like her, but if she’s going to be working with the guitar she needs a wireless headset and work around the stage because this ain’t no coffee shop.

Ramielle Malubay
- We are happy to know she can hula dance!
- Don’t Leave Me This Way – Thelma Houston
- Maybe they aren’t allowed to actually work the crowd because so far they all just stand in that middle circle, but I am liking Ramielle and thought she did a great job. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with the judges, but I liked it.

Kristy Lee Cook
- As opposed to seeing what the dudes are in their real life, we like knowing what the dudettes are like, and I like that she’s a tomboy.
- You’re No Good – Linda Ronstadt
- Nice outfit, and she’s doing her best to work the song. I think she sings purty as well. Please, voters, keep her around for a while!

Amanda Overmyer
- She's a bookworm, and a Harley chick, and a nurse.
- Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas
- Sure, she's a rocker chick, but this was a horrible song especially with the "American Idol" band being her back-up band.  She's looking scary, and in the end, that won't work for this show.

Alaina Whitaker
- Our staff member Big Cooter doesn't like food touching each other either, but at least he doesn't use a different fork for each food.
- Hopelessly Devoted to You - Olivia Newton-John
- Stop the hunch back (it shows in the side shots), fix the gap in your front teeth, but it just wasn't a performance kind of song.  She was good, should have done "You're the One That I Want" from "Grease," in tight leather, but needs work.  Head to the dark side - country music.

Alexandrea Lushington
- If You Leave Me Now - Chicago
- It's a nice, simple song, but the key to this song is it being from Chicago, the band.  She did a decent job, but nothing spectacular for me.  There are probably so many more songs in the 70's that she could have done that are more in her wheelhouse, it was almost sad she did a song from Chicago - the band, not the city.  If she had done a song from the city, not the band, umm, sweet.

Kady Malloy
- She sings opera - does she know Orff?
- Magic Man - Heart
- Since it seems the singers aren't let loose to actually work the crowd, Kady just looks like some chick singing a Heart song.  It really didn't work for me.  She's cute, but man, bolt into "Carmina Burana" in the middle and really make the song your own.

Asia'h Epperson
- She was a cheerleader.  Ready, o kay.
- All By Myself - Eric Carmen
- It was nice and all, but she couldn't hit the power ballad of it at the beginning, instead worked it into the ending.  I think she got shorted because she didn't seem to do much of the song at all.  Simon was right in his comments, even if she was coming off being sick.

Hell, at least some of the dudes seemed to pick up on what to sing with the 70's era, but the ladies were all over the place and none of them kept up with some of the dudes.  The voting will be interesting, and I won't give you my take on who should get the boot, but unless someone steps up in a huge way, or he totally fucks up, David Archuleta has this season already in his back pocket.

Then again, if next week is the 80's, at least some of these folks will be singing songs released when they were alive.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:53 PM | Comments (0)

American Idol - The Ten Dudes Who are Left

By: The Dude on the Right
So last night was the night for the remaining dudes on "American Idol, and here's my rundown of what I thought of the dudes.  We'll see if have enough gumption to do a synopsis for the dudettes this week.  Here we go...

Michael Johns

Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac

Wrong song, can’t sing it, I really didn’t like it.

Jason Castro

Hates doing interviews – Dude you better get used to it.

I Just Want to be Your Everything – Andy Gibb

Don’t even think of doing a Gibb family song if you can’t do the high notes, and you can’t. I do like that he plays a guitar, but damn, is this a classic from the seventies with an acoustic guitar you should be trying to pull off?

Luke Menard

Killer Queen – Queen

Singing was okay but dude, can you at least try to be a performer? How do you do that – you work the stage. Quit standing there.

Robbie Carrico

We don’t really care that you drag race cars.

Hot Blooded – Foreigner

He just sounds boring as hell. There’s no inspiration in the performance. For me he was lame.

Danny Noriega

Don't You Remember You told me you loved me Baby? – The Carpenters

What the hell is going on? Can’t any of these dudes be a performer? And he couldn’t sing the song well, either. Maybe the judges heard something else, but on my TV it was lame.

David Hernandez

Papa was a Rolling Stone – The Temptations

So far he’s the best performer out of the boys, but he dances like a, well, he doesn’t have soul. Singing-wise he was alright.

Jason Yeager

Long Train Running – The Doobie Bros.

He at least is trying to be a performer, but it doesn’t look genuine. Everything seems to be wrong with the song choices, or the fact that we don’t give a damn about he 70’s anymore.

Chikezie

I Believe to My Soul – Ray Charles

Did a hell of a lot better than last week. Seems to be coming into his own and might be a force to be reckoned with if he can keep it up. Still likes busting on Simon though, which might be fun.

David Cook

We don’t care that you’re a word nerd.

All Right Now – Bad Company

Did okay, but it’s hard to be a rocker with the "American Idol" band as your backup. Needs to work it more.

Dude, don’t bust on Simon. Chikezie is starting to quip with Simon well, but you just sound like an ass.

David Archuleta

He’s got everything working for him – the boy band looks, the voice, and the "I’m so humble attitude.

Imagine – John Lennon

Unless he screws up royally, or one of the hot dudettes gets millions of dudes to vote, he pretty much has thing already wrapped up. Somehow he made "Imagine" his own, and that’s not an easy thing to do.

Some of the dudes showed they might have a chance in this thing, but a lot of them still don't know how to pick a song.  If next week is about the 80's, at least some of the songs might have been put out after these dudes were born.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 6:59 PM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2008

There Are Still Too Many American Idols for Me to Care.

By: The Dude on the Right
As a fan of "American Idol" I have to agree with my mom that there are still too many contestants for me to really care.  Sure, they trimmed it down to 24, twelve dudes and twelve dudettes, but after watching the dudes do their singing yesterday, I could care less about them.  The dudettes are tonight, but other than checking out which ones are doing the smart thing, namely trying to look hot as well as sing well, I don't think I care about them, either.

The other thing, and maybe I'm wrong about this (go ahead, correct me), but I don't think they used to start right off the bat with a theme, at least not for the top 24.  I always thought that, at the beginning, they let the kids pick any song, from any genre, from any time period, as long as it was on the approved "we've got the rights to this" list, to kind of show what these people thought they could sing well.  Instead the boys were dropped right into the fire, with it now being 60's week, where most of the dudes seemed to struggle because A) They didn't seem to realize they were suppose to make it their own, nor 2) I'm guessing most of them had no idea how to make it their own, what with now being with the band and all.  The judges kept blasting them for singing the song as the song was originally done, but I didn't think that, at this stage, most of our twelve dudes would be comfortable enough saying something like "Hey, band people, I'm singing Elvis' "Suspicious Minds," but I want it done in a hip-hop style that maybe Kanye West would do.  I don't really know what that means, but since I have to make the song my own, and you're the band, well, you figure it out."  Some of the dudes did okay, I don't think anyone sucked that bad, but it seems odd, at this early stage of the competition, for the contestants to have to reconfigure classics (and oh, by the way, the folks at "American Idol" need to look at a calendar because Danny's version of "Jailhouse Rock" belonged in 50's week, as it was released in 1957, I believe) into something contemporary.

We'll see how the ladies do tonight, and after yesterday I can probably guess there might have been a lot of scrambling, with maybe one of them saying "I am now doing "Baby Love" by The Supremes, and you better figure out how to make it sound like a version that Amy Winehouse would do."  Somehow I don't think that would actually happen. My guess is the judges will be saying the same thing as yesterday, with maybe a couple girls, hopefully the good-looking ones, somehow making the song their own.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 7:02 PM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: Lindsay Lohan is Naked, TV for Kids at Night, and Idols on iTunes.

The Dude on the Right was happy when he read Lindsay Lohan was getting naked, but for this podcast he states that he doesn't like Lindsay trying to copy Marilyn Monroe, that she should be her own woman. He's also frustrated because he ruined most of the animation of his and Stu's animated review of "Sweeney Todd," questions the decision to run a show geared for families, namely "My Dad is Better Than Your Dad" at a time-slot when the kids should be getting ready for bed, and wonders who will be buying "American Idol" performances on iTunes.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:16 PM | Comments (0)

January 31, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: It's Snowing, TV Talk, Paula Abdul is Slutty, and I Wish "Hello, Hannah Montana."

The Dude on the Right does a podcast, but thankfully none of it has to do with Apple Webclips because with that topic he's already wondering what he might have done. For the podcast, though, he is happy to see the snow that Chicago is getting and thinks an older lady might want to move. Some TV shows are coming back, namely "Lost" and "Survivor: Micronesia," but The Dude is still having a problem getting excited about the Super Bowl. He was excited about Paula Abdul looking slutty on "American Idol," but isn't excited about the movies opening this weekend, except for one he didn't get tickets for yet, namely "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert in Disney Digital 3D."

It looks like no screaming teens are in store for The Dude on the Right. There are so many things about that previous sentence that sound so wrong. Umm, let's get back to hot chicks on "Survivor."

Posted by Rightdude at 8:10 PM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2008

What's New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up! Lots of Movies, Mama Gotz's Issues, A New Ringtone, and Peeing on a Stick.

Being away from each other for a week sure doesn't put a kink in the conversation Stu Gotz and The Dude on the Right can put together for a "Weekend Wrap-Up" podcast, and they get right back into things for this episode. The weekends usually include a lot of movie stuff so they talk about that, Stu got a picture from Mama Gotz so they talk about that, Stu saw a pregnancy test commercial so they talk about that, The Dude has a new favorite ringtone so they listen and talk about that, and even though The Dude on the Right doesn't give a damn about the upcoming Super Bow, they talk about that anyway. And if that isn't enough they have other things to talk about, and they talk about that, too.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:21 PM | Comments (0)

November 8, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: The CMA Awards, Unplug Everything, and More Environment Crap.

The Dude on the Right is tired of being preached to about being "Green," so for this podcast he gives his own advice that is a hell of a lot easier than that given on "The Biggest Loser" (although most electricians would say it's bad advice). He also has a theory that "American Idol" is having a larger influence on the country music scene, and is worried about having no TV to watch soon. Go ahead and listen.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:52 PM | Comments (0)

May 22, 2007

"American Idol" Gives us Blake and Jordin. And Who Cares, Conspiracy Theories be Damned.

By: The Dude on the Right
Okay, I'm having computer issues making posting things not as easy as they used to be, at least for now, but it's the "American Idol" finals so I knew I couldn't let any of you down in getting this posted, no matter the difficulties.

We've got Blake.  We've got Jordin.  And we don't have Sanjaya nor Melinda, which I think is a travesty.  An "American Idol" conspiracy, maybe tomorrow we'll have the votes certified by some accountants, but it's too late for that now because who cares at this point, because at this point it's dude against dudette; Perky against Beat-Box.  And here's what I think...

Blake 1: Sings "You Give Love a Bad Name."  The Robot was funny in the movie "Euro Trip," but Blake's stuff is just getting old.  He does work it as a performer, but now it turns into selling records, and I won't buy it.  Hopefully they'll straighten him out in the recording studio and forget about the beat-box crap because he does sing well.  Simon has it right that he is a good performer.

Jordin 1: Sings "Fighter." She looks like she lost a couple of more pounds, which works, and this time starts actually trying to be a performer instead of just a singer.  The side-shot was bad as she was hunched over, and although not as charismatic as Christina Aguilera she's coming close.

Blake 2: Sings "She Will be Loved." Good song choice and he sings it well.  Win or lose this shows his potential to be a singer without the beat-box shtick.

Jordin 2: Sings "A Broken Wing." Yup, they're trying to primp her out of the little black girl to the mature singer (she is only 17 after all) role with the hair changes and the outfits.  We know she sings great, but she still hasn't busted out as a performer yet.

Blake 3: Sings "This is My Now."  A songwriting contest winner.  You can probably figure Blake (or Jordin) would rather sing a solid song from an established songwriter, but Blake does his best to work the song, and be the performer he is.

Jordin 3: Sings "This is My Now." Trying to look older, trying to look not so perky, and it doesn't work for her, at least in my head for her recording career.  We liked her because she was young, perky, with curly hair and not trying to look older than being 17.  She's not the sexy/dirty Christina, she's not the sexy/dirty Britney, she's the bouncy and perky Whitney, and they took that away from her tonight.

I'm still thinking Jordin will beat Blake, at least I hope so, but they tried to add about 4 or 5 years to Jordin when she didn't really need it.  Let her be the perky teenager she is, give us that music she can do, but don't try to fool us because she's still just a teenager, and not in the vein of the dirty girl of Britney or Christina.

On a personal note, I'm really happy "American Idol" is over tomorrow.  The better singers/performers/hot girls are long gone, and we are, and I"m sorry to put it this way, we are left with Jordin and Blake.  Of who is left, well, they both win because the record company already knows what to do with them, conspiracy theories be damned.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:21 PM | Comments (0)

May 17, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: Dreamz Blew His Post-"Survivor" World, and An "American Idol" Conspiracy Theory.

For this podcast The Dude on the Right is happy that Britney Spears found a higher power that likes her getting naked. Alright, almost naked, but he also analyzes how Dreamz from "Survivor" screwed up his post-"Survivor" life. More importantly, though, The Dude has his own "American Idol" conspiracy theory, noticing the resemblance of Whitney Houston in her "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" days and the marketing of Jordin Sparks, if only Jordin would lose a few more pounds.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:20 PM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2007

The Final Two for American Idol should be Sanjaya and Melinda.

By: The Dude on the Right
So Howard Stern's crack news staff, or at least Steve Langford, is hell bent on finding out the truth if the folks in charge of "American Idol" pretty much send home who they want to, thus meaning all of those votes you cast don't really mean much.  I'm still sticking with my conspiracy theory of Sanjaya getting booted off the week before their big charity show, and I still find it odd that they don't actually tell us who got how many votes.

Conspiracies aside, I'm really happy this season is almost over because I really don't care if any of them win.  I suppose, for shear comic value, we should get on the Blake bandwagon, but according to the Howard 100 News, and Mr. Langford's sources Blake is already set to be sent home this week.  We'll see how the voting pans out, but in any case here's what I thought about tonight's singing.

First the songs the judges picked for the final three...

Jordin (from Simon): Sings "Wishing on a Star."  Horrible outfit - it looks like she's wearing a bra and a slip.  Singing was okay, but it should be by this point.  Ehh.

Blake (from Paula): Sings "Roxanne."  Nice vest.  I actually thought he did a good job with the song, and so glad he didn't screw it up with his beat-boxing crap he has been doing in previous shows.  The problem is he's not Sting.

Melinda (from Randy): Sings "I Believe in You and Me." She's really close to being the entire package except for, and I hate to say this, but only some superficial things.  She still needs to stop showing her upper gums, needs a little dental work to close the front gap in her teeth, and she's done a good job with her weight so far, just needs to drop a couple more pounds.  Her singing kicks ass, now it's only superficiality for me.

Now the songs the producers picked for them...

Jordin: Sings "She Works Hard for the Money." I think I just figured out Jordin's problem - she can't work the audience.  She sings fine enough, but when she tries to "perform" it looks like she is trying too hard and just doesn't connect.

Blake: Sings "This Love." He was doing really well until he went back to the beat-box thing.  Maybe the little girls like it and think it's funny, and I know it tries to help him from just doing a cover version, but I hate it.  Get rid of the beat-boxing crap and he was great, and a better performer than Jordin.

Melinda: Sings "Nutbush City Limits."  She rocked out, did great, and she should win, although she needed to lose the mike stand and just roam the stage with the microphone.

And now the songs the top three picked for themselves...

Jordin: Sings "I (Who Have Nothing)."  She creaked a bit on a couple of notes.  It's a powerful song, and she didn't sell it by staying in the middle of the stage and not working the crowd.

Blake: Sings "When I Get You Alone."  It's too bad the fact that as a performer he is probably the best of the three, and stop it with the beat box.  I didn't like the beginning of the song, I grew into it as the song went on, but since I hate his beat box shtick I lost it at the end.

Melinda: Sings "I'm a Woman." She shows exactly why she should win, even if she isn't the pop-idol mold.

Much like I believed Yau-Man should have been the winner on "Survivor," but thanks to Dreamz who totally didn't think of the big picture of life after "Survivor" and screwed Yau over, for "American Idol" everyone thinks Melinda has this season in her hip pocket.  Since I'm not surprised Sanjaya was booted the week before the charity show I wouldn't be surprised if Jordin or Blake actually win.  I love conspiracies.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:24 PM | Comments (0)

May 10, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: Paris and Jail, The Hoff in Trouble, and May is a Sad Month.

For this podcast The Dude on the Right ponders the trouble of many celebrities in these last couple of weeks, namely Paris Hilton, David Hasselhoff, and Alec Baldwin. He is also in mourning since it is May and most of his TV shows will be wrapping up in the next couple of weeks, namely "American Idol," "Survivor," and "The Sopranos," although he can't believe he forgot to talk about Julianne Hough and not being able to find her naked.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:06 PM | Comments (0)

May 8, 2007

Barry Gibb & The Bee Gees on Idol or Julianne Hough on Dancing.

By: The Dude on the Right
Oh my God.  Tonight it's the music of Barry Gibb and The Bee Gees.

I guess the American Idol people want to try to throw another monkey-wrench into the show by picking music only the parents will know and most every kid will have no idea of the songs.  Me, I'll admit I've always liked the Bee Gees, but damn, maybe American Idol needs to quit doing these "music of..." shows and just let the singers pick songs from week to week.  Maybe we don't need the "star" coaching and just need to see some real music coaches, or maybe some weeks where Simon, Paula, and Randy actually "coach" the contestants, especially towards the end of the competition.

Anyway, here's what I thought about tonight's singing.

Melinda (1): Sings "Love You Inside and Out."  Nothing to say about her anymore.  She knows how to bring it every week, and although Simon didn't seem to like it that much, umm, , and pardon my French, but it's the fuckin' Bee Gee's night - What the hell is she supposed to do?  In the words of my buddy Stu Gotz, 'nuff said.

Blake (1): Sings "You Should be Dancin'."  Barry thinks Blake's "beat-boxing" is an ability.  Blake just epitomized why sometimes it was great the Chicago radio dude Steve Dahl held "Disco Demolition" many years ago.  What the hell was that mess?

LeKisha (1): Sings "Stayin' Alive."  Just bad.

Jordin (1): Sings "To Love Somebody." Barry loved her, and I think, depending on her next song, this might have just bounced her back into the competition.  Did nice version of the song and performed it well.

Melinda (2): Sings "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart."  She'd rather be wet than be a loser?  She sings well and performs well, but there isn't much you can do with this song.  She tried to "soul it up," and that added a different dimension to the song, but we already know that about her.

Blake (2): Sings "This is Where I Came In." Good, Blake, sing a song that both the kids and the parents don't know, and screw it up by "beat-boxing" it, and he did.  It sounded like a Boy George throw-back, and not a good one at that.

LeKisha (2): Sings "Run to Me." Barry does give her good advice, to kick it up earlier, and she listens.  She still sings with a slight lisp at times, missed a note or two, and is looking better except for the gap in her teeth which she can't do anything about until after the show ends, but this song was a better choice although not great.

Jordin (2): Sings "I Am A Woman in Love." Barry loved her again, but she needed to "hip" it up just a tad because why do we want to really hear a Barbara Streisand cover on American Idol in 2007?  Even so, her songs this week might keep her alive for another week.

As much as I like The Bee Gees and Barry Gibb, I still question having this be a theme for the week.  All they are doing now is torturing the contestants into trying to find songs they don't know, and don't know how to sing, although I did get a laugh when even Barry Gibb made fun of his singing.

I've got to wrap up this blog about the American Idol singing because, and I hate to say this, I don't really care about the contestants anymore.  I've got to switch TV channels to see who gets booted off  of "Dancing With the Stars."  All I know is it better not be Apolo Anton Ohno dancing with the new love of my life, Julianne Hough.  She's hot.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:28 PM | Comments (0)

May 1, 2007

Who Knew Bon Jovi Songs Were So Complicated to Sing?

By: The Dude on the Right
Bon Jovi is in the house, Dog!

I've always been a Bon Jovi fan, and as many a time I've attempted to sing his songs, well, my voice can't seem to do the stuff his voice does, and after watching tonight's "American Idol," neither can most of our contestants.  I will give Jon Bon Jovi his credit, trying his best to coach our would-be singers and some of them really took his advice, while some of them, whether they would take his advice or not, still couldn't pull off singing Bon Jovi songs.

Anyway, all of the Idol singers were safe last week because American Idol became lame by not voting anyone off because it was their big "philanthropy" week, so Wednesday boots off two people.  For what it's worth the American Idol folks should just go ahead and kick off five people and leave us with Melinda for the rest of the season.  She seems to be the only one who really seem to know how to work it.

Here's my take on this week's singing...

Phil: Sings "Blaze of Glory." Sang the song okay, but just looks to be "acting" the song too much, with the gritty, pissed-off face and all.  Overly emotional and still has a horrible look with the bald look.

Jordin: Sings "Livin' on a Prayer." Looks like she wanted to pay tribute to Gina with the red streaks in her hair.  Song wise it was okay, but she's not working the stage like a rocker needs to.  Her mom might have had her listening to Bon Jovi, but she sure didn't translate the performance aspect into her act.  She picked the wrong song.

LeKisha: Sings "This Ain't a Love Song." A good song choice for her, but she just seemed to be off the beat for the beginning.  Her outfit was bad, and she didn't sing with nearly the passion Jon Bon Jovi did for the Bon Jovi version until the very end of the song.  It must have sounded a hell of a lot better live because the judges loved it, but for me it, well, it wasn't that good.

Blake: Sings "You Give Love a Bad Name." I know he's trying to be original and all, but what, are we back in the era of bad break dancing?  He couldn't sing the song, his antics blew, and maybe I'm just too old, or too big a Bon Jovi fan, but I did not like this at all.  Randy thought it was hot, but what, for the '80's?

Chris: Sings "Wanted Dead or Alive." Of everyone, Chris seemed, so far, to get the "Bon Jovi" theme.  His singing wasn't the greatest, my only complaint is he didn't work the crowd as much as he probably should have.

Melinda: Sings "Have a Nice Day." Jon told her exactly what to do with the song, and Melinda did it perfectly.  She pretty much wrapped up this competition with being able to take Bon Jovi's rocking into a soul attitude.  She was fantastic.

For me you might as well kick out everyone but Melinda.  It looks like she's lost some weight, she still sings great, and she seems to get the attitude of every genre.  As far as the "American Idol," the show, I am this close to calling it quits for them, especially with their self-righteous "We're now a charity" thing last week, and now trotting out a pre-recorded speech from President Bush and Laura Bush about how great it was they raised so much money to help starving people.

Enough already.  "American Idol," you are a god damn singing competition, making a shitload of money.  Quit with the politics and do-gooding, and just give us a singer we can like.

I'll step off my soap-box now, and say Melinda should be the winner.  And I'll also say that Ryan Seacrest you are no Don Johnson - Shave the "7-day" facial hair.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:21 PM | Comments (0)

April 30, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up! Lame Movies, A Lame Weekend, and a Blower at a Ballgame.

For this podcast of "Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up!", The Dude on the Right had a pretty boring weekend while Stu Gotz, and Mama Gotz, witnessed a blower at a ballgame. Stu and The Dude also talk about the lame box office this past weekend with "Spider-Man 3" coming up next week, and they both liked "Idiocracy" that Stu watched thanks to Netflix.

They also talk "Sopranos," "Heroes," and The Dude gives his take on what went wrong with this season's "American Idol."

Posted by Rightdude at 7:42 PM | Comments (0)

April 26, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: "American Idol" Conspiracy Theories, Writing Can Get You Jailed, and Bobby "Boris" Pickett is Dead.

For this podcast The Dude on the Right is still trying to further develop his "American Idol" conspiracy theories, especially with the "mysterious" booting of Sanjaya one week before the "Idol Gives Back" broadcast. He's also worried about how creative writing now might get you arrested, and is saddened by the passing of Bobby "Boris" Pickett. Long live Bobby "Boris" Pickett.

Posted by Rightdude at 8:28 PM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2007

Dear American Idol, at Least Sally Struthers Sent Me a Picture of Who I Was Helping.

By: The Dude on the Right
"American Idol" gets all self-righteous this week because now they want you to vote because your votes will click into donations to "Idol Gives Back."  We get a bunch of "tear-jerking" of how things suck outside of the United States, how things suck inside the United States, how, like those old Sally Struthers' commercials, it only "costs less than $.50 a day to feed a child," and I hate to sound soul-less, but Sanjaya is gone, I already have the charities I give my money to, and don't really care about any of the singers that are left, but here's my take on their performances anyway:

Chris: Sings "Change the World" by Eric Clapton.  Did okay but the song is boring, except for this being "charity" week so of course it fits.

Melinda: Sings "There Will Come a Day" by Faith Hill.  I still think she has been losing weight (good for her), now needs some slight dental work, but more importantly did a great job with her singing, and performing.

Blake: Sings "Imagine" by John Lennon.  First thought - You should never sing "Imagine" unless you are John Lennon.  Second thought - You should never sing "Imagine" unless you are John Lennon.  Simon saw sincerity in the performance.  He might have had sincerity, but Blake didn't seem to portray emotion.

LeKisha: Sings "I Believe" by Fantasia.  Why do they keep "squishing" her into these dresses, especially her bust-line?  She almost seems to be trying too hard in her singing.

Phil: Sings "The Change" by Garth Brooks.  Sticking with the country side since he can this week, but man, I loved Garth's version while am cringing while Phil sings the song.  It must have sounded a hell of a lot better in the studio than it did on TV because the judges seemed to have liked it.

Jordin: Sings "You'll Never Walk Alone."  I hate to say this, but as inspirational as this song is supposed to sound, on my TV she didn't sound uplifting, but rather depressing.

I honestly have to say this might be my last "American Idol" synopsis because I can't take their "we are better than the world" attitude anymore.  The reason for this comes from some of Ryan Seacrest's final lines in the show, namely "This might be the most important call you'll ever make." and "You are saving your favorite, and you are saving lives."  I could vote to save a life, but is "American Idol" going to send me a photo of the child I'm "feeding" in a far-off land?  I don't think so. I also don't have a favorite so sadly it seems all of my 300 or some odd votes that I cast for Sanjaya, while I was on the "Vote for Sanjaya" bandwagon and hypnotized by The Howard Stern Movement, aren't going to feed anyone.

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:26 PM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: Why Watch "American Idol" or "Dancing With the Stars" Any More?

For this podcast The Dude on the Right laments about his having no desire to watch "American Idol" anymore since Sanjaya has been booted. It also seems the producers of the show have left themselves an "out" to "eliminate" any contestant because of "power dialing." Sadly Howard Stern and the dialidol site may have given the producers their "reason" to toss out some of Sanjaya's votes. He's also sick of "Dancing With the Stars," or at least the "Heather Mills is an amputee story. He's now only watching for Julianne Hough and Edyta Sliwinska.

Posted by Rightdude at 7:58 PM | Comments (0)

April 17, 2007

I'm In Love With Martina McBride, But I'm Voting for Sanjaya!

By: The Dude on the Right
It's country night this week, with Martina McBride being the coach/mentor.  I will assume many of the contestants had no idea who she was, but I've always found her fabulously hot, especially with her gorgeous blue eyes and with the longer hair she was sporting for this week's show.  Martina really seemed to be trying to help the contestants, which probably goes along with her country roots, and for a change, most of them seemed to listen to what she had to say.  As it goes, here's my wrap-up:

Phil: Sings "Where The Blacktop Ends."  All I could think is that if he wore a cowboy hat, or what is even more popular now for country dudes, a baseball cap, I would maybe stop thinking about his bald head.  He performed well enough that this might keep him around for another week.  Country might be his niche.

Jordin: Sings "Broken Wing."  Did a nice version of the song, but crackled here and there.  I hate being superficial with her, but she could still afford to lose a pound or two because her voice kicks butt.  She listened to Martina's advice to just sing the song, and did a good job.

Sanjaya: Sings "Let's Give Them Something to Talk About."  Nice bandana and hair!  He's back to being the Sanjaya we know and love, one that can't sing and is just trying to be quirky.  If he's not in the bottom three we know the Sanjaya movement is in full force!  Vote for Sanjaya!

LeKisha: Sings "Jesus, Take the Wheel."  Yup, it's the Carrie Underwood song.  Finally an outfit that works great for her, and she really seemed to get the Carrie Underwood/country vibe.  Of all of the times I have seen her, this was the most I have ever liked her, except for one thing she can't fix yet, and that's the gap between her front teeth.  Maybe this one sounded better on TV than in the studio because I actually liked her this week.

Chris: Sings "Mayberry."  Throw a baseball cap on this dude and Kenny Chesney might have something to worry about.  Why have the dudes suddenly become country singers?

Melinda: Sings "Trouble is a Woman."  She knows how to "bring it," but her top was iffy on the outfit side.  She brought the sass, she sang fine, and just did a great job.  Paula is dancing, so maybe that's a good sign for Melinda.  Simon even liked it, and gave some other great advice about stopping being so humble.

Blake: Sings "When the Stars Go Blue."  Other than the sweater, and his seeming to miss the falsetto moments, and missing other notes, we found out he couldn't "sing" the song okay, but "performed" it nicely.  From the judges comments I guess it sounded a hell of a lot better live because I thought he sounded lousy.

And in wrapping up this week's synopsis I don't think Simon, Paula, nor Randy understand this era of country, nor did they ever really like most any country movement.  The country week for this group makes the voting a total toss-up.  Phil sang well but needed a hat; Jordin has a lot of potential - just don't go bulimic; Sanjaya, is, well, Sanjaya; I thought LeKisha was great but needs better teeth; Chris just needed a baseball cap; Melinda, well, she did the best; and Blake was a performer, not a singer tonight.

Since Gina is gone I only have one person to vote for now, and you probably know who that is.  Since I can't vote for Martina McBride, I'm voting for Sanjaya!!!

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

Posted by Rightdude at 8:20 PM | Comments (1)

April 13, 2007

What's New? A Podcast of: The Don Imus School of What Not to Do, "The Sopranos," and Sanjaya is Still Safe!

The Dude on the Right returns for this podcast thinking Don Imus might actually be remembered in the annals of radio teaching of what not to do when you put your foot in your mouth, rather than for his radio career. He also wasn't that pleased with the return of "The Sopranos," and although sad to see Haley on "American Idol" go, The Dude is happy Sanjaya is still around, mostly, according to him, because of his campaigning, and not that of Howard Stern nor the Vote for the Worst folks. The Dude on the Right is also sometimes delusional.

Posted by Rightdude at 6:35 PM | Comments (0)