American Idol

Well, now the story is getting more confused. Some people say they've pulled the entire song - Cookie and Carly got canned, too. And apparently they've also told Jason he cannot duet with Brooke unless he gives up one of his solo songs.

Good grief Control freaks much? I cannot believe shit like that. "You can't duet with Brooke unless you give up a solo." How pathetic. How childish. I can see where DC should have the most songs and Archie the next most. It only makes sense that the winner gets more songs. Runner up too. But after that what should it matter about duets or trios? So maybe they add an extra song or two. It's not like the audience will complain that the show is 5 mins. longer Such game playing. It is sad. Frankly, with the amount of talent in this Top 10 they should just let the kids but on the show they want and stay out of it. I am sure the Idols can do a better job anyway. Let's face it, Carly singing Barracuda with DC on guitar and Jason on drums would probably be one of the all time best numbers from an AI tour.

I know. I was really looking forward to this. I'm not quite as angry as I was an hour ago, but I'm still very disappointed. This would really have rocked - a lot of talent on display in this team up. Why isn't it just about making a good show? And hey, they want to display the American Idol? Well, he's IN the number! It's not like ARCHIE won the thing!

I say they ought to revolt and do the number anyway! After Cookie sings his "winner's song", Jason and Carly should run out and tear into Barracuda!! The audience would go wild!

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Why isn't it just about making a good show? And hey, they want to display the American Idol? Well, he's IN the number! It's not like ARCHIE won the thing!

You have been to an Idol show right, Abrahammy? Because if you have, you'll have to agree making it a good show is definitely not the top priority in my opinion. Making as much money as possible is what the top priority is and always will be. ... T

They book the shows in the biggest arenas they can fill, charge high ticket prices for decent seats, have a shitty light show, barely adequate sound system, cheap costumes, and 4 musicians that back up the singers. It is about as bare bones as you can get! And don't forget the massive marketing of Idol paraphenalia ad nauseaum, and the goofy ass sponsors dressed up in costume pimping their wares.

Don't get me wrong...despite the low budget nature of the show I saw, some of the top 10 sang their hearts out and put out enjoyable performances and it was fun seeing and hearing them. It is really a pisser when your fav only gets to sing 2 songs and then sings in some group numbers, while you have to sit through some that you are'nt too crazy about. But, I will never support the AI ripoff machine again by going to one of their shows.

But, with all that rant said...this would be a very good year to go to an AI show. The talent was at an all time high. And Michael Johns, Jason, and DC are not too bad on the eyes either!

http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2008-05-25.shtml

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The American Idol finale -- the results show -- was one of the best variety shows I've ever watched. They did a stunning job of bringing us great performers and pairing them with contestants. It was a delight to see David Cook strutting with ZZ Top -- an inspired choice -- and I wish I had a recording of that version of "Sharp-Dressed Man."

Sitting Brooke White down with Graham Nash was a perfect choice. People today seem to have forgotten that at the beginning of the 70s, Crosby, Still, and Nash (with Neil Young added in from time to time) were the monster band. It was the great day of the singer-songwriter, and Brooke White's voice was designed to rekindle the flame of that movement.

We also got a chance to see what the tour performances would look like -- though they included David Hernandez and Amanda Overmeyer, who as the twelfth- and eleventh-place finishers will not be on the top-ten tour.

I've been listening to recordings of the American Idol performances in the week since the final results were announced. It's amazing how quickly my affection for particular performers fades enough that I no longer forgive flaws and weaknesses in the performances.

Now I'm annoyed by Amanda's inability to find and hold a pitch -- when watching her sing, I didn't care because her performances were so passionate. Still -- I'd happily pay to see her perform her kind of music. It would be ludicrous if she were on the tour having to try to sing

Michael Johns has a quaver that only toward the end of his stay on the show did he begin to control. But his tracks are still listenable.

Stage fright transformed Brooke White's live performances into parodies of what she did on the studio recordings -- which is why she wasn't in the finale. However, I'm looking forward to this wonderful voice on many albums in the future, because her studio recordings absolutely hold up.

Kristy Lee Cook always looked just a little out of her depth -- but in her recordings, I find she holds up very well, especially her later songs. I think she'll have a terrific career in country music.

Jason Castro's hyper-mellow performances actually distracted from what he was doing with his voice. Recorded, he is absolutely wonderful.

The fact that it's a visual performance is actually one of the weaknesses of the show. As with Star Search before it, American Idol emphasizes a certain kind of singing precisely because it plays so well on television -- the passionate, full-voice shouting match.

This year, however, it was not all about big voices. The decision to let the performers use instruments to accompany themselves was long overdue. Put Brooke White at a piano or give David Cook a guitar, and they were in hog heaven.

Putting the band onstage for some numbers really worked for Syesha Mercado -- she was at her best when she had someone else to relate to. All in all, this year was the friendliest to performers who are more comfortable with the intimacy of the studio or the small house than in big arenas -- and, when you think about it, that's the decisive element in a recording career.

After all, David Cook was not pleasant to look at when he first arrived on the program. It took a while for him to find the right way to deal with his hair, the right amount of facial hair, and the right costuming to fit the way he sang. It was a great help in our ability to hear his voice and understand what he was actually doing with his music.

Which brings me to David Archuleta. This young man has an amazing vocal instrument, and his smile is so real, so infectious that almost everyone loved him instantly. But he's also young, and so far, he hasn't actually discovered what his own voice is.

All his licks, all his decorations of the melody, are actually standard pop-music stuff. Behind those decorations is a rich tone and an earnestness, an understanding of the songs that would still be there if he dropped the decorations entirely. Which I wish he would do!

Why? Because he had to share a stage with David Cook and the differences showed. The judges often talked about "making a song your own" and "being memorable," but there are two ways of doing that.

David Archuleta made every song fundamentally the same. It was his style -- but all the obvious elements of that style were from the standard pop sound. This was never clearer than in his duet with One Republic. He needed to adapt in order to sound good with this singer -- and he couldn't. He could only do that pop sound.

If he had been covering the song alone, Archuleta's version would have been terrific -- a different take on the music. But singing it with the original performer, he needed to adapt his style, to work with his partner, and he didn't know how to do it. Those pop licks are, so far, a crutch that Archuleta hasn't learned to let go of.

David Cook, on the other hand, had no crutches. He could strip his voice of all affectation and sing "Music of the Night" exactly as written -- pure voice. Even when he used pop licks (as on "Eleanor Rigby") he still kept it fairly minimal and sang the song.

Where David Archuleta decorated almost every sustained note, David Cook would find one or two moments where he could change a note so that we felt a powerful surprise that was nevertheless quite satisfying. Archuleta did the same things to every song; David Cook found the secrets inside the songs and exposed them to us in a way that was different every time. Think of those final notes in "Music of the Night," or the unforgettable "Little Sparrow."

Yet even when Cook is at his simplest, his voice is instantly recognizable. He sounds as if he has been through all the trouble in the world. He sounds wise. Which is, of course, absurd when you consider how young he is. And how nice he is, by all reports. But that's the quality he brings to his performances, and it is transcendent.

David Archuleta will grow as he gets older. While he will never read or care about my advice, I'm going to give it anyway: What you already do, you have mastered. To grow, you must do something different. And the first step is to do song after song in which you never decorate a note. You just sing it straight, note for note, as written. This is not a permanent change, but it's important that it be an extended exercise -- that you do it for months. Why? Because that's the only way you'll start to find new ways to freshen and own the songs.

Here's why this matters: It's fine to decorate familiar songs. But when you do all those vocal pyrotechnics, it stops mattering what the actual song is. We found that when Mariah Carey was the "mentor" on the show. Her music exists only to be decorated. Time after time, there was no song there.

Which should have been a complete killer for David Cook, by the way. Yet he took a song that is, lyrically and musically, as shallow as can be -- "Always Be My Baby" -- and, by simplifying it, stripping it, he showed us there were some bones and meat in the thing after all.

Of course, Archuleta can sell a lot of records doing exactly what he does right now. But time will change things. He will go out of fashion; then he will do what Donny Osmond and Ricky Nelson and other young pop singers had to do: He will find out what his grownup voice is.

Meanwhile, David Cook is, quite simply, the best singer American Idol ever produced. He is, right now, already so good that I would like to hear him cover every song that I ever liked, because I think he'd bring something new to it. I mean, I want to hear the David Cook version of the Cat Stevens catalog "Wild World," "Tea for the Tillerman"), the Stephen Sondheim songbook ("Being Alive," "Pretty Women"), everything Carole King wrote that a man can possibly sing, Chico Buarque's "Traffico," Paul Simon's "Homeless" and "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," Marc Cohn's "Walking in Memphis," Bob Seger's "Night Moves," Martin Page's "House of Stone and Light," and I can imagine amazingly insightful performances of seeming fluff like "Up, Up and Away in My Beautiful Balloon," "Muskrat Love" -- even the appalling "Feelin' Groovy" could have a wonderful David Cook version. He could do it slow, making it ironic and sad; he could do it as a pounding rock anthem. It would work -- if David Cook was singing it.

Meanwhile, though, I know for a fact that there are songwriters out there yearning to have David Cook be the first singer of their best new songs. Because his performance will show the real song, not hide it behind production and decoration.

Proof of this is Cook's pre-Idol cd, Analog Heart. It's a noisy-band rocker -- he has had much better arrangements on Idol. But the voice is there, with songs I've never heard before, which he sings with such clarity that I understand every word, and everything behind those words. He can introduce a new song and make it work. (And I forgive him for the ear-destroying final instrumental note on "Let Go." Barely.)

But he has changed on Idol. Working with the arrangers and musicians on the show has greatly broadened him and he has responded by stretching his voice into different avenues. Analog Heart is a very good album, but his post-Idol albums should be better.

Don't think that I'm dissing Archuleta and telling you why Cook needed to win. I honestly didn't care who won and didn't vote during the finale. What Archuleta does, he does brilliantly -- he would have been a perfectly credible winner. The outcome simply didn't matter -- both of them will have recording contracts, hit records, huge audiences, and will make boatloads of money.

Both will be remembered as having been discovered by American Idol but no one will care which of them won, just as it hardly matters that Clay Aiken came in second.

With all the good music recorded on Idol this year, it is absurd to try to choose the single best track, but hey, I'm willing to be absurd. I think the very best performance of any song, period, was David Cook's "Little Sparrow." It's a better song, at core, than "Billy Jean" or "Always Be My Baby" (Dolly Parton, unlike Mariah Carey or Michael Jackson, is a great songwriter).

My second choice for best track would have to be Archuleta singing "You're the Voice." Remember how Simon criticized his song choice? He was crazy. This was the song Archuleta decorated least -- an anthem that he sang almost straight, completely from the heart. It was Archuleta's best, realest performance.

My next choice would have to be Jason Castro singing Sting's "Fragile," which I thought was an absolutely brilliant reinterpretation of a song I already loved. Again, he was disparaged a bit for singing part of it in Spanish. Maybe because I speak Spanish and understood every word, I loved that!

And my final "best-of" pick would have to be from the finale, with songs Cook and Archuleta didn't choose for themselves. I thought Cook's cover of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was moving and beautiful, and Archuleta's cover of Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" was gorgeous.

David Archuleta Concert Canceled Due To American Idol Red Tape
Written by: Doug G. Ware
Email: dware@kutv2.com
Last Update: 8:45 pm

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SALT LAKE CITY - It was a good idea, but apparently organizers just didn't go through proper channels.

Earlier Tuesday, 2News revealed that Murray resident and American Idol runner-up David Archuleta would perform at a "thank you" concert on Friday night at the E Center -- as a token of gratitude for his Utah fans.

Tickets would be sold this week, and the proceeds would go to charity. But as good as that sounds, it apparently didn't mesh with the corporate heads.

Tuesday afternoon, Archuleta's agent -- Roger Widynowski -- said there would be no concert due to contractural obligations between the 17-year-old and American Idol.

On Saturday, Archuleta and several other Idol contestants will begin touring the country as part of the reality show's official summer concerts.

Widynowski did not go into detail as to why Archuleta could not perform at the E Center -- but just said that the Murray High School student simply could not appear at the non-American Idol sanctioned event.

Widynowski said the "thank you" concert would instead be postponed to a later date, which was not set. However, the agent said it would have to wait until the American Idol tour concludes.

Archuleta's father, Jeff, told 2News on Tuesday morning that his son is currently on vacation trying to get some rest. But he gave no indication that there was an issue with Friday's concert -- possibly because he didn't know of any.

Archuleta will, however, perform in Salt Lake City on July 14 when the American Idol tour comes to Utah.

They pulled the entire number. Apparently, the person it was giving too much face time was Carly.

Oh Lordy . What, don't they like Carly now? Carly would kill on Barracuda! What are they afraid of? That all of a sudden people would switch their devotion to Carly and they wouldn't make any money off of her? I find that all so strange.

Too much face time??? If that is the excuse given, I don't buy it. The AI winner certainly didn't have a problem with her singing it, backed up by Jason and himself. I think it has more to do with TPTB control and showing who the boss is. The winner and runner up have the most freedom with the songs and the rest pretty much have to follow what is scripted for them. I think it's a big mistake especially with this group, as most of them already know who they are musically.

To give an example of TPTB control: In the AI5 show, they had Bucky and Kellie singing a duet from Grease rather than a song from the country genre for which their voices are better suited. It was TPTB's choice, not Buck and Kellie's. IMO, the piece did not come across well, but they did the best they could with it.

I was looking forward to hearing Carly sing that. It is not an easy one to do well and I agree with FC that she would have killed on that song

No, it looks like they've got a formula, and they aren't budging. Cook gets 5, Archie gets 4, everybody else gets 3. Period. No getting creative.

Why would anyone want a musical show to be creative?

Jason and his family have posted two videoblogs on his myspace account. He's working very hard to keep communicating with his fans.

That is so sweet!

I can think of a certain AI runner-up I would like to see blog right about now

It's REALLY sweet. It's also very smart. I think Jason has figured out that one of the ways to keep his core fanbase happy is to communicate and keep us in the loop, especially during this dry time when he will have little to show us as they rehearse.

Futhermore, he's communicating en masse in independent statements rather than arguing with individuals. I think I read somewhere that Jason intended to make himself one of the most accessible Idols ever.

Now, that's a squee with a tremble. He was so accessible during his homecoming that I thought, at the end, the crowd was going to suffocate him as they jumped the barriers to touch him. (I did not go there. I was worried and annoyed.) But I do hope that, since I live close to him, I will have lots of opportunities for appropriate fan experiences.

abrahammy wrote:

We just found out that they have pulled one of the planned songs. David C. was going to play guitar while Carly sang Barracuda, and Jason would be on drums.

THEY DECIDED JASON WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE BECAUSE IT WOULD GIVE HIM TOO MUCH ATTENTION.....!

WHAT?????????????? I have to find out what this is all about....

Sooner overreacted. They pulled the song because they want everybody to have a very exact and set number of songs. Carly and Jason get exactly three and Cook gets exactly five. No collaborations of any kind allowed at all. Duets are OK, but only if both members of the duet accept that they will each lose a solo number to do the duet.

This will make for a highly creative show full of really fresh, interesting song choices with the cast doing exciting, unexpected things that really keep us all guessing and interested, I'm sure. It will all start with three straight songs by Chickeze followed by three straight songs by Ramiele, a nice Michael Johns oasis, and then three straight songs by Kristy Lee Cook. By this time, Carly will come out to bring the place to life and wonder where the audience went.

I guess I could just show up for the second half, because the beginning of that first half is an awfully long potty break.

I knew it wasn't because TPTB where afraid of Jason getting too much attention. I knew that was fan/fans over reacting. I know this because of Clay fandom

I do think the 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,4,5 song set is BORING! But you know Abrahammy, they may not go in order. I remember when Con sang 3rd and the fans were all upset about that. So maybe they will mix up the order of the show. Not Archie or DC of course, but maybe the earlier performances.

But this is a good group and I wouldn't need to take too many potty breaks. Syesha would be my break

It is too bad that with such a talented group they couldn't have let them really put on new and different kind of tour compared to the previous years. I still think it will be a great show though! You are so lucky to be going!!

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I do think the 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,4,5 song set is BORING! But you know Abrahammy, they may not go in order. I remember when Con sang 3rd and the fans were all upset about that.

Well, now, as I contemplate the prospect of six Chickeze/Rami songs back to back, and then Michael has to come on to wake everybody up, I finally begin to understand why they made Constantine follow Anwar. Say what you like about the man's character, but he DID restore the pulse to a comatose building, and that is no lie.

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You are so lucky to be going!!

Mental note: Take extra Cookie notes for Firecracker.

Yes!! Lots of extra notes about Cookie!! Thanks! When is your concert?

I will agree that Con brought the crowd alive. I'm sure Anwar had everybody snoring

Hey everyone! I haven't seen you guys in sooo long! I am on the David Cook love train of course! A rocker finally won! Someone I was for from day one finally won. Unbelievable! I love David Cook! WOOT!

Hi SB, are you still following Daughtry? He's still tracking in the top 50 each week. How's that for longevity!

SB!!!! YAY!

We are finally in love with the same Idol!!!

Please come into my DC thread!! *staples SB to the board*

He is soooo awesome!!

Are you going to any shows? (like I have to ask )

How are you? How was your class this year? What big plans do you have for your summer off? Have you and Marty gotten married yet?

Stay with us girlfriend!

Daughtry is AMAZING! I have seen him 5 times and met him twice. I love him so much! He rocks my socks. He has accomplished so much. He has almost sold 5 million albums! He is the real winner. No doubt! That is my man. Marty is joining the LA Guns. He is the new lead singer. He is recording a real album with them now and is going on tour starting in late June. Lovehammer fans aren't happy but I am. He wrote the whole album for the LA Guns. I love the new song I heard. I am happy for him. He was getting stuck in a rut and he seems so happy now.

Now DavidOMG!Cook..I was for him from the get go and I never thought he would win because we all know whoever I am for has NEVER won the actual show. But....AT LAST! I cried tears of joy. He is so amazing! I can't wait to see him live! He is super sexy! Loves him! I am on the love train for sure!

Yes, DC is sexy as hell!

Aerwin told me about Marty and his new band.

Cool you met Daughtry. I like some of their songs. Still haven't broke down and bought the CD. Maybe one of these days.