Rosado's Recaps-American Idol - The Cultute of Pop, DVD, Movie, TV, Pop Culture Review

Rosado's Recaps-American Idol

Posted: Thu, 7 Apr 2011 16:57:56 PDT

                                        Fox

Week Of April 6th, 2011

PRELUDE

Scene: Jeffrey is about to perform a concert before a packed house filled with luminaries and TCOP faithful...mostly screaming groupies resembling the likes of Dana Delany,Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, Jillian Harris, Cheryl Burke and Kym Johnson amongst others..

(Subliminal hint ladies, if you're reading by chance..)

Attempting to pause for the fracas to die down without success, Jeffrey has no choice but to kick off the opening number...He turns back to the band, conducting them with the neck of his guitar, indicating to them to follow his lead...

Jeffrey: Well it's a one for the money...

(the band follows with a call and response type musical shuffle....Jeff pauses to milk all those screams for cent they're worth (= more potential souvenir t-shirt and concert program sales, post concert).

Jeffrey: Two for the show....(more screams as Jeffrey playfully sneers, then gives a “for me?” look toward the crowd)...

Jeffrey: Three to get ready and go, blog, go...buuuu-whaaaat? (Jeffrey is then handed a computer keyboard to a chorus of boos!)

Cut to Jeff waking up on his couch....

Jeffrey: Ahhh... (catches his breath.....) Well, at least I have an opening for my American Idol column this week...

That was my Scotty McCreery fantasy, folks....Happy first full week of April love to you my Idol readers...and that's about as mellow as I'll get...for this is Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Week! Yep, the same bunch of folks who took forever to put The Dave Clark Five in, still hasn't put KISS, Cheap Trick, The Monkees, Paul Revere and The Raiders, RUSH and Chicago up for serious consideration, and they waited until Neil Diamond reached AARP status before they handed him the golden ticket (and free admission)!

Usually, this is where I say something witty like, “But I'm not bitter”, because I'm still upset at these snubs...and later on this summer, I am waging a major, major campaign with fans and supporters of the 10 most deserving artists for the Hall and putting a presentation on line for all to see...including one group championed by one of my broadcast heroes by the name of David Letterman: Paul Shaffer and The CBS Orchestra. For years, they have been the house band for the Rock Hall ceremonies, and although the food and pay must be good, how about honoring these guys and gal for superbly backing musical legends so expertly? In fact, without offense, and apologies to Ray Chew and the Idol Band, this is the group that should have been backing those 9 kids last night.

Anyway, that all just came out, folks...thanks for indulging...and here recapping we go!

Jacob: So crucial a performance for this once steady contestant who seemed poised to become a modern day James Brown...instead Jacob became almost a parody of himself. But to me, that changed this week with his cover of Michael Jackson's Man In The Mirror. Lusk was refreshingly subdued, had great harmonies with his onstage back up vocalist, did great with his vocal control...and in the end? Best I've heard Jacob sound in weeks.

Jeff's Grade: B+

Haley: For weeks, the judges have been needling her to get a little rockier, but God I hope not in the rockier way that she handled Bennie and the Jets last week (although it didn't sound half as bad when watching it on You Tube...and yes, I did have the sound up). But whaddya' know, her cover of Janis Joplin's Piece Of My Heart was pretty darn good. A little too growly at times, but the energy and passion was there, and this is the Haley I wanna see more of in weeks to come...If she can find out who she is as an artist and put more of Haley into her song choices (like she did midway thru Piece when she went from imitator to interpreter), she might become a serious contender for the last female standing.

Jeff's Grade: B

Casey: All I can say is thank GOD (!) he didn't cover Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, which would have been such an ill-fit...besides, I'm still getting over Andy Gibb's cover of it on Solid Gold many moons ago: (Eh-eh-eh-eh very little thing she does is mah-gick).

Instead, he picks a true favorite of mine from the catalog of Creedence Clearwater Revival: Have You Ever Seen The Rain...and bringing out that stand-up bass again; yes!

Sparse arrangement was terrific and this was one case where the “Crazy Casey” growl actually WORKED. Like Haley and Jacob, best he's been in weeks...

Jeff's Grade: A-

Lauren: For starters, Lauren? If you're reading? Don't let them beehive you, sweetie...That's all...Well, actually there's more, but I don't think it's gonna make you give me that awesome Alaina smile...but I gotta play Cowell, here. To be bluntly honest, I was beyond bored until that key change in the middle came in and woke me up...and even then, it needed more power and commitment...and I know Lauren is beyond capable. Like Randy, I wasn't “jumpin' up and down”, but I wasn't blown away as previous performances.

Still I'm gonna be kind to this sweet Georgia girl in the end and give her a passing grade of..

Jeff's Grade: B-

James: A lot of Idol watchers, and even some so called Durbinators, gave James a lot of flack for performing this change of pace number on Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Night of all nights....But you know what? If you think about it, James may have thought, Hey, I gave a RARHOF caliber performance last week with Saturday Night's Alright For Fightin'..and how can I possibly follow that up?The answer? A wonderfully sweet, heartfelt Beatles tune written by the amazing George Harrison for the legendary White Album...and like a true Fab fan, he performed an arrangement very similar to the LOVE version...and I thought it was superb...Granted, it wasn't a grand slam like last week, and that's only because James hasn't performed any ballads to this point...and he needs to work more on singing from his heart than being concerned at playing to the camera. But otherwise, good on ya, Durbin!

Jeff's Grade: B+

Scotty: In my best Lucy Van Pelt voice (Peanuts): No, no, no! Okay, Lucy mode off before it gets annoying...but seriously, Scotty? Wrong, wrong, wrong approach..and I feel bad because I'm a fellow Elvis fan and a big fan of yours, too, but you didn't need to gallivant like you had a train to catch! Honestly, if Colonel Parker had creative control of the legendary Singer Presents Elvis TV special (aka the '68 Comeback Special), I've no doubt Scotty's performance is what it would have looked like. In the end, it looked more like Wayne Newton on a bad night.

Jeff's Grade: C-

Pia: Ms. Toscano, did you cherry pick a gem of a rocker for your uptempo coming out party or what? Maybe now people will not only pick up your version, but the original Tina Turner version of River Deep, Mountain High (although the arrangement reminded me of Harry Nilsson's equally brilliant cover)....I don't think I've heard Pia sound better or more majestic...and I wanna hear more of this devil inside...she's got a head start with that killer fashion ensemble that was almost dominatrix in nature (but hey folks, don't get the wrong idea...if not for spell check, I wouldn't be able to spell the damn word).

Jeff's Grade: A-

Stefano: As a citizen of the state the great Percy Sledge hails from, I have to play the honesty card yet again...Stefano's version of When A Man Loves A Woman? Makes Michael Bolton's horrendous cover seem dipped in biscuits 'n' gravy by comparison.

Jeff's Grade: D+

Paul: Now, here's an example of where Scotty and Stefano went wrong...You don't wanna overshoot the original arrangement of a song you're covering, but simultaneously, you gotta make it your own, too. Paul did this brilliantly on an amped up Johnny Cash classic by way of a vintage George Jones with the Stray Cats sittin' in approach that was rockabilly and punk at the same time...Hey, punkbilly, you might say...and I absoultely loved it! Best performance of the night! (WHOOOOOOOO!)

Somewhere Johnny and June were diggin' it...

Okay, I've been errant in giving my bottom three picks in weeks past, so leaving my grades out of the equation, they are:

Stefano, Lauren, Jacob (possibly due to his post performance “mirror” comment that may have not won him any converts, unfortunately).

The three I think have gone as far as possible?: Stefano, Scotty and Jacob.

Don't forget to subscribe to the blog and podcast for Friday's post results show podcast...until then, amigos....

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