« March 2008 | Main | May 2008 »
Neil Diamond just sang "pretty amazing grace"... After Dolly with Jesus and Gravity, and of course, Shout to the Lord (twice!)When will it end? Or will it?
I keep waiting for Ryan to fall to his knees a la Bruce Almighty and scream out "I Surrender!"
Eric Bramlett www.ericseddyfications.typepad.com www.communitychristian.org
Neil Diamond is representing as the top five try to warble his songs... Here are my quick thoughts on these yokels...
Jason - forever in blue jeans - snooze, this is not singing, this is rhythmic muttering. And not particularly rhythmic.
David C - I'm Alive - I wish I could like this guy. He is sooooo almost.
Brooke - I'm a Believer - Tooo loowww... Care to start over in a new key Brooke?
David A - Sweet Caroline - He's flat. but this is the best I've seen him out of his ballad element. But is it enough?
Syesha - Hello Again - It's too bad she's too boring, because if she could break through the boring barrier she'd win this thing. Put on your shoes lady.
Jason - September Morn - September Bore.
David C - All I Really Need Is You - There's a reason that no one knows this song.
Brooke - I Am I Said - This is better for her, but Neil gave her bad advice to change the lyric to Arizona.
David A - America - He knows his constituency baby... This is a really weird choice of cuts and key changes from the song - I don't think he knew enough about music to choose how to do a minute and a half of it... But it was still a great version of going beyond the ballad...
Syesha - Thank the Lord for the Nighttime - There is a personality cloak that is keeping her real self from breaking through - and I think the cloak is hiding her shoes...
Them's my thoughts... is Simon right? Is Syesha going home? Has Paula finally perfected time travel?
Remember when 2.79 a gallon for gas was shocking? Wasn't that long ago, right?
I now see 3.79 by my house and I'm not phased at all. Whassamaattermee?
Eric Bramlett www.ericseddyfications.typepad.com www.communitychristian.org
Today is my son Dillon's birthday, and for his seventh, I took him to see Blue Man Group. As you can see from this picture, he totally loved it. And of course, I did too! Happy Birthday Dillon!
He called John Lennon a poet tonight. I got to meet Rick Warren as Newthing was hosting a gathering for church planters as part of the Exponential Conference. He said a lot about church planting, but whenever I come across "celebrity" types, I always ask them who their favorite Beatle was and why. He picked Lennon without hesitation. Nice pick. I'm currently a Harrison fan.
Here I am in Orlando, and I realized half-way through the hour that American Idol was on in my hotel room – so I guess I’ve been busy with this whole conference thingee. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the contestants I saw, and I’ll offer more thoughts when I get to watch the ones I missed on youtube later tonight.
David A: Think of Me. I like this arrangement, and if ALW can convince him to open his eyes, well then I’d be amazed. But he was still a bit squinty. Tailor-made for him I’m afraid.
Carlee: Jesus Christ Superstar: Well, Jesus made his way back into the American Idol – this is the best that she has sounded in weeks. Could she make a comeback or is the damage done?
David C: Darn Good. I knew his rocker thing wasn’t real. He’s a musical theatre baby! Get that man a top hat and a cane!
Okay, with the first three, I am using the “recap” to form my opinions… here goes…
Syesha: Liked it – looked like she was having fun.
Jason: Whiny and unintelligible
Brooke: Not bad, but I really want to see the restart.
I'm in Orlando getting ready to produce the Exponential Conference. It's a rock and roll thrill ride for church planters, and as the producer and chief creative type for the main sessions, I get to make some funny videos and then get the heck out of the way for some heavy hitter speakers. We're talking A-list baby: Alan Hirsch, whose accent is enough to get him straight to the top, Andy Stanley, who quarterly shames me into spending more time with my family through his podcasts, Rick Warren, who made a googillion dollars and gave it all away, Tim Keller, whose brain is biggerish and smarterish than most of us, and Dave Ferguson, who is the president of this thing. What does a president do at an Exponential Conference? I'm sure he'll be blogging all about what hard decisions he's making as a president of a conference. Me, I'll be working on my material as I am co-hosting with another heavy hitter, Efrem Smith. Good stuff baby. More to come...
But I'm not ready to do that yet. So here's my rant on the top seven tonight, featuring Mariah Carey as the guest mentor.
Here are my quick thoughts, as concise as possible, since I took in the Cubs game tonight and am doing this at a ridiculously late hour (Cubs Win!) - but that's my level of commitment to you, whoever you are, who insist on reading this rant in a timely fashion...
David A: I just think that he is lacking the spark needed to take him beyond his age. He had it a few weeks ago but it's not there tonight.
Carlee: Can't say that I was moved, but she showed some rebound from "angry carlee" from the last two weeks.
Syesha: She's borrowed some of Kristy Lee's sparkles... I was impressed with her work tonight.
Brooke: More sparkles... what will Kristy wear? Boring first verse. Sorry, don't get her. Why come to practice with the guitar and then play the piano? I think she has control issues.
Kristy Lee: In a weird way I'm kind of rooting for this girl - she's weathered quite a few storms over these weeks and is still standing. But this performance will not help her I'm afraid.
David C: Arrangement Idol continues, and I could not be less interested in whatever emo-ish destruction of a pop song he will do... This did not work for me dog.
Jason: He just doesn't have the chops, does he? Every time he seems like he's gonna try to belt out a note or a moment, he pulls back and turns it into a falsetto moment instead. Boo.
I'm tired. and didn't see anything tonight that made me think, "yeah, glad I stayed up tonight." Maybe it's time to give up AI. Or maybe I just can't stand Mariah. We'll see. Ain't taking it off my Tivo yet... Bramlett out.
Enjoy the espanol! Here's part three of our series video for "Losing my Religion"...
Here we go again. This week's American Idol gets an extra day as Idol gives back tomorrow night. But tonight, Inspirational Songs is the theme. Let's give back and get from eight to seven!
Michael - Dream On - Yeah baby - hit those high notes and make em bleed. Love it.
Syesha - I Believe - Did she learn any lesson from trying to imitate Whitney? Now she's going to try to imitate Fantasia?
Jason - Somewhere over the Rainbow - Seriously? This guy must be cute because he's gonna stay in the competition by sitting on a stool with a ukelele and butchering one of the great songs of our day. (even if he stole the arrangement)
Kristy - Anyway - They'll love me if I'm glittery! ...Won't they? Anyway?
David C - Innocent - He's gonna get murdered for doing this song that NO ONE has ever heard before. I'm not sure I heard a song in there even after he was done.
Carly - The Show Must Go On - Pat Benatar wants her outfit back. Freddie wants his song back. I thought it was an eighties train wreck, and I loved the eighties.
David A - Angels - Hasn't he run out of inspirational songs to select? He doesn't know how to not do one. Good off the beaten path choice.
Brooke - You've Got a Friend - She needs a friend to tell her not to wear the drapes as a dress again... Clap clap clap-clap-clap - let's-go-Bo-Ring. (and if you won't be her friend, she'll stalk you until you come around, crying the whole time as she strangles you with the piano strings she ripped out with her fingers... while singing that song...fade to black)
Random Notes: Michael needs to take the note. It's one thing to get into it with Simon, but Randy? Syesha - any song written specifically for American Idol is automatically disqualified from the "Inspirational" category... I think the fact that the judges are bored with Syesha is indicting of them being bored with their own formula. Syesha is playing the part as well as anyone could, and they can't figure out why they don't like it. For them to the turn right around and give Jason props for imitating that version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow proves that this is becoming an "arrangement" competition, and not a "singing" competition. Pretend that it doesn't matter, but when Simon compliments you (Kristy Lee), you feel good! Why? Because when he critiques, he's right 90% of the time. David C wrote on his hand and I feel dirty inside. Who does he think he is, Prince?
