That's What I'm Thinking

This week the contestants performed original songs. For the most part, I have to say they weren't very original.  Most of them would have blended in with top 40 country radio, which to some might not be a bad thing, but to me, I think the songs need to really stand out and be different.

Coffey - sang "Southern Man". I think he listened to David Allen Coe's "You Never Called Me By My Name" when he wrote this - he mentioned fishing, trucks, and cowboy hats.  Still using way too much vibrato; rapped instead of sang.  The words were country but it wasn't a country song.
Melissa Lawson - sang "Ready To Stand". Catchy tune; sang with confidence; made me feel the song; great vocals - stayed on pitch; sang with power and control. I would pay $1.99 to download this from iTunes.  Would work great on country radio.
Gabe Garcia - sang "Lost Weekend". Catchy tune; an identifiable and believable song; would be awesome on country radio; great vocals and great lyrics; sang with confidence.  Great stage performance.  I would also pay $1.99 to download this from iTunes.
Ashlee Hewitt - sang "Mike's Hard Lemonade". Still sounds like Taylor Swift. My ears shut down after the first verse; couldn't understand some of the words - enunciated a bit too much; the yodeling was pitiful.
Shawn Meyer - sang "I'm Not Looking Back".  Vocals were too breathy; the lyrics were too cliche.  Major pitch problems and not very clear enunciation; sounded like practically every other song you hear on country radio; the song just didn't stand out.

Ashlee Hewitt and Shawn Meyer were in the bottom two this week, and as much as I was hoping they'd get rid of both of them tonight, only one,  Ashlee Hewitt got the boot. 

This week's Performance That Made My Ear Bleed was not from the five contestants, but from judge Jewel.  After hearing the first few lines from "You Were Meant For Me" I hit the mute button on the remote until she was finished singing. 

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We experiened some "issues" this weekend with the Beemah, namely, it didn't start yesterday morning when I attempted to drive it to Wal-Mart.  We quickly deducted that the battery was dead since I hadn't driven it in over a month, so we decided to just hook up the battery charger to it and then away we go. Not so easy.  I looked at the owner's manual, and discovered that the battery is underneath the driver's side back seat.  No problem.  I found a knob that unhooked the seat and lifted it off to in deed find the battery. I consulted the owner's manual once again, and it said to recharge the battery without taking the battery out, one needed to hook up the battery charging cables to the "remote posts" by the engine bulkhead.  Ohkayyyyy.  That sure narrowed it down.  So I did what anyone would do -- I got online and did a Google search.  Lo and behold, I found a site with a diagram of where the remote posts were and in about an hour the battery was charged up and I was back in business.  But I owe it all to the site that helped me, Howdini.  Please check them out at http://howdini.com and find out how to do just about anything you want.  This site definitely gets the TWIT Seal Of Approval.

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I slept in a bit this morning, but managed to get out of bed and hit the bike trail by 10:00 this morning before it got too hot.  It was still pretty warm, but it wasn't a bad ride.  It was fairly pleasant - I was listening to the "Pure Funk" album on my MP3 player as I peddaled along.  I always try to look ahead in case there's any tree limbs or foreign objects on the path that I need to avoid.  Today, I spotted some things that made me go "hmmm".  On the 9 mile round trip today, I spotted three ink pens.  One pen might not be odd, considering there has been some work going on along the road that runs parallel to the bike trail and maybe a worker dropped their pen.  But three?  And they were spaced about a mile or more apart.  Now, when I ride, I normally don't carry a pen with me in my little bike pack, and I can't really imagine why a bike rider would need a pen with them, either.  So I don't really think they fell out of the pocket or pack of a bicyclist.  I just don't have an explanation for this one. I also saw an almost-full bottle of Pepto Bismal this morning - only it was out in the road and not on the path.  I bet someone really missed that when they got home. 

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We're not quite at the drought stage yet like we were this time last summer, but we sure haven't had much rain lately.  Yet something made me think of the very cool bubble umbrella from back in the day.  Before we go any further, let me just say that like the Merlin game, I never had a bubble umbrella.  And also like the Merlin game, I always wanted one.

The bubble umbrellas were very cool, and very popular.  Here's a quote from a faithful reader about their bubble umbrella: "The great thing about the bubble umbrella was that you could pull it down over your head and shoulders and still see where you were going because it was clear.  The thing about it was that the rain would run down and really drip onto your feet.  I loved my bubble umbrella; it had flowers on it.  A girl here at work recently bought a home over in Germantown and found one in the attic.  It was true retro; very cool." 

Like I said, the bubble umbrellas were very popular.  You would see them all over the place on rainy days. They were frequently used by kids standing at the bus stop.  Though I never saw too many adults using them, though.  But the kids loved them.  Like I said, I never had one, even though I wanted one.  Mom and Grandma never told me why they wouldn't buy me one, either.  Their response was always "You've already got a good umbrella - you don't need another one."  And I believed them.

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This week was "love song" week - the contestants were supposed to sing a love song.  The key word in the previous sentence is "supposed". 

Ashley Hewitt - sang "Cowboy Take Me Away" by the Dixie Chicks. Still talked through the song instead of singing; still sounded like Taylor Swift, but by the end of the song sounded like the judge Jewel; major pitch problems; screamed the power notes instead of singing.
Gabe Garcia - sang "Must Be Doing Something Right" by Billy Currington. Great vocals and vocal control as usual; great control on the high notes and falsetto; smiled more this week; best performance of the week. Is already a polished and solid performer.
Coffey - sang 'It's Your Love" by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Weak vocals; still too much vibrato - sounded like a billy goat; sang too soft with no power; needs to buck up and not be overly emotional when singing; major pitch problems; looked and acted too mechanical.
Melissa Lawson - sang "My Baby Loves Me" by Martina McBride. Great vocals and vocal control; good movement around on the stage; good arrangement; sang with a tad too much power - slightly oversang the song.
Laura & Sophie - sang "Picture To Burn" by Taylor Swift. Weak vocals; major pitch problems; harmonies were way off. The on stage choreography needs to go; only positive thing I can say about the performance was their outfits and hairstyles were more mature.  Worst performance of the week.
Shawn Meyer - sang "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood. Sounded like a karaoke performance. Stayed on pitch but the performance was very cheesy; slurred the notes too much; crowd loved it but I didn't - performance was too mechanical and too karaoke.

Laura & Sophie and Shawn Meyer were in the bottom two this week, with Laura & Sophie getting the boot.  For their sakes, I was glad they got voted off so they wouldn't have to endure John Rich and Jewel tearing them to shreds like they did tonight.  I normally agree with Jewel's comments, but tonight she was way out of line. John Rich asked one of the girls why she rolled their eyes at Jewel last week. The girl said she didn't remember rolling her eyes. Jewel said she wasn't sure what was going on and thought maybe she was having a siezure or something.  I could not breathe when I heard that comment made on national television.  Jewel owes an on-the-air apology for that. I was going to go out and buy Jewel's new CD, but after hearing that, I'll save my money. 

I could really identify with Laura and Sophie, and up until last week, I kinda liked them. I was just like them as a young teenager - singing at church and in local shows with a friend from church.  I'm hoping they won't get discouraged and will continue to polish their vocals, because as their vocals develop and as they mature, they have the ability to become a great duet. 

Coffey and Shawn Meyer's performances this week made me want to change the channel, but the Performance That Made My Ears Bleed was the Taylor Swift wannabe Ashley Hewitt.  I know I'm critical in my reviews, but let's be real - does country music really need another little blonde singer - especially one that sounds like Taylor Swift? I don't think so. Even when they sang the pop songs, she still sounded like Taylor Swift.  And I cringe when Billy Ray Cyrus or the lady announcer interviews her - when she talks it sounds like she has a mouth full of marbles.  And her singing isn't much better.

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I had just gotten out of the bathtub last night and was soaking wet when I heard the words that would soon change our lives forever - "Can you come see what's wrong with the TV."  I dried off as fast as I could and threw on some clothes and shuffled to the family room to assess the damage.  It wasn't pretty, let me tell you.  The screen was black except for about a quarter inch wide strip going across the middle of the screen.  I'm guessing that was the extent of the picture.  I went back to the living room to check the TV in here, in case it was some weird cable problem going on, but of course the TV picture was fine.  The inevitable had finally happend:  the old Magnavox console TV set had finally crapped out. 

We'd been talking for a few months about buying a new flat screen LCD TV, so instead of the new TV purchase being later, it looks like it's now going to be sooner.  But hi-def TV shopping would have to wait till later, because there was another pressing matter that had to be taken care of first:  I had to disconnect the TV in the living room and lug it to the family room and hook it back up so they could watch the All Star game.  Fortunately for me, that took less than five minutes; actually it took me longer to find a flashlight so I could see behind the TV then it did to get it set up in the family room.  Even though the screen was smaller (they were watching a 19 inch set) at least they had something to watch. 

This Saturday morning, we're planning on visiting a few stores to start our shopping process.  We're leaning toward a 42 inch Vizio LCD TV. I'm sure Susan Lucci will be almost life-like on the big screen. 

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I think I'm getting one and wearing it to work everyday.

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