American Idol Finale

Gosh, I still have my "american idol" blog tag! I can use it today. Nice.

Haven't watched Idol regularly since season 8, after which the original judges began leaving the show, but it was our family TV show for years. It was fun to watch the series finale last night.

I remember vividly when Kelly Clarkson won Season 1, how beyond ecstatic she was, singing and crying. We were so happy for her. We also liked Nikki McKibbin that season, and of course Justin Guarini. Lauren was just the right age to become obsessed with the From Justin to Kelly movie soon after.

From here


To here


Season 2 (Clay/Ruben) we watched sporadically, for some reason.

Season 3- We always thought Fantasia had way too much attitude, talking back to the judges. Diana Degarmo and Jennifer Hudson were our faves.

Season 4- We really enjoyed Constantine Maroulis and we would mimic the sexy faces he always made to the camera. So funny, but he was really good. Carrie Underwood was always an exceptional singer, but she was quiet, which just led me to think she thought she was better than everyone. Later, when her mom commented that she was more comfortable with the farm animals than she was with people, I realized she was actually just shy rather than arrogant. I don't know if winning Idol gave her the confidence boost she needed to come out of her shell, or they gave her some sort of classes on being a country star or what, but she was extremely outgoing and personable not too long after the show. We've seen her live twice, and she is incredible!

Bo Bice looked fantastic last night! Love the short hair on him. The most memorable performance that season for me was this one...



Season 5 was Chris Daughtry season. We were FLABBERGASTED when he was voted off during the top 4 show. It was beyond crazy. Kellie Pickler was hilarious and really good. We liked Elliott Yamin, too. Chris Daughtry should have won!



Season 6- I'm fuzzy on this season, but I know we liked Melinda Doolittle and we were always confused when Sanjaya kept making it through from week to week. Jordin is great.

Season 7- David Cook season, baby. He is so good! I've seen him a couple of times live. I have no idea why he isn't a bigger force in the biz. His voice is amazing. We also liked Jason Castro and David Archuleta.

My favorite performances of the season:






Then there was... musical!DavidCook. Again, here's a rock guy who always did his own thing with songs on the show. I figured this would be the same, but he did it Broadway style.



Season 8- Loved Adam Lambert, but my feeling was always that his performance style was better suited for Broadway, rather than as a pop singer. We liked all rest of the top five as well- Kris Allen, Allison Iraheta, Danny Gokey and Matt Gireaud.

Thanks for the memories, AI!

Read more...

Music of the Night

Random, but I've been thinking today about one of my favorite all-time moments on American Idol. David Cook was our fave that season (2008). He had made a name for himself at this point, taking songs and putting new spins on them. Most of all, he was a rock guy. When it was musical theater night, we were certain he was going to do something amazing and rock out a famous musical song.

Instead, he did this:



Dude. We were SO shocked and impressed!!

(Even wrote a little note about it on the old blog.)

Read more...

OK, I Won't Call This Post "Monday"

Remember when I used to try to title every blog post with the name of or lyrics from a song? Good times. Now I've become a blog slacker and the days of the week will have to do in a pinch.

David Cook's new CD is finally coming out June 28. Here is a fantastic vid of him performing the first single, "The Last Goodbye," with the very talented (and famous) fifth grade PS22 Chorus from Staten Island. I LOVE this!



Song Lyrics du Jour

...I wonder if he holds you like I did
I hope that he can love you better
Cause we were everything that's right... at the wrong time...

David Cook "The Last Goodbye"


Meet Me On Monday

1.  What is your favorite yogurt flavor?
peach

2.  Ankle or knee socks? And on the same theme, white socks or coloured??
no-show socks... white unless I have the perfect color to match the outfit... although since they're no-show, what am I trying to prove with that?

3.  How is the weather right now?
hot as all get-out... over 100 most days. We're having a drought, too.

4.  Are you a fast typer?
pretty fast. I'm NOT a fast texter... yet. Working on it.

5.  Red or White Wine?
red

Read more...

Saturday 9 on Sunday

Just to clarify, the shirt Jaxon tossed on stage at Lady GaGa's show was one he made himself. The kid is a talented artiste, planning to go to art school.

Yesterday Pedro was working cameras for a multi-band concert and met Jason Castro. Pretty awesome!

Angel is always meeting some big musical act. The girl is laid up post-surgery right now, but will no doubt be visited at home by Chris Daughtry or Rob Thomas. Or No Doubt.

Went on a triple-date last night with Jim & Carla and Scott & Julie. It was a great time at Austin Pizza Garden! Love that place!

Saturday 9: Sweet Soul Music

1. Do you listen to music at work, and if so, do you use a mp3 player, play it through your office computer, or do you listen to it collectively via a separate radio you keep nearby?
There is a radio in the workroom by my desk. I listen to that if I'm in there for any reasonable length of time- which is rare. When working at home, I listen to music on my computer.

2. Tell us something about people that you absolutely hate.
uncompromising partisanship

3. What is something someone has done that you'd like the world to know about?
Lauren runs the two-year-olds class at church, and she is fantastic with the kids. Last weekend she even ate very well-intentioned offers of spitty Goldfish crackers from several little hands. She'll be a great mommy someday!

4. Where is your favorite place to sit when at home?
Snuggled up in the corner of the sectional in the living room

5. How did you come up with the title of your blog?
it's a line from Duran Duran's song "New Religion" and a nice, bloggy phrase for this space where I can say pretty much anything

6. Tell us about the one who got away.
He didn't get away! Mwahaha!

7. Have you ever had a big birthday party?
Super-huge, "rent a space" big? Nope.

8. What was the biggest bash you've ever attended?
AMD's company party with Richard Marx playing at our Austin venue (the Erwin Center) and Rod Stewart live via satellite from Sunnyvale. AMD's heyday!

9. With my kids and an always changing life, I find myself sometimes unable to focus! Do you have that problem, too?
Maybe that's what's happening with me right now! I am constantly remembering something I need to do or something I need to add to a list, etc. I'm afraid I'm going to miss an appointment, which is totally unlike me.

Read more...

Happy Birthday Laura!!

Is it just me, or are you guys afraid that one day you'll type a search into your status bar in Facebook and press 'Share' before you realize what you typed in the wrong space? Then your status will be "Mary Beth Schubert" or "Daughtry" or some other randomness. I'm telling you, those two boxes are way too close together.

Speaking of Daughtry (oh! a segue!)... They were evidently on Idol last night singing "September." I caught it this morning on YouTube. He really should have won his season. We haven't watched AI this year, so I have no clue what's going on there. I'm pretty sure my Idol disengagement has thrown the universe out of alignment.

We saw Idol winner Carrie Underwood last night at the Erwin Center. (Seamless blog subject transition #2. Thanks.) She always puts on a beauuuutiful show. One of my favorite moments was at the end of "Jesus Take the Wheel" when she broke into an amazing rendition of "How Great Thou Art." Very moving. She has a flawless voice. She has this fantastic electronic dress... hold on. You HAVE to see it...



I don't think it's actually electronic. It looks like metal mesh and they're somehow projecting the images onto it. Super cool. Great song, too.

Sons of Sylvia were really good. Mostly rock with just a tad of country sprinkled in. Craig Morgan is heavy-duty country, which is great if you like that sort of thing. Lauren happened to see me text Laura "Craig Morgan is too country for me." Not five minutes later, Craig Morgan says, "Is this country enough for you??!!!" We were cracking up. "This ain't that bubble-gum country!" he adds. (...like Carrie Underwood?? Heh.)

I'm a bubblegum-country sort of girl myself. One of the only styles of music I don't care for is "real" country. If it hasn't crossed over to another radio format, I definitely haven't heard it. Brad Paisley is the absolute borderline of country music I like. I appreciate a few of the neat stories some traditional country songs tell, or any lyrics that make me giggle. It's the sound of those twangy instruments and the nasal voice tone I can't take. And any songs about tractors.

The Bloggess has an item for bid on eBay. ROFL. Did I mention how much I am enjoying her blog? She's from Pearland. How awesome is that. (I had to end my post with a random comment, or you'd think someone had hacked this thing.)

Read more...

8 Days 'Til Spring Break

This is Zachry (in honor of the Zachry Engineering Center at A&M). He's the baby I made with George Clooney at makemebabies.com. (They supposedly morph your photos together.) Cute, ain't he? I dunno. He looks like trouble.

So Ali is the new "Bachelorette." I'll watch that. I liked her.

Big hubbub at Facebook over the turning off of app notifications last Monday at 10am PST. (Thank God. It's long overdue, in my opinion.) There is even an article about how developers' traffic has dropped off significantly. But I still see the notifications! Most people don't. How is that? I should stop trying to figure out Facebook issues.

CJ had a second interview yesterday for the job she really really wants! She thinks she did well! WOOHOO!!

We watched part of this week's men's episode of AI. I still like Big Mike. Most viewers are complaining that American Idol is sucking this year. I always think the contestants suck during Top 24. To me, there are a maximum of 5 that are worthy of serious attention during each season. There's also always that one person of mediocre talent but who has another hook of some sort, like he's hot or she's got a great "story," who keeps staying on week after week. Right when you're about to stop watching because it's so ridiculous, that person gets voted off. As usual, I say, wake me when it's Top 10.

Read more...

Pants on the Ground

I am highly amused that half my friends' retro Facebook profile photos belong to me. Yeah, it just means I am the only one of them to have scanned and uploaded those suckers. Or maybe I just take the most awesome photos. Heh.

Brett Favre singing "Pants on the Ground" after the Dallas game about killed me. "Hat to the side... Hat to the side..." LO-freakin-L. You cannot escape "American Idol." Can't be done.

I went to Discount Tire at Slaughter and Manchaca this morning because one of my tires keeps leaking. I must put in a good word for them, because they were exceptionally nice and very fast.

There were no magazines in the waiting area, so I hopped onto my phone to see who was on Yahoo Messenger. I spent five minutes trying to find it and never did locate the thing. I tried Messenger out when I first got the phone, so I knew it was on there. It was just hidden somewhere in the vast menu tree, under some completely illogical heading. I hate that!

When I got home, I finally found it.

Under "Messaging."

Yeah, well... who would put it there?! :)

Read more...

Well Hello There, Fangirl

This just makes me all warm and fuzzy. Chris Daughtry in Austin, on December 13, at 8-ish on the night of our concert, wearing the clothes he hugged us in (heh), and singing...

"Oh Holy Night."

squee

http://www.daughtryofficial.com/news/never-too-early-christmas-carol

Read more...

Daughtry

The VIP thing went really really well, other than the failure to receive timely notification of the arrangements from the company that runs the paperwork (not Daughtry's people). Luckily I requested and received information the morning of the event, where several others never got the info. A few missed most of the activities, including a group who had flown in from Maryland. Many of the VIP group for this show were from out-of-state, as many fans fly around to the weekend shows. I wouldn't have a clue about that *cough*. We met others from Minnesota and New Mexico.

Daughtry's head of security kind of ran the VIP group, keeping us wherever we were supposed to be at the moment. I'm really sorry I missed his name, because he ROCKS. He's handled security for U2 and Rob Thomas and a lot of other bands as well. Lauren and I kept trying to get a picture with him, but couldn't, usually because he was running around... I don't know... working. :)

There were maybe 60 of us. We started by watching a couple of songs in soundcheck. Very cool. Then we lined up to meet and have our pics taken with the band. You could have the photo taken alone or with friends. The security guy warned us not to kiss anyone or grab anyone's butt. Curses! Foiled again.

The guys are so nice. I'm sure they're exhausted as all get out, but you wouldn't know it from their attitudes in there. Before we posed for the pic, they each shook Lauren's and my hand and Chris gave us each a hug. Nice. For all the AI votes we gave him way back when, I'm sure. ;)

After photos, they gave us pre-signed programs and we got to shop the merch tables, which is great because they always run out of Lauren's size or shirt choice at concerts. Then we were routed back to the VIP area, where they opened the VIP bar and we had snacks and stuff. We stayed there and the ticket folks came through and scanned our tickets. They let us into the arena ten minutes before the doors opened, so VIP'ers with GA floor seats (like us) were right on the barrier up front.

We were allowed to go in and out of the VIP lounge all night, but there was no way we were leaving our standing area. We got to know the Erwin Center security guys pretty well there. They were very chatty. When Daughtry came out, our VIP security guy happened to be right in front of our section.

Cavo was good. We didn't know any of their songs though. Theory of a Deadman was really great, and David the Erwin Center Security Guy gave Lauren the set list that was nearest us when they left the stage. So nice!

Daughtry- amazing of course. We knew all the songs except the very last one they sang during the encore. lol. Did anyone know that one???! I don't think many did! I was sure "No Surprise" would be one of the encore songs, but SURPRISE! they sang it during the set.

The single lowlight of the night began when this guy fell into me and then apologized "I'm sorry... I'm really drunk." Luckily our Daughtry VIP security guy saw it and came right over. He pulled the guy up to the railing and told him to straighten up. The guy moved over and stood behind Lauren, and I eyed him like a hawk. I didn't realize he was way too close for her comfort (she could feel his gross breath on her neck). Within a few minutes his being there really started to upset her. At that point he happened to leave. Smart move, buddy!

One of the best songs was Chris' cover of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight." Holy wow. It was amazing. Joey's lit drumsticks were ubercool there in the dark. The cover of "Helter Skelter" had everyone singing and rocking out.

Superfun afternoon and night!! I have around 600 photos to sift through now...

Read more...

Ryaaaaaaaan!

When does the next season of Idol start? I so love Ryan Seacrest. Lauren and I always shout "RYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" whenever we see or hear him on the various media outlets where he can be seen and heard. We do the same thing when Cameron Mathison appears. He plays Ryan on All My Children, which we religiously watch once every week ot two to catch up on the storylines. RYAAAAAAAAAN! Hmm. Maybe you'd have to be there. Lauren will laugh at this post when she gets back from camp.

It is really quiet around here when she's gone. Summer is slow on all of my websites, too. Bathroom design research is keeping me entertained. Hoping that project can start next week. Be prepared for my whining about having to take showers upstairs while my bathroom is out of commission. Ack.

It's been a year-and-a-half since I started working out again. I haven't stayed interested in a particular sport or workout regimen for that long since college. It's doing different workouts every day, I think. My fave is cardio-kickboxing, and I like step as well. Circuit training is my least favorite. She always ends the aerobic workout with a few minutes of pilates, yoga, strength training or Tai Chi. I hated Tai Chi the first several times I did it. I would actually do weights while they did Tai Chi, but lately it's really growing on me. Super-relaxing, unlike yoga, which makes me feel very unbalanced. *insert your own joke here*

Read more...

David Cook Charity Single "Permanent "

Finally found this thing! To have your purchase benefit ABC2 and brain cancer research, you must download the live performance, not the CD version.

Click here to go to the song, or type "Permanent Charity Single" in the search box in the iTunes store.

:D

Read more...

American Idol Finale and More Stuff

Kriiiiiissssssss!!!!! Woo!! I didn't care as much who won the final this season, but it's very cool that he won. The voice is there. Now he needs to work on the confidence. I'll totally buy his CD. Adam will have a fantastic career either way.

Bikini Girl and Kara... OMG. I about fell out of my chair! How awesome was that?! Best moment of the season. I love that she is so embarrassed about the bikini, but she did it for charity. Hilarious.

David Cook was wonderful, and I don't know how he made it through the song without crying. Danny was great, too. It should have been Danny and Kris in the final. Nah, then I really wouldn't have known who to go for.

"Glee" had its sneak preview on Tuesday night. I wanted to love it, but it was quite boring. I liked the musical numbers, but the voices and mouths were not synced, which drives me up a wall. The editing on those was just terrible. Instead of editing together various takes, can't they just perform the song and tape it in one take? The funny parts were few and far between. I'll give it another chance when it starts up this summer, but I'm not anticipating much.

Read more...

AI Finals 'n Stuff

So. The HEB Coca-Cola guy and I have "thing." Yep. He's been in the soda aisle at the same time as me every single week for forever. We always say hi and sometimes he gets my soda for me, even if it isn't a Coke product. Very nice! This week, he saw me in the bread aisle on his way to the sodas and stopped to ask how I was. Since we've now chatted outside the soda aisle, I'm calling it a "thing." Anything to make the grocery shopping experience more interesting...

I shouldn't joke about it. One of the neighborhood hussies moms left her hubby for a produce guy a couple of years ago. Oh the drama of the stay-at-home crowd. Bet you thought we were boring.

American Idol has come down to the better voice vs. the better performer. Charisma is important, but at the cost of the voice? I don't know. I merely point out questions. :) I don't like when Adam screams for an extended period of time. One shriek is great. The falsetto- also good now and then, but a whole song is too much. I like Adam as a person. He seems to be really nice and not stuck on himself. I also like his stage persona, the eyeliner, nail polish, etc. It's just his voice I'm not a fan of.

So I think it was close, but I voted for Kris. The winner is not all that important anymore, since we all know several of them will get contracts. Lots of Danny fans were there last night. It was awesome that they cheered so loud when he appeared on the screen in the audience. Woohoo!

Yeah, Kris totally bombed the Idol song. Why didn't they change the key? Eh. He should have nailed it. Adam took the tame and cliche song and tried to make it "out there." Blah. I'm guessing he will win though. And we'll hear him screaming lyrics of rainbows and mountains and unicorns for the next several months. For me, enjoying Adam means watching the performance and the drama. Hearing him on radio won't do anything for me.

We'll see though! Anything can happen. I'm waiting for the Daughtry tour. WOOOO!!!!

Read more...

A Big Ding Dong

On AI this week, when Danny was voted off, in all the chaos Simon said, "Next week's final will be a big ding dong." We laughed. Ryan asked for clarification, but didn't get any. I figured it was some common English phrase, but couldn't decide whether he meant a good contest or a runaway win for Adam.

One of my friends in England told me that he thought "a big ding dong" is a real fight. That made sense with Simon's mention of no disrespect to Danny. (Awwww, Danny!) I initially thought he was saying no disrespect to Kris, so it was quite confusing.

Later, I found a whole article on the subject. lol.

I'm going for Kris. I just like his singing style better. He has a much better voice and a more "pop" vibe. Adam is an awesome performer. He has a good voice, but while my daughter would love to see an Adam concert, I would not. I would love to see Kris at Stubb's, ya' know?

And.... YAY ROCKETS!!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday, Game 7 at Staples. Now that will be a big ding dong.

Read more...

AI and Facebook Chat

I SO called Kris and Adam as the top two on May 2, thankyouverymuch. And it was a huge surprise, so... go me! Usually my favorite is gone by the top 4 or 5, so this is a weird year. Danny was my original fave, and I am sorry to see him go. Between Adam and Kris, Adam is by far the better performer, but Kris has the better voice, in my opinion. But Simon, please tell us, what the heck is "a big ding dong?"

So, I saw this on James' Facebook:

"In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards."
-Mark Twain, 1897

LOL. Gotta love it.

Also on Facebook, I have not been on chat since waaaaaaay back, because frankly, I can't chat with 20 friends at once. Twenty people in a single chat room, yes. Twenty people all in different windows, no. There was no way to only be visible to certain people, so I just turned it off.

Finally they have added a feature that lets you set up a specific list of people you want to see and to have see you when you are online. It took me a few minutes to figure out what the heck to do to get it to work, so here is some help, should anyone need it:

1) Set up a friend list of people to whom you wish to be visible when you are online for FB chat. This can be done in the left sidebar of the friends page. Or you can use your existing lists- school, work, family, whatever... if those work for you.
2) Click chat at the bottom right corner of the FB screen.
3) When it comes up, click "Friend Lists" and uncheck any groups you don't want to show in chat.
4) Click the green button to the right of "Other friends" in the available list, to show as offline to them. (Not sure why they come up. All my friends are in at least one list, and those are either checked or not.)

Read more...

Daughtry Single and Album

From the Official Daughtry Blog, the new single "No Surprise" will be performed live for the first time on AI next Wednesday, May 6. The album drop date is July 14!

Read more...

OMG - Kris!

Our TV is out, so we're kinda not watching much right now. I just caught Kris' "The Way You Look Tonight" performance from last night's Idol. Oh. My. Gosh. What a performance. Fantastic voice. One of the best songs ever written.



Allison rocked her song, too.

That is all. :)

Read more...

New Daughtry Single to Debut on Idol

http://www.daughtryofficial.com/news/news-news-news

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!1111!!!!1!!!!

Read more...

Thursday

Thanks to Cate for the heads-up------ Prince was on Leno last night and will also be on tonight and tomorrow night. Eee!

American Idol Motown week was just a'ight for me. I did really enjoy seeing Adam do a less "out there" performance, which I knew he could do. I also like that he maintained a little edginess though, even with the suit look. And Allison was AWESOME. Wow. Great song choice. What a voice. I also liked Matt and Danny and Anoop, as usual, although nowhere near as much as the first two. A side note: Matt is a combination of my brother-in-law and Justin Timberlake.

I now have TWO spring outfits. And a pair of white capris. Woohoo! Meanwhile, I'm just glad it turned cool again.

My girl Donna started a personal blog, which I am certain will be fascinating, considering all her travel adventures and her talents as a writer. Problem is, since she told me to get on it, she hasn't updated at all! It's been like over a week. She's home from Miami now, and I expect a full review. With photos.

Last week's Friday Five
"Stranded on a desert island" You can only take one thing from each category. What is it and why are you taking it?

1. A food that can be planted and regrown.
Potatoes. It just sounds like the most filling vegetable, so I might be able to survive on whatever plants I managed to keep alive. I would say tomatoes, another favorite and rather prolific, but the heartburn would eventually kill me.

2. A person you haven't seen in a long time.
Ina. We could giggle forever about nothing. Fantastic entertainment value.

3. A book you (were) read as a child.
The Velveteen Rabbit. My favorite book from childhood. Love a good tear-jerker.

4. A celebrity.
George Clooney. It's obvious why I would want him there. Am I right, ladies?

5. The entire episode run of a television show (it's a very nice desert island).
I would say "Entourage," but it only has a few seasons. I'll go with "ER."

Read more...

Day 3 Spring Break Tour

Made it to Cave Without a Name today. Did you know a local kid won $250 for naming it that? He said it was so beautiful that no one could name it. Nice angle there, kiddo.

It was really nice. It's huge, and yet the group was small and the feeling is more up-close and personal than other cave tours I've been on. There aren't any physical barriers to things, so you can get up on stuff and get a good look. No touching, of course. I would definitely recommend it.

We stopped for ice cream in Blanco on the way home. We haven't had ice cream in forever, so it was delicioso!

Okay. American Idol. My liking a contestant during the tryout portion of the season is almost always the kiss of death. I admit I hated Alexis' song this week. Hated it the second time even more than the first. But I think she has such great potential. Oh well. Now one of my early faves is off, and I can move on to my next fave. Not that I'm fickle like that... but I'm even a little disenchanted with my other fave, Danny, this week. Anoop was my favorite and I loved Kris and Matt, too. On to next week!

Read more...