Category: Rock (Page 143 of 241)

Road Warriors 53

Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder will take off on a short West Coast solo acoustic tour, calling it the April Fools Tour, beginning April 2 in Vancouver. Before you go buy tickets, I’d make sure that April Fools doesn’t mean what I think it means. Here are the dates:

4/2 Vancouver The Centre
4/5 Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium
4/7 Berkeley Zellerbach Theatre
4/10 Santa Barbara Arlington Theatre
4/12 Los Angeles Wiltern Theater
4/13 Los Angeles Wiltern Theater
4/15 San Diego Spreckels Theater

“American Idol” Season 6 champ Jordin Sparks had a thrill a few weeks back when she sang the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLII before her dad’s former team, the Giants, beat New England in the game. The 18-year-old Sparks will now hit the road in support of her debut album with pop mega-star Alicia Keys. Here are the Continue reading »

American Idol: Some Surprises, Some Not Really

Last night’s “American Idol” was, as expected, a grueling one hour results show. And I was surprised by a couple of the contestants who were kicked off, but in the end, not really all that surprised.

First, they did some video montage to once again familiarize us with the final 24, because they kind of short-changed us in Hollywood week. I mean, there are at least five or six of these singers that I don’t remember from the initial auditions. What’s more, I don’t know how they got here because there were a ton of mediocre performances. But I digress.

Then there was the sixties medley group performance, and as always it was pretty ridiculous. Some of these kids dance about as good as me, which is saying absolutely nothing. I mean, I’m a slight notch above Elaine from “Seinfeld.” But I digress again.

After a replay of Tuesday’s guys’ performances, Ryan Seacrest invited Garrett Haley to join him on stage, and promptly booted him off the show. This kid showed almost no emotion, and on Tuesday had said he only auditioned because he was vacationing in San Diego with his family and was looking for something to do. But the weird thing is, this little Peter Frampton look alike can actually sing. I seem him fronting a rock band, like tomorrow.

Then the ladies were recapped, and Ryan asked Kristy Lee Cook to join him. We all knew she wasn’t really going home, so it was no surprise that Ryan declared her safe. Then he did the same with Amy Davis, and booted her off. America clearly got this one right, because Amy was horrible on Wednesday. It was even painful to watch Amy sing her way out.

Then came the video premiere of Paula Abdul’s new song, “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow.” Good for Paula that she is making a comeback, but my favorite part was watching Randy Jackson play bass behind her. That dude is so talented and I think we all tend to forget that.

Back to the results. Ryan invited JoAnne and Amanda up front, and declared the rest of the girls safe.
Well, I had a feeling JoAnne didn’t do enough on Wednesday night, but Amanda? Clearly she had to have had the MOST votes, unless America doesn’t like girls who rock.

Then Chikezie and Colton were asked to join Ryan up front, and Chikezie threw up his hands in disgust. That dude has developed a really bad attitude all of a sudden, but it was Colton who was sent home. Let me say this…Colton should not have made it in to the finals, and Randy and Paula absolutely blew it by not letting Simon have his way on that decision. But America knew better.
What’s worse though, is that Simon took a parting shot, telling Colton to “get a real job and do singing on the side.” I mean, there was no reason for that.

So there you go. We should be weeding out more of the mediocrity next week, and then things will really get interesting. And remember people…..TiVo is your friend when watching these extremely long shows laced with too many commercials and too much fluff. See you on Wednesday!

WTF?! Rewind – The Beatles


Let It Be

Yes, even the almighty Beatles have their WTF?! moments. Some may cite the “White Album,” Beatles for Sale or the original quickie rip-off Yellow Submarine soundtrack as weak moments, but for my ears nothing says it better than Let It Be. Of course the album came chock full with its own share of chart-topping hits, but coming after the professionalism of Abbey Road, it sounds like one of the biggest letdowns ever, especially for a “final” album.

Of course, it wasn’t recorded as the final one, but it turned out that way. One only needs to listen to the countless bootlegs recorded during the album’s sessions to fully realize that the entire project was one of boredom, disdain, and ultimately a lack of focus and solid ideas. Sure, the Fab Four was pretty sick of each other by this point, and yes, Abbey Road‘s second half would be mostly a string of unfinished songs, but the spirit was there in that album, if only one of relief and knowing that a break was forthcoming. On Let Ie Be the listener truly gets to hear a band completely fractured and listless. The “White Album” has often been criticized for being more of a highlight of solo stuff byeach of the Beatles, but even it had its dynamics and experimentation that continued to evolve the ideas of rock and roll.

One could sit around and blame Phil Spector all day for his original production job on the album, but even a listen to Let It Be…Naked doesn’t help the cause for the album much. Aside from the clean sounding “The Long and Winding Road” (which Paul would glop up himself on the remake for the soundtrack to Give My Regards to Broad Street), the “warts and all” effect that Lennon wanted so much on the album is still painfully there. Sometimes an au naturel production isn’t always the best idea. But again it comes down to the chemistry within the band and the quality of the songs themselves.

Some fans have a real soft spot for this album, but aside from George’s “For You Blue,” there isn’t much that has personally held up for me after all these years of hearing it. The title track and the aforementioned “The Long and Winding Road” are a sort of sentimentality at its most Hallmark cardish; the weirdo lyrics to “I Dig a Pony” feel like even Lennon was being stretched thin for ideas; “I Me Mine” is Harrison at his most cynical with zero humor that would at least be part of simialr sentiments on All Things Must Pass; “Dig It,” “Maggie Mae,” and the old “One After 909” are essentially throwaways; “Across the Universe” had been worked on so much in various versions that it seems like the one song the Beatles were never going to nail. “Two of Us” is about Paul and Linda, but the interplay between Lennon and McCartney on “I’ve Got a Feeling” has always had a sort of “let’s just get this over with” vibe to it. That leaves “Get Back,” and personally I always preferred the single version of this tune with the instrumental coda at the end.

For all my personal complaints, I’m aware that Let It Be will still stand as a classic by the Beatles. It’s just a shame that the guys couldn’t have taken a little break from each other and maybe regrouped a couple years later. Of course, on the other hand, it does seem like the perfect scenario to just call it a day as well. But then again, everyone had to put up with the guys bitching at one another on their own records for a few years, so there’s undoubtedly never going to be a clear-cut answer in a sea of “what ifs” in regards to the Beatles’ split.

American Idol: A Mostly Mediocre Start

Last night the ladies performed on “American Idol,” and most of them were as bland as the guys were the night before. Not that it’s ever easy to predict who is actually going to win this thing, but the last two nights definitely proved that there are quite a few pretenders this season, despite the “best season ever” hype they have been stuffing down our throats. Like we did with the guys, here are the good, bad and in-between from last night’s contestants:

THE VERY GOOD

Amanda Overmyer has at least two other lives–as a nurse, and as a biker. And she’s an old rocker soul at 23. Well, singer might be the one tag we’ll all be putting on Amanda if she keeps this up. For me, it was hands down the best showing of all 24 auditions. She avoided the stereotypical Janis Joplin and instead took on the classic “Baby Please Don’t Go.” Aside from some weird scat stuff, she just showed some phenomenal pipes. Randy loved it, Paula said it was authentic, and Simon said he really likes her too. Well, I’m here to tell you…she was better than the judges gave her credit for.

THE GOOD

Alaina Whitaker, who looks a bit like Carrie Underwood Continue reading »

American Idol: Aight Start

Last night’s “American Idol” had a bit of everything, but the 12 guys who kicked off the America voting portion of the season just didn’t blow everyone away on the first night as in previous seasons. Still, there were some standouts and some clunkers, some back-and-forth between judges and between some bitter contestants. As we have done the last two years, we’ll pick the good, the bad and the in-between. It was a ’60s theme, so all of the contestants were singing songs that were released before they were born. Here we go….

THE GOOD

David Hernandez kicked things off with “Midnight Hour” and to me appeared pretty confident and natural, and he definitely has a great voice. Randy said it was a good way to start, Paula agreed and Simon said it was better than he expected it to be.

25-year-old David Cook sang a rock version of The Turtles’ “Happy Together” and it wasn’t bad at all. In fact it was better than I anticipated. Randy said it was weird at the start but that David worked it out. Paula agreed (as she often does with Randy), and Simon said it was good except for some shouting in the middle.

David Archuleta is 17 and just has a natural voice and an innocence Continue reading »

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