Chaska Herald - American Idol: God bless Billie Jean - Comments

We may see "Coat of Many

Ruth Anne Maddox — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:24:54 -0500

We may see "Coat of Many Colors," "Here You Come Again" or "9 to 5" from the girls -- and maybe KLC will do Dolly's rendition of "Amazing Grace."

She also did "Great Balls of Fire," which one of the guys might do.

Any chance anyone will tackle "Islands in the Stream" as a solo?

I've read a few bloggers

Mollee Francisco — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:03:51 -0500

I've read a few bloggers predicting the same White Stripes "Jolene" cover for David C., but I wonder if this is a good week for him to throw a curveball and sing a straight ballad.
Chris Daughtry did a great job in showing his "softer" side during country music week. His rendition of Keith Urban's "Making Memories of Us" is one of my favorite Idol performances (and I am not a country music fan). Maybe David C. will look to his model for inspiration on Dolly Parton week.

(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)

Good ole Davey Cook will

jennyjean4 — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:17:58 -0500

Good ole Davey Cook will probably do The White Stripes or the Me First and the Gimme Gimmes cover version of "Jolene". No way that guy is making his own version of a Dolly song. I bet he was frantically googling Dolly Parton covers when he heard about this weeks mentor.

Any bets on who drags out "I

Mollee Francisco — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:47:09 -0500

Any bets on who drags out "I Will Always Love You" - made popular by Whitney Houston but originally written and performed by Dolly? I don't think we can get through Dolly Parton night without hearing it. I have my logical choice (Syesha) but would prefer anyone else really (well maybe not KLC so much).

Any DP songs you are hoping to hear tonight? I'm rooting for something from that holiday classic, "A Smokey Mountain Christmas."

(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)

For the love of Chikizie! I

Ruth Anne Maddox — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:38:37 -0500

For the love of Chikizie!

I fell asleep during the show knowing that Chikizie and Syesha were on the stools, so I figured Ramiele would be No. 3 (and the one to go home). I woke up to find out that Jason?! was the third in the bottom three and Chikizie went home?!

I thought my husband was lying to me and he'd deleted the DVR recording so I couldn't double check. It was too late to call my sister and I wasn't motivated to fire up the computer so I figured I find out the truth today. My sister called before 8 a.m. and confirmed. I, too, am saddened.

So sad. Chikizie never built

Mollee Francisco — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:58:31 -0500

So sad. Chikizie never built up enough of a fan base to keep him around for long. A real shame considering how fun he could be to watch. Well, at least he'll go on the tour. I hate to see him go before KLC and Ramiele though :(

(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)

Dolly Parton to mentor next

Mollee Francisco — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:31:04 -0500

Dolly Parton to mentor next week's show.
(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)

Good point. Cornell may get

writers bloc — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:05:15 -0500

Good point. Cornell may get an uptick in downloads from this. I just hope he also gets a publishing kickback, as should Michael J. obviously, for any downloads sold of David's performance. I'm very glad to hear that Gary Busey's best buddy from the red carpet, "Seacrest!!", acknowledged the arrangement's origin beforehand. That only leaves me with two gripes, and they are simply my own subjective opinion: a) I wish the judges were more clued in so they wouldn't fawn over contestants for the wrong reasons, and b) There's still something chappy to me about a guy constantly rehashing a rehash. I think covering a song is an opportunity to break new ground by turning an old idea on its head; I realize that AI is all about people covering others' songs to showcase their vocal/performance talents, but Cook just keeps on using other people's versions of an original song -- it's a copy of a copy. I wonder if he'd be as successful trying to do a faithful cover of an original song like many of the other contestants. I guess I'm saying that covering covers has really has turned into a shtick for Cook.

I'll agree with the judges

Mollee Francisco — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:15:13 -0500

I'll agree with the judges going nutzo with their misdirected praise. They would have been better off patting him on the back for choosing an interesting version of the song.

When they get all gung-ho over a performance like they did on a few last night, I have to remind myself that they've got a show to hype and having two stinker nights in a row could turn people off. If they give the illusion that people are giving amazing performances (even when they're just average) there are plenty of people out there who will believe it. Mob mentality strikes again and isn't that what this show is all about???

I looked at the video for "Eleanor Rigby" and no, David C. did not acknowledge he was doing Doxology's version of the song. You can hear it here or here.

But then again, Godhead did a similar rock version of Eleanor Rigby and so did The Zoot.

The latter dates back to 1970 so it's been around for awhile. My guess is that with so many similar rock versions out there, there's no need to go through a chain of command.

(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)

I usually get up and do

jennyjean4 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:14:47 -0500

I usually get up and do something during the intros. I think last night I was tucking my son into bed during that particular intro and missed it entirely.

I tune out everything Ryan

ChicChick — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:57:58 -0500

I tune out everything Ryan says, so maybe that's not the best way for the AI people to acknowledge things. I had the same issue with his intro to Michael Johns's performance. I didn't get the "medley" until it was pointed out to me that Ryan said we'd get two classics for the price of one.

But, I'm glad it was acknowledged somehow. The whole Chris Daughtry incident is exactly what I was thinking of, that they didn't learn their lesson.

Then I guess it's just a

jennyjean4 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:57:07 -0500

Then I guess it's just a matter of the "Idol" judges not knowing what the word original means. To me it means doing something that no one else has done before - making the song your own by doing an arrangement that is brand new. It is neither "Brave" nor "Original" to use Chris Cornell's version of the song. He did a nice job of it, but I would not call it original.
Also, as far as I know, he did not acknowledge "Doxology" when he used their cover of "Eleanor Rigby". Although I could be wrong about that.

I think the bottom three

ChicChick — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:52:12 -0500

I think the bottom three will be Ramiele, Carly, and a guy. Maybe Chikezie. I like him, and Carly, but I don't think they have a strong fan base. It could also be Michael Johns. I wasn't fond of the performance last night, but the judges were, so that may pull him through. I want him to be good at something other than Queen songs.

I really think KLC made a mistake by performing that song without a red, white, and blue spangled leotard and top hat. Much disappointment here. I was getting so excited to hear Simon say something about it being a county-fair-with-deep-fried-Snickers performance, but he liked it. What show am I watching???

If you watch the playback,

Mollee Francisco — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:45:17 -0500

If you watch the playback, Ryan announces that David C. is doing Chris Cornell's version of Billie Jean. (See YouTube clip below, scroll to 1:04)

I'm not going to fault him for choosing lesser known versions of well-known songs as long as it's acknowledged which it was last night. (I think they learned an important lesson when Chris Daughtry did Live's cover of "I Walk the Line" as if it were his own - remember that fall out???)

If nothing else, it draws attention to the alternate version. As we were looking up the Chris Cornell number last night, so were a billion other people on YouTube. Chris Cornell can't be mad about that.

(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)

I agree with writers bloc.

jennyjean4 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:36:02 -0500

I agree with writers bloc. David Cook should not stand on that stage and take credit for the arrangement of the song, when it was Chris Cornell who did the arranging. He needs to own up to the fact that he is not the "creative genius" the judges (who are way out of touch) are making him out to be. If anything he's a rip off artist with a great voice. I still like his vocals better than most on the show, but come on and own up to the fact that these are not your original ideas. I cannot respect an artist (and I use this term loosely) who cannot come up with his own ideas and therefore tries to pass someone elses for his own.

American Idol: God bless Billie Jean

Mollee Francisco — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:56:42 -0500

The good old "birth year" theme night. This year, that means a second chance at 80s night -which you'll remember was a pleasant surprise the first time around.

Well tonight (like Beatles redux night) was not as good as the original, but it did afford one interestingly cheap song choice and one tantalizingly delicious song choice. (Read on to see who did which ones.)