Saturday, March 04, 2006
Mr. Thatcher's Neighborhood - A.I. 5
Last week we lost our first 2 guy semi-finalists:
Bobby Bennett: I found Bobby entertaining and unique, like a Louis Armstrong impersonator. There was no way Bobby would ever win this contest, but he might have a future in musical comedy. He’s only 19, so he has a lot of time to grow into his act.
Patrick Hall: Patrick was easily in the top half of the group vocally, but I think he just didn’t make a strong enough impression. You never want to use your first week of performances to “show a different side” of yourself. You need to show your first side, your best side. If you’re still in it 5 weeks later, then try something different. Hopefully Patrick can still make it as a musician, and I hope we hear from him again.
Week 2!!!!
Taylor - “Easy”
Ahhh, I love this song, and I thought Taylor was really good. He needs to cool it on the hoots while he sings, though. He’s in danger of becoming like Fantasia with her “yeah yeah”s. I really love his enthusiasm though - he just seems so happy to be singing and performing. Plus, he should appeal the 40+ crowd that watches this show. They may not be the producers target audience, but they (we) can be a powerful voting block.
Elliott - “Moody’s Mood for Love”
Elliott is a technically great singer. He will be fighting an uphill battle on this show, because he’s not pretty like Ace, and he doesn’t have the stage presence of Taylor or Chris. Plus, the songs he’s picking, while I really like them, probably don’t have mass appeal. I’d like to see Elliott make it into the finals doing what he does best, and then turn up the heat to scare the frontrunners. I think he can do it.
Ace - “If I'm Not Made For You “
Ace reminds me of those sensitive coffee shop singers from the 90’s, like Phoebe Buffet spoofed on Friends. He’s fine, and he’ll go far on looks alone, but he doesn’t appeal to me that much. He did look cute in his “beanie” though. (Taylor called his a “toboggan”. Again, I am so out of the loop, because I would have called them both “stocking caps”.) I liked how Ace was listening so hard to Simon’s comments, trying to glean whatever little helpful bit he could get. He strikes me as earnest and a hard worker, and that can take you far.
Gideon - “A Change is Gonna Come “
I love listening to Gedeon talk. He cracks me up. He almost has the opposite problem of Elliott, in that his “performing” (facial expressions, dance moves, etc) actually distract from the fact that he is a very good vocalist. If he can calm down a bit, I think he has a good shot at the finals.
Kevin - “Heard it Through the Grapevine”
Kevin certainly has charm and a sense of humor. I think he’s aware of his own limitations, and he’s confident in himself and does his thing when he performs. I think he’s very near the bottom of the group in terms of talent, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like him.
Sway - “Overjoyed”
Sway seemed very nervous and struggled with this song. Several of the singers have seemed more nervous this week than last. Sway is a good singer, but he can’t seem to find his groove. I think this might be the end of the line for him.
Will Makar - “Lady”
Will did a fine job, and he has a very nice voice. But I think he needs to keep it light and upbeat, for now at least. I’m very sad that his highlight moment was meeting Justin Guarini, and that he watched the first AI Finale when he was 12. Oy!!
Bucky - “The Thunder Rolls”
AAAAaaahhhh!! I haven’t heard this song in years! Awesome! I am surprised that Randy was right - when Bucky doesn’t oversing, he actually has a nice voice. He certainly is a change of pace for the show. And he has that awful shaved underneath haircut from the 90’s, which proves his hickness even more than his love of biscuits.
David - “The Way You Look Tonight”
Oh wow. This is worse than last week. It’s like even David is sick of his own schtick. He sounded nervous, uncomfortable, and just not good. Plus, his story about using his mom’s car charger as a belt was just sad and not funny. I give him credit for taking all the bad comments and not making excuses, though (Ace, Sway, I’m looking at you).
Chris - “Hemmorhage”
Chris really does sound like he could be on the radio right now. He’s one of the only contestants to seem current and modern. But can a contestant from Idol ever make it as a hard edge rocker? Maybe in Europe, but I doubt it in America. He’s probably the current favorite to win the show right now, but what would happen to him then? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I rank him second tonight because of that, and because I don’t want to fall into the trap of liking whoever went last best.
Keepers:
Elliott
Chris
Tayor
Gedeon
Will
Maybes:
Bucky
Ace
Kevin
Losers:
Sway
David
And I actually think Sway and David will be going home.
Bobby Bennett: I found Bobby entertaining and unique, like a Louis Armstrong impersonator. There was no way Bobby would ever win this contest, but he might have a future in musical comedy. He’s only 19, so he has a lot of time to grow into his act.
Patrick Hall: Patrick was easily in the top half of the group vocally, but I think he just didn’t make a strong enough impression. You never want to use your first week of performances to “show a different side” of yourself. You need to show your first side, your best side. If you’re still in it 5 weeks later, then try something different. Hopefully Patrick can still make it as a musician, and I hope we hear from him again.
Week 2!!!!
Taylor - “Easy”
Ahhh, I love this song, and I thought Taylor was really good. He needs to cool it on the hoots while he sings, though. He’s in danger of becoming like Fantasia with her “yeah yeah”s. I really love his enthusiasm though - he just seems so happy to be singing and performing. Plus, he should appeal the 40+ crowd that watches this show. They may not be the producers target audience, but they (we) can be a powerful voting block.
Elliott - “Moody’s Mood for Love”
Elliott is a technically great singer. He will be fighting an uphill battle on this show, because he’s not pretty like Ace, and he doesn’t have the stage presence of Taylor or Chris. Plus, the songs he’s picking, while I really like them, probably don’t have mass appeal. I’d like to see Elliott make it into the finals doing what he does best, and then turn up the heat to scare the frontrunners. I think he can do it.
Ace - “If I'm Not Made For You “
Ace reminds me of those sensitive coffee shop singers from the 90’s, like Phoebe Buffet spoofed on Friends. He’s fine, and he’ll go far on looks alone, but he doesn’t appeal to me that much. He did look cute in his “beanie” though. (Taylor called his a “toboggan”. Again, I am so out of the loop, because I would have called them both “stocking caps”.) I liked how Ace was listening so hard to Simon’s comments, trying to glean whatever little helpful bit he could get. He strikes me as earnest and a hard worker, and that can take you far.
Gideon - “A Change is Gonna Come “
I love listening to Gedeon talk. He cracks me up. He almost has the opposite problem of Elliott, in that his “performing” (facial expressions, dance moves, etc) actually distract from the fact that he is a very good vocalist. If he can calm down a bit, I think he has a good shot at the finals.
Kevin - “Heard it Through the Grapevine”
Kevin certainly has charm and a sense of humor. I think he’s aware of his own limitations, and he’s confident in himself and does his thing when he performs. I think he’s very near the bottom of the group in terms of talent, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like him.
Sway - “Overjoyed”
Sway seemed very nervous and struggled with this song. Several of the singers have seemed more nervous this week than last. Sway is a good singer, but he can’t seem to find his groove. I think this might be the end of the line for him.
Will Makar - “Lady”
Will did a fine job, and he has a very nice voice. But I think he needs to keep it light and upbeat, for now at least. I’m very sad that his highlight moment was meeting Justin Guarini, and that he watched the first AI Finale when he was 12. Oy!!
Bucky - “The Thunder Rolls”
AAAAaaahhhh!! I haven’t heard this song in years! Awesome! I am surprised that Randy was right - when Bucky doesn’t oversing, he actually has a nice voice. He certainly is a change of pace for the show. And he has that awful shaved underneath haircut from the 90’s, which proves his hickness even more than his love of biscuits.
David - “The Way You Look Tonight”
Oh wow. This is worse than last week. It’s like even David is sick of his own schtick. He sounded nervous, uncomfortable, and just not good. Plus, his story about using his mom’s car charger as a belt was just sad and not funny. I give him credit for taking all the bad comments and not making excuses, though (Ace, Sway, I’m looking at you).
Chris - “Hemmorhage”
Chris really does sound like he could be on the radio right now. He’s one of the only contestants to seem current and modern. But can a contestant from Idol ever make it as a hard edge rocker? Maybe in Europe, but I doubt it in America. He’s probably the current favorite to win the show right now, but what would happen to him then? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I rank him second tonight because of that, and because I don’t want to fall into the trap of liking whoever went last best.
Keepers:
Elliott
Chris
Tayor
Gedeon
Will
Maybes:
Bucky
Ace
Kevin
Losers:
Sway
David
And I actually think Sway and David will be going home.
# posted by Thatchermom @ 2:57 PM 
