Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Canadian Idol - Season 6 - Top 4 - Results

Top 4 results...

After a recap of the previous night, the Top 4 perform Danny Song. Anne Murray then performs her song (the title escapes me!).




Anne Murray sings another song, Could I Have This Dance.




Now Jordin Sparks performs her single One Step At a Time.




Finally the results. The four guys are at center stage with Ben. He asks each of the judges to talk about one contestant. And then we get the results:

Earl is going home. :(

Next week, the idols get to sing two songs from Bryan Adams song book. Should be good!

Earl closes the show with The Joker once again. *LOL* Oh Earl... He wants to do a train in the theater, but no one wants to follow him! He goes crazy on stage and jumps all over the place... Shakes hand with the band at the end. I'll miss Earl!




I'll definitely miss Earl. :(

Blake Lewis & A.D.D. at Westlake Park, Seattle WA, August 19 2008

Blake sounds GREAT!

Videos from kiss106

Gots To Get Her


Human - THIS ROCKS!!!!


Emotional Waterfalls


Whatcha Got 2 Loose


Freestyle & Here's My Hello


Know My Name


Introducing the Band


1000 Miles


Break Anotha

Blake Lewis - Some great News!

Blake left a message on idolbored.com with some really awesome news!!!!

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008

Whattttt's Going ON???!!!

Just wanted to drop a line and say "Hello"

Much has been going on. Just got back from Norway with The Hollywood Knights, a charity organization to help raise money to fight off cancer. It was an amazing journey and hope to do more charitable work with them in the future.

On to news. In the next couple of weeks, I will have more detailed info on My Tour, a new label that is signing me and a new single, that should be out by October. Werd Up!

I just got done playing a bunch of characters in Common Markets latest music video, that should be out next month called Trouble Is. Look out for BOB BOBBERSON.

I'll have some pics from The Meltdown and Norway up on my Myspace soon.

Thank you all for the Bday love and gifts. You are all to good to me and I just hope someday I can be so generous.

Much Love and Happiness - Blake


YEAH!!! About time! Blake deserves this - how exciting!

You can visit Blake at his myspace page:

www.myspace.com/blakelewis

Monday, August 25, 2008

Canadian Idol - Season 6 - Top 4 - Performances

Tonight, the idols will perform a song from Anne Murray's catalogue, as well as a song of their choice.

Mitch Macdonald - Cotton Jenny
I'm not a huge country fan, but I thought this song really suited Mitch. It was right in his range, and it was a fun little song for him to sing. I thought his vocals were pretty good. I love Mitch's "Check it out, check it out, I can tap dance" answer to Zack. :)




Earl Stevenson - Killing Me Softly
Ah, I love that song! Great song choice for Earl - I absolutely adore how he sings it with the piano in rehearsal. I was a tiny bit disappointed with the arrangement for the actual performance, but Earl's voice on it was awesome, and the groove he put to it was great. Not as good as last week - yeah, bet lotsa people will say that because last week was absolutely KILLER! - but really good nonetheless.



BTW, Blake Lewis and Melinda Doolittle did that song thge very first night of the American Idol Season 6 Tour - they nixed it after that, and I still don't know why. Check it out!




Drew Wright - Hey Daddy
A bit of an odd choice for a show like Canadian Idol, but nonetheless, I thought it was a really good choice for Drew. It allowed him to be playful and totally relax on stage. It was fun, and his vocals were actually really good. I enjoyed it!

Theo Tams - You Don’t Know Me
Awwwwww... Theo can sing anything. He really, really can. He's looking really good in that dark blue shirt and his hair style is great. His voice has so much texture and feelings to it... I love it. I love that Anne told him to not sing so many runs, and I'm so glad he listened! I felt like his physical performance didn't match the emotion in his vocals, but that would be the only negative thing I'd say, because it was great.

Mitch - Between the Bars
I love when contestants go off the beaten path and choose songs that are not as well known to the public. Mitch has done that well this year, but not this week. This song was odd, a bit depressing, and while Mitch sang it well, I didn't feel anything when he sang. It was actually rather boring.




Earl Stevenson - The Joker
Aw, that was great! Love that he included "Ben Mulroney calls me Big Earl" *LOL* Too funny! I would have liked to hear a bit more energy in Earl's voice, but all in all the song was fun and great for him. Nicely done! What Jake said - that he felt like Earl didn't want to be there - was really odd. Earl seemed totally stumped with it. I'm not liking this at all.




Drew Wright - Gravity
Love Drew's guitar O face. *L* I thought this was good, especially in the parts where he pushes his vocals. It was kinda meh on the lower parts tho.




Theo Tams - Chariot
Great, great, GREAT! This kind of song suits Theo so well, it's like it is his own song. Love him at the piano, and love him ON the piano! That was a great move to go up there and made for an even more dynamic performance. Best of the night by a huge mile!




I think it is fairly clear that Theo was the best tonight. Earl was great, but seemed a bit off in his second song, and I can't get over what Jake told him (and the lack of response from Earl). Drew seems to be getting stronger and stronger, and while he is not my cup of tea, I can see the appeal. Mitch is very recognizable, but I feel he's a bit over his head in this now.

Mitch should be the one going home, but I am afraid it might be Earl's time... Hopefully not!

Mitch Macdonald in Port Hood - Homecoming

Thanks to cbhagrad09 for the videos


Mitch singing "I Love This Town"


I'm Yours


Moonage Daydream

Theo Tams in Alberta - Homecoming

Theo singing Sweet Ones

Thanks to LakThunder for the video

Drew Wright in Collingwood - Homecoming

Drew singing Under Pressure

Thanks to tigerstripes89 for the video



Thanks to BigScreenFX for the following vids:

Where The Streets Have No Name


Creep


Can't remember the title of this one...


This Song

Earl Plays in Lloydminster -Homecoming

Earl sings Sparrow In The Sky

Thanks to Skipper200 for the video

Friday, August 22, 2008

Lindsey Rose meets her Idol, David Cook in Tampa FL

This video of Lindsey meeting David Cook is just so heartwarming... What a wonderful thing to do for this little girl. David showed her the time of her life, and he showed all of us, once again, how big of a heart he's got.

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Charley Belcher's daughter, Lindsey Rose, spent time backstage with American Idol David Cook. Cook wore an orange wristband on the show all last season supporting the 7-year-old, who's fighting leukemia. Cook showed showed her the day of a lifetime, even taking her with him to sign autographs and dedicating a song to her during Thursday night's concert.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Canadian Idol - Season 6 - Top 5 - Results

Results night...

We start with a recap from the previous night...




Tribute from the Top 5

Mitch singing Blakcbird was kinda weird... I love that song so much, it's probably one of my favorite, and I would have love to hear Theo sing it... Drew totally lost all the momentum he had built the previous night when he sang Eleanor Rigby. He even raised his arms to the side on the "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Look at all the lonely people", just like David Cook did. No, Drew. Just no. Mookie singing Get Back was fun! I am ashamed to say that I don't know the title of the song Earl sang... Bad Bouffe. But it was good!!! And Theo with Let It Be. Just gorgeous. I was really disappointed he didn't sing this one last night.




I am TIRED with the Jully Black segments. And those questions... Weird! Hot Soup asking about the economy? *LOL* Earl's answer was totally staged, but it was still funny, I must admit.

On to the results...

Theo... Mitch... Canada voted... Theo is SAFE, and so is Mitch.

Earl... Mookie... Drew... Canada voted, and... Drew is the first member of the B2. Earl is SAFE. YEAH! Which means Mookie is in the B2.

Call me Monday, Jake?




Canada voted, and Drew is SAFE, which means Mookie is going home. Bye Mook... He seems a bit relieved... Breaking his guitar? What did that poor thing ever do to you? *L*

Next week is Ann Murray week... Oh boy.

Canadian Idol - Season 6 - Top 5 - Performances

Beatles night tonight! I hope it'll be good...

But before we get to the performances, we are shown a clip of the idols visiting Camp Oochigeas, which is a camp for kids who are battling cancer. The camp is about celebrating life and enjoying it. It seems to have been a really uplifting experience for the idols, who say those kids were inspiration for them, as well as great examples of just living life! The camp offers all kinds of activities for the kids, at no cost to their parents. Donors, volunteers, THANK YOU for all you do for those kids and their families!

Wanna know more about the camp? Visit their website at http://www.ooch.org/




Alright, the show. The judges are the ones picking songs for the contestants this week. I like that the judges explain why they chose the song for the contestants and how they think it's perfect for them. They show clips of their best moments as the judges talk. We start with...

Earl Stevenson - With a Little Help From My Friends
HOLY FUCK!!!!!!!!!! Earl was absolutely FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!!!! He gave me chills and cold sweats and tears in my eyes. He really dug into the soul of that song and just let it all poured out of him. I absolutely adored that he showed his soft voice and then the bluesy quality of it at other times in the song. I think this was the best he's done vocally; he really controlled his voice, letting it go when needed and taming it down when required. I also don't think we've heard him sing such high notes that well yet. WOW! While I loved the back and forth between him and the background singers, I thought they sang a little too much. But you know what? It really doesn't matter. Earl KILLED that song and it was awesome and I want him to sing that song over and over and over again. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! I also really loved that he stayed more or less in one place, swaying back and forth with the mike stand, only jumping once or twice during the performance. It kind of concentrated all the emotions and meanings of the song and made it all that much more powerful. Can I say it again? WOW!!!!!!!

I actually had to rewatch it a few times before I could move on and watch the other performances. *L*




Mookie Morris - Come Together
Great choice for Mookie. The judges say he's got a very british something about him, and I agree. The style of the song really suited Mookie, and I really enjoyed how he performed it. However, I thought there was some oumph missing... I don't know. It was still a solid performance.




Theo Tams - Long and Winding Road
Great song choice for Theo - Canada loves that kind of ballad. I think Theo did really well vocally - he's always very strong there, and this was no exception. However, I felt he was missing the emotional connection he always conveyed so well in his previous performances. I was kind of disapointed the judges didn't give him "Let It Be". For a piano man like Theo, this would have been perfect. It could have been just him and the piano. Epic moment. As it is, I feel the judges missed the boat a bit on that one.




Mitch Macdonald - In My Life
Aw, that was pretty. I didn't think the first part of the song did justice to Mitch's voice. It highlighted some of its weaknesses instead. But then the second part of the song was really, really, REALLY nice. I really like when he pushes his vocals to the edge; I always think he's gonna loose it, but then he doesn't. All in all, I think it was a good performance from Mitch. Not his best, but still solid.




Drew Wright - While My Guitar Gently Weeps
I LOVE that song. I know it's a Beatles song and that Clapton did it, but it'll forever and ever be a Jeff Healey song for me. I was kinda disappointed they didn't mention him (ETA: I had written this before listening to the judges comments - I am glad Jake mentioned Jeff).



BUT! Back to Drew. I really enjoyed his version of Creep and thought he had done well with it. But with WMGGW, he hit the emotion and passion that I thought was missing a bit from Creep. And the guitar playing was killer. His soft vocals in the beginning gave me chills - a first with Drew for me. Very, very strong. What they showed in the recap at the end was my favorite moment of Drew's performance. GREAT!




All in all, it really was a great show that I enjoyed thoroughly from start to finish. Everyone brought it, and it is now a matter of who floats your boat more than who did best. Although if Earl goes home, I'll be pissed because his performance was not only the performance of the night but I think the best of the season so far (although Theo's Weak In The Knees is right up there for me, too).

My ranking for tonight:

Earl
.
.
.
Drew
Theo
Mookie
Mitch

I do think it's Mitch's turn to go home, but I'd be very surprise if he's the one leaving. At this point, it's hard to predict who will... I'm still scared for Earl - he went first and was in the bottom 3 two weeks in a row... I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Lukas Rossi and Stars Down goes on an East Coast Tour

Wanna see Lukas Rossi and his fabulous new band, Stars Down? But you don't live in L.A. or Toronto? Here's your chance!

Stars Down is doing a small tour of the American East Coast.

Here are the dates:

- Sunday, August 24 – Highline Ballroom – New York, NY
- Monday, August 25 – Harper's Ferry – Allston, MA
- Tuesday, August 26 – Cafe Nine – New Haven, CT
- Wednesday, August 27 – The Saint – Asbury Park, NJ
- Saturday, August 30 - Bedrock - Baltimore, MD
- Tuesday, September 2 - Jammin’Java - Vienna, VA

Keep on checking their official website, as dates are beinng added. There's also tons of goodies on there, so go and have a look!

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Photo by Cheryl Spelts
http://www.cherylspelts.com/
http://www.rockbandlounge.com/

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Canadian Idol - Season 6 - Top 6 - Results

Results night... The top 6 goes to 5... Who will go home???


And we start with the group singing Sloan's Money City Maniacs. Then we go into a recap from the night before, done a la TSN Sports Center, with the two anchors, Darren and Jay. Weird.




Simple Plan perfrom their latest it, "Your Love Is a Lie".




Telus gets in the action and "helps the viewers get the idols a bit better". A viewer sent a question (this one was for Mookie): Who would you hang out with if you could, Neil Young or Bob Dylan? Moookie answers Niel Young...

Onto the results now...

Canada voted and Mookie joins Ben at center stage. Ugh?

Canada voted and Earl stays on the couch, Um...

Canada voted and Amberly stays on the couch, too...

Canada voted and Theo joins Ben at center stage. WTF? The crowd is booing...

Canada voted and Drew stays on the couch.

Canada voted and Mitch joins Ben at center stage.

Mitch, Theo and Mookie, the ones at center stage are all SAFE.

Earl, Amberly and Drew who were on the couch are in the BOTTOM 3.




Who will go home?

Canada voted and the idol going home is...

Amberly.



Next week will be judges choice and the idols will sing songs from the Beatles.

Canadian Idol - Season 6 - Top 6 - Performances

I will post the videos later once they are available. For now, here are my thoughts on each performances:

ETA: Videos are up! Thanks igrecman!

Simple Plan band members are the mentors.

Amberly Thiessen - 1,2,3,4
I thought this was an excellent song choice for Amberly. She looked much more comfortable without her guitar this time around. Seems like the tempo of the song might have been a tad fast for her, but I thought she sang it great. She looked GREAT, but I thought it was weird to go all dark with the look on a song like this. Zack's comment to her about Elvira was, while true, a bit weird, coming from the guy who's been showering her with love all season.




Theo Tams - Sweet Ones
Theo is back behind the piano this week. I guess he didn't like his trip to the bottom 3 last week... I wouldn't have either. His performance of Sweet Ones was awesome. I totally agree with the judges - when he performs at the piano, it's like the piano is part f him. It seems effortless and so very natural. I love that he got up and kicked the piano bench near the end. His voice was great on that, and the ending was just wow!




Mitch MacDonald - Love This Town
This was absolutely perfect for Mitch. I've always thought he has that acoustic, indie kind of vibe and he showed that tonight. Very well done. He doesn't have a powerful voice, but when it is put in the right context like this was, it is very, very, very pleasant.




Earl Stevenson - Little Bones
I absolutely love Earl. "I hope not, I love grandmas!" I mean, how can you not love him? I've loved him since the very beginning, where my top 4 were the Piggot Brothers, Theo and Earl. But tonight was a hot mess, and not a good one. Earl was pitchy like I've never heard him before. Sure he made the song his own and I appreciate that... But this was not good. It's like Earl is going in a direction that is not himself. Where are the beautiful vocals? The shy, yet confident demeanor? The soul? This was pitchy and whiny and nasally as hell. I'm scared for Earl. :(

It's funny how the judges seem to either hear things differently (granted things do sound different in the studio) or give comments to try and push their favorites. I agree with the judges that it is absolutely awesome that Earl is up there on that stage to be nothing more and nothing less than Earl. He's himself, no censor, and I love that from him. But this performance was NOT GOOD. I will be interested in hearing if the judges have anything to say about it during the results show.




Drew Wright - That Song
I have mixed feelings on this performance. On the one hand, I thought Drew's vocals were not very strong. He sounded shaky in places, and the music totally drowned him in others. On the other hand, I thought the ending was fantastic. It was a good move to finish on the mellow part of the song. I really am enjoying Drew in that rock guy persona, but I was expecting a bit more from tonight's performance.




Mookie Morris - Magic Carpet Ride
Didn't like the glasses, didn't like the dj scratching the disc. Kinda meh on the performance. Love the bridge and the ending. The mike throwing was cool, too.




My Top 3:
Mitch
Theo
Amberly

My Bottom 3:
Mookie
Drew
Earl

Going home: I think Earl might be in trouble, but I'm gonna say Amberly.

Monday, August 11, 2008

FULL CIRCLE - A blog by the author of "Time of My Life", David Cook's first single

A very heartwarming story - please read!

From Regie Hamm's MySpace:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=54139274&blogID=423067994


It was late March of 2003 and my wife and I were sitting in a tourist bus with three other families on a crowded street in Beijing, China. We had all just climbed the Great Wall together and had stopped to buy hats and t-shirts from street vendors on our return back into the city. Yolanda (my wife) and I saw these cheesy little hats that said "Beijing Olympics 2008". We bought them and immediately added them to our fashion ensemble, along with our cargo pants, t-shirts and running shoes. The hats, and the inscriptions on them, seemed insignificant at the time. They did prove to be good conversation pieces, however. Yolanda and I discussed the '08 Olympics with the other families like us, awaiting eight-month-old daughters, on the bus ride back to the hotel.

This was exactly one week before we met our precious Isabella, Xin Meng (which means "new dreams" in Chinese). We were all doing the simple math that would tell us how old our daughters would be in 2008. We all agreed that it would be such a wonderful experience to bring them back for the games and introduce the little girls to the land of their birth. We speculated on whether they would be old enough to understand. We wondered about the in-between years and how we would all be different. Would we have other children? Would our daughters even care about China? Would we all be able to meet again and reminisce about our experiences together? It was indeed an interesting ride back to the hotel and I distinctly remember Yolanda and I deciding then and there that we would make it a point to be at the games in Beijing in '08 with Isabella.

At the time, it wasn't a stretch to believe we would be able to do it. In fact, it wasn't even something we gave a second thought to. If we wanted to go to China we just did it. If we wanted to go anywhere, back then, we just did it. Four days prior to climbing the Great Wall and purchasing tourists hats, I had stood in a record store on Santa Monica boulevard and picked my debut release "American Dreams" out of it's own sleeve in "H" section. My single "Babies" was number 15 on the Adult Contemporary pop chart (with a bullet, as they say) and I was told at my record release party two days prior to that, that I would be touring extensively upon my return from China - "line up a nanny", are the exact words my agent used, "you're going to be gone a lot". I was ready for it. I felt as though I could do no wrong and was living the part I was born to play.

I had gone from a meteoric songwriting career in Christian music, logging twenty one number 1 hits in seven years, Grammy and Dove nominations and walls full of platinum, to landing a record deal with Universal South records as a solo pop artist. My wife had been a very successful promoter in the radio world as well. She was responsible for helping launch some of the biggest names in country music. We were a jet setting, highly paid, well groomed couple who understood success and how to achieve it. We had, however, begun to feel empty in our lives and after learning that we couldn't produce children of our own, decided to go to China and bring home a little girl. That decision would change everything.

One week after the purchase of our "Beijing Olympics 2008" hats, a little girl with a high fever and and a rare genetic disorder was placed in our arms in a hotel in Nan Chung, China. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever set my eyes on to that point in my life, and she instantly turned me into a different man. The very second she was in my arms, I couldn't bring myself to think about chart positions or tours or CD sales or anything remotely associated with my silly music career. When her sweaty, feverish, quivering little body was next to mine I was from that moment on ...Isabella's daddy. Everything else was a footnote.

The weeks in China, after adopting Isabella, were harrowing, sleep deprived, shocking, eye opening and life altering. Isabella was hospitalized twice in three days. She wouldn't sleep more than an hour at a time. She couldn't hold her head up. Wouldn't eat and didn't smile until the seventh day when I playfully tossed her in the air and she giggled. From that moment on, making her smile became my life's quest.

After two weeks in China, a fourteen-hour flight to LA, a four hour flight to Nashville, and a twenty minute car ride to our Franklin home, we thought we might be out of the woods with Isabella's illnesses. Not so. The next weeks, months and years sent us into turmoil, confusion, heartbreak and financial ruin. Isabella was different and no one could tell us why. We sold our house on five stunning acres and moved into a ranch house that would accommodate a little girl who "might never walk". I stopped touring and lost my record deal by September of 2003. In the haze of it all we were also informed that Isabella would not be covered under our private insurance plan due to her "pre-existing condition" that was, until July of 2007, undiagnosed. So my wife, who had been a highly paid executive with an expense account, took a job at a call center for a company that would provide group insurance coverage for the family. I became a housedad.

With no one interested in signing me to a record label or booking me for shows or using me to produce other artists, I limped along in the songwriting world anonymously for the next several years. I would get up at 5 or 6 in the morning, make Isabella's breakfast, clean her up, then sit her in a high chair next to the piano and write songs while she smiled at me. It was wonderful and terrible at the same time. Isabella was severely delayed with sleep disorders, seizures and no speech. She required full time attention and had to be monitored almost 24 hours a day. Yolanda and I became shift work care givers. Many nights after she would come home from work, we would kiss and I would head out to a club to play for the rest of the night for tips or door money ...or nothing. The years passed and we continued to struggle with Isabella. My career continued to slide into oblivion and my wife became more and more acutely exhausted. In late 2006, we adopted a second child. A glorious baby boy named Gabriel. For all the problems Isabella was born with, Gabe was born perfect and whole and was a Godsend. Our family was complete and we could begin to see the clouds over us lift. The joy of another life in our home awakened us from a five year stupor and made me begin to re-evaluate everything that had happened to us to that point. What constitutes a happy life? What is real success? In short ...what's truly important?

In April of '08, with no publishing deal, no record deal and no career left to speak of, my wife suggested that I try and write a finale song for the American Idol song contest. My friend Scott Krippayne had won it the year before and Yolanda told me "Scott did it last year, why couldn't you do it this year? Please try it - you have nothing to lose". I reluctantly agreed, then immediately thought of the line "taste every moment and live it out loud". That was a Thursday. I went into my office the following Monday and worked through what a "moment" song would sound and feel like. I couldn't bring myself to write about conquest and achievement. None of that rang true for me anymore. I had been living a cautionary tale of hanging your hopes and dreams on material success for the past five years. All I could think of was the need to give in to love, let bitterness burn and embrace the moments we have and people we love. I thought about my shattered career and the words "holding on to things that vanished into the air left me in pieces" washed over me and I briefly felt the sting of it all again. Then I thought about my wife and my daughter and my son and how they were truly all I needed. The words "all that I needed was there all along, within my reach, as close as the beat of my heart" came rolling off my tongue and I knew that it was the truth. I finished the song in five hours. Recorded and mixed it over the next three days and turned it in to the contest website (along with my ten dollar entry fee) the day of the deadline. Three days later, I was notified that my song "may" be in the top twenty. Two days later ...it was. Several weeks later, I was notified that I'd actually won the contest. A week after that, David Cook became the 2008 American Idol winner and performed my song in front of 30 million people. Two and a half months later, it had been downloaded over seven hundred thousand times, was number 3 on the pop AC chart, number 7 on the hot AC chart and had been performed live on TV a dozen times and been used in several TV production pieces. You almost can't ask for more out of a song than that. But then ...

On the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year of the new millennium, the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic games took place in Beijing, China. I was working in my office and about to finish up and go to bed, when my wife burst through the door in her pajamas. "Get up here - you gotta see this!", she said frantically. I ran upstairs just in time to see the ceremony close to the very words I had written in my office three months earlier. As David Cook sang line after line, my wife and I stood spellbound, watching little Chinese girls walk up and down the same streets we had so casually strolled five years earlier. They looked like our beautiful daughter sleeping in the next room. My wife, needing to be asleep so she could be at her job at five thirty the next morning, was in tears and visibly shaken by the inexplicable nature of it all. All I could do was stare and try to get a handle on the moment. I couldn't then and still can't. We weren't in Beijing with the other three families. Our daughter doesn't know she's chinese and can't tell us how she feels about her birthplace. Barring a medical miracle, she never will. As a family, we were tied to our special circumstances and a trip to China would be completely out of the question for several reasons. But our story - our journey - our personal revelation was there and speaking to the entire world. The weight of it still gives me chills.

I brought a Chinese baby home who's severe special needs condition sent my career and our life as a family into a tailspin. The years of learning and crying and hurting and losing had brought us to the point of letting go of everything. That point had spawned a song that went into the world and did what we could not ...attend the 2008 Olympic games in China. Moments like that can only be engineered by something higher than ourselves. If my life had continued on it's "perfect" course, I'm quite certain I would've never experienced 8/8/08 in that profound of a way. Any plan I could've developed would never have been as beautiful and unexpected. This one was divine.

Sometimes you have to lose everything to gain perspective. You can't see the circle while you're making it. Only at certain, special moments can you pull back and see the reasons for it all. China. Babies. Songs. Music. Dreams. Success. Happiness. They all mean different things to me now. They are all part of a grand mosaic that is in a constant state of immaculate design.

R

Blake Lewis @ Summer Meltdown 2008

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All videos by Kiss106

Freestyle


Clips


Jealousy


Dumpty Humpty


America The Beautiful

David Cook - Time of My Life - NBC Broadcast Beijing Olympics 2008

Once again NBC used David Cook's first single, "Time of My Life" at the end of their olympic broadcast. I'm loving this! The song, while a bit cheesy, really is appropriate for such grandiose event as the Olympics. The lyrics are perfect for that!

via mjsigblog:

Saturday, August 9, 2008

David Cook - Time of My Life - Opening Ceremony Beijing Olympics 2008

Cook's first single, Time of My Life, was used i the closing montage of he opening ceremony at the Olympics. You can see the video of that montage here:

http://www.rickey.org/?p=8598#more-8598

Watch the entire opening ceremony here:

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0808_hd_ocb_hl_l1622

Friday, August 8, 2008

Robert Muraine and Philip Chebeeb - So You Think You Can Dance - Finale Popping Duel

Who wins???

I really love that Philip follows the music more. But Robert is an INSANE popper. The moves he makes are so damn impressive!


Dance Off
Uploaded by krunkyou

Thursday, August 7, 2008

David Cook and Carly Smithson @ NY Mets Baseball Game - August 7 2008

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American Idol Season 7 Tour - Sacramento, CA, July 9th 08 - Videos and Pictures

Reviews and Articles

Arco crowd shows Sacramento is 'American Idol' stronghold
http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/story/1073470.html

Excerpt:

David Cook: Whatever you thought back on May 21 when Cook won "American Idol" (yay or nay), he proved he deserved the title. Other reviews of his performance downplayed his alternative versions of "Billie Jean" and "Hello," but Cook nailed it for the Arco audience. A slim and trim Cook rocked from one end of the stage to the other. The only down time? When he had to sing the mandated "The Time of My Life" (songwriter's competition winner).

As Season 5 winner Taylor Hicks seems a distant memory, Cook likely won't be forgotten for some time to come.




Videos



Hello from dizneefanatic1973


Time Of My Life from dizneefanatic1973


Don't Want To Miss A Thing from dizneefanatic1973


My Hero Part 1 from guerabe


My Hero Part 2 from guerabe


Billy Jean from dizneefanatic1973


Please Don't Stop The Music - MAVID Dance - from dizneefanatic1973



Pictures


From dothepanic
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dothepanic/sets/72157606139216896/

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From NicoleAbalde
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16916788@N04/sets/72157606104995842/

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Robert Muraine - So You Think You Can Dance - IKEA Commercials

Complete version:


Ad 1:


Ad 2:


Ad 3:

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Canadian Idol - Season 6 - Top 7 - Results

Who will go home this week?

Ben asks the judges about what they thought of the previous night's show. Farley comes right out saying he hopes Theo, Mookie and Earl stick around for a while. The top 7 then performs some of Tom Jones' biggest hits. And Tom Jones himself closes the number with "It's Not Unusual".




Tom Jones now performs a new song, If He Should Ever Leave You.




Jullia Black tells us all about how the idols get ready, with makeup and fashion and all that. I love Earl, 'nuff said.

Finally on with the results...

Drew and Amberly first - Canada voted, and they are both SAFE.

Earl and Theo - Canada voted and they are both in the BOTTOM 3. WTF????

Mitch, Mark and Mookie - Canada voted, and Mitch is SAFE. Mookie is SAFE. Mark is BOTTOM 3.




So Earl, Theo and Mark are in the BOTTOM 3. Who will stay? Who will go? Let's find out...



Bye bye Mark... Very classy exit.

Next week, the Top 6 tackles Canadian Rock. WOO HOO!!!!! Montreal band Simple Plan will be there to show us how it's done.

Blake Lewis @ The Jet Bar - July 25 2008

Jealousy - from yerocfilms


The following are all from IdolBored:

She Will Be Loved


1000 Miles


How Many Words


Ditties


Freestyle

David Cook and David Archuleta - Teen Choice Awards 08 - Video

TV Guide Pre-Show Interview:



Presenting Awards Video via mjsbigblog:



Access Hollywood Interview:



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Monday, August 4, 2008

Canadian Idol - Season 6 - Top 7 - Performances

Top 7!

Tom Jones worked with the idols this week, as they take on hits from the U.K.

Mark Day -Bleeding Love
Oh boy. It's nice to hear Mark sing a modern song, and I think that if he really felt the lyrics, he could have really hit a homerun with this. As it is now tho, it was merely ok. No real emotions behind his vocals, cheesy stage presence with the pointing at the audience, and it seems like he tried too hard when he pushed his vocals here and there. Very meh.




Mitch Macdonald - Jealous Guy
Good song choice for Mitch. The beginning is rough and seems too low. But when he reaches for the higher notes, it sounds really good. Not bad, but not his best.




Doody... Oh Ben...

Drew Wright - Creep
Gotta be honest - when I heard Drew was doing Creep, I said to myself - NO FUCKING WAY is he going to pull this off. While his cover is not my favorite of all the ones out there (hello David Cook, Lukas Rossi, Magni!), I thought he did a really, really good job. I dind't care for how the song was cut, but that's not really in his control, so I won't hold it against him. I thought his vocals were the best I've heard from him so far, and holly molly that RUUUUUUUUUUUUUN was impressive. The makeover makes it all the better for me - while before I could not watch him perform, this time I could. don't care for the nose ring tho... All in all, really good from Drew.

Theo Tams - You Had Me
I was nervous for Theo when he asked for advice on stage presence. But boy, those worries faded away quickly! I really didn't care for the big shoulder jacket, but the little bit of facial hair - WOW! And I didn't think Theo had the growl in him - I was wrong, he does! I really enjoyed his performance - vocally it was strong (although the beginning seemed a bit rushed) and the performance was really good. Awesome!




Mookie Morris - Lola
That was good. Great choice for him. Too low in the beginning, a bit shaky. But when he kicks into gear in the second verse, it sounds great. Performance wise, I'd love to see a bit more from him. From the judges comments, seems like Mookie might not get the votes the judges/producers want him to get...




Amberly Thiessen - Put Your Records On
I'm not too fond of this song, so this might cloud my judgement somewhat. I really didn't like this performance from Amberly. She was on pitch, but she seemed so uncomfortable without her guitar, concentrating so hard on how she'd perform the song that I felt her vocals suffered - no power, no feelings, no passion. Not good. Seems like the judges disagree...




Earl Stevenson - Change The World
Hey Tom, how's it going? *L* I love Earl and his laid back attitude. Listening to him rehearse, I thought, wow, this will be GOOD... But it was not. :( And it makes me sad. I thought the beginning was weird, too low in the vocals and fake in the performance. Then the chorus - it sounded much better and I liked it. But this son, to me, doesn't go at all with Earl's style. The ending was totally WTF for me.




My Top 3:
Theo
Drew
Mookie

My Bottom 3:
Earl
Amberly
Mark