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WOW...shocker. I wonder if Simon knew the winner ahead of time....why else would he make that little apology?

Because he was sorry?

you think so airun?

I'm with you Gorgeous Clamor. I appreciate you putting so eloquently into words what were my very thoughts. I agree that Clay Aiken, Josh Groban and David A are set apart as far as pure vocals. David A will go on to do well, perhaps even better commercially than David C, only time will tell. We must remember how very young David A is and allow him time to grow as an artist.

Congratulations to David Cook and congratulations once again to Perry for being in the running with a great song that's hopefully going to get further attention!!

By the way Gorgeous Clamor, I am listening to your music and it's very good!! Nice to meet you!!

Best,
Lynn

Ha! Why Aaron Authier, are you TS people still whining about that? That's pretty funny. I had pretty much forgotten they existed. We banned them because the people who ran it were misanthropic dishonest sleaze bags. Perhaps you'd feel more at home there? You certainly don't add much positive energy over here. I think they thrive on being nasty to people there. Just your thing.

Brian

Yahoooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeee!!! DAVID COOK!!!!
As soon as I heard Simon eating crowe .. I KNEW HE WON!!

WAY TO GO DAVID COOK!!!

yeah!
Joanne

Very classy of Cook to acknowledge Archuleta like he did after winning.

I know I'd be flat fired up to get a song cut by either David right about now. Ah well, maybe next year ...

Thanks for your compliments on the music, Lynn. I want to hear your songs, but I didn't find you on MySpace. Do you have a URL?

Apparently the "little leaks" that were heard were correct. 12 million votes is pretty signficant, especially if the top 3 were only 1 million apart. It appears the Syesha vote mostly went to David Cook.

As for the Idol Song contest, I thought David's performance of the song on Tuesday was the best of the 3 that were performed. I can't really hear Syesha doing Perry's song, but I think David Cook would have been great doing it. The overall winning song was okay.. but totally forgettable. But the guy who won is by all accounts that I've heard a great guy who has paid a lot of dues and has been on the downslide for a while, so good for him. I can't see that song being a big hit, but I am sure it will sound fine for whatever run it gets.

10 of the 20 top songs were written or co-written by JPF members. I've met 7 of them. Perry happens to be one of only 2 of them who have posted here, but a few have been out to chapter events and stuff. I didn't really mention them all because I didn't think their songs were that strong. I did think Fran Lucci's song was nice and I thought Perry's song was good too. Emily Shackleford made the show and the song held up very well with David Cook performing it. I still think of all of them, (including the non JPF members) there were 2 perfect songs for David Cook and Perry's was one of them. The fact that he made it that far after only a couple months of songwriting is impressive by any measurement. I think we'll see a lot of good songs coming from him over the next few years. AND.. he was smart enough to invest in a good singer.. something we preach here all the time. A great singer gives you a signficantly better shot at being noticed in this competitive era.

America picked the right of the final two.. I liked his performance with ZZ Top as well by the way. And, I must admit, that David A. sounded the best I've ever heard him when he joined that band and sang along with their hit. Good for him.

Brian

RESULTS 21MAY08

And the best man definitely won. All along I've felt David Cook was the clear winner, and I was confused by the judging last night. Enjoyed the ZZ Top collab. The whole show was fairly enjoyable. Nice of Simon to apologize.

If you've been following my posts, I'd like to say thank you for reading my comments. Several of you have written to say you learned something about singing from reading my assessments of the singers and their performances. That was really why I started this blog. At times I regretted that decision since it forced me to watch all the Idol shows and make notes on every singer and every song... but on the other hand I felt it made me take a more intensive interest in the shows that before.

One thing I would like to say is that, if 10 out of thousands and thousands of auditioners end up on AI, and tour with the show.... this is a good indication of what percentage of people make it big in this industry.

The good thing about Idol is that it does offer some talented people the chance for exposure. I don't always agree with the judges choices on the road to the top 24, but I am not in the room with them, hearing & seeing the complete audition.

The bad thing about Idol is it makes thousands of kids think that fame = success, and that all they need is a shot. What you need is time & experience. What you need is skill. What you need is practice. Nothing is instant. Even your American Idol, who, besides having to rehearse 3 songs for the last night of the competition, also had to rehearse duets, ensembles, a piece with ZZ Top, and the winning song, do media interviews, etc., all this week.

It kinda reminds me of when I was a young girl, dreaming of boys and marriage. My father wisely said to me "too many girls focus on the wedding. Marriage is what happens after the vows."

Winning American Idol, or making any step forward in your career, is not the end. It is the beginning of hard work, of having to sing when you aren't well, or sign autographs when you are dog tired, or get on the bus to go to the next gig when all you wish is to be home with your wife and family.

Lastly, you don't have to win AI or even get on AI to live your dreams. Have a clear vision for yourself, find out what it is you need to know to achieve the next level and set out to learn that. Don't expect anyone to come along and pluck you out of obscurity. Study creativity, look for inspiration, network like crazy, and build a supportive team around you. Fame and fortune mean nothing if you can't look yourself in the face. Fame and fortune mean nothing if you haven't got people you trust to share your success with. Fame and fortune mean nothing if you aren't following your heart. It's more important to get up every day and spend that day doing something that you love, than it is to have people scream your name in an arena. If those things go together, that's great. But it's the passion and the drive and the work and the experience that will get you there.

Anything is possible, if you are willing to do the work.

see you next season,
Vikki Flawith
www.vikkiflawith.com
www.myspace.com/vikkiflawith

Overall, this was my most enjoyable finale for AI. It was WAY more entertaining than watching the Grammys or CMA Awards. With DC winning by a NOT insignificant amount, I feel pretty vindicated (56% to 44% or about 12 million votes). David A will do just fine, but I think America got it right this year.

Here's my blow-by-blow of the highlights:

1. Hero (from Spiderman movie)- duet by the two Davids. I really liked this and thought they did a very nice job overall.

2. Waiting for You - duet with Seal & Syesha. I didn't think Syesha had any problem keeping up with him.

3. Hallelujah - Jason Castro. Well, they gave him one of his better songs and he did a nice job.

4. Donna Summer medley - OMG, I played ALL of those tunes in one band or anyother back in the 80's. It was like a "Disco Sucks" nightmare all over again. The ol' gal can still belt though, can't she? Did anyone see Ryan dancing around and then finally practically collapsing on the steps, out of breath? That was pretty funny!

5. Bryan Adams medley - The guys did a pretty good job. I haven't kept up with what Bryan himself has been writing, but he did a pretty good job.

6. Sharp Dressed Man - ZZ Top and David Cook. This was cool, and if he never does anything else, to say he had ZZ Top as his backup band will be a story he'll tell the rest of his life!

7. Teach Your Children - Graham Nash and Brooke White. This was one of the best performance of the night, IMHO. I was totally mesmerized and thought Brooke did an outstanding job. Of course, Graham was no slouch....

8. GuitarHero.com commercial - David Cook "doing" Tom Cruise in Risky Business. This was absolutely brilliant positioning! We were ROTFLOAO. A highlight of the evening!

9. S.O.S. - Jonas Brothers. Maybe the TV sound mix was bad, but I wasn't impressed. None of them could sing for squat. This seems like a very manufactured "pretty boy" band to me. Maybe after a few years of touring, they'll learn to sing. N'Sync did.

10. We're Brothers Forever - Renaldo Lapuz sort of sang with the USC Marching Band. Uh, they could have skipped this one for me.

11. Apologize - One Republic. These guys are platinum artists? They need a new lead singer 'cause the piano player can't hit the notes. Maybe they should hire Archuletta? He made them sound better.

12. One Step At A Time - Jordin Sparks. Not my cup of tea for music...and what an UGLY gold-colored dress. It was not flattering. At least she sang it pretty well (I guess she's over her voice problem of a month or so ago).

13. Midnight Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight and the "fake" pips. It was pretty funny! Man, that lady could sing, couldn't she?

14. Last Name - Carrie Underwood. Sorry fans, but she was pitchy in spots again. She had a gorgeous dress, looked stunningly beautiful, and sang most of it really well, but there were parts I was a cringin'. I've heard Carrie sound really good and have also heard her get pitchy on occasion.

15. GuitarHero.com commercial take #2 - David Archuletta PG-rated version with Boxers instead of "tighty whiteys", as my wife calls them.

16. George Michael medley - the top 12 did a nice job on this. I had never heard George sing live before...WOW! The guy is really, really good. I was impressed. I mainly remember him from his WHAM! days.

Right after David Cook was announced the winner, he began applauding David Archuletta. That was very generous of him.

Oh...the Simon "apology" about mistreating DC thoughout the season. Yeah, right. At least he DID apologize. I'll give him that much. It was at that point that I KNEW David Cook had won.

So I guess next week, I'll do something PRODUCTIVE with my Tuesdays and Wednesdays!

Was anyone else MESMORIZED by carrie underwoods dress?

Those sleeves!

I kept freaking out...I told hubby, those sleves with THOSE shoes...she is an accident waiting to happen! It seemed like she would surely trip any second.

(or maybe because I am such a klutz I am the only one who thought of this??)

It was totally distracting, and I have no clue what she sang or how well she did! lol

Well, my sexist, non-politically correct side came out and I was busy staring at her legs!

songwriter -- LOL! Just testing t u n e s m i t h. I guess it is going to be hard to ever discuss Jimmy Webb's book!

Kevin

I enjoyed the show last night. My favorite part was David Cook singing with ZZ Top. http://youtube.com/watch?v=skjmxOWuBbA

I loved Jack Black and the "pips" singing to a 70's recording of Midnight Train to Georgia, but that probably cannot be found on Youtube because it was offered as a paid I-tune video.

Is it true that some techogeeks figured out how to vote hundrends even thousands of times in the voting time slot?

Joe,

I read somewhere that someone voted 2500 times, another 500 times -- and there is a site called DialIdol.com that does the following:


I saw this site yesterday for the first time and DialIdol predicted that David Cook would win big. They we're right.


Kevin

Besides the software at dialidol, apparently if you use your cell phone to send text messages, you can vote very quickly as well. You could vote 10 times a minute - or more. It's a LOT faster than the "redial" button on your phone. Using redial, I can only get 1 or 2 votes per minute.

Text messaging is often charged by the number of messages or the length of the messages. Some companies (AT&T for one) also offer a flat rate for text messaging of something like $15/month for unlimited messages.

The one limitation of dialidol.com is that although it can measure busy signals, it can't tell how many people are text voting.

Sure we can. We just mention Jimmy Webb's book....

It's a great read, by the way.

"Using redial, I can only get 1 or 2 votes per minute."

You mean in theory, right? You're not actually...er, forget it, I'm scared to ask.

http://www.steverobinsonmusic.com/

Yeah...I can continue to vote while watching another program...pretty bad, huh? I think I'll have to join "AI Anonymous".

here's the announcement of the winner
David Cook
5minutes & 20 seconds in he performs the winning song
"Time of My Life"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=P_K3pxNLtmw

I wonder if it was intentional that the writer's name wasn't mentioned. Since he has a long string of songs cut and success perhaps he was perfectly fine with simply collecting the pay check. I've usually found that pro writers with significant success in their past are far more interested in the checks than the credit. That's always been a dynamic in the industry. Artists get the attention.. writers get the cash. For most writers that's a good deal. Artists rarely get a fraction of the money for a hit that the writers get. I know quite a few band members in famous bands, who weren't the song writers and sure wish they could trade that moment in the spotlight for a lifetime of residual income.

Just my thoughts on this.

Brian

There is also a studio version of the winning song, "The Time of My Life", available on iTunes.

It does sound pretty darn good.

He also has "Dream Big" available as a studio version (the other "original" song) that he did Tuesday night.

Y'know, I haven't purchased ANY other AI winner's CD, but I think it's a pretty good bet I'll buy his.

I wonder if a recording of Syesha doing Perry's song exists? Wouldn't they have recorded them at the same time?

Brian

Don't know. I couldn't find anything by Syesha Mercato on iTunes and even searching for "American Idol" didn't find anything with her voice on it.

It is back and not improved by a new network and so far the talent is shockingly weak.

I haven't read this thread of multiple pages but I will say this.

I viewed these shows like idol and the voice as little more then vaudeville variety programs in living color built from the ground up to entertain "normals" who in this instance would be people who don't know the rigors their talent can actually be.

My wife who is not creative, enjoys these programs but has played bass in some of the bands I was in and in the church praise team, hisses at me with the same mantra. "So and so was on idol and she is real big now". To wit I roll my eyes. - doesn't help my point.

Anything to cross this old man sometimes.

The show has been, and always will be about the judges. They are the stars, they are the ones who get paid, and the first group Simon, Randy and Paula had the best chemistry. I watched last night, between commercials of NCAA, and saw three judges who have zero chemistry.

Same thing, why do people HAVE to sing "it's a mans world" and "a change is gonna come". I get that they are old songs so they dont get compared to the original, but im so sick of hearing people singing these songs.

And what a bad move putting it up against march madness

Hey why does the show always have to put singers in who have babies, and they are DOING IT FOR THE BABY!

Just trying to give the baby a better life...lol, oh I thought people go to work and get jobs to take care of their children, or better yet, don't have children if you can't take care of them.

yEAH THE BACK STORIES ARE THE SHOW... PEOPLE, IN TRUTH, PREFER TO WATCH BACK STORIES AND BEHIND THE SCENES FODDER IR WORSE, PROCEDURAL PROCESSES OF PICKING CONTESTANTS. THESE SHOWS ARE OPENLY FIXED. THE VOICE DOESN'T EVEN TRY TO HIDE IT IN ANY WAY. JUST PAY ATTENTION TO THEIR PROCESS AND IMAGINE THEY HAVE A PARTICIPANT WHO THEY HAVE BEEN GROOMING IN THEIR STABLES. THEIR FORMAT ALLOWS THEM TO SIMPLY MOVE THEM FORWARD TO THE FINALS REGARDLESS OF MERIT OR FAN VOTING.

I HAVE HAD PARTICIPANTS OF ALL THE MAJOR TV TALENT SHOWS SHARE WITH ME THE VARIOUS FIXES BUILT IN AND IN AT LEAST ONE CASE THEIR CONTRACT SAYS THEY HAVE THE ABILITY TO MOVE THEIR FAVORITES FORWARD REGARDLESS OF FAN VOTES OR ANY OTHER VIOLATION OF RULES OR PROCESSES PRESENTED TO THE PUBLIC. IT IS ALL FIXED FROM THE START.

Boy, don't we know it? I'll never forget the fact they wouldn't answer you about one particular submission.

You mean Rockstar? There's been so many corrupt shows I can't even recall the details about that one?

The show just isn't working so far. My wife loves it so I have pay attention while working. The performances they've shown have left me disinterested in most. I suspect there's a collective of artists they intend to have on the show long before the auditions and the rest is just filler. Sure, most shows just hand pick the contestants (i.e. the Voice) but AI used to pick actual people from the auditions if they were blown away with enough sure things in case they found no one ahead of time. This feels like a stacked deck all the way.

I wish I could get the show off I pitched to several networks before AI every existed. I think it would have worked well. I have another idea for a different show than anyone has ever done, trying to figure out how to do it independently.

Brian