Paul Pulls Ahead

I need to get a life. Last night at 9:28pm I found myself with a pillow in front of my face too anxious to look at the TV in case by some colossal screw-up Katharine Mc Phee got dumped from American Idol. This season is entirely too nervewracking for me to handle.

Tuesday night's Idol had the contestants taking on songs from the 21st century. I had NO idea where some of their choices came from, especially Mandisa and Kelley Pickler. I was looking forward to maybe a bit of Maroon 5 or Avril Lavigne. Instead I got under-par renditions of gospel and unfamiliar country tunes.

16 year-old Lisa Tucker, whom I had orginally chosen from the audition process to get the Idol title, sealed her fate with a poor performance of Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You". It came off, in the often-used words of Simon Cowell, as bad karaoke. Clarkson OWNS that song start to finish, and Lisa fell well short of competing with her. As I expected Lisa and Ace represented two of the bottom three. What I didn't expect was to see one of the front-runners, Katharine Mc Phee, down there with them. Katharine chose to sing Christina Aguilera's 2003 tune "The Voice Within". It had a rocky start and was an uncomfortable, nervous performance. The end most definitely showcased Kat's pipes but for me it was no where near her best effort. However, I didn't feel it meritted bottom three. Mc Phee, luckily, has gotten another chance as the lowest vote's went to Lisa. THANK GOODNESSSS!

With Paul Kelly chosing Lisa to get booted week 7 and I week 5, Paul now leads our American Idol Challenge by three points. If Ace Young goes home next week though I will be in STELLAR shape to pull ahead. It's country time on Idol next week which will unfortunately bode well for Bucky and Kelley, but I want them BOTH gone!

TTYL! HD

America Gets It Right

"AMERICAN IDOL CHALLENGE" UPDATE!--

America FINALLY got it right last night voting off Kevin Covais from American Idol. The 16 year-old crooner, known to his fellow Idol contestants as "Chicken Little", did not score big with his rendition of "When I Fall In Love" during Idol's "50's Night" Tuesday. Even though Kevin got significantly less harsh comments from Simon Cowell than the week before, America did not agree. And I could not be happier. I still have NO idea how Kevin Covais squeeked his way into the Top 24 let alone Top 12. Guess the grannies and youngins fell for his boyish looks.

I have been gunning to get rid of Kevin for WEEKS, as has my Idol Challenge counterpart Paul Kelly. I even went as far as to say Tuesday night that I would gladly take a point loss to Paul in our contest just to see Covais go. Luckily we both had Kevin positioned to get booted in the same week so we are even keel again. With Bucky hanging around (my pick to go home last week and Paul's for this week) Paul is ahead by 2 points.

Catch up on the 2nd Annual American Idol Challenge at 951WAYV.com. Although I like Bucky Covington, I need him to go so I can pick up some points. I have to be nearly perfect here on out if I'm to beat Paul. I know I have some supporters out there so send me your comments by clicking below. Happy Idol voting!

TTYL, Heather

And so the "Idol" battle begins...

Although I would really love to tell you about the Billy Joel show from Monday night, since I've been procrastinating about it for 3 days, since Paull Kelly has taken our American Idol Challenge PUBLIC its time for me to comment.

If all this is new to you head to the homepage of 951WAYV.com to catch up. Last year Paul and I had an informal game going trying to pick next American Idol. It amounted to just listing our picks on a piece of paper that hung on the cork board in the AYV studio. This year, however, has become a little more competitive.

It all started when during the audition process of this Idol season I proclaimed 16 year-old Lisa Tucker was the next American Idol. From there Paul and I decided to try and narrow down which of the 24 finalists would make it to the all important top 12 when America gets to vote. So I thought I would make it more fun by using posterboard and idol-pics to make things more interesting. I was up to my eyeballs in glitter and rubber cement and all of a sudden I felt like I was back in 7th grade art class.

As you may have read on Paul's blog, he and I were even keel heading into the final 12 when the performances moved to Hollywood's Kodak theater. We both had 6 a piece. Now the REAL game has begun. There is a new, more-glittered, more complicated board with new rules to go along with it. This time around its a point system that Paul worked up ( I think to confuse me since I am terrible with numbers :P ). It hurts my head to go over it again since it took us a week to finalize it ourselves so if you want to know how it works head to Paul's blog. In all seriousness though I had a blast with Paul yesterday as we officially unveiled our 12 one by one.

So far today Mr. Kelly has bragging rights since his 12th pick Melissa McGhee (meaning his first pick to be knocked out of the 12) has been sent packing. But judging from what happened with Ace winding up in last night's bottom three I may be doing some bragging of my own in the coming weeks. You can comment freely on my list of 12-1 by clicking below. Paul has a lot of supporters so I am trying to muster up my own cheering section! Go Team HD! Which side are you on???

TTYL, Heather

Don't Call Me Debbie

So since it's technically still the Big 80's Weekend on WAYV, I shouldn't catch TOO much flack for what I am about to reveal.

I spent my Saturday night in a hip little club in lower Manhattan's SoHo district called The Canal Room. Saturday's they do a Big 80's dance party. Last night they had a special performance by the original 80's Pop Princess. That's right, I'm talking about Deborah "don't call me Debbie" Gibson. I am not ashamed to admit that I drove two hours to NYC, got stuck in Holland Tunnel traffic and spent close to $100 for this show. I was the 13 year old loser who plastered her room floor to ceiling (and actually a bit of the ceiling as well) with pics of The Debster from magazines like Bop and 16. I had the black bowler hat, the torn-knee jeans and converse sneaks. I knew every word of every song on Out of The Blue and Electric Youth. The goody-two-shoes image fit me perfectly.

I saw Deb on the Electric Youth Tour in 89 at the Philly Spectrum. My ma was nice enough to take me but made it well known that was THE LAST place she wanted to be. That was the only time I ever saw Debbie Gibson live since there weren't any other chances after her recording career skidded to a halt.

Debbie has continued to record both pop and Broadway albums since her stint as an 80's teen act. And YES, I own them all. I like that she never gave up putting material out there even though she wasn't quite the popular one anymore.

Last nights Canal Room show started rocky for me. Standing room only with RABID fans the likes of which I have never seen for an artist. She got on stage about 40 minutes past schedule and proceeded to belt out Broadway tune after Broadway tune. That's really NOT my thing, but she sounded AMAZING. Broadway has actually made her voice STRONGER and given her more range. Thankfully after a 10 minute break Deb hit the stage in jeans and a gold top and gave the crowd the show they really came to see. "Only In My Dreams" and "Foolish Beat" didn't come across as even remotely childish, even though she was 16 when she recorded the tunes. She even rocked-up a version of "Electric Youth" in grundge fashion to hear how it would have sounded if released in the 90's rather the 80's. All in all I was close enough to almost touch her. It was a very intimate setting for with an impressive audience. She doesn't perform her contemporary music anymore since she moved to the stages of musical theater. So it was cool watch her resurrect "Lost In Your Eyes" etc., and see her cover Carol King and Hall and Oats along the way.

Laugh if you will but I am glad I went!

TTYL, HD

Hell For The Homeless

Usually I reserve my blogging for whimsy and general ranting. And believe me, I would like nothing more than to throw my two-cents in regarding the American Idol challenge I've got going on with Paul Kelly. Rarely do I ever comment on the news unless its something "entertainment" related, but I feel compelled to write about something of more substance tonight.

There is a growing epidemic in this country--homeless abuse. We have all been guilty of ignoring the homeless, pointing at them or staring because in truth its just hard NOT to sometimes. So many of us wander around uneducated and too busy to bother with questioning how someone BECOMES homeless. Homelessness is seen as a disease in our society. Recently, the homeless have become an unwilling target of something more than neglect. They are dealing with violence in growing numbers. Worse, the trend is being perpetuated by the young.

Several male college students were arrested in Florida last month for attacking two homeless men with baseball bats. Only days ago another man sleeping in a Boston park was attacked by, yet again, college boys who beat him then threw lighter fluid on him and set him on fire. Whether on a dare, or for bragging rights, out of drunkeness or sheer enjoyment, "homeless bashing" is becoming a trend. Even Paris Hilton's newest boyfriend Stavros Niarchas was reported to have paid a homeless man on Sunset Boulevard $100 to pour a soda on his head.

People may not UNDERSTAND or even care why or how someone winds up living on the street. But what can't be ignored is the fact that the homeless already have an awareness and embarrassment of their situation. Whether they got there through their own bad decisions or have simply been dealt a bad hand in life, one thing they would rather not have is an even greater humiliation of being attacked for fun. I'm sure they would RATHER someone pretend they don't exist than be assaulted or killed.

These thoughts began for me tonight on just a routine drive home through Atlantic City leaving DejaVu Nightclub and seeing a homeless man walking barefoot down Atlantic Avenue while co-eds rolling in for Spring Break threw change at the man and laughed. I just couldn't in good conscience go to sleep tonight without expressing my disdain for blatent disregard for human life. With cell phone 411 at your fingertips maybe next time instead of staring you could dial up and find the nearest shelter or soup kitchen and pass on the info to someone who could use it. Hope I made ya think.

TTYL. Heather

DaVinci Dilemma

Say it isn't so. I am THIS CLOSE to the opening of the most anticipated movie of my life--The DaVinci Code. Yes, I am one of the millions of rabid Dan Brown fans counting the days until the release of the major motion picture version of his novel. In my opinion The DaVinci Code is a revolutionary work of fiction, one of the best of the 21st century if not ALL TIME. The whirlwind story of Robert Langdon, Sophie Nouveau, and the more believable (than Indiana Jones) quest to find the truth behind the Holy Grail is gripping and adventurous and worthy of many nights of lost sleep to continue reading.

May 19th is the scheduled release date. Ron Howard is the very capable director. The film stars Tom Hanks as Langdon, and although I myself had pictured Harrison Ford in the role I think Tom is an adequate fit. It's an all-star line up in fact including Paul Bettany and Alfred Molina. Anyone who knows me knows my obsession with Dan Brown and all his novels. And anyone who knows me knows I have been saying for months (since I found out the rights to the book had been sold for movie production) "Please let me live long enough, not to have children or get married or see the world, but to see The DaVinci Code put into celluloid form. I just cannot wait. It's like a kid looking forward to Christmas for the first time.

Now comes the news that Dan Brown had to appear in a London court yesterday on charges he plagerized much of the facts in The DaVinci Code from another non-fiction work called Holy Blood, Holy Grail. This debacle is now threatening the movie release. The writers of Holy Blood, Holy Grail are seeking an injuction to stop producer Brian Grazer from sending the film public until the end of the trial. If it were safe and if I felt comfortable typing out numerous explatives right now I would. But I am a lady. Instead I will just say my world has CRASHED, CRASSHHEEDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes I am overdramatic but its how I feel.

If I have to wait until next November to see this movie I will simply die of anticipation. Die. However, it leaves the film in a much better position for Oscar season. Keep me in your thoughts, thanks. Boo Hoo.

TTYL, Heather

DaVinci Dilemma

Say it isn't so. I am THIS CLOSE to the opening of the most anticipated movie of my life--The DaVinci Code. Yes, I am one of the millions of rabid Dan Brown fans counting the days until the release of the major motion picture version of his novel. In my opinion The DaVinci Code is a revolutionary work of fiction, one of the best of the 21st century if not ALL TIME. The whirlwind story of Robert Langdon, Sophie Nouveau, and the more believable (than Indiana Jones) quest to find the truth behind the Holy Grail is gripping and adventurous and worthy of many nights of lost sleep to continue reading.

May 19th is the scheduled release date. Ron Howard is the very capable director. The film stars Tom Hanks as Langdon, and although I myself had pictured Harrison Ford in the role I think Tom is an adequate fit. It's an all-star line up in fact including Paul Bettany and Alfred Molina. Anyone who knows me knows my obsession with Dan Brown and all his novels. And anyone who knows me knows I have been saying for months (since I found out the rights to the book had been sold for movie production) "Please let me live long enough, not to have children or get married or see the world, but to see The DaVinci Code put into celluloid form. I just cannot wait. It's like a kid looking forward to Christmas for the first time.

Now comes the news that Dan Brown had to appear in a London court yesterday on charges he plagerized much of the facts in The DaVinci Code from another non-fiction work called Holy Blood, Holy Grail. This debacle is now threatening the movie release. The writers of Holy Blood, Holy Grail are seeking an injuction to stop producer Brian Grazer from sending the film public until the end of the trial. If it were safe and if I felt comfortable typing out numerous explatives right now I would. But I am a lady. Instead I will just say my world has CRASHED, CRASSHHEEDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes I am overdramatic but its how I feel.

If I have to wait until next November to see this movie I will simply die of anticipation. Die. However, it leaves the film in a much better position for Oscar season. Keep me in your thoughts, thanks. Boo Hoo.

TTYL, Heather