Shout out to my gal Fantasia!

So happy to read that Fantasia is making Oprah and the rest of us proud tearing up Broadway as Celie in The Color Purple, and getting praise from fans (who had no doubt she could do it) as well as critics. Congratulations, Fantasia! Read the news piece here.

Constantine's debut!

Like many other fans of Constantine, I eagerly anticipated the release of his solo album. Beaten to the charts by most (if not all) of this current season as well as Season 5's peers, we had to wait extra long. And given all of his artistic pursuits since Idol days went idle for him (hosting Idol Extra!, numerous appearances on Good Day New York, two stints on Broadway, a tour with his -former- band PFTSOB....) I had to wonder, WHAT will he come up with ?

News that Connie decided to fund the record himself by forming his own publishing company (Sixth Place Records) was a little disheartening.....I couldn't figure out why the likes of Bucky Covington, Kellie Pickler among others had managed to procure record deals while Connie (clearly the stand-out non-winner of Season 4) had to dig through his couch cushions to produce something we could listen to baffled me. Granted, he shot out of the post-AI cannon with a flash....fueled most notably with news of a Kelsey Grammar-speared sitcom in the works? but many another public sitings to boot (okay, I admit....I TiVo'ed Bold and the Beautiful!!!) Could his 15 minutes have parlayed itself in about 27 minutes, only to fizzle completely? I was convinced that only I had seen and heard the great Connie, and that when his CD materialized, the world would surely share my view that Connie had been robbed.

Well....the CD isn't very good. Granted, it's not horrible....I didn't wince when I played it and managed to keep all 4 tires of the minivan squarely in my lane....but, it lacks a finesse, a power, a punch, a what the French call, "I don't know what." Some of the tunes are quite catchy, I like the first 2 a lot...but has a juvenile-sounding quality that I, for one, will attribute solely to production and not to talent....we'll save that analysis for his sophomore effort (if there is one). It also jumps all over the map in terms of genres.....pop, rock, ballad, country.....kind of like a season of AI will....so in that sense, it's the Connie we know and love....but in the end, it just doesn't work for a CD and I think, does NOT show the world what Constantine is capable of. It's just too hard to compare the debut of Elliot with Constantine, since the former totally SMOKES him in terms of the CD....

The one good thing is that unlike the PFTSOB CD I ordered from Amazon, this effort by Constantine does NOT have an 'explicit lyrics' sticker and is therefore minivan-worthy :)

AllStar Idols at the AllState Arena

We totally enjoyed this year’s Idols Live show this week. We went after Season 4 finished (cuz I just had to see Constantine!!) and while it was good, this year was GREAT. What you are dying to know, but too afraid to ask:

Yes, Haley wore every single skirt way too short, Sanjaya had multiple hairdo’s throughout the evening (but no ponyhawk, thank goodness), and Blake beatboxed. But what surprised me? Well, for starters, Chris Richardson beatboxed, too! And played drums! Quite good at both. In fact, this is a very musical bunch…Jordin, Blake, and Chris Sligh all accompanied themselves on guitar while Phil Stacey played keyboards, and I spotted Sligh at least one other time in the background playing guitar while someone else sang, which was cool. I was also surprised at how good everyone was….no duds in this bunch. And a (surprise?) marriage proposal on stage from hometown Gina's boyfriend was a special moment shared with 20,000 new friends!

The show was way longer than in ’05 (almost 3 hours with a 20 minute intermission) and included songs done on the show, of course, but also lots of new ones…whereas in ’05 the Idols basically did what they had already done on the show and in predictable order (10^th place, 9^th place…..winner, etc.) This year, it was all over the place, with different people paired up for different songs, in no particular order. The songs, too, spanned multiple decades with classics from Motown, Michael Jackson (that was Sanjaya) and of course, Bon Jovi but also contemporary songs I didn’t know and had to consult the 10 year old I went with! LOL!! So a delightful mixed-bag of tunes. The pace was quick, with little time between songs, which kept everyone hopping. Personal favs were LaKisha's "I Will Always Love You", that Whitney classic she could have never sang on the show because Simon would have eaten her alive, but was delivered perfectly here...and everything Melinda sang.

Jordin was pretty much absent from the first three-quarters of the show (other than the opening number). I read that Carrie Underwood spent a lot of time traveling back and forth between the concert tour and LA to record her debut album, so I figure this is what Jordin is doing..... but she appeared near the end to do a mini-set of 4 or 5 songs, ending with her winning song, “This Is My Now” – not necessarily a fav tune of mine, but hey – it does fit the chick. And since her hair was straight for the opening number but curly at the end, I think that 2 hours must have been spent shampooing. (grin)

Finally, while it’s not really my “thing”, I must mention that the costumes, lighting and stage setup were far superior to the 2005 show. This year’s production included video footage of this season’s show, including performance highs and audition lows, which still brought a chuckle. Cheesy, yes , but it served as a reminder of just how far we've come!

The stage sprawled the width of the floor, and included catwalks on either side to permit the Idols a quick handshake or photo op with fans lucky enough to be down front. And the crowd? We were in good company with lots of parents and kids….we left with t-shirt in hand and memories of a pretty good season!

You can read the Chicago Tribune's review of the show here !

Here we go!

So....my friends and family have been bugging me to move my cheers, jeers, rants and raves about American Idol off email and into the Blogsphere....so here I am!

My latest inspiration came from going to see the American Idols Live tour last evening here in Chicago with my 'tween daughter along with two other moms and their 'tween sons ....review of the the show forthcoming to kick off this blog, baby!