Rock Star: INXS 1-3 August

Cafe Society
1

Yeah, I should have just started this thread Monday afternoon like I started to. But I thought, “Nah, it’s too early, people will miss it.”

This is a tough week for me. Everybody did pretty well this week. The obvious choices to cut are mostly either gone (Daphna, Neal) or shaping up (Brandon, Jessica).

I really want to see some different people in the bottom 3. We know Tara, Suzie, & Jessica can handle INXS songs pretty well. How about the others?

Y’know, that’s the funny thing. There are contestants that are really charismatic, huge stage presence, that get voted for, then there are those that aren’t as popular, that have proven themselves in the crunch.

I think Jordis has a huge advantage right now. Beloved by the band & by the fans, she just gets up there & sings, without all the weird dance stuff, but with a simple, classy approach to stagecraft, & is consistently praised by the band.

MiG is turning into a sex symbol. If I’m reading the fan response right, MiG & Jordis may be the last two to fall into the bottom three, if present trends continue. But that’s the audience’s preference, not the band per se.

But really, the weird thing is that Jessica is growing on me. I don’t want her to win, but I’m sympathizing with her. Argh! When did this happen?

2

Why does nobody watch this show!

There were some freaking awesome performances last night!

Jordis’ version of “Man Who Sold the World” was wicked!

INXS should change singers every year so we can hear stuff like this!

MtM

3

I’m thinking that Deanna, Brandon, and Jessica will end up in the bottom three. Even though INXS praised Deanna and she was up shaking her ass in Andrew Farris’ face and everything, I thought she sounded horrible. Brandon did OK but not great, in my opinion. And poor Jessica…it seemed like she needed to work a bit more on controlling her breathing or something. It just wasn’t doing anything for me. I wasn’t wild about Tara’s performance, either. Suzy was OK. Dave was right about J.D.; this was his best performance of the show. But his best performance, in my opinion, is still below the likes of Marty, MiG, or Ty.

I honestly don’t know who’s going to make it from the guys, but I’m thinking that Jordis has a lock on Alpha Female of the group.

And what was with the promo for Tuesday night’s show? It said something about, “and with a shocking twist, a rocker breaks down!” or something like that, and it flashed a brief image of Jordis standing at the mike with her head down…now, I knew that Jordis said that she was really moved by the song, so I wondered if she was going to just start crying while she was singing or something…but no! No one broke down whatsoever! What gives??

4

Jordis’ cover of a cover (she seemed to be covering Nirvana’s version as opposed to David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World”) was freakin’ amazing. I got goosebumps and chills.
MiG’s version of “We Will Rock You” was alright. The song is so over for me, it’s hard to care. (Although, the slam on JD was good).

Deanna’s “I’m the Only One” was only saved by the fact that she went out into the audience. Still, vocally it was milquetoast. (Although, once again, the slam on JD was good, Dave had a big bowl of Snarky Flakes before he got on last night I think).

Marty. Creed. Sorry, you can’t make a diamond out of dung. It was Sisyphean effort though but what’s up with the wacky arms like you’re an inflatable man at a used car lot?

Ty. Foo Fighters’ “Everlong” is just an awkward song and Ty was pitchy nasty.

Jessica. “Blister in the Sun”. Ya know, they keep saying that this is a vocal competition, they give them a certain group of songs that they have to pick from, and then Navarro complains that it’s not really a song for showing off one’s range and that this is a singing contest. WTF.

Brandon. “If You Could Only See” I watched it, I know I did. It was just forgettable seconds after it was over.

JD “The Letter”. It seems every time I see JD and his antics, my disdain for him rises. In a group on a reality TV show that all seems to get along, this guy’s the asshole. It’s hard to judge him vocally when I don’t want him to win based on his personality. His performance was “faux-ver the top” though. It wanted to be XTREEM but it came out like a sody-pop commercial version of it.

Tara’s “Message in a Bottle”. I think the message actually said “What the hell is up with the accent? Even ABBA didn’t have one that bad”. I knew the song but had no idea what part of Europea she was pretending to be from.

Suzie “Get Back”. Really, really, really boring. I’d almost rather watch Dave Navarro shave his armpits than that performance. At least with Dave you could root for a nick.

5

I have to agree with the comment about the song choices; how in the world can they criticize these people for making a bad song selection when they have someone else pretty much picking out the songs for them?? I mean, come on! I was hoping that maybe they would switch things up and start having them sing some INXS songs; after all, we just keep hearing the bottom three singing the INXS songs, so how do we know that any of the regular top performers will be able to do the INXS songs well? I want to know if Ty can sing “The Stairs” or if Jordis can rock out to “Kick”.

6

I was sold early on for Ty, but lately he’s dropping in my estimation. I don’t know where he’s been on the voting lists, but I won’t be surprised if he’s in the bottom 3 tonight.

7

Uh-oh!

Rather than go out & buy cable to watch one half hour a week, I wrote them a letter. Yes, they should change their whole schedule & maybe lose advertising dollars for my lazy bones. :wink: I really do think it sends a dangerous “lack of faith” signal, but what do I know?

8

Deanna hasn’t done anything for me lately. I thought her stage performance last night was inspired, but her singing was awful. Maybe it’s her voice or my TV, but she sounded really flat through most of it. And why, oh why, does she always sound like she’s got marbles in her mouth? I know diction isn’t a big thing with “rockers.” but I would like to understand one word that comes out of her mouth.

Something about Jessica leaves me unimpressed. I can’t really point to anything she did wrong in her performance last night, but I never feel like I can connect with her when I watch her. It’s like watching a talented amature that’s technically okay, but something is missing.

Ty really was out of his element last night. It was the first time I haven’t liked his performance. It seems like some of these performers get a song they don’t like (Ty, Deanna, JD) and just give up on it.

Brandon was better than before, but that’s more of a statement on how horrible he was before. If the best that can be said is “wow, several of his notes were on pitch,” he doesn’t deserve to be there.

Mig was pretty good. I haven’t really liked him before since he seemed kind of play acting up there. But last night I got into his performance.

Jordis kicked ass as usual. I’m actuallly a bit worried that if she has one less than incredible night, people are going to turn on her because they expect so much now!

JD, Tara, Suzie, and Marty apparently didn’t make any impression on me since I can’t remember anything about their performances.

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Oh No, Not me!
I never lost control
You’re face to face
With The Man Who Sold The World.

Goosebumps

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Jordis really nailed that song. I’m not a huge fan of hers, not that I dislike her, but last night she blew me away.

MiG isn’t conventionally attractive, but hot damn. He’s got something. MiG and Marty are my favorite males, though I still have lots of affection for Ty.

Who does Marty look like? It drives me crazy. Someone on TWoP said the muppet in Dark Crystal and my god, that’s right. But I think he also looks like someone who isn’t made of felt.

11

Um, at the beginning of the series I called Tara “looks like Shirley Manson” & Marty “Tom Petty hair.” If that helps.

12

I wasn’t really much impressed with any of the performances tonight.

I agree with sending Tara home; she’s not what they’re looking for, so even if she’s technically OK, why keep her around?

Ty did OK, but somehow I wanted him to put a bit more oomph into it or something. At the same time, while we got to hear him do an INXS song, they gave him a song that was right up his alley! Why not give him something like, oh, say, “The Stairs” like I was saying earlier? Push him a little bit, see if he can handle something that isn’t just a straight up high energy power song. This would have been a good opportunity to do that, but instead they gave him a relatively easy one to pull off. I’m wondering if they did that just to make sure that he would be sticking around.

Brandon gets less impressive to me each time he sings. It’s like he put no real emotion in the chorus of “Devil Inside.” I actually expected him AND Tara to get the boot tonight. I think of the remaining guys either Brandon or J.D. will be the next to go. Actually, it will probably be Brandon, since for some reason INXS seem to like J.D. I just don’t see them surpassing Ty, MiG, or Marty at this point.

Among the females, and maybe the whole competition, this is Jordis’ to win or lose. If she keeps steady, she’ll be there to the end. It would take something major for her to lose, and even if she screwed up and got voted to bottom three, she would probably pull off the INXS song so well that there would be no real danger of her leaving. Of course, that could be wrong; maybe she can’t pull off the high-energy rockers as well. What if she has to sing some INXS song that she doesn’t know the words to?? I can hear it now…"Jordis, we’d like to hear you sing “Just Keep Walking.”

I think Deanna or Jessica will be the next female to go. Ideally, if I were calling the shots, the next elimination show would have Brandon, J.D. and Deanna, and instead of making us all suffer through hearing them butcher INXS songs, they would just say, “you know what? None of you are right for our band, INXS. Be careful on the way out; that door closes awfully quickly.”

13

Seeing as how Navarro and INXS were treating J.D. like their personal punching bag, I’m surprised that they didn’t get on his ass for doing that hyperkinetic, limbs-everywhere dance; he looked stupid doing it during his first performance and he looked stupid this time around, too.