Summer's Over, Summer Playlist Forever

This is another of those delayed-by-travel posts. Since my last update I've added more songs to My Big Fat Summer Playlist. A few are from this actual summer, the rest are from summers past or otherwise fit the concept...

Beautiful People - Chris Brown (feat. Benny Benassi) (I feel a little bit guilty about liking a song sung by the woman-beater. It helps that I didn't actually pay for this one.)
I Wanna Go - Britney Spears
California Gurls - Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
Who Do You Love - Bernard Wright
High On Sunshine - The Commodores
Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO (ft. Lauren Bennett & Goon Rock) (Yes, I succumbed to the madness.)
Summer Breeze - Seals & Crofts
Stare Into The Sun - Graffiti 6 (I saw this on one of the Logo music video shows, NewNowNext or its PopLab spinoff)
Summer Madness - Kool & the Gang
School's Out - Alice Cooper
Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run) - Billy Ocean
Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera

This brings me to 117 songs. As always, I'm looking for more. But probably not until next summer, unless I hear some old song that begs to be added.

The Voice May Wear Me Out

My friend Kurt is auditioning for season two of "The Voice" tomorrow. The New York auditions (those closest to here) are being held in East Rutherford, New Jersey, at the Izod Center, formerly the Continental Airlines Arena, and originally the Brendan Byrne Arena. (And if you know who Brendan Byrne is, you win...nothing. At least nothing from me.) This place is in the Meadowlands Sports Complex, where the New York Giants and Jets of the NFL will play once the lockout is finally over, and the Izod Center is where the New Jersey Devils and Nets used to play before both teams moved on to the new Prudential Center in Newark.

So, logistically speaking, it's in the middle of nowhere in northern New Jersey.

Kurt had a friend who was driving him tomorrow, until said friend had to cancel because of unexpected work commitments.

Have I mentioned that the Izod Center is in the middle of nowhere?

He has been instructed to arrive at 7 am. The plan is to take a Greyhound bus to New York City and then a New Jersey Transit bus that goes to the Meadowlands. To get there at 7 am or so requires taking the 3:20 am bus from Philadelphia to the Port Authority terminal, and then the first NJT bus on the Meadowlands route, which leaves at 6:50 am. This basically means it is impossible to get any sleep before going on this trip, and my guess is that with the number of people attending, it will be an all-day affair.

And, out of concern for his well-being and because this is a big deal to him, I am going along for the ride.

(Have I mentioned that the Izod Center is in the middle of nowhere? And that today's high temperature was 98, and tomorrow it's expected to hit or go past 100? And that none of the coaches/judges shown above are actually going to be there, I assume, since these are the very first rounds of auditions?)

The next 24 hours or so are going to be interesting, if not torturous. My cell phone is fully charged. Expect Facebook and Twitter updates.

The Voice -- Over

I tried, I tried, I really tried. But it's over. I've removed "The Voice" from my DVR series recordings. I liked it at first -- the drama of whether one of the celebrity coaches would turn the chair around as a contestant sang was fun -- but it's just boring now. I tried watching the first live show (well, it was live last night; I recorded it and only got around to watching a little while ago).

From about the 30-minute mark on I fast-forwarded through most of it, and only stopped near the end because I had somehow learned (via commercial or maybe a story I read) that Frenchie Davis was covering "When Love Takes Over," my favorite song of summer 2009. And by the way, she wasn't that great. Nor were one or two others that I heard. They weren't awful, but they weren't incredible.

Yet every comment from the coaches (at least those I heard -- as I said, I did a lot of fast-fowarding) were on the order of "you're amazing, I love you" and so on. Christina Aguilera -- I just find her really annoying now, especially after she chose a song by that horrible Ke-dollar sign-ha for one of her girls to sing.

I'm sorry, but if I'm going to watch one of these singing shows I need Simon Cowell or someone like him, and "The Voice" just doesn't have it. So with Simon and Paula Abdul both on "The X Factor" it's obvious I'll be giving that show a try in the fall.

I'll say this, though -- we need to get Patrick Thomas (pictured) out of his clothes right away...

Quick Review: Burlesque

Many people want to compare "Burlesque" to "Showgirls." I've never seen "Showgirls" except for a clip here and there, so I can't make a direct comparison but from what I know about it, I'd put it this way: "Burlesque" is a cleaned-up, sugary, bright and sunny version of "Showgirls." It's like a fantasy-world combination of "Showgirls" and "Flashdance" and and any old sitcom or movie where the gang gets together to put on a show to save the orphanage or theater or whatever. It's like a cartoon without the animation. And it's pretty gay. Christina Aguilera hops on a bus from the middle of nowhere and escapes to Hollywood hoping to become a famous singer, and ends up as a waitress at a burlesque house owned by Cher. Christina has talent to burn but needs a chance. Cher needs to make lots of money quick or she'll lose the building. There's singing, dancing, romantic melodrama (Aguilera and Cam Gigandet --if I recall correctly from three days ago, with all the implied sexuality, he's the only one to get naked, even if only for a couple of quick butt shots), some humorous lines, villains of sorts, and what are the chances that everything isn't somehow going to work out? Even Kristen Bell (the burlesque show's star prior to Christina's arrival), who drinks a lot, doesn't seem to suffer all that much. It's like cotton candy: it's not healthy, it won't fill you up, but you just want to eat it all up anyway. My grade: B.

They Don't Make 'Em Like This Any More

A little while ago on Facebook, the Diana Ross page linked to YouTube for her video for "Eaten Alive," a song co-written and co-produced (and with some backing vocals) by Michael Jackson and Barry Gibb. It's the title track from her 1985 album. According to Wikipedia it was #10 on the Billboard R&B chart but only #77 on the Hot 100 in 1985. I'm sure those numbers are correct since I used to subscribe to Billboard back in the day and really hit those charts hard, and I remember the song being a pop flop.

With the discussion over whether Christina Aguilera and Lady Gaga copied from Madonna in their recent videos -- and at this point, isn't everyone just copying each other? -- it's interesting to watch this bit of 1980s work, back when the short-form music video was still a relatively new format. And it's fascinating to see someone like Diana Ross in this type of video. It used to be all about the music, and then MTV came along and songs seemed to take a backseat to visuals, and we then saw veterans like Miss Ross (I love calling her that for some reason) in sometimes over-the-top productions. Wikipedia credits this video's airplay on BET for getting the song into the R&B top ten, but the song is such an odd piece of work, as is the video.

Compare and contrast with the song and video for Ross's follow-up, "Chain Reaction," which harkens back to her classic Motown days (but still has a couple of eccentric moments when the full-color shots arrive). Both videos are after the jump.

American Idol Likes/Dislikes

The overstuffed American Idol Season 9 finale took place tonight. I used my magical DVR to record and watch it. Some things I liked, some I didn't...

Like: The fact that I used the DVR instead of watching it live. It made it easy to fast-forward through much of what I dislike.
Dislike: Nearly all of the performances featuring this year's mediocre finalists. Since I forwarded through them, I have no idea what they sounded like. I'm just against them in principle. And the guest performers with them: Alice Cooper with all the finalists (looking ridiculous in school uniforms to sing "School's Out"); Aaron and Siobhan with the two surviving Bee Gees; Lee and Chicago; Michael Lynche and Michael McDonald; the male finalists with Daryl Hall and John Oates; Crystal and Lee with Joe Cocker...I love H&O but where did they dig up these ancient performers -- and more importantly, why?

Like: The Casey pairing with Bret Michaels. Not because I really listened to it, but wasn't Bret Michaels near death not long ago? Pretty amazing.