Friday, March 23, 2012

I'm Back! Carly Rae, Idol-Watch & More

This is how u look, dress and deliver
an album cover! BAM! SuperStar!
After 3 months, I've returned!  I vow to try my best to kinda think about doing this once a week, ok?

Tunes I love: Carly Rae "Call Me Maybe" - not since "Moves Like Jagger" have I been this obsessed with a tune. It is pop perfection. And the video is delicious with a great pay-off so watch it all!  Carrie Underwood's back with "Good Girl." Thanx Carrie! (Her album drops 5/1.) Yes, Madonna's returned. I assume you've heard.  Her "Girl Gone Wild" is actually a lotta fun. This one by Graffiti6 is so gorgeous, as is the lead singer. It's kind of a male Adele sound. While not as brill as their "Boy Is Mine" from a decade ago, Brandy & Monica re-teamed for "It All Belongs to Me." The lyrics are fun, break-up, "Irreplaceable"-esque and the vid drives home the Waiting To Exhale theme.  It's my current R&B jam.  And finally, Jake Owen! Wow! Hot guy, infectious country-pop ditty; I give you "Alone With You."

TV TIME: After a year-and-a-half, Mad Men returns (3/25)! I need a crash course on what happened last. Do you? Here's a catch-up video....  Did you see Game Change on HBO!? Wow! Just dump a truck load of Emmy's all over 'em, especially Julianne Moore.  You will think to yourself "I can't believe we lived through this?" and "Thank God Obama won."... Yes, I'm into "Smash." It's settled into a lil' soap with musical elements. And while I wish it was all about making a musical, I understand it needs to be mainstream.  It's picked up for season two!... With the amazingly delicious "Revenge" a hit, it seems the nets are gearing up a lot of nighttime soaps, like a re-do of the 70's "Scruples" with Claire Forlani and Alyssa Milano in "Mistress."  Plus, the perfect summer programming will be TNT's "Dallas," beginning 6/13...  Showtime's "Shameless" is brillz... raw, raunchy, unsettling, funny, outlandish, gross, charming.  It'll never win a thing cuz you can't put it in Drama or Comedy.

IDOL: Here's the thing, I've accepted Idol as sheer TV entertainment. I don't think this show or the others can or will ever create a bona fide hit-making-recording-superstar. They haven't done it since Carrie won in 2004 - season 4.  They are now on season 11. That said, a lot of wonderful vocalist have been on the show and lost, won or came close.  But no one has matched the vocal-power and awe-shucks charm of Kelly (who did not know what would come of winning the way contestants do now), the sassiness of astounding vocalist Jennifer Hudson, the full-Country-"marketing-dream"-package of Carrie or the raw-sexy-rockstar'ness of Daughtry. And that's what Idol's given us. Can it be duplicated? Maybe. But it'd be duplicated. You see? So it seems now - with ratings dwindling, Ryan apparently one foot out the door, Steven Tyler (in year two) already over it, J-Lo wanting out last year - that only Randy, is of course, holding on to that table with both hands. Yet, it's still a Fox-TV moneymaker, which means it will continue for years to come.  Let's recall: Ruben, Clay, Lee DeWyze, Bowersox, Archuletta, Kris Allen, Taylor Hicks, David Cook...?  Recent winner Scotty McCreery is doing ok in country. But just ok. Same for Fantasia in R&B (with Grammy wins).  Perhaps the deserving, beautiful and wrongly overlooked Jordin Sparks will jump back with "Sparkle," the feature film with Whitney Houston. And while Adam Lambert's recent single tanked, I hold out hope he'll bounce back to charts and not to Broadway, where I'm sure the offers come weekly. (And if you know me, you know I'm not knocking Broadway, I just want him to be a mega-pop-male-Gaga-star.)  So I love Idol as a TV show - and I love it for opening doors and changing peoples lives. Kellie Pickler (also underrated) "makes a living" in country and is an incredible personality; where's her sit-com?  Six-years (and 2 failed albums) after Idol, Kat McPhee's now on "Smash." Guarini, Constantine, Degarmo are all legit Broadway players. But again, the last huge recording star/"Idol" was created in '04 - Miss Carrie Underwood.

FILMS: Quickly... I rolled my eyes at the "21 Jump Street" previews but had a ton of fun. It was pretty damn funny - and Channing!? Yum.  This weekend, "The Hunger Games." I've been waiting forever... because, of course, I didn't read the book!

FLASHBACK: In my book, still one of the top male vocalists ever. Here's Donny Osmond's '89 comeback hit, "Soldier of Love," written and produced by the guys who gave us Rihanna. True! The story goes, radio wasn't about to play a Donny record, so they sent it out with no artist name - a white label - and radio played it... then, the reveal! And he followed it up with a few other hits like "Sacred Emotion."  Great story!

FIBER: Everything's a gummy!  And as I'm not too good with the veggies, I chew my fiber gummies a few times daily! Try 'em and be Just Like Jerry!

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