Sparks Of Insanity By
Vinny "Bond" Marini
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
16
Of Your Sparks
Work is making my head hurt...
I have already said that American Idol has jumped the shark with putting someone with no musical background on as a judge...
Then this week, the first contestant comes out to do Billboard #1 hits and performs "The Letter"...and NOT ONE FRICKEN WORD ABOUT THE FACT THAT THE AMAZING William Alexander "Alex" Chilton who sang the song with The Boxtops and was the leader of Big Star passed away only 6 days ago!!!!!
Jumped the shark? No this show has been eaten by the shark and should be put to rest...go away ...this show has nothing to do with music...nope...now it is about the person...
I want to promote this early so you can make plans...this Monday evening on Music On The Couch I will be joined by Starrlight, JOHN H, and Sean Coleman to discuss the music industry past, present and future.
Originally, Barbara/Layla was supposed to join us, but a personal commitment will keep her away.
This is a show I really hope people join the chat room and call in to express their opinions...I feel strongly that we are the fans, we are the base upon which the music industry and music itself is built on.
So block out an hour...Monday evening...10pm eastern and join us on MUSIC ON THE COUCH.
Sparks Of Insanity By
Vinny "Bond" Marini
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
10
Of Your Sparks
UPDATED ANNOUNCEMENT: Tonight on Annie & Burl Live on BlogTalk Radio, I will be competing against Ms. Annie in a rousing contest of NAME THAT TUNE...
Come check it out...either I whip her booty or I walk away with my tail between my legs...either way - it should be fun!
And YES, this means I will be on BlogTalk Radio for three straight days! LOLOL
DO you realize that there are only 4 days before Pitchers and Catchers report to training camp...and only 7 days before position players report...and only 55 days until Opening Day!!!
YES...that means spring is close - screw the rodent - when the players take the field...spring is here!
Peyton Manning walked off the field at the end of the Super Bowl without shaking anyone's hand...he just lost the biggest game of the season...he was frustrated and disappointed...he wanted to get off the field before the major celebration took over...smart move? Probably not his best moment, but get over it.
If you want the handshake between competitors at the end of the championship game or series, then take a clue from hockey (dang, never ever thought I would say something like that!)...make it part of the ceremony.
At the end of each playoff series and the Stanley Cup series, the two teams line up and shake hands all the way down the line.
In baseball, the losing team moves to their dugout and can watch from there if they choose...many go right down the runway to the locker room...in basketball, the losers head off court and into the bowels of the arena and the sanctity of their locker room.
In football, there is that long walk - out in the open - to the ramp that takes you to your locker room, so you are more exposed for a longer period of time.
After most football games you see the coaches heading to the center of the field to talk and congratulate/offer works of encouragement. The players all walk onto the field and look for opponents who they know (maybe they played together in college or on another pro team, and there is always a group that takes a knee and says a prayer together.
The cameras caught Mr. Manning heading off the field like there was a plane to catch (well there probably was, but they would have waited for him).
What has not been said is that Manning called Drew Brees after the press conference to congratulate him and did stop and talk to some Saints players in the hallway outside the press room.
Peyton Manning is still one of the classiest football players today and has nothing to be ashamed about.
How to make a country stand up and notice...
Mention that Howard Stern is in negotiations to take over for Simon Cowell on American Idol - yes folks, a tiny blurb in the NY Post has now taken off with Stern himself fueling the fires by stating ""There's not a better job on the planet than judging that f---ing karaoke contest... It would be the best thing that happened to me... What a cush job -- $100 million for four months. Who wouldn't take that?"
OH yeah, sure the producers love hearing him call it a karaoke contest...
Sparks Of Insanity By
Vinny "Bond" Marini
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
25
Of Your Sparks
Remember to get over and visit TRAVIS of "Trav's Thoughts", and get your full DANCING WITH THE STARS rundown... Down to the last four couples and that can only mean one thing...
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE is almost here...LOL
TPTB over at Idol are doing all they can to give us a Gokey/Lambert finale. The judges make comments to sway the voting public and dang if they did not do so last week. Allison was MUCH better than Chris and a bit better than Danny, yet she was the one dissed by the judges and she went home.
This has been one of the better seasons for the show 24. The writers continue to give us some unrealistic time frames however and it will be interesting to see how they bend the plot line to find an antidote for Jack's exposure to the nerve agent.
Yeah, yeah...there are times it is just so off-center, but it is still the best 60 minutes on TV IMHO.
Well right behind it is the show LOST. The writers have worked overtime to stitch together some of the plot lines and answer some of the more intriguing mysteries.
I am looking forward to how they will leave us hanging this season.
Do you ever watch NUMB3RS? I enjoy the way they put math into the equation to solve crimes.
The characters are well written and their personal lives are central to the entire show arch.
The closing scene this past week left me with my jaw on my chest.
Cool news for Sons Of Anarchy fans...Grammy® Award-winning musician and actor Henry Rollins will guest star in six episodes when the show returns this fall. Rollins will play a new antagonist in the show’s fictional town of Charming, California who poses a deadly threat to the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club.
Henry Rollins first came into the public consciousness as lead singer of the seminal Los Angeles band Black Flag. He later founded the Rollins Band, receiving a 1994 Grammy nomination for the song “Liar.” That same year he won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word or Non-musical Album for Get in the Van. He was host of the Independent Film Channel’s The Henry Rollins Show and the radio show “Harmony in my Head” on Indie 103 FM in Los Angeles. He currently hosts his own music-mix radio show on KCRW-FM.
What show have you enjoyed this season? What show has disappointed you beyond belief? What show can you not wait to start up again?
LIVE BROADCAST: May 12, 2009 @ 9 PM ET
PODCAST AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD: Immediately following the live broadcast
This week on Dr. Blogstein’s Radio Happy Hour: The Radio Happy Hour’s Star Trek event concludes with. . .
Faran Tahir, the first face you see in J.J. Abrams’s blockbuster Star Trek. He plays “Captain Robau,” the Federation Captain.
Born in Los Angeles to two well-known actor/writer/directors in Pakistan, Tahir is the first Federation Captain in history of middle-eastern ethnicity.
Tahir is also a familiar face to fans of Iron Man and 24.
Fitzgerald’s first got attention when he starred alongside Megan Fox (”Transformers”), Rumer Willis (”House Bunny”), Ken Bauman (”Secret Life of the American Teenager”) and the infamous porn star Ron Jeremy in the independent film WHORE, written and directed by Thomas Dekker (”Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” ).
Scott Krokoff is an independent singer-songwriter from Queens, New York.
His musical style combines the pop sensibilities of John Mayer with the folksiness of James Taylor, creating the kind of crossover appeal that is the hallmark of artists like Shania Twain.
Sparks Of Insanity By
Vinny "Bond" Marini
Thursday, March 06, 2008
31
Of Your Sparks
TIME TO DONATE SOME RICE TODAY! <----------------------------------------------- Build your vocabulary, feed the hungry... 21,134,749,710 grains donated at this point!
OK...that show has some 'splainin' to do Lucy...
Now...remember that they told us this was "The Best Group Of Singers We Have Ever Assembled", or some hype-crap like that.... Ideocincricies
Seems they have slipped a tad when doing their "Is this person worthy of our touting them as the next 'American Idol'" background check.
YES, it is a reality show...it is manipulated like all reality shows...showing us only what they want us to see (OH, we certainly DO believe that)...we have always thought that the person who wins is supposed to fit a mold...if not musically, but from a values standpoint.
Think about it...there have been people who have been disqualified because of their backgrounds and because criminal activities have shown up in their past.
* Corey Clark was disqualified when the producers found out that he lied about his criminal history. Later, he claimed to have had an affair with Paula Abdul.
* Semi-finalist Frenchie Davis was removed from the competition when topless photos of her surfaced on an adult website purportedly featuring underage content.
* Terrell and Derrell Brittenum were twins who were featured prominently on the auditions and successfully made it past the Hollywood rounds in season 5 but were subsequently arrested for identity theft and disqualified
The have also given passes to some contestants - Taylor Hicks' teenage pot bust is one that comes to mind-
How do you think the producers feel about this little gem hitting the youtubes airwaves?
Seriously folks... there is some real bad language here, so please be aware....this Emotard (GREAT WORD Starrlight!!! We also found this from her site BTW) should be gone by the time you read these words, but if he is not - then he should be soon...whether the public votes him off, or the producers do their little voodoo and work it so he does get kicked off...
All we can say is, we never really saw him until this week, and he is just too over-the-top, flamboyant for us...
WARNING...FOUL LANGUAGE - but it is only 30 seconds....
shivers....
Then this taken from an AP story...
updated 4:09 p.m. CT, Tues., March. 4, 2008
LOS ANGELES - David Hernandez won’t be stripped of his chance to compete on “American Idol.”
The 24-year-old from Glendale, Ariz., once worked as an adult entertainer at Dick’s Cabaret in Phoenix, appearing fully nude and performing lap dances for the club’s “mostly male” clientele, strip club manager Gordy Bryan told the AP on Monday.
...Antonella Barba remained in the competition last year after racy photos of her surfaced on the Internet. The source who confirmed that Hernandez will remain said Davis’ situation was different because of the site’s age-themed content.
Fox and the producers declined to comment on Hernandez. All the singers, including Hernandez, have been unavailable for interviews.
On a video posted on AmericanIdol.com, Hernandez said he broke the lease on his apartment and lived out of his car before auditioning for “Idol.” And, when asked in a Q&A posted on the site which talent would he would most like to have if he couldn’t sing, Hernandez responded: “Dancing! I’m horrible at that.”
We all have things in our past...but are these "American Idols"? Should they even be in the Top 12?
After watching last night, they could take 8 of the women and 4 of the guys and that would be fine with me. the two women going home are those who do not have callers (I KNOW that is what it takes!)...what we mean is they ALL deserved to go to the next step tonight...much more so than the guys last night
This is in direct contradiction to quiet a few people we know....but we call 'em as we see 'em...
We do think that they were out of time and that is why the judges used one word comments for the last girl (We do not even know their names - that is how uninterested we are, to be honest), and they should have made that clear as we think people would feel she was not worthy and she was very good.
How the he!! did we end up spending a post talking about this show? Is it the video traffic accident we can not look away from? Is it some sort of infectious disease that they spiked out water with?
Travis had a cool meme on Wednesday, think he cribbed it from Ian...and we are going to 'borrow' it tomorrow...
As it involves a shuffle of the iPod, we will just select one today. We are finding music we never really listened to often when they were CDs sitting on the shelf. Yes, it is silly - but it happened...
Some of the music we are hearing, some even for the first time is jazz we picked up the year we did some work for the JVC Jazz Festival (which includes the Newport Jazz Festival, the grand daddy of them all)...
This is the ELVIN JONES JAZZ MACHINE. The album is The Truth - Heard Live At The Blue Note.
Mr. Jones (September 9, 1927 – May, 18 2004) fell in love with the drums as he watched the circus bands march past his home in Pontiac, Michigan as a boy.
After he spent time in the army he was the drummer for the JOHN COLTRANE quartet from 1960 - 1966. His free-flowing style was a major influence on many leading rock drummers, including Mitch Mitchell (whom Jimi Hendrix called "my Elvin Jones") and Ginger Baker.
The album was recorded on his 72nd birthday in 1977...the song is "Three Card Molly", by Elvin Jones.
ENJOY!
Elvin Jones - Drums Michael Brecker - Saxophone Antoine ROney - Saxophone Robin Eubanks - Trombone Darren Barrett - Trumpet Carlos McKinney - Piano Gene Perla - Bass
Sparks Of Insanity By
Vinny "Bond" Marini
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
40
Of Your Sparks
TIME TO DONATE SOME RICE TODAY! <----------------------------------------------- Build your vocabulary, feed the hungry... 20,995,554,610 grains donated at this point!
Arg....H-Rod making her acceptance speech...not a big fan at all...
Watched American Idol tonight....just do not feel much from any of these guys - David Cook did a great job with "Hello"...
Quite a few of my female friends like the other David Archuleta kid...the vote is still out on him...
So, Hucklebee has decided to go back to looking for hitchhikers in bright orange jumpsuits....as he exited stage left last night from his run at the White House...
Is H-Rod serious...like she knows what it takes to get up at three in the morning because of a crisis...sheesh...
"Yes We Can" ... "Yes She Can"... - personally, we like the WE
Absolutely hated this kid Danny Noriega - he just is to over the top...
But honestly, they touted "The Best Group Of Singers Ever Selected" when they went to Hollywood...
If so...They left some great singers behind...
Now she is chanting "Yes We Will"...sheesh...very original...
And she is going to "heal and lead the world"? Does she know that this election is only for the U.S.A.???
Lot of light blue for Clinton in Texas, but the dark blue for Obama is in the heavily populated areas...unless they are trying to get the cattle to vote out there...
Had some snow here today in Memphis...very light, nothing stuck to the ground...there is not a gallon of milk or a loaf of white bread left on the shelves within the region...
Have you checked out the story Jeff is telling over at A Word In Edgewise, his wonderful blog home. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find Part 1 and then read through the six installments.
Brett Favre has announced his retirement...First round Hall Of Famer....if the Packers could have enticed Randy Moss, Favre would have been back with bells on...though Favre is denying it...maybe he is tired...but that team looks so good right now it seems like one more year would have been a smart choice...
These three played in a row this evening...is it too much music? If you open a new window or tab to view another site, does the music still play for you? Just curious...
We like doing threesomes (HEY....Mom Joan reads this! ) - We mean taking a sample of three songs, as it really allows iTunes to reach out...
WAIT WAIT WAIT...OK, maybe we are behind the curve here, but "Hush" from DEEP PURPLE is the new song for Jaguar?????????? bwahahahahahahahahahahhahaaa - Kiddies...THAT right there is the word IRONY at work!
Where were we? OH yeah...three songs...here is how iTunes spit them out....
"Spirit Voices" PAUL SIMON Rhythm Of The Saints 1990 - Warner Brothers
"Can't Get Enough Of Your Love" BARRY WHITE Can't Get Enough 1974 - 20th Century Records #1 US Charts
"More Than Ever" ROSARIO GIULIANI More Than Ever 2004 - Dreyfus Records In case you are interested: Rosario Giuliani.com
Sparks Of Insanity By
Vinny "Bond" Marini
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
18
Of Your Sparks
Down to four Way back when, we predicted four females would be left. Well, 3 females and Blake left...
We are to the point where they get to sing two songs apiece. Barry Gibb is the mentor The most successful singer/songwriter of all time??? They said it, we didn't
MELINDA DOOLITTLE: Love You Inside and Out - She certainly made the song her own. Working the stage more and more each week. Her best performance? No... A true professional performance? Yes...
BLAKE LEWIS: You Should be Dancing - His CD is skipping. OH no, that is the beat-box again. We may be wrong, but do not remember any other singers getting the reverb treatment before. Sorry to all his fans, but we hated it. The beat box was out of place, his falsetto was shaky, the outfit a wreck.
LaKISHA JONES: Staying Alive - So she decided not to go high with the chorus. Probably a good thing. She took the song and did make it fit her vocal range but the tempo was rocky. That said, it was kind of boring overall.
JORDIN SPARKS: To Love Somebody - The girl is back and better than she was last week. Enjoyed her version of this song. Hit a great high note. Nicely done. Leading the pack so far tonight.
SECOND SONGS:
MELINDA: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart - OK, we got a chill factor here. Made it very bluesy. Liked the arrangement. And then POW the big note and another chill. That was not a backing vocal. Excellent.
BLAKE: This Is Where I Came In - Don't know the song, so can listen to it without judging it against the original. Vocals were rough when he went for the high notes. Now know why it was not a hit. The song is nothing, it does not have a real tune to it. Not a good song choice at all. That could have hurt him moving forward. A real rough performance. (Right Randy...he is trying too hard to beat box on every song.)
LaKISHA: Run To Me - We are reminded of the LaKisha we saw early on in the season in the beginning. Then she she began to scream the lyrics again. She does not have control of her vocals when she trys to go powerful. Her overpowering the big not caused her voice to crack and the last note was horrid. She might have just saved Blake from extinction.
JORDIN: Woman In Love - She put herself in the semi-finals tonight. One excellent performance and one that was good, but not great. Overall, she was the best of the evening. Vocal was rocky on this one. Barbra is a tough one to sing.
BOTTOM TWO: Blake LaKisha
GOING HOME: LaKisha
Off to do the Radio Happy Hour Hope you listened...
Sparks Of Insanity By
Vinny "Bond" Marini
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
27
Of Your Sparks
BUT two go home this week BON JOVI Week
Someone invited Antonella to the show...was Girls's Gone Wild in Hollywood?
Nice $70 million raised last week..very nice...
I love when the artists introduce themselves.. "Hi, I'm Jon..."
well...duh....
PHIL: Blaze Of Glory - Interesting jacket...If he brings it, he could do well with this..a bit of country flavor...Nice start...He should be happy he made it through the first few weeks, where he was weak...because the last three weeks he has shown his talent. Gutty...big notes....big last note...well done...He did it proud.
JORDIN: Living On A Prayer - Rock for the girl... ooo growl.... big hair.... rocker chick... was partially good... she lost the roughness in the middle... could have been better...there was some real good spots..and some real rough spots... not what it could have been
LaKEISHA: This Ain't A Love Song - The top... ummm no... excentuated the fact that she should not wear tops like that (what the hell is with the fashion comments Bond????). OOO bad notes.... got a little better, but still not impressed with her yelling the lyrics... Better then last week...but nothing that I would buy. Guess Simon liked it...
BLAKE: You Give Love A Bad Name: Oh beatbox is back.... WTF.... so he sang the chorus....no no no no no no no...sorry, maybe it would make a good recording..but what was that? No no no no.. this is a singing contest.... so it was original, but it did not show his singing ability... sorry... no no no no..oh and what is up with the hair?
CHRIS: Dead or Alive - oh geeze...learn the freaking words before you sing for the original artist... does not fit his vocal range... this is a song for someone with a rough...tough voice.. OK, Daugtry did this wonderfully last season (took a lot for us to say it)..this was tinny and pitchy and just NOT good...
MELINDA: Have A Nice Day - This woman can sing a freaking commercial jingle and give me chills... NOW THAT IS ROCK AND ROLL....She had a few tough spots with the rhytm in the middle but she brought it back.. a consummate pro...Brought Tina to the stage tonight... (gee Randy and Simon...thanks for agreeing)
Oh why why why do we have to watch that message???????
TOP 2 Melinda Phil
BOTTOM 2 LaKeisha Chris
GOING HOME remember this is based upon two weeks votes and two go home
CHRIS LaKEISHA
And as a personal observation... if you want to supply nets to the children of Africa...PLEASE use the link on THE COUCH and do it through the UN's Nets For Malaria, where every single dollar goes to the nets ... every single dollar.. no money to contest winners, no money to the organizations to pay salaries.. every penny goes to the nets thanks to Ted Turner and the UN Foundation.
CREDITS:
BLAZE OF GLORY Jon Bon Jovi Composer: Jon Bon Jovi
Sparks Of Insanity By
Vinny "Bond" Marini
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
25
Of Your Sparks
I will also be sending 5 questions for the INTERVIEW MEME to: Julie Coco Dana & Angell
Give me a day or two to put them together. Then when you answer, let me know and I will link your post here.
OK, well we are down to six....and now the big thing is IDOL GIVES BACK... or is it that BONO is the Musical Mentor this week...?
Idol Gives Back... money going to the poorest children in Africa and the USA...personally, we would love it all to stay on our continent...
Video from Ryan and Simon in Africa. Some horrible conditions shown. Simon showing a side of himself that you never see.
CHRIS RICHARDSON: Singing Clapton.. tough assignment...voice is clear tonight...pronouncing the words...would like to hear it in a lower key...a bit too high for my tastes...but not a bad job overall...last note nicely done....
Video from the USA. New Orleans, Kentucky, Arizona, Atlanta...children who need assistance...our citizens who tend to take the backseat to others in other countries...
MELINDA DOOLITTLE: OK, time to say this... our music industry is wack. How is it possible that this talented woman needed American Idol to be discovered. How many producers used her as a backup singer and never ever ever saw this talent???? Are their heads all up their collectives arses????? BRILLIANT... nuff said.
BLAKE LEWIS: John Lennon... wow... can he do it? Voice sounded good. We had absolutely no connection with him singing the song. None. It was a nice performance with very little emotion to it. Felt like he did not become part of the spirit of the song. Sorry, didn't feel it at all. END NOTE: Sorry Simon, we did not feel any sincerity tonight.
LaKEISHA JONES: Hummm... a coronation song from another idol...does diva-mama think she is in that place? This woman was the one to beat way back when, now she does nothing for us. Her performances are average and she tends to shout the words more than anything.
PHIL STACEY: Started off rocky for us. Got better in the middle. began to own the song and show his strength. A few pitchy notes here and there. Overall, think he did a nice job with the song. Was not as full as last week's performance, but still a strong showing.
More video of a food bank.
The best line of the night "No one knows there are starving people in America."
JORDIN SPARKS: OK, was unsure of this one. Had visions of Jerry Lewis in our head. Began a little breathy, but then she brought it home incredibly strong. She has come on week after week and this week she absolutely killed. Tremendous job young lady.
Did we miss something? Wasn't Bono the Musical Mentor? Were they not allowed to show any video with him??? Confused. We even went back and watched again "We have a very special mentor, Bono is joining us." Ryan said it. Maybe we get to see those videos tomorrow when they are doing a two hour results show.
I got into blogging to express myself. It has led me to sharing my life, my passion for food, my fiction and my love of music.
Music On The Couch is a passion for me. Sharing "Musicians You Should Know" and helping those who appear on the show to grow their audience.
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