Tuesday, September 24, 2013

A Prelude To A Blog: Why I Will Be Watching The Goldbergs

Nobody will ever accuse me of having had a terrible childhood. Even at the time I knew I was experiencing something incredibly special and I am so thankful that I had the presence of mind and foresight to respect, appreciate, and take in what I knew I was living at the time. I grew up a very happy Jersey boy on (and of which I later attended) the globally prestigous secondary boarding school The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and everyday living on campus there was a true gift. What made it even better was that as a bicentenial child, did most of that growing up in the 1980's. For those of us old enough to remember the 80's, particularly through a more youthful scope,we recognize and relish what was truly a golden age of ridiculous innocence and culturally fantastic absurdities.

Not everything turned out gold for me after the 80's, and I moved to Simsbury, Connecticut because of my father taking a new job in the summer of 1993 as headmaster of The Westminster School (where actress Lake Bell is Class of '97) but I always have considered myself both a product of my very New Jersey background and of that era. It took me 17 years to move back but two years after moving back home to Lawrenceville, my life was progressing in a much different direction. I had burned out from my last job in Connecticut and so out of desperation, I placed an ad on Craig's List (I had actually used the site plenty of times before) about doing some work for any businesses or artists. Writing, blogging, special projects, social media, or anything else I could do or servicably pull off was on the table. I got a response from a produciton company in Willingboro, New Jersey and soon there after I found myself watching the reality singing show competitions at a ferocious pace that I had never done at before. 

As an artist myself, I had mixed feelings about them. I felt they were both great and counterproductive at the same time but there I was getting more and more emphatically sucked into scouting talent for this production company to sign. The X Factor was no different. During the first season of The X Factor, there were four extremely talented young ladies auditioning as soloists. Cari Fletcher (of my home state of New Jersey), Dani Knights of California (via South Africa), Paige Elizabeth Ogle of Maryland, and Hayley Orrantia of Texas. I quickly found myself rooting for these women. First off because I found them to be immensely talented but even more passionately because in the entertainment media and on social media they were also taking a critical beating (rather unfairly in my opinion and way too much of it was blatantly sexist). 

I quickly developed a rather rabid loyalty to the musically impressive foursome and after they were eliminated I was determined to keep up and in touch with them on social media. I also secretly wanted to help them launch a grassroots movement to keep them nationally relevant and help them promote their music. Then two things happened less than a year after their departure from The X Factor. The first was that Paige left the group to pursue a different career path and go back to school. The second was that I saw that Hayley had posted on her official fan page on Facebook that Lakoda Rayne would be coming to Rider University here in Lawrenceville to perform in September. I was floored.

I reached out to the girls and they had already known who I was online, so it probably helped convince them to agree to meet with me at Rider (which is not even eight minutes from where I live and was even closer when I still lived on campus at Lawrenceville). I met with them and some of their family members for an hour or so and they graciously listened to all of my insane ideas of how I would attempt to help them by launching some experimental grassroot initiatives. They had released a song called "Emergency Brake" and through a friend of Cari's named Ryan Hutchins, a promising young filmmaker, they shot a very impressive video for the song in Cari's neck of the woods in Wall Township, New Jersey. (I personally love it when Hayley belches at the end of it. I always replay that part.)

The ladies and their families were extremely gracious as I rambled on through about fourteen zillion powerpoint presentations on how I would go about helping them but what genuinely impressed me about them was how they were so willing to indulge me and were so generously openminded enough to take a chance on one of their own fans to give an hour's worth of their time, give or take, on hearing out some incredibly unconventional ideas and possibilities. When I asked them how many of them were interested in pursuing acting, which is something I was going to encourage them to do anyway, every single hand went up. They just got it.

What I hadn't anitcipated was that one of them would end up on in an ABC pilot with Jeff GarlinWendi McLendon-CoveyTroy Gentile, and George Segal. I was busy bouncing back and forth between practical ideas and shoot-for-the-moon pie-in-the-sky theories and initiatives so my more humble advice was for all three of them to offer their services to local businesses for celebrity endorsement advertising opportunities. I was thinking more along the lines of car dealerships and local community festivals and organizations and then working up from there. I felt very pragmatic in this moment and really felt very much in the zone at this point.

So I was floored once more when I saw Hayley tweet that she had landed a spot in this sitcom pilot about an 80's family. On top of this, one of Jeff Garlin's publishing contacts is a childhood friend of mine due to our parents being colleagues at Lawrenceville. She was four years ahead of me at Lawrenceville and graduated with my brother. Her brother was two years ahead of them. The convergence of all these events coming together could have only been taken as a sign from the entertainment industry gods that many ships were finally arriving. I am still trying to carve out my own niche (hopefully niches though, to be perfectly honest and honestly greedy) and so naturally I allowed myself to read way too much into all of this.

I am a far more secular person than Hayley but I had no choice to take all of this as an omen and not just an omen of Hollywood awesomeness but on a more grandious scale of the universe trying to tell me that possiblities were once again endlessly abound, not unlike the fast moving times of the 1980's. Surely, these themes and realities, both scripted and unscripted, were to be taken as a sign of greatness in the midst and I for one was not going to be left behind. The premise of the show didn't just sound promising enough but the time for a retro-styled sitcom poking fun of and simultameously celebrating the homestretch decade of the Cold War, Miracle on Ice, breakdancing, big hair scale, cartoons, cola wars, and cocaine was perfect because the onscreen adults were young during that era and now a younger generation of Americans will now get an intoxicating taste of what it meant to live in ridiculous times and to both be in on the joke and be the butt end of it all at once.

And make no mistake about it because this show is intoxicating. I have already seen the pilot and it is unsurprisingly hilarious. Jeff Garlin is his usual brilliant self, Wendi-McClendon-Covey is going to become a household favorite, and Troy Gentile is the spitting image of Garlin both physically and in terms of talent and mannerisms. Additionally, Sean Giambrone is the perfect vehicle for which the show is seen through and the legendary George Segal adds his own layer of gravitas as well. Finally, I obviously have an extra layer myself of appreciation for Hayley Orrantia and for me, and perhaps I'm too biased, she is the true breakout star of the show.

I remember REO Speedwagon. I had Gobots, Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Star Wars toys and lunchboxes. I had crazy relatives like everyone else. I remember the feeling of everything feeling so incredibly possible. It was the era of Reagan (love him or hate him) and my favorite childhood actor, Michael J. Fox. The sensibilities of our culture back then might have been routinely absurd but it was also equally routinely spot on in reflecting the more uplifting mood of the times and the spirit from within us. There were plenty of major problems back then and many of our citizenry were undoubtedly left behind but we weren't consumed with the threat of terrorism the way we are now, the constant fearmongering of even the most minor health scares on the nightly news, and worrying about how we would turn out ten, twenty, or thirty years down the road the way we are so obessively preoccupied with these days. 

No, we were consumed with John Hughes films, Marty McFly and Alex P. Keaton, and making sure we were strategically using all the current slang. (Spoiler Alert: Tubular was always insanely stupid. And why the hell did I ever slightly roll up my jeans at the bottom? This was stylish? Seriously? How did this ever become a thing?) By then we knew that the Soviets weren't going to nuke us and that we were not just winning the Cold War but running up the scoreboard in the process. We had turned our attention to looking towards Molly Ringwald for leadership on how to deal with and eventually triumphantly overcome all our insecurities of youth and youthful rebellion and navigate ourselves towards happy endings all in about ninety minutes, give or take. Gorbachev? Pfft. What the hell do I have to do to land an American-style girlfriend around here? 

It's important to look back to that time period and it's even more important to do so through a comical lense. If I want a fantastic Cold War thriller set in that era, I will continue to watch The Americans on FX, which is indeed amazing as well. It's important to note that we can't be satirical and lighthearted all of the time but given the endlessly dour seriousness of our current times, it's no surprise or coincidence that we are enjoying another golden era of television and cinema and are all investing in our own entertainment both as an entertainemnt industry complex and as consumers of it.  We're doing so because we have been scared into thinking that the world is a dangerous place and that we are all on the edge of catosphere. Our technology has exploded and our ways of communicating with each has expanded in unprecedented ways that we couldn't have antcipated back when Tom Cruise was becoming the biggest movie star on the planet and the Iran-Contra scandal was breaking.

The world was a dangerous place back then too. It always has been and always will be. We might not have still been doing duck and cover drills at this point but we were still aware of our threats; we just weren't losing our minds and perspective over them. Perhaps, just perhaps, for half an hour every Tuesday Night on ABC this fall, we can still end up on the floor from laughing instead of nuclear scares, and maybe, just maybe regain our perspective of our more contemporary times and learn to roll with the punches once more. Perhaps we could just, that's right - go back in time? (Please forgive the obvious Back To The Future reference but the series is a hallmark of my childhood. That'd be totally rad. And did I mention that I had a scotch with one Huey Lewis last October because he indeed is a Lawrenceville alum as well? Sorry, that chance meeting is still fresh on my mind as well.) 

My name is Jamie Cole and I will be watching and writing about The Goldbergs on ABC this fall on Tuesdays at 9:00 PM. I hope that you will join me.

Follow me on Twitter.


Here is The Goldbergs cast member Hayley Orrantia of Lakoda Rayne in the "Emergency Brake" video, which was directed by Ryan Hutchins:



Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The Voice Season 2: Battle Round #4 Recap

The battle rounds kept getting worse with the exception of the grand finale between host Carson Daly's former in house band guitarist Justin Hopkins and Broadway veteran Tony Vincent. What these final battle rounds proved was the sheer absurdity of the battle round format and how the judges just use it (well, most of the time with some boneheaded exceptions here and there) to get rid of their weaker contestants going into the live rounds. Other than that, there are really just a handful of artists in the competition worth mentioning as realistic contenders for the crown. Having said that, it probably comes as no shock that my waning attention span (and otherwise abundant patience) was on notice this time around so hopefully I hid it passably in the follow breakdowns of the live rounds.

James Massone v.s. WADE
"True Colors" (Cyndi Lauper)
Team Cee Lo
Winner: James Massone

This battle bored me to tears the second Cee Lo announced the match-up. It didn't disappoint. There was absolutely no emotion, no connecting to the song, and the winner of this round was never going to get far in the live round. Do I even have to go into how terrible this round was?

Nicolle Gaylon v.s. Mathai
"Love Song" (Sara Bareilles)
Team Adam
Winner: Mathai

Nicolle seemed to be physically incapable of singing without her piano but Adam finally got fed up enough to take it away from her which I couldn't have agreed with more. Then again, I couldn't disagree more with Adam about the song choice. I found this performance and song choice in general to be incredibly boring and uninspired. It completely limited both singers' range of emotions and they both seemed uneasy about bringing anything to the table themselves and Mathai's "winning" will undoubtedly be going home early in the live rounds.

Moses v.s. The Line
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (The Rolling Stones)
Team Christina
Winner: Moses

I did not get this one at all. The turning point for me with Christina Aguilera was when I saw her with The Rolling Stones. It was at that time I began to seriously rethink her and I have thought of her a million times more favorably as an artist since then but I just did not understand her pairing these two together. I will say something in Moses' defense however. For an MC he held his ground vocally speaking as best he could have hoped to. Vocally I'd go with The Line but performance wise I'd have to go with Moses so I felt like Christina got it right in terms of who would be more viable moving forward.

Karla Davis v.s. Orlando Napier
"Easy" (The Commodores)
Team Adam
Winner: Karla Davis

When Adam Levine initially chose Hall & Oates' "Rich Girl", Orlando didn't even know the song! What is wrong with this generation?!! So they flipped it to a Commodores song (probably since Lionel Ritchie is one of the guest mentors this season) and so guest mentor Robin Thicke helped out the music history challenged Napier and I must say that he has been an outstanding mentor in my opinion. He has given very clear and specific feedback and his command of music theory is evident. Karla's motivation for coming on the show was apparently to be more independent in the creative direction of her music. I do think that Adam might have just slightly gotten it right but truthfully it wasn't a great performance overall like Christina alluded to.

Jordan Rager v.s. Naia Kete
"I'm Yours" (Jason Mraz)
Team Blake
Winner:

Boy. Where to even start with this one? So Blake starts off by saying they were doing "a song called 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz" as if it's some obscure pop song from yesteryear instead of the much more recently and ridiculously overexposed songs in existence. And then Jordan said he didn't even know he knew it. Seriously?!!! And on top of that he comes out and calls Blake's wife "hot" to the TV which is ridiculously creepy. There's no doubt that this match-up favored Naia going into it and perhaps Blake, despite being a country singer, felt like he already filled that quota with Rae Lynn (I'll leave the Rae Lynn-Adley Stump debate aside for the moment) and was afraid of Rae Lynn and Jordan splitting any possible country vote. I think that Naia is on a good day more interesting and would have a better chance of advancing on the live shows and I think that's what Blake ultimately factored in despite his saying that Naia had some issues and then saying all thing were basically even.

Tony Vincent v.s. Justin Hopkins
"Faithfully" (Journey)
Team Cee Lo
Winner: Tony Vincent

It seemed like a clear cut advantage for Tony Vincent but I have to say that I think that Justin Hopkins did a lot better against Tony than I would have anticipated but at the end of the day Tony was still my pick because of both the performance and his overall upside. I came away with newfound respect for the "dirtiness" in Justin's voice that Adam referenced. While Cee Lo was referencing his own "personal package" (whatever the hell that means) I still felt that Cee Lo would ultimately still give Tony the nod.

They truly did save the best battle for last but then again that wasn't all that hard to do. The last one was the only one worth talking about, really. Of all the singers tonight, Tony Vincent is the only one who probably has a realistic chance of winning it all and next week we find out how the singers stack up on the live stage.

Follow Jamie Cole of Himay Co. on Twitter. To hire him for PR write-ups and other marketing and creative services, send a tweet on Twitter for further contact info.

Friday, March 23, 2012

American Idol Season 11: The Top 10 Results Show Recap

American Idol Season 11: The Top 10 Results Show Recap

Hollie
Skylar
Elise

Hollie Cavanagh - Jimmy said that Hollie's foundation is her technique and that it's important for Hollie to not stray from that otherwise she'll get into trouble and mentioned that there aren't two more different singres than Hollie and Billy Joel. Calling it her worst performance by far but complimenting her and worried that she "looked like a sweet diva trapped in the headlights" but thought she looked great and would still be safe.

Skylar Laine - Jimmy was absolutely correct in his analysis of Skylar and while he was right to laud Skylar for her consistency and that it wasn't her best performance. Jimmy wants her to move around and she needs to get creative to win and warned Skylar to move forward and do it now. 

Elise Testone - Jimmy applauded Elise for a confidence he hadn't seen out of her so far and that he felt "goosies" which explained why Jennifer was in the mini-box at the bottom of the screen. He felt a transformation out of her, loved her clothing, and said that Elise would "go right to the top of the heap" this week.

Hollie - SAFE
Skylar - SAFE
Elise - SAFE

DeAndre Brackensick - Jimmy took Randy's comments about not jumping up and down and turned them on DeAndre. He felt like he was bopping up and down. Jimmy had told him to go out there and have a good time with it but not frolic and that he ended up looking for the bouncing ball. Jimmy predicted that DeAndre would be in trouble.

Joshua Ledet - Jimmy said that Joshua didn't understand the song, oversang the bridge like Darth Vader (and then quickly name-dropped James Earl Jones) and wasn't feeling it at all with him and said that Joshua will really have to grow now to win it all.

Jessica Sanchez - Jimmy said Jessica did a great job by taking a simple song and expanding it and seemingly having a great time with it, and gave her "A's across the board." 

Jessica - SAFE
Joshua - SAFE
DeAndre - BOTTOM 3

Erika 
Heejun
Phillip
Colton

Colton Dixon - Billy Joel emailed Jimmy to tell him that Colton did a great job and Jimmy agreed with him and said he killed it. Jimm called Colton's clothes right, the song choice right, his tone right, and said that he might be the third horse in the competition. 

Phillip Phillips - Jimmy had some surprising words for Phillip collaboration and said while it's great to be who you are in the real world that when you're on the show to take all the advice you can get and invoked The Beatles and their legendary producer George Martin to illustrate his point. 

Erika Van Pelt - Jimmy praised Tommy Hilfilger for getting Erika to change her entire look the night before singing before 20 million people, calling him bold and Erika brave. He cited Erika's singing as being at the top of the class for the week but criticized Randy for his confusing remarks about those who can and can't. 

Heejun Han - Jimmy cited Steven's harsh critique of Heejun's performance and attitude and agreed with him, saying that Heejun basically disrespected the whole process. He compared it to four minutes of a straight-to-DVD Adam Sandler movie and called it "a stunt gone wrong." Jimmy added that he was out of breath and was running around too much and gave that alone a "D". Jimmy concluded his rant by saying that Interscope spends a lot of money on someone who wins the show and that his performance indicated that "that's not it." 

Colton - SAFE
Erika - BOTTOM 3
Heejun - BOTTOM 3
Phillip - SAFE

DeAndre - SAFE

Heejun - BOTTOM 2
Erika - BOTTOM 2

Erika - ELIMINATED

I'm surprised but not shocked by this development. I just thought that DeAndre might be in deeper trouble than Erika because he went first and really didn't have a great performance while Erika did a decent job but her makeover probably had something to do with her elimination. I personally don't think it should make a difference but it wasn't a great idea and Erika, quite frankly, looks much better with longer, blonde hair and she was thrown under the bus by fashion icon Tommy Hilfilger. Heejun, DeAndre, Joshua, and possibly Elise are next to watch their backs and then we truly get down to the nitty gritty. Stay tuned.

Follow Jamie Cole of Himay Co. on Twitter. To hire him for PR write-ups and other marketing and creative services, send a tweet on Twitter for further contact info.

American Idol Season 11: The Top 10 Perform Recap

American Idol Season 11: The Top 10 Perform

1) DeAndre Brackensick - "Only The Good Die Young"

I'm not quite sure what would have been a good fit for DeAndre from Billy Joel's music catalog but I was just not buying this at all. One thing I did enjoy with this performance however was the noticeable lack of falsetto overkill from DeAndre so it still managed to be a perfectly enjoyable rendition. I just don't think it really stood out in either vocal or performance quality. Only Randy was really on point about DeAndre's performance. It really was just okay and DeAndre will almost certainly be in the Bottom 3 this week.

2) Erika Van Pelt - "New York State of Mind"

Erika opted for the "anthem" route according to her.  And then she proceeded to get a whole new hair cut and hair color. Love Erika but hate the makeover and I found her performance to be decent but not mind-blowing. I still think she's in trouble here on out but she could steal a few places with incredibly strong performances and I'm just not sure if this was one of them. I agreed with Jimmy; the judges are in the heads of both the singers and the audience and I've always felt like Erika's voice has been held back, not over done and I think this was a classic example of that. Now, I do not recall Pat Benetar being a comparable analogy with Erika so on top of that misguided comparison and Randy's contradicting his own previous advice about over-singing, this can only be categorized as a giant question mark and I think this will cost her a spot in the bottom three as a result.

3) Joshua Ledet - "She's Got A Way"

I've had very mixed feelings about Joshua all season long but I must say I enjoyed his contorl much better this week and he didn't overdo anything. I felt he showed proper restraint and vocal charm and when he sings like this it isn't nearly as off-putting. So naturally this was the perforamnce that J. Lo decided to nitpick over it. Then again, everyone else seemed to hate it probably because he wasn't going crazy with it. 

4) Skylar Laine - "Shameless"

This was a perfectly predictable but perfectly suited song choice for any country singer because this song is so easily adaptable to a country rendition. Still, I found this to be Skylar's most susceptible performance so far. It had some rough and understated patches to it. I don't think she's in trouble anytime soon so I seriously doubt we'll see her in the bottom three.

5) Elise Testone - "Vienna"

I shared Jimmy's concern over Elise doing a deeper cut from Billy Joel's catalog. Having said that, she was by far the bst of the night up to this point and if she's in the bottom three again then America needs to have a giant bucket of hot coffee poured over its face. Ryan invited two of her voice students up onstage next. Elise definitely killed it and given the overall lackluster performances up to this point, Elise's chances of remaining on the show another week look much better right now. The judges gave her a standing ovation and I think she could be quickly establishing herself as this year's Haley Reinhart so we'll see over the course of the next few weeks if this holds true.

6) Phillip Phillips - "Movin' Out"

After feeling Phillip was just so-so the past couple weeks, I really, really dug his version of this song and he proved once again why he's the one to beat in this competition. The crowd went nuts and J. Lo's comment about taking out aggression on his mentors was spot on. Randy gave him the Scotty McCreery treatment about sticking to his guns and staying true to himself and Phillip made it clear he's all about the actual music which was great.

7) Hollie Cavanagh - "Honesty"

Hollie is such a personal favorite of mine so I am once again disappointed she elected to go with yet another ballad. I really want to see her go up tempo and rock out and now I fear that she's too locked into ballads that she could end up getting "Pia'd" if she chose to mix it up. I also think it would have added another dimension to her performance. It was another solid vocal performance for her but I also am not so sure it was her best. She's too strong a singer to be in any true danger this week in all likelihood but I do fear it could be her undoing. I agreed with Steven about Hollie being unusually pitchy tonight. Randy's criticism was the most accurate of all. I definitely think Hollie was over-thinking it too much. It also proved that this has been a particularly tough week for the singers and it's tough to decipher how much of that is Billy Joel and how much of it is just the singers being at the Top 10 phase of the competition, perhaps feeling a little faitgue for the first time, and perhaps even feeling a little too overconfident having secured a spot on the Top 10 summer tour.

8) Heejun Han - "My Life"

I must say that this was my favorite Heejun performance to date. The attitude, the not so subtle jab at the judges and critics in the song choice. We've all been trying to figure out who the Haley Reinhart (who was in the audience tonight with her parents since she's performing her debut single "Free" tomorrow night on the results show) of this year is, if at all, and it might actually turn out to be a guy and that could be Heejun. Steven's advice about taking the industry more seriously might be in order though because he's right - the industry will kick him in the ass.

9) Jessica Sanchez - "Everybody Has A Dream"

Jessica proved why she's one of the four or five realistic contenders with a chance of not just winning the competition but to be a truly viable star once done with the show. Randy talked about the necessary consistency to win it all and despite a misstep with last week's performance, it was definitely the standing ovation worthy performance that it ended up being and her runs at the end were especially amazing. That was superstar quality.

10) Colton Dixon - "Piano Man"

Colton's vocals and piano were really good but I must confess I found the rest of the musical arrangement to be severely lacking and the judges, who often will give the loudest applause to whoever is in the pimp spot, didn't get up to give a standing ovation. J. Lo accidentally said Puff instead of Diddy about her ex-boyfriend. I still think Colton did a fantastic job but the band kind of failed him in my mind. 

Elise, Phillip, Jessica, and Colton were the best performances of the night. DeAndre, Erika, and Joshua are probably the bottom three this week. Hollie had an off week but she's not in any real danger barring some shocking development. 


Follow Jamie Cole of Himay Co. on Twitter. To hire him for PR write-ups and other marketing and creative services, send a tweet on Twitter for further contact info.

The Voice Season 2: Battle Round #3 Recap

The Voice Season 2: Battle Round #3 Recap

1) Pip v.s. Nathan Parrett
Team Adam
"You Know I'm No Good" (Amy Winehouse)
Winner: Pip

Pip had a really good start to the battle round but Nathan sounded a tad bit shaky to me. Despite newfound confidence displayed by Nathan I still thought Pip was slightly sharper. Blake agreed with me but Christina did note that Nathan was still somewhat nervous. Cee Lo disagreed and thought he possessed confidence and gave him the edge but in the end Adam still chose Pip over Nathan. 

2) Erin Martin v.s. The Shields Brothers
Team Cee Lo
"What's Love Got To Do With It?" (Tina Turner)
Winner: Erin Martin

I had some difficulty early on hearing Erin really dive into thet song. Her voice sounded surprisingly off kilter while The Shileds Brothers also boasted some imperfections in their performance. I thought this was a real mess. Erin's yelps were just wildly misplaced while The Shields Brothers were almost too much in unison. Blake would have picked Erin but after the way he openly perved her, his opinion couldn't be taken too seriously. This match-up should have overwhelmingly been to Erin's advantage and I thought that Cee Lo was setting up The Shields Brothers to fail but I think he genuinely might have had to think this one over more closely. He really picked Erin's voice over The Shields Brother and not the performance because I actually felt like The Shields Brothers were better but Erin Martin is certainly the quirkier act between the two and I think that Cee Lo probably still made the better choice for the show moving forward.

3) Ashley De La Rosa v.s. Jonathas
Team Christina
"No Air" (Jordin Sparks)
Winner:Ashley De La Rosa

I thought Ashley had some pitch issues during her performance but I still found her overall performance to be far more commanding and interesting than Jonathas. I did find it interesting however that they used another song from an "American Idol" winner. Cee Lo commented on the choreography instead of focusing on the actual vocals. The other judges all picked Ashley over Jonathas and eventually Christina did too. I'm not sure about her live show viability.

4) AlyX v.s. Jermaine Paul
Team Blake
"Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car" (Billy Ocean)
Winner: Jermaine Paul

I found this song choice to be astonishingly baffling. Presenting Alyx as a loose cannon and a wild card was an interesting choice of phrasing because Alyx was a bit of an oddity for me. I thought this was one of the closer bouts but only because I felt like Jermaine did a good job but based on his audition I actaully felt like he didn't even hit his maximum level of potential. Christina said that Jermaine made the song his own while Cee Lo gave Jermaine the nod. Adam felt Jermaine took the song and kicked it's ass and gave the bout to him. Blake felt that both singers did everything he asked of them but declared Jermaine the winner. I felt it was a closer call than I expected because I went into it expecting Jermaine to control it start to finish but Alyx held her own.

5) Angel Taylor v.s. Katrina Parker
Team Adam
"Bleeding Love" (Leona Lewis)
Winner: Katrina Parker

I went into this battle round expecting to hear Angel Taylor overpower Katrina's perfectly competent voice but instead I was surprised to discover how understated Angel's voice remained. Angel still exhibited rather potent control, tone, and pitch but I think Katrina showed up realizing who she was up against. I still fully expected Adam to pick Angel over Katrina because of her overall talent and live show viability. Christina was absolutely right about the song benefiitng Katrina much more so but her comparison of Katrina to Adele was ridiculous. This is one of the problems with The Voice though. A singer clearly wins the battle round but the other singer simply didn't get to shine to his or her fullest extent. Angel Taylor was one of the three or four best voices by far and Katrina's performance obviously forced his hand. Katrina simply made it impossible for Adam to pick Angel, which is who he would have preferred to keep. 

6) Gwen Sebastian v.s. Erin Willett
Team Blake
"We Belong" (Pat Benetar)
Winner: Erin Willett

This was a tough one because of Erin's dying father. Unless I heard her wrong, her father had maybe 24 hours to live at the time of the taping of the battle round. It was an unenvious position for everyone involved. I thought they both sang it pretty well but Erin's voice was geniunely more overpowering but how much of that was just sheeer volume was tougher for me to decipher. Christina picked Erin based on style but Cee Lo chose Gwen. Adam gave Erin a slight edge over Gwen before Blake agonized over his decision. He ultimately chose Erin over Gwen and it will always be a source of contention for those watching whether Blake was persuaded by Erin's powerful family situation. I do think that Erin's performance might have been.

Follow Jamie Cole of Himay Co. on Twitter. To hire him for PR write-ups and other marketing and creative services, send a tweet on Twitter for further contact info.

American Idol Season 11: The Top 12 (Top 11) Results Show Recap

The Top 12 (Er, Top 11) Results Show Recap

Phillip Phillips
Skylar Laine
Elise Testone
Joshua Ledet

Phillip Phillips

Jimmy complimented Phillip on singing sick but that was really about it.

Skylar Laine

Jimmy was right about her being better than she was last night and the song not being right.

Elise Testone

Jimmy felt Elise killed the song and believed it. Jimmy felt that Elise would fit in with the resurgence of the blue eyed soul and that Elise would be sticking around for the long haul. Jimmy liked the low part, mid part, growl, and the subtlety.

Joshua Ledet

Jimmy recommended all his artists on Interscope to eat crawfish before singing and that Percy Sledge called up to say he loved it and was very pleased with the performance.

Joshua - Safe
Phillip - Safe
Elise - Bottom 3
Skylar - Safe

DeAndre Brackensick

Jimmy was defensive about the song choices but also defended DeAndre's performance during rehearsal.

Colton Dixon

Jimmy went to town on Randy about his being inconsistent about whether or not the song choice matters or not. He actually did agree with the surprisingly tougher Steven Tyler (albeit for obvious rock legend reasons) about it being the wrong song but also felt that Colton would end up in the middle of the pack tonight and escape with a pass week. The insert of Randy watching Jimmy question his feedback to Colton and for asking "What kind of show is this?" was priceless, even if it was clearly staged.

Shannon Magrane

Jimmy thinks she's at her best when she doesn't try too hard but that she tried too hard, effectively agreeing with Steven.

Jessica Phillips

Jimmy was once again on top of his game in critiquing Jessica. He had her back on her wanting to do an up tempo song and not getting labeled as an opera singer from a talent show which he fully supports. Jimmy keenly pointed to Jessica screaming at one point and being out of breath as a result and losing her timing because of it which the judges nailed her for. Jimmy also cited that he agreed with the criticism but that she wouldn't be going anywhere because of who she is and that if she goes home then "we should all go home." I couldn't agree more.

Colton - Safe
DeAndre - Safe
Jessica - Safe
Shannon - Bottom 3

Hollie Cavanagh 

Jimmy gave Hollie straight A's last night and marveled at her poise and enormous confidence. He's still upset about her wardrobe being so old when she's only 18. Jimmy feels she will go far in the competition.

Heejun Han

Jimmy feels there will be an Asian pop star explosion soon but isn't sure if Heejun will lead it or not. He worries about Heejun being boxed in with the kind of songs he's choosing and that he needs to change up the tempo of the songs he's picking or he'll be voted off shortly.

Erika Van Pelt

Jimmy talked about the trap of American Idol called over-singing and said Erika fell into it. He focused on the "catchy, jerky arrangements" phrasing used by Randy in his criticism of Erika. and defended the song choices and singingg renditions in that vein. Randy in the insert box was shown again.

Hollie - Safe
Erika - Bottom 3
Heejun - Safe

Elise - Safe

Erika - Safe
Shannon - Eliminated

This was not a very difficult one to understand but Erika's days definitely appear to be numbered right now and Elise's future is equally clouded. Stay tuned.

Follow Jamie Cole of Himay Co. on Twitter. To hire him for PR write-ups and other marketing and creative services, send a tweet on Twitter for further contact info.

American Idol Season 11: The Top 12 (Er, Top 11) Perform

The Top 12 (Er, Top 11) Perform 



1) Phillip Phillps - "Hard To Handle" (The Black Crowes)

Battling kidney stones (and prompting the great Jimmy Iovine line, "Phillip's changed what it means to have a sick day at American Idol"), Phillip came out and gave a strong performance. It was also the first time he didn't have his guitar with him and he had just had surgery for his kidney stones on Thursday. Steven was right about Phillip picking songs that match his character although he did warn him about the melody. Even singing in the spot of death, there is absolutely zero chance of him going home this week.

2) Jessica Sanchez - "Turn The Beat Around" (Gloria Estefan) (Originally Vicki Sue Robinson)

Jessica has probably been my favorite in this competition from a strictly vocal standpoint (she's light years ahead of everyone else) but I just don't think this song really did her any justice. The pace of the song is so scattered and I think that really worked against her voice. From a performance standpoint she did some good things and she clearly has a masterful command of the stage unlike anyone else from this season. 

3) Heejun Han - "Right Here Waiting" (Richard Marx)

I must confess myself disappointed with his song choice this week. Heejun has proven he can sing the ballads well but he did the opposite of Jessica this week. He stayed in the ballad realm and I'm not so sure it was his strongest performance. His voice seemed to trail off on certain notes and he didn't expand his voice enough throughout the song in my opinion. I think this is a performance he will look back on and wish he could tweek some things. Randy was absolutely right about the pitch issues and I agree that he sounded out of breath for the whole song which Steven echoed as well.

4) Elise Testone - "Let's Stay Together" (Al Green)

While it wasn't her best performance, it was definitely light years ahead of her disatrous performance from last week. Elise is one of my favorites so I hope she gets the chance to stick around a little bit longer this time. She was also quite savoy in her intro tonight and made a concerted effort to show how receptive she was to feedback. I personally didn't find her disrespectful to the judges last week but many came away with that impression and the judges all felt she did a good job this week.

5) DeAndre Brackensick - "Endless Love" (Luther Vandross & Mariah Carey)

DeAndre has come on stronger over the past two weeks vocally and his command and greatly reduced reliance on his falsetto has certainly won me over much more so. The judges disagreed with the song choice and I actually still kind of agree with that but I liked it because it wasn't necessarily the best choice for him. While it might very well have been boring, I think it's been good for him to stay clear of the over the top theatrics that really haven't endured him as much to the voters as they have to the judges and studio audiences.

6) Shannon Magrane - "One Sweet Day" (Mariah Carey & Boys II Men)

Hmm....I actually had problems just hearing her. Her mic seemed to be getting drowned out by the band but I do remember a nice little run towards the end of the song. That's probably just me though. What I just don't get is why she'd dare to go anywhere near Mariah Carey and Boys II Men. I think Jennifer Lopez was out of her mind. Shannon did a decent job but it wasn't great. I do agree with Steven about Shannon singing her best when she doesn't try too hard. 

7) Colton Dixon - "Broken Heart" (White Lion)

In arguabaly my favorite performance of the night, Colton Dixon killed it with the obscure White Lion song. Steven was the critic tonight and perhaps it was the rocker in him not feeling it as much. I felt he did a good job with it and I think that it was actually a decent song choice for him. 

8) Erika Van Pelt - "Heaven" (Bryan Adams)

I really felt this was a great song choice for her so I was happy that Jimmy immediately followed up my own enthusiastic outburst at home. There were a few timing issues bookmarking the performance and I'm still waiting to hear her otherwise powerful voice hit the next range in it. I still thoroughly enjoyed the performance but I just worry that it wasn't enough for her to stay out of trouble this week.

9) Skylar Laine - "Love Sneaking Up On You" (Bonnie Raitt)

Skylar's one of my favorites this year but I just was not feeling this performance. It's not like it was horrible. It's just that there was nothing terribly distinctive or exciting about it. I think it was the wrong song choice by an otherwise great (and proper choice of) artist. I don't think I really felt this performance as much as the judges professed to. Luckily she's not in any known real danger of going home this week so I'm ready to see what she does next week.

10) Joshua Ledet - "When A Man Loves A Woman" (Michael Bolton) (Originally Percy Sledge)

I thought Joshua gave one of the better performances tonight but the vocals were really just too over the top. He gets himself into trouble time and time again by doing this and the shame is that he's actually got a really great voice. The studio audience and the judges loved it and he probably secured himself a spot in the Top 10. Jennifer Lopez called it the best thing she's seen on "American Idol" which of course was utterly ridiculous on multiple levels. He was definitely overpraised but despite the screamy nature of his vocals it still wasn't terrible either.

11) Hollie Cavanagh - "The Power of Love" (Celine Dion)

Hollie is really one of just a handful of the singers this year with any kind of range in which to dare to take on one of the real bigwigs but I was still surprised she chose one of the few titans of the industry. Despite that and a few pitch issues, Hollie delivered the best performance of the night. I still worry about her reliance on ballads but Hollie is still one of the strongest contenders this season and I would be surprised if she doesn't at least make the Top 5. 

Follow Jamie Cole of Himay Co. on Twitter. To hire him for PR write-ups and other marketing and creative services, send a tweet on Twitter for further contact info.