New Ghostly Spinoff: Kindred Spirits

There's a new ghost show in town, Kindred Spirits with Amy Bruni and Adam Berry. They became one of the sub-teams on the long-running but sputtering-out show Ghost Hunters.

Ghost Hunters was the first and, for a time, biggest ghost-hunting show on TV. But the genre has proliferated, (the price of success, no?), and it's gotten complicated. Dramas have peeled off entire casts of GH. I'm exaggerating but people have come and gone since the show began its run. However, tongues really started to wag when Grant Wilson left. And a year or so after that, according to press reports. Amy and Adam left over disputes with the remaining founder of the show Jay Hawes.

Amy and Adam went on to form the show Kindred Spirits, which is a spin-off of sorts, albeit unsanctioned. I followed Ghost Hunters through Ghost Hunters International but I didn't love it (Why Ghost Hunters International sucks). I couldn't get into Ghost Hunters Academy at all. But when Adam Berry won the show, it was interesting to get to know him, usually paired with Amy Bruni, back on Ghost Hunters. This was after Kris Williams left the show for Ghost Hunters International. There are Ghost Hunters branded books but nothing yet on all the drama behind the scenes. I'm looking forward to reading about all that someday.

Recently the famous series had some unexplained and lengthy hiatuses after Grant Wilson left the show. The show finally reappeared this summer (2016) with the announcer introducing episodes as the “final season of Ghost Hunters,” an oddly played-down situation.

As an early adopter of this genre, I should feel bad about the end of the show except that I wrote this: Top 10 Reasons Why I Don’t Care If Ghost Hunters Comes Back, and the fact that so many other ghost hunters have won our hearts during those long absences of Ghost Hunters. Most successfully Zack Bagans and his motley crew from Ghost Adventures.

I go back and forth about Zack and his hyper-ghost-hunting shenanigans. but you can’t deny the fact that the people who come on their show seem a hellavalot more at ease than those who appear on Ghost Hunters. GA just seems like more fun at the end of the day, certainly more approachable. Hosting a show takes charisma and humor and self-deprecation, all things Zach has about enough of. He’s also pretty hard working. The show has tons of episodes and they’re constantly on air at the Travel Channel.

And then there's John Zaffis' The Haunted Collector. Not quite a spin-off of Ghost Hunters either, but one of their prior summer hiatus replacements, (when there was such a thing as a short GH hiatus). Zaffis has done a good job becoming the papa-bear of ghost hunting. The women on his show, (women are still a minority on these shows), are both very likeable. And I always enjoy the research component he brings to the show.

And then there are a plethora of other shows: hillbillies, people who only do institutions, Ghost Brothers (which I love too and hope returns soon), Dead Files, which is ridiculous with its prescriptions for chaos magicians and psycho-therapists for the dead, but is seemingly popular. There's even a sub-genre of celebrity ghost shows like the defunct Celebrity Ghost Stories, (modeled after Canada’s Ghostly Encounters with the half-hearted gravitas of Lawrence Chau), and its spin-off The Haunting Of with psychic Kim Russo.

After all this, Ghost Hunters seems ego-bound, uncomfortable in its own skin, and tone-deaf to the new “realities” of the genre.

But Kindred Spirits, on the other hand, aside from the muted title, (which may refer to the hosts, or the ghosts, or ghost who are related to us, or maybe even ghost hunters in general), feels naturally friendly but never silly, (Ghost Adventures can get silly). Adam and Amy are always trying to “get to the heart of it” which plays into the family focus of the show but also something about having feelings, allowing feelings, encouraging the feelings. People cry. Hugs happen. What a relief that feels like.

They’ve also incorporated the research component and you can watch them puzzling over ghostly clues throughout the show. In the first scenes they're always having a kickoff meeting over coffee and discussing aspects of the case. So like Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys! There are rounds of thinking and problem solving. Adam has a thinking face. The focus is on the thinking and not the gadgets and all the playing with the gadgets (which is undoubtedly fun but has gotten a bit stale).

In these ways, the show feels like all the other problem-solving-based realty shows, (the cooking, fashion and surviving shows), and maybe this appeals to the nerds among us. But it also provides suspense and mystery to the show.

They also stay in one location for multiple days and so an investigation slowly evolves and you feel you get to know the homeowners who often join in on the final night’s work.

There are no night cameras. Who would have thought this would feel so refreshing? They use flashlights and electric lanterns. You can see color and texture again around the room and on their clothes.


Like all ghost shows, to one degree or another, this one makes tenuous leaps from the evidence to the conclusion. To its credit, Ghost Hunters did this less often than any other show, truth-telling during every wrap-up about how “we don’t really know what it is” but “stuff is definitely happening.”

After 12 years of ghost hunting, evidence never gets much more exciting than that. So a little friendliness and nuance helps a lot.

Read the poem about ghost hunting shows.

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Top 10 Reasons Why I Don’t Care If Ghost Hunters Comes Back

If you’re a follower of Ghost Hunters, you’ve noticed they’ve been missing from the increasingly-crowded televised ghost-show lineup for a few reality-show seasons now. It seems like the longest hiatus the show has ever had. In fact, there didn’t seem a time when Ghost Hunters wasn’t on the air unless one of their spinoffs or associate shows were bookmarking their spot for the summer.

I was a very early adopter of GH in 2004 and watched all the episodes for the first few years. They were refreshingly professional seeming (aside from the comic relief of Brian Harnois). I bought their books and oogled their ghost hunting gadgets sold for a time on the Sci Fi channel website. I even watched and wrote about how Ghost Hunters International fell short of the original show. I was there during Brian Hornois’ dramatic departures, kerfuffles with Andy Andrews,  Steve Gonsalves’s fear of all sorts of shit, Dave Tango'a rise to prominence, (he’s my personal favorite for his level-headedness but I was also there when the cast exposed his naivete with pranks early on), Amy Bruni’s baby, Kris Williams’ quiet awesomeness that took a season or two to warm up to, Britt Griffith,  Adam Berry, K.J. McCormick, Donna LaCroix, Dustin Pari, (and his injudicious use of backwards hats), Joe Chin, Barry Fitzgerald in the UK episodes and many others who came and went over the years.

Somewhere around 2007 or 2008 I started falling asleep through episodes. Part of this was just being dog tired at the time. But part of it was because the shows were becoming repetitive. However, by that time my husband was hooked. He didn’t miss an episode come hell or high water, even catching one episode on Hulu in 2010 on a laptop the week we moved to New Mexico and didn’t have our TV. 

Then we dropped cable for a time in 2013 and GH wasn’t available anymore on Hulu. What was up with that? First GH was on Hulu; then it wasn’t. Looking back, I wonder if GH wasn’t starting to slip under the weight of its behind-the-scenes goings on. 

Now, the show is forever lingering as a promise on Sci Fi’swebsite. The lineup seems fractured and release dates for the reboot have come and gone. No one seems to want to pull the plug.

I, for one, can live without more Ghost Hunters episodes. And here is why:

1.       Redundancy.
It’s hard to tell the shows apart anymore. When we look back and reminisce, they all run together. Has the show been on too long?

2.       Disturbing Departures. 
When Grant, one of the show’s founders, left in 2014 the shocking and mostly unexplained departure betrayed probable hidden conflicts within the cast.

3.       Subset of Disturbing Departures: All the Cool Girls Leave.
There have been great guys on the show, but the girls have been exceptional. They never squealed and shivered at spooks. They were confident, brave and smart. So why are they gone?

4.       Subset 2 of Disturbing Departures, Many Iterations of Jay’s Kids and Dogs.
Jay has attempted to replace the girl-gap with a rotation of his daughters (and one dog).  For some reason although these daughters seem confident and smart, it just feels like we’re getting more Jayness and not more girliness.

5.      Subset 3 of Disturbing Departures, the Very First Departure, Brian Hornois.
Actually, I don’t know who left first, Brian or Donna. They both left in 2007. But Donna left without much fanfare. Brian’s departure was a plot point on the show. He was clearly a point of pain and it’s easy to see why his erratic and undependable behavior necessitated his release from the series. However, to his credit, Brain did inject some life into the show every time he failed to correctly coil up an extension cord. He seemed to serve as some kind of personality catalyst for the rest of the cast. Without him, the show deflated a bit. Which brings us to…

6.       The Personality Problem.
The current menagerie of ghost story, ghost hunting, and ghost psychic shows are full to the brim with personality. New shows have goofy, hyper lead investigators (Zak Bagans), quirky angles (a cop and a physic who prescribes chaos magicians) , psychics aiding celebrities, hillbilly ghost hunters. I’m not saying the gimmick is alright. I’m just saying GH has lost what few charismatic players they had. Jay and Grant were a duo with personality. Jay and Steve Gonsalves are not. Jay alone is not. In comparison to other shows, the cast now seems bland. Professional is good. Bland is not.

7.       Spin Off Failures.
Ghost Hunters International and Ghost Hunters Academy didn’t last although the academy did give us Adam Berry who was an interesting addition at first. Remember the inn in New England that Jay and Grant purchased? Can this be turned into a spin off?

8.       The Credibility Issue.
Some ghost shows rely on personality. Some shows rely on trumped-up scares. It’s a hard line to walk. Ghost Hunters once had a bit of comedy and personality (with some on-the-air dramas). It seemed at some point in the last five years GH was going for more scares and less science. Then they seem to pull back. The show has always seemed to struggle with what kind of show does it want to be. In any case, both science and show credibility have suffered.

9.       Paltry Evidence of Research.
That inn in New England reminds me of a question that has been bugging me for years: why doesn’t anyone invest in a clearly haunted house and study that on TV for a few years? Why aren’t any eccentric Richie Rich’s investing in ghost research? They’re investing in alien research. Why not ghosts? After ten years and multiple ghost shows, have we any decent proof to show for ourselves? Something we can take on a TED talk? In fairness, it’s not really possible to judge televised research. The very format is deceptive. But we all pretend here, right? “It’s a TV show” is my husband’s favorite mantra. TV prevents me from ultimately taking anything seriously. So I’m pretending disappointment here with the repetitive evidence we’ve managed to accumulate over the last decade. Because it’s a TV show, this particular viewer is getting bored with “compelling EVPs.”

10.   Jay.
At the end of day, we’re left with Jay. God love him for hanging in there, but he’s too stern to lead, he’s not causal enough to narrate, and he needs a charismatic co-host to counter-balance his solid-guy Jayness. He once had a role to play: be the hard guy. He’s like your friend’s dad who is too serious and hard-ass so you never go over and play at their house. He wasn’t flexible enough to morph into a welcoming, friendly host. I’m led to believe Jay might have a serious life, so he’s a serious guy. But real life characters and TV characters are too different things. Jay needs Grant’s lightness to offset his Jayness.

So it probably goes without saying we all miss Grant. But I miss Brian too and his honest dishonesties, his “Run, Dude, Runs!” I miss Donna and Kris. I even miss announcer Mike Rowe. I miss the days when the show seemed somewhat more of a team and less of a Jay-logarchy. Jay has his strengths, (he’s organized, passionate, and definitely an influencer), but carrying the show on his back ain’t one of em. The problem with this show is that I miss too much. I miss more than they can likely replace.

   

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Mary McCray Reviews Steve Martin's New DVD: The Television Stuff

They all say Generation Xers love irony in our literature and popular entertainments; we love “wink-wink” kitche; we love high camp; we love meta-texts (texts that are self-aware and self-referential). Everyone points to our love of The Brady Bunch (and other now-campy shows of its era) as evidence of this phenomenon, a particular indicator which never felt especially accurate to me. After all, the first time we poured over Brady Bunch re-runs after school during our pre-teen years, we loved it. We loved it straight on without a smidgeon of irony. Bad 1960s TV for adults evolved into swell recycled kids television in the 1970s. We thought The Brady Bunch was a well-executed, highly engaging, plot-driven dramedy. And we didn’t appreciate the show on any other level until the various TV reunion specials appeared in the 1980s. Then we realized it was bad; but we still loved it because we didn’t want to let it go; and irony allowed you to keep loving things that were really bad. So...(and this is important), we loved it both ironically and with a chaser-kick of sincere nostalgic love. Let’s not kid ourselves, Xers. When we ironically like The Brady Bunch, we are also aiming that disparaging irony back on ourselves for loving it the first time.

Those among us who became writers and lit readers took this love of loving things ironically and made heroes out of writers like Douglas Copeland (especially for his recognition of us in his novel Generation X), David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers and Jonathan Franzen. Dave Eggers seemed the boldest in his performance of meta-writing. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius was packed to the rafters with self-awareness.

Before he died, David Foster Wallace gave a reading at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles where he made an unexpected plea for a return to sincerity. We had gone so far with irony, he said. Maybe he thought we had lost emotion, had lost heart. The story he read, "Incarnations of Burned Children" from the short story collection Oblivion: Stories (2004). epitomized tragic sincerity and his point made a deep impression on me. I wondered how my generation of writers set off on this track of "high-plains-irony" we sometimes call post modernism, following on the works of novelists like John Barth. 

For Xers, was it really all because of The Brady Bunch? 

Ape Culture’s co-editor, Julie Wiskirchen, came to visit me in Santa Fe a few weekends ago and she brought me the new Steve Martin box set of his early TV appearances and specials, Steve Martin: The Television Stuff. The bulk of the material ranges from 1976 to 1982. After watching it, I now propose that Steve Martin introduced Generation Xers to a new type of humor that included large doses of meta-performance and irony. At least I’d like to propose that’s where irony started for me.

Read more.

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Book Review: The Spiritual Biography of John Lennon

I’ve read the story of The Beatles many, many times from many, many angles. I once liked Paul. Then I became annoyed by his smugness on TV of late. Long before all that, I liked John. I even wore his style of sunglasses in high school. But I also became annoyed by his political smugness (and I agreed with it and was still annoyed!). Then I liked George—he was the cute one after all who was into Eastern philosophy in a more permanent seeming way than the others. But then I recently read “Wonderful Tonight” by his ex-wife Pattie Boyd (the book is mostly an address book of the people she's hung out with alongside tormented descriptions of herself as a doormat-wife with a dearth of any real dish about Paul, Ringo and John, but entirely too much about George and Eric Clapton). So now I’m stuck with Ringo. I’ve already seen two Ringo All-Star Ringo shows and I don't know how much more of that I can take.

On the other hand, now that I know that Ringo contributed one of my favorite Beatle lines, “...writing the words to a sermon that no one will hear...” to the song "Eleanor Rigby," I’m favoring to the idea of Ringo solidarity.

Well…maybe one is not meant to choose.

"The Cynical Idealist: A Spiritual Biography of John Lennon" was written by author, sculptor and teacher Gary Tillery in response to his shock that his students considered John Lennon just the garden variety of celebrity and not the more elevated type of activist/philosopher celebrity that older fans of Lennon consider him to be. Tillery's book aims to draw out Lennon’s thoughts on God and social responsibility in order to show how unique Lennon was among the vapid celebrities of today.

This, I believe, is a false premise due to the fact that we have PLENTY of activist celebrities, Bono of the rock band U2 being the most obvious example of celebrity activism on the Lennon scale. To a degree Bono is so serious he has almost risked becoming a joke unto himself and somewhat impossible to follow. John Lennon himself is quite a bit short of a real philosopher. I’ve known plenty of wannabie philosophers...called poets – and songwriters are no better at it. Which is not to say Lennon didn’t philosophize a lot. He just did not do the years of legwork required of a real academic (in or outside of the ivory tower).

That said, I did like this book and I appreciated how it fleshed out Lennon’s social and religious choices more singularly than other biographies have done, including his early and underlying roots of cynicism and anarchism, his dabbling with meditation and the Maharishi, what that whole primal scream therapy thing was all about, and a good timeline of his peace and feminist activities and art projects with Yoko Ono.

The Beatles in general and John Lennon on his own are always interesting for study from different perspectives, especially with respect to notes on the origins of their songs. I liked how this book included songs for suggested listening to go along with the text. Newbie Beatlefiles probably don’t have the full Lennon CD catalogue yet. And the old-schoolers who do have all the songs may find this book to be a retread. All the stories have been told many times in many other books. Here, they are just consolidated and contemplated on.

Comparing Lennon to Gandhi and Martin Luther King is a bit much. They made extreme sacrifices and Lennon was no politician. But he did have good ideas for peace and was a motivated activist. If you're into biographies of spiritually-minded celebrities (as I am) then this will fit nicely on your book shelf between last year's lite fare by Amy Grant and the biography of Alan Watts.

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DVD Review: Hall and Oates Live at the Troubadour

A review of the DVD release - Hall & Oates: Live at the Troubadour (2008)

Nerdia

Let me start by saying that I was encouraged to watch this new Hall & Oates concert DVD after I saw their Daily Show spoof of Hannity and Colmes recently.

Even though it was odd that they were introduced as “the best selling rock duo of all time,” a claim also made on their DVD…I thought “here’s a band that doesn’t take itself too seriously to redo the song “She’s Gone” to mock that Republican-obsessed TV program.

But unless you like to hear jaunty, high-energy 80s pop tunes dirged out into lullabies, this DVD may not for you.

Hell, we did aerobics to Hall & Oates in the 80s, their songs had so much kick. The arrangements and performances on this DVD seemed very tired. And yet…their vocals still sound great, which makes the show seem all the more disappointing and the “best selling” accolade all the more deflated.

Daryl’s face looks very pinched and his style of squinting when he sings doesn’t age so well. He looks like he’s had an allergic reaction to a cat. Keep in mind he did have an attack of Lymes disease in 2005, which may explain his look and low energy level.

I, myself, love older H&O tunes like “She’s Gone” and “Rich Girl” (my last favorite was “You Make My Dreams Come True”), while Coolia liked the later 80s tunes such as “Family Man,” “Maneater” and “Out of Touch.”

Their early album Abandoned Luncheonette was mentioned (from where “She’s Gone” came) during the show which made me wonder if this was the album they were promoting during their earlier Troubadour show they mention fondly. It’s hard to know because their between-song banter was sketchy and cryptic.

We love to make light of Oates as the lesser in the duo but his one solo of the show “Had I Known You Better” we all liked. Daryl did a solo song called “Cab Driver” and he spoke about a concert he did at his house: liveatdarylshouse.com.

But all in all, I got no sense of these performers’ personalities. They were like cardboard cut-outs of Hall & Oates.

Almost every song was drawn out to a tedious duration with insufferable scatting from Daryl and therefore, every song of this two hour show, from “You Make My Dreams Come True” to “Sara Smile” sounded exactly the same, which bored the hell out of us.

Coolia

I enjoyed H&O when I saw them in concert at the Beacon Theater in NYC, probably close to 10 years ago. That show was electric and showcased their great pop melodies and many hits. As Nerdia said, this all-acoustic show was a bit of a snoozer. Typically, in a live show, the artists may do a brief acoustic interlude, which always makes for a nice change. But 2 hours of acousticness tends to just drone on and on.

The concert wasn't filmed with much visual flair, and there's no use of video or images other than shots of the band. So this adds to the sameness vibe. I was also distracted by the saxophone player who had creepy long hair and whose personality just grated on my nerves for some reason. It's not really rational but I found myself reacting negatively whenever they showed him - and they showed him a lot. On the other hand, some other band members got very little camera time at all.

Daryl still sounds great, but I found myself missing his proud mullet of the 80s. He has midwestern mom hair now. Oates was never a looker, and reminds me of Epstein from Welcome Back, Kotter, but he's very fit. He still doesn't have that much to do. Remember him in their 80s videos, doing cartwheels in the background, like as if to say, "notice me dammit!" As Nerdia mentioned, his solo tune is worth a download.

I still love hearing their hits, and I can imagine myself putting this DVD on for background as I blog or read. It's not really compelling enough to watch on its own, but it's ear-pleasing.

Buy the DVD on Amazon

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Okay, So International Ghost Hunters Sucks a Little Less This Season

Andy Andrews is really ramping up his bid to be like Grant from the original Ghost Hunters. I like Andy though because I like his protestant go-get-em work ethic and his willingness to pronounce every word so clearly and loudly. However, I do appreciate the many comments from my commentary last season. And I agree, Andy and Robbbbb are still no Jay and Grant. What is it about Jay and Grant? They’re like Siegfried and Roy or somethin. I do appreciate that Jesus is not a main character so far this season, I really do. And I’m cool with Jesus. It's just that I want the adults to hunt ghosts by their own wits is all. Another thing I appreciate: the swapping of Shannon for Dustin. Our couch theory is that Donna threw her weight around behind the scenes to get that taken care of. Dustin’s hat wearing techniques…work…my last….nerve. It’s too much. It’s just too much. Um...is that his pinup shot posted here? But overall, I like his staunch unwillingness to descend into hysteria. Speaking of which, I don’t trust anything that comes out of that Irishman’s camera.

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American Idol - Nerdia Rates 80s Week

Luke Suckhard
I agree with Simon enough to say it was girly. I would go farther in saying it was flaccid.

David Archuletta
Although he looks like he's 7 years old, I still like this guy. Well done.

Danny Noriea-gay
I guess I can agree with Randy that his vocals need a bit more oomph. But he is the charismatic leader in working the camera. I was told last weekend that it was the Cher in me that likes him. Fair enough.

David Hernan-hunk
I'm warming up to this guy!

Michael Johns
Randy, that wasn't INXS - it was a Simple Minds song, and a poorly chosen one in my book. It's hard to sound good singing that song unless you're Simple Minds.

David's Cooking
Bf's comment: he gave that Lionel Richie song some balls. Well said.

Jason Castro
Fabulous song choice but he's no Jeff Buckley. Craped out at end.

Cheesy
Boring, cliched, snooze-fest. As quoted from Reno 911 last night - this guy's an Encylopedia Bore-tanica, a The-snore-us.

Asia'h TooPeppyson
Yes, it's hard to do Whitney. Even she seems to be having trouble doing it of late.

Kady Mineral Alloy
I agree with Simon; she's dead inside. Well...he didn't put it that way. Cold as a stone.

Amanda Oversinger
The judges liked this but I thought she lost footing this week. Seemed very unsure of herself.

Carly Smithsonian Institute
I actually love this song. And when I played with my dog Franz instead of watching her sing it, I actually enjoyed it. Watching her I just get an old relic vibe.

Kristy Lee Simmer
This was baaaaad. Iconic Steve Perry was way too big for her.

Ramiele Malubad
She's been one of my favorites but she looked frumpy this week and her eyes looked blank; plus I hate how she keeps correcting Randy on how to pronounce her name. Don't go by a complicated name and get irritated when people can't get it. I still love how her voice soars high and then swiftly goes soft like at the end of "Against All Odds." That's awesome.

Brooke White Surpremecy
Sorry...but that's the vibe I get. Although I can't stand her; unusual arrangements like this will keep her in the game.

Syesaha Mercado
In a week overflowing with too many Whitney covers, hers was the best. Not awesome; but passable. Her hot looks should keep her in the game although many see her leaving today.

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Why Ghost Hunters International Sucks

My bf and I love the Sci Fi show Ghost Hunters. We love the sensible leadership of Jason and Grant, their rational desire to debunk allegations of ghost activity and yet their occasional admittance of haunted places once in a while, their skeptical stance on orbs. We love the cast of characters: Donna who didn’t seem easily rattled (or maybe she was just edited that way), the annoying and yet goofy melodrama of Brian, we even grew to like Tango. We were excited to learn of a new spin-off, Ghost Hunters International (GHI). After a falling out with Grant and Jason, Brian Harnois joins another long-timer Donna LaCroix, and sporadic members Andy Andrews (I know) and the Irishman Barry Fitzgerald. New hunters Shannon Sylvia (who suspiciously was recently seen appearing on the vapid show Most Haunted) and joins and Robb Demarest, from another TAPS franchise is chosen to lead this rag-tag group. We were sorely disgusted with the result. In fact, I kept falling asleep half-way through most episodes. My bf and I recently sat down to discuss the problems.

1. There’s very little skepticism or debunking going on. Robb and Andy try but…
2. A sudden Christian element (prayers, rosaries) has infiltrated the show and this destroys much of the credibility from the original Ghost Hunters. In fact, there’s a constant assumption of evil. We miss the “ghosts are people too” ethos of the first show. To assume you’re always dealing with eeevil clouds your judgment. And this show’s judgment is in a fog bank.
3. In fact Irishman Barry is in ghostly hysterics half the time. He would fit more with the fraudulent-seeming Most Haunted show from England. Barry, who’s silly, skinny soul patch should go post-haste, sees ghosts every episode. And runs from them. Brian got ripped a new one for running out of a prison in the first show with his infamous exclamation “Run, Dude, Run!” GHI seems to be edited to engage in fear mongering. Which makes it very unscary.
4. Brian is pretty much a non-entity on the show. His main asset on the first show was his irritant role in the group. He’s not even touchy on this show.
5. Shannon is dead weight.
6. Donna is a great disappointment. She was a semi-kewl chick on Ghost Hunters, rarely getting her feathers ruffled as far as we could tell. On GHI, she’s whiny, alarmed, or clutching a rosary most of the time. It usually necessities Andy coming in to debunk her grand claims of ghost activity.
7. And thank God for Robb and Andy, who are good but alas no Jay and Grant. They don’t have their sense of humor; they don’t have their camaraderie; and they cannot instill debunking-focus over the entire group. They seem to lack the leadership skills or authority Jay and Grant have. For instance, when Shannon and Donna were fighting, Robbs direction was very tentative. Jay would have brought down some anger into the situation and they would have had to get their shit together.
8. Too many “personal experiences.” They’re in fabulous locations all over the haunted world and they can't come up with a single interesting piece of visual evidence or any really outstanding EVPs. As Jay and Grant would say, personal experiences are good but they don’t prove anything, they’re just supporting evidence.
9. It turns out there’s a language barrier when trying to communicate with ghosts who may only speak say Romanian or Italian.
10. Where did all the superstitious paraphernalia come from anyway? What happened to the more scientific tone of the American show? What happened to all that TAPS education?
11. No more interesting SWAG...all the funny versions of TAPS t-shirts members would wear from week to week.
12. And finally, I miss the funny intro with cast members throwing looks over their shoulders with disturbed expressions.

Why did the Ghost Hunters franchise spend all that money to turn itself into Most Haunted?
Read my comments about season 2

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American Idol - Nerdia's Take on the Top 20 (Guys and Gals)

I've gotten to where I could care less about two things: Judge fights and contestant indignation with Simon. She was a ignorant twit last night, but I don't even care what the singers have to say about it anymore.

Michael Johns
Love that he did Fleetwood Mac but he didn't pull it off for me. Which proves how good Lindsey Buckingham is to sing that song with such force and clarity.

Jason Castro
I thought he did this Bee Gees song very well. A friend of mine says he looks like John Travolta with Venice-Boardwalk-hair.

Luke Menard
The judges must be on crack. This was terrible.

Robbie Carrico
Get rid of that chain already. It's so forced. It was a good end but he's no Lou Graham.

Danny Noriega
I love this guy. I really do. He's got spunk. Good confident expressions. Not my favorite song, "Superstar" - it's kind of slow, pathetic and plodding. Plus Cher released it as a single and it went nowhere at the turn of the early 70s. Carpenters strike a home run with a more saccharine arrangement. I can't hold it against them.

David Hernandez
Good time was had by all I thought. Speaking of Cher, wouldn't it be funny if she covered this song?

Jason Yeager
Bad song choice but he looked like he was having fun and he sounded like a Doobie. Way better than last week. I liked his spastic dancing at the end.

Chikezie
Better than last week but it didn't light me on fire.

David Cook
My bf and I are actually rooting for this Kansas City rocker. He's better than Robbie, if an American Idol show can only afford one. But as with the chain prop, loose the back-pocket hankerchief.

David Archuletta
A great American television moment.

Carly Smithson
Bar singer.

Syesha Mercado
All style. Nice to look at but not one of my favorites.

Brooke White
Boring and what a gimmick to start at Simon the whole time she sang "You're So Vain." It was only his vanity that liked it.

Ramiele Malubay
I love her voice but can see how this disco song (my favorite, by the way) didn't showcase her voice well.

Kristy Lee Cook
I can't even remember this one.

Amanda Overmyer
Love that she dropped her Janis Joplin shtick for some solid Kansas but are these judges who would appreciate that?

Alaina Whitaker
This year is packed with too many generic blondes. This one was awful and boring. Olivia Newton John is no great singer, by the way. If you can't do better than ONJ, you shouldn't be on American Idol.

Alexandrea Lushington
Solid. Great. She made the band Chicago almost seem interesting to me.

Kady Malloy
Can I get a normal name in here soon? I would really like to see her Cher impression. But this performance was terrible. I need a new adjective for this season.

Asia'h Epperson
Beginning was terrible and she saved it somewhat. But I agree that the song was too big for her.

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Nerdia Reviews American Idol 60s Week

I liked the guys the best. Too many little blonde dollies this year (and that includes Syesha Mercado, who may be African American, but is all barbie to me).

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My favs for the guys are David Hernandez, Robbie Carreo, David Achuleta, Danny Noriega (LOVE HIM...he's my Sanjanya this year - except he can sing), and Jason Castro. But Garrett Haley is Leif Garrett reincarnated and the girls will go NUTS. Can't believe they only found one black male vocalist worthy this year from all the corners of America. Lame, judges, lame. And Chikeze SOO wasn't worthy. Jason Yeager and Luke Menard sucked so ultimately it was mind-boggling.

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Of the gals, I love Remele Malubay the best. Like an Asian-punk Mary Poppins, she's "perfect in every way." Alaina Whitaker and Alexandrea Washington were promising too. Carly Smithson has a great voice but it feels like her time has passed (not teen idolly enough anymore). Was bored by the rest.

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Two Idol seasons after the show Rock Star, I really feel the biggest detriment to most of these idol singers is the crappy, loud, obnoxious, soul-less American Idol band. The singers literally have to shout over it to be heard and then they get criticized for doing so. I feel the crap-band especially runied a potentially good showing by Amanda Overmyer this week.

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Other annoyances so far: really existentially boring Ryan Seacrest challenges to Simon. It's like Hillary Clinton and John McCain snipping at Barak Obama. The American peoples yearn for an end to the manipulative cat-fights. We're so over it. And Ryan is so good in the auditions. Even the losers love him. But on the show, he's kind of a pr*ck.

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And these name for the girls are going to work my last nerve. We must come up with nicknames for them so I can type them out each week without having to resort to the Insert Symbol feature in MS Word.

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Steve Martin: a Conversation with Carol Burnett

(Jan 24, 2008, at The Wilshire Theater Beverly Hills)

Imagine my glee finding Steve Martin’s latest book, Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life, sitting in a stack at a Santa Monica bookstore and discovering that it was not another piece of fiction but a biography about his long-lost life as a stand-up comedian. And here I’ve been kvetching so much about his abandonment of the art form for more well-heeled work in academic theatricals intermingled with big-budget, saccharine movie turds. (I’ll take fifty Lonely Guys any day if we can just forget that movie with Queen Latifah ever happened.

My brothers and father would re-tell scenes of The Jerk at the dinner table. I knew the entire “he hates cans!” routine before I ever watched the movie like I knew “it’s only a flesh wound” years before watching Monty Python’s Holy Grail). My brother also had the King Tut Steve Martin album which we both loved (the embezzling cat story, the France bits). However, my admiration of Martin didn’t survive past the movie Roxanne, which was so sweet it hurt my teeth. And his appearances on SNL and talk shows struck me as cold. Then he did that great Oscar hosting job and I was back yearning for his old days of stand up. Then the bad movies with too many weddings and kids and Goldie Hawn romances happened and I was put off again.

Let me tell you, Martin's new book did wonders for showing a much warmer human being. And it’s a recommended read for his insight into how a comedy act is assembled, structured and crafted over years of sweat and experimentation, also delving into what it feels like on the other side of 40-thousand fans who know your routines by heart.

Good enough. But then it was announced that Steve Martin would be talking with Carol Burnett at a special event in LA at hosted by the group Writers Bloc. I was in heaven!

The theater was huge; the event was sold out so we had to sit in the balcony where I was too far away to ask my big Steve Martin question at the Q&A, which was: As a writing team for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, why didn’t more of Bob Einstein and Steve Martin’s early-70s brilliances end up on the show? Sonny & Cher’s show is now remembered as an amazing variety show…but not for its comedy. It’s loved for its eclectic guest roster, Bob Mackie costumes and torch musical numbers.

Even the opening monologue (the only comedic bit every discussed today) mostly succeeded on S&C chemistry. And Martin was working on some cutting-edge material at the time, his own act was about to explode. Bob Einstein was already doing Super Dave Osbourne on the John Byner show.

Asked what bits Martin did for The Smothers Bros show (one of his writing gigs before S&C), he joked that “all the best stuff you remember…I wrote that.” But alas, for the S&C show, there was no best stuff.

There was on irritating aspect of this “conversation” between Burnett and Martin and it was Carol Burnett. Press lead us to believe this would be talk about Martin’s new book. Burnett however seemed disinterested in interviewing Martin at best, dead set against asking any questions at worst, letting dead silence hang in the air instead of doing any work. She asked him probably a total of two questions, both lame. One question was who his favorite movie star was. This turned into an excuse for her to segue, with neck-breaking speed, into an anecdote about that particular movie star, Cary Grant and how Grant loved her show. Frankly, she seemed only motivated to tell Carol Burnett Show anecdotes about herself.

Her other question to Martin was about how he started out as a TV writer which only betrayed the fact that she hadn’t read the book or even done a quick IMDB or Wikipedia search for a brief timeline on his career.

To Martin’s credit, he made gentlemanly (as in gentle) attempts to keep the conversation going, respectfully taking the piss out of Burnett’s strange reluctance to engage in any real “conversation” about comedy. At one point Martin joked, “I DARE you to ask me a question.” She never really did.

And it pains me to complain about Burnett because she is one of my comedic idols along with Steve Martin and Harvey Korman. I believe The Carol Burnett Show was one of the three most influential comedies of the 70s (along with The Mary Tyler Moore Show and All in the Family) and a landmark moment for women in comedy and a variety show of superior quality. And she deserves to be knighted for that. But the truth is, she hasn’t done anything worthy of knighthood since then (although I loved her in Annie and The Four Seasons).

And I’ve heard all the Carol Burnett anecdotes many times, have taped all the reunion specials, read her autobiography (One More Time) her biography (Laughing Till It Hurts by J. Randy Taraborrelli).

Steve Martin has been far less available for public introspections of this kind. It would have garnished Burnett extra kudos for showing some interest in this comedic trailblazer she was sitting next to. Instead she came off as Hollywood, as a self-absorbed scene-stealer. And too make matters worse, her anecdotes took too long to perform. She sunk too many details into each story, making sure we knew the name of every person in the business she ever worked with or talked to. I kept thinking “can we get back to Steve please?”

On the other hand, Martin was accessible and pleasant with the fan Q&As and showed true affection for Burnett. I wished he would have showed more interest in contemporary comedians, however, when asked for his favorites. His disinterest in even knowing the names of his most recent famous co-workers felt a little isolationist.

But I’ve come a far ways if that’s the worst thing I could say about Steve Martin. His book went a long way to showing a person with flesh and feelings, portraying a modest, thankful kid from Orange County after years of seeming affected and quietly arrogant.

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Westside LA Gets a Cool New Haunted House!

Coolia and I decided to visit our local haunted house last night, an abandoned Blockbuster Video locale, where Westwood, Overland and the 405 converge. Now I used to work at Blockbuster so I know just how scary the prospect of a haunted Blockbuster is...our sufferings from a cheapskate employer and ever disappearing employee discounts ("What do you mean video rentals are now full price for all employees? I don't want discounted jiffy pop!") This Blockbuster in question was particularly horrifying when it was open - a pitiful selection and zombie-like service. Good riddance to bad rubbish I said when the shop closed down months ago. I never dreamed ghosts and goulies would start squatting at the place.

Because it's our hood, we found it by driving by...no news is sometimes a little bit scary. These do-it-yourself haunted houses don't feel quite as....um...safe. The handmade signs look a little nutty.

But the ticket-takers seemed normal enough and you could adjust your own scare-level, which was very decent of them. We picked Code Red which was just shy of the ultimate scare Bloody Code Red or Bloody F-ing Code Red. I can't remember.

The do-it-yourself-ness of the maze reminded me of the great haunted mazes of my old neighborhood in St. Louis. And for $12 (less for kids), it was perfect, just long enough but not rip-off short. And the ghosts were fully into their tasks; some were downright creepy.

What I appreciated most was that they controlled the experience, only letting one group of friends enter at a time (as you know there's protection in numbers; no protection in no numbers - which makes the crowds at NotScaryFarm kind of a drag) and the ghouls "personalize your journey" as you walk through. It's both hilarious and effective.

For more information on the maze, visit their MySpace page.

To read another review on them: http://laist.com/2007/10/25/west_la_gets_a.php

Here are the details:

Creepy Hollow
3101 Overland Ave.

Corner of National and Overland (where Blockbuster used to be)

Neighborhood: Palms

Hours: Friday- Sunday 7 :00 PM- 11:00 PM

Open Halloween

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Luncinda Williams at the El Rey

Lucinda Williams at the El Rey Theater, Los Angeles; September 6, 2007

Why do I love LA? Because sometimes an awesome idea becomes realized. Lucinda Williams decided to do a set of dates at LA’s El Rey theater. But instead of the same set each night, she performs one album in its entirety each night. The albums: World without Tears; Essence; Car Wheels on a Gravel Road; Sweet Old World; Lucinda Williams

Three or four years ago, my father discovered Lucinda Williams and one day sent me practically her entire catalogue from Amazon.com. From these shows, I picked my favorite, Essence, and it turned out to be solid awsomeness.

In the will-call line, we stood one couple in front of my boyfriend’s favorite artist, Lucinda’s onetime boyfriend, Mike Stinson (LA Magazine declares Stinson LA’s finest coutry-western singer/songwriter) and Stinson's new girlfriend Pamela Des Barres. Later I stood in line in front of Pamela as we waited in the ladies bathroom line (uncomfortable much?) and Stinson and Des Barres again stood behind us for much of Lucinda’s first half. My bf wanted to tell Stinson he loved his last show, especially his rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” but never got the chance. I wanted to tell Pamela I was in a state of extreme conflict about identity issues and co-dependency I preceived when I read her first book I’m With the Band when I was a tween. But I refrained.

Although I’m starting to love Lucinda’s dark, gothic evangelical songs, I’ve always loved the more mellow tracks on Essence, its evocative loneliness and unity of sound.

She sang the album in its order:
1. Lonely Girls (love it)
2. Steal Your Love (had to restart a few times)
3. I Envy The Wind (bf loves this one)
4. Blue
5. Out Of Touch (about her sister, not a past lover)
6. Are You Down?
7. Essence (absolutely kicked ass)
8. Reason To Cry
9. Get Right With God (absolutely kicked ass)
10. Bus To Baton Rouge (bf loves this one, said it made him vaclempt)
11. Broken Butterflies

And then I thought that would be it but after a 30 minute intermission, Lucinda played a second set with some of her favorite LA artists as guests.

She did a duet of the Carter/Cash classic "Jackson" (absolutely kicked ass)

She also did:
- Reason to Cry
- Are You Alright
- Drunken Angel
- And Unsuffer Me and People Talkin (love both of those)

She did a new song from West called "Honey Bee" which caused controversy in our little group over whether or not one can write a good love song in a happy state.

Her guests included Greg Dulli, Tim Easton, and Mike Stinson who sang “Slip My Mind for Me” with Lucinda. It reminded my bf and me of the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

I was respectfully impressed by this show simply due to the amount of songs Lucinda had to relearn for five brief nights. Imagine how the new guitarist in the band must have felt. And imagine hearing “Bless their hearts!” from the rough, southern voice of Lucinda, who's natural physical state seems to be a little drunk on something, if not booze.

On another blog I’ve been talking about the beauty of imperfection. Lucinda is the poster child for imperfect beauty. She starts and stops her songs all the time (“we’re recording and I wanna get it right”) if a song is too slow or off key or she forgets a lyric. She rambles on with self-deprecation about missed sound checks and misplaced friends. She sports strange outfits like a tight black cocktail dress over jeans.

I've seen Lucinda twice before, once with my parents when she opened for Willie Nelson at the Santa Barabara Bowl and once when she performed with her father, poet Miller Williams, at UCLA's Royce Hall. Each show I've seen has been entirely unique. But she’s the pinnacle, the closest artist to Bob Dylan, our friend declared to a woman seeing Lucinda for the first time last night. She nails it, shows you the perfection in the imperfection. Her lyrics are spartan yet poetic and her music is country, folk and blues. If she were a food she’d be salmon on a bed of gravy and rice: cooked fine and delicate on top, served sloppy on the bottom.

http://www.lucindawilliams.com/

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Spinal Tap at The Avalon in Hollywood

Last night I saw Spinal Tap at the Avalon theater in Hollywood. They were playing a benefit show for the International Myeloma Foundation. McKean started the show with his wife, a marriage which was a big surprise to me: actress of stage and screen and co-writer of many of The Mighty Wind tunes: Annette O’Toole. McKean and O’Toole started the show with a small set from their stage act “No Standards” which was actually a trio group with O’Toole’s talented daughter Nell Geisslinger. The highlight was the hilarious celtic spoof “Killington Hill.”

Next Harry Shearer arrived to play bass for a few songs with his wife Judith Owen, a Welch singer-songwriter. Owen sang songs from her latest album “Happy This Way” including the funny take on Paris-Hilton-types in “Cool Life” and the amazing “Painting By Numbers.” Owen’s comedy schtick was laid on a little too thick. She was funny, yet annoying. But her voice was stridently soulful and her lyrics were amazing. I'll download some of her songs for sure.

McKean came back to play with Naomi Margolin who sang Lee Grayson’s signature song “Rainbow Connection.” Grayson was a mentor of McKean who died of Myeloma. McKean then enthusiastically introduced Van Dyke Parks for a short set with his band. In blue jean overalls, Parks impressed the music nerds in the audience who appreciated his legendary stauts. I was clueless about his piece of history but enjoyed the song “Orange Crate Art.”

Christopher Guest then arrived, the only Tap member of the evening sans wife (Jamie Lee Curtis). C.J. Vanston also joined on keyboards and Shearer came back for the full Tap show. It was fun. It was rockin and Guest played some mean guitar. It still doesn't go without saying: these guys can perform. They played Spinal Tap songs:

- Hellhole
- Stonehenge (with Annette and daughter running about like elves)
- Cups and Cakes
- Gimme Some Money (which they dedicated to American Express)
- Listen to the Flower People
- and the first song David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel ever wrote together, All the Way Home

They sang Mighty Wind songs:

- Never Did No Wanderin'
- Loco Man
- Corn Wine
- Blood on the Coal
- Start Me Up (my absolute favorite so I was a thrilled peach!)

(and even three songs from The New Main Street Singers)

- Old Joe's Place
- and Jane Lynch joined them on The Good Book Song and
- Potato's in the Paddy Wagon

Christopher Guest seemed pouty and sullen most of the evening, sitting out two or three songs, and Harry Shearer was pretty quiet overall but funny when he accidentally dropped his guitar much in the character of Derek Smalls. Michael McKean who very happily and charmingly hosted most of the night’s show seemed to have the best time being on stage with his friends and family. I only wished David Lander as Squiggy could have been up there for old times. But he was probably goodwill ambassadoring for MS.

Note: photo from recent Newport Music Festival.

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Kindred Spirit: RIP Tammy Faye

We'd been putting off watching her final TV appearance because we’d come to love her on Surreal Life and in documentaries and other Larry King Live appearances. In fact, she so impressed us by her behavior on Surreal Life that we’d come to be unlikely fans of this Christian evangelical, fans because she was so much more open hearted and true to her convictions than the false evangelicals our television is often crawling with.

So it was heartbreaking to see that the world would soon lose one of its rare Christian spirits. It seems so unfair. But she was inspiring to the end on Larry King Live calling regret a “waste of brain space.” Although her appearance initially made us gasp, Tammy Faye (Baker) Messner truly sparkled a mere 36-48 hours before her death.

I found Deepak Chopra’s appearance on the show as commentator highly ironic. The self-help-sounding guru has become the spiritual touchstone of a self-described Christian nation. It’s incredible. Should we feel hopeful that American are finally opening up in spiritual consciousness beyond these Sideshow-Bob Christian evangelicals? Or should we be depressed that America has instead settled on Chopra’s captalistic empire of pop-meditations?

Larry King Live struck us as firmly skeptical, but he touched us when he announced that Tammy Faye had dwindled down to 65 pounds and that it must be all heart. To put her 65 pounds of heart into perspective. Our Edgar Winter Dog weighs 35 himself. She didn’t even weigh two Edgars!

For a primer on forgiveness, I’m planning to read Tammy Faye's autobiography, “Telling It My Way,” to learn how she overcame betrayals on multiple fronts throughout her life. Tammy Faye joked she wanted to be remembered for her eyelashes (and her walk with the Lord). But she can best be remembered for her sense of humor in the face of mortality, a gesture that shows she clearly had an authentic connection with a higher place.

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American Idol - Not Enough Heaven

Melinda Doolittle - "Love You Inside Out" / "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart"

Coolia: Like Paula I don't have much more to say about Melinda - but that's because she bores me. I was impressed with the big note/big finish on the 2nd song. But I still don't get much of a sense of who she is or what her personality is like. I'm predicting her to go tomorrow night in an upset. I'm probably wrong, but I just can't picture people being motivated to dial the phone over and over for her. Oh, and Melinda we don't believe you when you say your first music purchase was a tape. We know it was a 78.
Nerdia: LOL! We poured over that fact about the Bad tape. But alas, I think she's too clever for us! My watching-buddy said "another telathon performance from Melinda." I really didn't like her song choices.
Terry:A Gloria Gayner type of take on song one. Good but not great. A very nice Aretha Frankliin type of take (gospel disco...a whole new genre). Very good overall.
Deb: Great vocals but there was an awful lot of background singing going on. I lost her a couple of times. Not a great song choice and the overall performance was....meh...for me. (I did like her hair though...suited her nicely). Better song choice on the second. She still sounded "background" as Simon put it. At this point I started writing about how bored I was....UNTIL she went BIG! I LOVE BIG! She has great "feeling" when singing. She got my attention tonight....it's been awhile since she's been able to do that.

Blake Lewis - "You Should Be Dancing" / "This is Where I Came In"

Coolia: I was disappointed by my man Blake tonight. There were so many great songs he could have done: "Nights on Broadway," "Tragedy", "Jive Talking", "How Deep Is Your Love". Why did he have to pick one nobody had heard of, and why did he beat box on both songs? I thought the first song was kind of fun, but the beat box portion made me think of that guy who used to do sound effects in the Police Academy movies. The 2nd one was just weird to me. I still voted for him because he keeps it interesting to me.
Nerdia: He sang "You Should Be Dancing" too slow. It was weird. It was like Disco was too fast for him. I only liked his vocal impersonations of machine effects, which still impress me. But not enough to give him the title.
Terry: First song actually making disco hip again. I didn't love it but I did like it. Second - definitely a modern hipped up take which I totally dig about this dude...but, it's still a boring song. And the judges are now pissing me off. First they tell him to tone down the beatboxing, then they applaud him for doing it, and now they're telling him he shouldn't be doing it. I respect his staying true to himself just as I did with Chris Daughtry last year.
Deb: Did NOT like this from the start. The echo was annoying and made his words hard to understand. The one short non-singing-beat-boxing part was the only enjoyable moment. HATED the ya-ah-ah-ah-ah....UGH hated that. Wow he wasawful tonight. His look is bad (did they do that on purpose?)

Lakisha Jones - "Stayin' Alive" / "Run to Me"

Coolia: Lakisha too missed a big opportunity tonight, and she's in danger of going home. It was a strange choice to slow down the first song. I think she was trying to turn it into an "I'm a survivor" type anthem. I don't think she should have gone sleeveless in both outfits. The dress looked good, but the first outfit reminded me of a costume from a high school production of Alice and Wonderland, as if she was a chorus girl in a mad hatter tea party scene. Her 2nd song was good, even if her voice did give out at the end.
Nerdia: "Stayin Alive" is only good for a movie opening, not for a live show. Run to Me sounds like crap when anybody sings it.
Terry: I expected more based on the rehearsal footage and Barry's glee, so this was very disappointing.
Deb: She just doesn't have that oomph on the lower ranges and it lacks something. I liked this arragement and she had really good vocals. She was better than Blake. Helllloooooo cleavage! I loved her "shouting" this time. That's what got my attention in the beginning. Please tell me WHY she shut it down at the end. She should have ended on a bigger note, I felt like my baloon had deflated. I think she could have nailed this one all the way in; instead she only got in half way.

Jordin - "To Love Somebody" / "Run to Me"

Coolia: Jordin was the only one to have two good song choices, even if she did falter a bit on the 2nd one. She showed why she'll likely win on the first one - powerful, emotional, and she looked beautiful. Sometimes she overdoes it on the runs, and I get bored.
Nerdia: Jordan handles it. F-ing brilliant to pick the Barbra album Barry Gibb songs. Why didn't anybody else do that? "What Kind of Fool," "The Love Inside," "Guilty."
Terry: Song one - Barry Gibb loved it...and so did I! (and this is one of my favorite of their songs). Second song - Perfect? No. Very darn good? Damn skippy! Perhaps a bit too by the book and missing any personal touches from her, but still very very good. Considering both performances of each contestant I think Jordin won this hands down.
Deb: GREAT song choice. This is what these girls have, big vocals, R & B typevocalst. She needed more of the "big" but she is great in my book. If it wasn'tobvious to you all, she's my choice hands down to win this (I hope)!!! [Second song] I felt another great song choice.....until I heard it all the way through. I wanted SO bad to be blown away by herperformance (specially after Barry's amazing words) but I was letdown. It sounded sharp in some parts and just didn't showcase heramazing talents. Ugh, it should have been so much better. I stilllove her though.

Mentor - Barry Gibb

Coolia: Barry seemed to be interested in the kids and made some good comments. He seemed to show some favoritism toward Jordin. He was at least open to different interpretations of his song, unlike some judges.
Nerdia: I could not get past the sounds he was making with his mouth. Sounded like bad dentures.
Terry: Barry Gibb didn't offer a lot, but I am now very much questioning whether that's actually the case or if the Producers have, for some money-grubbing reason (and those are the only ones they have), cut back on showing more of the mentor's comments. Barry gave more than some (too many shills recently) but not as much as others (the other Barry still rules the roost!).
Deb: Barry seemed to be a good help to the group (except Blake).

Predictions

Coolia: Going home - Melinda, 3rd place - Lakisha, 2nd place - Blake, 1st place - Jordin
Terry: Going home - Lakisha, 3rd - Blake, 2nd - Melinda, 1st - Jordin
Deb: Tonight it's a tie between Jordin and Melinda with Lakisha a very close third. Blake is so far down below them it's hard to even see him. PLEASE let America get it right and reward the girls their due (since a girl can't buy a win on Surivor). Let these 3 divas belt it out for the win!!!

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