COUNTRY MUSIC STANDS ON IT’S OWN

Should Country Music be included on shows like American Idol, The Voice and other reality singing competitions?  Notice, there are genres so big they have an audience all to themselves.  For instance, Gospel music is not recognized on these shows. Sure you can sing a Gospel song or two during the entire season but you cannot make Gospel your primary genre of music.  You’ll be booted off quickly if Gospel is your career choice of genre.   No one on a panel of judges ever says “you’re going to be a Gospel singer and that’s what you should stick to”.  If you want to sing Gospel, you have to find a singing competition applicable to that genre like,  “Sunday’s Best”.  So why is Country Music, which certainly has it’s own huge following, allowed to be included on The Voice or American Idol or any of the singing reality shows?

I for one, am not a fan of Country Music and have watched some really great singers lose the competition because there are several country singers competing who end up with most of the votes.  If  Country Music is going to be allowed as part of the competition, then allow and recognize Gospel music as well.  R&B, Rock, Heavy Metal, Rock & Roll, Pop and Contemporary Music are pretty much evenly balanced according to the audience popularity on these reality shows, so the votes even out.  I know a lot of people don’t like Country Music and some of the judges, like Simon Cowel, don’t mind showing their annoyance when CM songs are sung.  I’m not saying to ignore Country Music or to get rid of it, I’m saying to start a country reality show like American Idol Country Music or The Voice Country version.  That’s giving Country Music more recognition than ever, with a whole platform dedicated to CM lovers.  These are my thoughts, what is your opinion on this idea?  BTW:  please note, the Country Music Awards (CMA), is separate because it’s a separate entity/genre.  Please take a second to vote, below, whether or not you agree!

SPARKLE (2012) – My rating: 8/10

A Good Modern Musical!                                                                                            Sparkle was a pretty decent movie/musical. I was saddened watching Whitney Houston perform for the last time. Her voice sounded pretty good, not nearly as bad as the press reported it. Had she lived, I believe Whitney’s talent for acting was good enough to sustain her while she worked to bring her voice up to speed or not.

I have been a fan of Jordan Sparks and have followed her career since she won American Idol. I must say, she is a pretty good actress. I waited with baited breath for her to belt out a couple of songs, as it turns out, it was a long wait but well worth it when she finally did. The performance was not “Dream Girls” status, but was excellent given the script, songs and story Jordan had to work with.

The movie was about 3 sisters, veering for stardom, trying to follow in the footsteps of the Supremes, only bigger. Sister played by Carmen Ejogo was the lead singer and Dee played by Tika Sumpter was studying to be a doctor. Both actresses brought good singing and acting to the movie. Some of their costumes were eye opening. I was a little disappointed however, when stories of 2 character’s (levi, played by Omari Hardwick and Black, played by Celo Green) fell a little short. I definitely wanted more.

I was impressed with the performance of Mike Epps as he played a bully and comedian looking for acceptance from his audience. Sparkle is full of talent and tells a pretty good story. The Choir was fantastic as was the performance of Derek Luke who played Stix, a love interest for Sparkle. I recommend this movie — you won’t be bored. If you are a Whitney fan, you’ll be pleased with her performance as well — REST IN PEACE WHITNEY HOUSTON!!!!!

AMERICAN IDOL’S CHRIS DAUGHTRY

Friday, March 24, 2006

After listening to both performances again, it was clear that Chris’ version was better than Live’s, plus he extended the song adding much, much more.  If you listen to both, you’ll see it was the same but different.

There is a poll on about.com that asks if: he’s great,  sang great, end of discussion; were you a little disappointed; he’s still one of the best performers or did you think he deceived the judges and audience. To my surprise, a whopping 80% said he deceived the judges and 15% said he’s great, sang great, end of discussion.

I am evenly divided between Mandisa, Paris and Chris, giving the edge to Chris. This stupid omission might affect his chances of winning. I’m hoping this blows over because the bottom line is, he is the most professional sounding of all the Idols and is a fantastic singer. At the end of the day, every song belongs to someone else anyway. The judges are the ones who ranted that he made it his own. If you listen to both versions, he did make it his own. I’ve listened to both versions several times, in their entirety, and Chris’ version, in my opinion, is better. He extended the song making it a much different rendition than “Live”.

Check it out for yourself before you judge. I’m not saying Chris was right just that this is a gray area and he’s still an excellent singer. So, here’s an idea, judge him on his singing ability!