Kill Rock Star!

I'm really getting bored now.

But of course I keep watching. I still feel like I have to. If only to torture myself and then ramble about it here.

I don't like the weird thrashy goth voice that Lukas Rossi takes on most of the time. It bugs me. And it just sounded like a silly sullen teenaged boy on "Bittersweet Symphony." The end, the big finish as they say, was good. Jason Newstead was right on about him needing to open his throat. That's it exactly. And by now his look is kind of old to me.

Zayra Alvarez has to go. You could really hear the way her accent affected her voice in "Call Me." I've never heard so many overpronounced RRRRrrrrrs. "When you'RRe ready, we can shaRRe thee wine!" And she was off key. She should get some more training, because she does have a cool instrument there if she was using it better. She certainly already has her rock star wardrobe. She looked like a Barbarella Beatle.

Dana Andrews. Oh god. Nirvana? "About A Girl"? I was scared. It seemed almost put on at first, but it was good! Oddly enough, it sounded like she was trying to be a little bit like Dilana, but she was different. Her voice is more complex. It's really cool that she can make it scratchy, because usually if you have a smooth voice, you can't scratch it up like that without hurting yourself.

Why is Patrice Pike always grinning like an idiot? With that, the "Come on, yeah!" and "Let's go!" crap interjected, and the weird countryish throaty singing, I was barely even able to concentrate on the total performance of "Remedy." It was like something you'd see on a dusty third stage at the county fair.

It's the stuff like Toby Rand that is most boring. Blah. He's got a good voice, but eh. I don't think "White Wedding" is a very good song to pick and perform the way he did. Boring outfit, boring moves.

And then another face-maker. Great. Why do you snarl and sneer when you're talking about wanting to swim like dolphins can swim, Magni? It wasn't until he got to "And you will be queen" that he even got close to doing justice to "Heroes." Then he really sounded passionate. I enjoyed that aspect of his performance. It's important. But if he wants to be a rock star, he has to do something about the duds and the charisma.

Ah, "I Alone." Hard to compete with Live---god, Ed Kowalczyk's voice is amazing! But we have Ryan Star instead. He managed to make the song sound more like it was fueled by empty anger, and he went a bit off (not necessarily key, but music entirely, I think---it sounded a little talky at parts). But he got excited and went crazy. That was entertaining! Finally someone being a little off the track. Thank god. And unlike Storm's ending dive, it didn't seem totally planned as a 'rock star move'.

Having to see Jill Gioia every week makes me angry. Well, apathetically angry. But I'm angry that she got to sing with Gilby Clarke backing! He practically had to feed himself to her to get her to start some interaction onstage. She should have paid way more and totally different attention to him. Did she never see a rock band on stage? What the hell was she doing? She's got a good voice, nice and soulful. But she acts and dresses like a cheap Hooters waitress. No offense to Hooters waitresses. Okay, so maybe strip joint cocktail waitress?

Phil Ritchie can go now also. It's the same shit every week. Sneery, sulky vocals with a generous sprinkling of nasality throughout. Poppin' the head, poppin' the head. Looking nervously toward the judges as if he suddenly remembered he did or didn't do something. Stiff-legged zombie backwards dancing. Half-closing his eyes as he gives the audience the totally transparent "rock stars are condescending and that's what makes'em cool, right?" condescending looks. And then he pops his head again. I'm over it. If he wanted to sing, he could sing, but he's too busy trying to be someone or something he's not. He's so aware of being judged, it makes me uncomfortable. He did a decent job with a freaky choice of "One Headlight," though.

Speaking of freaky song choices---"Time After Time"? Dilana did a good job, though. It was like Heart singing Cyndi Lauper. Even the outfit. I think she did a damn good job with it. She also seems like a really cool person, and is totally relaxed with herself. Unlike Phil Ritchie, she is utterly at home with being that self on the stage. She doesn't constantly have to think about who's watching.

Josh Logan's cut show performance was decent. I will admit. It wasn't painful. But "No Rain" was kind of a mess. Once again, he mimicked the original singer's performance (movements too), and he didn't do anything special to make the song his. OH so bad. Embarrassing. They should have gotten rid of him last week.

Storm Large is consistent. I think her physical performance (including her facial expressions) takes up more attention than her vocals, but they're still fine also. I thought the stage dive was rather silly and cliché. What would be interesting would be for her to just do a song straight, without all the stage show and caricature faces. For her to be serious, actually feeling and thinking about what she's singing. I don't think she ever does that. She's like one of those little clockwork birds on an old music box. "Anything, anything!" Wind it up, watch it twitter and flutter prettily. She acts the passion, but it doesn't seem like a soul is pouring through her and out of her mouth and body.

I think Supernova has dug itself quite the little hole here. I don't really see any of these folks fronting the band Supernova supposedly wants to be. The only possible people I can see them picking would be Lukas, Dilana, or Magni. I'd like to see what they'd do with someone like Dana, but I doubt that would work. They can't choose Storm, because she's her own thing. She's performing for herself up there, not to join a band. So of those three possibilities, I'd prefer Magni. He's more mature than Lukas, and he'd have more breadth than Dilana.

I guess I'm counting my rock stars before they've hatched, though.

Sell your soul to the company Who are waiting there to sell plastic ware

Okay, maybe I'm getting a little tired of dissecting Rock Star: Supernova. But then I feel like I can't stop, since I started.
I must carry on.

I think Patrice Pike started out rather gross. Like she was singing through a tunneled mouth. But then she sounded all right. Not for "Helter Skelter" though! I don't know what she was thinking, picking that song, but whatever it was, she didn't give enough. Especially grinning like a TV mom.

Josh Logan was wretched. It sounded like the aim of his singing was to force a noodle out his nose. He sang "Come As You Are," and it was painful. That's all I have to say about him. Ugh.

"Six letters. Google." Well, Storm Large certainly knows how to publicize herself. It's a good thing for her, of course. Her performance was okay, and it's true that she seems professional. And yes, yes, her voice is good. But in my opinion, the whole thing is too studied, too rehearsed. The "yeah, yeah, yeah" as if they were planned and not digging the song. The way she ended with the mike right between her eyes, all of that. It's like she must wander around rehearsing every move all day, every day. It's artificial. It doesn't say down 'n dirty rock star to me. It still says Vegas performer or something. And she's still doing the Portland bar jukebox songs like "Just What I Needed." I like the song, but it doesn't take crazy passion or talent to sing it. Any drunken hipster can and will oblige.

Lukas Rossi blew everyone away. He was spot-on. And see, it's just like I said: a rock star has to be arrogant, has to believe s/he's a rock star in order to be one. He's clearly there. And he deserves to be that way, because he delivers. His dancing, even his outfit was perfect for "Let's Spend the Night Together."

Jill Gioia showed off her abilities better than she has before. She sang well, moved well. "All Right Now" kind of personified her. All right. Just all right. I'm glad we didn't have to hear her version of Helter Skelter. Although maybe that would have been maliciously entertaining. But she just doesn't have that unique fire at all. She's boring. Even when she's better, like this week, it's rote.

Another fairly forgettable person is Ryan Star. His voice was fine, but there's nothing in his eyes. There's nothing coursing through him that shows as he performs. It doesn't make for a rock star.

I was really embarrassed for Phil Ritchie when he bumped awkwardly into Jason Newstead during his song. It made him nervous, made him mess up the lyrics. "White Rabbit" does have some freaky, stepped-on or swallowed lyrics, I'll admit it. But he already was nervous. He doesn't have that cockiness he needs if he's going to go anywhere in this competition. And it's a shame, because he does have a cool voice. He sounds a little gothy and drawn-out dirty glammy. But he did try to power through, and did an okay job. And he only wobbled his head once. I didn't hide my eyes. The judges didn't seem to see as much weakness in him as I saw, so maybe he'll last. Which is good, as long as he improves.

Dana Andrews gets stuck "cutting loose" with a second-generation Bon Jovi song? Well, no, it didn't work. She sounded much worse than she has before. She sounded all wrong for the genre, which is bad, because even "It's My Life" doesn't sound quite like the genre, and she made it sound less so instead of more so. She sounds a little bit like a progressive country singer. But she looked really good. She looked more grown-up this week, and she was cute with Gilby Clarke.

Speaking of cute with Gilby Clarke, he's still so cute! I used to dig him back in the Use Your Illusion days, and he looks like he hasn't aged a bit. Or maybe we've aged together and I can't see the age on him.

I wasn't expecting "Runaway Train!" But Toby Rand was. . . uh. . . singing it. Bunked the note at the end of the first line. And then. . . okay, the song is pretty singsongy, kind of boring melodically. But that's why you have to sing it with some soul and passion. Winks just won't do. He also just stood still the whole darn time! Dave Pirner used to dance all around the stage while he was singing that, and he was playing the guitar, too! The weird microphone vocalizations at the end were an attempt, but I don't think they showed much. Eh.

Oh my, "Plush"! The producers are obviously aiming for my demographic. Unfortunately, Magni is no Scott Weiland. Although, weirdly, uncomfortably, it looked like he was trying to imitate him. His voice was decent---he started out weak, but built to some power. His arrangement was karaoke. His moves were too similar to even be called derivative. I was not impressed.

Zayra Alvarez was a surprise. The song choice was a nightmare---I wouldn't have wanted to end up with "Everybody Hurts"! For this competition, that is. [The other night I was just thinking to myself how even unlike REM it is; how if they'd tried to release that song earlier in their career, their fans would have wondered what the hell they were doing.] But she's really cool. I think she handled it well. I like her voice. She does crazy Sinéad O'Connor stuff. When it's in control, she's really amazing. But I don't feel like it's what this band is looking for. I'm hoping that whether or not this band uses her, though, that someone will hear her and think "we could use her voice!" Because I'd like to hear more of it.

Jenny Galt is still rather boring. I don't care if she can play the guitar. She doesn't sound unusual. And she doesn't even sound that great. You should be able to really showcase your voice singing a plain and easy song like Incubus's "Drive." I guess she did, but it was tame and pat and blah. She's something in between Jewel and Sheryl Crow, which isn't that exciting.

Dilana has finally stopped just growling songs and started singing this week with "Zombie." She did exactly what was necessary in rearranging the song to make it hers and make it rock. She's not my favorite, but she was really great this week. She seemed as relaxed as a true professional: comfortable, strong, fluid.

Jenny, Dana, and Ryan showed as the breaking bottom three, but if you ask me, Josh should have been in there as well. It's a tough call. Dana is clearly not going to win, so she has to be eliminated sometime. Should they keep her around a bit longer, because she's pretty, because maybe she'll grow a little and that might be fun? Jenny is decent but boring, Ryan gives less but is also boring. I'd say Jenny's the bigger chance to go, since she's a girl. But I wish Josh Logan would go.

Mexican Hot Chocolate in July! mmm, frozen Mexican hot chocolate!

Well, almost.
I went to the corner store tonight, and when I ran back to the freezer case to grab some Haagen-Dazs Black Raspberry Chip, I saw something new: Mayan Chocolate. Even though I had a half-full pint of regular Haagen-Dazs Chocolate in the freezer, I couldn't resist---especially since my corner store is anything but consistent, and you can't rely on seeing the same products there all the time.
I came home and tried to go to the special site Haagen-Dazs set up for the Mayan Chocolate ice cream, but it went on trying to load until my browser simply gave up. I tried the Haagen-Dazs website to find out more, but that wouldn't load either. Now it refuses to let me into haagen-dazs.com at all! But I don't care. I looked up the description on a Canadian Nestlé site. I'm not a fan of cinnamon in most cases, but I am a fan of Mexican chocolate, which usually has cinnamon in it. I'm also a fan of Haagen-Dazs's regular chocolate ice cream. You get a lot of chocolate bang for your ice cream buck there. (Of course, nothing can quite edge out their heavenly strawberry, which tastes like someone blended strawberries into sweetened whipped cream and froze it.)
When I grabbed the pint, I didn't realize that it would be a swirled flavor, though. That often happens to me with Haagen-Dazs. Why isn't Mayan Chocolate just Mayan-chocolate-flavored ice cream? I don't know. (I'll point out that I'm also confused as to why the aforementioned Black Raspberry Chip is black raspberry and vanilla ice creams with chocolate chips. I like it that way, but I feel they should be a little more clear about it in the name.)
So what is the taste of "rich, chocolate ice cream with a fudge swirl and a hint of cinnamon"? Well, I'm not quite sure where the "hint of cinnamon" is supposed to be, because to me all of it tasted rather cinnamony. I thought that it would be in the swirl, and I think it is, but I also think it's throughout the ice cream. The rest of the swirl tastes like a darker chocolate than the ice cream, which is good, but the slightly more bitter taste has the strange effect of making the non-swirl chocolate taste a little too sweet. So if you have a very swirly bite, the chocolate ice cream tastes more candyish and cheap. But that's being highly critical. On the whole, this is quite a tasty treat here. The cinnamon gives the chocolate a nice peppery kick, but keeps it sweet and not too tingly. It's a powerful flavor, though. A single dip'll do ya. I often find myself wanting something lighter and creamier on hot days. Maybe even not-so-hot days. So I'm glad I still have most of a pint of Haagen-Dazs Strawberry left in the freezer. ;)

"Rock Star" continued. . .

A follow-up, since I started doing it.

I wasn't too surprised that Matt Hoffer was the one who got dropped last week. I loved the fact that he chose to do "Planet Earth," and I thought he made it as 'rock' as possible, but he just doesn't have the voice or the attitude to go all the way, and choosing that song when they specifically asked him to show a hard rock edge was basically signing a death warrant. But Chris Pierson's second try embarrassed me more than it impressed me. I guess they can only eliminate one person, though.

This week:

Magni did a better job with stage presence and pulling off "My Generation". If he improved this much again, he would be one of the top contenders! Right now I'd say he's competent.

Jenny Galt: ughhh. . . what are you doing? Leave "Tainted Love" alone! What is that arrangement? I thought this was rock, not halfassed pop. Terrible start. Too much vibrato throughout, also. But a better job than last week.

I don't know what was up with Jill Gioia's outfit, but once again, she did a fairly exact-copy karaoke version of "Violet," including the Courtney Love underpants-showing. It was empty and stupid, and she came off stupid as well.

The performance from Zayra Alvarez was odd and totally lifeless. There was no display of her voice, and a weird display of her actions. It sounded like you could really hear an accent also, which sounded a little awkward. Her confidence and sass in her answers was really funny, though!

Chris Pierson gave another example of that "I wish I could change the channel" embarrassment (which I felt during last week's elimination show) at the start of his performance, but he warmed up a little. He still wasn't that great . It looks like he's got something wrong with his mouth also. I thought his performance on the elimination show last week was awful: that Jim Morrison imitation during "L.A. Woman" was such a ripoff that I didn't understand what he was thinking putting it in his performance. This is not Star Imitation, is it? No. I think he might be the one to lose.

On the other hand, a rock star is also not a one-trick pony. I don't know if Danila has much range, but if she does, she should show it rather than just singing the gravelly, blunted/warped notes like she sang tonight in "Ring of Fire." I could see her getting a Stevie Nicks hard rock thing going, but I really want to see more power and more actual singing---less talk-singing.

Another near-total embarrassment. Josh Logan. His dance moves, if you can call them that, look like affected tics. He started out singing as if he had Cheez Whiz in his throat. Then in a few areas, he broke out and actually sang in a normal voice! It sounded good. But it was mostly a waste; trash. And then he ended with the little R & B trill---yuck.

Oh my god. I had to cover my eyes for Phil Ritchie. I don't understand it. Fake coolness, whining, that weird rolling back and forth of his head. And why is he like that? He can sing! His voice sounds cool when he just relaxes and lets go. He has to get more real confidence. But I honestly hope he makes it through, because as long as he can get that, he can make it, or at least improve himself a great deal.

Okay, by now I hope it's clear that one thing Storm Large does is make bizarre faces while she sings. Bizarre faces that usually have little or nothing to do with the song. I don't like it. I also don't like the weird fake voices she'll take on during certain lines or verses (most evident tonight in the "Awayy. . hey. . . " portions of "Surrender"). I don't understand it. She can sing, but it's as if she won't just sing, she must put on a display as if she were part of freak sideshow act, even if it's clear that's not the case. She's got a strong ability to get attention on the stage, but tonight's performance was not a positive demonstration of anything but that, which isn't anything to shout about.

Patrice Pike missed her first note. Her voice went weird in several places, like when she sang "tar pit trap." It sounded like the back of her throat was stretched to much. I did like the minor changes she made to "Heart-Shaped Box," singing little harmony bits rather than the regular melody. I thought it was a good, confident performance. I also really like that she's not trying to be some silly interpretation of what she thinks a rock star should be.

"Don't Panic" seemed like a weird choice for Lukas Rossi, but it showed really diverse aspects of his voice. He can be harsh and scraping, but he can also disappear up into a stretchy high sound, and he has power and is in tune in both. And it's clear he really feels like he's a rock star already, which makes it easy for him to act like one. I think I liked it better than last week's "White Wedding," but I don't know if everyone else would agree. I just think it was a more unusual interpretation, and it was nice to see. I do agree with Newstead that I'd like Lukas to not stifle his own voice as much.

Jason Star did a lot better job this week; hard to believe with a song like "Jumpin' Jack Flash," which should be incredibly hard to pull off. His voice doesn't have the range of some of the other singers, though, and he made that obvious. To me, anyway. He'll probably get a lot more votes this week, though, because his voice had a familiar rocker tinge to it, and he looked more confident. [translation: the ladies will buy his shit now]

"Born to Be Wild" is an awful song choice, but I think Dana Andrews did a surprisingly great job. Her voice was amazing. She did a little too much aimless prowling on the stage, in my opinion, but she never looked self-conscious about it or her ridiculous outfit. (I enjoyed her eyemakeup, though.) She definitely has talent, but the fact that she looked like she was dressed up like someone's weird idea of a rock star might be a bad sign for her on the image front.

Toby Rand did a good job. [But to be fair, The Killers' "Somebody Told Me" sounds totally in line with early Duran Duran to me, so I don't know why it would rate higher than Duran Duran.] He had that one moment during the bridge where he went into a strange falsetto, but the rest of the performance was apt and energetic, with a lot of rock edge injected, which is sure to please the judges.

And with your hair swung right - And your pants too tight - It's gonna be all right! Rock Star: Supernova

So who wants to be a rock'n'roll star? I guess a lot of people. And I guess a lot of them think the way to do it is by getting on a potentially mortifying show on TV. Who knows, it may work. Someone may end up with hit records and millions of dollars. It's certainly a way to a lot of publicity, if nothing else. It might be easier to play those smalltown tours with your real band even if you flop on this kind of show. What is this kind of show now anyway? Where exactly are we with the cross-promotional, supercommericalized, ultrapublic self-indulging panopticonic extravaganza that is this programming? I don't know anymore. But there are so many better things to ask questions about, why bother with this? Either sit back and enjoy the junk or find something of objectively agreed-upon quality to do with your time and search for big answers in that.

I missed last year's display of . . . talent on Rock Star: INXS because I generally have trouble watching people get humiliated. People who aren't suffering from delusions, of course, which frees me up to watch plenty of American Idol auditions.

Part of the deal with this show is that all the people auditioning have to act like rock stars, which means they have to believe they are rock stars, or at least act like they believe they're rock stars. . . but really, I think rock stars have to actually be rock stars in their souls (or at least their own minds) in order to convincingly perform as "rock stars". So it ain't gonna work for most people, it's only going to end up as an embarrassing display of the fact that they are not rock stars.

Don't get me wrong---I think they did a good job in their selection last time. I mean, as good a job you can do when selecting a replacement part for your band to fix that pesky dead lead singer problem. I think dealing with an upstart will be INXS's only cost to pay, and it's a small one when balanced out by the incredible publicity they gained with their stunt, and the reality that the guy actually has some talent and charisma. As much as an wild lead singer? I don't know. And I suppose these guys are just organic or hothouse lead singers anyway---it's not as though they're being bred or cloned. They're just skipping some step, getting plucked away and pampered early to pat them into a proper place. Still, I think I'd prefer the old-fashioned kind of singer and band; the kind that is not formed through television audience participation.

Yet I'm hoping to be able to suffer through this season of it, though, since it's perfect material for meaningless, fun trash talking. So I'll have to break it all down as I do.

So I'll admit that part of what really drew me in tonight was the fact that the show opened up with a local singer, Storm Large. I've seen her before, and she has talent. It wasn't that strange to see her on the show.
I'm not a huge fan of what she and the band do on a regular basis, which is like some sort of cover-through-the-blender lounge act. I also don't like the fact that a lot of her actions. . . well, you'll have to see more than one performance, but to me a lot of the stage performance seems really disconnected from the song and way too Vegas show-y and idiosyncratic without purpose. She's more of a niche-y, cabaret-type singer. And in her performance on Rock Star, it truly irritated me that she said that the "Pinball Wizard" has a subtle wrist. Why why why? It was doubly worse when the show selected that bit to put in the who/how-to-vote clip at the end of the show. Maybe Storm doesn't care. Maybe it was intentional. But if so, why? What the hell is a subtle wrist?
At any rate, the rest of the performance was pretty great, and apart from the odd selection of that bit for the clip, it seems like the producers are very into Storm. There were a lot of shots of her in between performances, and of course, she was first. Go Storm. Go get publicity for yourself, anyway. But don't win, because I think that would be strange and not the best for the band (if they truly intend to be the ultra rock supergroup).

The early shows like these are usually a lot easier in terms of genuinely winnowing the wheat from the chaff. If only three people are in danger of kicking the bucket on the next show, it's far easier to see who they might be before the talent pool gets smaller. Of course, you never know if the public is going to choose to champion someone with low-level talent for whatever bizarre reasons they might have---but an opening show probably won't have a lot of that, since you really only have one performance and barely anything else to go on.

So they kicked it off with Storm, who was good enough, though not my bag. Certainly someone who would belong in the competition, though.

Ryan Star looked a little uncomfortable in his bio segment, and that continued in the performance. At the opening of it, I wanted to turn the channel so I wouldn't have to watch him. He wasn't that bad, but "Iris" is a simple song, and he didn't show enough confidence or talent to make me believe that he has what it takes to go all the way. I felt bad that he wanted people to know who he was (that part sounded convincing), because I doubt they will. At least through this show.

The Aussie Toby Rand was the antithesis of Ryan Star. He was immediately comfortable doing "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," which easily could have been daunting, especially with Gilby Clarke there judging. He pulled it off and it sounded really good.

Patrice Pike was decent, but a little too imitation-Grace Slick with "Somebody to Love." I'd have to see how she did with another song. There was some weird sounds and posturing in there also. But I think she's definitely good enough to go on to next week.

Mr. Iceland (Magni) has a great voice, in my opinion, but his appearance was a little lacking. I didn't like the way he shuffled around the stage, or the way he seemed to be sticking out his t-shirted belly so much. And to sing "Satisfaction," you have to put a lot more verve into it; style things up a bit. You're basically competing with Mick Jagger, so you have to offer a lot. His voice was there, but not a unique spirit.

Zayra Alvarez certainly had a unique voice and unique energy. She wasn't all over every note and every word in her performance, but it was like a real rock star's delivery. "Bring Me to Life" was a good choice as an introduction for her, and I doubt she'd get anywhere near being cut this week. The strangely-hypnotic-but-not-quite-gorgeous looks will help out with that.

I didn't think Jenny Galt delivered much. Her voice isn't tremendous or special. She didn't have a lot of memorable stage presence, and singing "How You Remind Me," ironically, was not the best way to try to accentuate an already semi-forgettable voice. She's blond and did play the guitar, though, so maybe she'll last through the first cut.

Josh Logan sounded very much like a Chris Robinson knockoff while singing "She Talks to Angels." His voice was really good, but it didn't sound terribly original. He also had a distinctly bluesy sound, and it's not apparent that he can break out of that. He had a lot of energy channeled through his voice, but not a lot of stage action going on, just the wobbling head and mike gripping. I don't know. I guess he could use at least one more chance to show some breadth.

Matt Hoffer sounded decent (like your average local singer-with-guitar) in his bio clip, but it wasn't really enough to make him stand out in the show performance, especially singing "Yellow." Again, when someone chooses a song by an incredibly talented and distinct singer, it really shows when the performance doesn't come close. And his didn't. He's a little reminiscent of Jimmy (Jack Wild) from HR Pufnstuf, too. I don't know if that would help or hurt him, but it didn't really jibe with the attitude.

Dilana (doesn't everyone really have a last name, folks?) has the distinct voice down, but how far does it go? Hm. I bet we'll see. She was rather kickass. Kind of weird, but that is genuinely rock star-ish. She's got her own thing going on, which is a plus. I liked the way her stage performance was sort of a metaphorical pun of "Lithium."

I wouldn't think a 22-year-old would have anything near the chops to hold up against the competition here, but Dana Andrews did a pretty good job. When she started out, her rendition of "The Only One" promised decent karaoke, but then she picked up and showed a little soul. She may be a little too sweet, though, and her strange comment about keeping the other band members alive on the tour bus could knock her down. What exactly did she mean by that anyway?

Phil Ritchie was strange. He seemed to be taking on the personalities of other while singing Cult of Personality, and none of them fit very well. A bit flailing and wandering. He's got a weak-chinned Donovan Leitch look going on, and a decent voice that did cool things even when it got away from him, but he might be one to go.

The petite Long Island girl, Jill Gioia, did a spirited Janis Joplin imitation with "Another Little Piece of My Heart," but it seemed too imitative to me. Forgettable because it wasn't unique in any way. Her look didn't help either. Too plain and poppy. She may last another week riding on the cute-bigboobed-blond ticket, though.

I disagreed with the judges about Chris Pierson's performance. By changing the sound of "Roxanne," he made it pretty memorable, in my opinion. He looked fairly comfortable on stage, moved around well, was dressed suitably, and he even threw in a couple Mick Jagger stances for fun. I thought it was okay. I hope he doesn't get cut, but he might. It's true that his voice wasn't showcased in the best way, but he still may have something to offer. So he'll probably get cut, just because I want to see more.

I fully admit that Lukas Rossi did a far better job with "Rebel Yell." He was freaky and stylie and fun and energetic. I don't know how incredible his voice is, but he certainly put on a rock star performance. He was clearly a favorite, but I wonder how his voice really sounds.

You can watch the episodes on the Rock Star website, or see individual performances, which is really cool (as long as you have a high-speed connection, because the thing just needs endless connection power). I'm interested to see how the people who watch this show vote; if it's fair or silly---exactly on what the audience voting is based. Maybe it will be impossible to bet on who makes it through, but I don't think it will stop me. It's free, fluffy fun.