"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.