Category Archives: Uncategorized

This pump organ has been in my mother’s family for a couple generations.  She says it’s over 100 years old.

It’s a great looking pump organ.  It does play, not well.  Takes a lot of pumping in order to make sounds.  It would need some work on the bellows, I think, in order for it to be a properly functioning pump organ.

It also comes with stool.

We want to sell it.  If you’re interested, you can drop by and see it, and make an offer.

for more details, contact me at sendit2me@gmail.com

Theme:  Sing a song from the year you were born.

Is there hope for the fake judges?  All three of the Bantam League judges upped their games considerably this week, and actually offered some good, smart, constructive criticism and advice.  Randy didn’t say “for me for you”, not even once.  Kara didn’t get petulent and smarmy and try to offer up suggestions of what should have been sung, and only mentioned “artistry” maybe once.  Paula even had some smart moments of elucidation.  And to top it all off, Simon actually gave a standing ovation.

On to the performers:

Danny Gokey sang “Stand By Me”.  I had no idea Danny was 48 years old.  Because, um, the song was written in, like, 1961.  Oh, I see, you cheated the rules by claiming to sing the version that was released in the year you were born, but didn’t really follow the structure of that version.  Huh.  Anyway, I thought Danny was quintessential Danny.  Great voice, good performance.  A solid opening.  I still think I’d hate to have Danny as a friend, though.  I think he’d always be hitting you up for money, or showing up late, or frustrating you over all kinds of minor things.  Just like John Pritchard.
I agreed 100% with Simon who said “good opening to the song, lazy middle part, and very good ending.”

Kris Allen performed “All She Wants To Do Is Dance”.  This was a song I had happily forgotten about.  Now it’s back in my consciousness.  So, yeah, thanks Kris, for that.  I pretty much agreed with the judges who weren’t feelin’ it, dawg.  Guitar work got in the way of the vocal work.  And neither guitar nor vocal was good enough to be of note.  Still, he’s cute.

Lil Rounds imitated Tina Turner with “What’s Love Got To Do With It”.  Basically, just a bad cabaret performance of someone trying to be Tina Turner, right down to the movements and vocal tricks.  Not a good job.  I’m surprised by the decline of Lil Rounds.  I had thought she’d be a strong contender every week, but she seems to be getting less and less valid as a potential winner (well, potential second place, because Adam’s going to win it, even if he doesn’t win it).  Judges are right:  she’s lost who she is, and now just wanders the stage trying to belt out power-notes.  I find her personality off-putting, too, which doesn’t help.

Anoop Desai crooned “True Colors”.  Anoop settles back into the ballady-emotional guy and does a great job.  Weird apology he made regarding last week.  I’m not really sure what that was about.  Anyway, pretty strong performance from Anoop.

Scott MacIntyre sang “The Search Is Over”.  He got away from the piano, and stood behind a mic, just him and his guitar (and the band).  His guitar playing was pretty bad.  Ugly sounding chord strumming there.  His vocals weren’t much better.  Lots of bad notes.  At least he looked and sounded a bit more passionate than previous weeks.  Still, a pretty rotten job, I thought.  Scott said “I just wanted to show I was versatile before I leave the show”.  Scott, playing mediocre piano and bad guitar doesn’t make you versatile.

Allison Iraheta sand “I Can’t Make You Love Me”.  I swear that before the song was over, I said “I don’t like her personality”, and then Simon went on to talk about how her personality is keeping her from soaring to the top.  She has a wonderful voice, and does a good job with this song, but there’s just something I don’t like about her personality.  Not sure what it is.

Matt Giraud sang “Part Time Lovers”.  Another song I’d have preferred to kept forgotten.  Matt does a pretty good JT version of this song.  Much better than his performance last week.  I think Matt might be the most marketable of all the remaining Idol contestants.

Adam Lambert did “Mad World”.  Another standout performance from Adam.  While I still don’t care for his screeching vocals (which he kept to a minimum here), I can’t deny that the guy is leaps and bounds above all the others in terms of showmanship and talent.  Honestly, in the past few weeks, his personality has been growing on me.  I think I need another bit of big indulgence from him next week to put him in his place in my head.  Why is he a guy I don’t want to like?

Top 4 performers:  Adam, Danny, Anoop, Matt

Bottom 2 performers: Scott, Lil

Scott should be leaving.

First Borat, now Bruno.
Looks like it will be lots of fun.

http://creative.myspacecdn.com/Client/Marketing/TrailerPark2/swf/customPlayer.swf

This week’s “theme” was, as far as I can tell, “songs that have notes and words”.  Or, songs available on iTunes.  Well, officially, it was “popular downloads” on iTunes, but they never stipulated the rules for what “popular” means, so really it could have been anything.

I was hoping one of the contestants would pick a Chimp song, because, you know, Chimp’s Thundercrack! CD is available on iTunes.  Go seek it out.  You’ll love it.  Alas, nobody sang any Chimp.

Paula looked awful last night.  That dress made her hips look huge.  Just sayin’.

Anoop started it off by singing Usher’s “Caught Up”.  I don’t know this song, and Anoop’s version of it did very little for me.  The 3 fake judges gave their usual blah-blah critiques, and Simon said it gave him a headache.  I find that hard to believe, Simon.   And if it’s true, you should get that ailment checked out by a doctor.  I’d suggest the doctor who prescribes Paula whatever pills she’s always obviously on.  I used to like Anoop, but lately he doesn’t seem to know who he is.  And his rebuttals of the judges opinions last night didn’t become him.

By the way, I officially *hate* Kara.  She has no sense of humour.  And if I hear her say “instead of the song you sang, you should have sung {whatever song} or {another whatever song}.”  That’s her thing:  telling the contestants that they need to invent a time machine to go back in time and pick a different song.  Also, Kara, stop fighting with people.  Last night she got into an argument with some guy in the audience who yelled (i forget the exact phrase, but its meaning was “you always say the same boring thing, you’re boring”) something.  The altercation ended with Kara whining to him “I’d like to see you get up here and do this” or something to that effect.  If he was replacing you, Kara, then so would I.  So would I.

Megan sang Bob Marley/Lauren Hill’s “Turn Your Lights Down Low”.  Another song I wasn’t very familar with.  The chorus rang a bell.  I want to like Megan, but I can’t. I’ve given up on her and want her gone.  Her problem is that she doesn’t believe in what she’s singing.  It’s like she’s apologizing as she sings.  No confidence in, and not enough control of, her voice.  The judges all disliked her performance.  Me too.

Danny sang “What Hurts the Most” by Rascal Flatts.  I don’t know this song at all, but Danny did a good job with it, I guess.  He seemed to find the emotion within it, and sang well. I was expecting someone to comment on how the lyrics could have been applied to his dead wife, except instead of the “you left me” lyrics, she died.  I’m glad nobody brought that up.  A good performance.

Allison sang No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak”.  I didn’t like this as much as the judges did.  Although I wasn’t as bothered by her outfit as the judges were.  I didn’t think her guitar playing added anything to the performance, and after she abandoned playing it, the guitar was an albatross around her neck.  i found that she kind of shouted many of her notes, was rushing through the song, and basically wasn’t present enough in her performance.  Not bad, but not great.  Paula tried to be cool by mentioning Allison’s axe.  Paula failed in her attempt to be cool.

Scott sang “Don’t Go Changing” by Billy Joel.  This was the song that proved to me that the contestants could pick any song they wanted.  This was Scott’s best performance to date, but it still felt empty and bland.  Also, I’m sick of cut away shots to his ugly sister.  What?  She’s ugly.  Oh, so what.  She’s practically blind, it’s not like she’s going to read this.  And if someone reads it to her, then that’s their fault not mine.  I’m just sayin’ it like I see it.  Scott’s sister is ugly. Also, Scott can not look contemporay or cool while he has that curly Art Garfunkel hair.  There is no way to make Scott look cool.  Also, his piano playing is unspectacular.  Paula gets into some catch-22 sentence about how when he sings she forgets about his blindness, but she’d need to be cognizant of his blindness in order to forget about it. Besides, why do they keep insinuating that it’s wonderful what he’s doing even though he’s blind.  It’s not like he’s the first blind person to sing and play the piano.

Matt sang The Fray’s “You Found Me”, another song I wasn’t that familiar with.  I liked it more than the judges did, but I’m not listening to him with the “can we make millions of dollars off this person” ears that the judges hear with.  Not one of Matt’s best nights, wonder if he’s in trouble after last week’s surprise “bottom three” selection.

Lil sang “I surrender” by Celine Dion.  I did not like this song or performance.  Lil looked a million years old, and her dress reminded my of Fat Aretha Franklin, what with emphasizing the big butt and ample bosoms, but not in a sexy way, but a fat way.  Lil looked really weird as she sang, too, kinda like a hungry baby bird.  The judges mostly liked it, but Simon was on my page by saying it was like a wedding performance.  Then there was the weird thing where Ryan asked Lil’s kids if they wanted to punch Randy.  What?  The?  Fuck?  Was?  That?  Seriously.  What was that all about?

Adam sang “Play That Funky Music”.  It cannot be argued that he has an amazing voice, of which he has incredible control, and that he’s got great stage presence, can play the crowd, and presents inventive versions of the songs he sings.  However, I find the guy too show-offy.  Yep.  Too show-offy.  Last night seemed to be pretty much a “watch this, everyone. Isn’t it great!!” performance.  Not as good as the judges creamed their jeans over.  And Paula, everyone in the world recognizes that you had that little “Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, and Adam Lambert” speech prepared and memorized.  Boo on you for doing that.

Kris Allen sang “Ain’t No Sunshine”, and it was the performance of the night.  Very good, and the first time, for me, that Kris seemed to own the stage.  Our little boy is growing up!

Best of the night, in order: Kris, Danny, Adam, Allison…

My least favourites:  Megan, Anoop, Lil.

I’d like to see Scott, Megan and Anoop in the bottom three, with Scott going home.  That won’t happen though.  I expect Matt, Megan or Anoop will leave the show (but be on the summer tour!!)

Whatevs.

Those who know me may know about my stated desire to assemble a choir of humans to perform a song, some song, using only our voices to imitate all the sounds and instrumentation.  I’ve posted here before some attempts that came close to what I wanted to achieve.

But this video shows pretty much exactly what I was after, sonically speaking.  Yet, after watching the video, I now see the errors of my desire.

To be fair, I think if these people didn’t look like such outright knobs, the results might be much more pleasing. 
As it is, though, their outfits diminish any pleasant feelings I could possibly muster.  Seriously, what’s with the head gear?

Motown night. 
All the niggaz in da house say “Yeah!”

So, yeah, it was Motown night, and Smokey Robinson was the mentor.  Smokey seems like a nice guy (on camera), but didn’t really seem to offer any musical insight for the competitors during the “sing for the mentor” clips, unless “it was perfect, don’t change a thing” can be called musical insight. (Hint: it can’t).
Here’a question:  Why, when introduced, do Randy and Kara enter stage right, and Paula and Simon enter stage left, when they have to criss-cross each other to get to their seats?  It seems to cause them much confusion and bumping-into-each-other, and waste’s time.
But wasting time is what this show excels at.

Onto the performances:
Matt “I Love You Man” Giraurd, (he looks like the guy from “I Love You, Man” is what I’m saying, not that I love him) sang “Let’s Get It On”.  Him at a piano. Singing quite nicely.  Then he gets up from the piano, and the quality of the song goes down hill.  Moving around seemed to cause him a lapse in focus.  So did the “bending down and touching the hands of the girls while I sing” move, which I”ve grown to despise from everyone who does it.  Concentrate on singing the friggin’ song, not on laying your healing hand on the masses.  Matt did a pretty good job, after all was sung and done.  I agree with the judges who consider him a front runner.

Kris “Queer As Folk” Allen (he looks like Hal Sparks is what I’m saying, not that he’s gay) sang “How Sweet It Is”. A pretty good job, him and his guitar, but really a rather unremarkable performance.  That’s what he is good at: unremarkable performances, and that should take him to Top 6 or there-abouts.

Scott “Pink Eye” McIntyre (he’s blind and he wore pink pants is what I’m saying) sang “You Can’t Hurry Love”.  I did not enjoy this performance.  This guy’s got to get out of his head and sing from the heart.  Isn’t that what I said last week?  Do I need to type it in braile?  Jeez!  Come on!  This might sound mean, because he’s blind, but I don’t like looking at his dead eyes as they flutter about the room, trying to find purchase on anything.  I’d be happy to see Scott leave tonight, but he won’t.

And who gave Paula the idea for the joke where she goes under the table because she wants to give Simon something, but it wasn’t a blowjob even though we were all thinking blowjob, and comes up with crayons and colouring books.  Yeah, Simon is childish.  But if you’d friggin’ listen to him instead of villifying every truthful thing he says, you’d be a much better judge, Paula.  Jeez!  Come on!

Megan “what the fuck” Joy (she’s such a what the fuck performer is what I’m saying) sang “For Once In My Life”.  It was awful.  Her problem is threefold: 1) she’s got an interesting voice that always sounds good in the more-intimiate rehearsal clips, but doesn’t transfer well to the big auditorium and with a full band situation; 2) she doesn’t trust herself enough to commit fully to what she’s doing; and 3) beauty will only get her so far.

Anoop “suddenly he’s boring” Desai (he used to be fun and cool and now he’s much less fun and less cool is what I’m saying) sang “Oooh Baby Baby”.  It was good and all, but a little on-the-nose in terms of interpretation. 

Michael “happy to have been in the Top Ten” Sarver (he basically admitted he no longer belongs in the competition is what I’m saying) sang “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg”.  He yelled it, more like.  What was missing from his performance was the passion behind what the lyrics imply (just like Smokey tried to tell him).  He smiley-smiled his way through it and it was not pleasant.  He should be going home tonight.

Lil “you can’t hear me because I’m yelling” Rounds (she yelled the song instead of singing it is what I’m saying) sang “Heat Wave”.  Like the judges said, she has a great voice, but with this song she had no way to show it off.  She came off as being too screamy.  Two not-great performances in a row.  Lil is becoming Lil’ler in my estimation.

Adam “I can be human too” Lambert (he showed that he was more than just the look and style that he’s branded himself as is what I’m saying) sang “tracks of my tears”.  Really great.  I was disappointed because I’ve chosen Adam to be my villain this year.  The judges love him, he has an undeniably impressive voice.  What I detest, though, is his look and his propensity to screech the higher/bigger notes instead of singing them.  But oh what screeching!  Anyway, tonight he brought out a new look, great suit, hair pompadoured nicely, and kept the song well toned down and gentle.  It was great.  Too bad, because I was hoping to pull out the new phrase I may have coined to describe Adam:  He’s an emo donna.  You know, a prima donna, but emo.   Emo Donna…  By far the best performance of the night.

Danny Gokey Jr. (he looks like Robert Downey jr. is what i’m saying) sang “get ready”.  A pretty good performance, but very much typical of what we come to expect from Danny.  Is his high quality consistency starting to become boring? Maybe.

Allison “I sucked my thumb until two years ago” Iraheta (her mouth is shaped liked a thumb-suckers mouth, and she’s so young is what I’m saying) sang “papa was a rolling stone”.  The judges went gaga over this but I was less impressed.  A good performance but kind of stumbly in places, and I found it didn’t really flow together all that well.  I think the judges were pimping her because they really want her to stick around as long as she can so the show doesn’t end up to be just a dick-wagging experience.

Adam was best by far.  Followed by Anoop, Danny, Matt and Allison.

I expect Michael will be leaving tonight, but won’t be surprised if Scott or Megan get the boot instead.

When the zombies came for the slow and stupid,
I remained silent;
I was not slow and stupid.

Then the zombies ate up the brains of the horny college kids out for a weekend of camping,
I remained silent;
I was not a horny college kid out for a weekend of camping.

Then the zombies came for the homeless,
I did not fight back;
I was not homeless.

Then they came for my neighbours,
I did not fight back;
I was not my neighbour.

When the zombies came for me,
there was no one left to fight back for me and the zombies ate my brains.
Now I am a zombie.

Yes, it’s called Cat Shit One, and it looks awesomely effed up!
Oh, those Japanese.

Every day, Plinky emails me a topic for discussion, in order to increase blog entries. Today the question is "what 5 things do you want to do before you die. Fill out your bucket list".
So that's what I'm doing today.

Get a Passport and use it
We need to start traveling. Of course, debt is, and has been, keeping that from happening. But someday the debt will be gone, and then the traveling will start.

Do that One-Man Show
Oh yeah, then the real bucks will be flowing in. No more of this sharing the box office 6 ways crap. When I do put on my one-man show, someone will have to talk me out of performing the "Tinkering With My Hog" sketch. Because I'll fight like hell to have it in my show.

Buy a new guitar
I'd like a new guitar. One that would compel me to write more songs and actually perform them somewhere, in public. Yeah, so either "buy a new guitar", or I'd accept "be given a new guitar by some benevolent arts benefactor".

Write a kid's book
I'd like to write some fun, cool book that kids and adults would like, but mostly kids. And adults. I think I have some sort of series of kid's stories in me.

Touch a dolphin, and an elephant
This is pretty self-explanatory, right?

Here’s a new video for a new song from my friend Moe Gorman.