Whitesnake’s adaptation of “Day Tripper,” the curse of the upbeat song, cooliosis, and other highlights you may have missed.
posted March 25, 2008
Obsessive analysis of American Idol.
posted March 11, 2008
Emo mullets, girl-on-girl photos, and other news you may have missed.
posted March 11, 2008
How Idol insinuates itself into pop-music history.
posted May 24, 2007
Blogging the new season of American Idol.
That’s a lot of Beatles songs. Don’t get me wrong, I was psyched when I heard that American Idol finally acquired the performing rights from Sony/ATV. But four hours, 23 solos, two medleys, and a Katharine McPhee/David Foster collaboration later, I’m ready to let the singers get back to their regular Idol fare. It wasn’t all bad—though it’s maybe not their thing. The Top 12 worked the hard-won Lennon-McCartney songbook two weeks ago in some innovative and fairly satisfactory ways. And then the producers couldn’t just “Let It Be,” so there was a second Beatles night last week (this time including songs by the Other Beatles!). Has this ever happened before—two successive weeks of the same theme? The answer is no, and now we know why.
While it did provide a second chance to a few who faltered the first time, the reverse situation prevailed. Chikezie, who turned out my favorite performance during Lennon-McCartney night, tried unsuccessfully to replicate the success the following week. His bluegrass-cum-Little Richard rendition of “She’s a Woman” had been lively and so full of sh-sh-sh-showmanship that it drew rave reviews from the judges and sent Ryan running around the stage in a Beatlemaniacal frenzy. But his second attempt at the country vibe, an odd dual-tempo arrangement of “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” found Chikezie trying to board the instrument-playing bandwagon with an ill-advised harmonica solo—it was pretty much just that ingressive-egressive thing your toddler does with his Fisher Price model.

slate.com