Rarebird's Rock and Roll Nest

Phil Ritchie is done on Rock Star: Supernova . This is not surprising at all. Most of his performances have been on the bland side, except for the one he gave last week. Maybe he needed a more intense song than the Wallflowers’ “One Headlight” to show his strength. In any case, his blandness returned, and he's on his way back home to Lennex . Tommy Lee said it was a “question of commitment”, because the band felt that Phil didn’t really want to front Supernova. As I said before, I think that’s the case with a number of the contestants. Before I go any further, I want to commend all three of this week’s bottom three for their cool and unexpected song choices on Wednesday’s show. It made for quite an unusual hour of prime-time network TV. Phil chose a song called “Smoking Umbrellas” by Failure. It failed to save him, but at least he went out with something different. Patrice chose the Radiohead song “My Iron Lung”, and definitely showed us something different than her last four perfo...

Jenny Galt was the third contestant to be eliminated on Rock Star: Supernova . This is not surprising at all. She is not a bad performer by any means, but she's definitely not right for Supernova, or even for this show. On Tuesday night, she performed the Incubus song "Drive". She didn't sound bad, but as Gilby Clarke put it, she would fit in better at Lilith Fair than at Ozzfest. Technically, there was nothing wrong with her vocals on her Wednesday night performance of Stone Temple Pilots' "Vasoline", but she just didn't connect on a visceral level. She was the logical one to be let go. Hopefully, she can use the TV exposure as a springboard to future success with her acoustic duo Cherrybomb . The other two people who landed in the bottom three were Dana and Josh. I like Dana a lot, but Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" proved not to be a good song choice for her Tuesday night performance. But on Wednesday, she chose the Sass Jordan song ...

You've probably heard by now that Syd Barrett, the original Pink Floyd frontman and founder, has died at the age of 60. He died on July 7th, apparently from complications caused by diabetes. Surprisingly enough, the media did not report his death until four days later. I hope that he is resting in peace, now that he is finally safe from stalkers who camped out near his property. Barrett hadn't sung or played a note in over 30 years, but still his fans could not leave him alone. This shows the lasting influence of a man who recorded very little in his short career. For those who are unfamiliar with Barrett's story, Wikipedia has a wealth of information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syd_Barrett Barrett's sister Rosemary speaks about his private life in this UK Times article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2271741,00.html

Chris Pierson, the Rock Star: Supernova contestant who seemed destined to be the first one to go, was the second one to go instead. He was given a chance to get back in the game after bombing on opening night, but he wasn't able to redeem himself. On Tuesday's performance show, he did a passable but unimpressive job of singing Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out", and a similar job on Tonic's "If You Could Only See" on Wednesday's elimination show. It would be okay to see performances like those in a bar, but on television Chris just doesn't have a commanding presence, and he is certainly too lightweight as a singer to join a supergroup. The elimination of Chris means that Zayra Alvarez is safe for another week, but probably not for longer. On Tuesday, she did a strange, sexed-up Latina version of the Kinks classic "You Really Got Me", a song that she says she was not previously familiar with(!). So, why did she do that same song again o...

Now that the second season of Rock Star is underway, this question is worth asking: what has happened to the first season's contestants, who competed to become the new INXS singer? Have they gone on to bigger things, or have they gone back to obscurity? You probably already know that INXS have since released a moderately successful album called Switch , featuring new singer J.D. Fortune, and have been touring the world since the beginning of the year. The reason that came together so fast was because the plans were already set up before the winner was selected last season. Also, runner-up Marty Casey has also released an album with his band the Lovehammers , which has also been a modest success. Not much has been heard from the other contestants, but it has been less than one year since the first season ended. Deanna Johnston and Mig Ayesa are involved with the new season in behind-the-scenes jobs. Jordis Unga and Wil Seabrook have both apparently signed record deals. (Seabrook w...

The second season of Rock Star began this week. This is the TV reality show which INXS used to select their new lead singer J.D. Fortune last summer. This summer, the band searching for a singer is Supernova, a new supergroup made up of Tommy Lee (the drummer from Motley Crue), Jason Newsted (the ex-Metallica bassist), and Gilby Clarke (the early-'90's guitarist for Guns 'N Roses). The show's format is essentially the same: 15 contestants are vying for the job. Each week, the contestants each perform a classic rock song backed by an adept house band. The three contestants who receive the fewest viewer votes are brought up for elimination the following night. This season, the contestants are able to choose a rock and roll song of their choice for their elimination night performance. Based on those three performances, the members of Supernova eliminate at least one contestant from the competition. When INXS introduced the show last year, it was a matter of which contesta...