Rock Star: Supernova - and the winner is...
...Lukas Rossi.
Surprised? Me neither. Tommy Lee claims that the decision was made based on viewer voting. We know better. Tommy has been fawning over Lukas all summer long. Gilby Clarke has said he is “inspired” when he watches Lukas. Jason Newsted was initially critical of him, but hasn’t been lately. I think their minds were made up some time ago. Tommy’s was possibly made up from the beginning. During the broadcast of the finale, a commercial for the new season of Survivor aired. For no apparent reason, the commercial contained footage of Lukas singing "Headspin". It was obviously a not-so-subliminal message from Mark Burnett. It was kinda like watching the movie Easy Rider where you see the final shot before the movie is over.
I do hope the guys from Supernova (or whatever they will be called) remain happy with their choice. Out of the final four -- heck, out of the final eight, Lukas was my least favorite. But, hey, it's not my band. The new band-formerly-known-as-Supernova had their pick of some very good singers, so I assume they know what they are doing.
The show closed with the now-complete supergroup performing their originals "Be Yourself" (the one we heard Toby sing before) and "It's All Love" (the one we heard Magni sing before). Magni played guitar on the latter. The songs still don’t impress me, but (for better or for worse) Lukas Rossi seems to fit Supernova (or whatever their name will be) like a glove.
Why do I keep saying that, you ask? Apparently, the Supernova name is already owned by a California punk band. On the day of the finale’s taping, a judge ruled that Tommy Lee and company must change their band’s name. You'd think Lee or someone else would have investigated this sooner. How long have these guys been in the business?
On Tuesday night, Lukas sang the Coldplay song “Fix You” in a different voice than we are used to hearing from him. He also played a low-key acoustic version of his song “Headspin”. It was nice to hear him “change it up”, as they say, but the set didn’t thrill me. On Wednesday night, he sang the Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony”. It was a cool, hard-edged rendition of the song, and it made him look better.
Dilana was the runner-up in the competition. For her consolation prize, she gets to tour with Supernova (or whatever their name will be) and perform with the house band. Also, Gilby offered to help her with writing and production on her CD. And, of course, Dave Navarro said he’d play on it. What has Tommy been saying all summer? “There are no losers here!”
On Tuesday night, Dilana sang the Police’s “Roxanne”, which is not an easy song to pull off (ask Chris Pierson). Her arrangement sounded a lot like a Sting solo performance of the song, and her voice lent itself well to it. She also sang her original song “Supersoul” again. It still sounds average, but it sounded better this time. Maybe it just needs to grow on me. On Wednesday, she sang the Cranberries’ “Zombie”, and sang it better than she previously sang it.
Magni’s performances from both nights proved that the best singer didn’t win. On Tuesday, he did a great job on Deep Purple’s “Hush”, adding his own vocal dynamics to it. He also performed his original song “When The Time Comes” again. Tommy actually claimed that it was the least memorable of the four originals. Give me a break. On Wednesday, Magni went out with another blazing performance of Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire”. Move ova, ‘Nova, and let Magni take over! I’m glad Gilby was chosen to give Magni the news of his elimination, because I was fed up with Tommy’s inane criticisms of him. Magni is probably lucky he didn’t get this gig. He can now go home to his family. And will someone please, please give the man a U.S. distribution deal?
Toby’s Tuesday night performance of Radiohead’s “Karma Police” sounded iffy at first, but once he found his way, it worked fine. He also performed his original “Throw It Away” again. It’s still fun. It would be nice if Toby’s band Juke Kartel could also get a record deal, if only so that “Throw It Away” can become a hit single. Because Toby was the second “bottom two” contestant to get the axe on Wednesday, he got to perform two songs for the finale: Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” (not bad, but he was better off with “Rebel Yell”) and the Killers’ “Somebody Told Me” (he nailed it – again).
Of the contestants who were eliminated earlier, Ryan Star received the most “fan favorite” votes. He was therefore able to come back on Tuesday night’s show and perform his original song “Back Of Your Car” again, and to drive away in a new set of wheels. It was good to see him, and to hear his original once more. There is a limited edition album available for download from the official site called Dark Horse: A Live Collection, which presumably contains Ryan’s performances from the show. If you’re interested, here is the link:
http://supernovanews.com/
I was a bit disappointed that the other eliminated contestants did not return for a curtain call like the Rock Star: INXS contestants did for the finale. Couldn’t they at least have wrung 15 more seconds of fame out of this show? Also, there was talk before the season started about “guest judges” appearing, including Slash, Moby, and Macy Gray. That didn’t happen, either.
As the finale was coming to a close, Brooke Burke once again spoke of the possibility of another season of Rock Star. It would be nice. Regardless of who the featured artist would be, it would again be fun to see 15 talented singers lifted out of obscurity to perform classic songs on prime time network TV. It’s a much better show than American Idol, that's for sure. Paula Abdul even attended the taping of the Tuesday night show, and looked embarrassed to be caught on camera there. Busted!
Official site:
http://rockstar.msn.com/
Surprised? Me neither. Tommy Lee claims that the decision was made based on viewer voting. We know better. Tommy has been fawning over Lukas all summer long. Gilby Clarke has said he is “inspired” when he watches Lukas. Jason Newsted was initially critical of him, but hasn’t been lately. I think their minds were made up some time ago. Tommy’s was possibly made up from the beginning. During the broadcast of the finale, a commercial for the new season of Survivor aired. For no apparent reason, the commercial contained footage of Lukas singing "Headspin". It was obviously a not-so-subliminal message from Mark Burnett. It was kinda like watching the movie Easy Rider where you see the final shot before the movie is over.
I do hope the guys from Supernova (or whatever they will be called) remain happy with their choice. Out of the final four -- heck, out of the final eight, Lukas was my least favorite. But, hey, it's not my band. The new band-formerly-known-as-Supernova had their pick of some very good singers, so I assume they know what they are doing.
The show closed with the now-complete supergroup performing their originals "Be Yourself" (the one we heard Toby sing before) and "It's All Love" (the one we heard Magni sing before). Magni played guitar on the latter. The songs still don’t impress me, but (for better or for worse) Lukas Rossi seems to fit Supernova (or whatever their name will be) like a glove.
Why do I keep saying that, you ask? Apparently, the Supernova name is already owned by a California punk band. On the day of the finale’s taping, a judge ruled that Tommy Lee and company must change their band’s name. You'd think Lee or someone else would have investigated this sooner. How long have these guys been in the business?
On Tuesday night, Lukas sang the Coldplay song “Fix You” in a different voice than we are used to hearing from him. He also played a low-key acoustic version of his song “Headspin”. It was nice to hear him “change it up”, as they say, but the set didn’t thrill me. On Wednesday night, he sang the Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony”. It was a cool, hard-edged rendition of the song, and it made him look better.
Dilana was the runner-up in the competition. For her consolation prize, she gets to tour with Supernova (or whatever their name will be) and perform with the house band. Also, Gilby offered to help her with writing and production on her CD. And, of course, Dave Navarro said he’d play on it. What has Tommy been saying all summer? “There are no losers here!”
On Tuesday night, Dilana sang the Police’s “Roxanne”, which is not an easy song to pull off (ask Chris Pierson). Her arrangement sounded a lot like a Sting solo performance of the song, and her voice lent itself well to it. She also sang her original song “Supersoul” again. It still sounds average, but it sounded better this time. Maybe it just needs to grow on me. On Wednesday, she sang the Cranberries’ “Zombie”, and sang it better than she previously sang it.
Magni’s performances from both nights proved that the best singer didn’t win. On Tuesday, he did a great job on Deep Purple’s “Hush”, adding his own vocal dynamics to it. He also performed his original song “When The Time Comes” again. Tommy actually claimed that it was the least memorable of the four originals. Give me a break. On Wednesday, Magni went out with another blazing performance of Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire”. Move ova, ‘Nova, and let Magni take over! I’m glad Gilby was chosen to give Magni the news of his elimination, because I was fed up with Tommy’s inane criticisms of him. Magni is probably lucky he didn’t get this gig. He can now go home to his family. And will someone please, please give the man a U.S. distribution deal?
Toby’s Tuesday night performance of Radiohead’s “Karma Police” sounded iffy at first, but once he found his way, it worked fine. He also performed his original “Throw It Away” again. It’s still fun. It would be nice if Toby’s band Juke Kartel could also get a record deal, if only so that “Throw It Away” can become a hit single. Because Toby was the second “bottom two” contestant to get the axe on Wednesday, he got to perform two songs for the finale: Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” (not bad, but he was better off with “Rebel Yell”) and the Killers’ “Somebody Told Me” (he nailed it – again).
Of the contestants who were eliminated earlier, Ryan Star received the most “fan favorite” votes. He was therefore able to come back on Tuesday night’s show and perform his original song “Back Of Your Car” again, and to drive away in a new set of wheels. It was good to see him, and to hear his original once more. There is a limited edition album available for download from the official site called Dark Horse: A Live Collection, which presumably contains Ryan’s performances from the show. If you’re interested, here is the link:
http://supernovanews.com/
I was a bit disappointed that the other eliminated contestants did not return for a curtain call like the Rock Star: INXS contestants did for the finale. Couldn’t they at least have wrung 15 more seconds of fame out of this show? Also, there was talk before the season started about “guest judges” appearing, including Slash, Moby, and Macy Gray. That didn’t happen, either.
As the finale was coming to a close, Brooke Burke once again spoke of the possibility of another season of Rock Star. It would be nice. Regardless of who the featured artist would be, it would again be fun to see 15 talented singers lifted out of obscurity to perform classic songs on prime time network TV. It’s a much better show than American Idol, that's for sure. Paula Abdul even attended the taping of the Tuesday night show, and looked embarrassed to be caught on camera there. Busted!
Official site:
http://rockstar.msn.com/
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