Random Tune Therapy for Tuesday 5/25/10

So another season of IDOL ends this week, and so does this limited series of Tune Therapy. And what a long, strange trip it's been.

[DISCLAIMER: I've never voted and I have AT&T on my wireless device. So just like the majority of Americans who bitch about politics but never make it to the polls, I'll claim my birthright to complain about this season regardless.]

Ryan got a touch of the Paulas and came across a little overworked and imbalanced ... Ellen was always earnest but wasn't always funny ... Randy and Kara became even more marginalized with their inability to provide new and different insight each week ... Simon got soft ... and then there was the talent. Mind you, they all sound better than me screaming along to the CD in the U-haul last week, but nearly everyone in the top four was just an iteration of a past contestant: Big Mike was just Rueben Studdard with a little more personality, a new baby and a musical theatre inclination; Lee is just Daughtry with more controlled facial hair; Casey was the country Jason Castro; and Crystal -- well she was unique to anyone who hasn't ridden a subway and been entertained by those performers.

I'm not saying I'm not going to watch the finale (and, in the end, I'm thinking hometown hero Lee is whom I want to win), but I also think I'll be more excited for the fall 2011 release of Simon's new show, the British theme song for which is provided below as the therapeutic statement on dealing with all of season 9:

X-FACTOR THEME SONG:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK4TYZQkSnc

Random Tune Therapy for Tuesday 5/11/10

First, let me just say that my "grandmother" Joanne, who passed this past fall, would have almost certainly have said to me in our weekly phone calls that "she would stop watching the show if that little boy Aaron Kelly was voted off by America". She was so fond of lost souls, as that's how she found me [I miss you and those calls] ...

Second, let me just say that Casey James' version of Blue Skies from last week's episode (sorry I'm posting after the new top 4 show has already aired -- a situation created by the fact that I've spent a few long days at work as I prepare for a vacation later this week and the fact that I don't watch until Wednesday so I can do back to back performance/results shows) was just painful to watch. Instead, I offer up Ella Fitzgerald scatting her way through that classic as a therapeutic replacement for that memory.

ELLA SCAT BLUE SKIES:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr6EldSFwOI

Random Tune Therapy for Tuesday 5/4/10

Dearest Mama Bowersox:

I'm sorry that Ryan Seacrest has been such an ass to you. I'm sorry that he said last week that Shania Twain had such bright teeth, a clear dig at you and some of the early slams that were sent your way. I'm sorry that you trusted him with some information and I'm sorry that he blabbed your confidence when he ran out of things to say on the air on one of his shows. I'm sorry they didn't just cancel the contest once we got down to the top ten and I'm sorry they didn't just give you this season's "honor" and I'm sorry that you had to worry that the boy with the bright white smile (oops -- how Ryan of me) might actually make it to the top three instead of you and Lee and Aaron (that's a prediction, y'all). Most of all, I'm sorry that you sang that awful version of Shania Twain's "No One Needs to Know", and I offer up this version of Shania performing the song live in 2003's concert that took place in my new hometown, Chicago's Grant Park, which was once a Twain yard. (Oh, and I'm also sorry that I had to add to the uninspired puns so prevalent in last week's episode.)

SHANIA IN CHICAGO's GRANT PARK IN 2003:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6YLFKXNb4Q

Random Tune Therapy for Tuesday 4/27/10

Sorry, Tim. Your smile only took you so far. Now do me a favor and go get a haircut in your down time.

However, by having to research this song to find a clip to serve as therapy to replace your troubled rendition of the GooGooDolls "Better Days" in my mind, you did make me realize that I now have a new annual song to play every New Years Eve (my most favorite holiday of the year) that might actually replace "Auld Lang Syne" for me when I celebrate in 249 days. It may be a little melancholy and a touch moody, but you can't argue with these closing lyrics:

"I wish everyone was loved tonight ... And somehow stop this endless fight ... Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days ... So take these words ... And sing out loud ... Cause everyone is forgiven now ... Cause tonight's the night the world begins again ... Cause tonight's the night the world begins again."

May you forgive, be forgiven and find a fresh new start wherever you may need it.

GOO-GOO DOLLS on A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHeM-QE3PCE

LYRICS to BETTER DAYS:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/googoodolls/betterdays.html

Random Tune Therapy for Tuesday 4/20/10

Look, if I'm going to pick on anyone from last week's show and suggest an alternative performance as a form of therapy ... it's going to have to be the decision to pair poor Carole-King-wannabe Brooke White with underwear-model-Miley-Cyrus-throwaway-Nashville-Star-ex-contestant Justin Gaston to try to sing Elvis' "If I Can Dream" on the results show. She should have just sung it by herself. Or, even better, I offer up (instead) the American Idol 1968 version (from an earlier edition of Idol Gives Back) of Celine Dion paired with the King himself through the magic of TV special effects.

By the way, it's Sunday comics theme week at Capricious Cognition, and you might be wondering how I would possibly tie it in to today's post ... but if you are thinking that way, then you must not have followed the penguin Opus to the end of his strip -- when Elvis appeared to him to tell him to get ready for his final resting place (the ghost paying it forward so that Opus could avoid his fate of being forever remembered as having been eliminated whilst eliminating, so to speak). Of course, I could have just as easily referenced Opus yesterday as a memorial item, since he's been out of my Sunday routine for some years now like Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes. [And based on a google search of my fond-remembrance-comics-lineup, I found a comics soul mate in Elizabeth S, a commenter near the bottom of the blog linked below.]

As I decided how best to connect theme week to today's tune therapy, I stumbled across a website that allows you to research comics and cartoons by subject! So you can explore your own randomness at the link below (and they allow you to put the toons on products, use them in e-cards, etc.)!

ELVIS and CELINE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpGb7lo7RMs

MY COMICS SOUL MATE: http://www.prophecyfellowship.org/archive/index.php/t-236675.html

CARTOON/COMICS SEARCH: http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/bysubject/subject.php?p=1&sid=60

Random Tune Therapy for Tuesday 4/13/10

After last week's "dramatic" judges' save (anyone else skeptical enough to think they might just be in need of a back-up system in case those voting get accused of racism as they have in years past?) and the admission that Tim is no longer being judged against the others because of his ability to seduce America's teeny-boppers with a smile ... it's hard to stay on track with my current weekly mission for Tuesdays -- to offer up a better version of one of the most poorly performed songs from last week's episode (as a therapeutic offering of sorts).

Which, in my opinion, means looking for a more soulful singing of Let It Be. And it's not that I don't feel for Katie who is improperly positioned in the middle of the "who are you as an artist" three-way between Simon and Kara -- it's just that I think that song sounds best from someone who's felt a little pain in their life. I can even keep it in the Idol arena by providing the link to Jennifer Hudson's rendition of Let It Be from the Hope for Haiti concert:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNB63sSQF7Y&feature=related

Random Tune Therapy for Tuesday 4/6/10

I get eccentricity ... I get quirky ... I get just a little bit off (or whatever Simon said when you smacked him upside his head with your individuality). Some might argue that I can even relate to those adjectives on a more personal level. But if I'm being honest (as the Brit says), I even get that you have surprised us with your almost-patented scream, Siobahn, and you have to realize that we now expect it every performance. But if eveyone "needs a gimmick if you wanna get ahead", let's scream with some variety. Because although I expect you to go far in the competition, I can't help but suspect that I'll tire quickly of this partcicular shtick. As such, I offer up this same song as sung on a different Fox show in 2006 -- here's Carleton and Chaka -- a version to replace the memory of this performance from last week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyTVZZ32gXk&feature=related

Random Tune Therapy for Tuesday 3/30/10

With so many songs to choose from (let's speed up the learning curve this year, Idol), I decided to provide the link to the "official" video version of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (sorry second chance religious swimsuit model boy in need of a haircut). To find this, I had to sift through many many controversial entries -- apparently Youtube is chock full of Elvis singing this song (but since the song was written after he died, they're all impersonators doing revisionist discographies) or of Michael Buble crooning it to Disney mash-ups (can you count all of the copyright infringements?)! Regardless, now you can see for yourself if Tim's stage slide was inspired by Freddie's moves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO6D_BAuYCI&feature=related

Random Tune Therapy for Tuesday 3/23/10

So sometimes the right one goes home. Instead of Lacey's troubled version of Ruby Tuesday from last week, I offer up Franco Battiato's version. Apparently, this Italian singer who is clearly speaking English as a second language, covered it for the Children of Men soundtrack. As to why the youtube video is of cows in a pasture (don't wait for a punch line, there isn't any ... just cows eating, walking, breathing, standing still ...), your guess is as good as mine! It's bovine performance art set to a Stones song? Why -- I have no idea. But it's the version of this song (even with the operatic interlude) that I'd rather remember instead of Lacey's attempt from last week's show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLsQgacUMpw

Random Tune Therapy for Tuesday 3/16/10

Paige Miles may have gotten through it "emotionally", but the song from last week's Idol most in need of "therapy" is Chaplin's classic Smile, performed in the link below by Nat King Cole (I thought posting a Michael Jackson version was just too obvious). Can't wait to see which little kiddie "Get[s] No Satisfaction" on the Rolling Stones theme show tonight! With 12 songs in the mix, I'm expecting a "Jumpin' Jack Flash", a "Beast of Burden", a "Ruby Tuesday" and a "Bitch" or two!

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=b67uA_TZVVM&feature=related

Random Tune Therapy for Tuesday 3/9/10

So let's just get the therapy from last week out there before tonight's episode goes any farther. Dearest Todrick, if you're going to try a Tina Turner song, I think I'd actually prefer that you just put on the dress and use your dance background to do it justice. Surely you can find a way to go all "proud mary" on the tune and do much better than what you did last week. And, while we're at it, why not just move on over to that late night VH1 show and "lip synch for your LIFE". I'm just sayin' ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P7sE4Imkpk&feature=related

Random Tune Therapy for Tuesday 3/2/10

In spirit of the Idol theme week, I thought I'd try out a new recurring feature. Each week, I'll provide "healing sounds" for the song that was most mangled the week before by the contestants. Up first (and this is from last week since tonight’s episode !surprise ,it's the boys! is still on the DVR) -- poor Timmy's rendition of Apologize. Even Simon thought he was adorable, but his attempts to hit anything in the higher register was ... deplorable. At least the Simon in the group below (with Alvin and Theodore, naturally) does the song justice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yHhBlNISiY