Okay, I've had it....

I have watched American Idol for many seasons..... This year, it didn't really grab me. There are some contestants that I think are really great (like every year.) You know, you watch the judges give their opinions at the end of a performance and you know that some of it is for show -- especially Simon. But, I could always count on Randy Jackson to give relatively fair and objective feedback.

Since I haven't been watching much, I hadn't heard much about what the judges were saying this year. I knew that there were a couple favorites this year but that was about it. It wasn't until a local radio station commented on it did I start to pay attention. One of the best singers on the show is a young woman from Miami called Syesha Mercado. Syesha is such a powerhouse and I have rarely heard her make a mistake.

So I watched tonight, it's Mariah Carey day, and Syesha sang Vanishing, one of my favorite Mariah songs, back from the old days.....

Here is a clip of her performance:







And what did Randy say? "I was really scared when you decided to sing this song..... You did a good job, all things considered...."

What!?!?!? Maybe he just needs to clean out his ears or he has been listening to folks sing for too long....

And Paula is a joke. All she does is say that people did well, in the most inarticulate way possible. Oh, and that they look great....

And haven't you heard of this song before??? A song that most people don't know.... maybe most pre-pubescent teenagers......

Okay, I'm done..... :-)

big?

So, last night my parents and I had to opportunity to so see "big." No, not the movie, it is a collaboration between Andre "Big Boi" Patton of Outkast and the Atlanta Ballet. Click here to hear some of the tracks used in the performances.

I definitely felt like I was seeing something historic, something never done before.... It was basically a modern ballet performance, a hip hop concert, and a visual media display all in one. Very interesting concept. Reality, however..... I felt like I had ADD watching this thing! There would be dancing on this part of the stage and then Like Big Boi and Sleepy Brown performing on the other part of the stage and then some visaul art thing going on in the back....

Also, the performances were a bunch of vignettes that didn't seem to have much continuity between them. And while I knew the songs, my parents nor likely most of the regular Atlanta Ballet season ticket holders had no idea what the songs were saying. But, with that being said, none of us really had any idea what was going on in this thing. And a few of the vignettes just mysteriously disappeared from the program, maybe because of time, maybe because the performers were not there, ut it didn't seem to be a planned thing since they normally announce program changes and substitutions before the performance starts.

With all that being said, i guarantee this was the first time that the Ballet company performed to songs with the words "hamhocks" and "probation" in them. It also this performance definitely opened up the audience to a whole new demographic --again probably the first time that folks rolled up to the front of the theater for a ballet performance in a stretch Hummer limo or folks in the audience were wearing their best embroidered jeans and hoodies or dress from Wet Seal.

It definitely was a cool idea though. Even if the execution was a little rough. I am impressed that Big Boi himself was open and dedicated to the idea of exploring expression of his music in another medium.

The History

This clip gives you a little bit of the history behind how the idea to do the ballet even happened.



The Explanation

Here is an explantion of the concept of the ballet



Rehearsals

Check out some of the rehearsals (I actually like looking at some of these better just because you have the opportunity to see how the dancing works with the music, which is something that got lost in the real performance)






Janelle Monae performance....

Here is a clip to give you an idea of one of the better vignettes from the actual performance. It is interspersed with rehearsals and shots from backstage but you get the idea.....

Kids love raw fish!

When I was home for Easter, I was flipping through channels on Saturday morning and happened upon the cutest new cartoon --- Sushi Pack! The characters are based on a subject that is near and dear to both me and Brunsli's heart -- SUSHI!

In fact, Brunsli was the first person to introduce me to sushi when I went to visit her in undergrad and I have been a lover ever since. But I digress....

Now if you haven't see the Sushi Pack cartoon it is the cleverest thing.... There are 5 main characters, based on 5 different types of sushi and they use their wits and their emotions to save the world and educate young children. The Sushi Pack team lives in a Japanese restaurant with humans. Despite the superhero element of the story, violence is used only as a last resort.


The main characters include:

Ikura: Named after salmon egg sushi. He is very headstrong and charges in when it comes to helping his friends. He has the power to shoot sticky fish eggs. He's also terrified of bears!

Kani: An easily angered girl named after crab sushi. Her pigtails are tough crab claws, which she uses to give her foes a powerful pinch!

Maguro Maki: The calm, peaceful member of the group named after tuna sushi. She's in touch with her inner tuna, and enjoys meditation and Feng Shui. She can float, and has almost psychic powers.

Tako: The unofficial leader. Named after octopus sushi, he certainly looks the part! He has six long tentacle arms, and an eye patch. He would rather use his powers of shooting multi-colored ink to be a world renowned painter than to fight evil, and gets insulted when his paintings are called bad (which they are.)

Wasabi: The smallest, cutest, and speechless character of the Sushi Pack. A spicy ball of hot mustard, he can only communicate with squeally noises, and has the power to fly and shoot fireballs at foes. He is very sensitive, and gets upset easily.

Meet the characters here.


Then, there is also a band of "villans" who the Sushi Pack "battles" against, the Legion of the Low Tide.

Titanium Chef: Where there is bad sushi, there's a bad sushi chef. He's one mean catfish who not only orders the Legion of Low Tide to fight dirty and scheme evil plots, he also manages the sushi bar they live in.

Toro: A very fat tuna who isn't very smart. He's strong but gullible and usually just follows along.

Unagi: This mutated electric eel packs a ton of voltage. He's slimy savage with an eye for detail.

Mochi Mochiato: A frozen ball of rice coated ice cream who freezes her enemies in their tracks. She is candy coated, but cold as ice. She one time befriended Maguro and later Kani.

Fugu: A blowfish who can puff himself up to many times his original size. He's dead set on doing no good and has a eye with video functions.

Uni: An unstoppable sea urchin with a talent for scheming evil plots. He is one of the Sushi Packs biggest threats because he is seemingly unstoppable. He has the ability to morph.

Check the link below for some video clips from recent shows:

http://www.agkidzone.com/sp_videos.action

Apparently, this show is doing very well in CBS's Saturday morning Kewlopolis line-up.

Character descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia

What a difference a day makes....

Yesterday, I started my day at the County Tax Assessors office...

And the day just continued to be stressful, including some incidents at work (which actually were just more stressful given the day's tone.) It was just one of those days where nothing went quite as planned and you just want to crawl in bed and start over the next day....

And that is about what I did.

And this morning I vowed not to let the previous day's events shake me. And today was a good day. Work went well and I even got some face time with my Executive Director who I really haven't spoken to much at all since I started this job.

What a difference a day makes!....

Everyone is getting involved in the presidential race..

Jay-Z and Mary J Blige are in the middle of the Heart of the City tour, which is apparently wildly successful and making money hand over fist. (no wonder Jay-Z can't stay retired!) I had the opportunity to see Jay-Z on his first final tour and Mary as well as Puffy, Memphis Bleek and others joined him on stage at various times. He gives great concert!

At any rate, I was listening to an account of the concert and they were mentioning that in the middle of the show, Jay-Z put up a picture of George W. Bush and the crowd started to "Boo!"

Then he says, "It's time for a change!" and the picture is replaced with a picture of Barack Obama.

I have to say, I can not ever remember a time when so many popular entertainment and media figures, let alone black ones, were so outspoken and involved in the political process! It is rather inspiring....

Addendum:

And apparently, Jay-Z has been making calls for Obama. Listen here for the call that some voters in Ohio got the night before the presidential primary there.....

Please send good thoughts....

I was all set for a week of cheerful and pithy blog posts when I got some news that totally threw me for a loop.....

A good friend of mine recently went to New York for a couple months to perform before moving to Chicago to participate in a well renowned training program. He is a singer who's career is just now getting off the ground and I was so proud and happy that his dreams were starting to come true.

Monday, he called me with some earth-shattering news. A couple months ago he had suffered a bout of food poisoning (he thought) that he had never completely recovered from. Once he got up to New York and was covered by health insurance, he went to a doctor to check it out. She thought it might be gall stones or something and put him on a restrictive diet. Then a week or so later, he was feeling such intense pain that he went to the hospital and ended up being hospitalized for a couple days. At that point, he was told that he had gotten an infection from the food poisoning and it was causing intestinal swelling. After he got out he was to go for a follow up CT scan to double check everything.

Well, at his follow up scan, he was told that he had stomach cancer....... He has a biopsy scheduled for this week and that will give a better idea of what exactly he is dealing with but it was quite a blow! I did a little research online on stomach cancer and in some cases it can be beatable so I remain optimistic. He is such a nice guy and has worked so hard to get where he is in his career and things were really taking off for him, it just breaks my heart that it all could be threatened by this predicament.

So please, please send all the good healing thoughts and prayers you have his way. I hold out hope that he can beat this thing and be back on track towards his dream!

Picture from a recent performance