Here’s the whole photo set. I only uploaded the better pictures. Moon took lots of concert photos, but our seats were not good enough for them to come out very well. I’ve learned not to reserve floor seats unless they’re right in front. Now I know!
So, I was going to try to post every day all month, since July’s topic is FOOD. And I love food. But somewhere along the line, I lost my momentum. But I have two announcements today:
1. Dark Knight rocks.
2. American Idol concert tonight. Woo!
That is all.
There were so many awesome things tonight about American Idol (I’ll selectively forget the cheesy things, okay?) that I had to write a few of them down.
On the other hand, The Love Guru? Cringe-inducing. And Paula’s cleavage? Scary.
That’s all. I’m psyched for the tour. I’m such a nerd.
During our Mother’s Day visit to my parents’ house, the topic of conversation naturally turned to American Idol. Why? Because they know we’re watching, and we’ll be buying tickets to the tour. (So right! I already bought the tickets during the pre-sale! Secret word: POPTARTS.)
“Who’s your favorite?” asked my dad.
“We’ve been David Cook fans pretty much all along,” I said, adding charitably, “although I think all the top 3 are very talented.” I figured they probably really, really liked cute little David Archuleta.
“Oh, David Cook is definitely the best,” Dad answered. “He’s a rock star.”
This, coming from my 80-year-old father, made me smile. Talent is talent.
“Paint that door and that knob and go for it.” – Paula Abdul
I am so totally going to start using that.
All four of us have been dead tired today, but the SYTYCD show was well worth the extra fatigue. First of all, dinner at Mader’s was most excellent (and not overly filling, because SpiritMan and I split an entree). We all chose filet mignon, and we shared a crab cake appetizer and two desserts (cherry strudel and a rich chocolate fudgy cake thingy). Our show tickets were outstanding. Moon took some terrific photos, and the dancing was every bit as good as I expected it to be.
The only down side was that a weekday concert meant we had to hightail it out of Milwaukee without trying to find the tour bus. We just didn’t have the extra hour or so to spare waiting around. As it was, we didn’t get home until 12:30 a.m. Moon still had her contacts in, Turbo wanted to sleep, and they were both borderline crabby.
Moon and I succumbed to the tour swag, though. I have to say, the merchandise was wayyy improved over last year’s. Especially the cute silhouette t-shirts of each of the top four. I bought Moon the Neil shirt and photos of both Neil and Danny, and we also picked up a show program. I’m hoping to post photos if she cooperates.
Next year, I hope they schedule Milwaukee for a weekend date.
We’re all excited because we have tickets for the So You Think You Can Dance tour stop at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee tomorrow evening. I’m taking Moon out of school early so we’ll have time for dinner at Mader’s beforehand.
What could be cooler?
Ugh, Television Without Pity has been acting up all day, and I’m going through withdrawal because I can’t see what they wrote about last night’s American Idol.
So here are my way-important thoughts on the subject.
KiKi: Great voice, but needs to mix things up a bit or she’s going to get boring.
Chris S.: I loved him during auditions, but I’m not as impressed with how he’s done since Hollywood. And he seems kind of insincere. Plus, he shouldn’t let his stylists put so much fro-taming goop in his hair. Next he’ll be using Jeri-Curl.
Haley: Blech. I had hoped she’d be gone by now.
Gina: Wow, her performance was spectacular. She’s sort of a hometown girl (by way of Naperville, a few hours from here) so I’ve been rooting for her all along. She cried a lot when Leslie Hunt left, which made me like her even more.
Sanjaya: What can I say? He entertains me. I don’t think he expected to still be in the competition at this point, and has decided to throw caution to the wind. The competition won’t be quite as interesting when he’s gone. I’m glad he made it to the top 10. (Because you know I’ll be seeing the concert.)
Phil: Has improved quite a bit, in my opinion. I liked last night’s hat a lot better than some of his previous styling choices, too.
Jordin: I really, really like her. Hope she’ll be sticking around for a while.
Blake: Is kind of my favorite to win the whole thing. The judges haven’t praised him enough — he’s been good every week.
Melinda: The best voice in the competition, but I’m having a hard time picturing what her CD sales will be like. I do think she’s awesome and would love to hang out with her and her Gayles.
Chris R.: He’s cute, and sings pretty well. Sometimes his nasally ways annoy me, though. He reminds me of BIL #2, so I can’t help but like him.
I know. I’m not snarky enough.
Did you see the “Sanjaya”‘ sighting on SNL? Here you go.
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My pal Terry asked me about the current American Idol season, and guess what? I’ve been watching. I missed a few of the tryouts (convention, etc.) but I still have a few early favorites.
Fave #1: Sundance Head, who auditioned in Memphis. Awesome voice, awesome presence. Just a cool guy. I hope he goes far.
Fave #2: Chris Sligh. He looks kind of goofy, which totally added to his charm when he turned out to be sharp and funny. And a good singer.
Fave #3: Sean Michel, who looks a bit like Jesus.
I don’t have any favorite female singers yet. A lot of them seem very similar to one another. I’m pretty psyched for Hollywood Week, though. Always an interesting time.
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As avid fans of talent-based reality shows (i.e. American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Hell’s Kitchen), we were quick to buy tickets when we heard that SYTYCD was going on tour. They stopped in Milwaukee last night, and it was a fantastic performance. I enjoyed it even more than the Idols concert in August. For one thing, the venue was smaller — Milwaukee Theatre — and more intimate.
Afterwards, as you might have guessed, we stuck around to try and meet the dancers. We were greatly rewarded for our patience, because every one of them came out to greet the fans and sign autographs. (The lovely Donyelle posed with MoonChild, as you can see here.) Moon had created a custom ‘Team Tranji’ hat and Dmitry t-shirt to wear, and was thrilled to get them signed. She was also able to get her program autographed by nearly all the other finalists, too.
You can see the other photos here. If you’re at all familiar with the show, it’s worth taking a look.
P.S. That Dmitry, he’s the same age as my nephew. And he’s like solid muscle. Arms like rope, or tree trunks, or something.
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The Idols concert was a week ago today. One thing I will say is that this year’s finalists are way better live than last year’s were. A few of them … Lisa Tucker and Ace Young, for instance … were actually more entertaining at the concert than they were on the show. Which I thought was impressive. We also learned that Chris Daughtry is incredibly popular in Milwaukee. The souvenir stands all sold out of his photo — although Moon was able to pick up pictures of Bucky and Ace, along with their buttons. (She bought Chris and Elliott buttons, too. The Elliott photos they were selling weren’t hot enough or something.)
Although we waited around afterwards to see if we could get an autograph or anything, the performers didn’t come out for meet-and-greet. We did get to see the bus off, though.
That’s Taylor Hicks, taking pictures of the crowd. Peter’s claim to fame is that he took off running after the bus (the only person who did, actually), and after about a half block, Taylor noticed him and pointed him out to the others. He waved Peter on, as if he needed encouragement. (From the other end of the block, I was screaming at him to stop. Because I could just imagine him turning a corner and getting confused in downtown Milwaukee at 11 pm on a Saturday.)
Anyway, we enjoyed our night at the Hyatt, which reminded me that I’m working on a project which will involve both the Hyatt and the Hilton. I’m self-employed, but I can’t seem to get away from work.
Now, today, we saw the aforementioned movie. It was massive kitschy fun. I’m not a movie reviewer, though, so I’ll just send you over to an interesting story about real snakes on a real plane. (You may have to sit through an ad to see it, but it’s pretty painless.)
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Yay, my guy won! Best. Finale. Ever. The performance show wasn’t so outstanding, but they did a fabulous job with the group songs, guest artists (well, maybe not Meat Loaf) and surprises.
Right before the show started, our county had a tornado warning. Peter and I decided to stick it out upstairs — after all, someone needed to hit the “record” button on the VCR at 7 p.m. (No Tivo for us, thanks. No cable, either.) The sky was freaky, and we had hail, but we also didn’t miss a single second of Idol. So there.
Now we’re counting the days until the Idol tour comes to Milwaukee. We already ordered our tickets — the concert is on Pete’s birthday, which ought to be fun. I’m hoping we can get another autograph this year.
One.
My family long-ago dubbed me Queen of All Purses, so it’s no surprise that I can’t stop thinking about this:
I know I already have two awesome knitting bags, but that doesn’t mean I’ve given up the search for the PERFECT bag. When I saw the Namaste collection, the most difficult decision was which one to order. Truth be told, a messenger bag seems to be the best fit. I love the way traditional purse/bags look, but I keep going back to the diagonal-over-the-shoulder thing.
If I like the new bag as much I think I will, the Lady B will be going back — or on eBay.
Two.
I thought I was addicted to American Idol last season, but that was when I only loved one or two of the top 10, and not nearly all of them. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are nail-bitingly nervewracking at our house. Moon has lost two of her favorites in a row (the aforementioned Bucky, and now Ace), and she’s crossing her fingers and toes that Elliott won’t be next.
We’re Yaminions. (Although I’ve been pulling for Taylor Hicks from the start, and not just because he looks like he could be my age. He’s entertaining enough to be parodied on SNL, ya know.)
Moon’s already bugging me about buying tour tickets. And in case you didn’t think I was geeky enough, I’ve crocheted a beanie for Ace.
Just a quick update. First, the Everyday Goddess Conference was a fabulous way to spend a weekend. I met some awesome new friends (hi Jodie!) and my two teen roomies (Moon and Nicole) seemed to have a great time.
Second, I now have a shop at Etsy. It’s http://aine.etsy.com. Rakka was my inspiration … her shop is here. Now I can make stuff without having to worry about where to put it all!
Third, guess who Moon’s pulling for in this year’s American Idol? None other than Bucky Covington. Yep, my speed metal girl now appreciates (gasp) country.
Oh man, I really wanted him to win. But the silver lining is that he won’t be stuck singing the lame-o songs that would have undoubtedly been forced on him had he been named this year’s Idol. I genuinely enjoyed all the finalists, but Bo Bice, he was my favorite from the first time I watched him step onto the stage. This was not an ordinary Idol contestant, not at all.
Moon even made an avatar for me. Pretty sweet. Well, now we can enjoy the stuff we’ve taped over the past weeks. It’s been fun being a fangirl.
As of yesterday, Pete and I have been married 19 years. Yes, 19 years. We went out to lunch, and lamented that our busy lives prevented us from doing anything too wild that evening. (Next year: a cruise? Maybe.)
In other news, I am over the moon about my American Idol making it to the final two. My Idol, no matter what happens next week. The moment I laid eyes on Bo Bice and heard his distinctive voice, I was a believer. Heck, I even joined the Bice Squad. SpiritMan and the kids are pulling for him, too.
We’ve become geeky AI people. I read aloud from rickey.org and Jaded Journalist episode summaries. We’ll be at the AI concert this summer in Milwaukee. Oh yes, we will.
