Idol Thoughts || Fragment 1

Apologies, dear readers, for our radio silence as of late. All three of us have been consumed by our day jobs this winter, and 2/3's of us have been on the road surmounting American Idol-like odds to score permanent gigs. I won't cough up more details here, but suffice it to say that my O!I partners in crime deserve many rounds of celebratory soju and tequila.

Speaking of Idol, we thought it was time to share a few quickie thoughts. For more substantive "Idol Banter," please turn to our gal Friday, Ann Powers' column in the L.A. Times. I especially appreciate this insight from last week: “Ramiele Malubay was rightly praised for dusting off Dusty Springfield's ‘You Don't Have to Say You Love Me’ with aplomb, and her secret ingredient was a dollop of the elegant cheesiness that typifies Asian pop. Malubay's serious pipes are fast defeating 'Idol's' anti-brown bias -- along with David Archuleta and Danny Noriega, she's forcing the show's producers to acknowledge that not every talent comes in black or white.”

CBB and I had our first chance to watch the Malubay magic together last night, while missing our fave Floridian, ATV in the process. After all, Ramiele is not only another in a long line of Pinay idols (Camille Velasco, Jasmine Trias, AJ Tabaldo), but she is also from Miramar, Florida. She very well could be the ALOTR's parthenogenic love child. Given her performance last night--not as strong as the previous week's, but deeply familiar to anyone whose ever been to a suburban Pinoy party with a whole roasted Lechon and Goldilocks face cake--we won't dwell too much on RM this time around. Her hula intro vignette and shout out to PCN's (Pilipino Cultural Nights on college campuses) does, however, deserve special mention this week. As we noted above, Ramiele's from Florida, not from Hawaii, like the beflowered Jasmine Trias before her. Throughout Ramiele's island girl schtick (evocative of Sanjaya Malakar's slinky hula-demo last season) we were thinking: WWAIS? What would Adria Imada--our pal from UCSD and a premiere hula theorist--say?!? Stay tuned for future reflections on how P.I. plays on Idol this season.

Other fleeting impressions...
CBB on Kristy Lee Cook (among the better voiced, but worst dressed of the indistinguishable blondes on the show): "Dude. What's up with R.E.I. Speedwagon?" --after her intro clip featuring vigorous romping in the woods and robust farmgirl activities.

We also collectively agreed that the likeable Amanda Overmeyer, aka the "rock 'n roll nurse" may be on the chopping block this week after a pitchy and patchy performance. Her stage persona struck me as a bit too "Garbage Pail Kids." Kangagi thought she looked like an avatar from Rock Band (the video game)--in other words, a woeful approximation of what a rock star is supposed to look like.

Overall, we were underwhelmed by last night's performances. Even Carly Simon doppel, Brooke White, failed to inspire with her assertive guitar strumming and folksy head-bobbing. We held our breath when Asi'ah Epperson tried to gut-punch "All By Myself" and couldn't eek out a "by." Always a risky choice, especially after Idol powerhouses like Latoya London have knocked it out of the park. So much for the "best year ever" talk. Really, Randy?!? For the most part our eyes glazed over in a menses fair haze, thankful for an orgy of desserts that helped take the pain away. - (KT)