LittleJudy.com

Tina Turner/Robert Cray - A Change Is Gonna Come

Denise and I went to see Miss Tina Turner at Madison Square Garden tonight. Tina, at 69 years old, is nothing short of amazing. Whom do you know at that age who can rock 4-inch Louboutin heels for 3 hours, much less sing and dance in 'em? She makes 70 the new 30 and I'm a teenager.

I wanted to hunt down some video from her current tour on YouTube but there isn't any, so I am treating you to a clip from 1987 of  the Sam Cooke classic "A Change is Gonna Come" (the lyrics of which were referenced in President-elect Obama's acceptance speech.) It features a guitar solo from the one and only Robert Cray -- I still have a crush on him after all these years and you can see why. Enjoy!

YouTube - Tina Turner - A Change Is Gonna Come.

Girls Night Out A Bust On "Idol"

I was SO not impressed with the girls on "American Idol" tonight.

None of them really wowed me and only two gave what I consider enjoyable performances.

The first of the two I liked, Syesha Mercado, sang "Me and Mr. Jones" (italics mine), a sex-change on the original by the great soulman Billy Paul. I thought her phrasing was nice on the song, although I did not like they way they hacked up the song to make it fit the short amount of time she had to sing.

Randy thought it was just aight and suggested she should have selected a bigger song to show off her big, belting voice. Simon thought it was a "silly" song choice because the song was written for a man.

I can see why she made the choice, though. Besides it being such a great song, perhaps she figured if she sang a tune made famous by a guy then she'd be less likely to be compared to the original.

The judges seemed to love Brooke White the most. This year they're allowing the contestants to play instruments when they perform, and she's the first one I've seen that actually looks comfortable with a guitar. She sang Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" (cue the jokes about Simon thinking the song was about him.)  She sang it well, and her performance was very relaxed and comfortable although she did play it safe by not altering the song very much from the original.

So far, out of 20, I'm only feeling 5 contestants. I just hope that by that time it gets down to the Final 12, more of the contestants start to bring it. 

By the way, that's an unintentional pun in the headline. But, it's silly enough that I'll leave it in.

Cleaning Up Enterainment

Over on the iFocus We Media blog, Andrea Useem wonders the following about "American Idol," after comparing the most recent winner, wholesome Jordin Sparks, to sexpot Britney Spears:

"Could it be that when Americans get to vote on their pop stars guided by expert advice,(read: pro-am collaboration,) they choose talented, often-beautiful people but avoid super-sexed icons?"

Below are my comments to her post:

Since I have to cover "American Idol" and all that is Britney as part of my job (at the CBS entertainment Web site TheShowBuzz.com), I'd like to weigh in here.

First of all, I must note that Britney Spears is no longer a teen-aged star, so I'm going to assume you're comparing Jordin today to Britney of yesteryear (scary to think of 1999 in those terms, but there it is!) And I have to also point out that Britney's image and her off-screen behavior have overshadowed her talent -- she actually can sing and pre-Kevin she had charisma.

I don't like it when teenagers are groomed to look older (and sexier) on stage or on the red carpet (Miley Cyrus at the Grammys? Her stylist should be fired and then, I don't know, jailed or something.) But once they're 18, image is a matter of artistic (or commercial) choice. There's room for the sexy and the wholesome in the music world.

As for "American Idol," I've never seen an overtly sexual contestant in the voting rounds (the wacky auditions don't count here). I don't think the producers would allow it in the first place.

In other words, it's hard to say if the audience is deliberately choosing wholesome contestants because all of the contestants once they're down to the original 24 are pretty much wholesome (even Constantine Maroulis' attempts at smoldering were strictly PG.)

Although it's true big radio and major labels offer a limited choice of artists that "we didn't vote on" we definitely do vote when we choose to buy or not buy their records. Therefore I'd argue that entertainment has always been participatory.

What increases that participation now are things like digital downloads giving an unlimited variety of choices, indie artists promoting themselves from scratch, bloggers writing about music outside of the standard promotional machine, podcasting, etc. We're in very exciting times, I think.

I don't think it's so much that "American Idol" allows us to vote off overtly sexual contestants (because there really aren't any). What it does do is let talented artists like overweight Ruben Studdard or grey-haired Taylor Hicks have a shot at fame even though they would never get past the lobby of the Sony building because of their looks.

The sad part, though, is that neither of them have been able to turn their Idol status into record sales. Where are all those millions of fans who voted for them on the show? Watching the new season?

The most successful Idol so far (based on record sales and awards) is Carrie Underwood. She's extremely talented -- I don't want to take away from that -- but I do want to point out that she's also the blondest and prettiest of the bunch (in Western ideal terms, of course).

I don't think we need to "clean up" entertainment in the first place. Sexual imagery and pop music have always gone together: think Prince, Madonna, or heck, Elvis.  If I go see Usher perform, I want to watch him dance, hear him sing and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see him rip off his shirt and show off that six pack. Sexy's fine as long as there's talent to back it up -- or at least a good hook and a danceable beat.

Just In Case You Missed Lang Lang & Herbie Hancock...

My favorite performance at the Grammys hands down (pardon the pun) was Lang Lang and Herbie Hancock performing George Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" with an orchestra. I found a clip of it on RedLasso.com which you can watch here. It's amazing!!!

I interviewed Lang Lang when I first started at ShowBuzz and I asked him what composers would a person who knew nothing about classical music might enjoy, based on what their favorite genre was. We had so much fun! Check out his answers in this article.

Enjoy!

Michael Jackson & Britney Spears - Together

There's been much more written about the personal lives of Britney Spears and Michael Jackson than about their music. But lest you forget the level of talent both of them were originally famous for, check this little clip out (I think it's from Michael's MSG mega concert almost exactly six years ago.)

If I Were Britney's Manager

By now you've probably seen Britney Spears' unfortunate performance at the MTV VMAs either on MTV itself or on the Web.

I was watching it on the monitors in the studio at work when I realized I was holding my face in my hands a la Macauley Culkin in "Home Alone" as I moaned in horror.  One co-worker yelled out "Judy, you sound like you're in pain!"

So much was wrong with the performance. The lip-synching, the half-hearted dance moves and the trashy outfit were all no-nos.

Unfortunately, I don't think anybody out there is telling Britney "no!"

It was a poor choice to go the slutty route for her comeback performance. To succeed in that style, she would have had to have topped her previous racy VMA numbers including the Madonna kiss and the dance with a live snake.

This just looked desperate.

If I were Britney's manager, assuming she'd even listen to me, I would have had her do something completely different.

I've written before that when she stops with the cooing and breathy moans, she can actually sing. So, she would have blown everybody away if she had opened the show dressed in something classy, sitting on a stool or the edge of the stage and belting out a ballad.

Yes, a ballad. Maybe with a string orchestra, just a piano, guitar or even (at least for the intro) a capella.

It wouldn't have been a big splashy production number, but it would have brought her back some healthy street cred and generated excitement precisely because it would have been totally unexpected.

When asked by USA Today what he thought of Britney's performance, Kanye West said, "I have no words."

When Kanye West is rendered speechless, that means there's a problem.

Every Little Thing They Do Is Magic: The Police In Concert

I saw The Police tonight at Madison Square Garden and they were simply AMAZING. I bought my ticket in February and even joined the fan club so I could get the pre-sale. I paid roughly a total of $250, but boy it was SO worth it.

StubHub tickets for seats near my section were at $180 so I didn't do too badly. There are front row center seats on the site going for more than $7,000!

I didn't get there in time for the opening act, Fiction Plane, which is fronted by Sting's son Joe Sumner. I heard from another concertgoer that they were good.

I want to avoid writing a review here, because the whole point of tonight was for me to just be a fan for a change. No backstage, no photos from the pit, no review to write.

I sang along with just about every song during the two hour set. I danced too, but noticed that most of the audience didn't. They stood up through a lot of the show, but they didn't move! How can you not dance when Sting is singing "Every Little Thing She Does" or "Roxanne"?  I miss my Latin concerts where everybody dances.

But, I wanted to make the most of the experience and I went for it. Dancing, clapping, screaming and loving every minute of it.

Sure, they don't jump around a lot as they probably did when they played CBGBs in 1978, but they're  playing is stronger than ever. They are truly one of rock's greatest power trios.

And Sting? At 55 he's still mucho very hot in all his sinewy sexiness.

I always kicked myself for never having seen them live during their heydey. I was hanging out in the Village in 1978, so there's no reason I couldn't have gone to CBGBs to see them, or later when they came back to play the Garden in the early 80s. So I've had to wait 20 years for this.

It was worth the wait. Well worth the wait.

(My apologies for the crappy cell phone photo. I have to buy a new prosumer digital camera so I can start shooting concerts again. Soon!!!)

Andre 3000 - Too Cool For School...

I interviewed Outkast's Andre 3000 about his recently released compilation of songs from his Cartoon Network show Class of 3000. He says he loved the Peanuts and Bugs Bunny cartoons as a kid and wanted to create a soundtrack with that caliber of music.

He plans to take the show on the road, a la Dora the Explorer Live! but he says it will be more sophisticated than other live kid's shows.

He also said that he's working on a solo album, as is Outkast partner Big Boi. After that, he says they may do another Outkast album, but he's not sure when that will be.

My Sistah!!!

My sister Ruth performed one of her songs on the local cable show Cafe Improv in Princeton recently, and somebody put a clip of it on YouTube!  Check it out, I'm so proud of my sis!

James Brown Funeral Arrangements Made

James Brown would have loved this: even after his death the hardest working man in show business is still touring. On Thursday night, his body will lie in state at the Apollo Theater in Harlem for public viewing, followed by a service with Brown's good friend the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Then on Friday, the Godfather of Soul's body will be back in his hometown of Augusta, Ga. for a private service for his family. His tour wraps on Saturday when there will be a public viewing and service at Augusta's James Brown Arena, which reports say seat 8,500 people. Rev. Al will officiate there, too.

Sounds like a fitting farewell for a master showman who loved the road.

See The Showbuzz for more deets.