WORD OF THE DAY:

misandry (MI-san-dree) -- hatred of men as a sexually defined group

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It's been a hectic day. Too many calls, too many meetings. And two big Emails to send out (project status reports). Not my favorite kind of writing, but I try to have fun with in. I just went to the deli and now I am happily munching my turkey sandwich (sourdough roll, mayo only). It's another nice day in San Francisco. And finally I have time for the update.

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RockStar: SuperNova

I am so hooked on this show. Last night, I couldn't find much bad with any of the performances on the surface, but there was some commentary from the band (and Dave Navarro) and I agreed with most of it. Once again, I was two/three on choosing the preliminary Bottom 3, but that wasn't too difficult -- Zayra and Jill -- and I think they'll probably stay there. But let's get to the recap, because last night's show was by far the best one yet. And it wasn't without surprises. Some rockers stepped up, and toher kinda faltered...

Summary: (my grade / band's grade).

PATRICE (Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder / Red Hot Chili Peppers): How could things have started off any better? Tommy Lee slamming the drums while Patrice belts out the vocals. She knocked this one out of the park, and that's not easy. I agree with Dave's assessment, a singer needs a commanding presence to front this band.(A / A)


JOSH (Santeria - Sublime): Not one of my favorite songs, but Josh stepped up a bit and got some good feedback from the band members. He may have extended his stay for a few weeks, but I don't think for long. I don't think the voting audience is responding to him. He's a good singer, but I don't see him as a front man.(B / B)


DILANA (Can't Get Enough - Bad Company): Dilana makes it 5 for 5 with her performance -- five straight performance with an A++ from me and from the band. With every performance, she takes it up a notch, shows amazing diversity, and simply kills it. Every time. If she doesn't front SuperNova (which would be a surprise) she's going to be a big star.(A++ / A++)


TOBY (Pennyroyal Tea - Nirvana): I once thought of Toby as one of the strongest of the men, but with last weeks's and this week's, he's going down instead of up. Maybe it's because he followed Dilana, but he just didn't look comfortable on stage last night, and he didn't have the command of the crowd that he had early on.(C / B)


ZAYRA (867-5309/Jenny - Tommy Tutone): I am not surprised that she ended up with this song of all the rockers, but I am convinced that Dilana or Storm or most any of them would have done a better job with it. I wasn't impressed with her performance, and I love this song. Zayra's days have been numbered from the beginning. I know they are keeping her around because she is applying their advice, and they like watching what she does. And probably because of the eye-candy factor (though I don't rate her high on that cirteria). But the voters don't like her. She'll be Bottom 3 again. I won't say she'll go home, because I've said that the last two weeks and it hasn't happened. She seems to somehow save herself. but she's running out of singers she can beat.(C / C)


MAGNI (Clocks - Coldplay): Now here's someone I thought would be gone by now, and every week he improves yet again. Last night was no exception, he nailed the song. The crowd and the voters love him. That the band is flying his wife and little boy out tells me they expect him to be around for a while. Plus, Magni is a damn good singer and performer.(A / A)


JILL (Don't You Forget About Me - Simple Minds): Who doesn't love this song? Anyone who never watched Breakfast Club, perhaps. But the band hated Jill's performance, and so did I. It's a great song, and she looked great singing it, but taking it up in range definitely didn't work for me. She negated a lot of the passion of that song. Jill has also been a Bottom 3 dweller for the past weeks. She's not long for the competition. We'll see if she can pull it out with tonight's effort.(C / F)


RYAN (Losing My Religion - REM): Whoa! That's all I can say. Ryan at the piano singing a great song and delivering a stellar performance. Stellar! I am betting he will get the encore tonight. With this performance, Ryan has surely extended his stay, and moved up in the ranks. I hope he keeps it up.(A+ / A+)


LUKAS (Celebrity Skin - Hole): Without a doubt, his worst performance. I wonder if Lukas is resting on his laurels, and not really trying because he doesn't think he has to. He definitely started off strong, but he's faltering badly. The good thing is, the band and Dave called him on it. The bad news is, I don't think he'll take the advice to heart because he feels he's above their suggestions If he doesn't change things up, he'll start appearing in the Bottom 3. Very soon.(C / C)


STORM (Changes - Bowie): What else can I say about Storm? If a singer can make me love a song that I previously hated, she's doing something right. Storm took a chance with this one, but I could not tell she was the least bit nervous. She delivered her fifth straight awesome performance, and she gets better every time. Last night, we saw a softer side of her and it absolutely rocked. And I just love Storm.(A++ / A++)


DANA (Baba O'Reilly - The Who): Dana just keeps kicking it up. She's displelled the "Idol" image so well, I don't think she could get it back, even if she tried. And that's a very good thing. Great performance and the perfect cap off to an awesome show.(A / A)
At the end of the show, Jill and Zayra were in the Preliminary Bottom 3. I don't recall if the other member was Toby or Lukas or Josh. Pretty sure it was one of them. I think Zayra and Jill will stay there. For the third member, I hope he (because it won't be one of them women) takes it to heart and sees it as a wake-up call. As rockers are dismissed it will become more difficult to stay in the competition because every week there will be a Bottom 3.


I'll go out on a limb and say Lukas will be in the Bottom 3 with Jill and Zayra, but I won't be surprised to see Toby or even Josh. Hard to predict who will be dimissed, because I have to see their performances tonight.

The encore will be either RYAN or PATRICE (with Tommy on drums). Either of those will be fun to see again.