August 8 - Down Under
Rock Star: Supernova, August 8 - Down Under by Jenn Brasler -- 08/09/2006 Toby, everyone’s favorite Australian rocker, struggled last week to prove himself as a contender. Will his talents alone allow him to climb back up to the top this week, or will he remain… well, down under? And if his talents aren’t enough, what does he have up his sleeve that will help him stand out? Rumor has it that Brooke is pregnant. Maybe that’s why she’s wearing an always-curve-disguising black dress tonight. Hi, singers. Hi, Supernova. Hi, Dave. In this week’s mansion footage, we get to see Magni reunite with his family. His baby is so cute. Ryan asks how the airplane was and the baby laughs. The singers get ready for the show, working out and practicing. Zayra picks out her clothes, telling us that she performs more for herself than others. If people get wowed by her, that’s all the better. Lukas practices, wanting to redeem himself after last week. At song selection, everyone learned that Gilby would be playing with whoever chose the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Toby thought about going for it but then realized that if he screwed up, he’d be in trouble. Dilana asks a number of times if anyone wants “Won’t Get Fooled Again” before taking it for herself. Everyone is in favor of that. She’s surprised, as am I. Josh interviews that it might not always be a good thing to jump on the Supernova-cameoed songs - look at what happened to Patrice last week. Dilana downloaded her song onto her phone and got a personal message from Gilby, who told her he couldn’t wait to jam with her to one of his favorite songs. Back in the Aztec, Dave announces that he’s stunned that only Dilana wanted “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Everyone should have jumped at the chance, especially after last week. Dave thinks Dilana should win right now just for being that bold. He’s ready to see Dilana and Gilby rock, and rock they shall, as they’re up first. Gilby gets a long intro all to himself before the rest of the band joins him. Dilana is rocking the red leather pants and gray T-shirt. Gilby sings the chorus with her. Storm is really into it. It’s rather calm for a Dilana performance, but she still does it justice. I wish she’d had a little more energy, though. Dave gives Gilby his props, then tells Dilana that her performance looked like a rock show rather than an audition. He chastises the other singers, reminding them that now they not only have to follow Dilana, they have to follow her with Gilby. Dilana says this was a dream come true; she wants to be able to say one day that she played with Gilby. Gilby says that she’s a star, as everyone knows. Toby looks worried. Gilby adds that he has no doubt that a woman can front Supernova. Storm looks worried, too. Jason thinks this belongs on a list of killer Rock Star moments. Jill is singing Tracy Bonham’s “Mother Mother.” Remember when this song was hot for, like, two minutes? Me neither. Jill starts out sitting on the end of the stage, snapping. Jill is no Katharine McPhee. I’m sure she picked this song because she gets an excuse to scream. Okay, I know that I’ve said before that I like to be able to understand the words when people sing, but does Jill have to overenunciate everything? Dave is shocked when she jumps off the stage. I don’t care either way. I’m over her. Next! Dave says he’s finally figured it out - Jill is Carmela Soprano and he’s afraid to say anything for fear of getting whacked. Ha! Tommy says this was her best performance so far. Like that means anything. Jason liked Jill’s energy and physicality, but her voice was lost in that. And thank goodness for that, I say. Last week Ryan finally blew everyone away, earning himself the encore. Tonight he’s singing the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black.” Ooh, someone needs to sing “Back in Black.” Ryan is hiding somewhere in the Aztec, wearing… oh, for the love of cheese. Ryan is wearing all black with a black wig that looks like he scalped Lukas. He has black makeup striped across his eyes. The performance is okay - not as good as last week, but he’s at least starting to hit his stride, I think. I’m not bored, at least. But he needs to stop with the weird fake British-y accent he adopts when he sings. I think he thinks he’s David Bowie. Dave wonders what happened to Ryan. He thinks he’s finally shown that he’s a contender. Tommy says it was… “interesting” and he’s tripping now. Dave gets him to admit that it was good. Gilby says that his vocals are killing now. Tommy thinks his prophecy about “Losing My Religion” getting Ryan laid came true. Jason says that if this is the tip of the iceberg, that’s a good sign. Storm’s shirt says, “Got balls?” Heh. Her band’s name is the Balls, by the way. She’s singing Queen’s “We Are the Champions.” I love her sparkly purple eyeshadow. Storm manages to not make the song sound like a joke, which is what it’s kind of turned into. Tommy is singing along. Storm encourages the audience to do the same. Man, I love her. Dilana gives her an “I’m not worthy” bow. Dave sings Freddy Mercury’s praises and says it’s hard to do a Queen song justice, but Storm did it. It was the perfect song for her, especially in a competition where you have to show power and range. I agree. Jason loved the arrangement and Storm’s vocals; he thinks Queen would agree. Tommy hopes they didn’t scare Storm into not rocking. Yeah, I doubt it. Storm promises to “spank the crap” out of them again. Um, now I’m a little scared. Ha ha, Zayra has to follow Storm! Awesome. Also awesome is the fact that Magni is playing guitar for this song, David Bowie’s “All the Young Dudes.” Not awesome? Zayra’s gold leotard and black top hat. Or her performance. Or the fact that I can’t understand a freaking word she’s singing. Or the fact that she’s totally destroying a perfectly nice song. To quote faithful reader Steve, “If Zayra was an animal and she made those noises, they would put her down.” And to quote Todd Flanders from The Simpsons, “Ow, my freaking ears!” Dave says that if this show were called Rock Star: Planet Pluto, Zayra would win. Even then I doubt it. Gilby has shortened Zayra’s name to Z so that he doesn’t mispronounce it. Gilby, please also feel free to call her la cucaracha, as she has outlasted so many people that I fear she will be around forever. He thinks she has showmanship, which is good, but she has to watch her, you know, singing. Tommy likes Zayra’s confidence. Jason asks if she wowed herself. She did, and she’s “all out.” I wish she were just out. Yay, Josh is next! Now he’ll look good no matter what he does! He happens to be doing “Interstate Love Song” by the Stone Temple Pilots. Tommy announces out of the blue that he wants to come play with him. It looks to be a legit surprise, but Josh handles it calmly. He’s playing guitar again! I love me some guitar-playing guys. This is a great song choice, and Josh is FINALLY rocking a little more than in the past, but he’s not compromising his soulful side. If only he would do something other than just stand at the microphone with his guitar. The performance aspect is boring, but everything else is great. I can’t even focus on Tommy, I’m so thrilled by Josh. Josh, marry me. We’ll have vocally talented, quirky children and travel the country in a big bus like a rock star Partridge family. Dave’s only concern is that Josh’s “good” might not be good enough. Jason asks how it felt playing electric guitar with Tommy. Josh loved it, of course. Tommy had fun, too, but like me, he wishes Josh had done more grooving than just standing with the guitar. It “freezes up punk.” Gilby has been waiting to hear Josh on a rock song, so he’s pleased. Jason warns the singers that they have to be on their toes because someday all three members of Supernova may show up on stage with them. Hey, will Dave get to play? I’d enjoy that. Magni’s baby is in the audience, wearing earmuffs. That reminds me of the photo of Apple Martin in earmuffs that circulated forever after Live 8. A few weeks ago one of my readers chose Live’s “The Dolphin’s Cry” as an audition song, and this week Magni is doing it. Weird. He’s on guitar again, this time without any help from the house band. He sounds really good. This is another good song choice; it definitely shows off his range. Heck, I give him bonus points just for the adorable kid. Magni’s wife/girlfriend/whoever is very pretty, too, so I’m not surprised they made a cute baby together. Dave praises Magni for being brave and doing the song unaccompanied. Tommy reminds us that his family is there and asks how the visit has been. Magni says it’s been awesome and they saved his life. Gilby says it was really good and he’s inspired everyone. Patrice is on thin ice at this point in the competition, but she’ll try to keep on top of things with John Lennon’s “Instant Karma.” Interesting. Patrice is nothing if not adventurous. Her performance is just okay; I don’t really think of it as rock. Her voice is good, but I just don’t know about her. I think her days are numbered. Dave compliments Patrice’s song choice. Gilby was disappointed to see her in the bottom three last week, so he’s glad she did something different this week. And… that’s it? I guess she didn’t impress Supernova either. Some people thought Lukas should have been in the bottom three last week for screwing up the lyrics to “Celebrity Skin” and doing a poor job of faking it. Even Lukas thought so. This week he’s attempting to make things up to us with Radiohead’s “Creep.” He starts out quiet, which worries me because I love the electric guitar part in this song. He’s wearing a jacket that Michael Jackson rejected as too flashy. Ooh, Lukas probably shouldn’t have chosen a song that says, “What the hell am I doing here?” and “I don’t belong here.” He sounds a little shaky on the high notes. Where’s the electric guitar? I’m quite disappointed in this performance. Tommy has always liked Lukas and he has some goosebumps tonight. Dave wonders where this Lukas has been hiding. Gilby likes not knowing what’s coming next, and Lukas caught him off-guard. Jason says this was the first time Lukas used his gift properly. He hopes Lukas keeps up with this. Toby is, surprisingly, the last singer of the night, though his showing last week wasn’t that great. He won’t tell Brooke anything he has planned. He’s doing the Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House.” I have to admit that I hate this song, but I definitely don’t hate Toby’s performance. Or his suit jacket, by the way. He’s on top of everything both vocally and performance-wise. And then he brings out a megaphone. Um… what? Supernova looks concerned. I’d like to once again sing the praises of the house band because they play this song like nothing odd is happening. Dave tells Toby his vocals and performance were great until the megaphone. The audience and Zayra boo. Dave thinks Toby doesn’t need props. Toby says he just wanted to change up an old song and make it fresh. Jason didn’t mind the megaphone and Gilby appreciates that Toby changed things up. Toby wants this very, very badly. I kind of want him that badly, too. Okay, enough of me being shallow. The voting begins, and after a commercial we learn that the early bottom three are Jill, Zayra, and Patrice. I’m not surprised, nor do I disagree. I think they’ll remain in the bottom three. As for the encore… I have no idea. Maybe Lukas, since everyone seemed to like him so much. Personally I’d like to hear Josh (of course) or Magni again. Tune in tomorrow to find out who gets the honor and who gets eliminated. http://www.realitynewsonline.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=4&article=article9808.art&page=1