Ok.. so Benji got his ear tubes yesterday and we are very proud of what a big boy he was. I have a long story to write about it.. like usual.. complete with pictures.. but I haven't had the chance to sit down and write.. doh! So.. to hold you over.. here are some pics!

Ok.. so aside from the sob-fest that vaguely reminded me of the old commercials with sally struthers where she put on about 20 lbs between each commercial filming about starving children in Africa.. the Idol Gives Back show had some really cool performances. I was a little put off by the heavy hand of Hannah Montana.. but oh well. The best part of the night?



Ann and Nancy Wilson. It doesn't get much better in my book. I could take or leave Fergie, but I know that they were trying to bridge some generations as most of the kids out there probably had no clue who those women were and why Barracuda is one of THE classic songs of all time.

Nancy Wilson, in particular, has always been a hero of mine. She's an absolutely inCREDIBLE guitarist and rocks out. There are very few well known GOOD female guitarists and while Lita Ford was "fun".. no one compares to Nancy Wilson in my book. Here is a perfect example of why:



seriously.. no one comes close.

I have to say.. there isn't a single female contestant that I'd be upset to see leave the show (I'm back on my American Idol commentary). This year there just wasn't anyone who grabbed my attention. I really WANT to like the irish girl.. especially after seeing that her husband is a work of art (literally).. but she just doesn't have "it". I enjoy seeing some of them perform.. but when I close my eyes.. it's rare that I hear something that would keep me from hitting the "scan" button on my car stereo if their song was on.

The guys however.. rock. I'm thinking that by the top 5, we'll be down to all guys. I still love the dreads guy and David A.. but they both have to kick things up a notch and make things their own (god, I sound like Simon).. I judge music by whether a performance captures me and triggers an emotion.. last night.. only two performances lived up to that "requirement"..

I'll start with David Cook because I think he's friggin awesome and his performance had my jaw on the ground. I missed Ryan's (we're on a first name basis now) intro where he said that it was based on a version of Billy Jean done by Chris Cornell (one of my vocal heroes... he was a cornerstone in the grunge movement but was strong and talented enough to keep it together after that "fad" faded. Anyway.. Thanks to snickollet for doing some research and for finding these clips.. saved me some time searching youtube. The first is David's version from last night. The second is a montage of photos of Chris with his acoustic version of the song in the background. I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed that the entire arrangement wasn't thought up by David.. unlike Blake's version of Shot Through The Heart last year.. but I still think he rocked it out and I would purchase the song if it was released today. I probably just wouldn't give him quite so many brownie points for being a trailblazer.

here we go:



and now Chris Cornell's version:



discuss amongst yourselves.

The other guy that I have to say is my #2 at this point is Michael Johns.. although I don't quite get where the quasi-Australian accent comes from given that he was born in Georgia. He's quite the hottie I have to say...



Now.. as a side note.. while he managed to pull off a Queen song and still give me chills.. I was still skeptical given some of his past performances. That was until I found info on some of his previous recordings and I think he's really got it. I almost hope that neither of these guys (Michael and David C.) win so that they can avoid singing the ultimate cheese song that Idol always has their winner release as their initial single.

Here is a clip of Michael's performance last night:



Here is a clip of Michael singing a song called "Q" with his old band Film:



and no.. I have no idea what the chick on stage was doing...

Here is the song "Cradle" when he had long hair with his most recent band "The Rising".