AWAKE & DREAMING

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Rockstar Supernova Finale Is Near

The second season of the highly successful, most rocking reality show/competetion is about to reach it's conclusion in the coming few days. Millions will be tuned in to find out which among the remainning four rockers will win the chance to join Supernova - the supergroup rock band consisting of Tommy Lee on drums, Gilby Clark on guitars & Jason Newstead on bass - as their lead singer and experience life in the fast lane in front of thousands of fans on stage. 15 rockers started out, out of audtions done by thousands, in a mansion and performing in front of Supernova to try and impress them enough for the gig. Everyweek one rocker gets eliminated from the bottom three; the three with the least votes from a worldwide audience. Last year, the first Rockstar competetion, was won by Canadian JD Fortune, who now sings lead for INXS. Then it was an actual band, whose singer commited suicide in 1997, in need for a singer so that they can rock again and make a comeback. This time it seems to be an ego booster for Tommy Lee who will do anything to stay in the limelight and on tv. Gilby Clark seems like a down to earth guy, there for the rock & the music. Jason Newstead, it seems is the middle ground between the other two - a bit of both.
The Rockers who are eliminated:


I would just like to comment on some of the rockers who got eliminated, but who I really like based on their performances. Jenny Galt (born in Montreal based in Vancouver) is someone I really like. Her looks, her voice & singing, her charms are all apparant and she is a really talented lady. But it was obvious that she was not Supernova material right from the get go. She falls more in the singer/guitarist/songwriter category and is not the kind of singer to front a racaous, beer & whiskey fueled, arena monster like the three founding members. She would be more like a lighter version of Alanis Morissette or Jann Arden with some Avril Lavigne or Michelle Branch in the mix. She should be a solo artist and I would buy her stuff if I can find it.

Dana Andrews, from Augusta, Georgia, was the youngest of the rockers at just 22 years of age. She clearly was not in the league of Supernova, just for her age and inexperience on stage. Don't get me wrong, rock n'roll knows no age usually, but in front of 40 year old stage veterans, she would stand out. But she was the sweetheart of the bunch, smiling gratefuly for the oppurtunity of a lifetime when she was eliminated. The guys in Supernova were impressed by her maturity and her innocence. Just like Jenny, Dana is a cutie. Her initial performances were strained, I did not particularly like her attempt to "metalize" Bon Jovi's anthemn "It's My Life", she did improve in time. However she too had to go.

The Rocker from Austin, Texas, hot mama Patrice Pike, was unfairly critised by Dave Navarro for what he thought was lame and safe song performance (she has done "Remedy" by the Black Crowes). She did not give in and stared right back at him and the next night did an extremely out there performance of Radiohead's "My Iron Lung". She is an artist who has written a Billboard top 10 song, played in support of Sarah Mclachlan, The Allman Brothers band, Sinead O'Connor and the Dave Mathews Band among others. I really loved her singing and she was kinda my favourite rocker other than Lukas. She is also hot and I felt that she could have fronted a band like Supernova.

Josh Logan is a good singer of the funk & soul kind. He likes to have cds of Boys II men & Stevie Wonder along with Pearl Jam and Bon Jovi. I really liked his version of the hit song "She Talks To Angels" an original by the Black Crowes. But his style and voice proved that he was in the mould of the soulful rocker and tailor-made for smaller more intimate theatres, 5000-6000 capacity crowds. The nail in his coffin was a horrible rendition of one of favourites of all time - "No Rain" by Blind Melon - which is a heartfelt semi-ballad. Logan tried to speed it up and make it a bit more rockier and upbeat....and it stunk. It is not an easy song to do and it showed. The Manchester, New Hampshire man might have a go at being a sort of rocker in the John Mayer category.



Jill Gioia is a real joy to watch! No kidding man, this hot tamale from Long Isalnd, New York is a small (read that petite) woman, something like five feet nothing. But she more than makes up for it with her voice. For a small lady she sure has a big voice that loves to tear it up. No wonder that her idol is Tina Turner and Janis Joplin. She did a great version of "Alone" (Heart), "Don't Forget About Me" & some others but relies on her big vocals way too much. The Simple Minds track that she did was a perfect example of a song in which she should have focused on the lyrics and the emotion and she could have made it really sexy. That said she sure is eye candy and has a big mouth (literally)!

Ryan Star, another New Yorker rocker, was dubbed the dark horse by Supernova and did do very well. He started out very uncomfortable with himself and totally lost on stage. He seemed to no know what his feet were doing; while his body wanted to move in one direction he wanted to go in another. "I Alone" & "Losing My Religion" were really good performances by Ryan and even his bizarre makeup in his version of "Paint It Black" was noted for his good singing. However he tends to just scream at times and his last couple of songs were strained, especially "Baba O'Reilly" which he introduced as "going to blow your brains out". But it proved his undoing and he too was sent packing.

And Storm Large...what can I say about a girl called Storm Large and who has a band called The Balls!! I am not worthy!! Just kidding, she has a killer vocal performance and delivers with kick several of her favs. She has legs that go on for miles. Her killer performance was "Anything, Anything" (Dramarama) where she blew the roof off the roof and then did a stage dive. Tall & gangly, she loves to rock on stage as explained by her take on "Suffragette City" (David Bowie) & "We Are the Champions" (Queen) and gave a classy performance of "Changes" (David Bowie). Her original song "Ladylike" went well with the audience and members of Supernova but not enough to keep her in the competition.



Song for the day - "Creep" - RADIOHEAD