Memory

Like many others, I went through a huge Andrew Lloyd Webber phase. It certainly wasn't because of my dad's great disgust with "Cats" though. He took my mom to see "Cats" when I was fairly young and from that night on we have heard him lament having to spend 2 1/2 hrs. listening to a bunch of cats sing and about nothing to boot. If you ever want to get Mark Neider going, just ask him about the musical "Cats".

My love had to be garnered from other areas. When I was a sophomore in high school our marching band's half time and competitive show was based on "The Phantom of the Opera" (Did you forget I was a band nerd?) We won everything we competed in and I fell in love with the music. In fact, it was at this time that I 1st got to know my sister-in-law Colleen. She played the part of "Christine" and danced herself all across the field. She was dating Ryan at the time and it was fun to hang out with an older girl on the bus while we traveled around. My junior year my dad got us tickets to Phantom and we went while on vacation in California. It is truly one of those stand out moments in my life. My dad got us the tickets a few months before we went and I kept them closely guarded in my top drawer. I remember getting in trouble over some teenage misstep, probably over a boy, and he took them away from me and said one of my brothers would take my place. I was devastated! He hung onto them for quite sometime, but the week of our trip he brought them to me and said,"Do you really think I would keep you from the show?" My dad has always been a sucker for his girls! We went the same week of the L.A. riots and were scared to death to be driving around the area the theater was in (right across the street from the courthouse), but we weren't about to miss it. The theater was practically empty and my Dad, who had bought himself a cheaper ticket than us girls, was able to sneak down to the orchestra seats. He ended up with better orchestra seats than us! It was a BEAUTIFUL night and my memory of that night will forever be attached to that music and to my dad. I have played many, many Lloyd Webber songs in my time as a flutist, so it was very fun to hear tonight's music.

*Sayesha: I really loved this performance. It was my favorite of the night. It suited her and she really could be successful on Broadway I think. You could tell she didn't want to hear that, but it is true.

*Jason: I just didn't like him tonight...my heart hurts. "Memory" didn't suit him at all and he was way out of his element.

*Brooke: The poor thing has had to start over 2 times now this season. She is over thinking things and this type of music is way over her abilities. While I like her voice, it is not strong enough to tackle these songs. I medium liked this one.

*David A.: This was not at all what I expected and I surprised myself because I enjoyed it. He was the only one to twist the song enough to make it contemporary.

*Carley: Irreverence of the song topic aside...she did fine with this. She does tend to yell a lot and my throat hurts when I listen to her, but she was my 2nd fav performance of the night.

*David C.: Before I discuss his singing merits I need to get something off my chest. After paying attention to my sister's observations, I looked at his head in comparison to Ryan Seacrest's. Holy cow! Either Ryan has a teeny, tiny head or David C. has an enormous, gigantic head. I think it's David. In honor of this, he will here on out be referred to as David "The Head" Cook. Also, a few words from the movie 'So I Married and Axe Murderer':

Stuart MacKenzie: Look at the size of that boy's heed.
Tony Giardino: Shhh!
Stuart MacKenzie: I'm not kidding, it's like an orange on a toothpick.
Tony Giardino: Shhh, you're going to give the boy a complex.
Stuart MacKenzie: Well, that's a huge noggin. That's a virtual planetoid.
Tony Giardino: Shh!
Stuart MacKenzie: Has it's own weather system.
Tony Giardino: Sh, sh, shh.
Stuart MacKenzie: HEAD! MOVE! I'm not kidding, that boy's heed is like Sputnik; spherical but quite pointy at parts! Now that was offside, wasn't it? He'll be crying himself to sleep tonight, on his huge pillow. HEED! PANTS! NOW!

OK! I can now continue. The Head hit the high notes really good. I kinda held my breath when he was getting ready to hit some of them and when he hit them I gave a sigh of relief. That could have been embarrassing! I didn't particularly like this performance, especially when he went down to the lower notes. He's not really a 'melodic' singer. I disagree with what Randy and Paula had to say. It wasn't that great, but fine.

Possible bottom three: Brooke, Jason, Carley...I think it's time to choose a new favorite. Mine aren't doing too hot, as is usually the case by this point in the season. My 1st choice has yet to win the coveted title. Maybe I'm a jinx!