Newsline

The 3 Gs of American Idol: Week 3

By Mike Chin on March 10, 2010 in Newsline

The 3 Gs of American Idol

In a departure from our normal content, we will be guiding you through this season of American Idol from The A Cappella Blog’s perspective. We’re going to do this through the 3 Gs format.

Great/Good: Represents my thoughts on the best performance(s) of the night—these are the star-makers, the tearjerkers, the ones we’re all going to remember.

Gone: Represents my thoughts on the contestant(s) who I think is most likely to be going home (not necessarily the one I think should be going home).

Give it a second look: Represents the act(s) you might not remember, or that we might not have expected much from, but which delivered just the same, and deserve another listen.

Here are my thoughts from tonight’s episode:

GOOD

Crystal Bowersox gives us one reason she should stay here: I was skeptical of Crystal’s act in the early-going, but week in and week out she’s turning in the most consistently strong performances of anyone on Idol. Mellow as it may have been, this performance was more comfortable, confident, and professional than any act, male or female this week.

Andrew Garcia rubs things the right way: Say what you will about this being re-hash of Andrew’s “Straight Up” style from before. It was a nice twist on an established song and one of the best sounding performances this week.

The 3 Gs of American Idol: Week 2, Part 2

By Mike Chin on March 3, 2010 in Newsline

The 3 Gs of American Idol

In a departure from our normal content, we will be guiding you through this season of American Idol from The A Cappella Blog’s perspective. We’re going to do this through the 3 Gs format.

Great/Good: Represents my thoughts on the best performance(s) of the night—these are the star-makers, the tearjerkers, the ones we’re all going to remember.

Gone: Represents my thoughts on the contestant(s) who I think is most likely to be going home (not necessarily the one I think should be going home).

Give it a second look: Represents the act(s) you might not remember, or that we might not have expected much from, but which delivered just the same, and deserve another listen.

Here are my thoughts from tonight’s episode:

GOOD

Crystal Bowersox sees the light: What can I say? Every now and again, the judges nail it. This was a star-making performance that all but erased the hospital-trip-sympathy votes she was going to get anyway, replacing them with legit fan support for a talented musician. While not among my personal favorites, objectively speaking, this was quite possibly the best we’ve seen from any contestant this season.

The 3 Gs of American Idol: Week 2, Part 1

By Mike Chin on March 3, 2010 in Newsline

In a departure from our normal content, we will be guiding you through this season of American Idol from The A Cappella Blog’s perspective. We’re going to do this through the 3 Gs format.

Great/Good: Represents my thoughts on the best performance(s) of the night—these are the starmakers, the tearjerkers, the ones we’re all going to remember.

Gone: Represents my thoughts on the contestant(s) who I think is most likely to be going home (not necessarily the one I think should be going home).

Give it a second look: Represents the act(s) you might not remember, or that we might not have expected much from, but which delivered just the same, and deserve another listen.

Here are my thoughts from tonight’s episode:

GOOD

Michael Lynche declares that this world is his own: After an underwhelming, borderline Gokey-esque performance last week, Big Mike came back strong this time around, pounding out some soulful James Brown sounds. I wouldn’t want to see this side of the guy every week--I think there’s plenty of room for him to be upbeat and still really sing, perhaps in the form of a little Stevie Wonder. Nonetheless, he redeemed himself nicely this week, reasserting himself as one of this year’s frontrunners.

Newsline: The Sing-Off is coming back, updates on ACB contests

By Mike Chin on March 1, 2010 in Newsline

-The New York Times reports that NBC is planning to bring back The Sing-Off, though the details are still very much up in the air.

-This is the final week to enter the ACB ICCA Bracket Contest. For a full list of rules and terms, click here. To enter, click on the button on the upper right of this page.

-There are only two weeks left to submit your entry to The ACB Group Name Contest. You can get full details of the contest here.

The ACB ICCA Show is a Success!

By Mike Chin on February 28, 2010 in Newsline

The ACB would like to offer a huge thanks to everyone involved in this Saturday's ICCA Mid-Atlantic Quarterfinal.

ACB ICCA Show

We had a ball hosting, but must acknowledge that none of it would have been possible without the support of Varsity Vocals staff like Dave Rabizadeh, Lindsay Howterton, and Amanda Newman; volunteers like Will Browar, Mike Peek, Sara Rusick, and Gen Chawluk; our amazing sound technicians from SOL Productions; the judges; the nine competing groups; co-hosts Nazareth College Call4BackUp; Nazareth College's Department of Marketing and Communications, Jamie Fazio, and countless others; and our fantastic audience.

We will have an abbreviated write-up on the show, and a ton of photos coming soon--be sure to check back!

The 3 Gs of American Idol: Week 1, Part 2

By Mike Chin on February 25, 2010 in Newsline

In a departure from our normal content, we will be guiding you through this season of American Idol from The A Cappella Blog’s perspective. We’re going to do this through the 3 Gs format.

Great/Good: Represents my thoughts on the best performance(s) of the night—these are the starmakers, the tearjerkers, the ones we’re all going to remember.

Gone: Represents my thoughts on the contestant(s) who I think is most likely to be going home (not necessarily the one I think should be going home).

Give it a second look: Represents the act(s) you might not remember, or that we might not have expected much from, but which delivered just the same, and deserve another listen.

Here are my thoughts from tonight’s episode:

GOOD

If Andrew Garcia is going down, he’s going down swinging: Despite incurring the wrath of the judges, Andrew was, hands down, the best of the guys this week. Where Todrick Hall remixed “Since U Been Gone” beyond the point of recognition, Andrew did a fine job of sticking to the original melody, but putting forth a distinctive performance, acousticizing a song that was recorded to be very plugged in. He sounded great, the song was cool, and he’s very likeable. There is little doubt this guy is in it for the long haul.

The 3 Gs of American Idol: Week 1, Part 1

By Mike Chin on February 23, 2010 in Newsline

In a departure from our normal content, we will be guiding you through this season of American Idol from The A Cappella Blog’s perspective. We’re going to do this through the 3 Gs format.

Great/Good: Represents my thoughts on the best performance(s) of the night—these are the starmakers, the tearjerkers, the ones we’re all going to remember.

Gone: Represents my thoughts on the contestant(s) who I think is most likely to be going home (not necessarily the one I think should be going home).

Give it a second look: Represents the act(s) you might not remember, or that we might not have expected much from, but which delivered just the same, and deserve another listen.

Here are my thoughts from tonight’s episode:

GREAT

Lilly Scott weirds out with The Beatles. Particularly in these early weeks, American Idol is not about being the best, but about standing out. In this performance, Lilly was both in the upper echelon of the night’s performers and, by far, the most distinctive contestant. This was the perfect song choice to assert her individuality and start developing an alt-chick-rock niche among voters. What’s more, she actually sounded good for the duration of her performance, which is more than half of tonight’s field can say.

Katie Stevens is “Feelin’ Good.” While the little idealist in me wants to think that the performance order for this show is truly random, it can hardly be a coincidence that acts like this tend to get the money spot, wrapping up the night. This performance reminded me of Kelly Clarkson in season one, Jordin Sparks a couple years ago--not so much in terms of style or voice, but in how she carried herself. Katie was classy, confident and professional. What’s more, she’s young and beautiful, and as much as this is a singing competition, those factors never go unnoticed. The icing on the cake came when she respectfully accepted all the nay-saying from the judges about how the song choice was too old for her, further establishing herself as humble and likeable. Mark my words, Katie will go far in this competition.

GONE

Paige Miles is not looking so “All Right Now”: So, the judges were pretty keen on the night’s first competitor, which some folks may think will lead her to safety. The problem is that she got just enough praise that voters won’t feel desperate to help her survive, and she was otherwise unmemorable. Her position on the show only amplifies that. On top of all of this, she just wasn’t all that good, spending her entire performance striving to be the big, bad belting diva, which is a crown that others—most notably Michelle Delamor on “Fallin’”—soundly displaced her for. Paige’s prospects are not looking so good.

ACB Contest: Group Name Contest

By Mike Chin on February 11, 2010 in Newsline

The collegiate a cappella world is known for its celebration of puns, obscure references, musical in-jokes, celebrations of school pride and more. We’re interested in seeing what you can come up with for the most clever, funniest, most creative, or otherwise best original name for a collegiate a cappella group.

This group name should not, as far as you can find, be in use by a current group, have been used by a now-defunct group, or be planned for use by a group that is taking shape now. In other words, be creative and come up with something legitimately new. Please Google your idea or search our group directory before sending it in, as a preliminary check for whether it has been used before.

Send all entries through our Contact Page. For the subject line, please enter: “Group Name Contest.” Please include your full name with your entry.

You’re welcome to enter as many group names as you like, but please enter them in as few messages as possible so as to not overwhelm our inbox.

All entries must be received by Friday, March 12, 2009. Entries will be judged base upon creativity, quality and good humor, at the sole discretion of ACB management. The winner and top runners up will be announced on The A Cappella Blog on Thursday, March 18.

The winner of the contest will receive five ACB Save the Music wristbands and will have $5 donated to the VH1 Save the Music Foundation in their name.

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