REACHING FOR THE STARS

The recent news that radio icon Casey Kasem was retiring from counting down the hits brought back a lot of memories for me. Like many young music fans, long before I ever started reading “Rolling Stone” or “Billboard,” I first learned the stories behind the hits from listening to “American Top 40.”

During college, one of my friends called Casey’s office to see if he would send us a tape of himself announcing a song for the school’s annual dance marathon.  We were amazed when Casey himself got on the phone. A bunch of us crowded around the dorm phone to listen in on the conversation. Little did I know that a few years later, I would be talking to Casey myself on pretty much a daily basis.

After I moved from Pennsylvania to California, my first big job was working at Dick Clark Productions. I was soon working as a researcher on Dick’s  “Countdown America” radio show and eventually became the writer of the program. After leaving that job, it wasn’t long before I heard that Casey Kasem was looking for a writer for his “Casey’s Top 40″ show. I went in for an interview and landed the gig. I was definitely the junior writer on the staff and that was okay, considering one scribe was well-known food critic and radio personality Merrill Shindler and the other was Leonard Pitts, Jr., who eventually left writing for Casey to became a columnist for the Miami Herald, where he won the Pulitzer Prize. Not bad company to be in and I learned a lot, especially from Casey himself.

When you had written a story, you faxed it to Casey and he would call back and either approve it, disapprove it or give you some ideas on how to fix it. I made a niche for myself chasing down artists for phone interviews in order to give myself the makings of the kind of story Casey wanted, which was about people triumphing over great odds by perseverance, talent and hard work, all of which could be summed up by his motto, “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.”

Of course, my most successful story in Casey’s eyes wasn’t about that at all. Instead, it was a story about how a singer named Jane Child has been influenced by the culture of India, and started wearing a chain that ran from her nose ring to an earring. She had also become a vegetarian. Casey himself was a vegan, and believed that eating animal products was a mistake. He believed hunger could be wiped out around the world if we all became vegetarians, so he thought I had really hit it out of the park with my Jane Child story.

As the new guy, I was given the job of sorting through the boxes of letters we received to find ones that could be used for Casey’s famous “Long Distance Dedication” segment. It was hard to do because when I worked on the show in 1990, it was the heyday of New Kids On The Block and just about every letter ended with a request that Casey play “Hangin’ Tough” or “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever).” There wasn’t a lot of variety in the requests, but somehow we managed to find enough appropriate letters to use in the show every week. And this would be a good place to add that while Casey is famous for the tapes that have gotten out of him losing his temper, I never saw him get upset once during the year I worked on the show. I believe that’s because our producer Bert Kleinman always gave Casey the kind of stories he wanted to tell.

There was one letter we got for the “Long Distance Dedication” that never made it into the script, but I’ve saved it ever since. I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s from Lawrence, and he writes…

Dear Casey,

My family and I came down to Tennessee to live. My dad and our family thought we could have a good life in Tennesseee. My dad and mom bought a little meat shop in Manchester. Business was going great for us. We got to spend a little more time together. My mom and dad asked my brother if we would like to spend their 12th anniversary with them, and me and my brother said yes.

My mom and dad decided to spend it in Chattanooga, Tennessee. So we went and came back to find out that our place burned. We lost everything we had. The fire marshall said my dad set the fire. My dad said how could he do it when he was in Chatanooga overnight. So my dad found another job, but he would be on the road all the time.

The new business was doing great until our truck burned one night. My dad and my uncle just came off the road and pulled in our driveway. My dad and uncle came in the house. My mom had supper ready for them when they came in like she always did. My dad and my uncle weren’t in the house five minutes and all of a sudden our truck exploded sitting in our driveway. My dad tried to put the fire out. We live close to the interstate. The interestate was blocked off a mile each way. That night our business burned right in front of our faces. The reason the interestate was blocked off was because the truck had exploded on it. The fire marshall gave us the same trouble as they did when our other place burned.

After that, my mom and dad got a divorce and she moved out and got her own place. One night she went to work and about midnight, the police called her at work and told her that her place had burned to the ground. Now my mom has her own place and living fine. My dad and my brother and me are living in a good neighborhood.

So Casey, will you play “We Didn’t Start The Fire” by Billy Joel?

GOODBYE MICHAEL

You know that legend about how celebrities die in threes? Well, when I woke up this morning and found out Farrah Fawcett had passed away, I said to myself, “I wonder who will be the third after Ed McMahon and Farrah?” I would never have suspected it would be Michael Jackson, although after hearing many stories over the years about how Michael barely eats anything, it certainly fits.

I first became a big fan of Michael Jackson in college, when songs like “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and “Rock With You” were some of the most popular songs at the school dances I attended. I moved to Los Angeles around the time “Thriller” came out, so I was here for the advent of Michael’s superstardom. I remember enjoying the videos for “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” in the dance clubs I frequented back then, and even went to see Disney’s re-release of “Fantasia” in 1983 just to be one of the first to see the video for “Thriller.” I attended the shooting of the Pepsi commercial where Michael’s hair caught on fire and I even went to the Victory Tour’s stop at Dodger Stadium.

But I was able to I got a little closer to Michael Jackson than seeing him from the upper reaches of Dodger Stadium. My roommate from college, Tom Stepanchak, had just moved out to L.A. and gotten a job as a runner at dick clark productions. A few weeks after he started, he was given the job of taking the eight American Music Awards Michael won in January of 1984 to his home in Encino. Tom got a late start and was forced to bring the awards to our apartment for safekeeping overnight, planning to deliver them the next day. While we were protecting the awards, we took the liberty of getting some photographs of them… in our refrigerator, sitting beside a spare glove and with us holding the awards (while wearing sunglasses of course)!

The next day, Tom and I set out for Encino. We easily found the Jackson compound, which was just a block or two off of Ventura Boulevard. The gates opened and we drove a few yards to a parking area with the Tudor-styled house on one side and a second building in front of us.

At first, we had no idea where to find Michael until La Toya Jackson pulled up behind us in her convertible and told us we should go into the office in the building in front of us. Naturally we went in the wrong door, going up a short stairway into a rehearsal room where aside from a few mirrors, every inch of wall and ceiling space was covered by posters and photos from the Jacksons’ career.

We quickly retreated back outside and went through the correct door to find Michael’s assistant sitting at a desk at the front of the room… and Michael himself dancing around a few feet behind her, singing to himself while holding up his famous band/military styled outfits in front of a mirror. Wanting Tom to keep his job, we pretended not to notice him.

Unfortunately, Michael became caught up in trying to outdo his success with “Thriller” every time he released a new album. He became a parody of himself and his legal problems certainly didn’t help. I always thought he could make a comeback if he would just put the emphasis back on his music, but that is not to be.

The last time I saw Michael appear live was at the taping of “American Bandstand’s 50th Anniversary.” As a favor to Dick Clark, he sang “Dangerous” in a truly breathtaking performance. It was exciting to be there, as it always was when Michael let his music and dancing do the talking for him.

IDOL INTERVIEW PARADE

Haven’t posted recently, but I have been typing up a storm! Writer Fred Bronson has been working his way through interviews with all of this year’s “American Idol” Top 10, and as always I tagged along. He’s done video interviews for hollywoodreporter.com (click on TV at the top of the page, then scroll through the video interviews. Kris Allen and Scott MacIntyre have been posted so far with more to come), as well as longer interviews with some of the Idols for their official press bios. It’s my job to type up the longer bio interviews, which has resulted in more than 100 single spaced pages so far!

The “Idol” interview parade started with the two-fer of Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta. Fred and I spent over an hour with Adam. I was fascinated to learn that for all of Adam’s confidence and mastery of the stage, his career has certainly seen it’s share of ups and downs. In fact, Adam really emphasized with the movie, “Slumdog Millionaire” because he realized that just like in the movie, all his trials helped prepare him for stardom. One of the low points was when he appeared in a production of “Debbie Does Dallas” at a Reno casino (don’t worry… we’re talking about a musical comedy version of the movie minus the sex). Adam admitted that the audience was a bit more interested in ogling the topless actresses than in hearing him sing. I was also intrigued to hear that Adam lived in my North Hollywood neighborhood when he first moved to L.A. from San Diego.

I have to admit I didn’t know much about Allison except for what I saw in her brief profiles on “Idol.” It turns out Allison didn’t quite start out as the rocker we know her as today. As a kid, she loved to sing Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go” on for people. More recently, one of her high school bands was known for playing a rock version of the recent hit, “Bleeding Love.” I would love to hear that and wish she had sang it on “Idol.”

Last week, we spent an hour with Kris Allen to help Fred prepare for writing his bio. There’s little doubt the humble nice guy America fell in love with is the real Kris. Did you know that Kris has traveled all over the world doing missionary work and that he and his wife don’t even own a TV? In response to a question I asked about if he thought his dark horse status on “Idol” helped him win the competition, Kris said he always flies under the radar and his time on the show was no different.

We spent the most time with Scott MacIntyre and I learned that Scott’s “American Idol” stint barely scratched the surface of his life story. The problems he’s faced (visual impairment, kidney failure) have been mountainous, but fortunately he had the intellect and ambition not to let those challenges slow him down. Amazingly, he entered college at age 14 and later obtained a Masters Degree. But maybe what impressed me most about Scott is his determination to make sure that his appearances on “American Idol” are just the beginning of his music career. While in L.A. for tour rehearsals with the rest of the Top 10, Scott is not letting the grass grow under his feet one bit. He’s been taking non-stop meetings with both recording and music publishing companies.

Yesterday during the hour long lunch break for the tour rehearsals (yes, I heard a bit of one of the group medleys but I’ve been pledged to secrecy… I will say I can’t get one of the songs off my mind so I just put it into my Itunes!), Fred completed video interviews with Lil Rounds, Megan Joy, Matt Giraud, Michael Sarver and Anoop Desai. All of them gave great interviews, as being on “Idol” doesn’t just give the contestants lessons in stage presence. They also get plenty of practice speaking to the press. I am alarmed though by how many contestants cite Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” album as an influence on their music. For instance, if you ask Kris Allen what his earliest memory of music is, he remembers playing “Dangerous” as a kid while dancing around his room pretending to be the Gloved One.

Now don’t get me wrong… I enjoy MJ’s music as much as anyone, but I went to college when Michael was King of the Discos with “Off The Wall” and “Thriller” came out the year I moved to California so “Billie Jean’ was the big song when I first started going to nighclubs out here, so it’s hard for me to believe “Dangerous” is the album that set someone on the path to music stardom. I guess it’s the choice of a new generation!

DUBAI TO YOU

So I promised you the adventures of Brian, International Courier. It’s not as glamorous as it sounds, unless you think a 17 hour flight in Economy Class is glamorous!

I was hired by a company called Filmworks Dubai to bring four astronaut costumes from California to the Middle Eastern city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. There are signs of construction everywhere you look in Dubai, and one of the things they’ve built is an amusement park with a space theme called Stargate. They needed the spacesuits to shoot a commercial for the new attraction and they needed them fast.

Of course, when I informed my friends that I was off to Dubai on just a day’s notice, a few of them feared for my safety. I wasn’t too worried and when I actually got to Dubai, I found the city to be even safer and more comfortable than I imagined. True, I was getting the tourist’s eye view, but much of the city’s economy is geared towards tourism and the service is top notch. Every single person I met spoke at least some English, plus all the signs are in English as well as Arabic. What really amazed me was in the Hallmark Store at the Dubai Mall, every single card was in English. Every single one!

I had a few days to check out the city during the production of the Stargate commercial and saw quite a bit. My first stop was Souk Madinat Jumeirah. A souk is a traditional Arab market, although this particular souk, while designed with a traditional Arabic look, is part of a beautiful new resort and has many modern restaurants and bars which open out onto patio seating on a beautiful lagoon with a view of the famous Burj Al Arab hotel. The first thing I saw upon walking into the Souk were outlets for Cinnabon, Baskin Robbins and Starbucks. See what I mean about feeling right at home? Although I was a bit more experimental with the meals I had there, eating dinner at a Japanese noodle house and lunch at a Lebanese restaurant.

The next day I headed downtown for a look at two of the city’s new malls. First up was the Dubai Mall, billed as the world’s largest, and I believe it! It featured such highlights as a two story aquarium, dancing fountains like those at the Bellagio, and the biggest food court I have ever seen. And while I was stunned by the food court, most visitors would have probably been more impressed by The Gold Souk section within the mall, which features over 180 jewelry stores, one after another!

I next took a taxi to the Mall Of The Emirates. While not as amazingly large as the Dubai Mall, it does have an impressive claim to fame, an indoor ski resort called Ski Dubai whichhad attracted large crowds of teens and children skiing, snowboarding or just throwing snowballs.

Both malls were full of the same chain stores you see here in America. In fact, walking past the stores, you might not have realized you were even in a foreign country except for the many men and women in traditional Arabic clothes. I have to hand it to them: as a Muslim, you are suppoed to wear modest clothing to cover up your body. What this translates to is wearing long pants and long sleeve shirts in one of the hottest places I’ve ever been.

And speaking of hot, the next day I hit the beach and was in turn hit by a mild case of sunstroke. The problem was the water temperature. While in the U.S., you jump in the ocean to cool off, but in Dubai, it’s warm in the water. There was just no getting away from the heat, at least until I left the beach and recovered in a nearby covered courtyard with jets of cool water rising from the floor.

Sunday I visited Shindagha, the original site from which Dubai grew and which is preserved as a living history museum. Nearby is Dubai Creek, home of the traditional markets the Gold Souk and the Spice Souk. I also ate lunch at a cafe in Bastakiya, a site of traditional courtyard houses and art galleries. The cafe had complimentary copies of the local English language newspaper, The National, and I was happy to read the Lakers made it into the NBA Finals.

Finally on my last full day in the city, I checked out the Stargate attraction (which is due to open in three weeks and was full of workmen adding finishing touches) and watched the filming of the segment of the commercial using the astronaut uniforms I brought to Dubai. I’ve been on quite a few sets in my life and none of them have used the amount of bottled water they needed to keep the crew hydrated in Dubai!

After a long flight back to California, fortunately I was still awake enough to convince the customs agent that the astronaut costumes were not being imported for sale and should not be locked up until I can pay a broker to get them for me. I just hope that 32 hours after I woke up this morning in Dubai, this post is every bit as coherent as my argument!

BACKSTAGE AT THE “GEORGE STRAIT: ACM ARTIST OF THE DECADE ALL STAR CONCERT”

In less than 24 hours, CBS will broadcast the “George Strait: ACM Artist Of The Decade All Star Concert,” which I worked on all through March until the concert was taped on April 6th.

As the researcher on the show, I had a number of duties. The first thing I did when I got the job was learning about the life of George Strait and developing fact sheets about each of the songs the performers would be singing. This task was helped along by the fact I still had the 72 page booklet that was included in George’s box set, “Strait Out Of The Box.” The book had George’s thoughts on all the songs in the 4 CD set, as well as a year by year chronology of George’s life, and it really came in handy when I wrote up some questions that George was asked during an interview at his ranch for the show.

Another job I had was gathering materials like photos and videos that would be used in the montages saluting the past ACM Artist Of The Decade winners. The producers also needed extra photos of those previous winners to project behind the performers who were singing their songs during the concert. Garth Brooks sent us plenty of exciting concert footage, so I was easily able to check him off my list. Alabama was a little trickier. Since they are no longer an active group, RCA Records donated all their memorabilia to the Country Music Hall Of Fame, so there wasn’t much available. Fortunately, Dick Clark Productions had featured Alabama many times on their shows and had even produced a one hour special about the group, so in the end, we found what we needed. As for Loretta Lynn, her tour manager Jim Hill was a huge help, sending us plenty of great photos from throughout Loretta’s life. I also enjoyed researching the life of Marty Robbins, in which I was helped by Marty’s son, Ronny, who came through again and again for us. Not only did he send us some great photos, but he was able to identify some footage of Marty we wanted to use. It turned out to be from a show that Ronny himself owned!

My most important task on the All Star Concert was also the most fun (at least until we got to Las Vegas during the week of the show itself!). The show’s writer, Fred Bronson, asked me to try to get phone interviews with all of the artists performing on the show to find out what George Strait and his music meant to them, as well as why they picked the song they were performing. Now while in the past I’ve worked for months to get an interview with a single rock singer, I talked to just about every artist I needed within a week of starting to arrange the interviews. Those that couldn’t find time in their schedules or were overseas that week sent e-mailed replies to my list of questions. This is a tribute to the stars of country music, their accessibility and their work ethic. I especially want to single out Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn who left his sickbed to call me and Blake Shelton who told me some very funny stories and was hilarious in a self depreciating way.

Fred tried to stick as close as he could to what the stars told me during their interviews. In fact, once we got to Vegas and started rehearsals, Taylor Swift couldn’t believe how Fred captured her admiration of George, at least until Fred pointed out to her that he just used what she had said in her interview with me, whcih caused Taylor to come over and give me a hug.

While the rehearsals for the ACMA’s went on in the Grand Garden Arena, the performers that were also on our show came by to rehearse in a huge ballroom across the street. I thought it was funny that while fans had staked out the entrances to the Arena in an effort to meet their favorite stars, no one knew about our rehearsals so there were no fans hanging out around the ballroom where they could have easily spoken to a long list of country superstars. Wait, I take that back. There was one fan getting autographs: me! I was well prepared, having brought a tall stack of booklets from the various Greatest Hits CD’s in my collection and was rewarded with signatures from Dierks Bentley, Keith Urban, Montgomery Gentry, Taylor Swift, Toby Keith and Lee Ann Womack.

Unlike on the Awards where all the singers played with their touring bands, each performer on our show (with the exception of George Strait) was backed by a house band, which had set up their instruments in a corner of the ballroom. It was exciting to see the singers come in one by one and communicate what they wanted their song to sound like. Some just ran through the song once or twice and were satisfied, while others experimented with tempos and sound.

There was one sad moment during the rehearsals. While Alan Jackson was rehearsing “The Fireman,” he asked who had chosen to perform my favorite George Strait song, “The Chair.” The answer was no one, and Alan said he’d wished he’d known because he would have sung that. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, those long legs of Alan’s carried him out of the ballroom before I was able to ask him for an autograph! Still, I’m not going to hold it against him. In fact, during the actual concert, I was up and dancing while Alan was onstage and the cameraman in the audience took a shot of me, so hopefully you’ll see me if you watch the show. I’m the bald man in black…

While the stars you’d expect to be great on the show are just that, some others who aren’t as well known (or even aren’t well known for country music) provided some of the highlights. For instance, R&B and movie star Jamie Foxx received a well deserved standing ovation for putting a Marvin Gaye spin on George’s “You Look So Good In Love,” while up and coming country star Jack Ingram turned “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” into a pulse-pounding rocker.

I just wish you had all been at the show, because there’s no way the producers will be able to fit everything that happened that night into just two hours (maybe you start making plans now to attend the Next Artist Of The Decade Concert in 2019!)  Each star would speak from the heart about George or the  earlier Artist Of The Decade winner they were paying tribute to, perform their song and then talk some more about George, which usually lead to a handshake or hug between George and the artist. It was all very emotional and you can see it for yourself tonight.

And if you do, you’ll see it before me, because I’ll be overseas on a new job. Check back in a few days for the adventures of Brian, International Courier…

AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 8: THE FINALE

The day started with lunch with one of my all time musical favorites, Neil Sedaka. Neil is amazingly busy these days. He has a hit children’s album called “Waking Up Is Hard To Do,” they’re doing a musical in London based on his life and he’s planning another assault on the pop charts with an album of brand new Sedaka songs. Can’t wait for that…

Neil was pulling for Adam to take home the “Idol” title, but as you all know by now, it was not to be. Still, even if you loved Adam, it was hard not to be impressed by Kris too, so I hope the Adam fans won’t take the loss too hard.

I have to say the highlights of the finale both involved Adam, as his rocking medley with Kiss got the audience on their feet cheering, and his duet with Kris on Queen’s “We Are The Champions” was the emotional high point of the show.

After the confetti flew, I headed with my friend Fred Bronson to the Mondrian Hotel for an after-party at the famous Skybar sponsored by 19 Entertainment. While it was a few hours before any Idols showed up, that was okay because it gave us a chance to sample the many dishes that the waiters and waitresses circling the party were handing out (I still have nightmares about last year’s wrap party, when Fred and I got there too late and they were done serving food, so we ended up eating at 2:00 in the morning).

The first star we saw in attendance was Janice Dickinson, but it wasn’t long before the party became a true Idolpalooza! Not only were the entire Top 13 from this year in attendance, but so were some favorites from past seasons including Bo Bice, Carly Smithson, David Cook, Diana DeGarmo, Kimberley Locke and Jason Castro. Of course, I always get a kick out of seeing Jason at these events because during an interview I sat in on during his time on Idol, he said how much he hated being asked to take photos with people. Of course, that doesn’t stop Jason from saying yes to every request with a smile. I asked Jason when we can expect an album from him. He said he’s planning on an October release and will start recording soon.

Of this year’s crew, I especially enjoyed spending a little time with Scott MacIntyre, who is every bit as funny in real life as he was on the Idol stage. And after a past Idol contestant told me how some singers in past years spent all their tour money before they even got out on the road, when I ran into Michael Sarver and his wife, I told him to be careful spending the money he’ll make on tour, but he was way ahead of me. He’s already planning some smart investments!

Of course, the party was almost like a treasure hunt, as people ran around getting their photos taken with the Idols on hand. Unfortunately, when one girl asked me to take a photo of her with Paula Abdul, her camera wouldn’t work, even after I tried five separate times. Fortunately, I didn’t have that problem when I took a photo of a friend with Kris Allen.

The most interesting conversation of the night was with Kris’s father, who was being schooled in what was ahead for his son and their family by Diana DeGarmo and David Archuleta. Mr. Allen said that people were already dropping letters to Kris on their porch (one nine year old wrote that she was single in crayon!), but David insisted that was nothing, as people had gotten inside his house! Needless to say, Mr. Allen is going to try to remember to turn on his home security system from here on out!

I also sympathized with the plight of Brooke White’s husband, David. Brooke had an early flight scheduled in the morning, but naturally she wanted to say hello to all the friends and well-wishers she could. I told Dave that he had to be the steering committe and steer her out of there. He said it was more like the tugging committee and sure enough, the next time I saw the couple, Dave was leading Brooke off to the valet parking station.

Just a very fun night. Hopefully, we’ll do it all again next year for American Idol’s ninth season finale!

AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 8: TOP TWO ANALYSIS

Tonight I have a very special report for you, as I actually attended Tuesday night’s American Idol show at the Nokia Theater (and also plan on being on the scene tomorrow too!)!

The afternoon started with lunch at The Farm of Beverly Hills at LA Live, just around the corner from the Nokia. Also enjoying lunch there was former Idol producer and current “So You Think You Can Dance” producer/judge Nigel Lythgoe.

The meal was followed by some time spent at the AT&T tent on the red carpet where many of the past Idol contestants were signing autographs. On hand were Blake Lewis, Bo Bice, Chikezie, Chris Richardson, Diana DeGarmo, Haley Scarnato, Kimberley Locke, Kristy Lee Cook, LaKisha Jones, Melinda Doolittle, Mikalah Gordon, Paris Bennett and Vonzell Solomon. I watched as Cory the warm-up comic for “Idol” hosted a promotion where each Idol was given a cell phone with an amount texted to it. A contest winner from Texas got to choose an Idol with the amounts going from ten thousand dollars to a million. I told my friend Fred Bronson that I would pick Blake. He picked Chikezie. The actual contestant picked LaKisha, whose phone had an amount of $ 50,000! It turned out picking Blake would have been worth just $ 10,000, but Fred had it right! Chikezie had the million dollar phone!

We then headed inside for the show, where we sat in Row HH (just two rows in front of fifth season Idol contestant Kevin Covais, who told us he’s just made a movie with Lindsay Lohan called “Labor Pains”). While not as close to the stage as my seat for the finale last year, this time at least I was in the center. And while many have complained that Adam Lambert has a tendency to scream when he’s rocking out, he had nothing on the girls sitting behind us. Piercing!

The show started with Adam’s reprise of “Mad World,” which was one of my favorite performances of the season. While not as emotional as Kris’s first song of the evening, “Ain’t No Sunshine,” I still enjoyed it the second time around.

Adam upped the emotional ante quite a bit with his second selection, “A Change Is Gonna Come.” This was the Adam I came to hear. An amazing voice in the service of a dramatic song. There wasn’t much Kris could do to match Adam when he sang his version of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On.” I’m fond of the version Cyndi Lauper does on her “True Colors” album, which is both rocking and very emotional, and Kris didn’t reach that plateau.

Next up was the reveal of this year’s “American Idol” single, “No Boundaries.” While Kris could have done a great job on this had he been allowed to perform it acoustically with his guitar, the rules said he had to stand at the mike and sing it. The arrangement seemed high for Kris’s voice and didn’t play to his strengths. While I thought it was a bit hard to understand the lyrics at times when Adam sang it, Adam definitely won the final round.

So while I would say that Adam won the night hands down, I’m not so sure Adam will be the next American Idol. At least in the beginning of the night, the audience was definitely on Kris’s side and screamed the loudest whenever he was mentioned. True, Adam got a bigger ovation for his version of the final song, but you’d have to say the title of “American Idol 2009″ is truly up for grabs.

It turns out that one person who doesn’t care who wins is Kris Allen’s father, who we ran into the lobby after the show. Mr. Allen is a truly nice guy who realizes that Kris and Adam are so different as artists, they can both do well in the music business. And he’s right!

The evening ended with a wonderful dinner at another new downtown restaurant, Fleming’s, and the best news of all: the Lakers won the first game of the Western Conference Finals!

See you back here in 24 hours with tales of the Finale and the after-parties (well, if I get into the parties, that is…)!

LOST NO MORE!

First off, if you haven’t seen the Season Finale of “Lost” Season 5, stop reading now! Spoilers ahead!

So for the past two days, I’ve been reading everyone’s analysis on the web of Wednesday night’s rather revealing episode, in addition to exploring some of the myths and legends evoked by what we saw. And I believe I’ve figured out some things beyond the obvious… including the identity of the Smoke Monster! Here are some ideas and theories to chew on during the long hiatus:

I think most “Lost” watchers will agree that Jacob is really the Jacob of the Bible, which would make his mysterious adversary his brother Esau. I found it interesting when reading about Jacob and Esau, I discovered that Jacob was a simple man, a dweller in tents (like the Others), while Esau was a hunter (no wonder he could kill a boar while impersonating Locke). Also, while known for living in Canaan, the brothers also spent time in Egypt. Of course, having identified Jacob and Esau doesn’t preclude them from having taken other names throughout history or having different myths spring up about them. The story of Cain and Abel comes to mind.

While I’m sure that Doc Jensen, the “Lost” guru of “Entertainment Weekly,” is correct in his assumption that the touch of Jacob will enable the souls of the 815′ers to live on in the new timeline created by The Incident, which is why Jacob muttered the words, “They’re coming,” as he died, I’ve discovered another possible explanation for Jacob’s words. It seems that during the End Of Days, Jacob’s descendants will come to Mount Seir and deliver judgement upon Esau’s descendants. That could also be who’s coming… Oh, and don’t forget that Jacob had twelve sons and one of them was Benjamin. That’s quite in keeping with the “Lost” theme of sons killing their fathers!

Ah, but what you really want to know is who or what is the smoke monster? Well, I’ve decided it’s an Egyptian deity called Nehebkau. This was a benevolent snake god who was the guardian of the underworld and in fact was responsible for judging those that arrived in the afterlife. Nehebkau’s name comes from an ancient Egyptian word meaning “Yoke together” or “Unite.” Rather reminiscent of the “Lost” mantra, “Live together, die alone,” isn’t it?

Nehebkau had another power, that of joining the ka, a part of the soul, with a physical body. The ancient Egyptians believed the ka could manifest itself like a ghost, whether a person was dead or alive. That would explain how the smoke monster could appear as various people.

The big question in my mind: Is Esau also the Smoke Monster? While many fans are assuming they’re one and the same, I don’t think so. I thought that when Ben told Esau (while he was in the guise of Locke) that he was told by Smokey to obey Locke, Esau was surprised. Also, if indeed Esau was a prisoner in what we thought previously was Jacob’s cabin, how did the Smoke Monster operate on the island during that time?

Of course, many “Lost” fans are assuming we’ve seen the last of Juliet, as Elizabeth Mitchell will have a fulltime job come fall on the new show, “V.” But I think I’ll hold out hope that she’ll make a cameo in the final episode, something like that scene at the end of “Heaven Can Wait” where Julie Christie and Warren Beatty’s character meet once again and are immediately attracted to each other. We can only hope for that happy ending between Juliet and Sawyer.

Which brings up one final observation… online, some viewers were disappointed in the Season 5 finale because so many of the characters took the actions they did out of love. But I believe that will turn out to be the ultimate moral of “Lost”: that love is the most important thing in our lives, that love comes first. I think it’s what Jacob is hoping for… unless he turns out to be the devil, of course. What, just because a guy wears white, you assume he’s the good guy? Either way, we’ll find out in eight months!

THE LOST WORLD

There’s little doubt I’m a pop culture fanatic. My entire life revolves around movies, music and TV. Yet there is one icon of pop culture that stands alone in my personal pantheon, above “American Idol,” the Lakers, Bruce Springsteen and the latest superhero movie, and that is “Lost.”

In just a few hours, the Season Five finale of “Lost” will be broadcast and I can’t wait! Producer Damon Lindelof has said that after tonight’s episode, fans will finally have enough information to start putting the pieces together and figure out what’s going on in the show. That’s great, but not that important. I have no idea if “Lost” will answer every mystery it’s introduced but I trust the producers to wrap the show up in a satisfying way when the show ends next season and I’ve been enjoying the answers as they come along. Unlike one of my previous favorite shows, “The X-Files,” which lost control of their mythology in an attempt to strech out the story for nine seasons, the powers that be at “Lost” made the decision to stop at six seasons, which has made every show count.

Of course, what hooked me on “Lost” wasn’t just the storytelling, but the mysteries. I’m a sucker for trying to figure out what’s going on, whether you’re talking about “The X-Files,” comic books like “Planetary” and “100 Bullets,” and “Lost.” But even while doling out the mythology, “Lost” has always kept the focus on the characters. For instance, while we’ve spent time with the Dharma Initiative this season, we really don’t know that much about its workings. We have learned about the personalities of the members of the Initiative though, from Dr. Chang’s no nonsense manner to Radzinsky’s paranoia.

The other area in which “Lost” has excelled is with the addition of new characters. What other show has added characters after the first season that have become some of the most popular on the show? “Lost” did it over and over with Ben, Desmond, Juliet and Daniel.

“Lost” is the one show I’ve bought every season of on DVD. It’s always fun to go back and look at earlier episodes with the knowledge you’ve gained from more recent episodes, plus it’s nice to be able to share the show with friends. As the shows promos have insisted, it’s never too late to get “Lost.”

Oh, and if you hear a scream about 10:59 tonight, don’t worry. It’s just my reaction to the latest way “Lost” has once again pulled the rug right out from under its viewers, as well as my terror at the fact I’ve gotta wait eight months to see how it all turns out!

AMERICAN IDOL 8: TOP 3 ANALYSIS

I always enjoy the strategy of Top 3 night. What will the judges pick? What will the contestants pick? What will Clive Davis pick? What’s that? They’re only doing two songs a piece this year? Let’s see what we got:

“DANCE LITTLE SISTER” – Danny Gokey

I have to admit I was stunned by Paula’s choice of this song. If you’re going to have Danny sing Terrence Trent D’Arby, why not make it one of his Top Five hits, “Wishing Well” or “Sign Your Name,” rather than a song that only hit # 30 that not many people remember? Yet the song choice ended up working for Danny. He pushed his voice hard in the first verse and sounded pretty good, then made the mistake of doing some jazz scatting. Still, the performance was fun for the most part and was one of Danny’s better outings on the Idol stage.

“APOLOGIZE” – Kris Allen

Unfortunately, Kris came in second in my mind to David Archuleta’s take on this song during the finals last year, when Archie even surpassed One Republic’s Ryan Tedder when they were on stage together. This would have been an impressive performance during say Top 6 week, but Kris needed a knockout punch and didn’t deliver. With the exception of improving on the high notes, I’m not sure there’s much Kris could have done with the song. While Randy and Kara were hoping Kris would rearrange it, this wasn’t really a song that gave him any leeway to do that. It’s a pleasant ballad but not exactly a deep lyric. Maybe they should let Simon choose all the Judges’ Choice songs…

“ONE” – Adam Lambert

At first I was so wowed, I didn’t take any notes… but then Adam started shouting a bit and I thought lost some of the emotion inherent in the song. He’s certainly not playing it safe. It was nice to see Adam speak a bit after the song.

“YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL” – Danny Gokey

Danny sounded a bit like Michael Bolton on this, and I mean that as a compliment. Could Danny be purposely bad some weeks just so he can come back and redeem himself the following week? Of course not, but that’s exactly what he did on his two songs tonight and it should put him in the finals next week.

“HEARTLESS” – Kris Allen

You have to hand it to Kris. He chose a song that was popular during the last few months, which should help bring in some votes. It was brave to redo a rap song with just his guitar. I thought there were so many words in the verses that it made it hard to sing, but the chorus was catchy.

“CRYIN” – Adam Lambert

Now that was a vocal master class, even if the female background vocal took away from Adam’s performance a bit. I did think the showiness of his vocal lacked the proper emotion in the song a little, which should be sadness. And yet I can’t wait for the Idol tour to hear Adam wail live. I have a feeling my television hasn’t come close to capturing his voice.

Next week, it’s goodbye to Season 8! See you then!