David Bryan and “Memphis” Win Big at the Tonys!
June 13, 2010
Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan was always the band’s resident geek. A former pre-med student who left Rutgers to study at Juilliard, he ventured into musical theater in 2002 when he, along with playwright and lyricist Joe DiPietro, started work on a musical called Memphis, the story of a white radio DJ (based loosely on real life DJ Dewey Phillips, one of the first white DJs to play black music) and a black singer who fall in love in the Jim Crow south at the moment of rock ‘n’ roll’s ascendancy. Following several regional theater productions, the show finally opened on Broadway last fall. Tonight, it was nominated for 8 Tony Awards and won four including the night’s top prize for Best Musical. Bryan himself won for Best Score and (with Daryl Waters) Best Orchestrations. Early in the night’s broadcast, Jon Bon Jovi (and an entire Bon Jovi concert audience) wished his bandmate well via satellite. 
And apparently the well-wishes worked. Memphis won out against 11-time nominee Fela!, based on the life and music of Nigerian bandleader Fela Kuti. Among that musical’s many producers were Jay-Z and Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Though they left without trophies, the three Fela! producers got a lot of special attention from some of the performers. Lea Michele of Glee serenaded Jay-Z and Beyonce with “Don’t Rain on My Parade”, and, earlier, Douglas Hodge, who went on to win Best Actor in a Leading Role (Musical), playing drag queen Albin in La Cage aux Folles (the part Nathan Lane played in The Birdcage) delivered one of the night’s best laughs when s/he started to take a seat in Will Smith’s lap only to leap suddenly away with a coy glance to his crotch.
The first five minutes of the broadcast looked more like the Grammys than the Tonys, culminating with Green Day’s appearance on stage to rip through the song “Holiday” with the cast of American Idiot, the musical based on the band’s 2004 concept album. The musical was only nominated for three awards (including Best Musical), and only took home an award for Best Lighting Design. The fourth Best Musical nominee was Million Dollar Quartet, a stage re-creation of a legendary Sun Studios session that brought together Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash for a historic, one-off rockabilly summit in 1956. Levi Kreis, the cast’s Jerry Lee Lewis, won for Best Actor in a Featured Role (Musical).
Lady Gaga Mixes Religion and Sex in “Alejandro”: And? So?
June 10, 2010
There once was a time when a music video was meant to promote a song. In the last year, Lady Gaga has been hard at work reversing that equation. By the time she releases videos for her singles, they’ve already saturated radio playlists. When “Alejandro”, the third promoted single from Gaga’s The Fame Monster album, first hit the airwaves a couple months ago, I was less excited by the song itself than I was curious about what the song’s video would be like. Increasingly, her singles have become teasers for forthcoming short films, which are increasingly promoted the way movies are, with trailers and making-of videos popping up via Gaga’s website, her Twitter and Facebook feeds to throw a little lighter fluid on the bonfire of her “little monsters’” ardent devotion. The songs are just soundtrack.
In this case, the soundtrack is essentially the greatest Ace of Base single they haven’t recorded since “The Sign”, although it’s drawn more comparisons to Madonna – apparently because it’s got Spanish names in it and Madonna sometimes sings songs with Spanish names in them too. The video, however – a collaboration with fashion photographer Steven Klein – is unmistakably Madonna: a veritable mash-up of “Vogue” and “Express Yourself”, with a heaping dollop of arty que-erotica (“Justify My Love”), a big, drippy, melty scoop of religious provocation a la “Like a Prayer” and, what the hell, a tiny bit of “Live to Tell”’s confessional intimacy. It’s all enough to forget about that silly Ace of Base re-write entirely. 
But if the song seems a bit beside the point, the video, after nearly nine minutes, seems disappointingly pointless. It’s not the video’s imagery I object to, although the images’ presumed objectionability appears to be one of the video’s central objectives. The marionetted bodyguard holding a golden gun where his penis ought to be? The leather military uniforms and near-naked goosestepping choreography. The funereal march, the disembodied heart strapped and spiked to a silk pillow? The rubber Joan of Arc hoods and scarlet nuns’ habits? Gaga in ill-fitting flesh colored undies, simulating penetration of a man on an institutional bed? When Gaga previewed some of the video’s imagery on the American Idol stage last month, she was fairly inviting Fox viewers to stage protests and boycotts. (All I could think of was poor Adam Lambert, simulating a little oral sex and giving a band member a kiss on a low-rated awards show after kiddies’ bedtime, while Gaga’s spectacle appeared on a top-rated paragon of family entertainment.)
But “Alejandro” doesn’t feel courageous, or even outrageous, or even terribly interesting. More than anything, it reads as parody – of Madonna, yes, but of Gaga herself. How else to read the way she allows herself to be manhandled by her flock of gay-boy dancers with their ridiculous Catholic monk bowl cuts? The first time I saw it, it just looked hokey. More and more, it comes to resemble a really expensive, really elaborately bit of sketch comedy – only it’s not that funny. In fact it’s a bit dull. And it’s friggin’ long. “Bad Romance” was a masterpiece because it packed a universe of ever-escalating sexual menace and spectacle (and heaven knows how many damn costume changes) into five action-packed minutes. “Telephone” succeeded because it demonstrated a wicked, mordant sense of humor, and it just looked fantastic. There’s no question that “Alejandro” is beautifully photographed. But none of it feels new. And it’s ultimately, strangely… boring. There’s nothing in either the song or the video to justify nine minutes of this stuff. Then again, this could be one of Lady Gaga’s most subversive innovations: she’s managed to erect (yes, I said “erect) a monument to a character in a really dumb, Ace of Base-like song out of old-guard gay fetish imagery, sadomasochism, and Catholic iconography that people can yawn at, that people will click away from, not because their sensibilities have been offended, but because that article about where the original A-Team stars are now looks way more interesting.
2010 Hip Hop Honors (Not So) Live Blog
June 7, 2010
Hip Hop Honors
This year is focused on the dirty south and I can’t say that Southern flavored hip hop is my cup of tea, but celebrating culture is celebrating culture and I dig.
And really, what does it say about the rest of music television that VH-1 is the station that reps hip hop culture? Uh, BET when are you ever going to pick up that punk card?
- Craig Robinson came out and was shouting for a minute and dude is now out of breath. He’ll never be able to emcee with his lack of breathing.
- And the first person celebrated tonight is, um Uncle Luke? And helping us celebrate Uncle Luke is, um Kid Rock? Akinyele is thinking to himself right now, “Ok, I may get invited to this thing one day.”
- If Luke’s gonna be true to the game, someone’s gettin’ nekkid on stage tonight right?
- Hey, Trick Daddy! I almost forgot about you bruh. You better thank VH-1 tonight.
- I was hoping that Asian dude from 2 Live Crew was going to show his face.
- Game’s doing a pretty good job on My Mind’s Playing Tricks On Me. Maybe that’s what he should do for real now. Just be a hip hop karaoke artist. Hey, Game, my kid’s birthday is this weekend. You think you can do some B.o.B.?
- Here to honor Jermaine Dupri is Kris Kross! Wait, no? You can’t bring Kris Kross out here for this? What about gettin’ Da Brat out of jail for this?
Hell naw!
- Ok, I lied. Kris Kross is here. Or at least Kris, or is that Kross? Whatever. The dude that wasn’t the light skinned one is here. He did Jump! and everyone exploded. He did another song. Silence.
- Lil’ Romeo not so Lil’ anymore. Maybe that’s why he dropped the Lil’?
- If Romeo is on here, I want to see the rest of the Miller brothers. I want to see Silkk and even C-Murder. Wait, we can’t see C-Murder. My bad.
- I really liked this write-up of Master P’s family life on his Wikipedia page. I’d put money on P being the author.
Master P has a wife called Sonya Cassandra Miller. P.Miller would call him self ‘Jed Clampett’ and he would call wife, Sonya Miller, ‘Ellie May.’ Master P’s love was limit. Sonya and Percy had 6 children, boys: Percy Romeo Miller, Vercy Miller [young V] Mercy. girls: Tylyana Miller, Italiana Miller, and Itali Miller. But Master P fell out with Sonya and married another women and had two kids, Cymphonique Miller, and Veno Miller. But their mother and Master P fell out so P.Miller got back together with Sonya.
- I think the only song that’s going to make the crowd jump from P is Make Em Say Uhh. Maybe Shaq can make a cameo.
- Why is Trina giving a midget a piggy back ride? Wait, that’s no midget.
- By the way, I was right about Make Em Say Uhh. Crowd was waiting and anticipating.
- I think my man Lil’ Jon’s been going on some dates with Jenny Craig. On the other hand, Bone Crusher looks like his Aunties were Nell Carter and Shirley Hemphill.
- At least we now know Keri Hilson’s voice is helped in the studio. Why she decided to sing live tonight, the world will never know.
- How come whenever I see Missy Elliot on stage, I want to see a huge black plastic bubble suit?
- And are the odds long that Magoo shows up to help honor Timbaland tonight?
- You know, if we give Timbo and David Banner some jheri curl wigs, they could pass as members of Full Force.
- Just saw Kelly Rowland. I know Beyonce won, but really, did we vote correctly on who is the prettiest of Destiny’s Child?
- So first, Uncle Luke gets honored, and now 2 Live Crew gets honored? Is Luke producing this show? At least I get to see my Asian dude.
- Looks like that Brother Marquis hasn’t done his verse on Me So Horny in a very long time. Actually, dude looks like he hasn’t done much of anything in a long time.
- Organized Noize produced Waterfalls?
- Asher Roth is on this show? Again, Akinyele is like, “Man, my odds are getting better every minute.”
- In what might’ve been the lowest point ever in Hip Hop Honors, DJ Khalid and Rick Ross nearly didn’t fit on the stage together. We almost had a moment.
- By the way, I don’t even think Weezy would wear a Free Lil’ Wayne shirt. He’d just be like, “Ya, I deserve to be in jail.”
- Now that this show is over, I think we’ve learned one thing – they’re runnin’ out of people to honor and Akinyele is gonna get his.
Photo of JD shared via Wikipedia and shared via the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
Gaga Says She May Have Opened For Michael
June 2, 2010
Lady Gaga says she was asked to open for Michael Jackson on the singer’s 50 date London concert series. Speaking with CNN’s Larry King, Gaga looked beautiful, sounded charming and probably won over more middle America fans than if she had played a shopping mall while scarfing a smoothie.
“I guess I can speak about it now,” Gaga told King. Later she told King there was talk about different opening acts doing duets with Michael.
The singer also said that some of her fascination with death and other macabre images comes in part from watching iconic performers like Jackson be “destroyed” internally or “by the media”.
The comparisons to Madonna are inevitable, but Gaga is accomplishing what Madge did at a much younger age. She is in that magic zone of age–still only 24–and seems to handle all audiences well. Theatrical and witty, she has charmed Queen Elizabeth and Larry King, two paragons of established oldsters, while retaining incredible popularity and credibility in music circles.
Just 22 when The Fame was released, she mixes musical and marketing skills like few ever have. There’s every reason to believe that Gaga could still be a relevant entertainer in 2040 or even 2050.
How’s that for today’s deep thought as you ponder what a Gaga / MJ duet would have sounded like?
Big In Germany – Idol Edition: “Superstars” Mark Medlock and Mehrzad Marashi Are On A Boat
May 27, 2010
Back around maybe the second or third season of American Idol, when the show was becoming the established pop cultural phenomenon it is today, we started hearing about similar shows being developed by Lord of the Idols Simon Fuller and 19 Entertainment in other countries like Sweden and Poland and Indo(friggin)nesia. To date, there have been approximately 30 various Idol-esque franchises created around the world. I remember reading around that time about Kurt Nilsen, the first-season winner of Idols Norway – just how cool he seemed. He was a guitar player and unlike earlier seasons of American Idol, he could actually accompany himself on the show. I don’t remember that I ever heard him sing until he did a duet with Willie Nelson on the song “Lost Highway” in 2008 (at which point I was duly impressed), but I remember thinking that he sounded like – well, like an artist. Specifically, the kind of singing-songwriting-guitar-playing artist that our own American Idol showed seemed to hold in contempt.
It’s easy to trash the pop we Americans produce because we’re fairly buried in it. And just like any landfill, you can bet that there are a few treasures in that giant mound of refuse (future ski-hill?), but the smell from the rest of it is way too powerful – even if we thought the Hope Diamond were buried in it, would that be enough for us to throw on the haz-mat suits and go digging? Instead, we see from a distance pretty flowers growing on what looks like a majestic purple mountain shrouded in the soft fog of an early spring morning, and we think: All those international Idol competitions are actually producing, real, good, legitimate stuff. Or at least better than that awful Kelly Clarkson that we’re stuck with. She’s never gonna last. (Editorial Note: This is my 2003-4 self speaking. In gross ignorance. I didn’t watch any of Season 1, and Clarkson hadn’t put out Breakaway yet, which I contend is one of the best start-to-finish pop records of the last decade. Carry on.)
But maybe that majestic purple mountain is really just another gigantic, disgusting, depressing landfill, and maybe its shroud of early morning spring fog is really just a cloud toxic fumes rising out of it.
Maybe it’s just my deeply ingrained musical Europhilia, but I think it’s always easy to fall into thinking that Europeans are just naturally more artsy than we are; that they’re more willing to hear songs in languages other than their first, more open to genuine weirdness in the name of art; and thus, easier to romanticize their Idols – Kurt Nilsen, for instance – as more talented, more legitimate, more worthy. But in 2010, American Idol’s metamorphosis from mere singing competition to artist farm team is complete, a metamorphosis that probably began around the time of Taylor Hicks’s win in Season 5 (the show’s peak ratings season, by the way) and has culminated with the coronation of an Idol, Lee DeWyze, not so very dissimilar from that chunky (for a Scandinavian) blonde troubadour from Norge; and this against Crystal Bowersox, a very white girl from Ohio, with white-girl dreadlocks, a serious Janis Joplin jones, a long-standing residency at one of her local pubs, and really bad teeth, who not only writes her own songs, but writes them well enough that one of them was actually featured in an Idol video package last week. American Idol has become the very epitome of the Idols I’d always imagined all those Euro Idols to be. (And yet, this season, I couldn’t have been less interested in watching it.)
Meanwhile, the most recent winner of the German Idol equivalent Deutschland sucht den Superstar , 29-year-old Iranian-born singer Mehrzad Marashi has just released the follow-up to his debut, show finale single “Don’t Believe”, which is still charting in Germany’s Top 10 this week. The song, “Sweat (The A La La La La Long Song)” is a pop-reggae duet with openly gay former Superstar winner Mark Medlock, the German franchise’s most successful winner to date. If you are still harboring any romantic notions about the presumed artistic superiority of the artists developed by international (read: non-American) Idol franchises, let the video you’re about to see be your reality check.
BTW: Marashi’s the one whose ridiculous, Guido-er-than-thou facial hair doesn’t form the weird trident points on his chin. And did I mention Medlock’s gayness? Also: Andy Samberg should sue.
American Idol All-Stars
May 25, 2010
As Lee DeWyze or Crystal Bowersox are revealed as the next American Idol during the next 36 hours, we’ll also reveal the winner of our Sonic Spring Singing competition.
Here’s what I can tell you. If Lee wins, then our winner and top finishers are a trio of folks. If Crystal wins, then two of the three people get swapped out. I want to give a special shout-out though to two people who predicted the Top 3 based solely on the Top 12.
WTG, Michelle and Shantel! Each predicted a Top 3 of Lee, Crystal and Casey James.
Most people went a safer route and chose Siobhan or Michael over Casey. One person went for the Duke-like upset and picked Aaron, but these two ladies showed they know their stuff!
Your Task Now Is Important
GG came up with the idea of American Idol All-Stars in honor of the show’s 10th season next year and to hopefully allow a Simon-less panel to find its way. In the interest of that notion since Idol will never do this, we’re going to pick our own All-Stars and have Idol Madness. For every Kelly or Carrie, there was a Taylor Hicks. And speaking of Taylor Hicks, anyone still amazed that he beat Daughtry and Yamin in the same year?
Here are the rules: anyone who didn’t win (that means you, Bo Bice) and also didn’t become popular later on. Just answer in comments and tell us as many names as you want in the Idol All-Stars.
We’re not going to pick obvious people: Adam Lambert, Chris Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken, Elliott Yamin–artists who have had hits don’t count.
Bret Michaels: “You’re Hired!”
May 23, 2010
Bret Michaels took home the top prize on this season of Celebrity Apprentice, although the show’s sponsor Snapple agreed to a matching $250,000 donation to the show’s second place finisher Holly Van Peete, who was playing for her own foundation for autism research. It was a great cap to a crazy couple of months for the former hair metal demi-god who’s been hospitalized repeatedly for various ailments, most recently this week for a “warning stroke”, which cast doubt on whether he would be able to appear on the show’s live season finale tonight. He was there, and looking a little gaunt, but otherwise fighting fit.
All that said, maybe the greatest moment of the show, for me, was catching a glimpse of PiL’s John Lydon in the audience giving a standing ovation for Snapple’s decision to award a prize to both finalists. (See about 0:58 of the video below.)
Paul’s Sunday Brunch Buffet – The Warning Stroke Edition, May 23, 2010
May 23, 2010
The Donald Trump could hardly have wished for a better Celebrity Apprentice contestant than former Poison frontman Bret Michaels. Not only has the guy proven an able contestant, landing himself in the final two by a combination of unharnessed creativity, fierce motivation, and an endlessly endearing lack of pretension, he’s also demonstrated an admirable sense of personal accountability and a willingness to accept feedback and learn from it. Fellow contestant Rod Blagojevich could’ve learned a thing or two from Mr. Michaels. Michaels knows who he is – and he’s no brain surgeon – but if he’s not saving lives, so to speak, in his chosen profession, he’s clearly made a choice to contribute to the saving of lives by staying in Trump’s game, and staying focused even when his personal life threatened his ability to stay on. And all this in a season which saw some supposed winners (for shame, Darryl Strawberry) check out early.
This week, Bret Michaels gave The Donald the kind of unexpected bonus only the most cynical Goldman Sachs exec could envy when he was hospitalized – again – after experiencing what doctors call a transient ischemic attack, but what the rest of us call a “warning stroke”. Further tests revealed that he has a “hole in his heart”. (Cue the Extreme song!) All of which has added a new layer of suspense to tonight’s Celebrity Apprentice live season finale in which Michaels could very well win the show’s top prize for his charity, the American Diabetes Association. As a diabetic myself, and a former non-fan of Poison, Bret Michaels – I salute you!
Celebrity Apprentice was less kind to 80s songstress Cyndi Lauper, who, like comedienne (and first firee) Carol Leifer, seemed especially vulnerable to the “mean girl” politics of Team Tenacity. In one episode, pro-wrestler Maria Kanellis expressed frank disappointment when she discovered that her childhood hero was actually a person with three dimensions, human feelings, and, as a project manager, could be firm, driven, and demanding. Cyndi was also fighting a good fight close to this writer’s home. Her True Colors Fund works to advance equal rights for the LGBT community. When she was fired a couple of weeks ago, she was clearly frustrated and disappointed by the decision. And so was I. I was really hoping for a endgame rematch of the season’s first challenge in which Lauper and Michaels faced off as their respective teams’ project managers. (Bret won that one, although Cyndi won as project manager in the same episode in which Kanellis griped about her bossiness as a boss.) Here’s a song from Cyndi’s 1993 album Hat Full of Stars which, like Cyndi herself on this show, has gone woefully underappreciated. Written with the Hooters’ Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman (who plays their band’s namesake keyboard on this song), “That’s What I Think” is, to my mind, one of Lauper’s best singles, and sounds like a fitting post-mortem to her adventures in Trump’s parallel universe.
When the original line-up of 80s prog-rock-meets-pop-rock supergroup Asia reunited three years ago to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of their classic self-titled debut album, nobody expected it to last, given the band’s tumultuous first run. In fact, the reunion did run into some adversity early on, but not from dueling egos. Both singer John Wetton and drummer Carl Palmer were hospitalized for heart problems. Both came out okay, and the reunion lasted long enough to yield a miserable dud of an album called (with unintentional irony) Phoenix in 2008. Lucky for the band, and for their fans (myself included), the reunion has also lasted long enough to put out a “sophomore” record Omega. And Omega is spectacular. The record, which hit stores a couple weeks ago, re-embraces and further advances the critically-derided formula upon which they first built their brand – four minute pop songs, performed monumentally – with a fiery intensity. The album’s first single is “Finger on the Trigger”, maybe the most straightforward classic-rock sounding song they’ve ever put out. Freaking Asia. As Wetton sings on the first chorus: We got a good thing going on. Damn straight, they do.
One band that won’t be reuniting any time soon is the Norwegian pop trio a-ha who, earlier this month, played their first North American concerts in more than 20 years as part of their “Ending On a High Note” farewell tour. Though a-ha will always be best known to American audiences as the one hit wonder behind “Take On Me”, the group has put out nine studio albums including last year’s Keane-ish Foot of the Mountain and remains popular throughout the world. Meanwhile, Rhino Records has just announced the upcoming release of a new a-ha singles compilation and deluxe edition remasters of a-ha’s first two albums, 1985’s Hunting High and Low and the following year’s Scoundrel Days, which will only be available to U.S. customers via the label’s website website. Here’s a 2008 live performance of their 1987 hit “Manhattan Skyline” from the Scoundrel Days record. This song’s Jeckyll & Hyde combo of sweetly yearning synth pop verse and raging hard rock chorus blew me away back when I was in the 7th grade. Wave good-bye…
Another crucial album getting the deluxe treatment from Rhino this spring is The Cure’s massive 1989 album Disintegration. The rest of the band’s early catalog, up to the 1986 collection Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, had already been reissued a couple years ago, but fans have had to wait this one out. And while most Cure die-hards will agree it’s not their best record, it remains one of their most important – not just within their own body of work, but in terms of bringing “alternative” music to a mainstream audience. Unlike the band’s previous album which yielded a trio of short, sunny pop singles (“Hot! Hot! Hot!”, “Just Like Heaven”, and “Why Can’t I Be You?”), Disintegration is one of their densest, darkest, dirgiest records – one which explored failing relationships and lead singer Robert Smith’s insecurities about aging with an often nightmarish candor. Still, it became their most commercially successful and iconic record. At a time when hair metal still ruled the airwaves, the pop success of songs like the grimly atmospheric “Fascination Street”, and the lovely, understated “Love Song” helped to prime radio for the darker still confessions of Cobain and Staley.
The Swedish pop duo Roxette have been playing shows across Europe and working on a new album all spring, hoping to complete the record this fall for an early 2011 release. It’s been almost 10 years since singer-songwriters Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson have released a full length album. In the interim they’ve put out a handful of singles and greatest hits comps, and both have worked on solo projects. Gessle put out a 2008 solo album called Party Crashers, and while Fredriksson also issued a solo album – 2004’s The Change – her most important solo project has been staying alive, following the discovery and diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor in 2002. Of their recent live shows, Per Gessle said in a recent interview: “Both Marie and myself want a total live situation these days, no click tracks, no sequencers or computers on stage… Lots of ad lib, great harmonies and silly jokes in the dressing rooms.” Sounds like classic Roxette to me.
And finally, this week marked the passing of legendary jazz pianist Hank Jones at the age of 91. Here he is in a solo performance, a young man of 75. Until next week…
Black Sabbath Vocalist Dio Dies
May 16, 2010
Ronnie Dio plays IronFest in 2008
Metal vocalist Ronnie Dio, best known for his role as Black Sabbath’s lead vocalist, died t0day according to a posting from his wife.
Wendy Dio’s message read:
Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45am 16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private good-byes before he peacefully passed away…
Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss.
Dio repeated the post on Facebook, where she said people could leave their condolences by liking the page. After just 12 hours, nearly a quarter-million people had done so.
Besides Sabbath (where he is credited with popularizing the devil horn gesture), Ronnie sang in the band Dio and a relationship with Jack Black led to his appearance in Tenacious D – The Pick of Destiny.
Ronnie Dio later formed Heaven & Hell with former Black Sabbath members, including Tommy Iommi, touring through multiple countries in 2008.
Wendy Dio announced last Thanksgiving that her husband had been diagnosed with stomach cancer. Despite treatment at The Mayo Clinic, Dio was dead less than six months later at the age of 67.
Photo by Shadowgate via CC2
Sonic Singing Contest – Voting!
May 12, 2010
Vote now in the Sonic Clash Spring Singing Contest!
With last week’s surprise dismissal of Lil’ Aaron Kelly instead of Casey James (the result most of our players predicted), there weren’t a lot of points awarded last week.
The result?
SIX players are within 4 points of each other for first place. And remember, you get 1 point for each person you correctly place in the Bottom Two and a 2 point bonus for correctly guessing who goes home. Nail this week and next, and you’re sitting pretty for the final!
