(The rest (I’m through about 3.5 CDs so far) is great as well, but, like I said, that’s a lot of Eddie and the gang for most people.)

Syesha Merkado — “Got to Get You Into My Life.” Bad. BAD. She needs to
go home. (Jake says: “I’m going to count how many people need to go home
after butchering the songs tonight.”) I’m a little worried that this is the
first exposure that the baby is going to have to this song — to a lot of
these songs. I feel guilty. Does Simon have brain damage tonight? It was
AWFUL.

Chikezie — “She’s a Woman.” I always get worried when they talk about
putting “their own flavor” on a song by such songwriters as
Lennon/McCartney, but I give Chikezie huge props for picking a song that the
audience isn’t going to have such an emotional attachment to. If you can’t
sing one of the classics, don’t. WAY better than Syesha, and all in all,
the first time I have been remotely interested in anything that Chikezie has
sung. He was also super cute when he got really excited after hearing that
they all liked it.

Ramiele Mulabay — “In My Life.” Oh, no. No, no, no. I’m not excited to
hear Ramiele sing one of my favorite songs of ALL TIME FOREVER AND EVER AND
EVER. Jake left the room. Overall, I was right not to be excited. It
wasn’t quite as horrendous as Syesha, but it was dullsville all the way and
a totally pointless cover version that I would never listen to by choice.
Bad times.

Jason Castro — “If I Fell.” My initial reaction? Pretty good choice for
him and I’m glad to see that his guitar is back. I think it’s way smart for
them to choose some of the lesser-knowns — less pressure, less potential
for butchering. It wasn’t quite as good as I expected him to be, but all in
all, okay. Not mind-blowing, but nowhere near as bad as Syesha and Ramiele.
I like his song choices overall; I think he and Brooke White have done the
best job so far of picking good songs every week.

Carly Smithson — “Come Together.” I think it was smart of her to choose a
rocker, and it was pretty good. I’m not going to start listening to that
version over the original, of course, but she was probably the best Idol to
do that one and I didn’t mind it at all. So far, she and Chikezie are the
best of the night.

Jason Cook — “Eleanor Rigby.” You know how it was so cool and such a good
idea when he sang “Hello” and made it kind of new rocker? Yeah, NOT a good
idea with “Eleanor Rigby.” BOOOOOO. The way he’s jumping up and down makes
me think that he thinks it was good. NO. And Randy, you’re wrong! Paula,
you’re SO wrong! Simon said it was brilliant? That makes me so
disappointed in Simon. HORRID. HORRID.

Brooke White — “Let It Be.” I like Brooke a lot so I want her to do well,
so I was nervous. I loved that she is playing the piano herself. I think
it’s really appropriate that she usually eschews the band — she is not a
funk house band kind of singer, and that’s good, and it’s good that she
knows it. I really appreciate that she did a totally straightforward
version of the song. Her performance was respectful and convincing. Whew.
I still like her. Good job, Brooke. I also cried a little when she
started crying.

David Hernandez — “I Saw Her Standing There.” Embarrassing. This
performance really reflected poorly on all gay strippers who want to be your
American Idol. As I told Jake, “Tiffany’s version was better.” Jake
replied, “My version in the shower yesterday was also better.” I’m sure
that is also true. David Hernandez and Syesha need to leave the
competition. As far as I am concerned, their journey ends tonight.

Amanda Overmyer — “You Can’t Do That.” I’m kind of over Amanda. She
doesn’t look like she wants to be there a lot of the time, and it’s probably
just because she is nervous and shy. It might have been smart for her to
steer clear of one of the classics, although I think she could have done an
okay job on “Get Back.”

Michael Johns — “Across the Universe.” Okay, this is one of my favorite
Beatles songs ever, and it is one that lends itself to some good covers
(Rufus, Fiona Apple). This version was not as good as those, obviously, but
it was okay. It was a good song choice, and it’s the first time that I have
liked Michael Johns since the Hollywood round. However, Jake made an
excellent point — he had a little Eddie Vedder in his voice at some points,
which means that he probably should have done a wicked “You’ve Got to Hide
Your Love Away.”

Kristy Lee Cook — “Eight Days a Week.” Ouch. When I heard she was going
to “countrify” “Eight Days a Week,” I kept an open mind. I thought that had
potential. Well, it didn’t work. WAY TOO FAST. I mean, WAY WAY WAY TOO
FAST. No reason to speed the tempo up so much; she could have sung it at
its natural tempo and just made it twangy. BAD. I hope that they decide to
vote off some extra people this week.

David Archuleta — “We Can Work It Out.” Oh, my heart hurts. I had such
high hopes. No. It’s Lennon/McCartney week. There is PLENTY of time on
Idol to do PLENTY of Stevie Wonder songs. Not tonight. No. NO. I still
think he is one of the better singers and I like him a lot, but not this
week.

Who was the best: Brooke. Who should go home: Syesha, Ramiele, David
Hernandez, and Kristy. Yeah, all four of them. Let’s just go ahead and get
down to business.

1. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend - If you read any music press at all, you’ve heard of this band.  Their much anticipated debut almost lives up to the hype.  It’s not the total shot of fresh air that the Strokes were a few years back, but it’s unique enough and well-crafted enough to warrant some of the acclaim.  Stand out tracks like “M79”, “Bryn”, “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance,” “Oxford Comma” and “One (Blake’s Got a New Face),” make you imagine what Graceland would have sounded like if Paul Simon had made it when he was 21 instead of when he was 40 something and had the money to, you know, go to Africa.  This one has the added bonus of being a great soundtrack for the sunny spring and summer days on the horizon.

2. The Whigs, Mission Control - Now this my friends is a good rock album.  There’s nothing ground breaking or mind-blowingly new here, but this is one solid piece of work .  It is chock full of radio-friendly (though I doubt they’ll get much play, as well, I can’t think of too many rock radio stations still around) singles.  I wholeheartedly recommend the whole album, but if you want to give a couple songs a listen, I’ll recommend the single “Right Hand On My Heart”,  the mid-tempo “1,000 Wives”, the anthemic “Already Young,” and the ballad “Sleep Sunshine.”  This one will definitely be on the end-of-year top 10.

3.  Throw Me the Statue, Moonbeams —  I honestly haven’t really had a chance to soak in the album release, but the EP featuring the songs “About to Walk,” “Lolita,” and “the Old Believer” is fantastic — sort of acoustic electronic pop, if that makes sense.  “About to Walk” is a hit waiting to get noticed with a low key but catchy chorus that builds throughout the song.  I’d expect this to show up on a TV soundtrack this season.

I guess I’m underwhelmed by the films this year because while I LIKED a lot of them, I did not LOVE a lot of them, and the ones I liked the most were mostly overlooked (those mostly overlooked ones were probably Eastern Promises, In the Valley of Elah, Once, Into the Wild, Lars and the Real Girl, Zodiac, and 3:10 to Yuma). Of the Best Picture nominees, I thought that only No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood were grand enough or important enough to be true Best Picture contenders. (And even NCFOM was almost a disappointment for me, only because it was SUCH a perfect adaptation that having read the book really meant that there was no way I could feel the film’s impact as fully as I would have otherwise.) Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance was a marvel, no question, and the more I think about There Will Be Blood the more I liked it, but I was almost equally impressed by Tommy Lee Jones in In the Valley of Elah and Viggo Mortenson in Eastern Promises. Sometimes the subtle performances impress me more than the over-the-top ones — but I’m not denying how awesome DDL was (and obviously he’ll win).

Juno was precious but not Oscar-worthy in my opinion — except maybe for screenplay, which would be an appropriate way to reward the film — and I’m kind of over Ellen Page already. She’s a little too cool for school for me — I like my baby celebrities to be excited by their fame and not act so unenthusiastic. I mean, girlfriend wasn’t even excited when she was on Oprah. If you’re 20 and you’ve been famous for three minutes, at least act appreciative of your success, you know? But maybe I am biased because I am nothing if not enthusiastic. People who are that cool make me suspicious.

I thought Atonement was just okay. Parts were really nice, but I didn’t cry at the end. That means something’s wrong because I cry in dog food commercials on a regular basis. I loved Michael Clayton but still wouldn’t give it Best Picture status.

Mostly, I am excited to see my loves Glen and Marketa performing for nominated song. Now THAT will probably make me cry. Oh, and I’m excited about seeing Angelina’s baby bump. Now, must attend baby shower, make (just kidding — purchase) dessert for Oscar party (which we will only attend for the red carpet because I have to watch the actual awards in the quiet of our own home, uninterrupted), and try to watch La Vie En Rose before tonight. More afterward.

By the time the election rolls around, Jake and I will have a three-month-old baby (and oh my goodness, if I have not told you personally that I’m expecting and you just read it on the blog, I apologize profusely and castigate myself severely).  It’s probably a little bit of pregnancy hormones, but in announcing my pregnancy over the last couple of weeks I have felt so overwhelmed by love and support from so many good friends and family members that I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.  I feel so happy for this baby that he or she will grow up in not just a loving marriage and not just with a wonderful father, but with wonderful grandparents and great-grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and old, beloved friends.  There is no doubt that no matter who is elected, this baby is going to be loved and protected (and spoiled)… but I really, really hope that it is loved and protected (and spoiled) and has Obama for its first President as well.

I had just been thinking about him this morning because of the Oscar nominations.  Nothing this year or last year moved me or impressed me even a quarter as much as Heath Ledger’s Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain.  For all the accolades about Daniel Day-Lewis this year (and his was an excellent performance too, to be sure), I still can’t think of a performance in recent years that was as magnificent as Heath’s Ennis.  He could have been one of the greatest of all time.

The Avett Brothers, Emotionalism. Favorite songs: “Salina,” because of the line, “Carolina, one day I’ll, some day I’ll come home;” “I Would Be Sad,” because of how awesome the whole thing is; “The Weight of Lies” because of how pretty it is and because of the chorus, ” The weight of lies will bring you down, And follow you to every town, ‘Cause nothing happens here that doesn’t happen there, So when you run make sure you run, To something and not away from, ‘Cause lies don’t need an aeroplane to chase you anywhere;” “All My Mistakes” because it’s beautiful and I love the line “I have some ‘friends’ who don’t know who I am, so I write quotation marks around the word ‘friend,’ but I have a couple that have always been there for me.” (Incidentally, how happy am I that 2008 is starting off already with a January visit to Atlanta to see two of my favorite and best friends, friends who definitely fit into the Avetts’ latter category? So happy. Beside myself happy!)

*Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha. This was an early favorite of 2007 that has so far stood the test of time. Over the course of the year, favorite songs have been: “Scythian Empire;” “Heretics;” “Imitosis;” and “Plasticities,” but basically trust me when I say that the whole thing is so good that it’s hard to pick favorites.

*****Ryan Adams, Easy Tiger. Although Easy Tiger only ranks in the middle of the rest of Ryan’s albums for me, I would be lying if I said it wasn’t still one of my most-played of the year. Without question, my favorite songs are “The Sun Also Sets” (“Oh be SUUUUURE”) and “I Taught Myself How to Grow Old.” Two of my other favorite songs of the year were from his October EP, Follow the Lights — the Cardinals’ version of “Blue Hotel” as well as their cover of “Down in a Hole.”

*The National, Boxer. I don’t want my cool indie music card taken away, so the inclusion of this one is a no-brainer. It’s worth the high praise, though. Favorite tracks: “Squalor Victoria;” “Mistaken for Strangers;” “Slow Show” (“You know I dreamed about you for twenty-nine years before I saw you”).

**Brandi Carlile, The Story. As good as her albums are, you are totally missing out if you pass up the chance to Brandi Carlile live and in person. As I’ve said before, she is the real deal and can almost out-Buckley Jeff on her version of “Hallelujah.” At her show this fall, she played a cover of “Madman Across the Water” that Jake is still talking about, and she played “Raining in Baltimore” and made it more beautiful than Adam Duritz ever dreamed possible. That’s not to say her own work is second best. “The Story,” “Turpentine,” and “Downpour” are my three most-played songs from the album, but the whole thing is solid. Even when her song-writing is average (and that’s only sometimes), her outstanding voice makes her songs something special.

*Band of Horses, Cease to Begin. All hail a South Carolina band made good! “Is There a Ghost” is my song of the year. If you can find a better one, please let me know, but in the meantime, play “Is There a Ghost” about three hundred times. If you are at all like me, you will be awed by it with each and every listen.

**Josh Ritter, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter. One of my two favorite shows of the year was Josh at the 9:30 Club in October. There was much swooning. I love his lyrics and his humor and the way you can hear the smile in his voice and get a tiny inkling of what a joyful performer he is even when you are just listening to the album. It is, I believe, impossible to listen to “To the Dogs or Whoever” without smiling. And if I hadn’t already bestowed Song of the Year on “Is There a Ghost,” I might give that award to “The Temptation of Adam,” which is the best song about love in an underground bunker that you could imagine. (“What five letters spelled ‘apocalypse,’ she asked me. I won her over saying, ‘W-W-I-I-I.’ She smiled and we both knew that she’d misjudged me.” Love!)

Dan Wilson, Free Life. What a sweet guy that Dan Wilson seems to be. He sure writes sweet songs. My favorites: “All Kinds,” and “Breathless.” This album relaxes me.

*The New Pornographers, Challengers. I even liked the Dan Bejar contributions on this one, particularly “Myriad Harbor.” Other faves are “The Old Showstoppers” (you can totally hear Carl’s lisp, which is endearing), and “Your Rights Vs. Mine.”

*The Good, The Bad, and The Queen. This one came out so early last year that I almost forgot about, it but it is excellent through and through and was a really good show, too.

White Rabbits, Fort Nightly. So fun, I am not even kidding. The best: “Kid On My Shoulders” and “I Used to Complain Now I Don’t.” I’m sad we missed them at the Rock’n’Roll Hotel a few weeks ago.

**Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, Once soundtrack. I have probably documented my love for this one enough on this blog, and it’s too hard to pick favorites when I love all the songs so much. If I had to pick a couple right this minute, I’d pick “Say It to Me Now” and “Leave” just because I love the ones where Glen eventually just starts to wail. Oh, how I love his wailing. My other favorite show of the year had to have been one of the Swell Season shows. They lifted my heart up.

Okkervil River, The Stage Names. As promised, coming in at number one. There is not a bad song on this album. It is magnificent. It is gorgeous, seamless, catchy, smart, funny, and tragic, all at the same time. There are parts that make you snicker (“And you look your age, which is 37, by the way, and not 28” in “You Can’t Hold the Hand of a Rock and Roll Man”) and parts that make you cringe (the opening of “John Allyn Smith Sails,” which starts “By the second verse, my friends, my heart will stop, my head will burst, so I’d like to start this one off by saying, ‘Live and love’”). If I had to pick one singular moment that I love the most, I’d fail, but I would strongly consider the part in “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe” when Will Sheff absolutely screams out “clicking.” And, if I didn’t already love them, I’d still give Okkervil River my 2007 Congeniality award for releasing a totally free covers album (Golden Opportunities Mixtape) on their website just for fun. Bad ass.

My other favorite songs of the year: “Hot Knives” and “If The Brakeman Turns My Way” from Bright Eyes; “100 Days, 100 Nights” from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings’ album of the same name; the Hot Puppies’ “How Come You Don’t Hold Me No More;” *Wilco’s “You Are My Face;” The Arcade Fire’s “Keep the Car Running;” The Clientele’s “Dreams of Leaving;” “Fifteen” by *Rilo Kiley; “Young Folks” by *Peter Bjorn and John (of course, ubiquitous); St. Vincent’s “All My Stars Aligned;” and the White Stripes’ “You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told)”.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten a bunch. It was a pretty good year, I think.

Album of the Year:

Okkervil River — The Stage Names

I agree with Emilie that this is, hands down, the album of the year. A rare record where every single track is well-crafted and worth listening to.

Pop

Song of the Year (Pop) - “15” by Rilo Kiley, from Under the Blacklight

Record of the Year (Pop) - “Oh My God” by Mark Ronson (feat. Lily Allen) from Version

Album of the Year (Pop) - Mark Ronson - Version

Americana (totally making this one up, because I can)

Song of the Year (Americana) - “The Temptation of Adam” by Josh Ritter, from the The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter

Record of the Year (Americana) - “If the Brakeman Turns My Way” by Bright Eyes, from Cassadaga

Album of the Year (Americana) - The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism, honorable mention to Brandi Carlisle’s The Story

Alternative/Rock (because, while I appreciate that Alternative, in Grammy parlance, seems to denote something different than ‘Rock’, if you just nominated good Rock albums in the first place, they’d pretty much overlap)

Song of the Year (Alternative/Rock) - “Myriad Harbour” by The New Pornographers from Challengers
Record of the Year (Alternative/Rock) - “A Girl In Port” by Okkervil River from The Stage Names

Album of the Year (Alternative/Rock) - The Good, the Bad, and The Queen by tGtB,&tQ.

Electronica/Dance

Song of the Year (Electronica/Dance) - “D.A.N.C.E.” by Justice, from Cross
Record of the Year (Electronica/Dance) - “Archangel” by Burial, from Untrue

Country

Song of the Year (Country) - “Famous in a Small Town” by Miranda Lambert, from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Just assume all country awards go to Miranda.

Cover of the Year - “Devil Town” by Tony Lucca, from the Friday Night Lights Soundtrack

Performance

Vocal Performance (Female) - “How Come You Don’t Hold Me No More” by the Hot Puppies
Vocal Performance (Male) - “John Allyn Smith Sails” by Okkervil River, from The Stage Names

Live Act (Solo) – Brandi Carlisle (Her originals were good, and “Madman Across the Water” and “Hallelujah” covers were fantastic)

Live Act (Group) – The New Pornographers

Songs that totally would have been nominees (but now will win in categories I made up):

• “Tonight I Have To Leave It” by The Shout Out Louds from Our Ill Wills (Best Cure Song)
• “Country Caravan” by Blitzen Trapper from Wild Mountain Nation (Best Front Porch Drunk on Beer Sing Along)
• “History Song” by the Good, the Bad, and the Queen (Best Use Of One Repeated Riff; Best Song Sung By a Badass in a Top Hat)
• “Challengers” by the New Pornographers from Challengers (Best Neko Song)
• “The Story” by Brandi Carlile from The Story (Best Song By the Person Who Really Should Replace Freddie Mercury in Queen.  I would totally go see that show.)
• “1 2 3 4” by Feist from the Reminder (Best Song Not Quite Yet Ruined By Commercial Use)
• “Wonderlust King” by Gogol Bordello from Super Taranta! (Ukranian Gypsy-Punk Song of the Year)
• “Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo” by Jens Lekman from Night Falls Over Kortedala (Best Unclassifiable Song)
• “Blue Honey” by Pop Levi (Best Psychedelic Song of 2007)
• “The Sun Also Sets” by Ryan Adams from Easy Tiger (Best Hemingway Nod in a Song Title Song)
• “Don’t Make Me a Target” by Spoon from Ga ga ga ga ga ga (Best Wilco Song Not Recorded by Wilco)
• “All My Stars Aligned” by St. Vincent from Marry Me (Best Female Vocal Not Sung By the Hot Puppies, Best Female Vocal Performance for a Candle Lit Room)
• “Effect & Cause” by The White Stripes from Icky Thump (Best Little Acoustic Blues Tune)
• “All Kinds” by Dan Wilson from Free Life (Best Schmaltzy Pop Ballad)
• “Falling Slowly” Glen & Marketa from the Once Soundtrack (Best Almost-Creepily Cute Looks at Your Maybe a Little Too Young Crush Song; Also best song from a movie soundtrack. It’s a shame it wasn’t written specifically FOR the movie, or we’d all get to hear Emilie go crazy at Oscar time.)
• “100 Days, 100 Nights” Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, (Best Soul Song of 1967 Made in 2007)
• “High Society” by The Silver Seas from High Society (Best Song the Eagles Wish They Wrote For Their 2007 Release; see also the rest of High Society)
• The Whole Vieux Farka Toure album (Sweeps the World Music categories)
• “No Bad News” Patty Griffin from Children Running Through (Best Americana Song I Sort of Forgot About Earlier)
• “My Dove, My Lamb” by Phosphorescent from Pride (Best Really Long Song)
• “Under the Folding Branches” by the Veils from Nux Vomica (Best Song for a Candle Lit Room)
• “Is There a Ghost” by Band Of Horses from Cease to Begin (Best Song From South Carolina)