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by The Trades Staff Published: August 16, 2006
Raul says: Bad news, folks! Brooke Burke tells us that tonight is acoustic night on Rock Star: Supernova. All we can do is grit our teeth and push on. Song selection was as heated as always. The person who chose to cover Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" would get to duet with guitarist Gilby Clarke. Dilana expressed interest in doing another performance with a member of Supernova but agreed to hand over the opportunity to Toby if he'd run around the pool naked (an opportunity Toby leapt at! Woo!) A second variable was thrown into song selection as one contestant would get to perform their own original song. Zayra said she wanted it. Ryan expressed some interest as well, but Zayra wins out. Sheila says: Watching last week's result show puzzled me a bit. Jason quips, "That was one of the best shows ever". I recognize viewer hype when I hear it. But the truth as I see it is that there are still 10 contestants left, and only about 4 of them are serious contenders. That leaves another 4 or 5 weeks of rock ‘n roll fun and gaiety. I dislike the way that the bottom five are shamed into standing, like it is some kind of punishment. Even then, only the two who are absolved are allowed to sit down. Why don't we just pass out some rotten tomatoes to the audience? Clearly Zayra continues to be safe because of her widespread groupie contingent. They should make her a mascot and let her just dress up every week. She could sit on the floor next to Supernova at stare at them in a Nancy Reagan kind of way. Jill tried once again to redeem herself. The white hankie must be a prop that says, "watch this and then you won't know that I can spin around and flip my hair but that's about it". Josh has remained here long enough to get a nice Ben Folds 5 type band to offer him a gig. Supernova clearly wants a front man/woman, not another guitar. And as for Ryan, I was not surprised that he was in the bottom three. Although I liked the "Black" performance, it did exhibit a certain Dr. Jekyll in contrast with last week's Mr. Hyde. As the ax fell twice, I was grateful to the rock god for small favors. And it's nice to see that Tommy Lee has gotten rid of that nasty devil hood. Maybe he can stow it next to Ryan's wiggish one. When I watched the Vegas reality episode, I saw Honda's logo displayed at least three times during the limo scene. And look, there's a Honda commercial before part of the episode itself. Ain't sponsorship grand? By the way, if that party in the penthouse was a test, Lukas and Toby may have just flunked. And watch as Dilana sucks up to Tommy Lee. What's this? I knew that Navarro donned nipple rings (I actually saw a fan's site that had pictures of all his piercings and tattoos), but Tommy Lee, too? Too bad the censors raised a fuss. What good is all that body adornment if we don't get to appreciate it? Zayra - "Lluvia de mar" Raul says: Zayra should be ashamed of herself. Her performance tonight proves that she can, in fact, sing. She can do Latin music pretty well. But after her performance in the first week (where she delivered a Latin version of Evanesence's "Bring Me to Life"), she decided (or realized) she had to go more "rock". Incapable of singing rock and roll, instead she decided to strip off her clothes and whore it up. Tonight she went back to her roots and delivered a solid Spanish-language ballad that really has nothing to do with Supernova but at least redeemed her soul prior to her elimination. Sheila says: Zayra performs her own song in her native language with a tacky dress to match. This is a good move for her since, even though she will never be a Supernovan, she has just added to her resume in case Telemundo calls. Magni - "Starman" Raul says: Magni reaches back into the Ziggy Stardust days of David Bowie with this sweet and melodic tune. Despite this being acoustic night, we have yet to lapse into introspective sap. Supernova always loves Magni and the only criticism Gilby can dig up is that Magni missed a chance to get the audience to sing along. Sheila says: Once again Magni warrants a terrific performance with the Bowie song and continues to make my heart go ka-thump. His pop roots show through when he is backed by the quartet, so it is no wonder he looks and sounds comfortable. Patrice - "Message in a Bottle" Raul says: This less "acoustic night" and more "orchestra night" with a string quartet playing along with the rest of the band. I'm not sure how, exactly, this is supposed to be acoustic as Patrice delivers a pretty faithful rendition of the original Police song. The strings add an extra layer that isn't really necessary. The intensity delivered by Sting at the end of the song, though, is missing here and Dave Navarro picks up on that. Sheila says: Patrice's interpretation of "Message in a Bottle" again proves that we have a great house band here. I notice she took Gilby's advice to Magni about audience involvement to heart. Too little too late. Sorry, Patrice. Lukas - "Hero" Raul says: Lukas finally delivers the cheesey acoustic performance I've been expecting. There he is, sitting on a stool, acoustic guitar in his hands. And, to top it off, he picks Chad Kroeger's crap-rock ballad. Tommy Lee chastises Lukas for sitting down. Jason Newsted, who has taken it upon himself to give Lukas singing lessons, finds something to criticize about Lukas's singing style yet again. Sheila says: Excellent vocal performance by Lukas, including that falsetto, but by now we all know that his singing far surpasses most of the other contestants. I really wanted to see him get up off that chair and into it by the first chorus. Storm - "I Will Survive" Raul says: The best cover of Gloria Gaynor's disco classic is a hard rock version by Cake. I'd like to have seen someone try to repeat that cover. Storm, instead, goes for an entirely different arrangement. There seems to be a heavy Latin beat to her version. She starts slow (as does every version of this song) and then picks up into some kind of theatrical mash-up with Storm physically flailing around on stage as she vocally flails to all sides of the musical spectrum. It's just... odd. Criticism from Dave Navarro and Supernova is polite but harsh. Sheila says: Storm tries to modernize "I Will Survive" by singing it as a empowered woman and tossing in a few expletives. I truly believe that Supernova just tosses in garbage now and then during stoned moments. Toby - "Solsbury Hill" Raul says: This may be the most enjoyable performance I've experienced on Rock Star: Supernova. Toby's performance of Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" (with Gilby on guitar) has an accelerated tempo that really gets your foot tapping and your head bopping. Hey, Toby even plays the bongos! Sheila says: "Solsbury Hill" is one of my fave tunes and Toby's voice is capable, although I still believe him to be minor rock club quality. The bongos are a nice touch, but I would like to see a little more band involvement. Tommy Lee is still obsessing over his nudity, "that's what rock stars are all about". Gee, one more myth uncovered. Ryan - "In the Air Tonight" Raul says: Let's get this straight. Even Phil Collins can't do "In the Air Tonight" right live. This song needs to be produced and overproduced for it to sound as good as it does every time you hear it on the radio. Nothing can match the impact of the original version, so trying to repeat it would be futile. Ryan doesn't trying to karaoke Phil Collins. Instead, it sounds like we're listening to Live covering Phil Collins and that we could be transitioning into "Lightning Crashes" at any moment. Shockingly, it works. It's not spectacular - certainly not as great as Navarro and Supernova say it was, but they loved Ryan's performance last week, too - but it's not nearly the failure I expected it to be. Sheila says: Phil Collins isn't exactly known for his vocal ability (he once admitted to taking lessons) and without the heavy drumming of Collins (or Tommy Lee), Ryan's performance is right on, as far as I am concerned. Even if his moves on stage aren't the best, he is surely learning how to work a camera. Dilana - "Cat's in the Cradle" Raul says: Brooke calls this a "great American rock anthem." Really? I thought it was folk. Dilana, taking the easy route, decides to deliver the Ugly Kid Joe version of the song rather than trying to rearrange the Harry Chapin original. Sure, it sounds fine, but I've never really liked the song in the first place. Dave Navarro, who had just called Ryan's performance the best of the night retracts his comment and instead bestows his highest praise upon Dilana. Is there any question that Dilana has already been chosen as the winner of this competition? Sheila says: Obviously I am not a Dilana fan, although I give her credit tonight for not changing the lyrics to "Cat's in the Cradle" and turning it into a song from a female's perspective. Chapin wrote that song autobiographically and I can see why Navarro is touched by it, considering all that his family has been through. She sure knows how to wedge herself in the middle of a band or an audience. Clever lady. Final Thoughts Raul says: Based on tonight's performance alone, Zayra doesn't deserve to be in the bottom three. But she's build up enough ill-will among viewers that she will surely revisit the bottom of the stack once more this week. Harsh reviews by Supernova will surely land Storm in the bottom three as well. Finally, perpetual whipping girl Patrice will likely round out the bottom three. Initial voting only partially confirms my suspicions. Sure enough, Patrice and Zayra are in the bottom three but so is - inexplicably - Toby. I saw nothing in Toby's performance that would turn off viewers (if anything, he drew them in and delivered a fun, catchy tune that they will not soon forget.) Alas, we'll see what the final verdict is tomorrow. Sheila says: Patrice and Zayra being in the bottom three is getting tedious. If we are lucky the ax will fall again twice tomorrow night, and Toby just isn't the front man type. I hope that Storm will select a better song next week so that she will survive (pun intended). Otherwise, the Supernova curse may be upon her. Find out who got eliminated in this week's results recap. Week 6 | Week 6 Results Week 5 | Week 5 Results Week 4 | Week 4 Results Week 3 | Week 3 Results Week 2 | Week 2 Results Week 1 | Week 1 Results |
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