What a day, what a day, what a day

This blog seems to be getting more and more random--today will be another conglomeration of news updates and links. I'll try to go through a series of more planned posts after this, though.

The Click Five, who I raved about back in early September, have just finished opening for the McFly tour--I'm sure they did an amazing job, as not only do they have phenomenally good songs, they are also really entertaining live. Their debut album Greetings From Imrie House, when it was released in the U.S., was incredibly good; however, the UK version of their album is even better, practically perfect, though there's only been one small change: "Lies" has been replaced by their brilliant cover of "I Think We're Alone Now." If you haven't already bought it, there's no better time than now; you're missing out on one of the best and most fun albums out there. I am a little worried about their decision to star in the upcoming Christy Carlson Romano movie Taking 5, though.

I don't know what I can do to convince you to go watch Pacific Avenue's Internet TV show, but you have to see it. The episodes are pretty lengthy (20 minutes, roughly), so I haven't made it through all of them, but they are really funny. Not only do Pacific Avenue have a hilarious show (with good music in it), their own music is so classic boyband (but improved/updated/etc. etc. I'm sure their promo materials would say) that I can barely stand it (there may be about a million layered vocals in it, but I actually really like the effect)--in a good (great) way. Go watch their TV show and look at their MySpace--it's worth it.

Speaking of Pacific Avenue, a commenter provided a link to his/her (sorry! I think "his," based on some clips in the show) blog with photos of Pacific Avenue--it is definitely worth a look, not only because I can't get enough of these guys right now, but also because the photos themselves are great--the blog's pretty new, but pop over there and take a look if you get a chance! If the photographer doesn't mind, I'd love to use their photos in future posts about Pacific Avenue--with full credit and citation/links, of course :)

Jim Verraros's official website has been redesigned--very professional-looking, new photos, blah blah blah...when's the new album coming out? Oh...spring 2007--maybe you should say that on the front page and not on the page for the not-yet-open store.

A lot of you probably aren't following Australian Idol, but you really should be. It's worth paying attention to just so you can understand what Scott To Be Certain and CFB Goes Pop are talking about. Scott To Be Certain is, as always, incredibly witty. CFB has an Idol "novel" that you absolutely must read--watch the show, or just read their recaps, so that you can understand the jokes in the novel because it is ridiculously brilliant and hilarious--watching the show is worth it just so you can read what they have to say about it the next day.

Speaking of Australian Idol, I have to return to the topic of Dean Geyer. I mentioned several of his performances a few days ago and, though I was really amused/impressed by him, I said I wasn't sure that he deserved to win. However, there were several amazing things about Dean's most recent performance:

1.) He covered a Ryan Cabrera song! I'm not going to claim that everything Ryan Cabrera has one is genius, but his first album contains some very, very good songs (I've been meaning to post about it--this might spur me to do so).

2.) The contestants were allowed to use guitars. This, of course, proves that they are all "credible" musicians (Jessica Mauboy didn't play a guitar, but the rest did). However! Even after saying that he wanted to make "On The Way Down" rockier and less pop, do you know what Dean did? Halfway through the song, HE THREW AWAY HIS GUITAR! Yes, the precious instrument of the rock establishment, tossed aside in favor of better showmanship. I'm not sure that we can (as the judges did) credit Dean himself for the idea, but whatever--he did it, and that's what matters.



These factors, combined with his consistent improvement (I will concede that Damien's performance was quite good, for that style of music, but we'll have to see what he does next week) and the fact that he can do backflips (I have this thing for backflips--I don't know why, but they fascinate me), mean that I have to revise my opinion from last week. My official vote (even though his voice still doesn't seem that impressive) is...Dean Geyer for Australian Idol 2006! I still can't believe it, though.

Speaking of Australian Idol, I still think that Anthony Callea's latest single is very Disney-sounding. However...I've now succumbed to how absolutely gorgeous his voice is. I know, I know...I'll try to be stronger in the future. At least we have on record that at one point in time I was able to judge it critically...

I've mentioned this site before, but I have to mention it again: blog Digital Technique is really, really great--frequently updated, with the best of old (as in generally 2000's on) and new music. Some unjustly one-hit wonders and artists I probably should have heard but haven't yet--it's definitely worth checking out.

Another new-ish blog worth visiting is Ni Hao Glitter Owl, all about Chinese pop--I don't really know anything about Asian music (that's an entire continent! How can I not know anything?), but I'm finding it fascinating.

Heinz Winckler (whose third album I've ordered but not yet received) is now a married man! Very belated congratulations to him and Alette.

Ben Adams's official website disappeared a few weeks ago, which didn't seem to be a good sign in terms of his album getting released. Now, though, it appears that a redesigned website will be appearing soon, which seems like a good sign--are things moving towards a release? On a side note, all the "for friends only" messages on his MySpace are practically driving me to get a MySpace of my own.

If you visit McFly's MySpace, you can listen to a medley of three songs from their upcoming album Motion In The Ocean (due out November 6, with second single "Star Girl" coming out October 23). I think the first one is "We're The Young" and the second is "Sorry's Not Good Enough," but I'm not sure what the last one is (maybe "Transylvania"? They might say the title at some point, but I can't tell--that guess is just based on the fact that that's a Dougie song and I think that's Dougie singing). At any rate, this looks to be an excellent album (both poppy and not just a return to their first album style--maturer than that), even if I still don't understand some of the song titles ("Bubble Wrap"? Well, maybe I have a guess). I've had an incredibly difficult time getting it to play at all, let alone play the medley without stopping; I know the album release isn't that far away, but, in case anyone else wants to be able to listen to the four-minute medley without waiting for a half an hour for it to load and play, here it is.

Oh, wow--you all had to read all that for just one song, and it's not even a complete one, nor does it have good audio quality. Well...it's got no logical connection to anything I just talked about, but here's another song--I know, since this group is incredibly popular, there's a very good chance people have it already, but since I don't think it's on a regular album (it's from the On The Line soundtrack), maybe some people don't have it:

'N Sync - That Girl (Will Never Be Mine)

To buy the On The Line soundtrack, go here (physical).

Next up: maybe a Swedish singer (not Darin, although, in anticipation of his new album, I might do a follow-up to my earlier post about him at some point), or some electronic-ish stuff.