Rockstar: Supernova

[ian grey]

Originally Posted by Force Majeure

(1) Dilana is definitely talented, but I'm not sold on her voice. It's like Bonnie Raitt with mild laryngitis.

(2) Lucas is one of the band's favorites, but his voice is worse than anyone else's. Last night's performance aside (I haven't watched it yet), "Creep" is the only time he's actually sung something without sounding like he's grinding his larynx into a fine paste. The band's criticisms of Lucas are right on in that they worry that his voice won't last one leg of their planned tour. The fact that he looks like a cross between Chucky, The Joker and a mangled Harley is a non-issue, given his potential band-mates' profiles.

(3) Magni is also very talented, and also has an impressive resume (his band is already well-known in Europe), but I don't think he quite fits the band's criteria. His stage presence is a bit too low-key.

(4) Patrice should have been off weeks ago. Voice-wise, she's a one-trick pony from what I've heard. I wouldn't listen to her sing more than three songs without getting bored.

(5 and 7) Ryan and Toby are just too ordinary-looking, I think. Their voices are fine, but their stage presence is lacking. If hired, they both would tend to rely on gimmickry to hold an audience's attention rather than their own talent. NTTAWTT.

(6) Storm is clearly the best show(wo)man, and she has the resume and voice to back that up. Her theater background shows.

(8) Zayra may be talented, but it goes without saying that she's not right for Supernova. She also has a lot of trouble staying on-key. If she just spends some time with a vocal coach nailing down her pitch control, she could be the next Madonna/Stefani/Selena.

If the decision were up to me, Storm would win hands down. As it is, I see it as a toss-up between her, Dilana and Lucas.

I agree with most of that, except that I haven't heard anything good from Storm yet. I thought she was horrible last night. IMO, Dilana and Magni are the only decent choices , but I agree that Magni is kinda soft for this band. I guess I'd give it to Dilana.

[Force Majeure]

Well, the entertainment factor on Rockstar just went down a notch....

And this week Zayra put forth her best performances yet. I thought Patrice should have been gone instead.

Clearly Dilana is their fave, I don't care how many times Dave Newsted claims otherwise. She fits the rest of the band like no one else. I'm changing my mind about her; while my description of her as a "second Raitt" or "sub-Etheridge" still stands, her performances this week were top notch.

I may be stating the obvious, but Dilana's performance with Supernova seemed a bit canned. There were too many camera angles for it not to have been edited from at least two takes. Too many wide shots without visible cameras followed by close-ups where a camera should have been but wasn't.

And the dancing girls added nothing to the performance - just made me feel dirty. I mean, last week Gilby expressed concern about Toby relying on the loudspeaker as a gimmick, and a couple weeks before that Gilby complained about Jill's overt sexual moves. So now we finally get to see the full band perform and they bring out four dancers in leather, shoving their crotches at the audience? The worst kind of gimmick, IMO.

Oh, and the encore going to Ryan... that seemed odd. I thought his performance was mediocre, at best.

[Bamafan]

No quotes because I'm lazy...


Ryan's performance sucked, just like the song he did. They need to crank it the other way next time.

Delana is the only performer whose voice and pitch are consistently spot on. She has the right look for the band, won't get swallowed by the other members' popularity, and can sing their crappy music. In fact, if they don't choose her, they'll just be mediocre, instead of mediocre with an interesting vocalist.

The song Supernova played last night was boring, as expected. If they do that every week, I might stop watching. I will never, ever buy their album.

[DeepPurple]

Originally Posted by Force Majeure

Well, the entertainment factor on Rockstar just went down a notch....

And this week Zayra put forth her best performances yet. I thought Patrice should have been gone instead.

Clearly Dilana is their fave, I don't care how many times Dave Newsted claims otherwise. She fits the rest of the band like no one else. I'm changing my mind about her; while my description of her as a "second Raitt" or "sub-Etheridge" still stands, her performances this week were top notch.

I may be stating the obvious, but Dilana's performance with Supernova seemed a bit canned. There were too many camera angles for it not to have been edited from at least two takes. Too many wide shots without visible cameras followed by close-ups where a camera should have been but wasn't.

And the dancing girls added nothing to the performance - just made me feel dirty. I mean, last week Gilby expressed concern about Toby relying on the loudspeaker as a gimmick, and a couple weeks before that Gilby complained about Jill's overt sexual moves. So now we finally get to see the full band perform and they bring out four dancers in leather, shoving their crotches at the audience? The worst kind of gimmick, IMO.

Oh, and the encore going to Ryan... that seemed odd. I thought his performance was mediocre, at best.

You make some interesting points. Zayra may be a future star but I think she only made it this far so that the Supernova could get her on a "casting counch" in las Vegas. Singing a ballad in Spanish about rain was not going to earn her points with some second rate heavy metal musicians.

I thought your comments on Gilby's tendency to self contracdict were right on. How about the guy he called out for re-interpreting a Police song (Roxanne). Then later he calls out Patrice for not doing enough re-interpreting of a Police song (Message in a Bottle). I think Patrice will probably be the next to go. Too many times in the bottom 3.


I'll have to re-watch the Dilana song. Your points about camera angles are interesting. I have all the episodes saved on TIVo.

I do like Ryan's voice. I think he is improving every week. The Phil Collins cover was a good interpretation of an overly-pop song.

[Bamafan]

Anyone watch the first part of the finale last night?

Who will win? I think their choice should be down to Dilana and Toby. Dilana is an amazing singer. I have never heard a bad performance out of her. She has the vocal chops to make it a la Stevie Nicks or Grace Slick. Just needs the right band.

If Supernova chooses Toby, he might make them listenable.

Lukas is ok, but pretty grating at times. Magni is too bland.


My pick for their choice is Toby.

[Force Majeure]

I agree entirely with Bama. Except that Dilana doesn't seem to have the writing chops. On the other hand, the four songs that Supernova has performed thus far seem to have just as little inspiration lyrically (not to mention musically).

Toby Toby bo-Boby, banana-fana fo-Foby, fee fie mo-Moby, Toby.

[Bamafan]

Originally Posted by Force Majeure

I agree entirely with Bama. Except that Dilana doesn't seem to have the writing chops. On the other hand, the four songs that Supernova has performed thus far seem to have just as little inspiration lyrically (not to mention musically).

Toby Toby bo-Boby, banana-fana fo-Foby, fee fie mo-Moby, Toby.

I agree about the writing chops, but they can be cultivated and are also unnecessary to be successful today.

Of course Supernova's songs stink. Bunch of rejects is what they are. Gilby Clark was in GNR for 0 albums, only during the decline after Axl went nuts. Tommy Lee is clearly a hack, and Jason Newstead was a replacement who got replaced. None of them are world class musicians.

To me, when Gilby plays, it is horrible. He sounds like me playing guitar. Dave Navarro and the lead guitar for the House Band are a million times better than him.

[lou]

I didn't see it last night, but I saw that Lukas won. One the one hand, you must be kidding, but then when you look at the talent of the band, he stacks up pretty evenly.

Dilana or Toby would have stood out too much as a star for that group. I think I'd become a lifetime member of the Dianne DiGarmo (AI second place lame-o a few years back) fan club before buying one of Supernova's albums.

[Force Majeure]

From yesterday's news:

NEW YORK (Billboard) - A California judge has ordered producers of the CBS reality show "Rock Star" to find a new name for its group Supernova, ruling that an established band already exists with that moniker.

The original Supernova, best known for contributing the song "Chewbacca" to the cult movie "Clerks," had previously filed for a preliminary injunction protecting its name.

The news comes at a particularly bad time for the TV show, which will name its winning vocalist Wednesday. The winner will promptly hit the studio with guitarist Gilby Clarke, bassist Jason Newsted and drummer Tommy Lee; the group is slated to begin a North American tour on New Year's Eve in Las Vegas.

As part of the judge's ruling, the CBS-spawned group is enjoined from using the Supernova name for performances and recordings.

"The ruling is a major victory for Supernova, especially since it has been announced on several occasions that our client's case had no merit," says Supernova attorney John Mizhir, Jr. "This is sweet justice. The order also proves that the law does not discriminate. The band members have worked hard for the past 17 years to establish the name Supernova and they are entitled to continue to perform without any other parties -- large or small -- infringing on their rights."

Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Supernova, founded in 1989 by Jodey Lawrence, Art Mitchell and David Collins, has released four albums.

This also explains why the band name wasn't mentioned even once during the finale. Brooke just kept replacing what would have been the band name with "Gilby, Tommy and Jason, and of course my main man Dave Navarro". "And once again the members of <click> Gilby, Tommy and Jason <click>, say hi to Gilby, Tommy and Jason!"

Just call it Guns'n'Motlica, or MetalliCrue'n'Roses.

Incidentally, the MSN messageboard is nearly 100% over-the-top upset about the band's choice. Whatever.

I liked last season much better.

[Bamafan]

Originally Posted by lou

I didn't see it last night, but I saw that Lukas won. One the one hand, you must be kidding, but then when you look at the talent of the band, he stacks up pretty evenly.

Dilana or Toby would have stood out too much as a star for that group. I think I'd become a lifetime member of the Dianne DiGarmo (AI second place lame-o a few years back) fan club before buying one of Supernova's albums.

Probably so. I might possibly have bought one of their albums if any of the 4-5 songs they played were good. I think Toby and Dilana could be superstars with the right band.

I definitely liked this season better than last season, but they both ended poorly. I would like to see more variation in the songs. They should put a kibosh on Nirvana songs too. Please don't let them butcher any more.

At the end, BB mentioned next season. I wonder what kind of geriatric rock stars they will get for that one. Let's see... Cece Deville, Billy Sheehan, and the drummer for Collective Soul (most boring drummer EVAR!!).

Maybe they will make it awesome and do Rock Star: Alice in Chains. I don't think that band would do it though.