Ruben_Dominguez's Blog

The final four American Idol contestants took to the stage on Tuesday night to try their hand at some rock and roll.  By this point in the competition it's a dog fight and the slightest mistake means sudden death.  You have to be great this late in the season to survive.  Period!

David Cook didn't really make a mistake on his first song, he just didn't pick a good one.  Of all the songs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he picked Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran that is as un-rock as you can get.  He toughened it up some but it was still just an average performance for him.  He chose Baba O'riely for his second piece and I was hoping that he would knock it out of the park.  Cook changed the arrangement and I thought took the spark out of the song.  He should have come out at the top of the verse and sang it as is until the end of the chorus.  I had a wierd feeling that if David would have sung What You Need by INXS for his final song, he would have been the clear winner last night.

Tina Turner is an icon in rock and if you are gonna do one of her songs you better be sure you can own it.  Syesha decided to give Proud Mary a go but unfortunately her performance wasn't great.  Randy and Paula liked it but Simon blasted her.  Luckily she rebounded on her next turn with A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke.  She sounded great, she looked amazing and the crowd went nuts when she hit the last note. I thought it was her best performance so far.  Randy didn't like it at all but Paula just stood up and clapped for her and told her that she loved it.  Simon agreed and the Syesha cried.  It was a cool moment in the show that made the hour worth watching for me.

Jason Castro made not one but two huge mistakes last night.  First he chose one of the most beloved Bob Marley songs of all time, I Shot the Sheriff.  Marley sang this song with utter conviction and authority.  Jason's version just didn't sell it all.  And why was the he holding a guitar at his hip and not playing it?.  Bob Marley was known for hanging his electric at his side while he danced with his hands outstretched belting out his tunes but it didn't work for Castro.  The judges trashed it and he deserved it.  And then in an aparent Idol suicide attempt he selected Mr. Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan.  While the melody is pretty straight forward, Dylan's vocals are incredibly hard to nail.  So ten seconds into the first first, Jason forgot the words.  Simon told him to pack his suitcase.

David A. lucked out and was able to follow Jason last night in the rotation which made him come out smelling like a rose.  He did Stand by Me for his first song and did a pretty good job of it.  He followed that with Love Me Tender by Elvis.  I hated this song choice but being the talented little son of a gun that he is, he sold it big time.  He took a classic rock ballad and updated it just enough to really win the judges over.  I've said all along that he has the best voice this season and I will stick to that.  But I still haven't hear the giagantic song that I know he can do that will make it seem like there was never anybody else in this competition.  If he does it, I guarantee that you will not be able to remember anyone else's name on the stage for ten minutes after.

Wednesday night should be Jason Castro's last on the this stage.  If Syesha, or either of the Davids gets voted off they should just end it there and call the whole thing off. 

Everyone is always talking about what they have on their ipod these days.  I will admit that I showed up late to the party but now I'm all about downloading cool stuff to that little device that we love to hate.  So here are my top five songs in case you want to check them out.

1.  The Rat ... by Dead Confederate

2. The Scale ...by Interpol

3.  Knocked Up ...by Kings of Leon

4.  Ramjac .... by Convoj

5.  Test Pattern ... by The Thermals

Let me know what you think . That's what makes blogging fun!

Sunday ????pm

When we finally got back downtown last night it was too late to get in and see any other bands.  The lines were just too long to see the really good acts.  We ended up eating dinner at and eventually catching a cab back to our hotel.  But I was getting reports from friends that were out in the throng of thousands.  Gina Rotol and her crew were at the Willie Nelson show and it was packed.  Several blocks away my buddy Mike P was reporting via cell phone that the reunited X was playing at Emo's and he was in front of the stage waiting to see the legendary L.A. punk band to do their thing.  It must of been a real doozy because he would not answer his cell phone after that.  Mike goes every year and over a four day period he will see 50 performances.  He's also got tons of pictures so as soon as I can get a hold of him, they will eventually make their way to our website.  His pick for best of the best was Rogue Wave.  And judging by lots of folks that I spoke with, he was probably spot on.  I love that band but Matt and I had committed to other shows so we didn't get to see them.  Another band that people would just not shut up about were The Ravonettes who by all accounts tore up the stage during their show at Vice on Thursday night.  I've been into their stuff for a while thanks to the heavy rotation that they get on Sirius Sattelite Radio (best invention ever .. kind of). 

SXSW is actually pretty overwhelming.  For bands, fans and everyone else that is there for whatever reason it can be an almost disorienting event.  There is no way to get to see even half the acts that you want to see unless of course they are all playing the same stage on the same night.  Driving a car is a nightmare anywhere near 6th street and especially if you plan to park.  Cabs become harder and harder to get as the night goes on and of course the lines.  Lots of long lines everywhere.  But If you have never been you have to go at least once in your life.  So here are your tips for next year's event.

1.  start checking the sxsw website around mid January.

2. get your wrist band early

3. book your hotel as early as possible ( early December is not a bad idea).

4. check the schedule for the bands you really want to see. 

5. pick a daytime stage with bands you like and one club at night and stick to it.

6. look for non SXSW shows listed in the Austin Chronicle, you could find a real gem. 

Note - we had a great time and it was worth it in the end.  And I'll probably be there again next year.  But for now my feet are killing me, my back hurts from sleeping on a lumpy mattress and my brain stopped working hours ago .. so see you guys soon...

7:05pm

The cool thing about this event (sxsw of course) is that you never know what you are going get.  Some people try to plan out every second of the their day and night and do whatever it takes to stick to that schedule.  Good luck to you if you are one of those because nothing works like it is supposed to up here.  So I decided today that I was only going to commit to one interview and let the rest just happen.  Back Door Slam were scheduled to play at a little park in front of the Hilton hotel today at 1:30pm.  They ended up getting bumped by three different acts.  This was bad for them but fantastic for me.  I ended up seeing British Sea Power, then Duffy (she has a no. 1 single in the U.K.) right now and then a surprise show by Ludacris!  Not a bad afternoon.  So now comes the harder part, editting all this stuff and sending it back home. Then we plan to o back downtown and actually enjoy a show without lugging gear around. 

11:30am

Yesterday was about checking out some Houston bands and one really killer Austin group.  But today we are setting our sights on grabbing a couple of bigger bands that are performing at one of the many outdoor and tent shows during the day.  Number one on the list is Back Door Slam from the UK.  This is trio has been compared to Cream and The Jimi Hendrix experience more than once in print and all over the web.  Their young phenom guitarist has his work cut out for him trying to impress at today's show on Stevie Ray Vaughn's turf but they've been here before and all reports indicate that he is up to the task.  Next on our list for this afternoon is British Sea Power, a super melodic band of gents who are also from across the pond.  Lot's of folks talking about their show later tonight.  We hope to grab them at a more intimate outdoor show today before all the scenesters and industry trash wake up from their drunken night of free booze and party hopping. 

The traffic between Housotn and Austin was horrible.  We rolled in at about 4pm and it was right in the middle of Friday rush hour.  We dropped our stuff at the hotel and headed straight to the Austin Convention Center to meet up with Peekaboo Theory.  The guys had played the night before on the Houston Press Showcase and apparently in typical South by Southwest fashion, the club was a small out of the way dive that no one knew about and nobody showed up to.  In case you don't know, Houston bands always get the shaft at this thing but hey, we're used to the slag from the big "A."  It t took almost an hour to go seven blocks to try and catch Electric Touch.  They're not a Houston band but since they have played Fox Rox and are just flat out cool dudes, we had them on our list.  We missed their performance but we were able to grab an interiview upstairs at the Justice records showcase.  It was starting to get late and we had to get back to the other side of town to see Thee Armada at Habbana Patio.  And once again, a band from H-town is hidden from the billions of people attending this thing.  They had the honor of playing behind the club, under a tent that was nestled between a parking lot, the i-35 overpass and the rear end of a gas station.  But to their credit the boys rocked it super hard for the crowd that managed to find this place.  This was my first time to see the band play and they were surprisingly good.  The ban is pretty high octance on stage and they obviously put the time in writing and rehearsing their songs.  I was just amazed that we made it somewhere in time to see a performance.  Next up, the long hard hike back to our vehicle.  we gave up four blocks in and hopped on one of those bicycle things that has a bench in the back and an Austin stoner, vegetarian dude pedaling up front.  Now it's 11pm and we are sitting in the hotel tired and trying to edit all this video on a laptop while the ancient Amana window unit air conditioner rattles and hums in the background.  Got to sleep now.

It's time to hop in the truck and head to Austin for the big music fest.  I have been to this thing a million times but this will be the first time that I will be working.  I'm looking forward to catching up with a few Houston and Austin bands and also seeing some national acts.  Look for interviews with Electric touch, Peekaboo Theory and if everything goes well Back Door Slam.  We are also going to be posting performances and a photo gallery on myfoxhouston.com.  There will be blog entries too so make sure you monitor my lost weekend.  Hope to make it back alive next week.  See Ya!!!!

I read Cybertoothtiger's blog the other day and really liked the pics he included of his cool guitar collection. So I thought I would share some of mine. Below is my Taylor 415 Jumbo. I decided I wanted a good steel string to have around the house and after a little shopping at Rockin Robin, I picked out this beauty. It's great for picking lines and open chords. I love it.

Next up is my baby, this is my 1992 PRS CE 24. This guitar gets better and better every day. I'm always amazed when I pick it up how great it plays. It never let's me down.

There are a couple of other cool things in the arsenal so stay tuned for that.