The Baton

I have been tagged by Christi who will probably be very disappointed by my rather vague answers. I'm just a vague kind of a guy. I don't have to work at it; it comes naturally.

01. Total volume of music files on my computer?

None. There may have been some on my old computer, but I think I wiped them off when I cleaned house. I have made MP3 CDs in the past, and I have copied regular music CDs, but I seldom listen from my computer, so there's not much sense on wasting storage space. I also had a NetMD (mini disc) player with quite a few discs, but I passed it along to Lady Bug because I figured she would get more use out of it.

02. The last CD I bought was?

The last CD we bought was just a few days ago: Theresa Sokyrka's, These Old Charms. For those south of the border, Theresa was runner-up in last year's Canadian Idol. She did her own thing in the competition and let the chips fall where they may. I would say that this is a jazz album, towards the bluesy side. It's quite good.

03. Song playing right now.

Sorry, there's dead air right now. If there was music playing, it would most likely be something by either Theresa Sykorka (see above) or Sarah Brightman. Yesterday, I found myself playing a Barra McNeil song in my head (if that counts) while riding my bike: a hauntingly pretty song, called Every Time, or at least that's the main, repeated word. They are an obscure East Coast group. I have never even owned one of their CDs but borrowed them from the library and complied a mini disc of my favourites. I like East Coast music: The Barra McNeils, The Rankins, Great Big Sea, The Cottars, and Rawlins Cross come to mind.

04. Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me (in no particular order).

I'm a little weird and usually relate to a whole artist rather than a particular song although I do like Every Time as mentioned above. I also like some of the rowdy Great Big Sea songs such as Patty Murphy and The Old Black Rum, but I don't suppose that I could call them meaningful — just fun. Theresa Sykorski is new, so I don't know her particular songs yet. As for Sarah Brightman, I am mesmerized by her voice; it gives me chills. Again, I can't call up her individual songs by name, except for Question of Honour, although I frequently find myself humming or whistling one song or another. I am a hummer and a whistler. I think it used to mortify my daughters when they brought friends over and I would suddenly belt out some tune or other in my basso profundo, but poor quality, voice.

05. Which 5 people are you passing this baton to, and why.

I wasn't planning to do this, but if they happen to read this post and are game, I would like to hear from Butterfly, Lady Bug, Cuppa, Wash Lady, and -epm. I think that might be an interesting and diverse group.

Since this comes as we enter the final week of American Idol, I might as well add my two cents.

I thought that this year's top 24 and on was pretty strong. Having said that, I don't know that the winner will be as strong as in some of the other years. No one has particularly grabbed me although Bo has been very good in the last few weeks. I thought that he stole the show this week, but that Carrie stayed close enough that it should come down to the final week. We probably have the right two finalists, but I think that a few people got booted off to early (i.e. Anwar) and that a few hung on too long (i.e. Scotty).

Once American Idol is over, Canadian Idol will commence. It will be interesting to compare the two. Last year, I thought that Canada's top ten were better than their American counterparts, and that surprised me quite a bit, but, as I said, the American top 12 (and even 24) were quite good this year. The Canadian qualifiers generally seem to be more eclectic, like Theresa, who is basically a jazz singer. American Idol contestants seem to all be closer to mainstream pop with some leanings to country or rock. Sometimes eclectic is good, but sometimes I don't prefer some of the styles that get through to the Canadian top ten.

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Something funny: I just proofread and found that I had left the last letter off Christi. I can imagine the double-take of some if I had not caught that, and to see a link there too: "I have been tagged by Christ who will probably be very disappointed by my rather vague answers." No doubt, he is rather disappointed with me, The Doubter.