Where's My Baby Brother? – Rock Star: INXS, 8-1-05 by Carrie
Last week the rockers got a shock to their system when both Daphna and Heather were eliminated. This week we kick things off with the now-customary champagne toast to the eliminated singers. Marty compares the group to a family, and says that they are all affected when someone leaves. They speculate that maybe one week all three of the bottom-feeders might be eliminated. The competition has officially been kicked up.
As everyone is sitting at the table enjoying a meal, a woman walks in saying "Where's my baby brother?" I immediately thought it might be JD's long lost sister, but no, it's Marty's sister. Apparently earning the encore last week gave him more than just extra air time.
Marty's sister Liz is introduced to everyone, and then she and Marty head off for some private time to catch up. The rest of the group is impressed that they too might get to have a visit from a family member if they impress the band that much, and MiG vows to practice a lot this week in anticipation.
Liz has brought Marty some letters from home, and they both get a giggle out of their mom referencing a Nirvana song. Privately Marty says that this visit from his sister is helping to keep him on an even keel.
Back outside, Suzie is having a hard time dealing with her emotions. Seeing Liz arrive has triggered her own feelings about how much she misses her family. MiG comes over and helps to comfort Suzie.
Marty thanks everyone for being so cool with his sister, and walks her to the gate. He tells her that he'll just win this thing, and then they can hang out at a mansion any time they want. She laughs and they hug. Marty feels reenergized now and ready to take on anything that comes his way.
Now it's time for this weeks' clinic. As Kirk told Brandon last week, it's a vocal clinic with Ron Anderson, who has a long list of big names on his resume. With Ron are Dave Navarro and Kirk Pengilly. Ron explains that he doesn't want to change their voices, he wants to show them how to do more with what they've got.
Jessica is up first, and with a few simple suggestions she's sounding a whole lot better. Brandon tells Jordis that he's already found his sound and his groove, so he's not real sure this vocal clinic will be of any help to him. Not a good attitude for someone who's been told that he needs some help with his vocals.
Brandon gets some pointers and really seems to be receptive to them. He sounds pretty darned good, and thanks Ron for the help. Ron says privately that Brandon probably has the best vocal range out of anyone there. Meanwhile, Suzie is having a confidence attack because she just realized that everyone who is left is a really good singer. Isn't that kind of the point?
Deanna confesses to the other rockers that she feels that her voice is damaged somehow. When she works with Ron, he tells her straight up that she needs work on her technique, and that if she hasn't perfected it by the time she's 35, she'll never be able to do it. Deanna is afraid now that the band will target her because of what Ron has said.
It's time for song selection. Honestly, I have to admit that this part feels like a spoiler to me. I'd rather be surprised by the song choices than know what each person is singing beforehand, but I also realize that this is necessary to see the rehearsals, which are really quite entertaining. I guess it's a double-edged sword.
Among the choices this week are "We Will Rock You" (run JD! Run!), "The Letter", "Everlong", and "Get Back". JD plays some kind of cruel strategy twist on Suzie, saying that he really wanted "Get Back", but he'll give it up for her since he knows she really wants it, and take "The Letter" for himself. He confesses that he didn't want "Get Back" at all, and he was playing with Suzie. Suzie says privately that she thought it was a nice thing for JD to have done.
The song selection process get more difficult every week, and this time there are a few songs that are left over after the feeding frenzy. Jessica takes "Blister in the Sun", which she'd better not butcher or she'll have thousands of fans to deal with later. Ty and Brandon are bickering over "If You Could Only See". Ty says that he's never even heard "Everlong" (say what?), which is the other song left to choose from. Eventually Ty gives in, but later struggles with "Everlong" as the timing is a bit tricky.
The singers start to meet up with House Band for rehearsals. Ty is still having trouble with "Everlong", but Paul tries to help him out. Brandon can't quite get "If You Could Only See" either, and Paul comments that Brandon's problem is that he completely loses the rhythm. No kidding. Paul adds that Brandon is not using any of the advice he got from the vocal clinic, and Brandon admits that, because he's never had any vocal training, he kind of let it all go in one ear and out the other.
Let's ponder this for a minute. Brandon wants to sing for INXS. INXS has told him personally that the vocal clinic will help him. Kirk watched as Brandon emerged vocally victorious during the clinic itself. And now Brandon wants to just forget it happened? C'mon dude, wise up.
Jordis comes in for her practice run, and she's covering Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World". Great choice, but I'd really like to hear MiG do Bowie, just 'cause I think there's a physical resemblance there. Anyway, Jordis is very emotionally moved by the song, as one of her friends passed away just before she left for the competition. She says there's a good chance she'll end up crying onstage.
Jessica practices "Blister in the Sun", and it doesn't completely suck. She says that the song doesn't show off her vocal range, to which I say "suck it up and do what you can with it". She picked a wildly popular song, and that just might give her some leeway with the voting audience if she doesn't massacre it.
That night, Jessica tells roommate Deanna that she's been in the bottom three twice now, and both times INXS has saved her butt. She doesn't know how much longer that can go on before they start to realize that people just don't like her. Jessica, it's not that people don't like you. It's just that there are others that most of us can see fronting INXS before we picture you there. That's all.
I'm looking forward to the performances tonight! Although I wonder what they will start adding as filler as we get less and less music on Tuesday nights as the number of rockers dwindles.
Who's your favourite Rock Star? Send me your views at carrie@realityshack.com.
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