Streamlined.

#Obsessed: Episode 2 - Donna McKechnie

2011-05-05T21:26:00.001-05:00

As promised. Here is the second round of my #Obsessed series. Back in episode one, we had Ann Reinking, lesser known broadway legend. She was one of the only true triple threats in the industry. Today, I bring you another triple threat. Equally as entrancing as she dances and sings.

Donna McKechnie is most widely known for her Tony winning performance in the original cast of "A Chorus Line". That brings me to the following clips of McKechnie that I want to show you.

The Music & the Mirror (Through the Ages)

Below, I am going to explore McKechnie and her signature song, The Music & the Mirror. These are all longer clips, so if you are only going to pick one to watch, I would say watch the first one. The next two are simply seeing how McKechnie has aged (rather how she hasn't). As I was reading comments from Youtube, one user summed it up perfectly. This song was typically 9 minutes long, and it was really the only 9 minutes that the part of Cassie, played by McKechnie, had any sort of meat to her part. It was this 9 minutes of singing, dancing, and most importantly acting that earned her the Tony for Best Actress in Musical. She won this award through making her 9 minutes count. That truly gives an entirely new meaning to the saying, "There are no small parts, only small actors".

The clip above is from somewhere in the 1976 range, I believe. I couldn't find any date on the youtube video, but given how grainy the quality is and bare-boned the stage is, I have to assume it's from the show in its early development. This is the performance that won McKechnie her Tony. Be sure to pay attention the head nods that McKechnie became so famous for. She was way ahead of Willow Smith. :-)

In 1980, McKechnie was diagnosed with an unique form of arthritis and told that she would never dance again. She didn't settle for that and underwent a series of herbal remedies and physical therapy. This next clip is from 1983. Just three years after she was told she would never dance again, and here she is as youthful as ever.

The finally clip of this song that I want to showcase is from the 2011 Column Awards. McKechnie is 70 years old. Yes, 70. While the picture quality isn't that great, it's clear that the dancing she is doing isn't typical of a 70 year old, much less the singing.

Finally, I am going to close with one of McKechnie's very first gigs on Broadway. She was in the original cast of Promises, Promises in 1969. This number shows exactly what Broadway used to be. It's energetic and filled with crazy good dancing. When are we going to see a show that once again showcases dancing like this? I know the recent Revival of Promises, Promises does not live up to the same dance standards... the cast is dancing like it's at a high school prom. Anyways. Here is the video!

Once again, pay attention to the her neck. It's crazy. Seth Rudetsky does a hilarious break down of this performance here.

After the Break: #Obsessed Episode 3: Sondre Lerche

Get excited for the next post folks! It's not a broadway performer. Instead, it's an indie artist that I just saw in concert.

And there will definitely be a follow up to my McKechnie episode. This one was just getting a bit lengthy.

Bye Bye Blackbird

2011-04-01T15:32:00.000-05:00

What an amazing Youtube video!

Hope you all enjoy this as much as I did!

And again here...

#Obsessed Episode 1: Part 2 Follow-Up

2011-03-30T16:42:00.001-05:00

So, I was doing some Googling today on Ann Reinking (just for the heck of it), and I came across a blogger named "judy in ky". She had a couple posts on Reinking. On particularly caught my eye. She was comparing Ann Reinking/Bebe Neuwirth & Lea Michelle/Gwyneth Paltrow both doing Hot Honey Rag.

Check out the following post to see Judy's opinion on the matter. Couldn't agree more with what she has to say.

And...

Check out this post to see the Reinking/Neuwirth perform all that jazz!

Looks like I found a new blog to read!

#Obsessed Episode 1: Ann Reinking

2011-03-29T19:05:00.000-05:00

This is the first installment in a series of posts that I am going to be doing entitled "#Obsessed". Recently, I have found myself so obsessed with many different performers. I find myself sharing all kinds of Youtube links with all of my friends (I am 100% positive that they do not enjoy them as much as I do). However, they do watch them occasionally. I can still tell that they don't necessarily want to watch them. So instead, I am going to start blogging about these obsessions. Hopefully by doing it this way, I will be able to reach out to some people who actually would like to watch these videos/learn about the history behind the legends.

I am going to be completely transparent and state that all of the information that I have read about Ann Reinking comes primarily from Wikipedia or Youtube comments; very credible sources (I know). That being said, if any of the information I post is incorrect, please correct me in the comments. I would hate to be informing people facts that are in all actuality false.

Let me first start by saying that Ann Reinking has always been phenomenal to me; even before I knew what her name was. I had first seen Ann in the seminal classic, Annie. I remember watching that movie and thinking "Man that woman is so talented! I love the rich quality her voice has. I wonder why she hasn't been in any other films before..." Yes, I thought those exact words. Over spring break two weeks ago, I discovered that Reinking has been in other films. My mom saw that a movie called "All That Jazz" was in my instant queue on Netflix and demanded that we watch it (as it was one of the movies that she grew up with). So we did watch it, and I whenever Reinking came on screen, I would think "Man, she looks so familiar!" At some point in time, I realized that she was from Annie. Thus began the inescapable spiral of obsession. I have been watching Youtube videos of her for the past two weeks (not an exaggeration).

Anyways, enough silly prattle. Here is a link of Reinking from Annie so that you all can put a familiar face to a not so familiar name.

But that isn't even Reinking at her best. In fact, it's not even close.

Check out the video below of Reinking in Hot Honey Rag from another classic, Chicago. Ann took over the spot of the original Roxie way back in the day. In this clip she was the choreographer for a revival performance in which she won the Tony for best choreography (she also won the Tony for Best Actress in the show "Goodtime Charley"). The casters couldn't find a suitable Roxie. Naturally, Ann took over and looked just as good as she did decades back when she first took the role.

Down below you will see my favorite video of Reinking. This is her dancing to "Gotta Get Down". It is the perfect example of the attention to detail that she took with every dance she participated in.

Below, you can see a video of Reinking, but you may not recognize her with that campy blonde afro getting in the way of her pretty face. I included this video because it shows a different side to Reinking, and it comes from a not so mainstream movie called "Movie, Movie".

For the final clip, I chose the trio performance of "Let Me Entertain You.

A: Reinking looks stunning and dances even better.

B: Donna McKechnie is in this clip, and she is the subject of my next episode in the #Obsessed series.

I hope you kids had as much fun experiencing Ann Reinking as I have had in the past 48 hours. Hopefully you all walked out with a little bit more respect (Maybe even a little obsession of your own?) for Reinking.

After The Break: #Obsessed Episode 2: Donna McKechnie

My Blogging Hiatus

2011-03-29T17:39:00.000-05:00

Well... it looks like I took a bit of a hiatus again.

Be looking forward to some fancy new blog posts! :) I have a few new obsessions to share!

:)

Peace!
Jake

$6.00 T-Shirts

2010-07-09T16:28:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if I am late to the bandwagon or what, but I found a really cool website. It offers some really neat T-Shirts for only $6.00! It's kind of a good deal, and most of the shirts are at least mildly fashionable. Take a look here!

Inspired by this video.

And that is just one of the seemingly endless T-Shirts offered. Next paycheck... probably going there. Check it out!

Leave it to Google...

2010-07-04T13:10:00.000-05:00

To support the gays when the government wouldn't...

Via Queerty
Original article here!

Essentially gay couples wishing to cover each other on their insurance are charged a tax by the government. Google is now offering to pay the difference between that tax and heterosexual couples. Personally, I think it is a huge step in the right direction. Google knows what the government has not learned yet. They know that gays are just as equal as heterosexuals, and we must be treated that way. This is paving a wide open road for many other corporations to follow, and as has been proven many times... where the corporations go, so do the governments. Equality is coming!

Cliqset DAY 1: The Initial Impressions

2010-07-04T02:23:00.000-05:00

I came across Cliqset via Mashable.

Many of you will probably ask "What is Cliqset?", and I will try to explain in the simplest terms possible. Keep in mind however I am new to this service as well. It seems to me that Cliqset is a way of aggregating all of your social streams on the internet into one universal location. In plain English, that means that all of your tweets, buzzes, status updates, Youtube videos, blog posts, etc. (I could go on forever!) will be in one stream on one site.

Upon loading the site in your browser for the first time, you are prompted to log in with one of your many social networking accounts. I chose to use my Google account, but as always that is a personal preference. I like to choose Google to integrate my accounts across the various social networking platforms just so that it is universal, and I would recommend, for organization sake, that everybody else do the same.

The site seemed fairly barren as far as users to me. Granted there many computer oriented people on the site, it hasn't really caught on in the general public. That is most likely because the general public doesn't understand the need for it, but I can tell you that just from the few minutes I have used it, that I love it.

So far I have 10 services connected to Cliqset. (Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, Blogger, Google Reader, Youtube, Picasa, Tumblr, Foursquare, and StumbleUpon) At first nothing appeared in my feed, but after a few minutes things seemed to start popping up everywhere. Twitter works especially well with Cliqset because it recent became fully integrated with the service. Facebook posts also worked without a flaw. I am having trouble getting Cliqset to forward posts to my Google Buzz account, however. Has anybody else had problems with this? Of course, I may have missed something or connected my account incorrectly, but it doesn't seem to be syncing right away, if at all. I will keep you all updated on that.

Visually, the sit is gorgeous. It's very colorful, and the buttons are self explanatory. It's very simple and easy to navigate and they have around 80 different sites that you can connect to your Cliqset account to. So far my first impression of the service is good. Would love to hear of other aggregators like this one if you guys know of any!

The World of Social Media

2010-06-04T01:38:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since I have blogged about anything. However, this video struck a chord in me. This past semester I wrote a ten page research paper about how social networking is revolutionizing the way we communicate. This video pretty clearly sums that up. In my paper, I had planned to address social networking as a whole, but it turns out there is too MUCH to talk about. Instead I focused on social networking and how that relates to our educations, but the truth is that it goes much deeper than that. With all that being said, let this video be an eye opener to how much has changed since social networks moved in.

Watch. & Ponder.

Pretty freaking crazy! Leave thoughts and comments below!

Buzz Once Again.

2010-02-18T11:38:00.001-06:00

Now that I have been using Buzz for a little over a week I wanted to lay down my second impressions. There are a few features that I feel strongly about, and I feel like they are key in Buzz's development over time.

Perfection/Integration of the Wave
The first thing that Google needs to do is work on perfecting Wave. They need to take Buzz and Wave (both good innovations on Google's part) and combine them to make an innovation that will change the way we browse the web. Looking at Buzz is quite overwhelming without being able to manipulate the data you are looking at. At first I had attached my Twitter account to my Buzz account. I thought that was a great idea because it would kill two birds with one stone, but soon after seeing most of the other posts I was subscribed to I realized that it wasn't such a good idea. So much of what I have seen on the Buzz so far has been discussion, and tweets don't spark discussion. Tweets are little snippets of information with little to no substance in them at all. However, Google Wave handles discussion in a much more user friendly environment. I would like to see Buzz add the ability to apply to specific posts as well as specific parts on specific posts like we have seen in Wave. I would also like to see the playback option implemented. It would be amazingly nice to log in to Buzz and know that I have 100+ buzz replies in my stream and be assured that I can go back and watch them happen in real time. Those are the two main features I would like to see from Wave, but I am sure I can come up with more.

Blog Integration
I want to be able to post a Buzz and have it automatically update my blog if I choose to do so. A check box saying post to blog would suffice, I just hate having to haul my poor fingers away from the Buzz interface to the blogger interface. Google runs it all, so why not integrate it all! I would also like the comments made in my blog to be reflected in my Buzz account vice versa. In this way it's actually another feature that Wave will be offering in the future.

Automatic Translation
It would be great for Google to recognize that I speak english and somebody I am following does not. Google already has very powerful language options (i.e. real time translation). Why not take that and apply it to somebody who buzzes from Taiwan so that somebody from the United States can read it? I know that I have stopped following somebody merely for that fact that their posts were in Chinese symbols.

In closing I would like to say that I know that a lot of my wants/needs are probably coding nightmares and near impossible for the average person. Google is not average. I will not let them settle for anything less than the impossible.

My initial thoughts on Google Buzz.

2010-02-12T13:37:00.001-06:00

I am loving the Google Buzz so far, but there are some things that I am craving...

A "View Next New" button - Rather than having to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to find the comment you want to read, I would like to just click a button and have Buzz do it for me
An easier way to organize my stream - So I can have my personal buzz's separate from the news buzz's, or I can have a school stream and a friends from home stream. Just an easy way to control what I am looking at.
Gmail + Buzz + Wave = Heaven. I would love to see Google mesh all three of these concepts into one mega concept. It would be heavenly.
Blogger/Buzz Sync - It would be great not to have to even make blog posts anymore. I would love to be able to just create a Buzz and have it automatically update my blog. That way I can blog directly from my email service.

Things that I could do without?

Facebook syncing - Unless There is going to be an entirely different tab for all of my facebook data, I would rather not clutter my Google Buzz with status updates with little to no actual information attached to them. Keep the junk on facebook, and the good interesting information on Buzz.

Thoughts? :)

Miss Katelyn Epperly's Audition?

2010-01-19T22:39:00.000-06:00

Then you can watch it here! :-)

Singing Duffy's "Syrup and Honey", here she is in all of her glory!

Whisper Watch: The Follow-Up Post

2010-01-19T14:23:00.001-06:00

Earlier this month I wrote a post about Duncan Sheik's newest musical "Whisper House". Broadway.com has just released the a new article about the show, and it comes with very promising pictures! The set looks gorgeous, as well as the costumes! I still maintain that this looks to be a very promising show!

Below are my favorite of the publicity shots (Thanks to broadway.com)!

Look at how simple yet complex it is. Can you see the lighthouse?

(Notice the ghost-like silhouettes on the walls!)

Beautifully staged, and the lighting is simply awesome.

Captures the show's main concept of fear perfectly.

Something about this picture captures me...

And finally, how can it be a Sheik musical without some kind of emotional trial?

Let me know what you think! Any first impressions of the show based on the music and pictures?

THE Katelyn Epperly

2010-01-18T01:36:00.002-06:00

I had the privilege of having this spunky individual in both my Ear Training and Music Theory courses in my first semester at Millikin University. Her name is Katelyn Epperly, and while you may not know her name yet... you will. She is going to be featured on this week's episode of American Idol.

I can't even begin to say how amazing it was to have known her and appreciated her work. Anyways she's hot, quirky, and has the vocals to back it up! In my mind she's already won! :D

Here are some videos to keep you entertained!

This is just a real quick clip of what's to come this week in American Idol. She was at the Chicago auditions! Everybody tune in!

And here is a little something else that I found! Amazingly sung, you can't see her face at all, but she is most definitely playing the piano and singing. That's more than I could ever do.

I really look forward to what this girl can accomplish. She's got a kind soul and an ambitious heart!

**I should say that I have no hard evidence that she is actually going to hollywood, but the circumstantial evidence is definitely there! (One hundred million percent yes? I think that speaks for itself.)**

Katelyn's Blog

Mrs. Robinson

2010-01-12T14:49:00.001-06:00

Meet Iris Robinson. The 59 year old hypocritical Irish lawmaker. She goes as far as to say that homosexuality makes her nauseous. It's an "abomination". She references the bible when calling homosexuality an abomination. A verse in Leviticus supposedly condemns homosexuality as being this huge sin. However, the rules don't apply to her. Ms Robinson had a romantic affair with a 19 year old adult. Aside from the gaping age difference, I see no problem with that. When I learn that she is married, that changes my position entirely. Not only is she married, but she is married to a man of the cloth. Leviticus also condemns adultery. How hypocritical can one get. You can watch the video above for a short background of this story. What I really want you to watch is the video below! I am always one for a good spoof!

Genius. It doesn't get much better than this.

Next time you find yourself questioning homosexuality's morality, ask your this. What's worse, loving one person for the rest of your life that happens to be of the same sex, or cheating on the person you are supposedly in love with?

Thanks to Queerty for pointing me in this direction!

I'm listening to... Whisperhouse.

2010-01-09T02:07:00.002-06:00

Whisper House Concept Album - Duncan Sheik

You may recognize Duncan Sheik's name for any number of reasons. He wrote the music to the controversial "Spring Awakening" which won 9 Tony awards in 2007. He had considerable success as an acoustic songwriter, and both Sheik and Whisper House were mentioned in my very first post.

The main reason for this post is to inform you all about "Whisper House". Admittedly, I am learning everything I know about this show as I type this. This post will be as helpful to you as it is to me! It looks like Sheik has created yet another dark show. Spring Awakening created a whole new genre of musicals, and it looks like Sheik is just going to be building off of that. Sheik seems to take on projects where the main characters continually suffer as opposed to suffering and then finding relief.

Whisper House is only going to reinforce this trend. The story was written by Kyle Jarrow. Jarrow defines his work as a ghost story that takes place in a lighthouse on the coast of New England. It's got me interested. The main character in the show is Christopher son of a WWII air pilot. This WWII pilot gets shot down in military combat and dies. After his father's death, his mother became mentally unstable. Christopher is then sent to live with his Aunt Lilly, who lives in said haunted lighthouse. He becomes convinced of the ghosts' existence within the lighthouse, and even becomes friends with them.

All of the songs in the show are sung and played by the ghosts. In other words the ghosts are the band. It makes all of the music in the show feel like a rock concert. It's going to make it much more accessible to the general public. This idea makes a lot of the songs a little bit more understandable. The first song entitled "It's Better To Be Dead" is very morbid. I wasn't quite sure what to think about it because is was claiming death over life, but if those making the claims are already dead, then it makes complete sense! It introduces many of the main characters and ideas of the story, but in saying that also declares that death is better. You can get a better feel for what I mean by reading an excerpt from the song.

"Please welcome young Christopher. He's come here on a train. His father flew to heaven on a fiery aeroplane. He's come to live with Lilly, and hes got visions in his head. He may be our main attraction, but he's better off dead."

It's almost as if the ghosts are picking fun at the concept of life. I think we can see some of Sheik's trends showing through here. A dark plot where the songs are something separated from reality. In Spring Awakening they were the characters thoughts.

Most of this story was written in a matter of ten days on the beach. Jarrow would write a few pages of the story and give them to Sheik, and Sheik would write the music to that part of the story. It sounds like it all evolved out of that kind of pairing.

Sheik made a point about fear that I feel is worth mentioning. He talks about how as humans when we are uncontrollably afraid of things we are also powerless. The more scared you get the less good you can do. Christopher asks his Aunt if the lighthouse was haunted and she replies, "There's no such thing as ghosts." At this point there is a lighting change and the "ghost band" starts playing "We're Hear to Tell You". As if they are trying to inspire this concept of fear on us all. The show's main focus is in how through fear we can persecute the innocent if we are not very careful. In the end we all accept our fears, and make necessary changes to overcome them. If we don't, we fall behind.

Duncan Sheik's personal release of Whisper House is now being sold everywhere, and the actual musical will begin preview performances at "The Old Globe Theatre" in CA next week (January 13th - February 21). The music is there. The script is there. Are you there?

Learn more here!

Ode To Google Picasa.

2010-01-06T02:15:00.000-06:00

A facebook status got me started on this one. I knew I wanted me next post to be about Google and the world domination that is likely to happen in this next decade. If you watch this video you can see what's new in the latest version of Picasa. It's a picture organizer. Now you might say that, "I already have a picture organizer on my computer." or "I don't need that. It's too fancy.", but the fact is that you're organizer doesn't do this, and it doesn't get more user friendly. The service is free.

These are just a handful of the things that you can do with Google's revolutionary Picasa...

Tag photos: Much like you the option to tag photos in facebook, Picasa also boasts the same feature. Google's is better though. It actively recognizes faces. After you have a few photos of a particular person tagged in Picasa, it begins tagging those photos automatically. You saw that in the video above.
Geo Tag: Much like tagging the faces of people in pictures, you also have the option to tag where the photo was taken. You need to have Google Earth (also a free product) installed for this to work. You can be as vague as a city, or as specific as an address.
Basic Tags: If you can't tag a photo by its or the people in it, have no fear! You can tag it many other ways. Maybe you want to use an assorted group of photos for an anniversary party. You can tag all of the photos you wish to use as "anniversary", and voila.
Basic Editing: There is basic editing options included. One of which is a super easy to use "I'm feeling lucky" button. You simply click and it makes the photo look the best it possibly can. The red-eye removal is about as good as it gets. Do you have a zit? Don't worry, there is also an easy to use blemish remover.
Blog This: For all of my fellow bloggers out there, uploading pictures to your Blogger account is as simple as clicking a button.
Web Albums: If you attach an email account to your Picasa then you are able to upload your photos directly to their website. This is an easy way to automatically back-up your many pictures, because let's face it computers crash.
Screensaver: Picasa comes with a screensaver that can display one, some, or all of your pictures associated with the program.
Order Prints: Ordering physical prints of your pictures is as easy as clicking "Shop", and picking a store from a list of over 15 different stores.
Collage/Movie Presentation: This is my favorite feature of all them, and one of the most powerful. When I graduated high school last year my family had the option to have invitations professionally made ($$$) or to find an alternative route to inform people. I made a 3x5 collage of the baby pictures that we all love seeing on graduation invites, added the details about my graduation, and printed 150 of them out at Wal-Mart. It cost me significantly less money than most of my friends.

Take advantage of this awesome program here!

I listed so many features of this program, but the truth is that it's so versatile that you can't truly understand how powerful it is until you use it. I urge you all to at least try it out, if you have any problems or questions just leave a comment here or shoot me an email at jake.rathman@gmail.com

Best Belters Behind Broadway's Curtains

2010-01-05T06:37:00.003-06:00

We all know Celine, Whitney, Mariah, Idina, Patti, and Barbra. So in this post I decided to try and find something a little bit different for all of you music lovers (I know some of you are just too musically literate for me to find any new material for!). These belters have been shadowed by the people listed previously and they deserve more credit in my books! I hope you enjoy the 6 videos I posted and I look forward to hearing some feedback from you all!

Screwloose - Crybaby
Crybaby made a brief appearance on Broadway in 2008. It comes fully-fledged with a hilarious script, and intriguing music. It opened to luke warm reviews and closed almost as fast it appeared. Mark Brokaw directed it, and he is from Aledo, IL. In other words an area very close to my home town. Alli Mauzey stunned me when I saw this performance for the first time. Watch out for 2:33 - 2:37... that right there is RIDICULOUS belting. Doesn't get much better than that...

I'm A Star - Scott Alan
I had originally planned on sharing with you Natalie Weiss' version of Spark of Creation. You'll see later on in this description I link you to some more stuff by her. I'm A Star used to be that link... but I decided that it was even more amazing than "Spark of Creation" which will now be in the link below. Natalie was on American Idol for a brief time, but that didn't end in her favor. She has built a reputation on Youtube as being a phenomenal performer and I urge you to check out some more of her stuff (start here)! This entire song is full of the amazing belt we now attribute to Natalie. Be sure to check out the end of the song. Those are some damn high notes!

Don't Rain On My Parade - Funny Girl
Linda Eder. Where do I even begin with Linda Eder? Linda is consistent. Her belt is fierce. In this video she says people always compare her to Babs... they shouldn't. Barbra is a phenomenal actress and vocalist, but simply can't do the things with her voice that Linda can... In the same way that Linda can't perform the same way Barbra can. I don't want to get a backlash from my readers. I fully acknowledge Barbra's genius. Linda Eder can just belt anything she wants and make it look effortless.

And I Am Telling You - Dreamgirls
I don't know how I could make a list like this and NOT include this song. So here it is. The number one song of Dreamgirls. I am sure you have all heard Jhud and Jholl sing it. This past fall we heard Amber Riley (Ignore the spanish subtitles... unless you speak spanish. In that case by all means read away!) sing it on Glee, but have you ever heard a boy sing it? No your gay friend doesn't count. He can't sing it like this. Von Smith... amazing. I don't even want to begin to think about the shit he's doing to his vocal chords, but damn just listen to him singing this song like it's nothing. Appreciate talent where you see it. There is a reason he is the only guy on this list. That's because he's the only guy worthy.

Once Upon A Time - Brooklyn
She was my favorite on her season of American Idol, and most sane people would agree with me. This girl has an amazing voice, and there is no doubt that American Idol has opened many doors for her. Diana DeGarmo has been setting broadway's stage on fire since she got second place on the show, and where is Ruben... probably an all-you-can-eat buffet. Too much? I'm still bitter. This song was suggested to me for this post, but by Eden Espinosa. I shopped around though and while this video is of a lesser quality the performance is outstanding. Once again, all of the good belting happens at the end.

Sour Kangaroo - Seussical - Warning. I only suggest watching the first 45 or so seconds. If you watch more... well you've been warned.
I'm not a huge fan of Seussical. I liked the CD when I first heard it, but the story is too scattered. Many of the parts were written way too hard to be performed successfully. Sour Kangaroo was one of them. It's terribly difficult to find somebody capable of singing a part like this. It looks like this community theatre group came across a gem in Hannah Rose DeFlumeri. She sings this part ridiculously well. I can't find too much information on her, and she looks awfully young. She's an up and comer to be on the look out for!

Hope you all enjoyed a post of fierce belting! What are some of your favorite belt songs?
Jake

Top 30 Songs of the 2000's... weird.

2010-01-03T23:51:00.001-06:00

My first post is going to be my playlist for 2000's. It's probably going to be mostly newer music, but that's something you'll have to deal with. I didn't really start listening to music all that hardcore until I was in High School. That's when you start discovering who you are. I am a big believer in music defining who you are as a person, so with no further adieu... my playlist of the decade.

I know it's long, but you'll get through it. I tried to pick music the average person hasn't heard for the sole purpose of broadening you musical horizons. Hope that you found some new music that you like! Enjoy! :)

Top 30 - By Year

2001
Annie Waits
Ben Folds Rockin - The Suburbs
The first song in my list, and quite possibly the most catchy. It opens with a catchy piano tune, and viral clapping. I remember first hearing this song a few years ago over my summer break. It was around the same time that I met her. For that very reason I will always hold this song near to my heart. I can't think of a better opener for my list!

2003
Schadenfraude
Avenue Q
One of the funniest songs in this show. A majority of my library on itunes is broadway soundtracks. You'll see that only a few songs in this list are showtunes, and that is because they are legitimately the best in my opinion. Schadenfraude is a german word that means taking pleasure from others' pain. The song takes that theme and goes with it.

Defying Gravity
Wicked,
This song has easily become one of broadway's most recognizable. Idina Menzel performed this number at the tony's phenomenally. It is a belty nightmare of a song, and she does it well. I have even heard rumors that she may have had strep throat at that performance. She then went on to claim the tony for best actress in a musical for that same role. Kudos to you Idina.

You Raise Me Up
Josh Groban, Far
Josh Groban's most successful song yet. It is as inspirational as they come. I linked to a live performance on Ellen. When I was in middle school, my show choir sang this song. It was one of our favorites if not our favorite. There is something unexplainably amazing about this song.

2004
La La
Ashlee Simpson, Autobiography
I am not ashamed to admit that I am a closet Ashlee fan. I haven't heard her sophomore album, but I really enjoy the first half of her first album. She has some quality pop songs on that album. Granted she has her reality show to thank for her tremendous success, this song has the spunk it needs to be a great pop song regardless of how she acquired fame.

Since U Been Gone
Kelly Clarkson, Breakaway
Easily my favorite Kelly song. Kelly is the punk rock princess and deservedly so. Not only was she the first "American Idol", she is also the most successful. She has also maintained her success throughout her career breaking what hollywood expects stars to look like. There are so many reasons to love this song, but the fact is it's Kelly... you can't diss her.

I Can Do Better Than That
The Last 5 Years
Sherie Renee Scott hits gold with this number. I apologize for the quality of the video... You'll just have to deal I suppose (and maybe turn your speakers up!). The Last Five Years follows the relationship between a man and a woman from the day the met, to the time they married, and finally to the point that they divorce. The woman tells the story from the divorce back to the point that they met, and the man tells the story from the beginning to the end. They intersect only once and that is when they marry. This musical is one of the best out there. With only two people in it, I was very skeptical. The bottom line is that it's Jason Robert Brown, and you really can't find a better composer for small shows than him.

2005
Time Machine
The Click Five, Greetings From Imrie House
It was hard to find a video of this one... but I got an odd acoustic one. The song is also an odd one. As soon as I heard "Just The Girl" I instantly bought the CD (well as soon as I could squeeze enough money out of my mother). This song turned into one of my faves from the CD easily. Honorable mentions "Catch Your Wave" & "Pop Princess".

I'm Not That Smart
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Another musical comedy, but this one follows 3rd graders in the county spelling bee. The 3rd graders are played by adults though. It uses adult humor, and is one of the better comedic musicals out there. It uses audience participation a lot! This is one of my dream roles. This is another show filled with many of my favorites. Honorable mentions go to "Pandemonium", "The I Love You Song", "I Speak Six Languages", & "My Unfortunate Erection".

2006
Sleep
Eric Whitacre, Polyphony
If you haven't taken the time to listen to at least one Whitacre song you are living under a rock. His music is therapeutic. Just close your eyes and let the sound surround you. You will get goose bumps every time. He may be a choral composer, but even choir music can be good. They recently did a really interesting project with this song. It's like a huge youtube mash-up. People would submit themselves singing their particular part to youtube, and then somebody mashed every single audio file into one. Take a look here!

Love Is A Losing Game
Amy Winehouse, Back To Black
Quite possibly my favorite in this entire list. Amy Winehouse has soul. Life has not been easy for her, and she may have made bad decisions. So have you. The way she lives her life doesn't affect how she sounds. She has the most soul I have heard in a long time. I have heard some people say Adele is "taking her place" in the music scene, but the fact is nobody can replace Amy Winehouse. I look forward to the time she makes music again. I live and breathe for things like this.

Baby, It's Fact
Hellogoodbye, Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!
I thought I had the privilege to see these guys in concert. As it turns out, it wasn't much of a privilege at all. I didn't like the way their music was mixed. You couldn't hear the singing at all, and you could hear everything else way too much. However, the person who mixes their albums should get a nice handshake. The album is phenomenal. It's a shame that they can't sound as good live.

2007
If The Brakeman Turns My Way
Bright Eyes, Cassadega
A friend of mine told me my voice reminded her of this band. Naturally I went out and bought this CD. After listening I came to the conclusion that she was on a drug, but I love the CD and I am very glad it is now a part of my collection. Indie at its best.

Taking Chances
Celine Dion, Taking Chances
Oh Celine Dion. Kathy Griffin likes to make fun of you. American Idol judges warn not to sing your songs, because they can't be replicated. This is one of your best songs. It sends a great life message, in life we need to take chances. Did you all catch it on Glee this past season? I sure hope so!

Blackbird
Across The Universe (Soundtrack)
This song will always hold a special place within me. We the beatles version of it at my Grandmother's funeral. The words fit in general. When I saw this movie this song just stuck with me.

Don't Call Me In The Morning
Josh Fix, Free At Last
Definitely my favorite new find. To those of you in the QCA, I found it at Disc Replay in between Wal-Mart and Lowe's in Moline. To everybody else... love your discount CD stores and they will love you back. I am so happy I found this guy. He sounds like a Queen + Ben Folds + Gavin Degraw hybrid. Awesomeness.

Mariella
Kate Nash, Made of Bricks
Once again. I had a hard time finding a good video, so I did the best I can. The lyrics that Kate Nash comes up with are amazing. Just take a moment to listen to them and you'll understand what I mean. Kate Nash is yet another of the british music scene that I adore. They really do have the best music across the oceans.

Anyone Else But You
Juno Soundtrack
Juno Juno Juno. One of the best movies of all time. It was accompanied by one of the greatest movie albums of all time. The music in this movie is so different, and it was hard for me to pick just one song to put in here from the movie. In the end it had to be Ellen Page and Michael Cera singing. I mean come on. Genius!

Love Today
Mika, Life In Cartoon Motion
My favorite male artist of all time. Another product of the British music scene. This is one of my favorite songs of all time. He's an inspiration to people all over. If you look to your right you will see somewhere in that column a link to his blog. I can't give this artist a better recommendation. He's bottom-line the best pop artist out there. Get it!

2008
Oreo
Shane Shu
I can't even find a video of this song on youtube. So you will have to do your own research. I got this album through a friend, and it is just up my alley. It's a fun pop type artist like Mika. His album is full of amazing stuff. Because I can't show you Oreo, I will show you a different song of his. I would like to mention that we are friends on facebook, and if I get lucky he talks to me on IM when I say hi. He usually leaves soon after, but I have made contact with him! :)

That's Not My Name
The Ting Tings, We Started Nothing
Many people hate this song and this group for reasons unknown to me. I love this song. It's a little on the long and repetitive side, but tell me you haven't gone up to a friend and started singing it. (If you haven't, you know you will now!)

Change The World
Chapter 6, With The Windows Down
SHIT. Once again... a youtube is not to be found for this song. You guys get "Bohemian Rhapsody" instead. Anyways this is an acapella ensemble that originated at Millikin University. That's where I go to school now. They came back for orientation this year and we saw them live. I bought 3 CD's. Guilty.

Be OK
Ingrid Michaelson, Be OK
I saw her in concert. One of the funniest people I have met. She told us stories about how all of her songs were written. You may have heard this song in "The House Bunny". I think that Mott's Apple Sauce may use her guitar accompaniment in their commercials. Anyways she is fantastic live, and has had a very successful recording career. She is now on her 5th CD.

2009 - Yup. That was this past year.
Folding Chair
Regina Spektor, Eet
Regina Spektor effortlessly creates different and innovative music. Each of her albums has a different part of her in it, and let me tell you this girl knows music. She understands the way it works. Even while playing live she is amazing.

Flight
Sutton Foster, Wish
Sutton Foster has become one of my latest obsessions. She has this bright, forward tone that to some people would be off-putting. However, to broadway fans like myself, it's exactly what we like to hear. This duet between Sutton Foster and Megan McGinnis (co-star from Little Women on broadway) is chillingly awesome. It's another one of those songs that you just let surround you.

You've Really Gone and Done It Now
Duncan Sheik, Whisper House
Duncan Sheik's newest musical, Whisper House, is being released both as an album for Duncan Sheik and as a broadway show. Duncan Sheik was the genius behind Spring Awakening that dominated the tony's the year it came out. Sheik has a wonderful touch for making music more accessible to the general public. In fact I give Sheik much of the credit for me getting hooked on broadway. Spring Awakening was the second show that I fell in love (after Wicked). It looks like he's gonna be bringing another hit in the near future!

Speechless
Lady Gaga, The Fame Monster
How could any list of the top songs of the decade be complete without some sort of homage to the newly inducted lady of pop? Lady Gaga has the world Gaga over her music. It's a fresh new sound, and her performances never disappoint. She makes every performance remembered for it's particular performance rather than the song she performed. All of her music is uniformly amazing, and I'm gaga for her... can you tell? A new age Madonna? I think so...

Good Gone Girl
Mika, The Boy Who Knew Too Much
Everything I said about Mika before stands. His lyrics are so dark, his music is playful, and he performs his music. Need I say any more?

Air Conditioner
Sutton Foster, Wish
Almost done I swear! Great bluesy feel on this song. Everything I said about Sutton before I stand by it. You need to get her new CD. You know it!

Eet
Regina Spektor, Far

This song is the best on this list. Amy Winehouse will get the honor of the most soul, but this song has the most meaning. To me and everybody out there. The very first lyrics... "It's like forgetting the words to your favorite song." The whole song is just full of inventive and awesome things. If I had the chance to have a dinner with any person in the world it would most definitely be with Respekt.

So how did I do? Did I get it right? What did I miss? What are your top songs from the decade?