Intro

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From your first performance to your last, you're simply the best! Thanks for all the great memories, Haley.

Peace & Love,
Your adoring fans

Wednesday, October 26, 2011



Ahhh, Halloween.  As a horror aficionado this is one of my favorite times of the year.  Not only can I get away with dressing up as anything I want without people looking at me like I'm some kinda freak show, this day also gives me a 'free pass' to act a bit immature and have some fun.

Why is it that you hear 'Monster Mash' around Halloween every year?  I'm frankly sick and tired of it.  Here are my top 13 songs for Halloween (sorry MJ, 'Thriller' didn't make the cut because IMO it's also way overplayed during Halloween):

1.   Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
2.   Enter Sandman - Metallica
3.   Running with the Devil - Van Halen
4.   Highway to Hell - AC/DC
5.   Fear of the Dark - Iron Maiden
6.   Black Magic Woman - Santana
7.   Welcome to the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
8.   Creep - Radiohead
9.   Bring Me to Life - Evanescence
10. Sympathy with the Devil - The Rolling Stones
11. Zombie - The Cranberries
12. Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival
13. Psycho Killer - Talking Heads

Watch them on my YouTube Playlist: 

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8017634EBB0BB6CF


And the dead shall walk.  Who am I kidding???!!!  She still looks hot.

Remember this Ford commercial with HER in it?  Haley Elizabeth Reinhart, that is.  At first I wasn't sure if she's supposed to be a zombie or the first female member of the 70's glam rock superband KISS!  How appropriate.  After all, KISS stands for 'Knights in Satan's Service' right?


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Numero Uno: House of the Rising Sun


So this is 'sultry bluesy rock.'  Oh Lord have mercy.


Topping my list of Haley Reinhart's performances this past season is her brilliant and genre-bending interpretation of The Animals' ‘House of the Rising Sun.’  This bluesy folk rock ballad recounting the tale of woe and regret about a gambler's life of ‘sin and misery’ is a personal favorite of mine, with its poetic lyrics and doleful melodies.   Ranked #122 on Rolling Stone Magazine's '500 Greatest Songs of All Time,' The Animals' 1964 version became the standard of the song and the first 'British Invasion' No. 1 hit in the U.S. by a group not named The Beatles.

Mere words cannot convey just how much I love Haley's unique spin on this timeless classic, from its smoldering a cappella opening stanza to its final exultant note.  Even though I have heard different versions of HOTRS by various artists, it's as if I'm listening to the song for the first time here.  Haley somehow managed to make a well worn and familiar song sound entirely fresh and new, and to do so with seemingly effortless ease.  There's just no other way to describe it; this was a scorching hot performance on a balmy night in May that many viewers, including myself, will never forget.   It's been over five months since Haley initially blew me away with this performance, but I am still in awe whenever I watch it.  Had she been born of Joplin's generation, she would've killed this at Woodstock.  Wearing a '60s style black halter-top and a pair of broken-in jeans, Haley had never looked sexier and gave us the grungiest, badassest rendition of HOTRS I have ever seen or heard.  Her seductive movements onstage and the rising smoke effect only put more emphasis to what is clearly the sexiest performance on American Idol to date.

Standing ovation from the judges aside, it is worth noting that of all her Season 10 performances, this is the one that most people cite as her best, including Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson and Season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert (who also called this the "sexiest performance ever" on American Idol).  Tom Hanks and his wife became fans and voted for Haley because of this performance, and it was only after watching this that Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Jimmy Page gave her their blessings to cover 'What Is and What Should Never Be' on Top 3 week.  This is the kind of 'sultry bluesy rock' that Haley was born to sing, and I'm sure that we'll get to hear some of it on her upcoming release early next year. 

Well, it's been fun, my friends.  This blog is going on temporary hiatus as far as weekly updates go, but I will occasionally post whenever I can with new developments or when I come up with something worthwhile to write about.  Thanks for following this blog these last couple of months and, in the meantime, keep watching repad's Haley vids and your ears peeled for her eagerly awaited new album.  I know I will.  Peace!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Number 2: I Who Have Nothing


And the Oscar for best dramatic performance of Season 10 goes to...

So Haley Reinhart, you just sang your heart out in your performance of the 'Earth Song,' a song which meant a lot to you and your 'song of inspiration' choice for Top 4 week.  Instead of being praised for what was clearly yet another stellar performance, you found yourself mercilessly slammed before a live audience on national TV by two of the Idol judges.  One judge treated you like a dim-witted child who's testing her patience and reproached you for repeatedly ignoring her motherly advice on the importance of choosing the 'right song.’  The other judge went even further, mimicking Simon at his nastiest by stating outright that you just don't have the vocal chops to ‘do the runs’ that the great Michael Jackson did in that song.  And even though you did your best to fend for yourself 'with a little help from your friends' (or at least from a sympathetic third judge), the damage was already done.  So, what’s a poor girl to do after such relentless and uncalled for attack?  Well, you shrug it off and deliver one of the most indelible and moving performances in Idol history with your second song of the night, of course!

At the number 2 spot on my list is 'I Who Have Nothing.'  Haley's rendition of this Ben E. King classic by Leiber and Stoller was magnificent, a powerhouse of a performance supercharged with so much raw emotion and drama that it takes my breath away  every time I watch it.  This was a Broadway-caliber performance accompanied by orchestra, a masterpiece of flawless virtuosity that simply blows the mind, especially in light of the fact that her spirit was just so recently and brutally trampled by JLo and Randy after her first performance of the night.  Haley's rendition of 'I Who Have Nothing' is better than Season 6 winner Jordin Sparks', an epic tour de force which proved beyond a doubt that she has the 'big voice' of a true diva, so go suck on that, Randy!

Like the phoenix of myth and legend, Haley had once again "risen from the ashes" with this performance, receiving her second standing ovation from the judges in as many weeks.  If it were not for her rousing performance of The Animals' 'House of the Rising Sun' the week before, which will be the subject for next week, this would have been number one on my list.  Nevertheless, bravo Haley, bravo!