Canadian Idol 6, August 25: Snowbird Alert!

This article kicks off with my final trivia question for the season (as it may be obvious that I’m running out of material). Among all the married contestants, who racked up the best finish? The answer will appear somewhere near the end of this article.

There’s one amusing part of the pre-show that’s changed that’s kind of fun. As senior producer Sue Brophy comes out, there are now full-stage graphics of the first order proclaiming this The Sue Brophy Show. Cute. Enjoying this with me somewhere in the audience (but closer to the stage) is Adam Castelli, who finished tenth this season, and the legendary Ashley MacIsaac, master of the electric fiddle.

Series host Ben Mulroney welcomes us to the show and announces that tonight, each performer will sing two songs. The first round will be songs from the Anne Murray catalogue, with the second being anything they want. Great, I still have hope that someone will take on Stompin’ Tom Connors’ “Hockey Song”!

Ben next introduces the judges and inflicts BPRQs (Boring Predictable Response Questions) to each (and upon us). He first asks judge Farley Flex about the impact of Anne Murray on Canadian music. Farley says, “When you think about Canadian divas like Shania, Céline, k.d.lang, and certainly Sarah McLaughlin – it all started with Anne Murray. Fifty million records sold at a time when that was unheard of… she’s the Canadian songbird.”

Ben wants Jake Gold to comment on how the Idols should be preparing to sing two songs tonight. He says, simply, no differently, adding, “I’ve said it before: Every performance should be like (it’s) your last performance.”

Ben asks Sass Jordan simply, “Sass, four dudes doing Anne Murray… songs. What is your take on that?” Wow, there was a tense moment there when we almost had to be taken off the air! She responds, “A great song is a great song,” and if it has heart, it has no gender.

Zack Werner blows off his question to say that there seems to be a lot of undecided voters, and they need to “Stop, look, and listen,” before casting their votes.

Ben cues the playing of an informational video about Anne Murray’s career. The highlights are four Grammy wins and a record 24 Juno awards. She is the first Canadian solo female act to earn a gold record, with “Snowbird.” I’m impressed that the post office has issued an Anne Murray stamp. There’s absolutely no doubt that she is qualified to offer advice to our young hopefuls. So let’s advance to that point.

Mitch MacDonald - Age 22 - Port Hope, Cape Breton, NS

Anne says, “Mitch has that “Aw shucks, boy-next-door” thing happening, which is very endearing to young girls. But, also to old girls!” Migawd, is Anne a cougar? No, her little laugh belies that. Phew, this is turning into quite the saucy episode!

Anne tells Mitch that his breathing is throwing his phrasing off, and has him lie on top of the piano to do a breathing exercise so she can show him what she means. Mitch will test these new theories out singing the Gordon Lightfoot version of “Cotton Jenny.” It’s very nice, bur pretty faithful to the original and not terribly exciting. I clap politely, but that’s about it.

Judge Jake first says that Mitch looked comfortable on his stool, but for about the third week in a row he was flat in the opening lines. Sass speaks more about phrasing and feels Mitch did a good job on heeding Anne’s advice. Farley agrees that Mitch looks comfortable on stage, but still wants to see “a little more edge.” On this song? Zack is reminded of “Perry Como sleeping on a couch.”

Earl Stevenson - Age 23 - Lloydminster, AB

Earl seems a little taken aback at meeting Anne. Perhaps he thought he was meeting the creator of “Snow Board,” not “Snowbird?” A rim shot, if you please!

But seriously, when Anne meets Earl, she’s impressed with his aura of innocence. She also notices his unique-sounding voice. Anne tells Earl that he needs to make more eye contact with his audience and not get lost in the performance of the song.

Earl is singing the Fugees version of “Killing Me Softly,” which I admit is not the first number that comes to mind when mentally reviewing Anne’s music. Vocally, it’s one of his stronger efforts, aided by the fact that although he uses much of the stage area, he has trimmed out a lot of the wackier “dance” moves. It’s okay, but I’m still clapping might politely.

Sass likes Earl’s eyes (yes, really) and how he took to Anne’s advice. Farley likes how he found a funky, soulful song and sang a soulful version of it.

However, Zack says he couldn’t get the emotional context of the song. He also didn’t feel much of a difference in his connection with the audience, likening his movements to “aimlessly up for a meander in the back yard.”

Jake knows what Zack means, but says that for him, it works the opposite way. He says Earl is “the kind of artist that draws people in and forces them to watch what you’re doing.” He also says the singing was good and the performance was great.

Drew Wright - Age 28 - Collingwood, ON

That’s Drew in the picture that accompanies this article – he shaved off his beard! Maybe he should have waited until it was time to return home, for “beardless Drew” is in great disguise for the times he wants to be left alone.