DSDS Final Tonight

Tonight is the final of D.S.D.S (Deutschland Such Dem Superstar, the German version of Idol) sixth season between Daniel Schuhmacher and Sarah Kreuz.  I'm really looking forward to it.

I was first lured to the show in the first season.  I didn't really watch so many of the shows but the single "We Have a Dream" (a song sung by the top 10 finalists) released during the show's run received a lot of radio play and I have a fond memory of listening to the song on the radio at the hospital just after my youngest daughter was born. I watched the final of the first season along with an estimated 12 million people.  Alexander Klaws (here is his Wikipedia bio and website) beat Juliette Schoppman (here is her Wikipedia bio and website) singing Take Me Tonight.  Alexander seemed like a very nice guy, whom Dieter Bohlen (a jury member of every season) said seemed like the kind of guy that you'd want to date your daughter (or something to that extent). 

I didn't see any of the shows during the second season until the Final.  This was primarily due to working in the Netherlands and the time.  Elli Erl (her Wikipedia bio and website) was the winner that season.

Season three is probably my favorite of all that have aired so far. There were four singers that I really liked that season. Nevio Passaro (his Wikipedia bio and website) was of Italian heritage and Dieter convinced him to sing a song in Italian, which was very good. He finished 4th that season.  Not too long ago he released a cd called Nevio, which contained songs in English, German, and Italian, I bought it and listen to it from time to time. A relationship blossomed between Vanessa Jean Dedmon (her Wikipedia bio) and  Mike Leon Grosch (his Wikipedia bio and website) apparently going back to a duet that the two of them sang at the beginning of the show in Berlin.  Lady Vanessa, as the jury referred to her, sang songs from Whitney Houston very well.  I was hoping that she'd have a career but I haven't heard about her landing any recording deal or anything. Mike had a very soulful voice and sang Seal and Joe Cocker very well. Tobias Regner (his Wikipedia bio and website) was the winner and the first his Straight cd was I Still Burn.  Tobby was the first "rocker" to win the show and he seemed to be able to sing almost anything from Metallica to Frank Sinatra.  Tobby and Mike went on tour and I went to see the two of them. I believe that this is the only concert I've been too since monving to Germany.  Because Tobby's style is so much different than Dieter Bohlen, it seems that he didn't get a lot of promotion after winning.

Mark Medlock (his Wikipedia bio and website) won season four and has no doubt been the most successful of all the Superstars so far.  His story is inspiring when you consider he was unemployed before the show and on welfare (Hartz IV) with not much of a bright future and now he has released several well selling cds. Mark faced off against Martin Stosch  (his Wikipedia bio and website) in the final. Lisa Bund comes from Wiebaden, and sang like Kelly Clarkson, she did release a cd last year or so. The rest of the top 10 from that seaon included the Enns brothers (Thomas and Jonathan), Francisca Urio,  Max Buskohl, Lauren Talbot, Laura Martin, and Julia Falke


Thomas Godoj (his Wikpedia bio and website) beat Fady Maalouf in the finals of season five. Thomas was another rocker to do well in the show. It was said that he had "no plan B" that he had pinned all his hopes on winning the show.  He did great versions of songs "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" from U2, "Behind Blue Eyes" from the Who, and a very memorable version of "Let It Be" from the Beatles. The remaining Top 10 included Benjamin Herd, Collins Owusu, Jermaine Alford, Linda Teodosiu, Monika Ivkic, Rania Zeriri (her Wikipedia bio and website), Sahra Drohne, and Stella Salato.


Season six has had quite a bit of controversy. Annemarie Eilfeld has managed to get her picture in the Bild (the German tabloid newspaper) what seems like every week.  In last week's show she sang her final number with a snake around her neck. Vanessa Neigert was a cute young girl that sang popular older German songs that people liked (espeically those of people that aren't teenagers anylonger) but weren't exactly what you'd consider Top 40 of today.  Holger Göpfert was dubbed Chaptain Entertainment and it was amuzing to watch him dance around but there were definitely better singers that were kicked off before he was finally kicked off. Cornelia Patzlsberger was kicked off relatively early.  She played the harp and had a great voice, but it seems that she became too identified with the harp and therefore when she was playing it, it apparently didn't seem right to the jury and audience.  Benny Kieckhäben was entertaining, maybe to the point that it distracted people from his singing and he might have seem too flamboyant for many people's taste.
Dominik Büchele sang like an awful lot like James Blunt.  The jury commented on that point very often, to the point that it was hard to hear him sing without hearing James Blunt.  He always sang his songs well, but his performances didn't have the intensity that the jury seemed to be looking for.  For the longest time I had expected that Daniel and Dominik would be in the Final of this season. Sarah Kreuz has a great voice and there was one show where they had someone work with her on being more of a diva. Daniel Schuhmacher has a very unique voice that you can tell immediately is his, he recently sang a famous Joe Cocker song and didn't try to sing it like Joe, but he did his own version and made it his own.

For the last weeks I've been playing the songs sung on DSDS on Blip.fm,where possible I would play the original version of the song or one that might have inspired what was sung on DSDS. If you like to read more about DSDS there is a lot of information on Wikipedia and of course there is the RTL offical DSDS website.  I wrote a post last year in preparation for the finals as well.  While I don't know who will win, I'm sure that it will be a good show.


Photo credit: retro singing girl courtesy of stefa.

30 Years of Star Wars In Germany

Easter weekend last year I attended the Jedicon in Duesseldorf, celebrating 30 years of Star Wars in Germany. I recently posted some pictures at Flickr, so I thought that I write a post about it here.

First off you might think that the movie came out in 1977, so it should have been 31 years, but apparently the counting of years goes back to 1978, when it played in Germany.  I was told by a friend that the convention was typically held every other year, I had never attended  a Star Wars convention and l decided that the 30 year celebration was a good reason to attend.

Star Wars came out when I was 10 and at an impressionable age.  It quickly became one of my favorite movies.  My devotion never reached the fabled heights of some fans (i.e. a rumored fan that saw the movie 17 times that first summer, must have liked the popcorn I used to joke).  Like many other fans I was excited to hear that Episodes I-III were going to be made.

I was only there on the Saturday, but I did get to hear Robert Watts, Jeremy Bulloch, and Daniel Logan talk about their experiences with Star Wars.  Robert Watts was involved in the production of the first three movies and one or two Indiana Jones movies, so he had some interesting stories to tell.  Jeremy Bulloch was Boba Fett in the orginal films, while Daniel Logan played Boba Fett in the newer movies. Saturday night was a variety show and of course there was all kinds of stuff that you could buy. 

It is nice to do something like this to meet other fans, to meet people involved, and to learn more about things behind the scenes. It is hard to believe that Star Wars has been around for over 30 years (sure makes you feel old sometimes).  So heres to 30 plus years, "May the Force Be With You."

Stormtroopers in full force

Stormtrooper ready for Easter

Boba Fett

Yoda in Carbonite

Droids on display

Darth Vader under the helmut

80's Party

Leg warmers, Rubik's cube, Reagan and Gorbachev, the VCR and CD catch on, music videos and MTV (the played music), Band Aid and Live Aid, all those new wave hair styles and Heavy Metal hair bands, do these things have you thinking about the 1980's? If you remember, a friend of mine had an 80's themed birthday a few weeks ago and in honor of the occasion I decided to blip 80's songs the weekend of his party and in fact I blipped 80's songs all week (February 22-28). You can find all the songs I blipped if you go to my profile and click on "blips", since I've blipped more songs since then they won't be at the top you probably need to go back several pages.

Since I graduated high school in 1985, the 80's were a very prominent period in my life and I have a lot of memories from that time. For many people the high school years are memorable and it is a natural progression that music from that time will have a certain sentimental aspect to it. Music plays such a big role in our lives and so many songs are tied to memories that I have from this time (as with many of you I'd imagine). I remember driver's training and the songs that always seemed to be on the radio. There was our class song, most all graduating high schools classes had one, they were usually something with a positive title (ours was more rebellious). I remember my first concert and a bunch of concerts that I went to in 1984.

I started blipping some songs that I thought of when I thought of the 80's then I decided to blip some songs that were Top 40 songs for each year of the 80's and then I played some songs that weren't in the Top 40 but were memorable none the less.

I thought that I'd post links to some of the songs that I blipped. You're welcome to go listen to them if you'd like. You might just start at the last 80's song I blipped (Walking on Sunshine by Katrina & the Waves) hit play and Blip.fm will play them all from newest to oldest blipped (was an 80's mix with AC/DC, Van Halen, Joan Jett, and more). All and all, 14 pages of blips! Here are some of the highlights...

• Do you remember "Don't You Forget About Me"? from Simple Minds (prominently featured in the Breakfast Club movie
• "One Thing Leads To Another" from the Fixx
• "I Ran (So Far Away)" from A Flock of Seagulls
• "Rebel Yell", "White Wedding", "Mony Mony", "Eyes Without A Face" from Billy Idol
• "Video Killed the Radio Stars" from the Buggles
• "Karma Camellion" and "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" from Culture Club
• "Hungry Like The Wolf", "The Reflex", and "View To A Kill" from Duran Duran
• "Some Like It Hot" from Power Station
• "Smokin' In The Boys Room" from Motley Crue
• "I Want A New Drug", "Back In Time", "The Power of Love", "Hip To Be Square", "Working For A Living", and others from Huey Lewis and the News
• "Please Don't Go" from KC & the Sunshine Band
• "Pop Muzik" from M
• "Theme from The Greatest American Hero (Believe It Or Not)" from Joey Scarbury
• "The Tide Is High" from Blondie
• "I Love Rock And Roll" from Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
• "Ebony And Ivory" from Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder
• "Centerfold" from the J.Geils Band
• "Abracadabra" from the Steve Miller Band
• "Always On My Mind" and "West End Girls" from the Pet Shop Boys
• "Who Can It Be Now" and "Down Under" from Met at Work
• "Every Breathe You Take" from the Police
• "Come On Eileen" from Dexys Midnight Runners
  
• "Let's Dance" from David Bowie
• "Jeporady" and "The Breakup Song" from the Greg Khin Band
• "Mr. Roboto" from Styx
• "Little Red Corvette", "When Doves Cry", "Let's Go Crazy" from Prince
• "Der Kommisar" from After the Fire
• "I Wear My Sunglasses At Night" from Corey Hart
• "Take On Me" from A-Ha
  

Thank you to those that played and listened a long. Feel free to listen to any of the songs that I blipped and reblip them if you'd like. Also if there is a song from those years that you'd like to point out you can do so in the comments here or you could play it on Blip.fm. If you add "@darrylheron" in the text you write there when you blip, I'll be sure to see it. So as Huey Lewis sang as part of the theme song in "Back to the Future"

"Tell me Doctor, where are we going this time?
Is this the fifties? Or Nineteen ninety-nine?
...So take me away, I don't mind
You just better promise me I'll be back in time"

Photo Credit: Musique courtesy of spartsam.