Cover Wars 1.0: Glee vs. Smash

They covered Florence and the Machine's single Shake it Out.


Winner:  Smash

Loser:  Glee.  It just seemed kind of awkward.

Glee's music choices of late have been pretty off, but I highly enjoyed Boogie Shoes.  The dance number was really well-choreographed and Alex Newell had a great voice.

High Note - Glee's "Prom Queen" Ep: I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You

Lately, I don't understand the song choices for Glee.  They either choose really overplayed songs or they don't even seem to make an effort to cover them in a different way.  I can't believe they contributed to Rebecca Black's undeserved wealth by covering Friday...badly (although Art can do no wrong).  I guess it makes sense that it would get played at a prom because it's so bad it's funny and so many people already know the lyrics, but I didn't think I'd have to experience it on TV. 

I was a little worried about hearing another Adele song on Glee because of Gwyneth Paltrow's paltry version (lyrics fit the scene, but there's no way she could ever have a strong enough voice to sing one of Adele's songs.  That was the first time I was really disappointed by one of her covers), but Jesse and Rachel had the chops to carry it.  I'm just not a huge fan of the church choir version.  They didn't even really try to put a new spin on it besides turning it into a duet. 

Black Kids + unbelievably catchy dance song + Blaine (I love how The Warblers cover songs in a barbershop quartet kind of way) = high note of ep.

High Note - Glee's "Silly Love Songs" Ep: P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)

I wasn't too excited about Glee covering Michael Jackson's Thriller in the previous episode even if it was a mashup because really, that song has been covered to death.  And I'm not a Katy Perry fan, so I'm getting tired of hearing her songs.  So I enjoyed The Warblers cover of Teenage Dream.  It was good enough for me to enjoy the song even though I despise the original, but enough already with California Gurls and Fireworks.

One of the few redeeming songs of this episode was Artie (one of my fav characters on the show) singing P.Y.T.  That song is so rarely covered, I wonder if many people have even heard of it.  It was terrific and I loved the whole dance number with Mike Chang. 

Violet Sedan Chair on Fringe's "The Firefly" Ep

Photo via BuddyTV

This is a comment from Wing, who is a bigger fan of Fringe than I am:

In the latest Fringe ep, Christopher Lloyd guest-starred as the ex-keyboardist of a once popular psychedelic rock band "Violet Sedan Chair" that Walter is a big fan of. Guess what? J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot crew actually made a real album for this fake band! You can stream it here:
http://soundcloud.com/letitplayout/sets/violet-sedan-chair-seven-suns-lp-side-2/

This show...I have no words!

This was such a great episode.  I loved the romantic struggle between Olivia and Peter, the Tessla mention, Walter acting like a giddy fanboy, the twist at the end about consequences / the butterfly effect, and the use of Lloyd in a time traveling theme.

And the music is actually pretty good! 

The band "Violet Sedan Chair" is a fictional band, but one that J.J. Abrams had named-dropped two years earlier in an issue of Wired for which he had guest-edited, alluding to the band's album, Seven Suns, recorded in the 1970's.  Prior to the broadcast of "The Firefly", a number of vinyl records of Seven Suns were shipped to a select number of independent record stores across the United States, which have been discovered by some people.  The album does contain twelve songs in the style of psychedelic and folk. The album itself has been briefly shown in the series. (Wikipedia)

High Note - Glee's "A Very Glee Christmas" Ep: Baby, It's Cold Outside

Usually I find Christmas songs very irritating and this episode was full of it, but the above song (that I've even found certain versions to be creepy) was untraditionally sung by two males and came off as sweet and endearing.  Plus it doesn't hurt that I love Kurt and am crushing on Blaine.

High Note runnerup:  Last Christmas
because it's one of the few Christmas songs that I don't mind hearing constantly.

High Note - Glee's "Special Education" Ep: Valerie

Loved all the dancing in Santana's number and she has a great voice. It never fails to impress.

High Note - Glee's "The Substitue" Ep: Singin' in the Rain / Umbrella

I thought Gwyneth Paltrow was an odd choice for guest starring on Glee.  Then I was surprised by how many numbers she sang.  Next I actually found her likable (I'm not really a fan of her work besides Royal Tenenbaums).  Finally, I was impressed with the dance number and wondered why no one had thought of doing a mashup of these two songs before.

Looks like the idea occurred to Jamie Cullum last year, but it's not nearly as good or as catchy. 

Glee in Concert, LXD @ The Gibson Amphitheatre

LXD
is the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, a side project of Harry Shum Jr., who plays Mike "The other Asian" Chang on Glee.  We were running a bit late, so we only made it in time to catch Shum's (known for his freestyle and fusion type of dancing and also as a choreographer) solo performance and a group dance.  I was a bit confused because it seemed like they were some sort of dance crew, but they weren't doing anything like what I had seen on America's Best Dance Crew.  After watching their TEDTalk, I realized LXD was something completely different.



They're like a group of performers who mix ballet and street dancing.  The video showed an elegance to an unreal, gymnastic style of movement.  I'm disappointed I missed out, but I would definitely like see them perform again. 



Glee in Concert
I was SO tired from driving around all day and sitting in traffic, but as soon as the cast came on stage, a huge smile instantly appeared on my face and we were treated to something akin to sectionals...that lasted 90 minutes.  I was glad Will Schuester and Sue Sylvester made some sort of appearance, even if it was only in the form of videos interspersed in the concert, because it really added to the believability of the characters on stage. 

It was great hearing all the songs from the show, although, I could have done without Push It, but it was still funny.  Seeing and hearing Don't Rain on My Parade live in a theater setting was fantastic.  Sweet Caroline was a fun singalong song and I liked how they got the audience to karaoke to it, but I found Puck's voice to be noticeably weak on The Lady is a Tramp.   I loved hearing Defying Gravity (Kurt was fantastic, but Jennio says she heard Rachel mess up.  It wasn't too noticeable to me), could barely contain myself when I saw a car come out for Bust Your Windows, was in awe of the costumes and performance for Bad Romance (my absolute favorite song of the night.  At the time I hadn't even seen the episode yet, so the song came as a surprise.  And I loved how into it Kurt was!  Santana's voice sounded amazing!), and definitely shouted out loud for It's My Live / Confessions, Pt. II (who DOESN'T love Bon Jovi?!).

Photo by Adam Rose/FOX

When Vocal Adrenaline came out, I didn't quite know how to feel about them.  They were good, but they're New Directions' competitors!  Wing and Matt agreed that Jump was a lot of fun to watch.  All the encore songs were amazing and I was astonished by Jesse's sudden appearance for a duet with Rachel.  I must say, Brittany is an impressive dancer.  She was in practically every number.  And even though Artie plays handicapped on the show, I marveled at his proficiency with the wheelchair. 

Setlist:

1. "Don't Stop Believin'"
2. "My Life Would Suck Without You"
3. "Push It"
4. "Don't Rain on My Parade"
5. "Beautiful"
6. "Sweet Caroline"
7. "The Boy Is Mine"
8. "The Lady Is a Tramp"
9. "Defying Gravity"
10. "Bust Your Windows"
11. "Bad Romance"
12. "Dancing with Myself"
13. "It's My Life" / "Confessions, Pt. II"
14. "Halo" / "Walking on Sunshine"
15. "Rehab"
16. "Mercy"
17. "Jump"
18. "Faithfully"
19. "Any Way You Want It" / "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'"
20. "Like a Prayer"

Encore

1. "Hello" on certain dates with Jonathan Groff
2. "True Colors"
3. "Somebody to Love"

More:
Zap2it review

Interview with Glee's Matthew Morrison

source

Joe Zee from Elle interviews Matthew Morrison, who plays Will Schuester on Glee.

Video Interview

Glee Returns for 2nd Season

and will be taking online auditions to fill three new roles! I think it's cool that they're opening up casting calls to the public in an American Idol kind of way. I wonder if they're going to have a show about the selection process.

More details on Mashable.