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I won’t be ashamed to admit it, but I first heard this beautiful song on an episode of Dawson’s Creek. It was an episode where Jen (played by Michelle Williams) was in a mood (as they all usually were on the show) as she was trying to decide whether to go on holidays with her estranged parents or her has-always-been-there-bestfriend Jack (played by Kerr Smith). In an attempt to clear her head, she puts on this song and gets up on an armchair and totally just rocks out in a very cute way. I fell in love with the song then and I haven’t stopped loving it since.

Many people mistake the title of this song as ‘Teenage Wasteland‘ because the words ‘Baba O’Reilly’ are never once mentioned in the song but be assured, it’s the correct title. This song was the main reason I went to see The Who in Dublin. And this week when David Cook sang it to get into the top 3 of the Season 7 American Idol competition… I loved it even more!

I don’t even really know why I love it so much. Sure, it’s a great song. Sure, it’s got amazing lyrics, composition and yadi-yadi-yadda. But I usually fall for songs that tie in to something significant that happened in my life. But this song has managed to creep into my heart and has permanently lodged itself inside without any significant event to remember with it. So much so that I will do my best to catch any and every episode of CSI: NY that I can (it features this song as the theme song).

It could be my all time favourite song. But there are quite a few songs that could give it a run for it’s money… I may write about these songs. I may not… we’ll see where the tide takes me.

What’s your all time favourite song?

I close my eyes and let it take over my heartbeats, as the instruments take their places in the choreography of the song… I breathe in deep and out slowly. Getting the first note right, doesn’t always mean the song will go well but it just gives you that extra push. There’s no feeling like letting it all out from your diaphragm.

I love to sing, and I think I’m good - not good enough to get on Canadian Idol but maybe that’s a good thing. Everything happens for a reason right? There’s just something about belting out words that mean something to you, in a tune that completes the song. There’s a feeling that I get when I get to sing the songs I love, out loud. And the only way I can describe the feeling, is to say that, “My soul is happy when I sing.”

It’s happier when I sing well, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had the voice to sing a full song well. My diaphragm is out of practice, and my perma-cough doesn’t help matters much. But I still sing, to myself. I don’t sing in the shower anymore because I can’t seem to remember the lyrics to songs very well either. So I just end up singing the same verse and the chorus over and over again. But when I get in my car, and there’s traffic ahead… it’s like a dream come true. I get to concentrate on my singing and let all my troubles melt away.

I miss performing though, so I’ve been considering joining some sort of choir… or maybe just disciplining myself into learning lyrics so I can perform for people when they ask me to. It just seems like a waste not to, since I’m fully capable of singing A Capella.

Obviously, I lost.

There were plenty of inspiring celebrities who did their part to convince us to donate but I just wanted to talk about my favourites. I was so very moved by Annie Lennox. Her video with the kids orphaned by AIDs, and her extremely powerful performance. I’ve been a fan of hers ever since I can remember and tonight I was reminded why. She just commands such attention, such passion… such grace.

I also liked Fergie’s performance even though I’m not a huge fan of her music. I will also be a fan of Fergie because I used to watch her on Kid’s Incorporated as little Stacy Ferguson (see where she gets Fergie from?), which incidently is her real name. If I’m mistaken, please correct me but I’m pretty sure that’s her real name. Kid’s Incorporated inspired me when I was a child, it inspired me to start singing and to discover my voice. My childhood dream, was to be a singer and Stacy was one of the biggest reasons I auditioned for the first season of Canadian Idol (nothing came of it, but that’s another story).

Of course the biggest pull for me to watch the show was none other than the biggest star (in my world) and probably the only person who can do no wrong (again, in my world): Brad Pitt. You would think that as I get older, I would get over this childhood crush but alas, it has only intensified with age. They cute and geeky way he walks on stage, the adorable hand wave, the oh-so-sexy way he talks and those eyes. Those intense eyes. Ok, I’m going to stop before I explode. I just can’t believe that it’s been three years since Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on New Orleans and there are still people without homes.

It was nice to see Ben Stiller, Ellen Degeneres, Jimmy Kimmel, (his girlfriend) Sarah Silverman, Robin Williams (what on earth are you wearing?), and David Spade. It was not nice to see all the confetti all over the place during the final song - hi, should we really be creating so much litter in this day and age?

There were a lot of worthy causes shown on this year’s episode of ‘Idol gives back’ and while I will partly agree with those out there that argue that these kind of charities are only band-aid solutions… I also think that band-aids never hurt anybody before so why not donate. So I donated. I only donated a small amount, but like they kept saying on the show, even $1 will help.

p.s. I thought the final 8 did a great job on Seasons of Love, and sung some nice harmony on the final song.

Photos (respectively) courtesy of allposters.com, fashaddix.com, latimes.com and i can’t find the site that I got the ‘idol gives back’ logo from again.

I’m really glad that so many of you are joining me this Saturday in turning off your lights, but I have more news. Today’s edition of the Toronto Star had an entire section on this Saturday’s upcoming global event, Earth Hour, and the section highlighted several (mostly free) events & activities taking place during this remarkable hour. One of them, is a free, acoustic concert by Nelly Furtado (Singer of I’m like a bird, Promiscuous ft. Timbaland, and Turn off the Light). Now, I’m not a huge fan of hers, but The Philosopher Kings (who you may or may not have heard of) are also going to be there. And them, I love!

The concert is being held at Nathan Philipps Square and while it isn’t going completely unplugged for the concert, power will be supplied by Bullfrog Power (uses emission-free sources like wind and water). They’re encouraging people to take transit too. And to bring mugs since they’re providing plenty of hot chocolate!

It will be a challenge for me to go via transit because I don’t live close to a line, but I’m going to try my best. Also, I have to work at 5:30 that morning, and I’m going to be very tired which makes me colder than normal. It’s not that I’m not willing… it’s that I’ll be alone as well so it won’t be that easy to go via transit, by myself, in the cold. So if it turns out to be really cold that day I’m going to end up taking my car. My guilt-easing spiel is that I drive a Toyota Yaris, and it was listed in another section of today’s Toronto Star as being efficient (is that the right word?) on fuel consumption. Also, if anyone lives in the Scarborough area (this only applies to people on facebook that are reading this, because I’m afraid I’m just not trusting enough) and would like to carpool to this free concert, I would be more than happy to take you along! Just message me and we can work out the details.

Have you signed up yet? Hurry up! It’s tomorrow night! What are you waiting for?

Photo courtesy of the Toronto Star

Sounds like a good title to a song or a poem actually. Almost every Tuesday, I end up watching American Idol because my Mum watches it and we’re usually eating dinner when 8:00 p.m. rolls around. Today, I discovered that Carly Smithson, a contestant on American Idol is Irish. And she’s been getting amazing feedback from everyone including the ever-hard-to-impress Simon Cowell. I hadn’t been paying attention in previous weeks because I usually wash the dishes, but because I cooked tonight my Mum washed the dishes. It was the first time I had heard her speak! And I really miss Ireland because of it! I feel like revisiting The Beatles this week was too much of a good thing. But I loved that Carly sang Blackbird.

And Paula needs to shut up! She goes on for way too long and there is no substance to what she says! Every single one of her ‘comments’ could be said in 5 words or less. *sigh* It’s so sad because I still love her as an artist. Anyway, so I actually really hate the show because everyone (Randy, Simon, Paula & Ryan) on it is so annoying but I feel like I might just keep watching the singers perform because they’re all quite good. If I had to pick a second favourite, I would probably pick Brooke White because she has family in Halifax, NS. And she’s so the type of singer that I love. Of course, I have a favourite male singer too: Jason Castro! Because he sung my all time favourite song: Hallelujah by the late Jeff Buckley so well.