Shiloh - Picture Imperfect Album Review

You may wonder why I've waited so long to review this album, as it's been out a month and a half. I waited so long because I didn't want to seem completely biased and say Shiloh's album is like Mozart came back from the dead, and I also didn't want to seem to negative in my review. I have a great deal of respect for Shiloh and her team, and I worried that I was going to write something that would offend them.

Track 1 is Operator (A Girl Like Me). Odds are you've heard a song like this before. This song will get stuck in your head, even if you don't want it to. You'll be head bopping, jumping up and down, or acting like a complete moron when you hear it. You'll either love it, hate it, or hate that you love it.

Track 2 is Alright. An uplifting song that reminds you of the summer. This'll get caught in your head, too. So much that you may try and figure out how to play it on guitar by ear, write out the chords you came up with, and upload them to Ultimate-Guitar.com. Maybe that's just me.

Track 3 is You're Not Alone. This song contains a lie. "My mother never smiles". I know for a fact that Shiloh's mother has smiled. In fact, Shiloh's mother smiled when I told her she should sell ear plugs for those who don't want to listen to Shiloh's opening acts for $5 a pair. Oh crap, this is getting biased. It's another uplifting song... I sense a pattern here. It's a relatable song that's made to target a younger audience.

Track 4 is Goodbye, You Suck. This song has the best music video ever known to man. Okay, maybe I'm just saying this because I'm in it. Another relatable song, because everyone probably has someone they could say "Goodbye, You Suck" to. I wish this song was the elimination song for American Idol, it'd be perfect.

Track 5 is...I forgot... Oh... I Remember. Yes, I had to say that unfunny cheesy joke. That's just who I am. It's a slower emotional song, that sounds like it's got a lot of history. It's one of the stand outs on the album. It's darker than most of the songs on the album, and it could appeal to a mainstream audience, not just tweens.

Track 6 is Better. Better than I Remember? No, the track name is Better... I never usually read what I write on my blog, but I am annoying myself right now. I think I'm going to stop making crappy jokes about the track names. It's another slower song. It shows off how strong Shiloh's voice is. It's another one of my favourite off of the album.

Track 7 is Strong Enough To Cry. It's a good song, it's just not one of my favourites and it's never really stuck with me.

Track 8 is Get To You. It's my favourite upbeat song on the entire album. I do some serious head bopping and singing along everytime I hear it. "I WANNA! GET TO YOU! I'LL GET A LITTLE LOUD IF I HAVE TO!" It would be a good choice for a single.

Track 9 is Missing Existence. This song contains the lyrics "The staircase walked through the window, the carpet talked to my feet, the school bus under my pillow said that somebody has been watching me". Okay, it's official. This song reminds me of when I got my wisdom teeth out and had crazy trippy dreams from all the medication I was on, like Beyonce selling hair shampoo in a hotel lobby and Jesse McCartney doing an autograph session at my house. I think Shiloh is too young to have gotten her wisdom teeth out, so I doubt that was the inspiration for the song. She said on Facebook it's about a guy with schizophrenia. So I wasn't too far off...

Track 10 is It's Not Me. It starts with a haunting piano intro. My understanding of the song is it's about people trying to change her and telling her not to say or do certain things, but she's saying that's not her. If that's the meaning behind the song, I can totally relate. If not, it's still an awesome song. I'd like to see this as a single, too...But I doubt nearly her entire album would be released as singles. It's one of my favourites off of the album.

Track 11 is Raise A Little Hell Now. I've praised this song before, and I was excited for the album version, but I'm not sure if it meets my expectations. The production on the album version makes it sound too poppy. Instead of it being a song about being loud and raising hell by doing stuff like cranking the amps up to 11, it's more like cranking the amps up to 5. Did that make sense? The studio version sounds as rebellious as staying up until 10:30 PM on a school night when your bedtime is 10 PM, instead of staying up all night at a party. The problem with this is mainly the production...You can hear Shiloh's vocals where she is really singing it from her guts, but those are the background vocals when they should be the lead vocals. You can notice this especially in the "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" part near the end. So what I'm trying to say is I prefer the song live.

Track 12 is The Fight. I am obviously not part of the target audience for this song. It's an uplifting song, but it kind of reminds me of a Hannah Montana song. Shiloh is not Hannah Montana. This could target a Radio Disney audience, though. But I'm not sure if parents of the Radio Disney audience would let their kids buy her album, because some tracks contain strict words like "suck" and "hell". Even the YTV Big Fun Party Mix CD that features Goodbye, You Suck says "*YTV does not codone the use of the word suck".

Track 13 is Ruin Me. A beautiful piano ballad that is a great song to end the whole album. I really want to hear her perform this song live, because it's another one of my favourites. I love it, I really love it.

Overall, Picture Imperfect is a strong album. It contains songs that will appeal to several different audiences. I'm hoping my review didn't sound too biased, and that if you're considering buying the album it helps you make up your mind. I for sure want to hear more, and a re-recorded version of All I Want and can't wait to hear what's on her next album.

Good and bad moments of events that I've been to. Part 1

I haven't been to a lot of events this year, so I thought I'd write a blog about the good and bad moments events I've been to.

December 3rd, 2005 - Meet and greet with Adam Rodriguez at Wal-Mart.

Bad:

I use to have a lot of dandruff, as I was using anti-dandruff shampoo every day, which I've since learned is not good. So while waiting in line I kept scratching my head. They had a DJ on in the middle of Wal-Mart before Adam started signing autographs. He said "Kid, stop scratching your head" and suddenly dozens of people were looking at me.

When I finally met Adam, I did not know what to say. He said "Hi, how are you?" I replied "Good, how are you?" "Good" and then he said "Your name's Adam too?" and laughed. "Y..eah". So I got a picture with him, and in the picture I was looking the wrong way.

Good:

I learned what meet and greets are like.

October 3rd, 2007 - Pure Divine Concert featuring Natasha Bedingfield.

Good:
Some people were trying to get Natasha's autograph while Natasha was doing an interview with Star! Daily. The interviewer came over and asked everyone to stop, and said if they stopped, they'd get to meet her for sure. I wasn't one of those people, but I got to meet Natasha Bedingfield. The Star! Daily camera man recorded me meeting her. The concert was fun, she pointed to me several times, and hearing everyone sing along to "Unwritten" was awesome.

Bad:
Star! Daily was cancelled a few days later, prior to it being cancelled they were only airing re-runs, so the footage of me meeting Natasha Bedingfield never aired.

May 22nd, 2008 - Jesse McCartney performance & meet and greet at eTalk for contest winners.

Good:

There was only one other guy in the audience there, who was hiding behind a girl who I assume was his girlfriend. You had to be at least 14 to enter the contest, and 50 people won 2 wristbands. So there's me, and dozens of attractive teenage girls. Perfect. So Anna Cyzon was hosting the event, and before Jesse performed she invited people on stage to sing some of his songs. So I thought this was the perfect chance to impress the girls. Most times I sang Beautiful Soul on Singstar : Pop I got an almost perfect score.

Bad:

I messed up the words to Beautiful Soul...So while I'm up there I start laughing like a moron while all the girls in the audience are either singing the song or laughing at me. They really love the song, and they want to see him sing it. When Jesse comes on and his guitarist starts playing the song, his string breaks. All the girls are devastated. His guitarist didn't have a string to replace it, so his 5 song set was cut to 3 songs, without Beautiful Soul. So therefore these girls didn't get to see him sing his trademark song, but instead they saw me destroy it. Lovely. So I got to meet Jesse, and he asks me if I like the album, and I said "Yeah, it's really good". In reality I had not listened to anything off of the album except for Not Your Enemy and Leavin'. I listened to them on YouTube because I didn't want to listen to my copy of the CD, because I bought it only to have him sign and then auction for charity. (It only got $22 for charity, and I had paid $15 for the CD.) So when I'm about to get a picture with him, he starts laughing at me. I'm not sure if it was because I'm the only guy there, or because I'm tall and he's a midget, or whatever reason... So I just suddenly started laughing, too. It was very awkward.

July 20th, 2008 - Z103.5 Summer Rush.

Bad:

So I won this contest called "Win the Perfect Day with Cascada in Canada", and I thought you won what you described your perfect day to be in the essay you had to write for the contest. After all, it said you will win your perfect day and the prize is worth a maximum of $5,000. Not true. A couple months went by and I had no idea what was going on. I was informed the day before that I was going to meet her at her hotel in Scarborough. So while I'm on the bus to Toronto, I get a phone call...That phone call is from the guy who put on the contest, and he said plans had changed and I wasn't meet Natalie from Cascada at her hotel anymore, I was meeting her at Summer Rush. Since I had never been to Canada's Wonderland before, I got lost in public transportation. It took me 4 hours to get there. I was told on the phone that I was meeting her backstage, meaning I thought my wristband got me backstage...so I made a complete fool out of myself asking a guy to let me backstage. Also, I went to go to the bathroom, and it was flooded. After using the bathroom, I went back the way I came from, and a guy almost kicked me out. I waited for him to leave and then went back the way I came from. So Cascada's on when I get back, and I can't see her at all. I am told that I'm going to get to meet her in a few minutes by the guy who ran the contest...Several times. It took about 30 minutes till after she was finished that I was brought in to meet her. I forgot how to speak basically, as I don't do well around girls with lots of clevage. So my Mom spoke for me. I was asked what my favourite song was from both albums and I completely drew a blank. I somehow said that I play guitar and piano... I don't know why I said that, exactly. We were about to get kicked out, after being there only one minute...So my mom came up with a plan... Have me take a picture with Natalie and the annoying record label guy who doesn't know how to run a contest. So I did. I wish I could crop him out, but he's in the middle of the picture. After the meet and greet time was over, there were two other girls behind me. Annoying record label guy gave them a copy of Cascada's first CD and instructed them to pretend to be big fans. WTF? I don't know what that was about, but my prize was for sure not worth a maximum of $5000.

Good:

I got free food and a picture with Natalie.

So that's part one, part two coming soon.

Happy 51st Birthday Michael Jackson

On this day, Michael Jackson would've celebrated his 51st birthday. It has taken until now for me to completely realize what the world has lost. Michael Jackson was not only a fantastic musician, but a creative mind, a loving father, and a generous man. Of course the media couldn't show him as a good guy, they had to spread lies about him and hate him. He used the money he got after the Pepsi commercial shoot went horribly wrong to start the Michael Jackson burn unit. He did a lot of charity work. He protected his children from the media as much as possible, because he didn't want his kids to have the same life he had. He made some of the best music videos possible. They weren't music videos, they were short films. He redefined pop music. He invented some amazing dance routines, and this man was nothing short of a genius. You don't see that in many artists these days.

I hope you're moonwalking up in heaven, Mr. Jackson. Happy 51st birthday.

I'm sure Michael would have loved to have seen this tribute by Siedah Garrett.

Shiloh at The Studio Recap!

So an hour after I woke up yesterday I got a package from Universal Music Canada. It included hundreds of flyers and about 100 - 200 signs with Shiloh's cartoon face on a stick. My Mom called them Shilohsicles. I went to hand them out at various malls and stores. When I was trying to hand out some flyers, two girls walked past me and said something about Shiloh. So I ran up to them and handed them a couple flyers. Apparently the one girl said "My friend looks like Shiloh". So I responded "My friend is Shiloh". It was just awkward...Really awkward. I was soon after kicked out of my favourite mall, but not before I gave dozens to my former babysitter who works at HMV, and the TicketMaster location in the mall. My former babysitter put a flyer for the show in each bag everytime someone bought something, and a "Shilohsicle" in the bag for everyone who bought her CD. So I went to another mall, and I got Sunrise Records to hand them out, too. Also, there was a booth for a local newspaper and they handed some out for us. We were kicked out of there, too. There was another mall I knew of, but it was completely gone, as they're converting it to a big box mall. So I went to a few more stores I could find...And I didn't get permission from some, but I just left stacks of flyers there anyways. I hope I don't get arrested.

After 4 hours, I ended up handing out about 75% of the flyers and Shilohsicles. I called Shiloh's manager and said I had 42 left over, but then I realized I had 2 stuck in the car window, so I had 44... I got to the show at about 7:30 PM. I thought doors opened at 8, and that's what I was telling people. Crap. When I got there, I noticed a little kid holding an HMV bag with a Shilohsicle in it. Success! I possibly maybe convinced one kid to buy a ticket. I was told by both Shiloh's manager and Shiloh's mom that it was too bad I already bought my tickets, because I could've got them for free. That happened last time I saw someone at The Studio, too. Next time I see someone there, I'm just going to assume I get free tickets. Though I don't think that'd work out right. Say if it was Sarah Slean playing, I have done nothing to promote her, but I am a fan of her... I don't think that would get me free tickets.

So once I was inside I called Shiloh's manager and told him I was there, and when he met up with me I handed him the remaining flyers and Shiloh's on a stick. He asked if I wanted anything from the merchandise table, but I already had pretty much everything there. Though I could've got a larger Shiloh shirt, because the shirt I won is a bit small and shows the male equivalent of clevage, guttage. Actually, I was wearing a V-Neck last night, so maybe that's the male equivalent of clevage. Anyways, he asked I wanted to see Shiloh before the show, and I said sure. So I got to go up and see her. The moment I walked in the door Shiloh was singing and Dan the man Kanter was playing piano. Since I quit taking piano lessons in May because my teacher wasn't teaching me anything, I'm jealous of his talent. (By the way, did I ever tell you how my teacher told some students they had to quit taking piano because they weren't learning anything? Lots of laughter ensued when I heard that.)

So Shiloh came up to me and gave me a hug, and she also hugged my Mom. I gave her a picture a fan named Danielle made for her, and a picture Danielle took that I don't think I printed out for her to include in her scrapbook. "Oh, this is from the mustache girl!" I also accidently had a picture of me with the Degrassi cast in there. Whoops! What's funny is I am wearing a Degrassi shirt in the picture, I watched literally only 4 episodes of Degrassi before then, and I didn't know who anyone was from the new cast. I told her I had something else for her, and I gave her a pink wig. Her manager asked if it was the same as mine, and I said yeah. I wasn't certain, actually. It might be like mine, but you never know. She loved it, though. She put it on immediately, and then started putting it on random other people, and I think she either took a video or picture of one guy wearing it. Maybe she was filming a Kyte video? I don't know. I was also asked if I wanted anything to eat or drink. I turned that offer down, and I really wish I hadn't. I paid $3.50 for an Orange Crush later. :( I'll get to that soon. Dan the man Kanter came up to me and I think I shook his hand. I said that I saw Tyler the night before, and I was told him how Jennifer and Jodie drove all the way from Detroit. He wondered why Tyler was there... At least 4 Instant Star cast members were at the premiere, probably because it's the same people who makes both shows. I didn't say that, though. But I said I was saying creepyish things to Tyler, jokingly, like asking him to sit with us. Shiloh was wondering what I was talking about, and Dan explained it to her. I never got to say how Jennifer wondered why Dan deleted her from his Facebook friends minutes after he accepted her friend request.

So Shiloh's manager was telling me about his new artist Katia Zuccarelli who was going to be singing 3 songs. I knew she was going to be opening, so I had my Instant Star 4 soundtrack with me, where she sings "Here We Go Again" with Luke McMaster. "Yeah, because I forgot her name's (Me: Alexz Johnson) label didn't let her sing more than 4 songs". He asked if I wanted him to go and get her, and I said sure. This is where the embarrassing stuff happened. Shiloh held onto my mini knapsack and the bag I had with the Shilohsicle in it while I got the CD out so Katia could sign it. I didn't really say much to her other than nice to meet you, and "Can you sign this for me?". After she signed the CD, I got my knapsack back from Shiloh and ever single thing fell out. My digital camera, my Flip camera that I won in the Pepsi Flip Your Smile contest, with the picture of me and Dan at Tyler's show, but I cropped Dan out, lol. My copy of her CD, and of course the Degrassi photo. So Katia left at about that time... And then I had to leave, which I assume is because they didn't want me breaking every single thing in that room. On the way out I noticed that Rob Wells was there. If you don't know who Rob Wells is, he wrote the only Idol winners single that wasn't complete trite. "Alive" the song was called, it was sung by the winner Melissa O'Neil. It wasn't a "I'm searching for that magical rainbow, climbing every mountain" type song. It was realistic. "Even if I crash down or burn out, at least I'm gonna know what it's like to feel alive". I liked that about it, because winning Idol doesn't always mean you get what you want. Everyone will be screaming for you, but people will forget who you are soon after. So yeah, I saw him but I didn't say anything to him.

So my Mom and I went in the concert area there, but my Mom didn't want to hold me back from my Shiloh fandom, so she wanted to sit outside the room. She knew that three of my friends said they'd go with me for sure, and then each one of them said they couldn't make it. She got to sit right by the merch table with Shiloh's mom. This was about the time that Shiloh's mom said it was too bad I bought my tickets already, because they would've got me them for free. I noticed something on the merch table I didn't have already... Buttons! They were 4 dollars, and Shiloh's Mom gave them to me for free for being such an awesome street team member. A girl was buying a t-shirt at that time and she said "Hey, I'm a street team member!" "Yeah, but Adam's been with us since the very beginning." "Yeah, I was supporting Shiloh when she was busking for change at the Eaton Centre!" That was fun, I had only two things that she could sign, a piece of ribbon or an article about current black history, and the current black history turned out to be all fake according to Snopes. I've gotta wonder, how can something be current history? Anyways, so I got a pack of buttons for free. 4 hours of work for $4 worth of buttons. In my pessimistic thoughts I was thinking "That's a dollar an hour. I should try busking, I'd probably make more." But in reality, it was fun promoting Shiloh and she's awesome and she deserves all the promo she can get. :D

So I got back in the concert area and Katia came on and performed 3 songs. Holy crap, she's only 16. She looks mature for her age and has a mature voice. My favourite song she sang was "I Lied", it was stuck in my head for the rest of the night. I'm a huge fan of her now, I want to hear more. I took these videos, even though on the Ticketmaster website it said cameras weren't allowed inside the venue. I feel like such a rebel!







After her set, I was wishing that I took up the offer I had earlier to have a free drink. I was starting to get a headache and I didn't feel well. I didn't want a repeat of the Lady GaGa concert incident, so I spent $3.50 on an orange crush. Way too expensive. I talked to Shiloh's mom and explained why I was paying such a crazy price, and that I didn't want to have to visit a paramedic because I didn't have anything to drink. She was talking about how she paid a crazy price for a drink when she went to see Sum 41. And I was also talking about how tickets were expensive to GaGa's show for me to not feel well, and she was talking about how expensive tickets were to see Cher. I also learned Shiloh use to do a good Cher impersonation. My brother says I sound like Cher when I sing, but I don't think he means that as a good thing. He's the one who tells me I should give up singing and just be a guitarist. I only play guitar to accompany myself when singing. So yeah, I talked to Shiloh's mom for a bit, about The Bounce Showdown, and how I can't picture Shiloh singing a Rihanna song... I told her I really liked Katia, but I didn't like the band The Latency, Shiloh's Mom loves them. I didn't mean any bad by saying I didn't like them, but I just don't like emo boy bands, and 90% of the CDs I have mainly feature females singing the lead vocals. I've never really liked listening to guys singing... Does that make me a self loathing sexist?

So after The Latency were finished, a lot of people left the concert area, so I was able to get closer the stage, which was great since I recorded most of Shiloh's set. She started off with Raise A Little Hell Now. I love this song live, more than I enjoy the CD version, but from where I was standing I couldn't hear her. Her microphone needed to be a bit louder. This probably was fixed a couple songs later.



Next she sang Goodbye, You Suck. I was annoyed a bit by the Shilohsicles getting in the way of my camera, but then I realized a minute later that these people were waving them and they were basically fanning me... So I couldn't possibly get be overheated and pass out. Thanks random kids between the ages of 8 and 18!



She then sang I Remember. I've gotta say, I'm really impressed with my new camera. If I recorded the show on my digital camera, all you would've heard was loud annoying static.



Next she sang Alright. I didn't record it, because I wanted to take some pictures.

I don't remember exactly when, but she also sang a cover of Sugar, We're Going Down by Fall Out Boy that I didn't record. I still don't understand that song.

She sang Better, and she did a great job on it. My camera was shaky at first because I had just got my camera out again, as I had put it away when taking pictures with my digital camera.



Before Get To You, Dan did a cool guitar solo, I think he was channeling Carlos Santana, because Santana's the only one I've ever seen do crazy guitar stuff like that. I had no idea Dan could do that, though. So now Kyle Riabko is the second best guitar player I've ever met.



I love how Shiloh just has fun with her band when on stage. Like at 1:40 in when she pretends to slap Dan.

Next video I recorded was You're Not Alone. Shiloh really got the audience interacting with her, and that's what a performer needs to always do.



Prior to It's Not Me, Shiloh's keyboardist Lindsay had her solo. I have no idea what song she was playing, but it sounds familiar.



And now the best for last. The final video I recorded was the highlight of the night to me, Shiloh's tribute to Michael Jackson. When she was talking about sponsoring a child through World Vision, I started crying. And I also started singing along during Man In The Mirror. I had no idea how loud I was singing. That's kind of embarrassing.



After Man In The Mirror, she performed Operator (A Girl Like Me). She brought a couple little girls on stage and had them sing along.

At the end of Operator, she said "A girl like, what's your name?" and the girl responded "me!" and everyone was laughing. It was cute.

So after the show I noticed the merchandise table was moved, and I couldn't find my Mom. After about 10 minutes I figured out where she was as Shiloh's manager walked by and I asked if he had seen her. "Do you want me to go get her for you?" "No." While waiting in line, the girls behind me were talking about Clay Aiken, and the one girl use to think he was cute. She also was saying she knew someone who was so in denial when Clay Aiken said he was gay, that they couldn't believe it. This woman apparently married her husband while a Clay Aiken song was playing. Interesting. I'm surprised when I hear real life tales of old women who didn't know Clay was gay.

So my Mom was talking to another girls mother, and Shiloh's mother during the show. So daughter of the lady my Mom was talking to came up to me with her friend and asked if she could wait in line with me and if I could take her picture. I said yes. The two girls behind me were PISSED. So later I made one of those two girls behind me take my pictures with Shiloh and Katia. The woman my Mom was talking to said the tickets were advertised as $15 at the door, and she had to pay $22. I did the only thing I thought I could do, get her daughter something that makes it worth the extra ticket price. Her daughter really wanted a Shiloh shirt, but her mom wouldn't get it for her. I said to her I'm going to change that. I asked Shiloh's Mom if she could help me out with getting the girl a t-shirt, and she said unfortunately she couldn't do that as she had to report the sales back to Universal. So I decided to buy it for her. It was only $15. Shiloh's mom then said I'm such a nice boy. Mwhahahaha, that's what I want her to think! Uh... So the girls mom was asking me if I just bought her daughter a t-shirt, and I said yes. "Did you get a good deal on it?" "I got your daughter something that made her happy, so it was worth it".

I took a picture with Shiloh, but since we had 4 pictures together already I decided to change it up and take a crazy picture with her. Shiloh asked if I had just bought her album or when I got it. I said I got it the day it was released. I think she wanted to know this because she wanted my thoughts on it. I kind of didn't let her get to saying that, though, by rambling on how I bought it the day it came out. So I got the girl who was ticked off at me to take my picture with Shiloh. :D Shiloh signed my copy of her CD "Hey Adam, we'll see you again soon!" She knows me too well... So I got a picture with Katia, and she said "Thanks for buying that CD by the way" and I went on saying how I bought Songs From Instant Star 4 the day it was released, too, and that it was hard to find, but I finally got a copy. I also said I'm looking forward to hearing more from her.

So I saw Dan the man Kanter and Shiloh's manager, and he asked me if I'll be supporting Katia now... I did not really know how to pronounce her name when I got the Instant Star 4 CD, so hearing it pronounced correctly is strange. So I accidently said in probably the most obnoxious voice ever "Will I be supporting WHAT?". And then I laughed in embarrassment when I realized what he was talking about. And I said "Is she signed to Universal?", and I realized right after I said that, no, she's not, he's managing her, and he's not part of Universal. I explained really fast about buying the young girl a Shiloh shirt, and Shiloh's manager didn't really understand. I slowed it down and tried to articulate more. He asked if I was trying to get into her pants. "EWWWWW, NO, SHE WAS LIKE 13!" And Dan said he had to be careful what he says to me, or it'll end up on my blog. I wouldn't write anything bad about anyone working with Shiloh on my blog, I'm not a douche with a blog like Perez Hilton or something. But that quote about trying to get into a Shiloh fans pants was hilarious, therefore I included it. I asked Dan if he saw my recap of Tyler's show at the Casbah, and he said he did. "I knew you were reading it, so I put Dan the man every single place I could". Shiloh's manager's name is Daniel, so what do I call him? Daniel the cocker spaniel? I was told what the next single is going to be, and I'm refraining from saying anything. I was told by Shiloh's manager that "____ is going to be the next single" "Alright!" And then Dan the man said "No, not Alright, _____". It's a good single choice, though. After listening to the album, the songs I thought would be great potential singles were Raise A Little Hell Now, Get To You, I Remember, It's Not Me, or The Fight. (The Fight only if they were targetting the younger demographic with the next single.) Shiloh's manager asked me what song I liked the best live, and I said Get To You. I would've said Raise A Little Hell Now if I had remembered... I also told Dan the man Kanter that I am jealous of his guitar playing talent and Shiloh's manager said something like "That's what you get from years of pretending to rock out in the mirror". And then Shiloh came along and I was finished talking to them.

I just realized something, this is probably the longest blog entry I've ever written... I didn't even get to say every single thing I remembered from going to the concert, because I didn't want to drag it on, but I did anyways.

So yeah, I had a great time at the show. Looking at it from a pessimistic view point, I paid $18.50 + the price of two $18.00 tickets for me to hand out flyers for four hours. Looking at it from a optimistic view point, I had a really great time and if I died tomorrow I'd be fine with that. Of course I don't want to die tomorrow, so I'm not saying that like I'm a suicidal teenager or anything. I'm very content with life right now. After the show my Dad asked if it was worth it, and my Mom said that Shiloh and I act like brother and sister. LOL WHAT?

August has been a good month for me. I got to perform at 3 different venues this month. I got to hang out with my Grandma for a couple days. I got to go to a movie premiere. I got to go to Shiloh's show and have an awesome time. I've learned that my cover of Katy Perry's Hot N Cold isn't as good as I think it is, according to random people on YouTube. I've learned how to get kicked out of malls. And I've learned a lot more about the music industry.

Degrassi Goes Hollywood Premiere recap

I've never been to a movie premiere before, and I don't really know anyone all that well who has. So I was in a dilemma over what I should wear. I ended up wearing a $600 custom suit jacket, a $0 Degrassi t-shirt, and $0 (my brother handed these down to me, and I don't know how much he paid for them) jeans.

So I went on a mission with my friend to find the Bloor Theatre and get to the premiere. My friend Kim had given me directions, but they were confusing. So another guy helped us out. Once we got off at our subway stop we needed to find where to go to find the Bloor theatre. We went in a store and asked a woman who didn't understand english very well. She said that the cinnamon is on the shelf. "No, Cinema. The Bloor Cinema. Movie theatre. Movies". "DVD CD Player, you talk to guy outside". Finally someone knew what we meant and pointed us in the right direction.

So we got to the premiere, and right when we got there, Jennifer and Jodie showed up. If you have no idea who they are, they hung out with me at Tyler Kyte's concert the day after I got my wisdom teeth out. I don't remember much from that night. I remember my whacky dreams after I got my wisdom teeth out, though. Oh, and I remember how I probably annoyed Dan Kanter by saying a thousand times that I wanted to be in Shiloh's next video. So we all filled out ballots to win prizes. Unfortunately I didn't win anything. I blame my Dad for entering my name into a contest that I wasn't interested in and then winning. Therefore my monthly contest win was already used up.



So while we're in line, interesting stuff happens. A few cast members walked by, and the Canadian wannabe version of Perez Hilton was wearing a disguise and handed people wristbands that said "I'll be famous someday". Buy a vowel to find out what I think he is: A d_uche. While in line Tyler Kyte came up to us. Jennifer squealed as loud as someone could possibly squeal. He heard, I'm sure he heard. He said he'd be back in one minute. He didn't come back. More squealing happened when Jennifer's sister Jodie met Sam Earle, the guy who plays K.C. on Degrassi. In real life he looks like the guy who played Tony on Skins, but with lighter hair and better teeth. Jodie is obsessed with this guy.

So once we got inside we were handed a free drink ticket and a bag of ketchup chips. I said that the ketchup chips were only being handed out just to show that you're in Canada. (Oh, if I didn't mention it yet, Jodie and Jennifer are from Detroit!) But apparently the character Craig mentions them in the movie. SPOILER ALERT! So we were told that we would be able to get several cast members autographs on the red carpet. The red carpet was 5 feet long. We weren't allowed outside for the red carpet, only the press were. So basically if you wanted to meet a cast member, you'd have to randomly find them after they got inside.

So we went upstairs to our seats and then Tyler came upstairs and I said what Jennifer probably wanted to say, but was too embarrassed by her earlier squealing to actually say. "COME SIT WITH US!" He didn't respond, but he did say "Enjoy the movie." Yep, I think I accomplished creeping him the hell out. A whole lot of nothing was going on once we got to our seats, so Jennifer and I went downstairs to see who we could find.


We saw Amanda Stepto (Spike), Ryan Cooley (HOLY CRAP JT IS ALIVE!!!), Shane Kippel (Spinner), Mike Lobel (Jay), craploads of other people, and Tyler Kyte (Tyler from Popular Mechanics for Kids. Um.... I think you know who Tyler is by now. Therefore I'm rambling for no reason at all.)

Jennifer had been dared to have Tyler sign a drawing that her friend drew of Tyler making out with the other guy she likes. Creeeeeeeeeeeepy. I also informed Tyler that Jennifer is not stalking him. Yep, I wasn't afraid to go there. This was his reaction to the drawing:

So we were told we had to go upstairs as the movie was about to start. So Jodie and my friend never got to come down to meet anyone before the movie. :( So before the movie started, the main cast of the movie gathered on stage. I tried to mimick how much Jennifer was freaking out for Tyler and Jodie was freaking out for Sam by freaking out over Cassie Steele. Okay, maybe I wasn't mocking them. I have a huge crush on her.

So we watched the movie, and it was really good. I'm now addicted to "Life Is A Show", but I have to wait until the soundtrack is out physically in Canada before I can legally embarrass myself by pretending to rock out to it. Before the movie, CTV showed previews for their fall line up. The only thing that seemed interesting was the next season of Degrassi. ~It's about to get real~. The movie contained 8 minutes that isn't in the version of the movie that's airing on TV, including a 5 second cameo by Tim Rozon from Instant Star.

So after the movie was over, that's when the real search for people begins. Apparently Jodie saw Cassie Steele in the washroom. After our washroom break, we went downstairs. Jodie went up to Sam Earle (AGAIN) and had him sign the poster she stole off the wall.
And then I went on a mission, I needed to find Cassie Steele. I did find her! She was talking to Tyler. I got a picture with her and I had her sign my copy of her new album. She was so surprised to see that I had her CD. It was a pain to get, I was charged twice on my PrePaid MasterCard for it. I had to contact a few people before I could reverse the charges. Someone said they'd send me a free t-shirt for my troubles, and when I replied, I never got a message back. But nevermind that, onto me meeting Cassie Steele. She looked gorgeous. I wasn't satisfied with how my picture with her turned out, so I said it didn't turn out and got another one. The second one turned out worse. I told her I loved the album and that the movie was great, and I thanked her a thousand times for taking a picture with me.

So after meeting Cassie, I introduced myself to Stephen Stohn and said that I really enjoyed the movie and shook his hand. I also introduced myself to Linda Schuyler and said that Degrassi is a great show, and that I was sitting next to her parents at her eTalk special. So after that, I went outside and got pictures with Samantha Munro (Anya), and Lauren Collins (Paige). I got about 3 pictures with Lauren because my friend was taking them on my old camera when I wanted Jennifer to take them on my new one. Lauren Collins was really nice, and she said "I like your shirts", and I think she was referring to mine, and another girl there wearing a Degrassi shirt, as I could only see one other person wearing a Degrassi shirt. Samantha Munro said she liked my shirt and that she has one just like it, and she wears it to bed.

So yeah, that was my experience at the Degrassi premiere. I met a lot of nice people and I had a lot of fun. Make sure to watch the movie on Sunday if you haven't seen it already. :)

Max Martin releases the same songs multiple times

Recently there has been controversy over how Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone" sounds like Beyonce's "Halo". Both songs were co-written by Ryan Tedder. Well it's obvious that whenever Ryan Tedder writes a song, it's going to be a ballad and/or feature a lot of simple piano playing. So let's look at songs Max Martin has written.

The Veronica's - 4ever



P!nk - U + Ur Hand



Oh hey, they sound exactly the same! But that's not Max Martin's only offense.

Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone



P!nk - Who Knew



Yep, he's done it again.

P!nk - It's All Your Fault



Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You



See? It's not rare for a songwriter to write a song that sounds the same as another song they wrote. Another example of this is Too Little Too Late by JoJo sounds exactly the same as Over It by Katharine McPhee. Unlove You by Elise Estrada also sounds the same, but I am unsure of who wrote that song.

Little Boots - Illuminations - EP - Review

Ryan suggested that I check out Little Boots' music, because he thought I might like her. Since I'm a sucker for english accents, I gave in and finally checked out her music. I bought her Illuminations - EP after watching her YouTube videos to see if I liked it. By the way, if you want to buy it, it's cheaper at Future Shop than HMV. So now I'm reviewing it for you all!

Track 1 is the lead single "New In Town". It's a very poppy song, and very catchy. "I'm going to take you out tonight, I'm going to make you feel alright" will be stuck in your head forever. It's fun. I suggest you check out the music video for it, as it's very entertaining. It includes homeless people dancing with shopping carts. Cheapest extras ever, all you have to do is give them a quarter.

Track 2 is "Stuck On Repeat". It's just over 1 and 1/2 minutes shorter than the original YouTube version. It's slower during the pre-chorus, and then the beat picks back up again. The song is repetitive, which is not surprising due to the title, but it's one of my favourites I've heard from her.

Track 3 is "Not Now". I like it, and not just to mock how she pronounces "January". If I didn't know better, I would've thought this was one of the tracks Greg Kurstin produced. During the verse "And how I laughed when some old man, said that you looked like Duran Duran" it resembles the verse "But I found it so entertaining, messing around with your head" from Lily Allen's song Back To The Start. It seems a lot of fans of Little Boots are angry that Not Now isn't included on "Hands", her debut album which was released one day earlier in the UK. Since I haven't heard Hands yet, I have no opinion on that, but it is a good song.

Track 4 is "Magical". Does this song sample some old song from the 70's or 80's? I swear I've heard the first 30 seconds somewhere before. It's a good song, but not as good as the three previous tracks. It hasn't really grown on me yet.

Track 5 is "Love Kills", a cover of a Freddie Mercury song. Yes, I had the same reaction as you did. "Freddie Mercury had a solo career?!?!?!" I've only heard his version once, but I assume his is better because it's Freddie Mercury. It's kind of a boring song, actually. A dull ending to an otherwise good EP.

I'd give Illuminations a 7/10 because I liked 3 and 1/2 out of 5 songs. Once I figure out what Magical sounds like and I can just sit back and enjoy it, maybe my review will change to 8/10.