My Summer of Discontent Continues...

Everyone knows I've been a little disgruntled this summer.

I've been dragged down repeatedly by bad news, and I've wallowed in it. People have died young & tragically (including Buzz from the Team 1200's TGOR morning radio show, who I still miss, and then there was the beheading of that young man on the bus out West, which still gives me chills); Heath Ledger spooked me with his portrayal of the Joker; Wade Redden cut his ties with the Ottawa Senators; Canada went the whole first week of the Beijing Olympics without a medal; the weather has SUCKED (especially when we got a torrential thunderstorm in Toronto just at the time my cousin was getting married); now we're not allowed to eat meat because of this Maple Leaf disease. Geesh!

Everyone keeps telling me that bad stuff happens every summer, but for some reason I'm just paying more close attention to it this year.

Whatever. I've been getting bad vibes all summer long. That's why I've labelled this my "Summer of Discontent".

Oh, and there's another big contributor to my summer-long funk, and that has been Canadian Idol. The Idol gods have not been on my side during these fair-weather (haha!) months of 2008.

First, it was the early eliminations of both Pigott brothers, which I still declare unfair and ridiculous, especially Oliver not making it to the Top 10. Absolutely baffling.

Then, after Sebastian was cut after the Top 8, I turned my attention to Mookie Morris, who was sent home two weeks ago, just making it to the Top 5. My last-ditch effort to be happy on finale night came when I threw my support behind the adorable Drew Wright last week on the heels of him singing Anne Murray's "Hey Daddy" (one of my favourite performances this year).



Of course, Drew was given the boot last night.


Nobody wants me to be happy this summer!


That being said, Theo Tams does probably deserve the crown this year, and after Drew was sent packing last night, I'm almost 100% positive Theo will take the title in next week's finale. As nice and sweet as Mitch McDonald is, he just doesn't have the musical chops that Theo has. Theo has been consistenly the top performer, week after week, blowing away the judges and audiences alike.



But I have this tiny niggling feeling that I can't count Mitch out just yet. The clips of the boys' hometown visits last night showed what I have suspected all summer long - Mitch has one helluva die-hard fan base and voting contingent out there. They're the only reason he's still there ahead of the likes of Amberly, Mookie, Earl, and even Drew. The crowd at his hometown concert stretched out for miles - it reminded me of the mob in Ottawa when the Sens were in the Stanley Cup finals that came out for the Sens Rally at City Hall. Absolutely massive.

There's no doubt in my mind that Mitch has not proven worthy of the Canadian Idol crown this year. He's been sweet & entertaining, and he's introduced me to some songs a probably would have never heard otherwise (Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours", Joel Plaskett's "Love this Town"), but compared to Theo and quite a few others in this year's competition, he's not even on the same level.

So knowing how my summer has gone so far...Yeah, it would only make sense for Mitch to win the whole damned thing.

On a positive note? Bryan Adams rocked the stage with one of my favourites "18 Til I Die" last night - what a great live performer! Seeing him up there sort of renewed my old appreciation for Mr. Adams.


Oh, and also, I get to see Sebastian back on the Idol stage in less that a week for finale night.



I'm looking more forward to that than actually seeing who wins!