Sherwood grooves and So You Think You Can Dance Turns UP the HEAT!

MySpace Record's Chooses Another Potential Hit with Sherwood...

So You Think You Can Dance! Season Three Starts Off Hot...but Kinder and Gentler (ok, a few mean digs by Nigel...but better), bucking the Fox reality trend...



It's sunny in Seattle! If you don't realize what that means, then you need to spend a year in Seattle.


Sunny and DRY days are only a bit more common that a full eclipse of the sun. Hence, the review today is short and sweet, so that I can try to get a bit of that sun to permeate my skin and toast me up beyond lukewarm. (I'll still be pale, since I believe in full sunscreen and quiver in fear when I see the leatherskin ones walk by...but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate not having to wear a coat, or even a sweatshirt! Ahhhhhh!!! Warmth! So this is what that feels like, so much better than the pictures on the Travel Channel!)

First up, looks like it's little sister and brother week at So You Think You Can Dance (season 3.) Benji's little sister as well as Travis' older brother, Danny Tidwell, are in the mix this time, as well as others. Don't know if the producers did that on purpose or not, but fans will soon have their say. Hopefully, Danny will get the heads up from those that watched the judges' reactions to his 'too calm' composure and detachment...and attempt to show a bit more involvement and emotion. Personality and a real connection to the fans (them liking you) is imperative on this show. True, Danny may be the best dancer of the bunch (haven't we heard that before?) but he needs to win over the fans and show some enthusiasm and gratitude. He has tremendous gifts and has the chance to show the world what they're missing by ignoring the world of dance. As for Lacey, Lacey's got the youthful enthusiasm, but can she, like her brother, win over fans and keep up the very strenuous pace that this show demands?

Time will tell. Next week's first competition with the chosen twenty will be something to watch, I think. And don't forget about the rest of the crew, like Hok, who have everything to gain but none of the pressure of being a 'relation.'

Season three is definitely worth watching...and kudos to the lightening up on the "Simon Cowell-esque aka Let's embarass people just for fun" attitude that those OTHER shows seem to think is a requirement.

On to music....

As promised, I'm looking at Sherwood, another MySpace Records fav. They (and MySpace Records) aren't quite in the big leagues yet, so Fall Out Boy and Blue October (two of my favs among the big timers) aren't having to look over their shoulders so far, even though Sherwood is more pop than they. However, MySpace continues to show that they have a good ear (and a good eye since the visual appeal is there as well.)

Sherwood is a pop rock group out of San Luis Obispo, California. The bouncy, high energy Middle of the Night sounds like it belongs on some TV show's soundtrack and for all I know, probably will be on one or has been already. It and the group have that energetic youthful feel so important to success in today's pop field. Just enough angst in the musicality and lyrics to make it interesting but still with a driving rock beat forcing the narrative along so that it doesn't get boring or pedantic. Listening to the lyrics yields another strong point in the band's favor, they have substance and truth. Delivered via lead singer Nate's powerful, plaintive vocals and backed up soundly by the instrumentals, this group has something to say.

And fans are listening...

See the band's MySpace page for their lengthy summer tour dates around not just the West Coast, but all over the country. Let me know if you attend one of the concerts and tell me what you think (cganders1@yahoo.com)

The bands MySpace page and four of their songs (as well as video clips) are located at
http://www.myspace.com/sherwood

Kudos to MySpace Records for picking Sherwood.

But BIGGER kudos to Sherwood for just being Sherwood.

They are memorable and it's because of their obvious talent for music and melody. The only thing that seems to be missing is that ONE song, that one, you know, that takes a band to the next level--that song that hits the charts and keeps climbing, capturing everyone's imagination. Perhaps it's there, but just not on the MySpace site yet.

And now I'm off to the sunshine before it ends all too soon (say in 4 minutes, about par for around here!)!

See you next week!

CG Anderson
owner & chief bottle washer
Little Dogs Media
blog: http://ahablogolicious.blogspot.com/ Aha! Blogolicious! Musings and Meanings of Non-Sensical Events and Canada... (a music/art/dance/media review site with a bit of humor to mix it up)

Remember, Obstacles are Actually Opportunities...look at the why behind the what...

REVIEW: So You Think You Can Dance LIVE Tour 2006 Seattle Premier September 12, 2006

REVIEW: So You Think You Can Dance LIVE Tour 2006 Seattle Premier September 12, 2006

Benji Schwimmer, Travis Wall, Heidi Groskreutz, Donyelle Jones, Ivan Koumaev, Natalie Fotopoulos, Allison Holker, Ryan Rankine, Martha Nichols and Dimitry Chaplin Rock the House at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle!

FOX's summer hit, So You Think You Can Dance kicked off its first ever LIVE tour at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, WA last night. The top ten dancers from the second season put on a stunning show for fans and critics alike.

Local son, Ivan Koumaev, season two winner Swing Specialist Benji Schwimmer and runners up Contemporary specialist Travis Wall, Latin specialist Heidi Groskreutz (Benji's actual cousin) and Hip Hop bootie-diva Donyelle Jones all gave stand-out performances as did the entire cast of the top ten—proving that they are indeed an exceptional group of young up-and-coming dancers.

The two month 35 city national tour sold out in just under thirty minutes, even with the addition of two extra performances (only on the east coast, sorry, folks.) The talented cast face a long, grueling road schedule, so one can only hope that the screaming fans and appreciative crowds will make the journey easier—and injury free.

My personal favorite Travis Wall was welcomed just as heartily as hometown boy, Ivan Koumaev. Wall gave several brilliant performances, most of them favorites from the television series already but also including one that he had apparently choreographed himself just for the road show—showcasing his talent as an emerging choreographer as well.

Several of the favorite routines, both the show pieces done by the cast and the individual, short competition pieces done by the pairs, were included in the show including the "Rama lama...," "Chicago," and "SexyBack" routines (the SexyBack routine was lengthened to include the entire cast and the Rama piece was cut down because it now has only 10 dancers.) Travis Wall, Ivan Koumaev, Heidi Groskreutz and Benji Swimmer were also standouts in their short solo pieces as was a spanish solo number by Dmitry Chaplin (and yes, the Ryan and Heidi 'bongo' number is in there, too, as is the 'Gyrate' aka 'Nerdolicious Tranji' number.)

This is not to detract from the fact that everyone of the ten were absolutely wonderful to watch—there just isn't time or space to cover everything in the two and a half hour show (including breaks—for the audience, since I'm sure the performers were running around non-stop before, during and after.) It was an opening night and there were bobbles though—nothing major and nothing that the fans wouldn't forgive. Many of the pieces weren't as polished as they had been during their original debut on the television show and others were more polished. Some of the competition pieces that were not altered or lengthened were noticeable in their uneasy brevity and odd cut-off. Given that the ten dancers had only ten days to pull the show together (even given the fact that almost all were pieces they had already done before), and that it was a grueling and tiring amount of dancing to do, it was a very polished and professional show—not to mention highly entertaining.

The show has not been without controversy and many viewers are still turned off by the need to show and embarrass the worst dancers (in the video segments of the TV show that were also shown during the live show) that tried out. It's unfortunately something that American Idol made popular (making fun of others, including ones that don't realize that they are 'bad' and then filming them as they are humiliated into tears) and now seems a standard requirement for any talent oriented reality show. That is a shame, a true shame.

There has also been a great deal of (shall we say?) discussion as to the sexual orientation of several of the dancers, especially on the show's website. Wisely, the producers and the FOX network took the high road and simply ignored the debate and didn't encourage their contestants to discuss it either. The rarified world of dance is likely a bit different from the realities of a hit TV series, especially considering the demographics targeted, and while the performer should never be confused with the performance, in television, knowing too much about the private life of a contestant can negatively affect ratings sometimes—especially when the performers are male. So kudos to FOX for clamping down on the gossip, even with Travis Wall's unfortunate choice in MySpace website name.

It's all to the good for fans looking to connect to their favorite dancer and find out more about their career and life, since most (possibly all?) of the contestants have MySpace profile sites now, but hopefully most of them seem to be more conservative in website name choice, not to mention easier to find if the sitename is based on their actual name. (I didn't check all of them.) It's always a tragedy when a brilliant performance is overshadowed by all things that rightly should remain private (even for "public" individuals --not just sex but anything of a sexual, drug, private, etc. focus--unless they choose to make it public themselves)—and especially since some of these very young dancers might find themselves being targeted and pulled into politically hot debates because of such incautious and potentially "Hollywood-career at least" damaging behavior. Luckily, the world of dance shouldn't care and will likely embrace this talented crop of names-in-the-making. The fans certainly don't mind.

However, since the show is sold-out and basically only to fans of the show, any dancing missteps, hiccups or curtailed dance routines (as well as any image issues) shouldn't be a problem. The show itself is worth the price of admission and FOX and the show's producers will hopefully realize that they should quickly get the season 2 DVD out for sale—assuming they are going to do a DVD of the second season. The collateral for sale at the Seattle opening was disappointing, from the quickie 'program' that didn’t include any photos or information on the show itself (just the ten very very very short bios—their pictures were nice though--plus two small photos of the understudies) and the T-shirts for sale were even more disappointing. This event, with better T-shirts, programs and other merchandising, could have made a small fortune based on the enthusiasm of the crowd. Perhaps the producers will do better in that regard with the later cities. Seattle got the short end of the stick in that situation—but happily, getting to see the premier definitely makes up for it.

If you've got tickets, don't scalp them. You want to see this show, especially if you're a fan. Congratulations, FOX, So You Think You Can Dance Producers, cast and crew. Keep up the momentum!

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Links to Online Reviews Found so far:

Seattle Times Review

CG Anderson is a 10 year new media provocateur involved in technology, science and the online world. Also a writer, blogger and novelist. CG's comments are personal and opinionated and solely the responsibility of the author, so there. Don't like the opinions, disagree, agree, don't know? Great, make a comment—clean ones will be allowed, netiquette-challenged ones will be ignored!