A belated report on St Paddy's Day, as celebrated in Melaque, the town across the bay whose patron saint is San Patricio. They hold a week-long bash for St Pat's, since a national holiday, Benito Juarez's birthday, also occurs during that time. Thousands of people swarm to Melaque to honor Pat and Benny at the same time, a twofer. Fireworks every night, live music in the square, parades...
What I wanted most to see was the castillo, the big fireworks structure they light up at 10:30pm in the square in front of the church. We were standing behind it, since the crowd in front of it was so dense you couldn't have shoehorned yourself in. And the Capt and I are both a little claustrophobic in crowds. But we had a good view of the back, and didn't miss a thing. The letters were just backwards, that's all.
The castillo towered over the plaza and was made up of wheels of fire that took turns spinning and then revealed a star, a heart, a shamrock, a religious symbol, in colored light. When the top wheel had spun out, rockets began shooting overhead in all directions, an awesome and thrilling sight, as the crowd screamed in delight.
The Capt captured the whole shootin' match on video and provided a clip for this post, which we have to figure out to format so Blogspot will accept it.
St. Patrick's is the most significant holiday of the year for us because it marks the day we met in an Irish pub 20 years ago, the day we married 17 years ago (I wore a green dress) and the day we bought our boat 15 years ago.
And the fireworks of the castillo seemed the perfect way to celebrate. Reminded me of our first kiss...
Top 11
I was really looking forward to Country week, but with the exception of Michael it didn't sound too country to me. Yet, there were some memorable performances and a pretty weird and ugly rendition of a Johnny Cash classic.How ironic that the day that the "top four" were "announced" they all got not too good reviews. things that make you go ummmm! So in no particular order here are my post-show predictions:
Alexis Grace - She kindda looked like a young Dolly Parton (minus the big you know whats) and sang a Dolly Parton song and actually did pretty good. The judges didn't like her and didn't give her the best reviews. We all know it doesn't matter, Alexis is definitely moving on to next week.
Danny Gokey - I didn't like the first part of the song, personally I thought choosing a Carrie Underwood song was a mistake but that's just me. Then he screamed the second part of the song, or at least I thought it was screaming. I was not impressed with his performance at all. But guess what, no worries, homey is very safe. He'll be back next week.
Michael Sarver - I really like this guy and affectionately call him the big underdog. In a showcase designed to showcase The Grand Ole Opry Michael was the only kindda real country boy and he chose an honest to goodness country song. Not his best performance but I liked it. Ironically he will be a bottom three this week. The judges were not kind to him and he is the underdog in this competition.
Kris Allen - I don't care for him but last night he sang a nice enough song. The judges are really warm to him so I am going to say he is safe.
Adam Lambert - WTF was that? The song was being criticised on the radio this morning and they played it. We all agreed it sounded horrible. It sounded as if homey was having and orgasm while singing. In the meanwhile Johnny Cash was probably turning in his grave. Needless to say Simon kept it real while the others basically told him he can do no wrong. And just to think there will be more of that.
Lil "Little" Rounds - LOL Simon just could not stop calling her Little. Disrespectful? Maybe, Funny? Absolutely. She did not impress me at all either, and given the tough competition she may just land as a bottom three this week. No, I don't think she'll leave but this could be an eye opener for her.
Megan Corkrey - OK, just to give her a fair chance I closed my eyes through the performance so I wouldn't have to be looking at the tattoo. Well, that didn't help, she sounded way off and I really didn't care for her performance. Poor thing was sick and she still performed, Paula gave her props for that but will America? She is my third choice for bottom three, and my top choice leave the competition.
Anoop Desai - By far my favorite performance of the night. I got goosebumps while I listened to one of the best renditions of "You were always on my mind". Desai won't win the competition, he is too much of an underdog himself, but this performance just qualified him to be an important part of the Idol tour.
Allison Iraheta - In my opinion she is the top female vocalist, at 16 years of age she sounds like she is older than that and has some very powerful pipes. Unfortunately for her she will not capture a wide fan base like Alexis or Lil will. I am interested to see how far will she go.
Scott MacIntyre - I just vote for him over and over because I like the guy enough to send him on tour. He will be eliminated soon, I just hope not tonight.
Matt Giraud - Matt blew my socks off last night. First I thought "what is wrong with these guys tonight singing women songs?" Like Danny, Matt also picked a Carrie Underwood song, I was disappointed at that but then he opened his mouth and started singing. Wow! is all I could say as I listened. By far the best performance of the night... Oh wait! I said that for Anoop. Oh well, what the heck, it's my review and it's being published on my blog so I can say that for the both of them.
So there you have it. I'll come back tomorrow to show you guys how close or how far my predictions were.
As far as the new look of the show, I can tell they are reaching for more audience and ratings by changing some of the things they had done up to now. From them being announced by a voice, to introducing their new "safe" rule, to having to 13 intead of 12, to the endless bickering and fighting between Paula and Simon and the endless disagreements between Randy and Simon. Are they for real, judges divided, is that their new gimmic? Boooooooring!
Who are your favorites?
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