Yesterday, my father was hospitalized. My mother called me at work and told me he was apparently having chest pain and was being transported by ambulance from his job. Obviously, we immediately thought heart-attack and made our way toward the hospital.

After an overnight stay and many, many tests, they’ve actually given my dad a clean bill of health and deduced his chest pain and subsequent unconsciousness as a case of extremely bad food poisoning. Of course, mom and I are relieved to know he’s healthy, but this better teach my dad to abstain of the tempation of Long John Silver and start eating better.

In other news, I’ve recently found a house that I’ve fallen in love with - and I wasn’t even looking for one. So, Michi and I are in the process of seeing what we can get approved for and take things from there. We’re being realistic, but we definitely want to know what our options are. I keep telling myself not to get excited about it, but with the market in the state that it is, this is truly the best time to buy if you can afford to do so. Not that I’m bleeding money, but I’ve love to see what we’re capable of affording. So, on Tuesday I’ll meet with the lender. If things look like they’ll move forward, I’ll certainly provide more details.

And lastly… David Cook wins American Idol! He’s so deserving and I can’t wait to see where this takes him. And while I liked David Archuleta and the fact that he can sing beautifully, the boy just didn’t have much of a show persona in my opinion.

This last week has been a fairly busy one for me. Michi and I joined a small group of friends and headed up to the Lake Tahoe area for a weekend away. We rented a large house and just relaxed. Each of us took turns preparing meals and I think we all ate well. Dot and Laura prepared stuffed shells for Friday night’s dinner. Lisa made breakfast burritos on Saturday morning. Sandy prepared Chicago-style hot dogs for lunch and Michi and I prepared rouladen, a German dish consisting of seasoned beef, boiled so it becomes really tender, mashed potatoes, red cabbage and an avocado and feta salad. I think we all gained 10 pounds.

Overall, the getaway was nice, but it didn’t take me long to begin missing my dogs. Fortunately, my mom sent me a picture to let me know that the girls weren’t missing me nearly as much.

And in sad news, Brooke was voted off of American Idol last night. I knew it was going to come eventually, but I certainly thought Jason Castro was the worst of Tuesday night’s performances. Sure, Brooke’s rendition of ‘I’m A Believer’ was, as Simon mentioned, “A nightmare,” but her rendition of Neil Diamond’s ‘I Am… I Said’ was awesome. I sorta felt that it would have saved her. But alas, I was wrong.

Still, I’m glad she made it to the top five, which is certainly something to be proud of. Plus, she will be part of the AI tour that will perform throughout the country this summer, along with all of the top ten contestants. So in Brooke’s case… even when you lose, you still win.

And now that I have that out of my system, I promise I won’t post about American Idol anymore.

Well, maybe a couple more times.

This year, however, I find myself glued to the TV on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. This season’s pool of talent is so much better. They can actually sing (well most of them).

From the beginning, I’ve been rooting for Brooke White, the twenty-four year-old nanny from Mesa, Arizona. I know she’s not the vocal powerhouse that Carly Smithson is, but Brooke’s gift is her ability to pull a listener in. And let’s face it, that’s a skill you just can’t teach someone. Some of the best songwriters out there aren’t necessarily remarkable singers.

I truly feel Brooke is a believable performer who has turned in some impressive renditions of Pat Benatar’s ‘Love Is A Battlefield’ and Carly Simon’s ‘You’re So Vain,’ both she made intimate and largely acoustic, the perfect setting for Brooke’s throaty, but sweet voice.

Last night performances featured songs off the catalogue of Andrew Lloyd Webber - an intimidating task for certain, as songs tailored for Broadway tend to be very vocally challenging and meant to be theatric. Overall, the contestants performed the songs well. Some of course better than others.

But like every Wednesday during its season, tonight is elimination night. And based on what I’ve seen on blogs and websites elsewhere, Brooke is not favored to pull through. And I can see their point - to a degree. Sure, she stopped her rendition of ‘You Must Love Me’ and restarted, therefore killing its flow. But when she restarted, she sang it without pause and I thought she did a great job. The emotion was there, but both she and the judges seemed disappointed with the end result.

And while I never really expected Brooke to win the coveted spot, I do think there is a talent here. I just hope she’s able to stick it out a bit longer.

UPDATE:

Well, it looks as though Brooke managed to avoid the chopping block this week. But sadly, Carly Smithson was sent home. Just goes to show you that even when you have a good night of performing, there are no guarantees.

The icons were fun to make and work beautifully on my iPhone. Of course, they probably don’t mean squat to anyone who doesn’t use an iPhone.

I also ended up creating a CD mix (front cover | back cover) - this one for my co-worker, Rebecca.

Normally, I try to initiate a theme of some kind when selecting the songs and creating the accompanying artwork. But this time, I didn’t really have much of a theme. So, I went perusing the Internet and downloaded some awesome vintage-styled Photoshop brushes and put them to good use.

Today, as I handed Rebecca the CD, she nearly spit out the Diet Coke she was drinking when she began to read the cover.

That alone was worth all the time I spent working on it.

It’s sickening.

I blame my parents. Mom and dad also loved music. Mom had a penchant for traditional singers like Patsy Cline and Doris Day. She tended toward more country so naturally, Dolly Parton, Juice Newton, Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle were in there too. Dad was a bit more broad, exposing me to artists like Simon & Garfunkel, Fleetwood Mac, the Doobie Brothers, Billy Joel and even Sheena Easton.

But nobody seemed to impress me more than Annie Lennox.

My father had only two albums by Eurythmics: 1983’s Touch and 1986’s Revenge - on cassette, of course. I gravitated toward both equally, mesmerized by Annie’s intensely polished appearance and her beautiful voice. I vividly remember watching the video to Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) and thinking how bizarre this woman was. And when she flared her eyes and bared her teeth… she intrigued and frightened me at the same time.

From there, my tastes went to the ladies of the 80’s. Yes, I was admittedly a fan of Janet Jackson’s Control and Rhythm Nation 1814 and later, Paula Abdul’s Forever Your Girl , despite the fact neither can sing very well. But back then, it was all about the dancing. Singing was just an obligatory part of the package.

When the 90’s emerged, I went through what I now refer to as my ‘guilty pleasure’ phase. One-hit wonders like Tara Kemp, En Vogue and Crystal Waters (okay, maybe she’s a two-hit wonder) were playing through my speakers. There was also a strong Wilson Phillips era too, as I recall.

But when I started high school in 1991, I quickly learned that young white guys weren’t supposed to like music by female pop artists. My friends back then were all about Metallica, White Zombie, Nirvana, Faith No More and Ministry. I just thought bands like that were loud and that was about it. But eventually, as through osmosis, I started to listen to them too, eventually all but abandoning my love for pop.

Then came 1993 and 1994. A friend from my art class introduced me to an album called Exile In Guyville by Liz Phair. The songs were lo-fi and strange; it was nothing I had heard before and initially, I just didn’t ‘get it.’ But through forced, repeated listens, Liz and I became real good friends. I began to realize just how much more satisfying it was for me to listen to music that was written by the actual artist. When Liz’s second album, Whip-Smart, came out the following year, our love was solidified.

Liz Phair had opened the door to more ‘alternative’ music for me. Lisa Germano, Sam Phillips and Aimee Mann became stand outs for me. As did Polly Jean Harvey, Heather Nova, Suzanne Vega, Jill Sobule, Sheryl Crow and Ani DiFranco. Then in 1995, when everyone seemed to flock to Alanis Morissette, I found myself surrounded by the wave of female singer-songwriters that were traveling closely behind: artists like Jen Trynin, Tracy Bonham and Lesley Rankine of Ruby.

In 1996, I discovered my next love: Patty Griffin. Hers was a voice I couldn’t say no to. She had the uncanny ability to tell the most beautiful stories about ordinary people. And her Living With Ghosts , with its bare arrangement of just Patty and her acoustic guitar, gives me chills every time.

The rest of the nineties were full of new discoveries, but my love for female singer-songwriters remained true and does so to this day.

Despite my broadened musical horizons, I had developed a slight, snobbish attitude to most commercial music, as I found it generally disposable and saccharine. It’s funny that now, years later, I’ll catch myself downloading the occasional top 10 track just because I find it infectious for the moment.

This year, I have even become engrossed in the latest season of American Idol, a show I used to despise. For some reason though, I find this season’s contestants fresh and immensely talented. Sure, some have had brushes with the business before, but this show will almost guarantee them some success.

These days, while I don’t buy as many CDs anymore, my digital collection is growing exponentially. I love the fact that music is evolving the way it is. How amazing is it that you don’t have to leave your living room in order to find your favorite song of the moment? Everything is available at your fingertips.

Music is just one of those great parts of life. Every song has its story and every story is different to whomever listens to it. Music is the time machine that takes you back to relive the good times and the bad times. It reminds you of some place or someone. It can command your mood and your body. And like food, it’s a fuel that can keep you going. It’s rare to find something so powerful.

Unfortunately, I have no real answer for you there. It’s just a word that is fun to say and one I thought worked well for a blog about pretty much anything.

My aim is to write about any and all things that interest me: art, music, books, design… the topics are limitless.

And although Jooblygoop isn’t my first foray into the world of blogging, I’m hoping it’s the one that sticks.

Only time will tell.