Dot Dot Dot Is Gone Gone Gone
On what I think/hope is the third-to-last episode of The Next Great Fox Ratings Disaster American Band, the four remaining acts took on the catalog of Queen. Would the staunchly Christian Denver and the Mile High Orchestra scrub the “gay” from Freddie Mercury’s compositions? Would teenage metallers Light Of Doom predictably cover “We Will Rock You”? Would I actually hope for a Dot Dot Dot performance? Would this episode’s ratings get trounced by the ones pulled in by a Don’t Forget The Lyrics repeat? The answer to all four of those questions is yes!
WHO’S OUT: Dot Dot Dot got sent packing back to Chicago, where they’ll no doubt become the house band for local “alternative” station Q101. And for the first time, I actually was a little sad that they weren’t playing, because when elimination time came, it was down to them and the Christian swingers in Denver and the Mile High Orchestra.
DEAR GOD NO: Who are just freaking terrible, let’s get right down to it. They did a version of News Of The World‘s “Sleeping On The Sidewalk” that sounded pretty much like every other song they’ve performed in this competition, i.e., a song from a not-as-competent Brian Setzer Orchestra tribute band.
THE BIG TWO: The Clark Brothers took Dicko’s advice from last week and added a drummer and another instrumentalist to their band, and they performed a lovely version of “These Are The Days Of Our Lives.” Points to the frontman for singing and playing violin at the same time, too. Their original song, “Homestead,” was a bit of a gloomier track, and I’m starting to wonder if their penchant for melancholy isn’t going to do them in–especially since Sixwire turned “Fat Bottomed Girls” into a bar-band stomp that was probably my favorite performance of the night.
WHO’S GOING HOME NEXT WEEK: It has to be Light Of Doom, right? Their drumline opening for “We Will Rock You” was kind of cute, but their performance was roundly panned for being sloppy and, well, just not very good. I’d rather that “DMHO” (ugh) get sent home because their “make everything swing” tactic is just as unoriginal as Light Of Doom’s metal paint-by-numbers, but the fact that Denver wore a shirt bearing his daughter’s name–and declared that fact to the audience!–probably got them some sympathy votes from the few people who are actually still watching.
The Next Great American Band [Official site] Earlier: Idolator’s American Bandom archives [Photo via Reality TV Magazine]
