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Spencer, Iowa ~ Friday, September 5, 2008
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All Nashville Starred Out
Posted Thursday, August 7, at 12:15 PM
There were no real surprises in the "Nashville Star" finale. Shawn Mayer made a very strong, late push but the consistent, and deserved, praise for Melissa Lawson and Gabe Garcia carried them until the end of the show as the final two.
For whatever it's worth, the "Nashville Star" producers did a great job of making the cast available for interviews throughout the season. Shawn also was very thoughtful and accommodating. She must have been asked about the mentor change a hundred times, but never seemed put off by the questions.
Just to wrap things up, this is the way I would have stacked the contestants:
1. Melissa Lawson - The viewers did a great job choosing the final three. 2. Gabe Garcia - You could easily flip-flop the top two depending on the week. 3. Shawn Mayer - She's in the mix with a lot of good voices. I'm rewarding her for taking more chances. 4. Ashlee Hewitt - Her original song "Mike's Hard Lemonade" is still one of the best moments of the season. 5. Pearl Heart - "Ain't Going Down (Til the Sun Comes Up)" was a great way to leave the show. They found their groove just a little too late. 6. Tommy Stanley - The judges thought he lacked "country" in his vocals. From what I heard, I always thought he passed the litmus test. 7. Alyson Gilbert - The last of the ones I would actually listen to. Her vocals were pretty good. The "psycho eyes" thing was a legitimate issue though. 8. Charley Jenkins - Honestly, I don't even remember him. That means he must not have been too bad. 9. Coffey - He worked really hard, seemed like a nice guy and since he's coming to Spencer on the Nashville Star concert tour, we'll leave it at that. 10. Laura & Sophie - Judge Jeffrey Steele tried some innovative things with the duo, but, boy, did that act unravel. I'm waiting for the reality show spinoff on those two. 11. Third Town - Maybe they needed more time to work things out. There was a weird voice (and haircut) in the trio that was really throwing things off, though. 12. Justin Gaston - The show must have helped his modeling career because it probably didn't do his music ambitions any favors.
"Nashville Star" was a great excuse to fire up the blog. Time for a change of subject though and I have a few ideas. Hope you guys hang in there with me.
Handicapping the finale Shawn Mayer did everything she needed to do to give herself a chance at the title of "Nashville Star." But, wow, the competition is tough. Thank goodness we don't have to say "Nashville Star" and "Coffey" in the same sentence. We'll break down the three finalists...
One last update before tonight's show Mike Hughes who writes "TV Today" for Gannett newspapers calls "Nashville Star" tonight's "must-see." He says: "A week before the finale, this hour determines the winner. Viewers will learn which of four finalists was voted out. Then, they'll have a last chance to vote for the top three. ...
You called, Mayer answers -- with Spencer visit When an industry insider tells a 21-year-old musician on national TV that the song she wrote could be cut by Faith Hill or Martina McBride, I think that's a pretty good night. So Shawn Mayer of May City had a pretty good night on "Nashville Star." I hope people in northwest Iowa give her another good night: The shows producers are flying Shawn back to Spencer for some press opportunities and an autograph session at the Southpark Mall. ...
Close call on 'Nashville Star' This time, the drama was on the stage for Shawn Mayer, the "Nashville Star" finalist from May City. For the first time, she was in the bottom two on the NBC show. Fortunately, the show has gone back to eliminating one performer at a time. It didn't hurt that the act standing next to her -- Laura & Sophie -- sounded bad and acted worse in the episode a week earlier. (Did I mention that their elimination should involve a trap door and a shark tank?)...
Maybe it's the humidity OK, who turned off the air conditioning at the "Nashville Star" studios? We had some cranky performers on Monday night's episode. The acts were left sweating as the show trimmed the field from eight to six. Shawn Mayer, from May City, was cranky with her mentor John Rich...
Family night arrives on 'Nashville Star' We had moms, dads, fellow servicemen and even a golden retriever as "Nashville Star" held its family night Monday night. Each performer also was called on to do two songs, but, really, they each did about a song-and-a-half. Their second selection was much shorter...
Is Shawn Mayer 'N Sync or Bye, Bye, Bye? Nashville Star made its cut from 10 to nine and, once again May City's Shawn Mayer was kept waiting. Once again she took on a risky song choice. And once again she avoided the bottom two slots. First the elimination. Here's what I said about Justin Gaston last week:...
Shawn Mayer vies for top 10 spot on Nashville Star First a spoiler alert: If you haven't seen the most recent episode of "Nashville Star 6" it re-airs at 7 p.m. Friday on CMT. A new episode airs live Monday nights at 8 p.m. on NBC. The show goes to one hour starting Monday. If you want to be surprised as you watch the CMT encore, stop reading now...
SIZING UP THE COMPETITION ON NASHVILLE STAR Here's a look at Monday's other 10 performers in the order they learned their fate on the NBC show. But at the end of Rich's comments he asked Stanley if someone was crushing on him. Then the next shot was of Shawn, up in the balcony. Rich was working with the girls and Shawn looked busted. Stay tuned...
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I'm a general assignment reporter and online contributor for The Daily Reporter in Spencer.
I grew up, went to school and entered the work force right here in Spencer. And no matter where I was in life, I liked to read my local newspaper.
My break in journalism came in the fall of 1997. The Daily Reporter's Sports Editor Steve Clark left early on in the football season for another opportunity. General assignment reporters tried to corral the sports results while they searched for Mr. Clark's replacement. In the meantime, I saw an ad for a "sports stringer" without fully knowing what a "stringer" was. I put together a "Pigskin Preview" (the Friday morning high school football preview column) for a writing sample.
They let me pick up some of the slack part-time with cross country stories and football coverage for the smaller schools. I began helping more and more.
Long story short, they found Mr. Clark's successor, but that guy didn't make it past Thanksgiving. By then, I had enough practice and demonstrated enough ability to become the sports editor. I then slipped into a general assignment position when it opened up in 1998.
I've been on the news side, covering six counties for three different publications, for more than 10 years now. It all came from an interest in writing, some good timing and, hopefully, a bit of ability. I'll let you be the judge of that.
The Mitchell Report will include views on current events, sports and pop culture.
Hot topics All Nashville Starred Out(0 ~ 12:15 PM, Aug 7)
Handicapping the finale
One last update before tonight's show
You called, Mayer answers -- with Spencer visit
Close call on 'Nashville Star'
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