No More Chicken Dance!!

What is with females singers and the chicken dance?  I'm starting to see it way too often.  It appears to come with the other ridiculous epidemic:  Shoes with 5" heels. No wonder these women can't walk across a stage with ease.  Are those shoes really necessary?  How many times do they have to visit orthopedic doctors?

The latest chicken dance siting was on Good Morning America.  Nicole Scherzinger performing this morning did an abbreviated version, which amounted to a few steps to the viewers left.  The move entailed walking across the stage as if you were tiptoeing in a Bugs Bunny cartoon while simultaneously  moving the head front to back to mimic the walk of a chicken crossing the road. (no joke will follow)



Focus on the white chicken in this video.

The ultimate grande dame of  chicken dancing is Carrie Underwood.  I saw her open for Keith Urban a few years ago and she was all over the stage looking like she was ready to lay an egg.   The move starts one minute into this video:


Lose the shoes and lose the dance. Have fun on stage.  Do not be beholden to a 5" heel.
In this case, don't break a leg.

Need a Tough Skin to Play the Halftime Show

From postings and comments I've heard during and after every Super Bowl, whoever chooses to do the Halftime Show is putting themselves in the same category as the Christians being fed to the lions in Rome. Everyone has a definite opinion on the quality of the performance. This year, I'd say the negatives win. 70% hated The Who. Thought they didn't die before they got old, Pete's voice was bad, fake windmills, Roger looked like a used car salesman, etc. About 30% said everyone watching was singing along, loved the show and The Who still have it into their sixties.

I didn't listen close enough to offer a well-informed opinion. I though the staging was perfect for TV. It worked well. There was an abundance of shots of Zak Starkey on drums. The cymbals were very cool. Directors usually ignore drummers. I guess it helps that your lineage is Beatles. I did comment that I bet this performance was amazing if you were at the stadium. It's tough to capture the excitement of a live performance on TV. Many people complained that the mix was bad. I hate medleys. I would have loved to see them do 2 full songs. Someone mentioned that Pete Townsend said in a pregame interview that he wanted to do just that and Roger wanted the medley and won.

With all the attention paid to The Who, scant comments were made on Carrie Underwood's Nation Anthem. I was listening from a distance and not in front of the TV, but it sounded like she was shouting, not singing.

My favorite halftime show was Prince. He played in the rain. He played like nothing mattered. Someone suggested having John Mayer and Keith Urban play next year. I think Urban is one of the most exciting, gifted performers today and he could rival Prince.