Vince's Journey

American Idol 2010 is off and running! New judge, Ellen DeGenneris, will not appear until February so until then, celebrity judges will take their turn along side Simon, Randy and Kara. Tonight's show highlighted the vocal talents of Boston and Posh Spice, obviously of Spice Girl fame, filled the fourth judges chair. She did a fair job; showed compassion to the horrible singers but she's so skinny she was difficult to look at. Someone needs to get her a few Big Macs and to get some meat on that woman. But as painful as she was to look at she didn't come close to matching how painful it was to listen to Paula Abdul fumble her way through her mindless comments. So, in my humble opinion, the first American Idol episode A.P. (after Paula) was a tremendous success. There were a few good singers, a couple may even wind up in the final 12 when the real competition begins. And while there were a few contestants who were quite embarrassing; no one was bad enough to challenge the all-time worst, William Hung. Tomorrow's show takes us to Atlanta - maybe a challenger for William will surface down there.

As I mentioned yesterday, Mark McGwire has come clean and admitted to using steroids. Today he took quite a beating on all the sports talk shows. You have to wonder, after years of denying he used performance enhancing drugs, why he decided to come clean now. He's not going to get in the Hall of Fame, people mock his lack of sincerity and he actually felt it necessary to say he didn't think the steroids helped him hit home runs anyway. According to Mark, he's always been able to hit home runs, it's a God given ability and the only reason he took steroids to begin with was to help him get over injuries. He's going to take his licks on this, at least until the next sports star comes out and does something stupid to attract all the attention away from McGwire. Given the antics of present day athletes, it should only take Mark till the end of the week to be replaced in the sports headlines by another fallen hero. Tiger Woods, Gilbert Arenas, Plaxico Burress, Mark McGwire - who will be next?

Finally here are #90 through #81 of my Top 100 songs countdown. I guess my son, Judd, is going to do his countdown simultaneous with mine in the comments section - it will be interesting to see how many songs show up on both lists...

#90. I Want to Hold Your Hand - The Beatles. The song that started it all. I remember The Beatles performing this song on the Ed Sullivan show back in 1964; I was 5 at the time - the girls in the audience were screaming so loud you couldn't hear The Beatles sing, my older sister was screaming from our living room. My dad didn't get it but as we all know, the face of music would never be the same after The Beatles arrived in the US.

#89. Heart of Glass - Blondie. I first heard this song watching SNL back in the late 70's. SNL was a 'must watch' show back when I was in college and many of the best musical acts appeared from week to week. I had never heard of Blondie but they came on with this punk/disco song and it became a mainstream hit.

#88. I've Just Seen a Face - The Beatles. Great song that was on the British version of 'Rubber Soul' and the US version of 'Help!' The acoustic guitar lead-in and instrumental in the middle is classic.

#87. Darkness on the Edge of Town - Bruce Springsteen. 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' is my favorite Springsteen album and this is one of two tracks from that album on my list. The piano throughout this song and Bruces' powerful vocals is what makes 'Darkness' one of my favorite Springsteen tunes.

#86. Help! - The Beatles. Obviously, another track from the movie, 'Help!'

#85. Good Riddance - Green Day. This song helped get me through the early days of my diagnosis for lymphoma. I thought the song's message spoke well to what I was going through. Unfortunately, this was also Abbey's favorite song at the time and she didn't like sharing her song with me so I had to find another song to identify with. You'll read about that song later in the countdown but I still have a soft spot in my heart for 'Good Riddance' because it reminds me of Abbey.

#84. New Kid In Town - The Eagles. Always liked the way The Eagles harmonized in their songs and they're at their best in 'New Kid In Town'. The song is also a dead-on-balls, accurate commentary on making the big time and how fleeting fame can be..."They will never forget you 'till somebody new comes along." And you wonder why many child stars are so messed up as adults.

#83. I Feel Fine - The Beatles. Four Beatle songs in the last 8 songs and there are plenty more to come. The amplifier feedback which opens the song is one of the signature moments of the early Beatles.

#82. Born In The USA - Bruce Springsteen. Great opening and ending to this song with Bruce hammering that ever so familiar riff, over and over again. Wish he would have played this at the Super Bowl last year.

#81. Hang On Sloopy - The McCoys. How could any Ohio State Buckeye football fan not include this classic in his/her top 100 list? The official rock song of the Buckeye state and The 'Shoe rocks every time TBDBITL plays this stadium favorite.

20 down and 80 to go....#80 through #71 will appear tomorrow night. Good night, for now.