Rock the Cradle- did it rock? Lucy Walsh and Jesse Blaze Snider did!
Rock the Cradle premiered on MTV last night, and it was interesting. First off, let me say, go Jesse Blaze Snider! Woo!
Anyway, taking a look at the show, it was a good time, and it was interesting seeing a HUGE range of talent. For example, Chloe Lattanzi, daughter of Olivia Newton-John, wouldn’t make it to Hollywood on American Idol. Steve Walsh of the Eagles’ daughter Lucy Walsh was incredible, and really deserved the “protected” spot.
The judging is all over the place, with judges rarely agreeing across the board- that’s perfect. It means they’re actually giving their individual opinions and EVERYone has different opinions. I don’t mind that at all, though I did quickly figure out who I’ll be agreeing with, and that Belinda Carlyle is batshit crazy. Although, she was right on Lil B Sure, as he was not the “best vocal performance of the night” like Larry Rudolph said- he was flat on 2 of his last three notes, but I digress.
Then there’s the host, Ryan Devlin. Wow, was this guy terrible. He has no charisma, he is NOT funny, his delivery was off, his timing was off when coming back to him, and he had his head and neck cocked forward the ENTIRE show- it was painful to watch, and bad enough that I fast forwarded (thank you tivo!) every time he spoke and someone else wasn’t around.
Don’t worry if you missed it, there’s something like 10 showings of the first episode in the next 3 days alone. It’s worth taking a look at, and I have a feeling once the first couple cullings take place and we get rid of the crap, the competition should get interesting.
Quick bits on every competitor after the break:
Jesse Money- Nice 
to look at, fantastic body, pretty good voice, not great, but good- it’ll be interesting to see what else she sings.
Landon Brown- made me go “Crazy” when he sang Seal- “Crazy” because I didn’t want to hear the song ever again, although I previously liked it. This guy was towards the bottom of the pack.
Chloe Lattanzi- one and done. Sorry, Chloe, find a different career.
Lucy Walsh- Fantastic, definitely a stand out. Can’t wait to see more.
Jesse Blaze Snider- Full Disclosure: I have met Jesse, and he’s done some work for the publisher formerly known as Fangoria Comics, which employs Scott Licina, Troy Brownfield, and my wife, Janelle Siegel- so yeah, I’m probably a little partial to the guy. He pulled off a Led Zeppelin song. I mean, he got out there and pulled it off. He 
was the most into it performer of the whole competition, and you could tell he was just out there rockin and having fun. He was also one of two performers (Lucy being the other) that was on pitch for the entire song.
Lil B Sure- good performance until the end of the song, where he completely fracked it up. Willing to give him another chance.
Lara Johnston- Oh, so cute. So, so cute. And she’s got some talent, but she’s very not ready for this kind of performance. A better song for her voice could do wonders, though. I’m not ready to completely give up on her yet.
A’Keiba Burrell-Hammer- Pretty darn good voice. Pretty darn generic voice. We’ve seen/heard this all before, and it’s been in the spotlight too much the last two years to have her stand out at all. She’s probably a third rounder.
Crosby Loggins- Well, he has some talent, for sure. His performance was a bit stiff, and he sounds a bit too much like Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers for my taste. He was pretty good though, a definite contender
Overall, I’d say your top four are Jesse Money, Lucy Walsh, Jesse Blaze Snider, and Crosby Loggins. Landon, Chloe, and A’Keiba were probably my bottom three, and it’s too soon to be sure about Lil’ B Sure (pun intended) and Lara.
Visit this link to watch the individual performances and vote for Jesse Snider!
Note: Lucas Siegel has been singing under trained and/or professional environments since age 3 (that’s nearly 23 years for all the math majors). He has sung onstage with Luciano Pavarotti, and solo in front of a crowd of 14,000. He assures you, when it comes to music and performance, he knows what he’s talking about.
April 4th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
[...] s h o t g u n r e v i e w s wrote an interesting post today on Rock the Cradle- did it rock? Lucy Walsh and Jesse Blaze Snider did!Here’s a quick excerptRock the Cradle- did it rock? Lucy Walsh and Jesse Blaze Snider did! Posted April 4th, 2008 by Lucas Siegel Categories: Op-Ed, Lucas Siegel, Television, Music Rock the Cradle premiered on MTV last night, and it was interesting. First off, let me say, go Jesse Blaze Snider! Woo! Anyway, taking a look at the show, it was a good time, and it was interesting seeing a HUGE range of talent. For example, Chloe Lattanzi, daughter of Olivia Newton-John, wouldn’t make it to Hollywood on American Idol. [...]
April 4th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I’m pulling for Jesse, personally…but that’s more about being geeked for a guy my friends know and I met briefly at Wizard World Chicago.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I really liked Crosby. He was a little stiff for the first performance, but I think it’s awesome that he actually plays the guitar as well as sings. Hopefully as the show progresses we’ll see the real performer emerge. I am actually helping out with the show, so I have been listening to the contestents on Myspace and other sites, and it’s cool to see what they are doing musically outside the show. Rock on! :-)
April 8th, 2008 at 9:40 am
It’s very clear after watching on Thursday who bombed, who was blah blah bland, who was good and who rocked it!
Bombed, Crash & Burned, Sucked Big Time: Chloe
So so, Kinda Boring or Bland: Lil B. Sure and Landon
The pretty good & shows potential: A’keiba, Lara, Jesse and Crosby
Who rocked it: Lucy Walsh & Jesse Blaze Snider
I loved Chloe’s song choice but that’s all I liked about Chloe and her performance on Thursday. She def. didn’t even get an ounce of talent from her mom. Chloe bombed big time. She looked so scary too. Reminded me of a fish for some reason. Sorry Chloe but it’s true. If the voters let her advance and send someone else home then they are just as crack high as Belinda. I mean come on a 9.5 wtf. The most I would of given her was a 5.0. Even the Idol rejects on AI can sing better than Chloe. She is my pick to go home.
My pick for winner of Rock The Cradle hands down without a doubt 100 percent the awesome the cool the mega multi talented rocker known as Jesse Blaze Snider. Belinda giving him what a 4.5 or 5 come on. What was she smoking that clouded her judgement. Maybe she gave Chloe a 9.5 cuz she is an Olivia crazed obsessed fanatic and sees Jesse as a threat to Chloe winning Rock The Cradle. Jesse gave us his interpretation of the Led Zepplin classic. He wasn’t trying to be Led Zepplin. Jesse was being Jesse and he rocked. I can’t wait to hear him sing Rebel Yell this week.
As for the rest not much to say. I would like to comment on a few things about the show and judges. Hands down when it comes to songs performed Rock The Cradle has better tunes than Idol. Is Belinda Carlise a permanent member of the judging panel? or is she just a guest judge for first week? I ask cuz I didn’t see her listed on the iamonmtv.com site like everyone else and I don’t think I see a mention of her on the shows page on mtv anymore. Perhaps they fired the crazy bat. I hope that if Jesse wins and gets the label deal Jive will sign him and his band BXF and not just him and pull a Daughtry like Idol and RCA or whatever Idols label is. And plz don’t make the band change their name to like Snider. Not that there is anythign wrong with his last name. I just think if the band name aint broke don’t try to fix it.
VOTE FOR JESSE BLAZE SNIDER!!!