If anyone or anything got his, her or its fifteen minutes of fame at Tuesday's Crowbar Idol finals, it was surely the bat that somehow entered Crowbar, and proceeded to fly haphazardly inside of the venue, during the second round. Oh, and there was a winner of the contest too.
Dan Shaffer took home the cash prize by a mere six vote margin over Melanie Morrison.
"It's illuminating," Shaffer said of performing in front of the crowd and winning.
He will be hosting the Crowbar Idol After Party this Friday at Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave.
Despite the flying distraction, the six contestants left in the competition performed to their best abilities, some even incorporating the bat into their performance.
Round 1 began with Shaffer performing "Daniel" by Elton John. Though his performance didn't quite move me, he has a decent voice.
"You could walk away as the Crowbar Idol," one of the two judges told him.
The next performer was Molly McClanehan singing "Nobody Supposed to Be Here" by Deborah Cox. McClanehan started off a little too soft. As her performance went on, her strong voice came out, and she sounded great. The only thing that distracted me was the insane amount of vibrato she was using.
Next came Joel Wasko, strutting onto the stage in a stylish fashion with his tux jacket and a bow tie. He performed "I Wanna Know What Love Is" by Foreigner. By the end, the jacket had come off, and he ended the performance on the floor.
"Joel, you should be on stage; whether it's singing, I'm not sure," one of the judges said.
Monica Brindle was the next performer, singing "Unchained Melody." She showed up on stage wearing a fancy black dress and taking the performance seriously, which apparently isn't the norm for her. The song was too low for her, which affected her performance and the judges' opinions.
The fifth performer, Ken McCarthy, took the audience back to the '80s, singing "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds. To go along with the chic performance was his entirely black ensemble. McCarthy pulled the sound of the song off well, and overall sounded great.
Last up in Round 1 was Morrison performing "Sweet Thing." The voice that came out of Melanie surprised me. She has a unique voice that's deep, smooth and soulful.
In the second round, performers seemed to lose their inhibitions and things were shaken up, especially when the bat entered the picture.
Brindle was the first in Round, 2 singing "Rock n' Roll." She was dressed down in jeans and a tie-dye T-shirt. She went as far as to play air guitar. I'm going to have to play the part of Cowell and say, it was one of the worst performances that I've ever seen.
Suave McCarthy was up next. He came onto the stage smoking a cigarette, completing his look. He performed "My Way" by Frank Sinatra and did it very dramatically. The song was quite fitting, and again, he did a great job with it.
McClanehan was next singing "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston. McClanehan pulled this one off better than earlier. She sounded strong and seemed to love what she was performing.
Morrison (and the bat) were up next performing "Respect" by Aretha Franklin. Once again, her voice sounded great. Morrison didn't notice the bat until after her performance, but the audience picked up on it right away.
Wasko was up next and incorporated the bat into his performance trying to catch it with his jacket. After the failed attempt to capture the creature, he sang "I would do anything for love, but I won't do BAT." It was a very entertaining performance.
The final performer was Shaffer who clearly impressed the crowd with his performance of "Will it Go Round in Circles." Shaffer did a much better job than he did earlier. His voice sounded great, and his energy level was high.
Manager of Crowbar, Chuck Smitley, said Crowbar Idol was a success and brought Crowbar the best crowd on a Tuesday that it's had all summer. He said they plan on hosting another idol contest in the spring.
