Okay, I am starting "The voice" now having just gotten home. On the list, the list that singers must not sing is currently:

Adele, Bublé (each for different reasons).

To this list, I would like to add: Beatles. There is just no reason to sing Beatles. Very few can do any Beatles songs justice. Even professional singers I like - I respond with "back off the Beatles. Please."

Fuck. You know I'm about to put Stevie Nicks on this list too.

Oh, that list is so long. I will definitely co-sign on the no Adele and no Buble. I actually think one of the main problems with the Beatles is that the SiNi only clear the one or two tracks that everybody knows. The Beatles catalog is wide and deep and I believe someone could do a fresh take on a Beatles song, but if I have to hear Yesterday or Come Together or even something like Blackbird one more time, I will cut somebody. So yes, I suppose I can say they go on the list, too, but more because Nigel's a cheap ass. And for the love of god, no more Whitney or Mariah or Celine. Just no. Make it stop. And if it is Motown week, gentlemen, no songs that should be sung by 3-5 old black men in matching powder blue tuxes . . . no Temptations, no Four Tops, no Spinners, no Platters. There's a reason those are group songs. And all you country ladies, no Martina McBride because you don't have the voice for it even if you think you do.

I could make this list all night. Really, I just want a whole season of AI where the only rule every week is that you can't pick a song that's ever been sung in the semi-finals or finals before. That would go a long way to making the show tolerable again.

Blackbird, Yesterday, Hey fucking Jude need to all be banned. Period. Here Comes the Sun, NO. You are right that only the most well known songs get cleared, but I feel comfortable that people need to check with me first in order to sing Beatles. I will be the quality check. I can handle that burden.

For some reason I don't get so bothered by Whitney or Mariah or Celine. Their songs have been fucked up so badly by so many, that I don't fly into a rage. I've been beaten into submission. You mess with Aretha's classics, though and I am DONE with you for your life as a contestant. I'm about that way with Bonnie Raitt too. If one more 15-year-old sings "I can't make you love me", I'm going to cry big, salty tears. The emotion and range Raitt brings to that song is hard to emulate.

I know nothing of The Voice, but I do have a few Beatles covers I love - the Four Tops do a fantastic "Eleanor Rigby" and the Nields' "Lovely Rita" is pure joy.

(I can't find a full band version online but Nerissa and Katryna alone do it pretty well. I miss the energy of the full band back when they had more of a folk-rock sound, now they lean more country.)

[edit - full band version! Yay! And there's a good chance I know the guy who uploaded this.]

I really liked a lot of the Beatles covers on the I Am Sam soundtrack.

Usher is so freaking adorable, he can't be real. For one, it seems like there's not a mean bone in his body. And the standing up before hitting his button, and turning with the arms spread out -- oh boy. I want to pinch his cheeks.

Seems relevant to this thread: last Tuesday on our way to our normal Tuesday dinner, we spotted Leslie Jordan (recently on RPDR). This Tuesday we sat next to Abby Lee Miller. She was caked in stage makeup and literally wearing an apron with her name on it. She seemed like someone who is very demanding but not meanly so, but I don't watch her show.

Is anyone else watching Survivor this season? I'm so glad I'm watching it again. It's a surprise every week!

HOLY SHIT TRIBAL. Well played, Malcolm.

Reynolds, on the other hand, is a total fucking idiot. (Or was that Eddie who gave up the idol? I can't tell them apart.)

It was Reynold.

And Andrea, if you're still wondering, Eddie might like (to look at) you, but he wrote down your name.

I would really like one episode where Dawn doesn't cry.

And does Brenda never negotiate or scheme? They never show anyone even trying to talk to her.