Katie’s Beer

American Idol contestant from Season 6, Matt Sato, is still using his beautiful voice to bless others. He was singing well before he made it to Hollywood week that season (one of the best versions of California Dreamin’, next to Dana Owens’ version in my memory) and he’s kept doing the same thing after.  I recently found these two homevideos submitted to YouTube, showcasing this young man’s beautiful voice.
Watch this video of an impromptu performance featuring Matt Sato and his fellow choir members at a restaurant called the Pizza Doctor in western Wisconsin.  The award-winning and very well known Northern Lights Show Choir from North St. Paul High School was competing at the Winter 2007 Show Choir Competition. For the 2007 season, the show choir had been to competitions around the upper midwest, and also at an international competition in London, England.  This performance (though normally accompanied by a combo, or instruments) is completely A cappella and features soloist Matt Sato, who received several “Best Soloist” awards from this song at various competitions.

Matt Sato performs a Billy Preston medley.  Performed at the La Crosse convention center in Wisconsin.Terry Boullianne and Matt Sato were the winners for Best Duet at show choir competitions in La Crosse, Wisconsin during the 2007 show choir competition season.  This was an auxiliary performance in addition to the competition procession. Winners were determined by performing in front of a judge. The main purpose of this was as a learning experience for those who sang to become improved singers.  The performance is based on a Billy Preston medley of “You’re so Unique” and “Nothing from Nothing”.

Tags: American Idol 6, matt sato by TK
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You don’t hear the name Darius very often…at least I don’t. Before this morning the only Darius I knew was Darius Rucker, the golden-voiced (and handsome!) lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish. Gene Veith mentioned Darius the Great on his blog this morning, so I headed over to Wikipedia to learn about that before heading off to work. I happened to stumble upon a link to a website, Darius Goes West, and my morning came to a heavy stop for a few minutes.

Darius Goes West is the title of a documentary made by Logan Smalley. Be sure to watch Logan explain how he came to make the documentary on the Today Show last fall. Then visit the Darius Goes West Store and consider purchasing a copy of the DVD to share with those you know. To me, equally interesting was watching the faces of the young people helping Darius. I wondered how many of them had seen the sights Darius was seeing. It was new to them, also. It would be wonderful to know, say ten years from now, how knowing and helping Darius affected the courses of their lives. To date, the documentary has run in twenty-four film festivals and raised over half a million dollars for the fight against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Here’s the promotional blurb from the website:

Darius Weems, a 15-year-old with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, had never left his hometown of Athens, Georgia. In the summer of 2005, he and a group of young college students traveled across the country in a wheelchair-accessible RV to test accessibility in America. Their ultimate goal was to reach Los Angeles and convince MTV’s hit show, “Pimp My Ride,” to customize Darius’s wheelchair. Along the way, they found joy, brotherhood, and the knowledge that life, even when imperfect, is always worth the ride.

Other links:

Georgia Magazine: Darius Goes West

ABC News

plus many more…just Google his name.

Tags: Interesting People by TK
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“Religion is the single most important factor that drives American belief attitudes and behaviors. It is a powerful indicator of where America will end up on politics, culture, family life. If you want to understand America, you have to understand religion in America.”

~ Michael Lindsay, assistant director of the Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life at Rice University on the latest Pew report

The Pew survey, available on the Web at http://religions.pewforum.org/, was conducted between May and August of 2007.

Tags: Religion, politics by TK
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Lack of posts here at Katie’s Beer? Blame it, in part, on my interest in hockey and on a bittersweet turn of events. At one point, Hopkins Hockey (in its various forms) was a well-respected powerhouse in boys hockey. During my high school years, we made it to state twice. Sure I was influenced by my family’s hockey background, but hockey was THE sport in Hopkins and in the western suburbs back then. I grew up and moved away for a while, so I didn’t notice how hockey fell out of favor and suffered from a lack of interest. Fast forward to the mid-90’s when many of us former hockey devotees started our own kids in hockey and were happy to see they liked it. Soon, though we discovered that the high school program was in disarray. Thankfully, through the efforts of many, the youth program started to be infused with new interest and talent. I have had the privilege of watching these young men grow from Termites to Mites and on up to Bantams over the last ten years. Now, these boys who are so very passionate about hockey made it to the high school team and took us all for a ride that we will never forget…and we didn’t even make it to the state championship….YET. Our boys tied the school record for overall wins and set a record for season wins. We are losing only 4 seniors, though they will be sorely missed, so hope remains for another fantastic year in 2008-2009. Here’s a recap of our final game in the semi-finals of the sectional tournament which precedes the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament:

A spectator who parked about a quarter-mile from the entrance to Braemar Arena on Saturday before the Minnetonka vs. Hopkins boys’ hockey Section 6AA semifinal exclaimed to a writer on his way to the rink, “This is the event.”

It did not disappoint. Minnetonka, the No. 1 seed, defeated Classic Lake rival and No. 4-seeded Hopkins 4-3 in overtime, netting the winner a little more than three minutes into the extra session on standout Jake Gardiner’s second goal of the game.

The goal ended an entertaining contest that saw Minnetonka build a 3-1 lead in the second period and outshoot Hopkins 52-26, only to have a pair of Royals sophomores almost steal the show.

Forward Archie Skalbeck, who gave the Royals a 1-0 lead in the first period, tied the score 3-3 midway through the third period. Meanwhile, Hopkins goalie Alex Fons turned away 48 shots and was nearly impenetrable except for a four-minute stretch early in the second period when Minnetonka scored all three of its regulation goals. In overtime, Fons robbed the Skippers’ Paul Giel on a breakaway.

“I was thinking, ‘Maybe it just isn’t our night,’” Minnetonka coach Brian Urick said.

Moments later, however, Gardiner picked up the puck and scored on a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot. It brought a sense of relief to the Skippers, who split with Hopkins during the regular season and are attempting to navigate a loaded section. The top four seeds — No. 2 Benilde-St. Margaret’s and No. 3 Eden Prairie — were all ranked in the top 11 of Class 2A.

“It doesn’t get any easier from here,” Urick said.

Tags: hockey by TK
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Tags: American Idol 7 by TK
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In the fall of 1973, I was a seventh grader.  It was a fun year to get school clothes because of all the great colors - rust, brown, orange, etc - and all the great styles - jumpers, tights, bell bottom pants, etc.  Actually, I hated the colors, not to mention the hot and scratchy fabrics, but I loved the styles.

See the 1973 Sears catalog and read witty and true comments from James Lileks.

Tags: Uncategorized by TK
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Did Josiah Leming go on with his life after being eliminated from American Idol? Of course, he did. He’s been posting on various forums and here is his latest:

“”ok, sorry it took me so long to get back. i just wanted to once again thank everyone for all of the support and understanding that there was a **** ton of editing going on in the film room.

anyway, i’m looking forward to moving on past being the “homeless crying kid on american idol” lol, i’m sparking a bit of label interest, and my chances of signing with a major label are looking very good at this point. i had 100,000 plays today, and have sold over 1,000 albums, so thank you to all who have purchased the music and blown up my page, it definitely gets the attention of the label reps.

trust me, you guys have not seen the last of me, the road may change, but the destination stays the same, and i will never give up on my dreams.

feel free to ask any questions, i’ll try and keep up ( :

you people are lovely

Source: IdolForums.com

Also, it is rumored that he will appear on the Ellen Degeneres Show next week to sing.

Hat tip to MJ’s American Idol Blog - the ONLY decent place I’ve found to read verified AI information!

Tags: American Idol 7 by TK
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From the Cranach blog…

On this day in 270 A.D., a priest named  Valentine refused to renounce his faith, despite strenuous efforts to dissuade him and many benefits promised to him if he would only deny Christ.  Valentine refused, so he was first beaten with clubs and then beheaded.  Read on… 

Tags: Lutheran by TK
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I will never again refer to Josiah Leming as over-emotional or immature.  He’s looking pretty normal to me now.  This is the story of his mother.  I do not remember it being discussed in the audition phase of American Idol.   It could have been a big back story.  Warning….tear alert!

Sharon’s Leming’s blog, My Life with Cancer.
She writes….

Hello! My name is Sharon Leming. I am 39 years old, the wife of a wonderful man, and the mother of 9 great children. I was an internet programmer until my health declined in September 2004. I am also living with cancer.You’ll notice that I did not say that I am “dying of cancer”, even though the doctors assure me that ovarian leiomyosarcoma with multiple metastases is indeed fatal. Maybe I will die from it some day, if I don’t get hit by a bus or fall off a cliff beforehand. In the meantime, I am LIVING with cancer. I won’t be DYING of cancer until they are ready to apply the toe tag.

I was diagnosed with ovarian leiomyosarcoma in October 2000 at the age of 33. Since that time, I have undergone 16 surgeries, 40+ radiation treatments, and 6 cycles of chemotherapy.  Leiomyosarcoma is a rare cancer that originates in the soft muscles of the body. It affects four people out of a million. Presently, there is no cure.

This is the story of my journey as a cancer patient.”

Her latest entry (2/9/08) is on Josiah.

First of all, I’d like to say hello to all of the people who have found me when searching for Josiah. I appreciate your nice comments and well wishes. In your honor, I will answer a few of the most common Josiah-related questions:

1 - I was trying to contact Josiah, but I ended up here. How can I contact him?
You can reach him at his myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/josiahleming.

2 - Did you know he was living in his car?
We did not know he was living in his car at that time, but we did know before the show aired last week.

3 - What do you think of the British accent?
Actually, I do not notice the accent when he speaks or sings. I guess I am just accustomed to hearing him.

4 - Why is he separated from his family? Don’t you love him?
I love Josiah very much, and he is very close to his family. There are no musical opportunities near us, so he wants to be near a larger metropolitan area where he can play his music and make better contacts.

5 - How do you feel about his lifestyle?
I don’t always agree with the decisions he makes, but I respect the fact that it is his life and I am 100% behind him all the way.

Tags: American Idol 7 by TK
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At first, I thought this was Josiah’s own song, but when it was referred to as the Grace Kelly song I remembered hearing about it a while back. Josiah Leming, the 18 year old from Tennessee, sang the Grace Kelly song by Mika last night on part one of the Hollywood Auditions (AI7). Because it is relatively unknown in the U.S., lots of viewers thought it was Josiah’s own creation.  I found this on Wikipedia about the song:

“Grace Kelly” is a song by Mika released for download on 9 January 2007. Produced and mixed by Greg Wells, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at number three (#3) and the UK Official Download Chart at number one (#1). One week later, it jumped to the top position, despite still being available on downloads only. The track was number one in the UK Singles Chart for the 5 weeks to and including 18 February 2007. In the U.S., “Grace Kelly” was made available for digital download on 16 January 2007. This song was also #89 on MTV Asia’s list of Top 100 Hits of 2007.^[1], and ended 2007 as the years 3rd biggest-selling single in the UK^[2]It was designed to be a mocking satire of musicians who try to reinvent themselves to be popular….

The song was featured in a season two episode of The Hills and a season one episode of Ugly Betty. It is also part of the soundtrack in the recent movie Knocked Up, … The song is also used in a trailer for the movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry…

Tags: American Idol 7 by TK
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