Another eventful week, with mixed results:

Maiya Sykes was unceremoniously bounced from the Voice, “losing” to talented fifteen-year old Elyjuh Rene in the Battle Round, singing Alicia Keys’ “If I ain’t got you”.  Maiya was the clear favorite, and even offered some coaching to Elyjuh, drawing on her experience in vocal technique.  She gave a flawless performance (his was not flawless), but drew unintentionally on her experience in backup singing, where the objective is to stay in the background and make the other singer sound good.  Incredibly, three of the four judges gave Elyjuh the edge, even Blake Shelton, who called Maiya a “world-class singer”.  From what I can tell of the rules, Maiya does not have a chance to be resurrected.  I feel that there is an element of age-ism in these selections, given that the younger contestants are more malleable and teachable than the older more established ones.  Oh well, c’est la vie.  These vocal competition shows love to make news to keep up the interest.

Although I am not usually a proponent of conspiracy theories, I will break with my usual practice.  On further reflection (i.e. rumination) I am convinced that Maiya’s demise was orchestrated by the producers of the show.  This would explain the 3/4 judges and Blake’s judgement despite his “world-class” comment. It might also explained her resignation at the loss.  All four judges turned for Maiya, while only two turned for Elyjuh, and all four sang Maiya’s praises.  The producers are playing to the young viewership, and using the unexpected result to boost their ratings.  I am hereby boycotting the Voice.  So there!

Jeremy did well in his first start (second game) with the Lakers, racking up 14 points and 4 assists in 20 minutes.  He played with Kobe for the first time ever (they were on opposing teams in practice) and after an uncertain first half the two got going.  At some point (perhaps in practice) JLin sprained his ankle and was held out of the third game, hopefully as a precaution.

Finally, a new favorite: The Book of Mormon.  Carol and I made the pilgrimage to a mobbed Times Square to join David and Amanda in watching this energetic best-seller.  It is the raunchiest, most outrageous, and funniest performance I have seen, perhaps ever.  A definite must-see, but leave the kids at home. (There was a bewildered 11-year old sitting in the row  in front of us, the son of a radiologist I learned!)

At work today I took care of a dear old friend, the widow of one of my best anesthesia friends, a CRNA I worked with at UMass.  It was great to see her doing well.   My saying about these “VIP” cases is that you sweat twice as much to produce a result that is half as good as your usual.  Her case went a bit better than that, thankfully.