Martha Joy's Performance #10

Sitting inside the John Bassett theatre sitting 4 rows from the stage on the right side gives one a sense of nervousness, thoughts running through your mind on how Martha will perform and how her fellow competitors will too. As any Filipino will tell you, that when you are suppose to show up at a function add an extra half hour to an hour before they actually arrive. Of course, if you're the mother of the next Canadian Idol that rule does not apply.

I left the office early to make my way across the 401 to pick up Sonia (my aunt, Martha's mom) and on route had to join a conference call while trying to not to forget my exit. Sonia, looked good and was in good spirits and felt nervous as most parents would on the eve of a big performance.

We made our way down through Scarborough with a slight detour picking up another aunt of mine. As we headed west in Eastern Ave, we passed Canada Post's South Central mail processing division, immediately bringing back vivid memories of some of the hardship Sonia endured to provide for her daughter. Working part time from midnight to eight am, Sonia would find some nights just impossible to bare as Martha would stay awake in the wee hours of the morning from her grandmother's house missing her mom. The hard ship of a single mom.

As we journey further west along Richmond, Sonia fields more calls on her cell phone, apologizing profusely for not getting back to other non family members who have been intensely pleading for tickets. Sonia offers up a results performance without success. You see, these are hard core Martha Joy fans who would rather see Martha live than to watch an established superstar perform. No surprise there.

We go south on John street and Arlindo (Martha's dad) calls wondering where the theatre is, Sonia provides directions to find out that Arlindo was 30 feet away from the entrance. I park in front of John Bassett and quickly assist with both my aunts trying to get out of a sports car. A line up has already started outside of the entrance and other parents greet Sonia.

As we queue up for our assigned tickets we see many fans of the competitors and some who just whisper "that's the mother of Martha Joy". I know a little Portuguese and I turn to Arlindo and swear in Portuguese not thinking anyone would understand and as luck would have it, a Carly Rae fan starts laughing and begins speaking Portuguese to Arlindo.

We sit down at our seats and start to rummage through our pick of what signs we will hold up for Martha.





We find out 10 minutes before the show that Martha is singing in the 8th spot. I was a little shocked but that's television. I won't comment on the performance of the others only to say that I was happy when Martha sang.

Ben Mulroney announces what Martha is going to sing and the entire studio hums in shock. Anyone who has half a brain knows that Power of Love by Celine is a very very difficult song. Chatter fills the studio and quickly my ears pick up conversations like "there's no way she'll hit those notes".

Martha begins her performance and all of my aunts and uncles are sitting forward, restless waiting, nervous for her even though she has been singing this song since she was 12. Martha hits the first note, we're screaming at the top of our lungs and then we wait and wait and then the second note comes and she's belting it out flawlessly, without effort but with so much emotion and it is simply breathtaking.

We wait for the judges, Zack confused but still ends with your the best singer. Farley gets it, finally! Jake and his utter theory of "milking it" but thought she sang well but did not like the way the song was arranged. Sass, who referred to Bryan Melo as Ryan and then forgot what she was going to say, looks over and says that was "sleepy".

Martha was the star of the performance and she came to show everyone that she is the best and the most deserving. This is just the beginning of how Martha will capture the hearts of every Canadian.

Here is a nice critique from someone who knows what they're talking about:

http://masterclasslady.com/2007/07/18/vocal-masterclass-for-canadian-idol-season-five-top-ten-singers/#mj

Canada You Ain't See Nothing Yet!