Thoughts on the untimely death of a loved one.

Ryan reminds us that one year ago, a bartender's life was

changed on the Nokia Theater stage. Tonight, that bartender's

back -- it's David Cook, of course, and he's singing Permanent,

a song dedicated to his brother Adam, who passed away earlier

this month. When the camera focuses on his face during the

song's spaces, you can look in his eyes and see him thinking

about his brother. David says he sang the song to honor not

only his brother but everyone who has to go through something

like that. The performance will be posted to iTunes after the show,

and proceeds will go to ABC Squared, an organization that raises

money to find a cure for brain cancer. And now, it's time for the

"awards portion" of the evening, which means we get one last

look at the season's worst performances -- that's the auditions,

not Danny Gokey's scream. And it also means revisiting Nick

Mitchell aka Norman Gentle (oh, joy). And the winner is ... Nick

Mitchell. Who is, naturally, present (oh, joy).

For more on this, see David Cook, Queen Latifah and the return

of Norman Gentle


Normally, I try to keep these items light-hearted. However,

there are at least two items regarding close personal losses.

Reflecting on these, I realize that I have been very fortunate

to only have a couple of incidents where persons close to me

have passed away "in the prime of life" and I had moved away

from home. So, the closeness of seeing one another every

day had receeded to one, no less loved or missed, but some of the

shock was removed. Nonetheless, my heart goes out to them and

I give them my regards and condolences. The was written by a retired

aerospace engineer and the owner operator of a consumer electronics

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