Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

First of all it was announced that Deivis with Lietuva and Ruta Lukoseviciute with Trapus zmogus are disqualified from the semi finals because the songs are plagiats. Deivis won the 2nd quarter final and Ruta came 3rd in the last one. But Sasha Son won again! 01. Sasha Son - Pasiklydes zmogus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUFM6s0NwRM 02. Darius & Violeta - Nelyteta viltis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA1rgp6HJAY 03. Linas Adomaitis - Tavo spalvos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j083bR8BZU 04. Aurelija - Part of me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj448k-VU9s 05. Karina Krysko & Milanno - Kelias pas tave http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3pWqG0-Iig BIX, Rosita Civilyte & Donatas Montvydas, Egidijus Sipavicius, Violeta Tarasoviene and Vilius Tarasovas have to say goodbye to the contest. Next Saturday second semifinal and then the final on San Valentine's.

The enthuasism amogst the Lithuanian artists doesn't seem very high as apparently only 30 singers applied before the original deadline. After throwing out the worst only 19 of them are still in the running, amongst them some familiar names like Aiste Pilvelyte (hoping to be 7th time lucky), Ruslanas Kirilkinas (participated in the Finnish Idols but was eventually kicked out because he spoke no Finnish and is now better remembered for carrying around his teddybear and the other participation: Lithuanian gay porn), Erica Jennings (lead singer of Skamp that sung for Lithuania in 2000) and a few other names from the previous national finals. Due to poor quality LRT has extended the song submission deadline until December 5. Here are the names so far: Bix, 69 Danguje, Sokoledas, Fuego, Blogos mergaites, N.E.O., Laiptai, Funny Beat, Auguste, Stano, Ruta Sciogolevaite, Donatas Montvydas, Irena Starosaite, Zilvinas Zvagulis, Milano, Merunas, Aiste Pilvelyte, Ruslanas Kirilkinas, Erica J...

Belgium's K3, Sweden's Peter Jöback, Estonia's Rolf Junior and Lithuania's Aiste all have one thing in common: they have all participated in their countries national fnals for Eurovision. Aiste has the record with six tries. She has been getting closer and closer (1999 unknown, 2004 11th, 2005 9th, 2006 6th, 2007 3rd and 2008 2nd) so will she give it another try in 2009? Estonia's Rolf Junior also tried his luck in Eurovision after Estonian Idols with a very respectable 4th place. He has also gained a lot of experience in musicals. Sweden's Peter Jöback came 2nd to last in Melodifestivalen 1990 but has then built up a very creditable career in musicals besides being a pop star. K3 didn't reach the final in Belgium's 1999 selection.

The three last countries to rehearse today all apparently managed to better their performances. It doesn't need much to Lithuania to better but no matter how much better it's still horrid. Albania's Olta was wearing her dress for the big night, as did Paolo from Switzerland . Olta was splendid as always and Paolo and his backing group had shaped up their performance, too... Paolo is back in the competition!

Three no thrills performances to go with the more or less spectacular Sweden and Ukraine: 3. TURKEY A very simple rock band performance but a very good one. The puppets seen on their video make the back ground screens while it's very dark for the rest, including their cloathes. Vocally convincing. 5. LITHUANIA Still painful to listen beyond belief. Is he serious? Is his team serious? Still alone on stage. 6. ALBANIA Olta is sweet and wonderful, sings flawlessly and has Laura Pausini-like star quality and the song's good. Sounds even better after Lithuanian nightmare. Deserves to qualify for the final for sure!

Jeronimas Milius with Nomads in the night wins in Lithuania and here comes yet another entry this year that I don't like at all.... 2008 sucks so far... See & hear here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdjPk_XZ2rU what they chose instead of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrczTKavRGE 1.Jeronimas Milius - Nomads in the night 11674 2. Aistė Pilvelytė- Troy on fire 11242 3. Sasha Son - Miss kiss 8306 4. Raimonda - Birdie's tweet 7391 5. Mini Me - Yes 5936 6. Augustė - Do somethin' 5145 7. Funny Beat - EverTown 1677 8. Laiptai - Aš rasiu 1216 9. Ingrida Žiliūtė - You & I 638 10. Pokeris - Stone 633 11. Nerri - Step into this world 610 12. Julija (4Fun) & Girma - To my soul 466 13. Justas - Muziką garsiau! 299 14. Vilma Voroblevaitė - Vakaras 247

Lithuania is one of the countries selecting their entry this weekend and they do have a messy line up; all from incredible crap of Justas Lapatinskas to horrid tenor something by Jeronimas Milius , annoying noise of Funny Beat to many very boring unforgettable ones. But Vilma Voroblevaitė's Vakaras is nicely hypnotic, Raimonda Masiulytė's Birdie tweet is just plain cute but I think, and hope it will be between Sasha Son's Miss kiss , a sugary boyband ballad or Auguste's lovely laid back Do somethin' or will last year's Julija do a hat trick (a fur one) and win again? Her duet with Girma, To my soul is a far cry from last year's entry but I kinda like it!

Are they the new Lordi?* Three semifinals were held this weekend besides the Maltese and the Czech Republic's finals. In Norway Torstein Sødal with Eastern wind and King of Trolls* with Far away qualified to the final while Lene Alexandra with Sillycone Valley and Ole Ivars with Som i himmelen went on to the second chance. Avalanche with Two monkeys on the roof and Maria Trøen with Hear when I'm calling are out of the game for good. In Iceland Davíð Þorsteinn Olgeirsson with In your dreams and Baggalútur with Hvað var það sem þú sást í honum? continue to the final while Bjartur Guðjónsson and The girl in the golden dress pack up and go home. And finally in Lithuania Auguste with Do somethin' , Mini Me with Yes , Nerri with Step into this world and Pokeris with Stone earned their ticket to the final.

Lithuania has its second semifinal as well, and the superfavourite Sasha Son with Miss kiss made it easily to the final. Last night's four qualifiers will join the four acts from the first one plus two wild cards in the final. Sasha Son- Miss kiss 72 points ( Jury 38, Televote 34) Raimonda Masiulytė- Birdie tweet 60 points (Jury 30, televote 30) Funny Beat- Evertown 44 points (Jury 22, televote 24) Ingrida Žiliūtė- You 38 points (Jury 20, televote 18) Justina Adeikytė- Calling your name 37 points (Jury 16, televote 21) Face time – Celebrate 35 points (Jury 20, televote 15) Flaer- New love story 21 points (Jury 12, televote 9) Kristina Botyriūtė - Life is joyful 20 points (Jury 8, televote 12) Flaxon - Lietuva man kaip Paryžius13 points (Jury 7, televote 6) Angelas - Sunshine 6 points (Jury 3, televote 3) Watch the top-2 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4pGEY-tjA0 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyE0riUAcoE

While Cyprus was having its final and Switzerland waiting for Paolo Meneguzzi on stage, also Lithuania, Denmark and Iceland were having their semifinals or such. In Lithuania Jeronimas Milius with Nomads in the night , Justas Lapatinskas with Muziką garsiau!, Laiptai with Aš rasiu and Vilma Voroblevaitė with Vakaras qualified for the final from the first semifinal. In Iceland it was time for the first second chance show and Dr. Spock with Hvar ertu nú? got a ticket to the final while Hafdís Huld Þrastardóttir with Boys and perfume and Margrét Kristín Sigurðardóttir with Bigger shoes had to say goodbye for good. In Denmark Anne-Marie & Claus Hassing with Come on over , Charlie with Den jeg er , Amin Jensen with Luciano and UNITE with Tree of life conquered the voters and went on to the final. Anorah surprisingly didn't make it....

Lithuania will have three semifinals and two wildcards already in the final: ast year's 4Fun's singer Julija Ritčik and national final veteran Aistė Pilvelytė. Division of the semifinals and titles of most of the songs will be made public later. Aistė Pilvelytė Angelas - Sunshine Asta Kairytė - Man vis tiek Augustė Vedrickaitė- Do something Buzzer’s - Tell me Cisco kid - Million euros Eglė Lokytė - Laiškas danguje Face time - Celebrate Flaer - New love story Flaxon - Lietuva man kaip Paryžius Funny Beat- Evertown Gyvai - Paukštis Ingrida Paukštytė - I will fight Ingrida Žiliūtė - You Jeronimas Milius - Nomads in the night Julija Ritčik & Girma Justas Lapatinskas - Muzika garciau Justina Adeikytė - Calling your name Kaštonai - The farmer's daughter Kristina Botyriūtė - Life is joyful Laiptai- As rasiu Mini-Me - Yes My Magic - Lady Nerri - Step into this world Onsa - What's wrong Raimonda Masiulytė - Birdie tweet Sasha Son- Miss Kiss Skyders - Neolitas Slapjack- Ligh...

The Baltic countries also are set for the 2008 season. Estonia will have its final on February 2. The same day Latvia will have its first semifinal followed by the seond one a week later, and the final on March 1, when also Lithuania will have its final.