SYTYCD - Top 18 (6/21/06)

Everyone gets short little intro dances again; Travis spins again (beautifully, but I hope he doesn't get in a rut), and Jessica & Joy are here again, why? They just both seemed to do simple, boring stuff. They & Ivan are definitely my least favorite at this point, but we'll see....

For tonight's fluff, the judges (Shane, Mia, & Nigel - no Brian, again! boo!) are asked about standout auditioners from certain cities. But then Cat has a short interview w/Hawk & we see a video montage (um, some of those clips weren't him!). Then we get a performance by the other 4 Sickstep Crew members!! That was quite fun. All 3 judges loved them, not that they're being judged. On to the competition!

Couple #1: Travis & Martha doing Krump! Oh my. Travis was *very* excited to hear their assignment. The choreographer is one of the "co-creators" of the style and describes it as very energetic & aggressive. Travis mentions the high expectations they have after last week's ("too many") nice comments. However, he lived up to it: he was just awesome at the beginning! Lost a bit of energy & sharpness toward the end but was still good, & Martha did well. Shane was amazed at Travis, asked the audience to give him another round of applause & said he could be a krunk dancer today if he wanted! Mia, who prefaced her comments with "I really feel dorky critiquing this in flowers" (referring to her flouncy shirt), loved them, and Nigel mostly agreed (though he noted they didn't come close to approaching the speed of Lil C's routine, and, he, um, "demonstrated" a bit!).

#2: Jaymz (were they showing it as "Jamyz" tonight?) & Jessica - Foxtrot. With Mary and Artem, and speaking of Mary and Artem, WHA?!??!! Are they a couple??!?! Maybe she's not as old as she acts & he's older than he looks, but wow, I did *not* see that coming! Um, ok, back to the dancing... they were good, smooth. Shane said "perfect"; Mia said "mature," "slick," and in honor of Nigel, "bloody beautiful;" Nigel said it was good but wasn't sure it was good enough to prevent a repeat showing in the bottom 3.

#3: Ivan & Allison - Hip-Hop. They built Allison up a lot from the practice & said we'd be surprised at how good she was, but she really wasn't. The crowd seemed to like it, as did Shane & Nigel, but Mia didn't; she said yes, they "did the steps," but that it was still lacking, and I agree.

#4: Dmitry & Joy - Samba (with Mark Weiss; I don't remember seeing him before, but I like him), which was described as a dance that "travels a lot" and requires "heavy" but "quick" footwork. Dmitry was great and Joy struggled, both as expected. The judges pretty much agreed (Mia called Joy "dreadful").

#5: Musa & Natalie - Contemporary. It was very good, though I didn't personally care for the routine very much; it didn't 'do' anything for me. The judges liked them. And said that the chemistry and balance they showed (of skill & style) is exactly what they were going for as they paired up contestants.

#6: Ryan & Heidi - Pop. They danced to Kelly Clarkson's "Walk Away," which I really like, and to me the 80's outfits and somewhat simple choreography were disappointing. They did do a good job though. Shane absolutely loved it and said for him they'd just become "the group to beat." (To which Mia replied, "really?!" hee!) Mia & Nigel thought they were just ok.

#7: Ben & Ashley - American Jive, a very fast, high-energy dance. In practice they showed a slight collision as Ben attempted the leapfrog-style jump over Ashley's head (while she was standing straight up), and he said "I now know why we're dancing to 'Great Balls of Fire'; that hurt!" - bwah!). I loved their performance! No, it wasn't perfect, but it was very entertaining and I still think he's a very good dancer (had great footwork on the fast kicks). Shane didn't like it; Mia enjoyed & was especially impressed w/Ashley, given her background (popper w/very little formal training); Nigel enjoyed their energy & said they improved "beyond belief" since last week. I tossed them a few votes just in case.

#8: Jason & Aleksandra - Hip-hop ("old school"). He was awesome; she was good. Shane & Nigel both loved him, but didn't like her; Mia liked both. Nigel said if that was supposed to be about "flavor," she was tofu.

Once again they saved the best for last! #9: Benji & Donyelle - Cha Cha. Of course something Benji should be great at, and he certainly was, but so was Donyelle. The crowd loved them & just went nuts, and Shane gave them an S.O.! He said they were definitely the best of the night. Mia said they'd be in the yearbook as "most unlikely couple," but they were fabulous; Nigel referred to last week when he declared Travis & Martha the "couple to beat" and said to Benji & Donyelle, "You've just beaten them." He also addressed Donyelle's weight issue, saying that he knows she's struggled with it (and been rejected because of it) but that she looks "comfortable" with it and is one of the sexiest gals on the stage, and that because of that she is an inspiration to many girls (who aren't comfortable w/their weight). Well put.

IMO the race is definitely on between Travis (the best dancer) and Benji (the best entertainer) for the title. Overall I'm very impressed with the skill level and am enjoying the season very much.

My predictions for bottom 3: Dmitry & Joy, Jason & Alex, and Ryan & Heidi, with Joy and Jason leaving. But I think it's a hard call.

For anyone interested, I ran across a nice interview with Benji about his mission trip. It also mentions/explains the "donut drop" move that he & Heidi did during the group dance-out at the end of tonight's show (very cool!).

Top 20 Results (6/15)

I have 3 wishes after watching this episode:

#1. I wish I had taped the group number that opened the show! That rocked. Except that Ivan was featured a lot and Benji was hardly visible, and they didn't even show Brian's face after Cat complimented his choreography. Which rocked, I say!!

#2. I wish Ivan were eliminated instead of Stanislav. Self-explanatory.

#3. I wish they'd shown Mary's reaction when Stas was eliminated instead of Ivan.

On to the quasi-recap! As I said, opening number was really, really good, and longer than I was expecting (which was a good thing).

After a short review of last night's performances we have the couples take center stage two at a time (by genre of performance, interestingly), and we're looking for the 3 with the lowest votes.

Hip-hop pairs Benji/Donyelle and Dmitry/Joy are both safe.

Ballroom pair Ryan/Heidi is safe, but Stanislav/Erin are in the bottom 3. Really? She wasn't anything to write home about but he was fantastic, and last year Artem was incredibly popular, and isn't Stas the Artem of this year? Mary is confused too, she says they were in her top 3!

Contemporary couples Travis/Martha and Jason/Aleksandra are both safe. Travis was sooo worried & then sooo relieved! Not that he should be worried, but I guess it's nice he's not taking anything for granted.

Mamba/salsa pair Musa/Natalie is safe, but Ivan/Allison are in the bottom, as I predicted.

Lastly the disco pairs: Ben/Ashley are, surprisingly (to them too), safe! I was looking forward to seeing Ben's solo but glad he has no chance of being eliminated tonight. Which leaves Jaymz/Jessica as the last of the bottom 3.

Solos: Erin is ok; Stanislav is amazing (the crowd agrees, they love him!); Allison is pretty good, does some creative stuff (and later says it was all improv.); Ivan is really good at hip-hop, I'll admit, though he was a little flippant at the end for someone who's 'dancing for his life'; Jessica was pretty good, very powerful; Jaymz was good but he has yet to wow me, and for some reason I keep expecting him to. Maybe next week.

Nelly Furtado and Timberland (?) perform a song called "Promiscuous." I flip around to see what's on the other stations.

And it's time for eliminations. Girls are up first - Allison is asked to step forward, complimented, and told she's safe. Of the two left I think Erin should go... and she does. She gets a little goodbye montage.

Now the guys - I expect Stas to be called forward and sent to safety, but instead it is Jaymz. Nigel says they think he's one of the "most versatile" dancers they have (-which is a good thing *if* he's good at everything & not just passable, which I've yet to see). He's safe. So, ok, no-brainer & Ivan is gone, right? Not quite... each of them are called forward for a moment and pretty much reamed by Nigel - both are too one-dimensional and *if* they remain must work really hard to improve (in Ivan's case, so that he doesn't bring his partner down, again). Unfortunately, though it was fabulous, Stanislav's all-ballroom solo combined with yesterday's Paso Doble comfort-zone performance work to his disadvantage and because of his lack of versatility Stas is sent packing, while Ivan is safe. I just have to wonder what Nigel was thinking here?! I mean, Ivan is cute & all, but do we really need another Kevin Covais? I don't know, maybe he thought there's an overload of ballroom guys and Stas was the least versatile of the 3. I'm surprised, Stas is surprised, and I'll bet Mary was very disappointed (and outvoted). Ah, well, this is a Fox "reality" show after all, and disappointing surprises make for good ratings.

Ok, fine, I still have my favorites. :-) But I'm sad, and feel bad for Stas. And Ivan better kick some booty next week to show he deserves another chance.

SYTYCD - Top 20

It's the first week of the Finals, the first time viewers can vote and the first *real* look we have at our finalists! So after the mini-intro solos, some looks back at high/low-lights from auditions (thankfully they only did 3 and 2 were good) and a guest performance by last year's winner Nick, game is on!

This year they haven't left the partner pairings up to chance; everyone is assigned a partner with whom you'll stay until one gets voted off! I can see the value of this, because they can pair people they think have similar talents levels (see, first and next-to-last couples, definitely the two to beat!), and for the most part avoid pairings where both dancers have the same specialty.

First up are Benji & Donyelle, doing hip-hop (her specialty). Benji is sooo charismatic and always fun to watch, on stage or off; and he was much better at hip-hop than I'd expected!! Especially with the fast footwork; wow! (Hope he gets to do the quickstep!) Donyelle made it look easy. Judges loved it.

Ivan & Allison did a "Club Salsa", with which hip-hop specialist Ivan struggled. Allison was good; girl can move!! All the judges reamed him but complimented her; I predict they'll be in the bottom 3.

Jason & Aleksandra did a "Contemporary" (I don't remember that as a style from last year?) to "Unwritten" (yay!). She struggled in practice and, I thought, also in the performance. This routine needed 'oomph' (power & emotion) at which Jason excelled, but she was quite lacking. The judges liked them both though.

Jaymz (contemporary specialist) & Jessica (ballet) get "70's Disco," which makes me wonder, 'Is there any other kind?' To which the answer apparently is yes, as we'll find out later! Anyway, she struggled a bit in practice but the routine was good. Nothing wow; I'm anxious to see him do a different style, as I think he has potential. The judges liked it overall.

Stanislav is paired with Erin (jazz specialist) and they do a Paso Doble! Wow, so *that's* how the guy's part is supposed to look!! ;-) (Aww, I miss Drew!) So, yeah, Stanislav was awesome as expected, and Erin was ok.

Dmitry & Joy did Hip-Hop. As a ballroom dancer, Dmitry struggles because all the moves are new, but he works hard and it pays off. I thought he did really, really well! Unfortunately I missed the judges' comments (looked like there were several, with laughter & replies from him) because of an Amber Alert. (I understand the importance, but couldn't it have waited until commercial? I mean, we're sitting at home watching tv; I doubt the kidnapper is going to parade through our living room!)

Ryan was the first (and only) guy to be disappointed w/his partner when he saw it was Heidi and not Natalie. But he got over it eventually. ;-) His specialty is ballet and hers Latin & swing, so they did well with their Viennese Waltz, especially w/the posture and spins. The judges weren't overly impressed but were content.

Ben (contemporary) and Ashley (a girl popper!) get... "80's Disco"! Which is apparently "freer" and "more jazzy" than 70's Disco. Alrighty then. Ben hasn't the best build for lifts and there are quite a few in this "Flashdance" routine, but he does alright. Other than that I thought he was awesome; much better than in the only other clip I've seen of him. I was really impressed, so I hope Nigel was wrong in predicting they'll be doing solos tomorrow (to which Ben quickly replied, "I like my solo!" Hee.) Mary really panned the lifts and Dan said the routine was "flat-out bad," though at least he blamed Ashley and not Ben.

Finally we see Travis (a favorite who wasn't shown much at all last week) with Martha, both contemporary specialists. They get to do Broadway, and Travis comments that he worked on Broadway for 2 years so this is kind-of his "thing"! Both express a *lot* of confidence in themselves and their pairing as a team, Travis a bit too much. The choreography actually advises him to "hold back" with his performance & not overly try to impress! (I've heard this guy has a lot of experience & talent & is well-known in the industry... and if he's already done Broadway I'm not sure why he'd want to do Celine in Vegas, but whatever... I'll certainly watch!) They get classic/vaudeville-style choreography to "Steam Heat" and are predictably fantastic, or at least Travis was, I had to keep reminding myself to pay some attention to Martha too but it didn't work very well! She's got a great body and danced well but Travis is just riveting, in his dancing skill and he was very much "in character." The judges outright said they're the couple to beat! I see why they were one of the last to perform; that'll be a hard act to follow.

The ones to follow are Musa and jazz specialist Natalie, doing a Mambo. Of course Musa has had no real training (which really made the choreographer nervous), and Natalie has a tendency to just go without waiting for a partner's lead. However, they were great! Granted Musa largely stood still and let Natalie twirl around him, but when they moved apart he was fantastic. Nigel said that "if you operate on teh premise that all the guys are watching Natalie's hips and not Musa's feet," it was great! The other judges agreed his technique was lacking but that they had great chemistry and were very entertaining & enjoyable to watch.

So... my favorites of the night were Benji, Jason, Travis, and Musa, and if I must pick some girls :-), Joy and Donyelle (nothing wowed me but it was a solid performance & I appreciate that she's there on talent, not looks).

I predict the bottom 3 couples will be Ivan & Allison, Jaymz & Jessica, and Ben & Ashley, with Ivan and Jessica leaving.

Overall great show, I'm excited about the season! I didn't hate anyone and really enjoyed all of the guys except Ivan. Yay!!

SYTYCD Semifinals

Tonight the remaining 42 dancers will face the judges one at a time on stage to find out whether they are eliminated or in the Top 20. They've each done 1-minute solos, though we only see a few short clips throughout the episode.

The first 5 to go are eliminated; they were all contestants who haven't been shown much. Next up is Dejanee Riley (18, auditioned in NYC): Nigel loves her & championed her, but she's out. Then Allison Holker (18, Vegas) is the first to make it through.

Next is Henry Graham, the versatile dancer with a nice adoption story from LA; alas, he is cut. He has an upbeat, appreciative attitude as he leaves.

Then we have best friends Joy and Heather who auditioned in Chicago, and they're both through. We have several 'couples' this year, and since last year 2 friends & roommates finished 1 & 2, that could be a good sign. So will Ben and Heather both make it? No, just Ben (though Heather's was a very close 3-2 vote). What about Julia and Stanislav? First we finally found out what happened to Julia yesterday - she started having vision problems, apparently caused by stress & dehydration. She's back & they let her perform, but she doesn't advance. Stanislav does, however; will he be this year's Artem?

Last couple is swing cousins Heidi & Benji... Heidi is up first and advances. Then Benji, whom the judges talk to rather emotionally and string along before finally telling him that he's through!! Whereupon he collapses in tears, then explains a moment later: A few years ago he went on a 2-year mission for his church and didn't dance during that time. A girl was supposed to be "waiting for him," but instead he received a wedding invitation a few weeks before his return... from her! Ouch. After that he became depressed & hadn't found anything to motivate him out of it until a friend showed him a tape of the show with Nick, last year's winner. Since then his goal was to be on the show. He was very grateful to the judges and everyone for putting on the show, he said even if he'd left then it had just been a huge factor in his life. Given the glimpses of attitude I'd seen from him before, it was nice to see this side of him. (And nice that the producers didn't make a big deal of his story earlier, though bringing it out right before the voting starts could also be strategic!).

7 dancers are shown *very* briefly advancing - amongst them Travis, yay! I just wish we'd gotten to see him dance more.

Musa is next and also advances. Apparently he (and Hawk, who's up next & is the only other 'street dancer' left, which they keep emphasizing) auditioned last year too. Nigel loves him but warned him that he's really got to improve in partner dancing so that he doesn't hinder anyone else. Hawk gets a short clip of doing ballroom and is much better than I'd expect - which is basically what all the judges keep telling him. Then we find out that unfortunately he is not an American citizen and only has a student Visa, thus is disqualified from the competition. Bet that's part of the "I shouldn't be here" emotional saga from yesterday then!! That he didn't expect to get far enough for it to matter. (Oh, and to correct my last post's spelling, their dance group is "Sicksteppers"!)

8 more cuts, no one I can name, but they're all really supportive of each other.

Next is Donyelle James, who advances - yay!

The last 2 women are Aleksandra and Mallory, neither of whom I remember much. Aleksandra makes it. And the last 2 guys are Mike and Ryan. They each get clips, and they both look good, Mike surprisingly well (as Shane emphasizes the "surprising" part), and Ryan looks great! Ryan advances and Mike is encouraged to try again next year (he's just 19). He has a good attitude about it and agrees that Ryan deserves the spot. Gee do you think they mirrored Idol on that one, having the last 2 guys be a black guy and a young white kid w/dark curly hair?! ;-)

So here's the lineup (I don't know much about the last 4 in each category):

Top 10 Women: Allison, Erin, Joy, Heidi, Donyelle, Aleksandra, Ashlee, Jessica, Natalie, and Martha.

Top 10 Men: Ben, Stanislav, Benji, Travis, Musa, Ryan, Dmitry, Ivan, Jaymz, and Jason.

Hopefully they'll update the website soon with bios!!

So I Think A Few of Them Can Dance

Ok, I'm officially hooked on Season 2 of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance?" Tonight's episode was the Vegas semifinals - 116 contestants from the 4 audition cities (NYC, Charleston, Chicago, & LA) were narrowed down to 42. Last week they said 121 made it through; I wonder what happened to the other 5??

For each of the 1st two days, the contestants were taught a routine by one of the choreographers, then after an hour of group practice took the stage in small groups to perform. Some would advance, some would be cut, & borderline dancers would come back to do a solo later. For each round, each of the 5 judges would each score the contestants on a scale from 0 (horrible) to 3 (awesome), IIRC - the total possible score then was 15.

First up was Shane. They brought 34 people up on stage who'd scored between 1 and 6. But let them all continue since it was only the 1st round.

Second (the afternoon of the 1st day) was Mary with a Ballroom class - and Season 1's Artem was there as her partner!! Loved him, glad she's "working" with him!! Ok, after the samba 35 were cut. Some they listed as being through: Allison, Stanislav, Donyelle, Claire (whose ankle is injured), Crystal, and Travis (my favorite so far, a spiky-haired guy from Week 1, and I think they said he got a perfect score!!). Lynn Rae and Ryan (and his attitude) did solos and were both eliminated. 81 move on to Day 2....

After a maximum of 6 hours of sleep, Mia teaches the group a lyrical dance (yay!). They focus first on the 3 "street dancers" left: Chris, my favorite of the 6 Steppers, forgot his choreography & is cut; Musa goes to solo round & then gets through; and Hawk (other 6 Step guy) gets through. We also see Benji do a "solo" (a fun swing dance w/his cousin as his partner) and advance. Claire's foot is worse and after a trip to the hospital returns to withdraw from the competition. I wasn't that impressed w/her dancing but she has the best attitude (really pushed through the pain as much as she could) and seems like the sweetest thing ever. Nigel has an emotional chat w/her and exhorts her to take care of the foot, then keep training/practicing, and return next season, when they will let her pick up where she left off (skipping the initial audition rounds & advancing directly to the semifinals). Everyone says a teary good-bye but then we must move on...

To Brian (yay! except the clips of *him* dancing/teaching were way too short) and an intricate hip-hop/jazz fusion routine. Ballet Mark from NY is cut but that's about all they showed. Good (enough) and advancing are Mike (young tapper warned by Nigel re: making any more mistakes), James, Travis (yay!),
Ben (I guess he was sick; Nigel chewed him out for complaining), Hawk (who humbly and emotionally claimed he shouldn't be advancing because he'd had no training & others were better), the couple Julia (who 'collapsed' and went to the hospital but returned ok, and they never said what was wrong) & Stanislav, and lots of girls, including Donyelle, I think, and a great Asian gal whose name they didn't show.

That's it for tonight; tomorrow we see Day 3, where the remaining 42 do solos, receive no immediate feedback, and are narrowed down to the top 10 each male and female finalists. The preview showed Benji falling to the floor in tears & made it look like he gets cut, but you never can tell. As long as Travis makes it (and I think he's a shoo-in) I'm happy.

Quote of the night goes to Nigel: "I'm not a human being, I'm a television producer!"


In other news, I heard The Lovehammers' "Trees" on our local high school's radio station today! mmmMarty, wheeee!!

And the Winner Is....

Us, actually, because despite a few obligatory clips of bad auditions, the 2-hour finale is jam packed with a lot of good stuff!

As the show starts, we jump right into a performance, instead of Ryan's normal intro. Reigning Idol Carrie comes out on stage singing "I Made It Through the Rain," joined by Taylor & Katharine. The other finalists eventually join in, wearing all white, as does a choir (wearing black). It's fun to see everyone again though not a great song.

Now we get the intro stuff. The judges each get video clips; Randy's 'How many ways can you say "Dawg"?' is fairly boring. Paula's is set to "So Emotional" and is kind-of cute. Simon's focuses on his ego, showing lots of gestures & facial expressions while repeating "I give myself a 10." Not bad.

Hometown party clips - the O'Donahue twins are 'reporting' from the crowd in Birmingham, while Tamyra Gray is nearby with some McPhans. Then we start the duets!

Paris is first up with Al Jarreau; they sing "We're In This Love Together." (Mr. Pez: Who's this? Pez: Al Jarreau! Mr. Pez: Does he sing anything I'd recognize? Me: Yeah, this! Or not.)

Next is one of my favorite performances of the night: Chris with Live on "Mystery." Twin bald rawkers; much fun! What a blast for Chris. The crowd really loved this as well.

Next is the first of two comedic skit segments called "Puck 'n' Pickler," where Wolfgang Puck tutors Kellie in the finer foods. First up is escargot, which she tastes but spits out and says she doesn't believe him when he tells her that thousands of people eat this all the time. Moving on....

Kat sings with Meatloaf: "It's All Coming Back to Me Now." This style of song is perfect for her, all theatrical & dramatic. Meat's not doing so well but they manage.

Then begins the first round of "Golden Idol Awards," which seem like a poor excuse to rehash yet again some bad audition clips. We have an outstanding female and male vocalist... the male winner is Crazy Dave, who makes an appearance and jumps around the stage for a bit.

Puck 'n' Pickler, Scene 2: Lobsters! This clip was hilarious; Kellie is really, really scared of the two live lobsters that are brought out and set on their table! I mean, jumping out of her seat screaming and hesitating to approach the table, scared. Like Dave Letterman when Jack Hanna puts an animal on his desk, scared.

Next another highlight: the guys' medley! They're all in black outfits and sing a medley of Takin' Care of Business, Tobacco Road, and Fleetwood Mac's Don't Stop. This was much fun, and you can really tell the guys all like each other a lot. This really makes me look forward to seeing them on tour this summer.

Next we have a montage of clips from the various carmercials... and then Ryan presents Kat and Tay with their very own new Mustang convertibles!! Whee!

The next Golden Idol is for Proudest Family Moment. Nominees are Kat's dad watching her sing, Chris's wife Deanna at his first audition (hee, I remember that, she wouldn't let him go!), and Elliott's mom on his homecoming trip. She wins, of course. Aww, Bucky's twin Rocky is sitting a couple of rows behind her and jumps up immediately to clap! Then she gets to introduce Elliott...

who sings U2's One with Mary J. Blige. He starts off, then she comes out & sings most of the rest by herself; they duet a teeny bit at the end but she really doesn't pay much attention to him. Oh well.

Carrie performs again, singing her new single "Don't Forget to Remember Me." Ironically I just heard this on the radio for the first time this week! It's an ok song, definitely not as good as Jesus, Take the Wheel. But girl can still sing. Oh and they mention her 2 Academy of Country Music awards and that she's sold over 3 million albums (wow!).

Another Golden Idol: The Randy Jackson Award for Public Speaking, which goes to Rhonetta. Moving on...

Taylor gets to sing "In the Ghetto" with Toni Braxton. Who tries to get Tay to dance with her in a way that isn't appropriate at all for this song, but he doesn't go along w/her any more than he has to.

Next the girls get a medley: Man, I Feel Like a Woman, Trouble, I'm a Woman, Natural Woman, and I'm Every Woman (!). It's pretty good; Paris & Lisa remind me what awesome singers they are and I wonder again how Kat outlasted them (well, not really, because I'm sure they split some votes between them).

Another Golden Idol: Best Impersonation. Nominees are the Cher guy, the Michael Jackson guy, and the Clay guy. The Clay guy (Michael Sandecki) wins and they show a way-too-long clip of him auditioning & then running down the hallway to the Chariots of Fire theme to go to the bathroom & then back to the audition. Eventually they get back to real time and turns out not only is he there to accept his award, Ryan asks him to sing! So, in his finest (and geekiest) button-down pinstripe shirt, spiky hair and glasses, he makes a go at Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me. It's painful, but then the stage door opens behind him and someone walks out but they're still in the shadow... soon I'm guessing it might be Clay and yes, he starts singing and it is! (His new Beatles-esque 'do made him a bit hard to recognize at first! He's also in a very nice, dark suit - looking very much more polished and professional than 3 years ago when he resembled Michael!) As soon as Michael senses someone near him he turns and just about has a conniption fit when he sees it's his idol Clay, in the flesh! "Excited" does not begin to describe his reaction; he is blown away. Though he somehow manages to keep singing, but I don't think he was supposed to; eventually Ryan pulls him aside and sits him down on a stool and somone turns his mic off so Clay can finish the song alone. Clay is very gracious, shakes his hand & such, humoring him during the sing-along (much like he does with child singers he brings up on stage to sing with him during his concerts, though most of them sing worlds better than Sandecki). Anyway the whole bit was highly entertaining, whether you're a Clay fan or not.

The last medley is a Burt Bacharach tribute. Burt's definitely looking old enough to receive a "tribute," as he comes out to play piano for them. The guys are in black suits (niiiiice!!) and the gals in fancy red dresses. First up are Taylor & Kat; then Ace & Melissa (The Look of Love); Kellie (I'll Never Fall in Love Again); Bucky (Raindrops are Falling on my Head - this was awesome, he sat on the edge of the stage & sang it nice & subdued); Mandisa; Lisa (Alfie?); Elliott (House is Not a Home - also awesome, best rendition of this I've heard since Tamyra's!); Kevin (What's New Pussycat!); Chris (Arthur's Theme); Paris (Close to You); and finally Dionne Warwick, singing Walk on By & then leading the whole group in That's What Friends are For.

The last Golden Idol is for Best Male Bonding. Nominees are Chris & Ace (they show the clip of their big hug after making it through "The Chair" - in slo-mo!), Ryan & Taylor (clip of them laying down on the stage to give Taylor's numbers), and The Brokenote Cowboys! The Cowboys win and are there to perform - which is cool, since 2 of them are pretty good singers and Garet is just flat-out adorable, in small doses anyway. They sing "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys" & Matthew Buckstein gets to play guitar for them.

Whew! We've got less than 15 minutes to go and Ryan says that's it for the guest artists, it's time to get down to the results. Then the camera pans over to center stage and it opens... and out comes PRINCE!!! Wow. This is apparently the "big secret" to which Kat referred; some were speculating Celine Dion would be on but IMO this is even bigger. Prince. On American Idol. (Unless I forgot to switch back from Lost and this is an alternate universe or something!) Wow. So, he & his 2 scantily-clad backup singers/dancers perform 2 songs. I don't know them so must be fairly recent; still enjoyable. Wow.

*Now* we're done with guest performances!! Taylor and Kat get one last duet on "I Had the Time of My Life," which is both very appropriate lyrically and a surprisingly good song choice for them vocally. Nice.

Ok. Time for the winner... there were 63.4 million votes... and, no surprise, "You're American Idol is... Taylor Hicks!" So happy for him! No tears (though we get some sparkling, moist eyes), but he's still visibly moved. Katharine knew what was coming and is very gracious, as he was to her as well. He sang his coronation song "Do I Make You Proud," and didn't get confetti & balloons but did get a mirror ball and some fireworks. He took time in the last chorus to thank the fans, fellow contestants, band, & show, then finishing singing the last phrase right on time.

Congrats, Taylor! It will be interesting to see what kind of record he does, & how much he (gets to) contribute personally (writing & playing). A decent season all-in-all, and a great tour to anticipate.

Not sure yet if I'll be "recapping" the summer music shows (So You Think You Can Dance, RockStar, The One... is that all? That's enough!!) but I'm sure I'll be commenting now & again. And I might even blog about (*gasp*) something else for a change! Until then- take care!

AI5: The FINALE!

Each contestant is doing 2 songs they've done before plus their soon-to-be-released, ultra cheesy, rainbow, puppies and butterfly singles. Each will have 3 phone numbers and there will be 4 hours in which to (attempt to) vote. We're in the Kodak Theater with over 3000 people, including lots of celebs (this year's other finalists, of course, and Constantine, Mandy Moore, Christina Applegate, Taye Diggs, and Tori Spelling, who gets shown with a "Katharine's Family and Friends" label later in the show!). Taylor won the coin toss and chose to perform 2nd. Ryan reminds us that in the two other boy-girl finals the girls won. However, all 4 previous winners are Southerners. Which pattern will be broken?

Katharine
1) Black Horse & the Cherry Tree: She (mostly) stood up this time, and had fun with it, but vocally I think the first performance was better. Randy disagrees with me; Paula said fun, but not her best, and Simon said "good with a small g." Ryan mentions the "thousand roses" her fans sent her and she gratefully mentions a few fan group names.

2) Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Perhaps because I wasn't into this last week and had extremely low expectations, I was very impressed! I really loved it, seemed she didn't embellish as much this time. The crowd loved it (Bucky was shown giving her a standing ovation), as did all the judges (Randy unexpectedly, as he thought a repeat so soon would be "anticlimactic"). Simon said this was her best performance of the season. Ryan asked about her earpiece, and she explained that she was supposed to get a cue to help her start the song since it was a cappella and that she didn't, and she was very proud and excited that she still started in the right key! This was part cute and part juvenile; do we really want to see a potential idol giddily jumping up & down saying "Yay, I sang it right!"?

3) "My Destiny": Such an Idol song!! Lyrically reminiscent of Fantasia's I Believe (and Canadial Idol Ryan's "Something More"). The song had a wide range vocally and dynamically; she did a pretty good job but sang a lot of the higher parts too softly instead of in full voice, and pronounced "different" more like "defferint," which threw me off a bit. Oh and of course there was a choir. Randy dissed the song but said she looked amazing and sounded very good; Paula said "brilliant;" and Simon said she didn't fulfill her potential.

Taylor
1) Living for the City: I was distracted by his bright purple jacket, but I think this was similar to his other performance; he started out in the audience, went to the stage, & then out to the platform (finishing back on stage). It was fun and the crowd was very into it; Randy & Paula loved it as well, and Simon like it ok (but of course hated the jacket).

2) Levon (which Ryan says was Taylor's favorite performance from the whole season): he's in a nice suit and starts the song very subdued. Showcases his vocals (though I'm disappointed we don't get any songs w/falsetto this week) and also shows his personality at the end. Randy says it was pitchy; Paula loved it; and Simon said that after Taylor "won" the first round, now it was tied up as Kat surpassed Taylor's Levon with her SotR.

3) "Do I Make You Proud?": I was dreading this, because Taylor usually isn't into songs that aren't of his preferred genre (or that were his 'back-up' songs when his 1st choice didn't get approved) and therefore performs poorly. However, despite the cheese factor, he was very into this and sang the pants off of it, or would have if songs wore pants. He got the choir too. Afterward as he's yelling "Soul Patrol" we get a shot of Elliott in the audience mouthing "Soul Patrol" as well! :-) Randy says this song is better than Kat's but also acknowledges that Taylor knows who he is as an artist and is always successful in infusing that into any song, making it his own. Paula agreed. Simon just said that if the competition was "tied" before, that Taylor "just won American Idol." Sure, Simon, want to just come out and say that the voting doesn't matter?! :-)

Daniel Powter closed the show singing "Bad Day" (what else?) at a grand piano while a montage of clips from this season was shown (the cowboys! Will! Patrick! sigh....). They didn't really leave him enough time and credits rolled over him but he did get to play the last note before the show cut off.

Tomorrow night's show should be an entertainment-palooza and I'm really looking forward to it! Guest artists singing with the finalists, former Idol winners and runners-up (Bo! and Clay!), group numbers, etc. I tried to vote (for Taylor) several times and didn't get through, which wasn't surprising. (I'm sure last week's across-the-board 33% was evidence the phone/voting system was maxed out, and I expect the same this week.) I expect and hope that Taylor wins. One more day!!

And on a related note, there were Country Music awards on another channel, and I only caught part of it, but I did see that Carrie won best new female artist!! Also Kelly got to be on, performing with Rascal Flatts. Fun night for Idols all around!

Top 3 Results

Results went pretty much as expected, though I'm surprised the voting was so close - of 50 million votes, the breakdown between the 3 contestants was supposedly 33.06%, 33.26%, and 33.68%!!

We didn't get a group song, but after vids of everyone's trips home (to make tv & radio appearances, meet mayors & governors, visit high schools, ride in parades, & perform) they each got to perform their song from the compilation album. Taylor sounded great on Takin' It to the Streets and kindly had the other two dance w/him. Kat did Think (barefoot) and Elliott did Moody's Mood for Love. Also Clive was on again and told us a bunch of stats about the idols' successful albums.

Finally it's time for the elimination, and, as predicted, Elliott's number is 33.06. He is incredibly gracious and appreciative of the opportunity he's had to jump-start his career. And he got (most of) a singout.

So... Taylor and Kat in the finals. It's supposed to be the Year of the Boy (-a white male has yet to win), and the winner is always from the south, so things seem to be pretty much in the bag. I just hope Taylor will be ok w/the kind of fluff they'll make him sing.

Top 3 Sing 3

Is it ok if I just don't care any more? Maybe it's just too many season finales and other sweeps intensity. Maybe it's knowing that after next week one of my favorite shows is gone until next January, and I'm not very excited about the outcome. Tonight disappointed me, and I'm not really looking forward to the finale except to see Bucky, Ace & Lisa return and hopefully get some cheesy group medleys.

Ok, tonight each contestant sang 3 songs. First one chosen by music mogul Clive Davis, then one from the judges, then one of their own.

Elliott - Open Arms: he looked nervous, which surprised me after how great he did last week. It wasn't bad, but it was nothing special. Randy & Simon agreed. Oh and Clive thinks this is a "rock song."

Katharine - I Believe I Can Fly (!): this was actually really, really good! One of her best IMO, but then I had low expectations based on the song choice. The audience & Simon loved it too, but R & P were just meh.

Taylor - Dancing in the Dark: It was really good, entertaining though a bit OTT w/the cheese ("this gun's for hire" choreography and dancing w/Paula). Crowd & judges enjoyed.

Elliott - What You Won't Do For Love: Absolutely *perfect* song choice for him!! Paula said it suits his range and shows his funky white boy soul, and she was right. He was much more relaxed for this and looked like he was enjoying it. Randy said he was sharp a lot but P & S said he did well.

Kat - Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Fantasia-Summertime style (sitting on the floor): ok, whatever. I mean, it was good, but strange (phrasing & way too much melisma) and left me wanting... something. She did look absolutely stunning, and I appreciate that she's putting forth effort into making an impression and being memorable; she's playing to win (as is Taylor, for the most part), and I just don't see Elliott doing that tonight. The judges fell all over themselves on this one; R & P said that is wasn't overdone (did they hear the same song?!), Randy said it was her best vocal, and Simon called it the best performance from anyone this season!! Definitely disagree there. But then he picked it for her (and probably had a lovely view of her... assets, since she was sitting on the stage!). ;-)

Taylor - You Are So Beautiful: Very nice, started subdued, showed off the falsetto again & a little more power toward the end, & finished soft. All the judges liked, Simon even calling it his best yet.

Time for contestants' choices... and did anyone else think someone goofed and told them it was "big band" theme?

Elliott did a Ray Charles song called "I Believe to my Soul," though he mentioned that he did Donny Hathaway's version. It was reminiscent of Moody's Mood for Love; enjoyable with impressive singing of a difficult song, but not a song I'll remember since I don't know it and it does have such a challenging melody & rhythm. The judges basically said the same thing, that the audience wouldn't be able to "connect." Simon actually told him he wouldn't advance, but did say he would make his Momma proud! (patronizing much?)

Kat sang "Ain't Got Nothin' but the Blues," smiling and grinning and bouncing all the way through it. Um, yeah, sure. "Blues." Or not. And, just like Elliott, impressive but forgettable. The judges all said her other songs were better.

Taylor closed with "Try a Little Tenderness." Personally I like Nadia's version last year better. Even without the overboard ending and half million Soul Patrol shout-outs (dude, way to alienate all the rest of your fans!!), it was just "good" but not great. The audience seemed to disagree and really loved it. Randy renamed him "Have a good time, funky Taylor"; Paula said she would have actually chosen that song for him; and Simon said the ending was "hideous" (yep!) but complimented his performance and song choice and said we'll see him next week.

I don't think they'll do a bottom two; I'm guessing they'll just all stand on stage and then tell Elliott he's going home. I tried to vote maybe 5-10 times on each of his lines, and couldn't get through at all. I'm sure all the lines were crowded tonight. Would be interesting to know how close the votes end up, but, of course, we probably never will.

Group song tomorrow please??!?

Top 3 - Song Choice Spoilers

Tonight each contestant will sing one song of their own choosing, one chosen by a judge, and one chosen by Clive Davis. Here are Clive's picks (these are confirmed):

Elliott Yamin: "Open Arms" by Journey
Taylor Hicks: "Dancing in the Dark" by Bruce Springsteen
Katharine McPhee: "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly

Potential/probable/rumored/leaked other choices:

Taylor's choice: "Try a Little Tenderness"
Randy's choice for Taylor: "You Are So Beautiful"

Katharine's choice: ?
Simon's choice for Kat: "Over the Rainbow"

Elliott's choice: (something by Ray Charles)
Paula's choice for E: "What You Won't Do For Love" by Bobby Caldwell

Also, in all 4 previous seasons, the contestant performing first in the Top 3 has been eliminated that week. Tradition held for Paris; here's hoping Kat is first up!! (but I'm guessing they'll go boy-girl-boy.)

Top 4 Results - Surprise!

A lot happened in tonight's half hour show! We find out Rebecca Romjin-formerly-Stamos is engaged to Jerry O'Connell, we see 2 Presleys and a Muppet, have our first Idol encore performance, and end in shock that "The Chosen One" is not untouchable.

Ok, the recap of last night... nothing much of note. Although they did re-play Randy's comment after Taylor's 2nd performance that "When and if you make a record, that's the kind of record you need to do." There were a couple of cute lines: (after showing Simon's calling Chris's ALLC "flat" & then showing Katharine bouncing around on stage to Hound Dog) "Kat's 1st performance was anything but flat." And for E's IAD, "Elliott's request was clear" as they play the lyrics "let my dream come true."

The carmercial is "Wonderful World," which musically starts out schmaltzy but tries to rock out at the end. Kat pulls a Hybrid up to the house, opens the garage door, and then orders the guys to clean it out because there's no room for the car. They transform it into a garden, Kat pulls in, looks at Kermit in the driver's seat, and he says that it really is easy to be green. The garden had a koi pond and a parrot, and the funniest part was when they showed the parrot bobbing, as parrots do, and panned the camera back to show Taylor bobbing along with it! :-)

Then we got footage of the Graceland visit: a tour from Priscilla (Jungle Room, Hall of Fame, Meditation Garden & gravesite), then a golf cart ride from Lisa Marie through a group of fans.

Next is a group Elvis medley! Yay! Elliott opens with Don't Be Cruel while the other 3 play background singers. The group does Blue Suede Shoes; Taylor gets Heartbreak Hotel; Kat sings Lonesome Tonight (and Chris is the only bgv who pulls his mic up in time to lipsync to the prerecorded track; Taylor even makes a face as he realized he gave it away); Chris does an awesome job on Love Me Tender (why, why, when I'm finally really loving him, does he have to go?!); the 3 guys do one I don't know (The Girl is Gonna Stay?); and Taylor & Kat close with solos on Hunk o'Burning Love, all 4 of them on the platform jamming out the end. (Chris jumping up and down singing this song with Kat? Priceless!!) No pointy pose but was a good performance overall, it'll be fun if they do some Elvis on tour.

Next Ryan talks to Jerry & Rebecca in the audience, and when he asks her for her favorite she can't name just one. She can, however, ask Taylor to do an encore performance of Jailhouse Rock. Which, after Ryan asks Nigel if they have enough time, Taylor does! Alrighty then.

After he finishes Ryan keeps him on stage and has the others come over, where he tells Elliott to join Taylor in one group of two and Chris & Kat form the other group. Which one is the top and can sit down? Taylor and Elliott! (Yay, Elliott!!!) Then after asking Simon who he "thinks" will go and having him reply that Kat "should," Ryan says that some people predicted these two to be the final two, and many people predicted that Chris would be the next American Idol. Short pause, then bam: "Chris, you're going home tonight." Of course everyone, and I do mean everyone (including Chris himself, Simon, and Nigel) is shocked &/or disappointed. We watch Chris's "package"; no, wait, they changed that to "journey," which is probably a good thing. ;-) Anyway he is rather stoic through it all but finally loosens up a tad once he gets a bit into his singout of Suspicious Minds. He went into the audience for a bit & then came back up on stage, headed over to the couches & gave Taylor a hug, then was cut off. He also never got a chance to thank his fans or anything like that; I don't like that some bootees get to do that and others don't. Oh well.

So, the top 3 are Taylor, Elliott, and Kat. This thing is Taylor's to lose. And Katharine really needs to go home next week.

Top 4 - Elvis Has Entered the Building!

This week the gang got to visit Graceland, meet Priscilla Presley, and work with Tommy Mottola. Tommy thinks Idol is the "greatest platform to ever come along for the music industry" (as Ed Sullivan and Dick Clark roll in their graves... um, yeah, ok, Dick's still alive, barely). Anyway he says each contestant made their songs "very personal." Each will be singing 2 Elvis songs.

Taylor opens with "Jailhouse Rock," which is mostly a predictable Taylor performance. He starts out in the audience & the guitarist is on the platform; I liked the last chorus he did on stage because he did some quasi-Elvis-style dancing and everything balanced well. The audience, Randy & Paula all loved it; Simon, predictably, did not.

Chris does "Suspicious Minds," which is his favorite Elvis song. Oh, before he performed, just in case they might get lazy (or jealous of the 2000th mention of Taylor's "Soul Patrol"), Ryan asks Chris the names of his fan club(s)! Chris lists 3 and also lists several gifts he's received; lastly he settles "the debate" by saying boxer/briefs, which skeeves Ryan out. Ok, back to the music... in his Graceland clip we get Tommy saying how he loves the sound of Chris's voice and thinks he would sound great on a record. Ok, I think that covers all the bases for how wonderful Chris is... ;-) I was a bit disappointed in the song. It was nice, but too mellow for me - not intense or emotional enough, I guess. Also didn't like the Brad Pitt sunglasses on him. Randy was also just meh on it, though Paula & Simon loved it.

Elliott - "I Can Dream." He said in his clip it would show his "love me tender side." ;-) I don't know it, but it's a fairly mellow song & a pretty typical Elliott performance. Got better throughout & especially the 2nd verse after the key change was very good. The audience & judges all loved it; Randy said "hot," Paula called it his best performance, & Simon said it was the best so far tonight! Ryan also mentioned how E has "evolved" since the start of the show.

Katharine rounds out the first half with a medley of "Hound Dog" and "All Shook Up." First we get Tommy raving about her voice, the range, the sound; he really, really likes her! The song is fun, she dances a lot and weaves the two together well, resulting in something much more interesting than either would be on their own, and had some very nice spots vocally. She did forget a small stretch of lyrics but covered it fairly well (turned around), as the judges noted. Randy & Paula loved it; Simon did not and called it "manic."

Taylor's 2nd song is "In the Ghetto," which he describes as one of Elvis's "more soulful" numbers. Tommy notes that he enjoyed Taylor's rendition very much. I think it was a great choice, fit his style very well, and he sang it well. I was surprised by the falsetto phrase which was done very well also! The judges all loved it; Randy praised the song style and the key; Paula said it shows how "well-rounded" of an artist he is; and Simon said it was the "perfect song" and that he had just "sung [his] way into the semifinals."

Chris - "A Little Less Conversation." Wow! This was in a low range and musically there's not a lot to work with, but he sang (& enunciated) very well, was very into it and enjoying it, and it was a very good, intense & even sexy performance!! The last chorus was higher with more of a rock sound some screaming, but overall I really, really loved this. (Ironically I expected his 1st song to be more intense & sexy & this one to be less so.) He showed more personality (and dancing!) than ever (as Paula noted). Randy & Paula loved it too, though Simon preferred the other one.

Elliott (whom they showed being goofy & dancing into the commercial break) is doing "Trouble," which he enjoys because it's "rebellious" and shows his "wild side." Oooohh!!!! Awesome, awesome job. Granted almost anyone would do it better than Carrie did last year (she's sooo not "evil"!), but I think this was a great choice for him with incredible execution. Definitely a stand-out performance for him and for this season of the show, IMO. The audience & judges all loved it as well; Randy & Paula said it was his best (yes, Paula changed her mind from earlier!), and Simon said that he "deserves to move on." I couldn't agree more! :-)

Lastly Kat does "Can't Help Falling In Love." Tommy again gushes, saying her voice is "magical" and that she can do "incredible things" with it. Not, however, alway stay on key, as this song demonstrates. It starts like a typical Kat ballad, very beautiful (Simon echoed my thought!), but lost its way and was anticlimactic to me; I think following Elliott's performance hurt her (stylistically as much as talent-wise). Randy said it was pitchy in parts but still better than her first; Paula liked the fun song better, and Simon said it wasn't her night, that the song (arrangement & execution) was over the top.

I think it'll be a very close week as far as votes & positions. Katharine had the weakest performances so I expect her to go, though with Simon's negative comments being the last thing shown her fans will know she needs the votes. This makes several weak weeks in a row though, which was enough to get Kellie booted and should do the same for Kat.

Joining her in the bottom 2? Probably Taylor. I think Elliott & Chris had really great performances and lots of pimping and will be fine... I hope! :-) (I tried maybe 50 times to vote for Elliott and only got through once; I'm hoping that's a good sign.) Ooh, they didn't say, but I wonder if we get a group Elvis medley tomorrow?! Hope so for that too!!!

Another perspective on manipulation

Here's an interesting article on the show. I think more and more people are figuring some things out this year about how the show works. Despite the fact that Simon has publically stated that he tries to manipulate voters by his comments, when I mention the idea that there is any "manipulation" going on I am usually discounted as just a "conspiracy theorist." Of course the producers and people vested in the winner's success (Simon & the record label) want someone commercial that they can market. Of course they want interesting and controversial things to happen on the show so that people talk about the show. But sometimes things go a bit far... like this week's TV Guide, which has an article featuring home town support parties... of Katharine, Taylor, Chris... and KELLIE. No, not Elliott. Kellie, who was voted off not one but two weeks ago. And someone currently in the top 4 is not mentioned. Now, I'm guessing they prepared this article about 6 weeks ago, and obviously expected Kellie to make top 4. But they should have prepared info on all remaining contestants so they could run the appropriate article. They even talk about Kellie being voted off! But not one mention of Elliott (or Paris), and I know he has large viewing parties as well (a friend has attended, and last week's neared 500 people).

So... result of manipulation? Contributor toward manipulation? Some of each? Or just a coincidental mistake? Decide for yourself - please, and don't let the show (or other media) decide for you. ;-)

Top 5 Results Show (5/3/06)

Yay, group number! But boo, no choreography, and it's a new schmaltzy Idol song instead of a fun, cheesy medley. I'll still take it. The first to get solos are Chris, then Taylor, then Katharine. Then there's some group stuff, and then Elliott & Paris get solos, then more group stuff. So, maybe they're testing Chris & Taylor to see if they can tolerate this if one of them wins and has to sing the coronation song; both are putting up good fronts but look like they're gritting their teeth at times. The others smile and are more into it. I also found it interesting that the order (groupings) of solos coincide with the top/bottom groups of vote-getters, while surely they had been practicing this song before last night's votes. :-)

Car-mercial! More Holly-weird, they drive around looking at interestingly dressed people while singing some song about being in LA, then at they end they come out of the car having morphed into these interesting wardrobes. Taylor's is the best, and it's really beyond description, you'll just have to watch it here if you missed it. Kat actually doesn't look much different than normal, but the rest are a hoot.

In the audience tonight is Melissa Gilbert, along with her daughter and hubby Bruce Boxleitner, though they don't get mentioned. Also not mentioned but shown on camera several times is Justin Guarini (sitting right behind Melissa). And his friend who doesn't break the camera lens either, just sayin'.

Ok, elimination time, and we're looking again just for the bottom 2. Taylor and Chris are safe. Paris is in the bottom 2 (so far, no surprises). Paris sings Kiss again. Back to the couches... where Elliott & Kat remain. And... Kat is safe, putting E in the bottom 2 with Paris. Kat is surprised and saddened, because we all know her 1st song was the worst of the night, but such things motivate voters, so I'm not surprised at all. Anyway, Elliott sings On Broadway. Then we find out... that he is safe, and Paris will be leaving us, as predicted! (That's so weird though - #2 in Top 5 is *not* where you want to be!!) She gets the journey montage, which shows her meeting & hugging all of the famous guest coaches, and being twirled around on Elliott's back during a photo shoot (awww). Then she gets to sing a bit of Be Without You before the credits come & she's cut off. Really she wasn't upset, I think she expected it and was just grateful for the opportunity and had a blast the whole time she was there. I'm sure she'll do fine in the business, it will be interesting to see what comes for her down the road.

Ryan didn't officially announce next week's theme, but he did say that the remaining contestants would soon leave for Graceland, where they would meet the guest coach, but I don't remember who they said. Anyway, I'm assuming Elvis songs for at least one of their choices. Should be another great week!!

Will it be Paris? And why?

Several people have asked me why I think Paris will leave tonight, and since I have several reasons, I thought it warranted a short post. In my opinion:

1) Because her style changes so much from week to week, it's harder to think of her as having one specific style/personality that fans would latch onto and root for. (upside: she can sing anything well!)

2) She is a very, very good singer who also has connections in the music business. Therefore she does not "need" to win in order to succeed (whereas some other contestants would).

3) There is potentially some genre overlap between her and Elliott. Being different genders helps, but they could still split a few votes.

4) She has been fairly consistent throughout the competition and got some positive compliments last night (especially from Simon on her last performance, which is what people remember more). Thus no need for "Save Paris!" votes. (Except for the fact that she was bottom 2 last week.)

5) In the previous 4 seasons, 100% of the contestants who have performed second during the Top 5 week have been voted off. I don't claim to know why that happened, but based purely on statistics, a boot from this position is expected.

6) From several sources that measure it, her lines were the least busy last night. This has also been a fairly accurate prediction of voting results, in as much as I've followed it this season.

In her favor is the fact that she's the only African-American remaining (and we've never had a top 4 without one). We'll see if that and strong performances are enough to help her overcome the negatives!

The Top 5! (5/2/06)

First I realize I never posted on last week's results show. Not sure why; I was pleasantly surprised at the result - yes, Kellie was finally eliminated! - and I guess I felt like the next month doesn't matter as much since everyone left is great and I like them all! ;-) (And am not emotionally attached to anyone in particular.) It was kind-of interesting that they did 3 groups of 2 - so when Kellie & Paris were assigned the same group, I knew that was the bottom! Also they didn't give her (Kellie) time for a sing-out, which was interesting. (Some say she might've had time except she chattered on thanking everyone and their cousin, but I think Ryan let her do that because they didn't have enough time for her to sing.)

Ok, this week! Top 5 - Definitely the best. Top. 5. Ever! :-) Theme: one song from your birth year and one song from any of last week's Billboard Top 10 charts. I had looked through some hit lists by year and actually called a few of the choices!

Elliott (78) "On Broadway" - First time through I didn't like this much because of how he changed it up, though on paper it seems like the perfect (if a bit safe) choice for him. 2nd time through I enjoyed it a lot, though! The scatting wasn't great but at least he went for it. Randy & Paula thought he started a little shaky but ended well; Simon said it was "disjointed" and said it was a good thing there are 2 songs tonight.

Paris (88 - wow, I feel old!) "Kiss" - This was good! Love her hair tonight (short & curly) and the black & white top was nice. She sang with confidence and the right balance of sass & fun, going out to the platform and dancing a bit. Randy liked it but Simon called it "screeching and annoying".

Chris (79) "Renegade" (Styx) - So *that's* what this song is called!! Hee. Ok, when he started all a cappella and dramatic? :thud: This was probably my favorite performance of his. Granted I love Styx, which helps. But he did a great job and the editing was good (end product was nicely balanced). The judges loved it as well.

Katharine (84) "Against All Odds" - Many were complaining that this song has been overdone on Idol, but she changed it up so much I'm not sure it mattered. (It was one of 4 or 5 I thought appropriate for her.) I didn't care for a lot of what she did with/to it, though I was less negative upon rewatch (still didn't love). Oh, Ryan brought up last week's wardrobe malfunction and clarified it was due to a lost button. This week's dress was more barrel-style, sure to prevent a repeat. Oh and I did hear her miss a few notes for once (I usually don't, despite what many others hear), and Randy mentioned she was off-key as well. All the judges were meh on her, and she knew that it wasn't as good as she could've done (though when pushed by Ryan for a reason all she had was nerves).

Taylor (76) "Play That Funky Music"! What a great choice!! This was Taylor being his most entertaining and simply having a blast performing. Fun paisley shirt, tons of dancing, ran into the audience, and finished falling flat on his back on stage! (Later Ryan did the same & gave the voting numbers from there!) Randy & Paula enjoyed it but, predictably, Simon did not.

2nd round...

Elliott: "Home" (Michael Buble) - I don't know this one so I don't know if E changed the arrangement at all, but the style was perfect for him. Sitting, mellow, relaxed & slightly jazzy... very, very nice. Except for singing about "going home," which is an Idol no-no; Simon even mentioned it! Also said he was concerned that the song wasn't "enough" to keep him, though Randy & Paula thought it was great.

Paris: "Be Without You" (Mary J. Blige) - again, very good!! But again a song with which I'm not familiar. I think Paula alluded that Paris didn't change it much from the original, but what she did worked. Randy said it was a risk & pitchy in parts; Simon actually praised it! Oh and I didn't like this outfit at all; shiny balloon-y knickers and a cropped camo jacket. She had some great glory notes toward the end. But really, this girl can sing anything!

Chris: "I Dare You" (Shinedown) - again, I don't know it, but I like it! Awfully repetitive at the end but otherwise a good song and good performance, though you could tell that multiple rehearsals of screaming-rock songs are taking their toll on his pipes (as Randy & Simon mentioned). Oh, and he actually smiled briefly during the performance! ;-) The judges were meh, mainly because of the voice strain I think. I also have to say that the early, lower parts, both musically & vocally, reminded me *very* much of Alex Band & The Calling!! (of whom I'm a huge fan.) I liked!!!

Katharine "Black Horse & the Cherry Tree", which I *so* picked for her! She did not disappoint, although the kneeling on stage had its strange moments. Still, musically, awesome!! Oh the editing of the 1st verse (omitted the 2nd half) rendered the chorus somewhat meaningless, but whatever. She had 2 guys up at the front of the stage with her playing "box drums," as Ryan pointed out. I love this song - got to see KT perform it on Live w/Regis & Kelly this morning, ironically - and she pulled it off. I'm not sure any other finalist of all 5 seasons could have done it as well (Kelly maybe)... ok I'll try to stop gushing now. :-) I will die if she does this live. Oh and all the judges liked it (though Simon agreed the staging was strange.)

Taylor "Something" - yes, the Beatles song. Apparently it's on the "Top Pop Catalog" chart, whatever that means. Regardless, awesome choice for him and he sang it extremely well, very Taylor-ed yet musically spot on as well. All the judges liked this as well, and Simon went so far as to say that with all of Taylor's (theatrics - I can't remember the exact term), it's "very easy to forget... that you're a very good singer!" Taylor liked that! ;-)

Everyone was good, and all the phone lines were fairly busy, though Paris' the least. I predict her to go for several reasons; we'll see if I'm right this week. If they do a bottom 3 I think it'll be Paris, Katharine, and Elliott. I wonder if we get a group song since there's no guest this week?!??

Top 6 (4/25/06)

This week's theme is Greatest Love Songs of All Time (in the Known Universe, tm Randy). The guest artists are Andrea Bocelli (I didn't know he's blind!) and David Foster. They are much, much more interesting than I expected - well, we'll see about the performance tomorrow, but the "coaching" was really good. I try to listen to most performances for a little bit w/my eyes shut to try to just judge the audio, so of course I find myself curious to hear a blind man's opinion. (And David had a fun time asking Andrea what he thought the contestants looked like, because Andrea usually guessed right on! Such as, "What color is Kellie's hair?" "Blonde!" Not that that's a difficult one, but you get the picture.)

But even more than that, I enjoyed David's critiques of the contestants' singing, because he critiqued!! He was very... well, harsh, really, with them, and I think that was good for them. ;-) I think most of them appreciated it.

Also Kat was singing some operatic duet w/Andrea (cool!), and Chris had to lie on the floor on his back to sing (made him use his diaphragm instead of just his throat).

The songs:
1. Katharine- I Have Nothing
2. Elliott- A Song For You*
3. Kellie- Unchained Melody
4. Paris- The Way We Were
5. Taylor- Just Once
6. Chris- Have You Ever Loved A Woman

I didn't take notes. Everyone was good, as they should be at this point, though some weren't very interesting. I need to rewatch Kat's, as I thought it was great but I was running back & forth to the kitchen; Randy & Paula both thought she was bad (off-pitch). Though her dress (or lack thereof in strategic places) will garnish her quite a few (male) votes, regardless of the vocal.

Kellie did much better than I expected her to, and I wasn't bored because I didn't know quite what to expect, but it was a rather boring performance, if that makes sense. (David Foster called her robotic!!)

Elliott and Paris were very, very good, the best 2 performances IMO, though Chris was close behind. I still fear for Paris because while she can sing anything fantastically (Andrea was v. impressed), her style changes so much that her 'self' disappears somewhere in there, and I think having some sort of strong or defining personality is key at this point. (Plus uniqueness, especially in genre, and she & Elliott may split some votes because of that.)

The first half of Taylor's was boring, but it picked up speed & the last third or so was really awesome. I wish he'd used the same power for the whole song.

And Chris was very good; great (though surprising) song choice for him!

My prediction of bottom 3: Elliott, Paris, and Kellie, with Paris leaving. (Kellie was reamed and we know from last week that gets votes, but 2 poor performances in a row usually has some effect.)

*Musician trivia: one of their background singers is Donnie Hathaway's daughter!

My belated recap of the Top 7 Results Show(4/19/06) - Goodbye Ace! *sniff*

We got the normal recap of last night's performances & some of the sessions with Rod; at one point he said "I think they're all bloody marvelous!"

The car-mercial wasn't very exciting; there were billboards advertising concerts with each of the contestants, and then what looked like a photo was the actual contestant who started dancing around... to the song "Kids in America." I think the car was just driving around seeing all the billboards.

Rod Stewart came out & chatted briefly with Ryan on the couch, then performed "The Way You Look Tonight."

And next week's theme was announced to be "Greatest Love Songs of All Time" (so, a change from "Former Idols' Songs", for better or worse). The guest coach & performer will be Andrea Bocelli. On American Idol. Alrighty then.

On to eliminations. We're down to 7, which means there will be two groups of 3 and the 7th person will be forced to choose which is the top and which is the bottom (per George, who just felt horrible about the whole situation, rightfully, and Bo, who just stood in the middle between the two!). So, Elliott is sent to the far side of the stage, and Chris to the near side. Already I'm calling Elliott's group as bottom 3, and when Kellie joins him, I'm certain. However... Paris joins Chris, Ace also joins Chris, and Katharine joins Elliott. I'm uncertain now as the 2 people I thought guaranteed a spot in the bottom 3 (Kellie and Ace) are in different groups. I'm holding my breath hoping that my initial guess was correct. Then Taylor... is told that he's safe! (But he "may or may not have received the most votes.") *Then* Ryan tells him to join the group he thinks is the top 3. He has the commercial break to think about it. When they're back he's standing in the middle with Ryan and walks toward Chris's group, extending his hand to shake Chris'. Ryan starts to tell Taylor he picked the wrong group, but he spoke too soon because as soon as Taylor finished the hand shake he shrugged & went to join Elliott's group! Way to fake Ryan out! So Ryan had to stumble over his words so that what he said made sense...

Anyway, that makes Ace (expected), Paris (the best performance of the night!), and Chris (the Chosen One!) in the bottom 3, while Kellie (the absolutely worst performance of the night, admitted by every human I've seen express an opinion, including Kellie herself) not in the bottom 3. I understand that she has fans. Voting fans. They obviously felt she needed the votes after that performance. But still.

Paris is sent back to the couches and Ryan calls the remaining 2 guys "the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck of American Idol." Hee! So true. Anyway, they've run out of time to make any sort of big deal about Chris' being there, and just announce that Ace is going home. He was prepared and wasn't too emotional about it, entering his sing-out as one last chance to entertain people and brighten their day (or however he worded it on the "Journey" clip, which I thought was sweet, and reminded me of Justin because he always said something similar). Unfortunately the credits started rolling as soon as he started singing and he was cutoff way before the song was done. Sigh. As with Bucky last week though, at least he got to go out on a decent performance. And we might actually get to know him a little bit in his talk show interviews next week!

Top 7 - The Classics (4/18/06)

This will be (relatively) short, as I got home late and (*gasp*!) didn't take notes. ;-) This week's theme was not Rod Stewart. Heh. Rod worked with the contestants, who could choose from some of the songs on Rod's series of 4 albums of American Standards. Here's the list of performances:

1. Chris- What A Wonderful World
2. Paris- These Foolish Things
3. Taylor- You Send Me
4. Elliott- It Had to Be You
5. Kellie- Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
6. Ace- That's All
7. Katharine- Someone to Watch Over Me

I would say everyone except Kellie was "good" to "very good". Kellie was just ok... no blatant errors, but incredibly boring, and you'd think with a song title like that she should express some emotion in singing the song, rather than just stand still and smile. (She looked great though.) Some of the judges thought Kat blew everyone else away, but I disagree (she was very good & in her element, but several others were too...). Chris was great, just sang for once, and showed that he really does have a nice tone to his voice and can be versatile when he chooses. Paris was awesome, maybe her best since Midnight Train. Taylor was very, very good - mostly just sang straight (the mp3 will be awesome!) & then 'Taylor-ed' it up at the end. One of his top performances as well. Elliott chose a great song and looked smashing in a purple shirt and velvet jacket! Sang very well; his voice & style are perfect for this genre. And Ace... um, he sang? ;-) Just kidding. He wore a dark suit and had his hair slicked back into a pony tail; a very different and rather striking look for him. The song was a great choice for his voice and while there was a segment of falsetto (Randy, please stop telling him to sing a whole song in that!!), overall it was a good mix and he didn't over-melisma (or gesture) it. A very solid performance.

So... "good" isn't enough at this point. I have my fingers crossed that Kellie will finally make an appearance in the bottom 3, but I won't hold my breath. Ace & Elliott are pretty certain to. If Kellie's not the 3rd, it's a toss-up, really, but I'll guess Paris because I think some are tiring of her. I think either Ace or Elliott will be sent home - boo! If I have to choose... I'm afraid it'll be Ace. (I tried to vote for both of them & the lines were mostly busy.)

Rod will be performing on tomorrow's results show. He really had a great sense of humor & seems to be somewhat of a goof-ball, which surprised me a bit. But he enjoyed working w/the contestants and complimented most of them, some to the point of saying he really couldn't offer much advice (Ace included)! And he said he's done w/standards and returning to rock.

Bucky Interview

Creative, title, I know. It's late. ;-) Here's a great interview with Bucky Covington the day after his elimination. He's very smart and savvy about how the show works, as he'd shown somewhat before. Also funny, and rather chatty, also as expected. Such a class act, really, and very sweet guy.

Results

Lots of clips from contestants' families, a miniaturized group number, and emotional bottom three-ers trying to sing comprised tonights results show. I'm not doing a full recap, but the Queen medley was forced into a quarter of the screen while montage clips (a few included finalists, but most did not) ran in another corner. Phooey on them! The song assignments were pretty good though, and Chris & Bucky's voices sound awesome together!

When asked what they missed most from home, I loved Ace & Bucky's answers: the mountains (yes! and I only lived in CO for 2 yrs!) and the pet. :-)

Elliott, Ace, and Bucky were the bottom 3. As Ryan went to each contestant we saw video clips from home and then the contestant was given his or her fate. The whole back row - Taylor, Kat, Chris, and Kellie - were safe. Elliott's the first in the bottom row & the first to the bottom 3. Ryan surprised him by asking him to sing and Elliott thinks he's joking! Then E asks what song and Ryan just says "follow the band"! Poor Elliott. Anyway he still sang well. ;-) Ace was 2nd to be named to the bottom and was, like Elliott, trying to recover from an emotional response to the home clip in order to sing. Last on the couches were Bucky and Paris, who was extremely emotional over her clip (my 2 observations: her mom looks about 20, and the AI audition was like the final 'test' for Paris as to whether she would pursue a singing career, as she'd pretty much decided to give it up!), and Bucky was like the comforting big brother (adorable!). He was expecting to be bottom 3 and he was right - and sang well. Then all 3 bottom guys were brought center stage and told that Bucky was leaving. He had the best attitude possible, kind-of shrugged & said "somebody's gotta go!" I'll miss him, but I agree. Actually I'm not as sad as I expected to be; I was relieved for Ace and Elliott, but I think I was sadder to see Will in the audience (happy to see him, but sad he's not competing) than to see Bucky go. Ah well... condolences to the many fans I know he has. I look forward to hearing more from him in the future. (Here's an original song of Bucky's; it's very good!)

AI5 - Top 8 - Queen (4/11/06)

Bucky: "Fat Bottomed Girls" - the band said Bucky has a good attitude and is a showman and performer. Bucky is great! Seems to be very comfortable and having a lot of fun; pulled the crowd into it and they had fun as well. He even got the rock "treatment," with lighting, appropriately rockin' accompaniment, etc. Great way to start the night!! Randy agreed; Paula said he made it country rock & was great; Simon said it was a good choice but the song was bigger than him & it was just "mediocre."

Ace: "We Will Rock You" - the band called Ace very "interactive," hee! When he gave them his arrangement ideas they were, understandably, hesitant to change their song. Ace was persistent and they came up with a compromise... he started off like the original and made it a bit more R&B/Urban for the last third. Ace rocked! I thought he did an awesome job though admittedly out of his comfort zone; his vocals were awesome, they really can be strong & full at times; he took charge of the stage; and he was, well, hott!! Randy disagreed & said it was just ok, a 5 or 6, karaoke; Paula liked that he took a risk; Simon said it was a "complete & utter mess", that Ace forgot some words, and he hated it. Oh well. Maybe that'll bring in some extra votes.

And yes, the spoiler was correct, Kellie sang "Bohemian Rhapsody." She said her dad listened to Queen when she was a little girl, and that she was taking it as a good sign when the band called her "brave" in song choice. She went all out - Simon called the look "Night of the Living Dead," and I'll agree it was strange - Blondie-style straight hair and a black leather jacket w/jeans. This isn't your grandmother's Kellie Pickler... this is Kellie attempting to be a rock vixen! She came a lot closer to pulling it off than I expected her to. The vocal was only bad in a few spots and she walked out to the platform by the judges. All of the judges said they were nervous hearing her choice - as Simon said, "on paper" it's disastrous (prompting tonight's scripted dumb blonde response of, "On paper? What do you mean?") - but said she did fairly well on it.

Chris: "Innuendo" - the band complimented his voice and his "rock sensibility;" they seemed quite impressed w/him. He performed well I guess; it was pretty much his normal, screamy thing. Randy said he "delivered" and Paula liked it as well. Simon said that while it's the best vocal so far tonight, the song itself is not great and it was again "indulgent" of Chris to choose this instead of a classic that would have better entertained the audience. So, then Ryan tries to spin by asking Randy whether people should vote "for the song, or for him?" To which Randy, of course, answers to vote for Chris. I'll also note here that my husband, a huge Chris fan, called this performance "just ok."

Kat: "Who Wants to Live Forever?" - Excellent choice, as it allows her to just stand & sing, highlighting her vocals. I really think she's the only one at this point who could really pull off a song like this that showcased Freddy's incredibly voice so well. I thought it was very good; definitely the best girl of the night. Randy said spots were pitchy but it was good overall; Paula said it was the right song and she did great; Simon said it was "almost the moment" (um, ok then) & was pitchy though still "one of the strongest" of the night.

Elliott: "Somebody to Love" - shockingly, Elliott had never heard this song before! But as the band explained Freddy wrote it "inspired by Aretha" (& gospel style), he thought it very fitting. He was great!!! Incredible vocally, and added some of his own style as well. Randy said it was the hardest song of the night and somewhat pitchy but that he loved it and thought it was "really, really good;" Paula said it was the best vocal of the night; Simon agreed it was a tough song but said he "probably" pulled it off.

Taylor: "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" - Queen was also impressed with Taylor, and said he has a good voice ("instrument") with a "nice quality." I was a bit nervous about the choice as I thought it could be too gimmicky/comedic, but as soon as he started I knew it would be great! Very, very good; probably the best overall performance of the night. The background vocals were very good (balanced w/him, etc.), and the crowd loved it as well. Randy said "Taylor is back," "kickin' and takin' names," and Paula liked it. Simon asked Taylor if he was drunk and said it was "ridiculous." Ok then; the rest of us loved it!!

Last is Paris with "The Show Must Go On." The band also thought she has a very good voice. I didn't like her look; not incredibly flattering & the Tina Turner-ish hair made her look 17 going on 50. Her vocals were good and she was fairly convincing at the rock thing, but not completely. It's possible I would've liked hers better had she performed earlier, but I was so impressed w/several others that Paris left me wanting. Randy said the start and middle were rough but that she "worked it out" (which apparently isn't as big of a compliment as I thought before tonight); Paula called her a "rock powerhouse;" Simon just said "I found it all a little weird" (me too!!) and then the music cut him off.

My personal bottom 3 tonight are easy, as they're the 3 performances I didn't enjoy: Kellie, Chris, & Paris. However, there are only 3 girls left and 5 guys; also, Paris is the sole remaining African American. So she's not going anywhere this week. I think the bottom 3 is a tough call, as anyone other than Taylor & probably Chris could make an appearance. I'm going to go with Elliott, Bucky, and Kellie, with Elliott leaving. I voted on & off for Elliott, Bucky, and Ace, all 3 lines getting quite a few busy signals but Bucky's cleared up for the last half hour. It may be him instead of Elliott but I'm sticking with wishful thinking for now. And Ace or Paris could take Kellie's spot.

I also wanted to say that the whole night was more "rock" than I was expecting, but I'm glad. Since the frontrunners' preferred genres are rock and country, it's only fitting that they make everyone else sing those as well. There were a few pleasant surprises (mainly Ace) and I thought it was one of the best performance nights this season.

Spoilered Song List

I won't list them here in case anyone doesn't want to know yet, but if you do want to know who's singing which Queen song this week, this article lists them. Personally I'm not too happy about most of the choices; hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Top 9 Results

Ryan still hasn't shaved, but tells us there were almost 35 million votes last night. In the highlight reel, the "country crooners" (Kellie & Bucky) did well; the genre was "a gamble" for Chris & Ace but Keith Urban proved a "good hand to play." Paris "shuffled things up with the judges," but Simon's "nice streak" didn't last long; everyone knows "Simon doesn't like country music."

Kenny Rogers sang what we're told is the debut single from his new album. It's called "I Can't Unlove You," and is catchy in that corny country play-on-words kind of way. ;-) Interestingly the band was too loud for him, too! Making his vocals hard to hear through much of the song.

Commercial time! The song is "Just One Look," and the 'look' is grungy. Which works very, very well for several of our contestants. ;-)

Next week's theme is announced and it's songs by Queen! There's a short video clip of the 'kids' meeting the band - well, there are shots of them jammin' (Bucky's doing some headbanging, look at those locks fly!) interspersed with shots of band members. Whatever, we'll get the real stuff next week. Song choice should be very interesting.

Ryan moves to the contestants and says he'll be splitting the 9 of them into 3 groups of 3 each, and one group will be revealed as the bottom 3. Nigel said this on Ryan's radio show this morning. He also said that the person going home was surprising and someone well-liked by others. The "surprising" part encourages me because, really, neither Ace nor Bucky would be incredibly shocking given their multiple trips to the seal. But we'll see...

The groups are as follows: Group 1 - Taylor, Kellie, Chris. Group 2 - Mandisa, Elliott, Paris. (My picks for the bottom 3, hmm....) Group 3 - Ace, Kat, and Bucky. Unsurprisingly Group 1 is sent to safety first. Now, they're probably thinking people will guess Group 3 for the bottom and be oh so surprised that it is, in fact, Group 2. But given last night's performances, combined with performance order and the fact that fans often vote more following someone's 1st bottom 3 experience (i.e. Kat), there isn't much surprise.

I'm nervous for Elliott, though of course quite happy that Ace & Bucky are both safe. Paris is sent to the couches, leaving Mandisa and Elliott... and, Mandisa is going home. I guessed right this week! Mandisa is a bit emotional and the audience, after an initial hush, raises to give her a standing ovation, which was nice. She composed herself during the "journey" clip and did just fine for her sing-out. The others clapped and bounced along, joining in her 'let's have a little bit more fun while we can' attitude, which was also nice. Several of them also sang along, namely Kellie, but also Bucky, who stopped abruptly soon after he appeared on camera! You know, because he didn't exactly want to be seen singing about "Any Man of Mine...." (bwah!) He is notorious for jammin' to others' songs though and with country I'm sure it was just irresistable!

That's it for this week. Go, Ace & TeaBiscuit!!

Top 9 (4/4/06) - Country Week!

Ryan has a disturbing 10:00 shadow, or something. And he'd been looking so much nicer this season with the less-spiky, shorter hair and actual suits instead of jackets over tees....

On to the show. Kenny Rogers worked with the contestants this week, and he will be the guest performer tomorrow night. His hair and beard are both completely white, and when he walked into the room I didn't even recognize him! In the scenes showing the group practicing, Bucky was shown a couple of times playing guitar. Another guitar player was next to him which I assume was Chris, though he wasn't shown. And Whoopi is in the audience. (As are Chris Rock & Rachel Bilson, shown later. Um, not together though.)

Taylor: "Take Me Home, Country Roads" - Ack! Taylor, Rule #1 of song choice is never, *ever* sing a song about leaving! They usually turn out to be premonitory (just ask Melissa, though you might have to define it first). Other than that, he stood the stillest he ever has, and just sang. The harmony was a bit strange and made him sound off-key; I'm not sure if he really was or not. I wanted it to be better than it was. (Which applies to the first 4 performances tonight.) Randy (wearing a red vest - wha?!) said it was a good choice, though the vocal was "just ok" as it didn't show his personality; Paula agreed that he didn't "shine;" and Simon said it was safe, boring, and lazy (the crowd booed, of course). Several things about this performance & his attitude (during it; he was back to 'normal' after) seem fishy to me given some recent online rumors, but I'll assume they're just that until proven otherwise and withhold judgment. So, good, not great.

Mandisa: "Any Man of Mine" (Shania) - Kenny commented that this song has more words in it than all the rest put together, but that Mandisa does it really well and has a good spirit (no pun intended, I'm sure). It didn't have *that* many words, and I wouldn't go so far as to say she sang *really* well, but it was good. She wore the most unflattering outfit yet, jeans (again) and a crochet-style top. Her background singers were rather pathetic, especially during the semi-a cappella part (as in, you feel like you're supposed to clap, except they sound depressed!). Overall meh. Randy agreed, though he really like the last 4 "bars." Paula went on about Mandisa "can sing," but said "I don't know" about the song. Simon just said it was horrible (and again was booed).

Elliott: "If Tomorrow Never Comes" (Garth) - Kenny said he has a tendency to oversing and encouraged him to sing more "simply" and "make them cry." Well I didn't cry, but he did sing it fairly unadorned (compared to his usual style, anyway) and it was very enjoyable, because it showcased the tone of his voice very well. (I suppose for anyone who hates his voice, it was awful.) Still, it wasn't as good as I'd hoped. Randy said that "finally the competition started," and it was "hot." Paula loves that Elliott is humble and understated and said it was a good song choice for his voice. (Um, yeah, but how was the actual *performance*?) Simon agreed that it was a good choice but then went on to say that it was safe and somewhat hesitant. He didn't think the vocal was great though it was better than the other two that have already sung tonight. (Note: I threw a few votes in for Elliott, and hardly got any busy signals. Could he be in trouble??)

Paris: "How Do I Live?" Kenny said something about how for being so small, Paris sings really "big." I love her hair tonight, it's short & straight. Wish I could say I loved her singing, but it was probably her weakest yet. When she went high it was great & showcased her range, but otherwise just "good" (which for her is weak). Randy said he could tell it was a tough song to sing and thought it was meh; Paula didn't see her connecting with the song and thought she "struggled" to "own the stage" like she normally does; Simon went the other direction and said it was "very good," an "excellent choice," and that it was like "early Dionne Warwick."

Now things start getting better and meeting expectations. Actually, all the guys slowed things down & mellowed out tonight. It worked for most of them, including...

Ace: "I Wanna Cry" (Keith Urban) - Whew! He needed to pull off something different & great to stick around, and I think he did it. Kenny talked about how he is very passionate, and thought his song choice was the best "match" of singer to song of the whole group. With that set-up one wants it to be good... and it was. He sat on a stool for the whole performance, and while he brought his hand to his chest 2 or 3 times (less than normal), he never stretched it out toward the camera once, not even at the end! Someone's listening to fan (&/or non-fan) feedback! Good for him. The light note toward the end was 'pitchy,' but the falsetto was perfect, and not overblown. Randy said he was bored but did like the falsetto at the end; Paula said it was a good choice, contemporary, and a nice "take" on the song, but I think she was also disappointed he didn't do more falsetto (because that's his trademark, or whatever - um, no, not really). Simon said his past few song choices were bad but this week's was good! I tried voting for Ace on & off for the whole 2 hours, and literally did not get through more than two or three times until the last 15 minutes. I'm crossing my fingers that's a good sign.

Kellie: "Fancy" (Reba) - Well, this starts out with Ryan attempting to address the "Is she really that naive?" issue, and he point blank asked her if the naivete was real, and she totally beat around the bush talking about how she saw articles with people making fun of her about the calamari and that she really didn't know what it was. He then asked if what people are seeing is the real her, and she said yes. Heh, I still don't think so. (Exhibit A, for those of you who think she is - according to one newspaper article, she had her hairstylist from home come out to California to do her hair. It's someone she's been using for several years now. The real kicker: his rate is $300/session.) On to the performance... I didn't catch all of Kenny's comments but he did say it was a "perfect" choice for her, and I agree, on several levels. She was really, *really* good! Definitely the best so far. Randy said it was "great," a good song choice, and "her element." Paula agreed that Kellie had "a great night." Simon said he didn't like it personally but acknowledged it was a "good performance."

Chris: "Making Memories of Us" - Kenny says it's a hard song (in general or for Chris? not sure). Chris tells us that his whole family likes country music and in going rock he was "the rebel." He sat for part of the song and was mellow, just singing and focusing on the words. (I believe he sang this song to his wife at their wedding?) It's a very pretty song, and he actually sings country very well! Overall it was awesome. The crowd, Randy & Paula agreed; Simon said it was a bad choice & boring.

Katharine: "Bringing Out the Elvis (In Me)" (Faith Hill I guess; I don't know it) - Kenny said the song fits her personality, and Kat talked about how she didn't know much country so wanted something more "bluesy." I guess this qualifies; it's kind-of sultry and fun all at once, which fits her perfectly. The vocal was great; she's definitely "back"! And the crowd loved it. Randy said it was "very nice"; Paula said "that's your niche"; and Simon was honest, saying "I don't know what to say..." & that the song was strange (his exact wording was more descriptive but that was the idea; I'll get it upon rewatch tomorrow). Kat was like, "Oh, you just don't like country music, that's ok, just say it, it's ok!" which was kind-of cute.

Bucky has the pimp spot?!?!! Ok, cool, I think... he sings "Best I've Ever Had," by Gary Allen, and I don't 'know' it but it sounds a little familiar. He starts back by the band looking up at the overhead camera... and boy does know how to play to the cameras!! I thought it was great; I really enjoyed the beginning where he had a lot of country 'inflections,' more than the later part which was a little thin & rough, though not bad in any way (on key and enunciated better, I think Kenny worked w/him on that too). Randy said it was pitchy at the beginning but he worked it out; Paula didn't say anything worth remembering; Simon said he's "not an expert" (ha!) but it sounded pretty good. Go TeaBiscuit!!!!! (Oh, I voted, he had some busy but not tons.)

I predict Mandisa, Elliott, and Paris for the bottom 3, though Taylor could slip in also. Mandisa will probably go home.

Top 10 Results

Ok, a quick one as I realized I never did this yet! Highlights: Justin Guarini in the audience, and everyone's jaws dropping when it was down to Katharine & Bucky for the "which one is safe & which is in the bottom 3?" game, and Bucky was safe! Also that Lisa was so upbeat despite going home; she had definitely prepared herself for the probability.

Bottom 3: Ace (sent back to couches 1st), Katharine (the "big shocker," except not really), and Lisa, who went home. At least she got a full sing-out, and the others came out on stage with her.

Oh, and the low? Unless you're a big Shakira fan, the guest performance. In keeping with the "21st Century" theme Shakira & Wyclef Jean performed (I was bored). So, no Idol group performance and the commercial wasn't that great either, though Bucky did get shown playing (or at least pretending to play) his guitar. :-)