American Idol
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Do you care what your American Idol favorites wear? The Washington Post does. A recent article has very little good to say about anyone’s outfits on American Idol. Funny, they did forget to mention Simon Cowell’s penchant for little black t-shirts. They also left out Kellie Pickler.

Reality Blurred had me going for a moment, with their April Fool’s column about Fox buying up American Idol properties, such as Dial Idol and Vote for the Worst.

Most of you believed that Katharine did not belong in the bottom three this week. So, that makes me wonder— who did you think needed to be in the bottom three?

Did you think Katharine McPhee deserved to be in the bottom three?
Yes: 21% (19)
No: 71% (65)
It’s a conspiracy!: 7% (6)
I have no opinion: 1% (1)
Total Votes : 91

You can listen to Taylor’s pre American Idol cds on one of Taylor’s fan sites. It’s what you would expect from Taylor, so if you like him, you’ll want to hear these.

Pictures of Taylor in high school have surfaced on the net, confirming what I’ve known for quite some time. He is George Clooney’s long lost child, or twin, or something… but definitely somehow related to George Clooney.

Obviously, Chris is the one who may struggle a bit with country. Well, Ace and Elliott may also have a problem. But I wonder what American Idol considers “country”. Does country rock count? I’ve seen some classify Neil Young and The Eagles as country rock. Will rock covers of country count? Maybe Chris should have waited until this week to cover Johnny Cash. How about Southern rock? I thought Lynyrd Skynyrd was a country band when I was growing up because they played the music on country stations where I lived. So, what do you think? What will Chris Daughtry sing?

More to come on this, but I just wanted to post next week’s theme really quickly. It’s country. Obviously, there are some who will benefit greatly from this theme and some who may struggle. The big question on my mind is what country song will Chris Daughtry manage to turn into a hard rock song?

The eliminations are over, and we’re down to nine.

As usual, there was a front row and a back row. On the front row were Mandisa, Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler, Taylor Hicks, and Paris Bennett, so I was pretty sure that row would be safe, and they were. That left Elliott Yamin, Lisa Tucker, Ace Young, Katharine McPhee, and Bucky Covington at risk.

You may recall that before the performances, I predicted that Lisa Tucker, Ace Young, and Bucky Covington would be in the bottom three. Well, I was close. The bottom three were Lisa Tucker, Ace Young, and Katharine McPhee. I’m not totally surprised by Katharine’s inclusion, as she was my “what are the judges listening to” candidate last night, and I did think Bucky did a good job. Ace was let off the hook first and sent back to his seat.

And then there was the elimination. Tonight we said goodbye to Lisa Tucker. Obviously, I’m not surprised. I think she was a very sweet girl, and I had forgotten how young she is (only 16) because of the self-possessed, confident manner in which she always conducted herself. Keep smiling, Lisa, and good luck!

Well, I can’t get you tickets, I’m sorry to say, but you can read all about the ins and outs of attending an American Idol elimination show. Here’s a bit of what you’ll read. Audience members are not allowed to chew gum. There’s an MC, Cory, who warms up the crowd and gets them pumped up for lots of cheering. And, yes, the Idols waiting for elimination really do have to stand around and wait during the commercial break. How nervewracking that must be!

This particular article was written about the elimination of Kevin Covais. Apparently, he sounds much better in person, so perhaps that explains the judges’ fascination with him.

First, let me say, this is the time when the show gets a bit odd. It’s too long for one hour and two short for two and, for some reason, Fox doesn’t want to broadcast it for an hour and a half. So, what you end up with is a show that feels somewhat rushed. The songs seemed much shorter than usual.

Lisa Tucker started off the show with “Because of You”. The song didn’t suit her, and I think she’ll probably go home after that performance. Simon was absolutely correct when he said “it didn’t work”.

Kellie Pickler was next with “Suds In The Bucket”. I think this is the kind of song she should always sing. It was sweet, cute and suited her very well, I thought. The judges thought otherwise. Randy and Paula felt the song choice was weak. Simon wasn’t crazy about it, either.

Next was Ace Young, who sang “Drops of Jupiter”. He wanted to go more rock, but I thought this was one of his weaker vocal performances. I did think his performance skills were a bit better, although someone needs to talk to him about constantly pointing the hand that isn’t holding the mic. It’s distracting and weird. Randy was really harsh with this song. He said it was the wrong song and poorly sung. Paula like it, but it was Ace, so…. well, take it for what it’s worth. Simon gave his worst insult possible, calling the performance “karaoke”.

And then there was Taylor Hicks. His performance of “Trouble” was my favorite performance of his, thus far. I really enjoyed this, and I like his new haircut without coloring it. Randy wanted more performance (I think that means dancing), but I had to agree with Paula. It was nice to see him SING. Simon thought the performance was good, the vocals were good, but did not care for the styling. Okay, whatver, Simon. I do like it when Taylor wears Hugo Boss, though, so I guess I see his point.

Mandisa sang “Wanna Praise You”. I thought it was a good gospel song. I could picture people at a Christian concert listening to and enjoying the performance. I just found out today that Mandisa has sung with the Beth Moore praise band, so I imagine this is really the type of music she likes to sing. Randy must have a headache or something because he doesn’t really like ANYTHING tonight. Simon didn’t care for this performance, calling it “indulgent”. I think the religious element bothered him, but I could be mistaken.

Okay, be prepared to throw stones or heckle me… whatever. What did I say last week about Chris Daughtry? I’m tired of hearing the same song. This was the same song, only screaming, instead of singing. The funny thing about Chris singing Creed’s “What If” was that I was talking with my brother this afternoon about Chris’ lack of versatility, and my brother said that if I didn’t like the same song over and over, I must not like Creed. So, yeah, what a surprise that Chris sang Creed. And, for those of you who think that I’m just a stick in the mud who sits around listening to Whitney and Celine Dion, you could not be farther from the truth. I don’t like metal music, but in my past I listened to a lot of hard music. I just don’t like screaming, and that’s what tonight was. And I felt totally justified that Simon agreed with me. He commented that Chris has got to show us “another side”. Amen to that, Simon.

And now for the “What were the judges listening to” award… Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Katharine McPhee singing “The Voice Within”. I didn’t think this performance was horrible. I just thought it was “ah-right”. Randy felt like it was a good performance but that it didn’t bring anything new to the song. But Simon felt like it was the best performance of the night… Huh?

Bucky Covington sang “Real Good Man”. I don’t have much to say about it. I think it was a good performance and that he will make a fine country music singer when this is all over. I don’t think he deserves to be in the bottom three this week, but I think he may be.

Next came Paris Bennett singing “Work It Out”. I thought the song was a bit mature for her. But I think she’s one of the best performers of the group. I like her vocals, too, but she really does put on a good show. Randy loved this. It got his first “hot one” of the night. Simon, on the other hand, found it to be “precocious”, like a “little girl pretending to be Beyonce”.

The closing song tonight was Elliott Yamin singing “I Don’t Want To Be”. I thought this as a really unique performance, and I thought it was his best performance of the season. Randy and Paula liked it a lot. Paula said he was “one funky white boy”. Simon liked the vocal but hated the arrangement and the dancing. Fortunately, this time that didn’t start the “it’s not a dancing contest” argument again.

So, it was a pretty good night, in my opinion. Some were stronger than others. It wasn’t overall fabulous, but I thought it was a fairly strong showing.

Yes, I know. No one has even sung yet. But I’m going to stick my neck out and make a bottom three prediction. I think Ace Young, Bucky Covington, and Lisa Tucker will be in the bottom three. I think Lisa will go home.

What am I basing this on? I think those three have probably the smallest fan base, just based on polls on different sites, web site chatter, etc. And, while they may have decent performances tonight, I’m not sure that their best performance is enough to sway people who aren’t die-hard fans.

So, I could be completely mistaken (it won’t be the first time), but that’s my prediction.

A large majority of you (67%) either didn’t know there was a controversy or didn’t care that Chris Daughtry’s “Walk the Line” was a cover of the Live version of the song. That wasn’t surprising to me. What did surprise me was that almost 20% thought that Chris was being deceptive. Do you really think he tried to pass the song off as his own? He would have to know that he wasn’t the only person that ever heard the Live version.

Here are the poll results:

What do you think of the controversy over Chris Daughtry’s cover of Live’s “I Walk the Line”?
I think it was an editing issue.: 5% (3)
I think Chris was deceptive.: 19% (11)
I think the producers were deceptive.: 9% (5)
I don’t care. I still thought it was great.: 42% (24)
What controversy?: 25% (14)
Total Votes : 57

I read a nice interview with Paris today. In it, she shares a bit more about her private life, her family, and her aspirations. She seems to have such a good head on her shoulders for one so young— not to mention that voice!

Can’t get enough of reading good things about Taylor Hicks? Then head over to blogcritics.org and read this great writeup. The writer thinks he’s just as fabulous as I do.

The readers of this site don’t seem bothered that the version of “I Walk the Line” performed by Chris Daughtry was a cover of a 2001 remake of the song by the group Live. The media, however, is convinced that it’s a big deal. It has been mentioned in a few chat rooms, but I haven’t seen it being the firestorm that entertainment magazines and news shows would lead you to believe. I think Chris may suffer some backlash this week, but I don’t think it will be anything longterm and certainly nothing significant enough to get him voted off the show.

I’d dare say that those who don’t follow American Idol online and only watch the show each week don’t even know that there is a controversy. As a matter of fact, according to the poll on this website, some of you don’t know that there is a controversy. Don’t you read the posts?