American Idol
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Elliott Yamin was recently in People magazine— not because of his music, but because of his smile. Yamin had serious work done to his teeth to provide him more Idol-like pearly whites. We just hope it doesn’t negatively effect the way he sings.

They’re adding venues by the day, so check the list below to see if there’s a venue near you, then go buy American Idols Live concert tickets. They’ve finally added Texas dates, so they’re back in my good graces. Now, maybe I can go see the show since they’ll be right here in Houston.

Wed July 5, 2006 Manchester, NH Verizon Wireless Arena
Thu July 6, 2006 Manchester, NH Verizon Wireless Arena
Fri July 7, 2005 Worcester, MA DCU Center
Sat July 8, 2006 Worcester, MA DCU Center
Sun July 9, 2006 Hartford, CT Hartford Civic Center
Tues July 11, 2006 Albany, NY Pepsi Arena
Wed July 12, 2006 Hershey, PA GIANT Center
Thur July 13, 2006 East Rutherford, NJ Continental Airlines Arena
Fri July 14, 2006 East Rutherford, NJ Continental Airlines Arena
Sat July 15, 2006 Long Island, NY Nassau Coliseum
Sun July 16, 2006 Long Island, NY Nassau Coliseum
Tues July 18, 2006 Wilkes Barre, PA Wachovia Arena
Wed July 19, 2006 Cleveland, OH Wolstein Center
Fri July 21, 2006 Rochester, NY BlueCross Arena
Sat July 22, 2006 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Center
Sun July 23, 2006 Atlantic City, NJ Boardwalk Hall
Tues July 25, 2006 Bridgeport, CT Arena at Harbor Yard
Thurs July 27, 2006 Pittsburgh, PA Mellon Arena
Fri July 28, 2006 Washington DC Verizon Center
Sat July 29, 2006 Richmond, VA Richmond Coliseum
Sun July 30, 2006 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum
Tues August 1, 2006 Charlotte, NC Charlotte Bobcats Arena
Wed August 2, 2006 Columbia, SC Colonial Center
Thurs August 3, 2006 Duluth, GA Arena at Gwinnett Center
Sat August 5, 2006 Sunrise, FL BankAtlantic Center
Sun August 6, 2006 Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum
Tues August 8, 2006 Birmingham, AL BJCC Arena
Thurs August 10, 2006 Nashville, TN Gaylord Entertainment Center
Fri August 11, 2006 Columbus, OH Value City Arena
Sat August 12, 2006 Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center
Sun August 13, 2006 St. Louis, MO Savvis Center
Tues August 15, 2006 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
Wed August 16, 2006 Detroit, MI Joe Louis Arena
Thurs August 17, 2006 Indianapolis, IN Indianapolis State Fairgrounds
Fri August 18, 2006 Louisville, KY Freedom Hall
Sat August 19, 2006 Chicago, IL Allstate Arena
Sun August 20, 2006 Peoria, IL Peoria Civic Center
Tues August 22, 2006 St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
Fri August 25, 2006 San Diego, CA iPay One Center at the Sports Arena
Sat August 26, 2006 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
Sun August 27, 2006 Anaheim, CA Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim
Tues August 29, 2006 Sacramento, CA ARCO Arena
Wed August 30, 2006 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion at San Jose
Fri September 1, 2006 Portland, OR Rose Garden
Sat September 2, 2006 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
Tues September 5, 2006 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
Thurs September 7, 2006 Grand Prairie, TX Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie
Fri September 8, 2006 Grand Prairie, TX Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie
Sat September 9, 2006 Houston, TX Reliant Arena
Sun September 10, 2006 Austin, TX Frank Erwin Center
Tues September 12, 2006 Duluth, GA The Arena at Gwinnett Center
Thur September 14, 2006 Huntington, WV Big Sandy Superstore Arena
Fri September 15, 2006 Norfolk, VA Constant Convocation Center
Sat September 16, 2006 Reading, PA Sovereign Center
Sun September 17, 2006 Syracuse, NY War Memorial at OnCenter
Tues September 19, 2006 Hershey, PA GIANT Center
Thurs September 21, 2006 Portland, ME Cumberland County Civic Center
Fri September 22, 2006 Providence, RI Dunkin Donuts Center
Sat September 23, 2006 Bridgeport, CT Arena at Harbor Yard
Sun September 24, 2006 Wilkes-Barre, PA Wachovia Center

The night started with Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee singing “I Made it Through the Rain”. They were then joined for the end of the song by the rest of the final 12.

Birmingham, Alabama was being covered by the O’Donohue twins. It was packed with screaming Taylor fans. Universal City was covered by Tamyra Gray. It was packed, but it was hard to tell if they were Kat fans, American Idol fans, or Taylor fans.

This year they allowed several contestants to sing with their American Idol. Paris Bennett started this off singing “We’re In This Love Together” with Al Jareau. Then Chris Daughtry sang with Live.

Unless I missed it when I was out of the room, I don’t think Kellie Pickler sang a duet last night. She did, however, do a series of silly skits with Chef Wolfgang Puck. Called Puck & Pickler, these segments featured Kellie sampling escargot and fending off a live lobster.

Katharine’s choice of duet partner was odd, in my opinion. She sang “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” with meatloaf. Now, I understand this song was made famous by Celine Dion and Meatloaf, but I just thought that Meatloaf didn’t sound that great and that his voice really clashed with Katharine’s voice. You could also tell that Katharine’s aspirations include acting, as she chose to “act” the whole song. Was I the only one who found this grating and irritating.

Then they did this odd segment (repeated throughout the rest of the show) called the Golden Idols. This consisted of reviewing some of the worst and most bizarre performers of the season—AGAIN. Most of these were just annoying, but a few bear mentioning.

Crazy Dave Hoover made a return, fell off the stage, jumped back on, and then I’m pretty sure had to be dragged off by security, but we didn’t get to see the last part since they went to commercial. Elliott’s Mom won the proudest family moment. They also had the really, really bad guy who sort of looked like Clay Aiken on. They even let him sing. This was really just a setup to get Clay Aiken on the stage singing. Of course, it took me a moment to realize that it WAS Clay— what’s up with the hair, dude? And, finally, in their tribute to male bonding, the cowboys from the L.A. auditions made an appearance singing “Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys”.

The guys from the final 12 sang a medley of songs, starting with “Taking Care of Business”. Midway through the performance, Taylor came out and played the harmonica with them.

Then, there was the obligatory Ford commercial. This one was a bit special, though, as it lead up to the reveal of Taylor and Katharine’s new Ford convertibles.

Elliott sang U2’s “One” with Mary J Blige. I thought this was a really good performance. Their voices seemed well-suited to one another, and Elliott sounded great.

Carrie Underwood sang her new single, which is a real tear jerker. She looked great and was coming off her wins at the Country Music Awards the night before. I had heard Bo Bice was going to be there for last night’s performance but, again, unless I missed it, I didn’t see him.

I don’t know what was going on with the finalists’ duets last night. As previously mentioned, I thought Meatloaf didn’t sound as good as he usually does. Then Taylor sang “In The Ghetto” with Toni Braxton, and she sounded horrible. She seemed more intent on prancing around the stage in a REALLY short skirt than on singing the song.

Taylor’s duet was followed by the girls singing their medley, which was full of “I am woman, hear me roar” songs, starting with “I Feel Like a Woman”. The girls all sounded really great.

Shortly after the girls’ medley, there was a tribute to Burt Baccarat. This was really good, too, except for Kevin Covais singing “Pussycat, Pussycat”. Eww. The medley was finished off with Dion Warwick singing two songs, including “That’s What Friends Are For”. I was reminded how good Melissa McGhee was and led, once again, to wonder how Kevin Covais managed to reach the final 12. A lot of times when you see people later, you think “Wow, they really ARE good”. Not so with Kevin Covais. He was just nowhere near the league of the other performers. They might as well have let Cowboy Garrett join the final 12.

That was pretty much it, except for the reveal of the winner. But there was one other surprise. In the most random move of the evening, Prince sang a couple of songs. Um, what? Okay, it clearly wasn’t for ratings because a) they don’t need the help and b) no one knew ahead of time. It wasn’t in relation to anyone else singing (which leads me to wonder the rumors about them trying to get him on the show were true— that he didn’t want to interact with the contestants). So, what the heck was Prince doing on the show? I can only assume it was an attempt to lure “cooler” acts for the future. Now, they can say to more modern performers, “You should do American Idol. Even PRINCE has been on American Idol.” I don’t know. It just seemed odd to me.

Then they revealed that Taylor was the winner, he sang his single, and there was confetti and hugging all around.

In all, I think it was a really good season. We’ll be covering Idol goings-on between now and next year when we start the process all over again. So, stay tuned.

Season 5’s American Idol album will be out next week, May 23rd. Among the songs on the album: Chris Daughtry singing Bon Jovi’s “Wanted, Dead or Alive” (which I think was one of his best performances) and Taylor Hicks singing the Doobie Brothers’ “Taking It To The Streets” (I really wanted him to sing “Levon”). If you’re a Kevin Covais fan, you’ll get to hear him sing Nat King Cole’s “When I Fall In Love”. I don’t know that I’m planning to buy the compilation album, as I’m saving my nickles to buy Taylor Hicks album What about you? Anyone planning to purchase the album?

A majority of you thought the best performance last night was “Over The Rainbow”. The overall votes for Katharine were 112. The overall votes for Taylor were 108. And the overall votes for Elliott were 49. I guess that would explain why Elliott went home tonight.

What was your favorite performance tonight?
Elliott- “Open Arms”: 7% (19)
Katharine- “I Believe I Can Fly”: 3% (7)
Taylor- “Dancing In The Dark”: 7% (18)
Elliott- “What You Won’t Do For Love”: 7% (20)
Katharine- “Over The Rainbow”: 38% (101)
Taylor- “You Are So Beautiful”: 21% (56)
Elliott- “I Believe To My Soul”: 4% (10)
Katharine- “I Ain’t Got Nothing But The Blues”: 1% (4)
Taylor- “Try A Little Tenderness”: 13% (34)
Total Votes : 269

Tonight was a rough night for me, television viewing-wise. The one hour American Idol results show was on at the same time as the final hour of The Amazing Race. No problem, right? Just record one. Well, that would be an option, except that I only have a DVR on one television, and it was already occupied recording Lost. ARGH. There’s nothing on at 9 p.m. Why couldn’t one of these shows be on then?

ANYWAY, enough of my television viewing issues. I DID manage to watch the results show, while flipping back and forth between the Amazing Race (the hippies won, in case you were wondering, which makes the first time in the history of my viewing of The Amazing Race that the team I was rooting for actually won).

The first half of the show was basically a review of the three finalists’ trips to their hometowns. Then they each sang a song from the American Idol album. And, FINALLY, the revelation of who would go home this week. This was a really close week. The lowest person received 33% of the vote, the second lowest 33.2% of the vote, and the highest 33.8% of the vote. They didn’t reveal who was in first and second, but the lowest number of votes went to Elliott Yamin.

While I’m a true blue Taylor fan, I have to say that I think Elliott has a brilliant voice, and he seems to be one of the nicest contestants American Idol has ever seen. You can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats his mother, and Elliott is any mother’s dream. I’m sure he’ll have a great career, and I look forward to hearing his first album.

Tonight was the final three singing three songs— one that chosen for them by Clive Davis, one that the judges chose for them, and one that they chose for themselves.

Elliott Yamin started off with Journey’s “Open Arm” chosen for him by Clive Davis. To me, it was just an alright performance because I love the original song so much. I thought that Elliott made a noble effort to make it sound more like an “Elliott” song, but it just fell short. Simon said he should loosen up, and he was right.

Next up was Katharine McPhee singing R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly”. Randy was very hard on Katharine tonight. He thought she really oversang this song, and I really agree. Of course, he also criticized the song choice, which obviously wasn’t her fault. She does need to learn to just sing the song without so much embellishment. Simon actually came to her rescue and said Randy was being unfair.

Clive Davis chose for Taylor Hicks to sing Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark”. This is another great song, but it’s another song that is SO identifiable with the original artist. The funny thing is that I thought of Bruce Springsteen when I was thinking what song Taylor should sing. They have a similar quality to their voices— not to say that Taylor sounds like he’s trying to imitate Springsteen. He really did make the song his own. He even got Paula to dance with him. One thing you can always say about Taylor is this— he’s never boring.

The next song choices were given to the finalists by the judges.

Paula, who seems to be half in love with Elliott since Chris is gone, chose for Elliott to sing Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do For Love”. This was an odd choice to me. It was okay, nothing fantastic. It was, at least, in the right key, and I thought it was a good performance, just not outstanding. I’m sure those of you who are big Elliott fans really loved it, though.

Next, Katharine sang “Over The Rainbow”. Okay, Katharine fans, please don’t hate me. I know the judges loved this song and raved about this performance, but I thought it was so tremendously sung and overacted. I really didn’t enjoy it. I think it was supposed to be like when Fantasia sang “Summertime”, but it just wasn’t. It evoked no emotion from me whatsoever because I kept wanting her to just SING THE SONG without all the extras.

Randy did right by Taylor, choosing Joe Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful” for him. I think Taylor is the embodiment of all that is Joe Cocker, so I couldn’t have chosen a better song for him. The judges all loved it, although Simon tried to fake him out and make him think that it wasn’t that great. I could almost hear him going for the “k” word. I guess since he predicted on The Tonight Show that Taylor would win he better sound supportive

Elliott’s final song was Danny Hathaway’s version of Ray Charles’ “I Believe To My Soul”. I thought the song was too low for him, so it didn’t really show off his vocals. The judges were similarly unimpressed. I’m afraid this may have been Elliott’s final performance. Simon thought so, as well. He did make a very nice statement about how proud Elliott’s Mom should be. I agree with Simon— whatever happens, Elliott will be just fine.

Katharine closed her set with “I Ain’t Got Nothing But The Blues”. This song was at least fun, something recently missing from many of Katharine’s performances. But it was VERY cabaret— not quite karaoke, but still not great. I love musical theatre, so this isn’t at all an insult, but I think that’s a better venue for Katharine.

Taylor closed the night with a song that he tried to sing during love songs week, Otis Redding’s “Try A Little Tenderness”. This song choice also made me laugh because one of the songs I had picked for Taylor was “Mr. Pitiful”, which is on the soundtrack of “The Commitments”. “Try A Little Tenderness” was also featured in that movie. This was a great performance— a little slow, a little fun and, as always, definitely entertaining.

I think Katharine and Taylor will probably be singing in the finals, and I don’t think Katharine or Ellliott can beat Taylor, but I guess we’ll see. I have to say, screaming and all, I did miss Chris tonight. I would really have enjoyed seeing him sing against Taylor. Oh well, we’ll know tomorrow night who will be singing in the finals.

I’m not sure what he’ll be singing, except that Paula Abdul has chosen for him to sing Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do For Love”. Don’t know that song? You can hear a clip on one of Elliott’s fan sites. Entertainment Tonight reports Clive Davis’ choice for Elliott is Journey’s “Open Arms”. I think that’s a great choice for Elliott— much better than Paula’s choice for him.

Well, it’s really getting down to it. We’re down to the final three— Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, and Elliott Yamin. That means next week, they’ll be singing three songs. One song will be their own choice, one will be the judges’, and one will be Clive Davis’ choice. In the past, this has generally been a really interesting week. I’m looking forward to seeing what songs the contestants will choose AND what songs will be chosen for them. If you were choosing, what would you choose for any or all of the contestants?

Elvis may be dead, but he was alive on the Idol stage tonight. The contestants got to go to Graceland, meet Priscilla Presley and sing with Tommy Mottola. This worked more for some than for others.

There’s a reason I don’t usually publish the rumors about who’s singing what. Usually, they’re at least half wrong. In this case, the rumors were much more than half wrong— only getting one out of the eight right. Sorry, guys! But I thought the singers’ actual choices were much better than the predictions. So, here’s the recap.

Taylor Hicks started off the night with “Jailhouse Rock”. This was the one song my husband wanted to hear, so he was thrilled. I thought it was a fun performance— certainly the one where we could have seen a big belt buckle and sequins (thank goodness he decided not to go that route). Randy and Paula seemed to enjoy the song, but Simon pulled out the dreaded “K” word (that’s karaoke, in case you’re wondering). Let’s face it. Simon hates American music. Country, Elvis music that sounds like Elvis, etc. He just doesn’t get it. The song was what it was supposed to be. What else are you going to do with “Jailhouse Rock”?

The second singer tonight was Chris Daughtry. He sang “Suspicious Minds”, which is one of MY favorite Elvis songs, although I prefer the Fine Young Cannibals version. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in this version. It was, um, dull. It lacked any personality of “umph”. Especially whe contrasted with “Jailhouse Rock”, I didn’t think it even rated an “alright”.

Elliot Yamin started with a slower song— “I Can Dream”. I thought this was nice. Something about the way he looked singing it bothered me, but that’s about par for the course with Elliott. I’m not talking about the way he looks, simply the way he looked singing that song. Anyway, it was a good song choice for him, a bit jazzy, a bit soulful… a good song. The judges thought it was good. Paula thought it was his best performance so far.
Simon liked it, but what do you expect? It didn’t really sound like an Elvis song.

Katharine McPhee’s first performance of the night was some weird hybrid version of “Hound Dog” and “All Shook Up”. I actually liked her singing “Hound Dog”, but I thought the “All Shook Up” part was odd and a bit, I don’t know, unnecessary. She also forgot some of the words, which I didn’t even realize until Randy pointed it out. Paula liked to see Katharine having fun, but Simon HATED this performance. Well, first— of course he hated this song. It sounds like Elvis. But on top of that, he thought that Katharine was shrill and manic. Yikes.

Then, in another show of contrasts we went back to Taylor Hicks singing “In The Ghetto”. When I was young and listened to this song, it made me cry. I was saddened that it’s still so applicable to life. I think this was the best performance Taylor has had in the contest. I was so impressed with how he modernized this song without making it sound untrue to its origins. It was just great. And the judges, including Simon, agreed! He even said Taylor had “sung himself into the semi-finals”.

Chris sang another song that I really like—“A Little Less Conversation”. I loved it when John Peter sang this song in a previous season. That was so much fun. Tonight, however— not so much fun. It was, errrrr— BORING. My husband really likes Chris. He was also bored, though. The judges? Bored. I think Chris may be in trouble.

Then we went back to Elliott, who sang “Trouble”. I had no idea, but this is one of my husband’s favorite Elvis song. He spent lots of time singing it when he was growing up. Fortunately, he didn’t turn out to be like the words of the song. Anyway— back to Elliott (sorry about the rabbit trail). This was a really good performance— probably his best in the competition. In fact, Paula reversed herself from her critique of the first song and said THIS was his best performance. Simon said he really deserved to make it through to the next round.

Katharine was the final singer. She sang “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You”. Love this song, just love it. Great, great song. This performance? Not so great. I’m going to use Simon’s favorite I-word here. It was indulgent. Simon said he felt like the beginning was nice, but that the ending was just too much. He compared it to apple pie versus apple pie with a gallon of cream on top. I think the word you’re looking for here, Simon, is “indulgent”. Oh, and if anyone knows— WAS that her stomach hanging out the bottom of her jacket? I don’t usually go the fashion criticism route (a la Paula), but something was just wrong about that outfit!

So, I think Chris and Katharine will most likely be in the bottom 2 tomorrow. Out of the two, I’m really not sure which one will go home, but I’m leaning towards Katharine.

When it’s down to five, it doesn’t take long to get through the elimination night. They did add back in a group song, since there was no guest performer this week. Then there’s the obligatory “funny” commercial/song for Ford.

But, fortunately, they didn’t drag out letting us know who was in the bottom TWO for very long. Taylor was immediately told he was safe, followed immediately by Chris. That left Paris, Elliott, and Katharine. Paris was told she was in the bottom two. She sang “Kiss” (which, by the way, was much better than last night). Then after a commercial, Katharine was told that she was safe, making the bottom two Elliott and Paris. Elliott sang “On Broadway”.

And then we said goodbye to Princess P. Such a sweetheart. I think everyone will really miss her, but I’m sure she’s got a long wonderful career ahead of her. Best wishes, Paris.

Having sung songs from their birth years, the contestants were now tasked with singing a song from last week’s Billboard top 10 songs.

Elliott again started off the group, singing “Home”. I thought this was a really nice performance, although I had to agree with Simon I don’t know that I would have chosen a song with the lyrics “I Wanna Go Home”. After singing, Elliott forgot to stay and listen to the judges’ critique and had to do a little slapstick number with Ryan to get him back to listen to what the judges had to say. It was actually a nice moment, as you got to really see Elliott relax.

After singing Prince, who has a really distinct voice, Paris then chose to sing “Be Without You” by Mary J. Blige— another singer with a very distinct voice. I thought she pulled this off a lot better than “Kiss”. I think Paris is remarkable at singing jazz, but I think she really wants to sing songs like Mary J. Blige and Beyonce Knowles. I just don’t know that those songs are her best choices.

Chris Daughtry sang “I Dare You”. It was a Chris Daughtry performance. If you missed it, go back and watch one of his past performances— you’ll get the idea. The judges preferred his first performance to this one, probably because it was a much better song.

I had never heard “Black Horse and a Cherry Tree”, the song Katharine McPhee chose to sing, but I really liked it. When I was sitting in the other room listening, I enjoyed this performance. When I was watching it, I just found the squirming around on the floor odd, at best. It was just a tad bizarre. Other than that, I thought that this was exactly the type of song tha Katharine should sing.

Taylor managed to pull off something really clever, singing THE BEATLES’ “Something”. Yes, that’s right— a Beatle’s album is on the Billboard top 10 charts, so Taylor got to sing a 30 year old song. The producers probably tried to put the kibosh on that but feared that fans would mutiny and show up on their doorsteps if they made Taylor change his song again. This song was the epitomy of what I really love about Taylor. When some of the other contestants sing a song that I know and love, I always find myself comparing it to the original (usually unfavorably). When Taylor sings a song I know and love, it’s just enough different that I don’t feel I have to compare the two, but he knows enough musically not to make changes that harm the song. He’s not singing a song differently just to sing it differently. It’s almost as though he’s singing the song differently because he HEARS the song differently. Anyway, I loved this, and even Simon said that, in spite of Taylor’s “barminess” (crazy shenanigans), he’s a really good singer. Right, Simon. That’s why we love him.

So, tomorrow night one of them will be eliminated. If I had to guess I would say that Paris will probably be going home. I thought Katharine had the single worst performance of the night, but I thought her second song was better than either of Paris’ songs. So, I think Paris will be saying goodbye tomorrow night. I could always be wrong, but check back here to find out whether I’m right

Tonight the American Idol contestants sang two songs— a song from the charts from their birth year and a modern chart topper.

Elliott Yamin started the night off with “On Broadway”. The judges weren’t crazy about this performance, but I thought it was quite good. Honestly, I think Elliott is very good. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him sing a song that I just hated, but I never really love him, either. I wish he could pull out a showstopper, but I’m not sure it’s going to happen.

I was really surprised about Paris Bennett’s choice of songs. She chose to sing Prince’s “Kiss”. I kind of think that only Prince should really sing Prince songs. It just seems that his songs are a bit odd, vocally, and the only thing that really works about them is that he sings them. Simon said the song was “screechy and annoying”. I can’t say that I would agree with that, but I don’t think it was her best performance. It was just a weird choice for me.

Okay, I’m going to preface this next recap with a disclaimer of sorts. My husband liked this performance a lot. He sang Styx’s “Renegade”. I LOVE this song, I did not care for the variations he sang on this song. My husband said the original was screamed, but I beg to differ. I think Chris has a fine career in alternative rock in front of him, but I really dont’ think he has the best voice. I think whenever he gets onto shaky ground vocally, he resorts to screaming. I think that’s what happened with this song. Anyway, the judges loved it, my husband loved it… I loved the SONG, but not this performance.

I can’t tell you how much I hated the version of “Against the Odds” that Katharine sang. She sounded okay singing it, and her clothes stayed on, so that was good. I think she sounded horrible. You know when Paula resorts to talking about how you look, there’s a problem. None of the judges cared for this performance.

Earlier today I read a rumor about what songs would be sung tonight. I know you’re wondering “Why didn’t you share it with us?” Well, I was sure it was a hoax because they had Taylor Hicks listed as singing “Play That Funky Music, White Boy”, and I just could not imagine that, given a full year worth of songs from 1976, that Taylor would choose to sing THAT. Well, I was wrong. The list was correct. I really liked the performance, but, come on— it’s “Play That Funky Music”. It almost makes me feel like Taylor just wants to see how crazy a song he can sing and still get votes. At least it wasn’t “Shake Your Booty”, which was another choice. The judges weren’t quite sure what to make of it, either.

That was the first half of the songs. I’ll cover the modern songs in a second post.

First, when they were recapping last night. Simon did apologize to Katharine for his assessment. He said upon listening back to it, it was much better than he initially thought. Paula, on the other hand, said she’d never been harsh. Uh, okay.

Lisa Tucker was in the audience. Her episode of the O.C. airs tomorrow.

Now, onto the results…

Oh, those wacky idol producers/directors— always trying to come up with some new way to torture contestants. Tonight they divided them into three groups of two (which had me thoroughly confused. Katharine, Paris and Elliott were the first in each group. Paris was joined by Kellie, Elliott by Taylor, and Katharine by Chris. Ryan then revealed that these groups were the top 2 vote getters, middle, and bottom 2. Elliott and Taylor were allowed to sit down. After the break, it was revealed that the remaining two groups had received the least and the most votes. Katharine and Elliott received the highest numbers of votes, leaving Paris and Kellie in the bottom two. Kellie said she thought after viewing the performance that she deserved to be in the bottom 2. I don’t think she was surprised when Ryan said it was her night to go home.

Thanks for the laughs, Kellie. Best wishes to you.

Recently, it has seemed like Randy and Paula have been drinking happy juice. The message boards have been full of people complaining about how ridiculous they both are. I think the producers have been lurking on the boards because they were just as snarky as Simon tonight.

Katharine McPhee opened the song with “I Have Nothing”. David Foster actually wrote the song, and he reworked some of it to make it work better for her. He was pretty tough on the contestants tonight, by the way. I thought he was probably the best person who has worked with the contestants, thus far, though. I thought the performance was good, but the judges were brutal in their criticism. Even Paula was completely unimpressed. Simon said if you’re going to sing a song like that, you have to be able to sing as well as Whitney Houston, and she couldn’t. Ouch.

Elliott Yamin sang a song I’d never heard— Donny Hathaway’s “A Song to You”(*see my comment). Randy didn’t like the arrangement (okay Randy, take that up with David Foster) but really like Elliott’s voice. I think Elliott can really sing, but I thought the song was somewhat boring. And I never really enjoy watching Elliott. I always really want to enjoy watching him— I just don’t. Paula, on the other hand, was in tears over his performance. Is she going through menopause, or what?

Kellie Pickler sang “Unchained Melody”. I don’t have much to say about it. It was really bad. The judges hated it. As Simon said— it was as though the song would never end. Come on, America. Yes, she’s cute, but don’t make us listen to her sing again next week.

Paris Bennett tackled “The Way We Were”. I liked her rationale for why she chose the song. I thought she had one of the better performances of the night. Randy was unimpressed. Paula thought she over sang the song. Simon didn’t really like it, either.

And then Taylor Hicks sang “Just Once”. David Foster summed it up by saying that he thinks that Taylor has the most charisma out of the group. I didn’t think this was his best performance, but I REALLY, REALLY like Taylor’s voice. I just like that raspy, husky thing. It’s kind of like Sting. I don’t care what he sings. I just like the way he sounds. That’s what I feel about Taylor. If you haven’t checked out his cds on the Taylor Hicks fan site, I highly recommend that you do. You can really get an idea for what an album by him would sound like. If you don’t listen to anything else, listen to “Georgia On My Mind”. The judges weren’t particularly impressed by this performance, but I don’t really care.

Chris Daughtry closed the show with “Have You Really Ever Loved a Woman”. David Foster made him lie on the floor to sing it, and Chris sounded SO MUCH better! I do think this was one of Chris’ best performances, and it was also, I thought the best performance of the night. I also felt like it was the most obvious pushing of a singer by the producers. They put him last, the judges raved about his performance… I don’t know, I just felt like I was being sold a product. A good product, but I still felt “marketed to”.

So, who will be the bottom three? I think Chris and Taylor are safe, and the other four are all potential candidates for the bottom three. I think it will come down to the boys in the top and girls in the bottom. And, as much as I hate to see her go, I think Paris will probably go home. So, most likely we will be listening to Kellie for one more week.