American Idol
On Our TV

I’ve had some questions in the comments recently about the elimination song. The song is “Home” by Daughtry, and here are the lyrics:

Home lyrics

I’m staring out into the night,
Trying to hide the pain.
I’m going to the place where love
And feeling good don’t ever cost a thing.
And the pain you feel’s a different kind of pain.

Well I’m going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I’m not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don’t regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I’m going home.
Well I’m going home.

The miles are getting longer, it seems,
The closer I get to you.
I’ve not always been the best man or friend for you.
But your love, it makes true.
And I don’t know why.
You always seem to give me another try.

So I’m going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I’m not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don’t regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I’m going home.
I’m going home.

Be careful what you wish for,
‘Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all,
And then some you don’t want.
Be careful what you wish for,
‘Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all, yeah.

Oh, well I’m going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I’m not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don’t regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old.
I said these places and these faces are getting old,
So I’m going home.
I’m going home.

And here’s a You Tube video of Daughty performing the song.

Mostly, it seems Chris Daughtry wishes his fans would get over the fact that he lost American Idol and help him celebrate the success of his band. His band’s first album is currently sitting in the number one slot. Not bad for a “loser”.

Chris Daughtry sang the National Anthem at the NFC championship playoff game between the Chicago Bears and the New Orleans Saints yeterday.

Here is a video replay of his performance:

In case you missed Chris Daughtry’s new band Daughtry performing New Year’s Eve (or just want to watch it again), here’s the You Tube video of it.

American Idol 4 winner Carrie Underwood won 5 awards at the recent Billboard Music Awards. Carrie’s album Some Hearts won Album of the Year and Country Album of the Year. Additionally, Carrie won Female Billboard Album Artist of the Year, New Country Artist of the Year and Female Country Artist of the Year. Below is video of her winning Album of the Year.

Other former American Idol contestants made appearances, as well. Katharine McPhee and Chris Daughtry made guest appearances as presenters. McPhee and Daughtry presented Rock Album of the Year to Nickelback. You can watch their presentation below.

As most anyone who follows American Idol knows, Chris Daughtry was offered the chance to front the band Fuel practically moments after he was voted off of the show. He has now officially turned them down. It looks like he plans to go solo after finishing up the American Idol Live tour. So, what do you think? Smart move? Arrogant move? Will he have better success as a solo artist? Would he have been better off joining up with an established band? I’m curious what those Chris Daughtry fans out there think.

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.

I read an opinion piece in the Wisconsin State Journal today that irked me. The writer agreed with me that Taylor should win, but it’s the attitude that he’s just sideshow entertainment that bothers me. Of course, he’s one of the Chris Daughtry ranks, so clearly there are hearing problems from years of listening to overly loud music with little to no melody.

So, the following is my response:

While I agree with you that Katharine McPhee is pretty boring, I disagree with your assessment of Taylor Hicks and Chris Daughtry. Personally? I thought Chris Daughtry was a HUGE snore. I would never have wanted to buy an album of his and listen to the same song screamed at me over and over. If he was so wonderful, why was he turned down for Rock Star:INXS? I’ll tell you why— they could recognize a one-trick pony and so can the American public. Will Chris obtain commercial success? Probably. But then so have plenty of other “singers” who make a career out of screaming.

So, having agreed with you about Katharine and disagreed about Chris, let me talk briefly about Taylor. I can understand the irritation with his performance style. I love Taylor, but even I get nervous about his performances sometimes. But you left out a few facts about Mr. Hicks. Taylor has been performing longer than most of the other competitors. He’s already recorded albums. In short, he’s a true musician. If you haven’t listened to any of his cds, I suggest you take a listen at http://www.taylorhicksfansite.com/media.htm. The extended version of Georgia On My Mind is particularly wonderful.

So, give Taylor a break. He’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but he sure is mine.

There is a great series of articles on MTV’s website with trivial facts you probably don’t know about American Idol. It’s definitely worth a read. Among the trivia?

American Idol was turned down by the Eagles when they asked them to be a guest.

Chris Daughtry auditioned for Rock Star: INXS (thus confirming to me that he is not, in fact, as good as most of the people who were on that show)

Ace Young’s real name is actually Brett Asa Young.

Read the article to find out more.

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?

An article this weekend in the Miami newspaper says that some who tried to call for Chris Daughtry actually got Katharine’s number. As of Friday, Fox had no comment on this. The good news for Chris fans is that he’s already had an offer to front the band Fuel.

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