American Idol
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In case you missed her performance, here is the video of Kellie Pickler performing “Red High Heels” on American Idol’s elimination show last week:

My husband and I both commented on how much better she’s gotten since American Idol.

Two past American Idol contestants have been nominated for awards by the Academy of Country Music. Carrie Underwood was nominated for five ACMs: Top Female Vocalist, Album of the Year for Some Hearts and Song of the Year, Single Record of the Year and Video of the Year for “Before He Cheats.” Last year she was named Top New Female Vocalist at the 2006 ACMs. Kellie Pickler hopes she’ll be the next American Idol alum to take home that award, after she was nominated for Top New Female Vocalist this year.

The night started out with the group singing Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World”. Then, we moved right into eliminations.

The back row of the boys was declared safe, one by one. That brought us to the first person on the front row—Nick Pedro, who was immediately eliminated. I thought Nick showed great promise, and I really wanted him to do well, but he just never came across with as much personality during the performances. In interviews, he was overflowing with charisma, but during the performances he fell a bit flat. Perhaps it was nerves.

Then it was time for a girl to be eliminated. The back row was told they were safe one at a time, until they got to the last person on the row— Alaina Alexander. She was eliminated. She didn’t seem surprised, but she did seem a bit bitter.

Kellie Pickler was the special guest performer tonight. She’s looking more and more like her idol, Dolly Parton. She sang an autobiographical song “I Wonder” from her new album. It was really good. She definitely has a career as a country singer.

The rest of the guys were declared safe, leaving AJ Tabaldo and Sanjaya Malakar. Honestly, I would have been okay with either one of those two going home. As much as the judges liked AJ, I found his performance style disconcerting, at best. Well, it doesn’t really matter because tonight he went home. Sanjaya just looked like he wanted to be put out of his misery.

The final three girls were called to stand with Ryan. Antonella Barba, Leslie Hunt and Jordin Sparks were led through the critique of their performances. Antonella was allowed to sit down first. I thought this surely indicated that Leslie would be going home, but it is American Idol— one never can tell. But tonight the indications were accurate. It’s a shame because she is a good singer. But, again, something about her performance style seemed off to me.

So, now we’re down to 16. Just one more elimination before theme weeks begin with the Final 12. Let us know what you think about tonight’s elimination in our poll, or leave us a comment.

I was looking for information on Bucky Covington, and I came across this really nice interview with Kellie Pickler. Hope you enjoy it!

Kellie Pickler will be starring in a Fox sitcom about a small town girl who discovers that her biological father is really the governor. My thoughts? Ummm. Really, I find it a bit frightening. But I guess if Reba McIntyre can have a sitcom, Kellie Pickler can, too. Reba’s not a bad show, so maybe Kellie Pickler will be terribly successful.

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?

Did you miss Kellie Pickler on Jimmy Kimmel? You can view it online. She didn’t seem quite as ditzy, but pretty close.

I think the poll results on this site show how tight the vote is getting. A narrow majority were glad to see Kellie go.

How sad are you to see Kellie Pickler go?
Very sad: 25% (60)
A little sad: 20% (48)
Not sad at all: 24% (57)
Don’t you mean glad?: 31% (73)
Total Votes : 238

Kellie Pickler was pretty much Kellie Pickler in a recent interview after leaving American Idol. She discussed her romance (or lack thereof), her feelings towards her mother and why she said she butchered a performance. If you’re a fan, or even if you’re not, I think it’s an enjoyable read.

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.

Without seeing the performances yet, it’s hard to say. I think Chris may make another appearance in the bottom three, as I don’t think this week’s genre will suit him— although there are plenty of rock love songs (Angel by Aerosmith, Sweet Child of Mine by Guns n’ Roses, Weezer’s “Only In Dreams” to name a few). Of course, there’s no telling what catalog of music they have to choose from.

In any case, mostly I’m judging based on voting here, voting on Dial Idol and listening to buzz around the net. I think Paris could be in trouble. While I think Kellie Pickler will probably turn in a performance that DESERVES to be in the bottom three, I think it’s more likely that Katharine or Elliott will round out the bottom three.

What do you think?

Tonight’s elimination round divided the contestants into two groups: Elliott Yamin, Kellie Pickler and Katharine McPhee in one group and Chris Daughtry, Paris Bennett and Ace Young in the second. That left Taylor Hicks sitting on the couch, obviously safe. Then Ryan asked him to join the group that he thought was safe. I hate it when they do that. It puts the contestant in such a bad position. Taylor shook Chris’ hand then joined the group with Elliott, Kellie and Katharine. And Taylor was correct. Chris, Paris and Ace were the bottom three.

Ryan quickly let Paris sit down, leaving Chris and Ace. I would truly have been shocked if Chris had gone home, although I do have to admit being a teensy bit glad he was in the bottom three, but tonight I was not shocked. Tonight we said goodbye to Ace Young, as was expected. I like Ace, but I think this was the ideal time for him to go. He didn’t stay so long that I was annoyed by him, and I didn’t go home so early that I was shocked.

Best wishes, Ace!

Well, this is probably my last review for tonight. I’ll review the last two tomorrow with the elimination night review. But on to Kellie. She sang “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered”. At first I thought it was okay. Then it passed on into boring. And then it became not so good. Kellie said she butchered it. She might not have been exactly correct, but she was close. You know when Paula has to resort to critiquing your clothing that you have a problem. She just does not have the voice to sing this type of song.