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I have to say I was more surprised by Sundance going home than Sanjaya staying, but I understand the sentiment.

What was the biggest surprise tonight?
Sanjaya staying: 41% (119)
Haley staying: 5% (14)
Sabrina going home: 20% (59)
Sundance going home: 33% (96)
Total Votes : 288

I was pleased that tonight’s elimination actually went along pretty quickly. Sometimes the elimination nights just seem to drag on tonight. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case tonight.

The night started with the group performing “Stuck in the Middle With You”. That was pretty much as you expect the group performances to be.

LaKisha Jones and Blake Lewish were then called to the stage. Both made it through.

Chris Sligh was called down. After making him wait through the commercial, he made it through. Then Jordin Sparks and Phil Stacey made it through.

Jared Cotter was the first to go home. I liked Jared, but I never quite “got” him. I thought it was unlikely that he and Brandon would both make it through, but I had actually picked him over Brandon.

Melinda Doolittle and Brandon Rogers were then put through to the Final 12 (so I don’t have to move to Canada), followed by Gina Glocksen and Chris Richardson.

The final 6 awaiting their fate had to wait for Carrie Underwood to be introduced and to sing. She’s really quite good. I liked her on Idol, but she wasn’t my favorite to win. Actually, she wasn’t even my second favorite to win. But it’s nice that she’s doing so well.

After Carrie’s performance, Antonella Barba and Stephanie Edwards were called to the stage. I thought this one could have gone either way. I mean, out of the two I certainly thought Stephanie would make it through, but you just never know. This time American got it right, and Stephanie made it to the Top 12.

Then Haley Scarnato was called to the stage with Sabrina Sloan. A no brainer, right? Sabrina’s in the Top 12. Not so fast. This one was a surprise. Sabrina went home, and Haley is in the Top 12. The judges were disappointed with America’s choice— Randy actually said “America got that wrong”. I actually thought that Simon’s comments to Haley last night probably helped her make it through. In the past, there has been a noted Simon backlash MANY times when Simon has been overly harsh to contestants. I actually have a theory that he does it intentionally to pretty girls that he wants to see one more time.

Ryan finally told us about the big surprise. The short version is there will be an empasis on poverty in America and in Africa and some fundraising that will occur later this season. I’ll be writing a full post on “Idol Gives Back” tomorrow with more details.

Finally, that left Sanjaya Malakar and Sundance Head. As much as I wanted to see Sundance move on, and as much as I thought Sanjaya should have gone home weeks ago, I thought this was probably bad news. They don’t save you until last if it’s a foregone conclusion that you’re going home. Sure enough, Sanjaya is in the Top 12, and Sundance is going home. Prior to this, I thought Haley would be going home next week. Now I have to hope for Sanjaya. Simon could only guess that the reason America chose Sanjaya was because the volume was turned down. Yes, he actually said that.

So, that means American Idol 6 has its Top 12:

LaKisha Jones
Blake Lewis
Chris Sligh
Jordin Sparks
Phil Stacey
Melinda Doolittle
Brandon Rogers
Gina Glocksen
Chris Richardson
Stephanie Edwards
Haley Scarnato
Sanjaya Malakar

What do you think? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

Tonight was all about hair. I don’t know why, but the subject came up quite frequently. I think the guys were back to week one, quality-wise. There were a few standouts, but overall it was pretty weak. Ryan did tease us about one of the most important Idol events of all time, which will be announced on Thursday.

Speaking of secrets, that was the theme tonight for the guys’ video clips. Blake Lewis started off the night by letting us know that he likes improv comedy and introducing us to one of his “characters”. Blake performed the song “All Mixed Up” by the band 311, his favorite band, and became the first performer in my memory to perform a song that not one of the judges had ever heard. I liked the song, and I liked the performance. The whole reggae/hip hop thing is not really my favorite style of music, but at least it wasn’t boring. Randy liked the performance, as did Paula. Simon said he couldn’t understand a word Blake was saying, but it wasn’t karaoke and it was individual and unique. Not karaoke? Wow, high praise, indeed, from the Brit.

The producers must really be ready to get rid of Sanjaya Malakar, as they seem to consistently place him immediately behind strong performances. Tonight was no exception. I did think that Sanjaya picked a MUCH better song to sing tonight, with John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change”. It was much better suited to his voice and his age. Unfortunately for Sanjaya, it didn’t go over any better with the judges. All three of them were less than enthusiastic, although Simon did at least say it was “not as ghastly today”.

Speaking of song choices, Sundance Head’s choice was, um, interesting. He chose to sing Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy”. It was a decent performance, good energy, although a bit pitchy— to borrow a phrase from Randy. Randy liked the Southern rock spin that he put on the song (personally, I completely didn’t notice that there was any spin on the song, but maybe that’s just me). Paula felt like he kicked into his groove about halfway through. Simon didn’t like it as much as last week and gave it his dreaded “indulgent” comment. By the way, Sundance’s secret was hysterical. “I’m actually thin in real life. I just wear the fat suit on tv, so that when I’m not on America Idol, I can live my normal life as the super sexy thin guy that I really am. However, I have no pictures to prove it.” Pretty funny stuff.

For whatever reason, the judges continued their love affair with Chris Richardson. I still didn’t care for his wavering, quivering version of Keith Urban’s “Tonight I Want to Cry”, but Randy and Paula ate it up with a spoon. Simon said it was “cutesy”, and he wasn’t jumping out of his chair. I am just WAITING for the performance that has him jumping out of his chair. I mean it. I’ll pay good money (well, at least $5) for anyone that has video of Simon jumping out of his chair and doing a little dance after an American Idol performance.

Jared Cotter sang Stevie Wonder’s “If You Really Love Me”. I have to say Jared always gives a good, strong performance. He’s good looking. He has lots of energy. He doesn’t bore me. Randy said it was a solid performance. Paula thinks he needs to color his performances more, which Simon interpreted for her as meaning that he’s not very original and doesn’t have the “wow” factor. I’ll agree that we haven’t necessarily seen the “wow” factor from him, thus far, but I think the tiny clip of “Cupid” that we saw definitely contained it, so I feel fairly confident that it is there.

Brandon Rogers made an interesting song choice. He chose to sing Rare Earth’s “I Just Want to Celebrate”. I just heard the song last week on the “oldies” station (70s and 80s music) and really thought it was a lot of fun then. I thought it was a fun song tonight, too. I just didn’t think it necessarily showed the singing ability that I think Brandon has. Randy said it was a solid performance, Paula loved it and Simon didn’t think that he represented himself well. Isn’t that what I just said I thought?

Continuing the theme night (wasn’t tonight’s theme “Songs You Shouldn’t Sing”?) was Phil Stacey singing Leann Rimes’ “I Need You”. The low part of his register is really not very strong, but he did a good job with the high notes. I didn’t care for his hat at all. Randy said this was not his best performance, Paula thought it was an odd choice of song, and Simon pretty much summed it up: “I didn’t get it at all”.

Chris Sligh sang a DC Talk song— “We All Wanna Be Loved”. If you don’t know DC Talk, they’re a Christian rock band, and they’re really quite good. I liked the performance, but I’m familiar with the song. Early in the competition, I was really concerned that Chris was heavy on personality, light on talent. I’m pleased that the course of the competition has proved me wrong. He has been in the top 2-3 performances each week, as far as I’m concerned. Tonight I thought he had the best performance of the evening. Randy agreed with me, naming his the best vocal of the night. Paula disagreed, saying it was not her favorite performance. Simon thought the beginning was good and stated sincerely that Chris has potential.

So, what did all this have to do with hair? Nothing, but several of the answers to the “what would America be surprised to learn” question had to do with hair. (Phil Stacey used to have long hair; Chris Sligh used to have short.) Simon referred to Sanjaya’s hair as being like Paula’s. In return, Ryan made a joke about Paula or Sanjaya having hair extensions, but not being sure which one it was. I don’t know. There just seemed to be a lot of hair talk going on tonight.

When Ryan was winding up the evening, he asked how many guys deserved to be in the top 12. Randy said four. Paula agreed. Simon said three and a half. What chance do you think there is that Thursday’s surprise will be that the split is not going to be six and six? Not very likely, I suppose, but it would make for interesting television.

So, in conclusion, here’s my order for the night:

1. Chris Sligh
2. Blake Lewis
3-6 (in no particular order) Jared Cotter, Brandon Rogers and Phil Stacey
7. Chris Richardson
8. Sanjaya Malakar

Obviously, we haven’t even seen the performances, so it should be way too early to make any predictions about who’s going home… BUT at this stage of American Idol who stays is influenced by their performances, but there are people who will get votes regardless.

I’ve already said who I think should be in the Final 12. Out of the remaining contestants, the only two that I think really should be going home this week are Sanjaya Malakar and Antonella Barba. They’ve given consistently weak performances and even if they blow it out of the water this week, I don’t think they’ve earned a right in the Final 12.

BUT— Dial Idol shows that they’re getting far more votes than one would expect, so I don’t feel very hopeful that they’ll be going home. Who’s voting for them? Well, obviously they have friends, family and other people who are truly voting for them because they think they’re talented. But they’re both also both highly promoted by Vote for the Worst. How much do those votes affect American Idol? I don’t know, but I do know that they’ve both been in the top 3 in the Dial Idol voting for the past two weeks, and I really can’t see any way that happened without Vote for the Worst (they also threw their weight behind Sundance, initially, although they’re reconsidering after last week’s performance).

So, back to the original question. With Sanjaya and Antonella potential long shots for going home (sorry, folks), who does that leave? Haley Scarnato is probably gone. I don’t think she’s good enough to get regular votes and not bad enough to get the Vote for the Worst vote. Then it will probably be Gina Glocksen, Stephanie Edwards or Sabrina Sloan. If you have a favorite among them, I suggest you vote for her.

What about the guys? If Brandon Rogers puts forth the performance I think he’s capable of, he will probably stay. If not, he’s most likely headed for home. Come on, Brandon. You’re better than what you’ve given us the past two weeks. Chris Richardson has been in the top three and the bottom three with Dial Idol, so who knows what that means. I think Jared Cotter is the other one who is at risk this week. It’s hard to predict with the guys because they’ve been really inconsistent with their performances. I think Blake Lewis, Chris Sligh and Sundance Head are probably safe. But don’t think that means you don’t need to vote for them if you like them! Complacent voters could result in anyone going home at this stage.

So, what do you think? Other than Antonella and Sanjaya, who would you like to see go? Are there those of you out there who really want Antonella or Sanjaya stay?

So, if I got to personally choose the top 12, this is who I would handpick, based on the performances so far.

1. Blake Lewis
2. Chris Sligh
3. Sundance Head
4. Jared Cotter
5. Phil Stacey
6. Brandon Rogers

1. Lakesha Jones
2. Melinda Doolittle
3. Jordin Sparks
4. Sabrina Sloan
5. Gina Gershon
6. Stephanie Edwards

Unfortunately, this is who I would predict will actually be in the Top 12, at this point in time:

1. Blake Lewis
2. Chris Sligh
3. Sundance Head
4. Jared Cotter
5. Phil Stacey
6. Sanjaya Malakar

1. Lakesha Jones
2. Melinda Doolittle
3. Jordin Sparks
4. Sabrina Sloan
5. Gina Gershon
6. Antonella Barba

I forgot to give my ranking of the guys tonight, so here it is. The first three could really go in any order.

1. Blake Lewis
2. Chris Sligh
3. Sundance Head

4. Jared Cotter
5. Chris Richardson
6. Phil Stacey
7. Nick Pedro
8. Brandon Rogers
9. A.J. Tabaldo
10. Sanjaya Malakar

The guys did MUCH better this week than last week, although I don’t think many of them came close to the girls’ performances from last week. I think there could definitely be six contenders among them, though. Tonight the singers were supposed to dedicate their performances to someone, so there was a nice little sentimental moment when they talked about their dedications before each song was performed.

Phil Stacey dedicated his performance to the Navy Band SouthEast, the outfit he is stationed with. I was surprised he didn’t dedicate a song to his wife and daughters, but perhaps that would have been too predictable. He sang “Ain’t Missing You”, a song popularized in the 80s by Tom Waits. I’m not sure this was the best song choice. He did the best performance possible of that song, but it’s just not a song you could do a lot with. Randy and Paula liked it. Simon wasn’t jumping out of his chair, as he put it. He feels that Phil is not unique and that he is a “very, very good karaoke singer” (well, at least he’s not a mediocre karaoke singer, as so many are called). But Simon does think Phil will be back next week, as he has the likeability factor going for him.

The second performer tonight was Jared Cotter, singing Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On”, which he dedicated to his parents. I’m not sure this was the most unique vocal performance of this song, but he did put a lot of himself into the onstage performance. Randy thought the performance was pitchy, but liked the presentation. Paula was at a loss as to what to say. Simon said “it reminded me of the Love Boat” to which Jared replied, “That would have been a great Love Boat, man”. Too funny.

AJ Tabaldo had an odd song choice, in my opinion, singing The Pussycat Dolls’ “Feelin’ Good”. He dedicated the performance to his parents (a popular dedication tonight). I thought he sounded good, vocally, but his performances remind me a bit of Will and Grace’s “Just Jack”. They’re a bit femme for me. Randy said it was kind of nice. Paula said he has a really good voice. Simon said it was “nearly very good”.

Poor, poor Sanjaya Malakar. He just can’t catch a break. Dedicating Irving Berlin’s “Stepping Out With My Baby” to his grandfather, Sanjaya simply didn’t have a good night. This is a case where he is evidently too inexperienced to pick songs that work for his voice. I feel like he needs to embrace the softness of his voice and pick songs, accordingly. Or he needs to add power to his voice, as he did at the end of the song. But mostly his performances just come across as confused. And I’m afraid the criticism is really harming him. If he’s back next week, I hope he chooses a better song. Randy said the performance didn’t work for him. Paula said he needs to pick younger songs. Simon said it was “very weak” and “a little weird”.

Halfway through, we heard Chris Sligh sing Ray LaMontagne’s “Trouble” to his wife. He made a really very touching dedication to her and sang the song well, too. I kept thinking of Taylor singing the song last year, but Chris approached the song in a completely different way, so it wasn’t a disturbing comparison (kind of an apples and oranges kind of thing). Randy thought it was a good choice. Paula thought it was awesome. Simon said “tonight you were a very good singer”.

I like Nick Pedro. I’m pulling for him to go far. But tonight’s performance of Peggy Lee’s “Fever” (dedicated to his girlfriend) didn’t give me fever— more like a lukewarm kind of feeling. I thought it was okay vocally. I just felt like he needed to go farther with the song and give it more intensity. This wasn’t helped by the fact that I just saw a really great performance of this song Sunday night when I was flipping by the Grease reality show. Randy liked that Nick returned to his vibe (I did like that). Paula thought he needed to let go and go for it. Simon thought the performance was good but that it lacked charisma.

Blake Lewis also returned to his original audition style, dedicating Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity” to his parents. There was scatting, there was beatboxing… I found the whole thing thoroughly enjoyable. I didn’t even write notes, as I was too busy watching his performance. Randy loved it, giving Blake extra points for the high degree of difficulty (high degree of difficulty? Is this diving?). Paula liked it. Simon thought the first part was a copycat of the original (since very few of us have heard the original, it’s kind of hard to argue with that). He thought the middle was good and that the end was out of tune. Overall, he didn’t care for it.

I think Brandon Rogers is capable of such greatness. Go back and watch his original audition if you can’t take my word for it. He dedicated Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” to his grandmother, who is no longer living. It was, well, a bit boring. I get that he was feeling the song, and that did come across, but perhaps he could feel the song AND sing it in an interesting way. Fantasia was definitely feeling her song last week, and it definitely wasn’t boring. Randy was bored. Paula felt his heart coming through in the song. Simon said Brandon needs to make a wow impact with each performance, and this didn’t.

And now for this year’s “I don’t get the fascination” performer. Each year there is a performer that the judges just ooh and aah over that I feel just ho-hum about. Chris Richardson is that person for me this year. I don’t dislike Chris. I don’t even dislike his singing. I just feel like he’s average and so-so. I’ve felt this way since his first audition. I just don’t get it. They keep comparing him to Justin Timberlake, but he reminds me more of one of the New Kids on the Block. Anyway, on to tonight. Chris sang Jason Mraz’s “Geek In The Pink” and dedicated it to his grandmother, which I thought was cute and very sweet. I thought he sounded much better than last week, and he didn’t flap his arms like a chicken, so that was better, but I didn’t think it was anything standout. Clearly, I was mistaken. Randy said Chris was “in it to win it”. Paula fawned about it. Simon thought it was the best tonight. Um, okay. Like I said, “I don’t get it”.

When Sundance Head was asked about the feedback he’d been getting since last week, he said mostly his friends and family told him “don’t be so crappy”. In an effort to comply, he sang “Mustang Sally” like I’ve been expecting him to sing since his first audition. He dedicated the song to his 2 month old son, whom he’s clearly missing. I hope tonight’s performance is one of many more like it for Sundance. Randy said, “welcome back, Sundance”. Paula thought it was awesome. Simon thought it was good, but still thinks Sundance can do better.

That was it for tonight. Tomorrow night the girls sing. Thursday night, four more go home. Make sure to take our poll and let us know who you liked.

Hmmm. Interesting show tonight. As I told my husband, I felt like there was one person who was clearly the best, several fighting it out for second, a large pack in the middle and a few subpar performances. More on that at the end. For now, here’s the play by play.

Rudy Cardenas started the night off with “Free Ride”. Rudy is very cute and personable. I thought it was a good performance, good energy, good vocals, but something just seemed disconnected. I couldn’t really put my finger on it. Randy hand no problem stating his issue with the performance. He felt it was corny. Paula, predictably, loved it. Simon finds Rudy utterly unremarkable.

Brandon Rogers turned in a solid performance of “Rock With You”. He was a bit stiff to me— maybe it was nerves. Other than that, I thought he was a strong contender. Randy felt like it was “pitchy”. Paula said he needs to step up as a lead singer. Simon thought the performance was safe and predictable and then he gave the first of several complidisses for the night (Ryan’s phrase, not mine), saying that Brandon was “much better than that”.

My husband and I were both really excited to hear Sundance Head. We both really liked him in the initial auditions, and he’s from Texas, so we were pretty sure we’d be voting for him for quite some time. Tonight he sang “Nights In White Satin”. It was, um, interesting. Okay, here’s the truth. It just wasn’t very good. He was very humble in his pre-interview, saying that he made it to the top 24 on the strength of his first audition. He’s right. It’s been pretty much downhill ever since. I hope that he makes it past tonight and that he can dust himself off and be the singer that he obviously CAN be. Randy, Paula and Simon all had varying degrees of dislike for his performance but all agreed he needs to go back to the bluesy guy they saw in the initial auditions.

Barefoot Paul Kim attempted “Careless Whisper”. This is another guy that I really wanted to like. He seems very sweet. His initial audition was not my favorite kind of singing, but it was alright for that type of music. But tonight— ugh. It was not good. There were some really rough notes, and his energy was very low. Randy still holds out future hope for Paul, though. Simon’s advice was that he put his shoes on next week. In a show of solidarity, Ryan then appeared without his shoes.

Upfront I want to say that I find something about Chris Richardson unappealing (not on a personal level, but as a performer). He seems like a really nice guy, but I think his voice, performance style, the whole package, really, is just not my cup of tea. Tonight he sang Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Want to Be”, which makes me think of One Tree Hill, but that’s another story altogether. I know a lot of people probably loved his performance. My husband really liked it, but I just didn’t care for it. I thought he sounded young and immature, and I didn’t care for all the chicken wing flapping that he did with his arms. Randy and Paula, on the other hand, really liked the performance. Simon said he “sounded small”— whatever that means.

Nick Pedro has such a mellow, pleasant voice. This was really showcased tonight when he sang “Now and Forever”. However, I did have to agree with Simon that he had lost some of his sparkle tonight. He could have had a bit more energy, and he needs to stand up straight. Randy and Paula just didn’t like it at all.

I had never heard Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know” before tonight. I thought it was a really nice song. And I thought Blake Lewis did a great job of singing and ballad with energy. Even though he was sitting for the song, he wasn’t at all boring. There was no beat boxing tonight, but he promises we’ll hear more of that in the weeks ahead. Randy dug the performance. Paula thought it was a surprising song choice but with a contemporary vibe. Simon thought he was the first person tonight who sounded like a singer singing in 2007. He named this the best performance of the night.

In his initial audition, Sanjaya Malakar had great fortune with a Stevie Wonder song. He tried to repeat that tonight with “Knocks Me Off My Feet”. Unfortunately, this time it didn’t go as well. He has such a nice smile and is so soft spoken. He just seems a bit overwhelmed. He picked a difficult song, and he just never really dug into it and let go. The judges were not kind. Randy said it was really bad, Paula opted to just call it a hesitant performance, and Simon referred to it as dreary and dull.

Before he took his blog down, Chris Sligh had a list of his top 100 favorite songs. Number 9 was MuteMath’s “Typical”. And that’s what he chose to sing tonight. It’s definitely a song that fit Chris. He’s certainly not a “typical” American Idol contestant. All in all, it was a good, solid performance. Randy said, “I’m a Chris fan”, Paula said everyone had a great time. Simon was having a hard time coming up with exactly what to say when things got kind of weird. Chris insulted Simon and then I couldn’t tell whether Simon was mad at Chris or Ryan. Either way, it was momentarily very uncomfortable.

Shayne Ward’s “Back to One” is a bit gimmicky for my tastes, but Jared Cotter did a good job with it tonight. He has a cute smile and makes you want to like what he’s singing. Randy felt like it wasn’t his best performance, and Simon felt it was unadventurous.

A.J. Tabaldo is definitely the most persistent of this year’s contestants, since this was his fifth time to audition. He turned in a decent performance of “1000 Kisses”. Personally, I found the performance a bit cheesey. But Randy and Paula liked it. Simon felt it was a bit like a theme park performance (hey, at least he dodged the karaoke bullet). But then said, “Maybe you’re better than I thought”. Boy, he sure knows how to pour on the sweetness, doesn’t he?

The final performance of the night was Phil Stacy. His wife was in the audience, and he was clearly nervous. He chose a song that was clearly meant for his wife— “I Could Not Ask For More”. It started off “monstrously”, as Simon said, but after the first couple of lines, he relaxed and gave a really lovely performance. It was definitely an “awww” song. Randy said it was the best vocal performance of the night. I’m not sure if I agree with that, but it was really good.

So, here’s how I would rank tonight’s performances.

1. Blake Lewis

2. Phil Stacy
2. Chris Sligh
2. Brandon Rogers

(in no particular order)
5. Rudy Cardenas
6. Nick Pedro
7. AJ Tabaldo
8. Jared Cotter

(bringing up the rear)
9. Sanjaya Malakar (he almost made it into the middle group for me)
10. Sundance Head
11. Chris Richardson
12. Paul Kim

I don’t necessarily think that Chris Richardson will actually be in the bottom two, as I’ve already admitted my bias there. And I’m not sure that either A.J. Tabaldo or Jared Cotter won’t join Paul Kim in the bottom two, since tonight was the first time we’ve really seen a great deal of either one of them. If I were guessing, I’d guess A.J. would be in the bottom two out of those two.

So, what did you think of tonight’s performances? Love them? Hate them? Let me know.

I have been getting all sorts of grief about referring to Sundance Head’s home of Porter, Texas as a hole in the wall. Seriously, it was not meant as an insult. The dictionary defines hole in the wall in the following ways:

A small, modest, or obscure place
small and unpretentious place
a small, simple place
A small, very modest, often out-of-the-way place

I fail to see how any of these definitions is insulting. And since Porter has a population of less than 20,000 (small), most of you have never heard of it (obscure) and certainly never would be referred to as pretentious (claiming or demanding a position of distinction or merit, especially when unjustified— althought Porter’s residents are causing me to give further thought to whether this applies), I’m going to stick by my definition. Porter, Texas does indeed qualify as a hole in the wall. Lighten up Porter and enjoy your boy’s success. Get those dialing fingers ready!

Tonight was the final elimination before American takes control of who stays and who goes. The Final 40 became the Top 24. I didn’t really feel like there were any huge surprises tonight. Without further ado, here is the list of the Top 24. (I’ve included links to the videos that I’ve already posted from the group. I’ll be trying to track down the rest of the audition videos before next week.)

Girls:
Melinda Doolittle (really got some nice encouragement from Simon— even a hug)
Gina Glocksen (who didn’t make it past Hollywood last year)
Haley Scarnato
Jordin Sparks (at 17, I believe she’s the youngest)
Stephanie Edwards
Leslie Hunt
Alaina Alexander
Sabrina Sloan
Lakisha Jones (the single Mom from Birmingham)
Nicole Tranquillo
Amy Krebs
Antonella Barba

Guys:
Sanjaya Malakar
Brandon Rogers (rumors that claim American Idol is fixed state he is the winner)
Philip Stacy (who missed his daughter’s birth and will now be missing several firsts, most likely)
Chris Sligh (Jack Osbourne look-alike and music minister)
Blake Lewis (Seattle beat boxer extraordinaire)
Rudy Cardenas
Paul Kim (who will be wearing no shoes and his lucky underwear from now on)
A.J. Tabaldo
Nick Pedro (who left the auditions last year)
Chris Richardson
Jared Cotter
Sundance Head

I just have a couple of comments before I sign off. One, I really hate it when they ask the contestants how they think they did. What are they supposed to answer? You should send me home, I was horrible? I also dislike it when they try to fake them out and make them think that they haven’t made it through when they have.

I have a bit of mixed feelings about this top 24. I don’t know, something just seems off about it. I think part of it is that there’s a really high number of people that we hadn’t seen at all until tonight. So, I feel really disconnected from a number of these people. Then there are at least two people who made it through whom I had seen their audition, and I didn’t even think they would make it to Hollywood, much less to the final 24. So, that’s a bit disappointing. On the other hand, several of my favorites DID make it through. I’ll be posting my own personal “must have” top 12 in the coming week. Then we’ll see how many of them survive to that point.

What did you think?

Since my review was eaten last night by computer gremlins, today I’ve decided to do something a bit different. Rather than just giving my run-down, I’ve rounded up the YouTube videos

Jason “Sundance” Head— Sundance is the son of Roy Head, a 1960s singer who had a chart topper in 1965. Sundance is from Porter, Texas, by the way. That’s a hole in the wall about 45 minutes from where I live. Simon was very impressed with Sundance, saying he would be “amazed if you don’t make it to the finals” and commenting that he “blew Taylor out of the park”.

Danielle McCulloch— I think it’s a good thing she was cute because Randy turned her down and if she had been ugly, I think Simon would have, as well. What I can I say? Sometimes it pays to be cute and blonde. The only You Tube video I can find of her so far is at the tail end of a really bad audition. So, just ignore that and get to the second half, which contains Dani’s audition.

Sean Michel— Unexpectedly good. Looks like a young Fidel Castro, so we’ll see how far he makes it.

Melinda Doolittle— I haven’t been able to find You Tube video of her yet, which is a real shame because if you missed her performance last night, you really should see it. Simon said she was “brilliant”, “top 2% of good singers this year”, and Randy said she had “one of the best auditions ever”. I’ll keep looking for video. An interesting note, as I mentioned yesterday, Melinda is a professional background singer. One album she contributed to was former American Idol contestant George Huff’s Christmas album. I’m most impressed, however, by the fact that she sang background vocals for the late Rich Mullins who was a great musician.

Philip Stacy— Missed the birth of his second daughter to get his golden ticket. Split the judges (with a vote from Randy and Paula) and nearly caused a riot among them.