Carly is like that leather jacket wearing chick in high school who is probably perfectly nice (and they usually were all talented in some way) but she just seems cold and unapproachable...which isn't good for a singer hoping to sell out arenas.

I'm actually sad to see Amanda go.. but the anticipation of seeing Mariah coach the kids on Idol will make up for that. I cant wait to see what theme she is coaching (I hope it wont be a MiMi week... I couldnt take all that butchering)

So glad the Beetles weeks are over! Some suggested theme weeks I would love to see: R&B/Hip Hop, Motown, and Disney.
Does anyone know if the week Andrew Lloyd Weber is going to be on will be a general Broadway week, or just his songs?

Mariah might be interesting. Maybe even Dolly too? (at least she has experience) Personally, I can't stand Andrew Lloyd Webber.

God, I really hope it's not just his songs. I don't really like AL Webber's music when it's performed WELL, let alone if a bunch of amateurs were to sing them.

In other news, they are doing Idol Gives back again!

I am super excited, it was a very touching event last year!


American Idol Gives back!

If you even know yet! Don't people say that every time you get a stomach bug? That was the big joke with anybody of child bearing age at our campus health center many years ago. If you went in with nausea, they did a pregnancy test. If you had a sore throat, Mono. We never did figure out what they did with guys who went in with nausea!

I'm officially on board with David Cook now. His interpretation of Billie Jean tonight was amazing. My husband was even blown away, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. I'm such a dork I just went and downloaded the version of "Hello" he did on a past show and pre-ordered his version of what he did tonight.

Oh, and I liked Michael Johns, Syesha, David A. and Chikezie tonight too. But David Cook is the man right now as far as I'm concerned.

I loved Micheal Johns!!!!!!!

Of course I love Queen so this might have something to do with it!

Me too!

I can't say I loved tonight's show, but at least Michael Johns made it worthwhile.

Everytime I heard their dates of birth, I couldn't help but cringe. These people are just kids! Except for Michael Johns, of course -- he's a year older than I am...the rest were born when I was already in grade school.

Okay, so I missed the first half of the show because I opted to go out to dinner. Based on the highlights they show at the end, I decided there wasn't much that I missed on the first 5 contestants. But I do want to say that I am completely tired of Ramiele's act. Done. With. Her.

So, for me, the show started with Michael Johns. I was so worried when I heard the opening bars of his song... oh no, not Queen. No one does Freddie Mercury justice on this wannabe show. No one, until now! Holy Moly! That was tremendous! I am still singing the song this morning... Michael's version.

Then, on to Carly. Poor Carly. She does have good vocals, but I fear that last's week bottom dweller may find herself there again soon. It is not that she isn't good... it is just that she doesn't connect on TV, and that is compounded by the fact that the people who would go hear her in concert don't watch this show. And I think her husband may have scared the small children....

Little David Cupcake... (blondie puts her arm around Cupcake, and proceeds to give advice)... Cupcake, I was in high school the year you were born. Take it from me... it was not a bastion of quality music.... hmm, Pump Up the Jam, Me So Horny, and I'm Too Sexy, come to mind right off the bat. So, it is understandable why you had to resort to some obscure Australian song that we didn't know for your performance. But you need to be careful. Your fan base has the potential to go beyond the teen-set, but performances like Imagine are becoming further and further from our memory. If you don't stop the cheesy performances, you will lose all fan base over the age of 18. You *could* overcome teen heartthrob status a la Justin Timberlake. But, play your cards wrong and you might wind up as Richard Marx. (blondie gives Cupcake a hug, and sends him skipping on his merry way. Cupcake immediately goes to go google Richard Marx, since he has no idea who that is....)

Kristy Lee- Hmm, God Bless the USA, huh? Perhaps the most oversung, overused and tired songs around. I turned to my husband and stated that "she is trying to play to the Red States." He then reminded me that we *are* a Red State. Oh, yeah. Well... since we now reside in the perhaps the reddest portion of a red state, I guess I have to be honest... I really liked it! Yea for you Kristy! Sadly, I don't know if it was enough to keep you around until next week... but you certainly weren't the worst performer of the evening.

Which brings us to David Rocker. What fun baby pictures! Clearly my favorite performer this year, with emphasis on performer and not just singer (ahem, Carly..). I am so excited to tune in every week to see not just his performances, but his arrangements. What talent. Hopefully Daughtry is in touch with him, offering advise on how to get out from a hokey AI contract and cheeseball tour so that he can do his own thing.

Prediction: an all female bottom three.... Carly, Ramiele, and Kristy, though I do hope for Kristy's sake that she can enjoy one week on the couch.

LOLOLOL. Holy crap, Blondie, we were separated at birth. During David A's (lol @ cupcake, I love it) performance, I told my husband he reminded me of a young Richard Marx-type! :)

Co-sign co-sign co-sign on your summary. However, I would slightly change the bottom 3 in my utopia. It would be Jason the face contortion king, the Carly Simon wannabe (the blonde whose real name I can never remember) and the Carly Simon namesake, Carly Smithson, who is incapable of taking criticism. Did you see her face last night? If she lands in the bottom 3 again this week (or, dare I dream, gets eliminated), I think her head will explode. She got way too used to being fawned over by the judges early on.

His performance last night was bad. I thought Simon hit the nail on the head when he said that he felt like there should be a bunch of theme park characters up on stage with him and then they all start to join in.

So I looked up the top songs of 1990 and came up with this list. The top 10 are mostly songs you never hear anymore, but there are some good ones far down the list. Too bad David already sang Another Day in Paradise, which is #7!

As a side note, I can't believe U Can't Touch This is only #56?!

Oh, if we are talking utopia, then give me Contortion Face Guy as well. I was so excited to miss both his and Ramiele's performance last night. It was like winning the lottery.

For more on Carly's bottom dwelling status last week, http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008...-scene-id.html.

It is an article written by my favorite entertainment columnist, Whitney Pastorek, who was in the audience for the results show. Scroll down towards the end to read about the "buckets" that Carly was apparantly crying during commericials.

LOL at the article, that was awesome. My only bone to pick with her is that she seems to support Carly and ugh, it sounds like they were babying the crap out of her when she was on the 'bottom 3' stool. Otherwise, it was hilarious. And that's very interesting about the Access Hollywood viewing parties and the contestants they throw them for suffering because their family and friends are too busy enjoying the party instead of voting for their loved one! ;)

Somehow, I got a mental image of "Cupcake" singing Me So Horny, and now...me so nauseous.

Off topic...Have we heard a Blondie Retro Recruitment story yet?

My favorite last night was David Cook. LOVED what he did with "Billie Jean." I liked Brooke and Syesha and Chikezie too.

Ramiele singing "Alone" - BAD BAD IDEA.

I absolutely loved David Cook last night. I just watched it back on youtube, and noticed that Ryan said it was Chris Cornell's version of Billie Jean. Chris Cornell was the lead singer of Soundgarden, who I absolutely loved back in the day. :D I thought at first it was his own version, but regardless, it was awesome.

Especially since Carrie Underwood did such an excellent job of singing that song when she was a contestant on the show.

HaHa! Actually, no, I haven't gotten around to writing one of those yet. I'll give it some thought. (and dig waaaaay into the depths of my memory for some of those rounds/parties....)

The best part of me getting to write a Retro thread is that I can technically use the terms "Rush" and "rushee"... because that's how it was back then! None of this cumbersome new-fangled jargon! (just had to throw that in to sound old and crusty)

Thanks for the heads-up it's on youtube, I've been meaning to check that today! And I am slightly disappointed only in that I thought he had made that arrangement himself so that added to how incredibly impressed I was (I didn't catch that intro from Ryan that it was Chris Cornell's version). But on the other hand, I too have always loved Chris Cornell, so I still love the song and like the way David delivered it. He made up that arrangement for "Hello", though, didn't he?

I always feel for these poor kids learning these horrible routines with the clunky choreography. I'm surprised people actually pay to see the tour because by the end of the season, it feels like we've already seen the show.

And just one thing about Michael Johns. He's adorable, I love his accent, he can definitely sing. But that boy has NO RHYTHM!!!! BAHhahahahahaha. Oh god love him, watching him try to step to the beat in that song was PAINFUL.

Ok, my 3rd post in a row on this thread, very sad, but just had to say that I'm sad about Chikezie. :(

How 'bout we trade in Brooke, Jason, Carly and Ramiele for him back? That seems like a fair trade, 4 so-sos for 1 Chikezie. I loved his voice.

Yeah, I am bummed about Chikezie. Who is voting for Ramiele?

But what bothered me most, would it have been too much to let poor Kristy go first this week? I mean, the girl actually had a good performance, and has been in the bottom 2 since what- 20 contestant week? Let her have *one* week to enjoy life on the couch!

Oh, and did anyone else catch Jason say that a result with him in the bottom three would be a "shocker?"

I wish Ryan would have let him continue his uncomfortable monologue... would have loved to hear what else he had to say!

I agree. I was so hoping Ramiele was on her way out. Kristy lucked up with "Proud to be an American" - it was one of her best performances by far, but I think she got votes just because of her song choice. In general, she has been pretty terrible throughout - even she is surprised that she's still there.

He's an arrogant ass. I hate when Simon says he finds Jason "charming" because he's just not.
I was so glad to see him in the bottom three even though he didn't get the boot. I really hope he goes soon.

Kind of a bummer about Chikezie...at least he was semi-entertaining unlike most of the other snooze-fest contestants.

We should start to see some interesting kick-offs. Vote for the Worst is backing KLC. I am actually starting to like VFTW, b/c they will prevent the good ones from getting lost in the total crap that is 19E's contract. We'll see the good ones get kicked off and have a winner like cupcake. I'm all for it.

That being said, I am a Carly fan, peeps. Girl has pipes. And, when I am listening to my ipod, I don't care if they "connect" with me as a stage performer. Granted that is part of AIdol. But, in the real world, I'll be listening to her, Cook, and Johns. I most always listen to the show and only glance up once or twice during the performances. I can hear the actual singing better than being distracted by them.


People wonder why the latest idols haven't done well? They connect on stage, but they aren't really download-worthy!

Someone please explain Jason Castro....... he is a terrible singer... charming.. but terrible singer..

I think it's the eyes. They're hypnotizing everyone who watches the show to vote for him.

I'm with you. I listened to Carly's "Blackbird" from a couple weeks ago on just audio, and it was beautiful, no doubt about it. I won't go see the AI tour and can't stand the creepy looks some of them give the camera when they're trying to "connect," so it doesn't bug me a bit. I'd much rather have someone win that can sing well.

I'm sure anyone watching tonight knows this, but David did just acknowledge that all the arrangements he has done prior to tonight were someone else's. Tonight was his own, though, and I think it worked really well. But, I'm biased at this point. :)

it was another horrible coma inducing performance from Jason Castro

Dolly Parton week...who thought this was a good idea? Seriously!

I missed the show, but finally found the performances online (but they didn't have the judges' comments -- boo).

I LOVE David Cook's new haircut, THANK GOD they found something to do with that hair of his! It drove me crazy and was the only thing I didn't like about him. Now he's all good. And I LOVED his performance tonight.

I don't know what order they went in on the show, so in no particular order, I also loved Michael Johns, David A., I thought Syesha was good, I thought Brooke was so-so, I thought Carly was so-so, I thought Jason was awful, I'm struggling to even remember Kristy (and this should have been her shining week!), and who am I forgetting... agh.... oh! Ramiele. Well, the fact that I couldn't remember her pretty much says everything.

I'm guessing the bottom 3 will be Ramiele, Kristy and Jason. Though I won't be sad if Brooke or Carly end up in there (although I don't think they will). None of the others deserve bottom 3, IMO.

Praying for a Jason kick-off, praying for a Jason kick-off, praying for a Jason kick-off!!

If my daughter's friends are any indication, they are all into Jason so he may be getting the teenybopper "he's a hottie" vote and may not go for a while!

Sadly I only know about 3 Dolly songs..so I had to really judge the kids on their performances...

Michael Johns was the best..who knew he had that bluesy tone
Carly- this girl can really sing
Syesha- I think the judges were a tad too harsh on her.. she combined two versions and I think it worked for her

I'm sorry but for me David A and David C.. do the same thing every week.. I'm over them

Brooke, Ramiele and Jason are my bottom 3 picks.. hopefully Jason will FINALLY go home

I'd like to see Kristy Lee Cook go but VFTW is doing their campaign to keep her in. My next pick to go is Jason Castro but the teen crowd loves him. I have a feeling that Ramiele is going this week. She's got a good voice but hasn't done all that well these past few weeks.