American Idol’s Top 10 had to tell everyone the date of their birth and then sing a song from that year. I wouldn’t really call this a “theme” - it’s more of a chance for the contestants to be able to have another shot at picking a song that they might be more familiar with, rather than, say, 60’s week - which gives them a chance to shine in their element more, or something. And a few of them did.

What was the deal with Paula’s fingerless black leather gloves? Does she have arthritis and was trying to keep her joints warm? Whatever … they were ugly and she should fire her wardrobe consultant. On to the opinions of the performances. They’re going to be rushed - I’m really tired and still have a ton of things to do today.

Ramiele Malubay -”Alone:” This is a good song by Heart. It’s a big song. While I didn’t think it was bad, Ramiele wasn’t quite up to it. Her voice isn’t “powerful” enough to make those big notes resonate with the listener. I like Ramiele well enough, but I think she’ll be in the bottom 3 this week. And the fact she had to go first might seal her doom.

Jason Castro - “Fragile:” I used to be a big Police fan, but after his first solo album, I stopped paying attention to Sting’s music. So I wasn’t familiar with this tune - ie, I had no bias. I considered Jason’s performance to be pleasant but not very engaging. He was too quiet, as well. I don’t think he’s in danger this week, but if he doesn’t give America another “Hallejuia” type wow-factor, he might be next week.

Syesha Mercado - “If I Were Your Woman” (Gladys Knight and the Pips): The first half or so of her performance was pretty good. But her power-vocals in the 2nd half were more like shrieking than singing, imo. And she went back to the pom-pom/bozo hairdo. The judges seemed to like it a fair amount - I’m betting the voting audience will as well, but I don’t know if her fan base is large enough to overcome the fact a few others were so much stronger tonight.

Chikezie - “If Only for One Night:” Cheesy doesn’t do slow ballads very well. He doesn’t seem to know what to do with himself on stage if he can’t bounce around to the beat and all that stuff that the judges call his “personality.” Was it just me, or did he look like he was ready to burst a vein trying to hold in an outraged reaction to Simon’s initial comments? I still don’t like him and with that performance I’m hoping he’ll be in the bottom 3, but I don’t think he will be.

Brooke White - “Every Breath You Take:” I have HUGE teen-ager memories about this song, so my bias is strong. I love Brooke, but this wasn’t her best. She seemed to try to turn it into a love song, when that’s not what this Police song is about, at all. Vocally it was ok, but Sting’s vocals made you feel something down in here *thumps chest* while Brooke’s was just generic and made me feel nothing.

Michael Johns - “We Will Rock You”/”We Are the Champions:” Have I mentioned that Michael is hot? Oh yea. Tonight he was lucky enough that his birth year allowed him to sing another Queen song. Again, no one - I repeat no one - can ever beat Freddie’s vocals on these songs, but Michael’s performance was solid. He hit all the big notes, he didn’t look foolish, and he got the studio audience really excited. Unfortunately, it still doesn’t make me believe Michael can be a consistent performer with anything but Queen songs. He did seem much more serious during the judge commentary and more confident on the stage etc. - so we can hope that maybe he’ll finally start picking it up every week.

Carly Smithson - “Total Eclipse of the Heart:” If you grew up in the 80’s and don’t love this song, well, poo on you. :) At first I was worried Carly would blast my eardrums away singing this one, but the arrangement was in a low enough range that I was able to listen without pain. And it was good. I thought she nailed the vocals …except for the last note-run. I also think the judges had cotton in their ears, since they didn’t like it as much as I think they should have.

Kristy Lee Cook - “God Bless the USA:” As Kristy started singing, my husband stared at the US flags being displayed on the stage screens and said “Vote For Kristy - Support Our Troops! - End the War!” I laughed. I don’t care if Kristy actually loves this song or not - it’s a song choice that seems designed to garner patriotic votes - ie, “if you don’t vote for me, you don’t like the USA!” and I hate that kind of crap. Simon even said it was a “very clever” song choice, and you know he was thinking the same thing. However, Kristy’s vocals actually weren’t terrible. A little pitchy and bland and always forgettable, but probably some of her best vocals so far. So she just might be safe this week. Then again, her fans might believe she’s safe too, and vote less since they’ll think they don’t have to “save” her, causing her to fall.

David Archuleta - “You’re the Voice”: Never heard of the song, and I wasn’t enlightened as he kept singing. The song seemed somewhat campy and childish - I’d have to agree w/Simon that it felt like an amusement park performance number - or perhaps a “high school musical”. The lyrics slammed you over the head with “don’t miss the message, people, here’s a message!” Even his vocals weren’t top of his game, being a little pitchy here and there. But of course, The Chosen One is safe. I’m beginning to wonder, however, if he’s one of those performers that starts to freeze up towards the end of competitions and will continue to impress less and less.

David Cook - “Billie Jean”: I’d never heard Michael Jackson’s hit arranged in this fashion before. At first I thought David C. had done this all on his own, which would have been big bonus points, but a quick Google and I discovered that no, he was essentially playing a cover-arrangement originated by some guy called Chris Cornell. So basically, David did a great job singing an emo-alt rock version of a famous song. I’m not sure whether to be impressed or my usual “meh.” Still, I can admit he had a fine performance that outshined everyone else and he is definitely safe.

My warbling predictions - Ramiele, Kristy Lee Cook, Chikezie, with Ramiele going home.

Well, this time I was very much wrong on my “predictions” for the bottom three. Not surprising really, since at this point I think that it could be anyone’s game…for the #2 slot. David Archuleta, I suspect, is of course still favored to win. But second place is still very much contested.

In short, the bottom three this week were Kristy Lee Cook, Amanda Overmyer and Carly Smithson.

Kristy - no surprise. She’s been there a lot this season, and it wouldn’t shock me if she continues to be there as long as she sticks around. Amanda - a little bit of a surprise to me, mostly because I thought she had a stronger voter base. Sure, she was one-note, and sure, she didn’t have much range as a performer. But she appealed to a certain crowd, and I thought they’d carry her through another week. Apparently I was wrong. Carly - that was a big surprise to me. She hasn’t been my favorite by any means, but I thought her vocals were generally good enough to give her an automatic shoo-in for the Top10. Perhaps voters are tired of her scowling browline.

The hour was full of the usual time-fills, including another commercial starring the Top11. I have to admit, my mouth turned up at the corners when Michael Johns was driving the car. He’s just so cute/hot, you can’t deny it. My grin grew bigger during the phoned-in question segment, where someone asked Michael Johns whether being on AI was all he thought it would be. Michael’s reply included his own assessment that he seemed to have peaked during Hollywood week, but he hoped to get it back. That pretty much sums up how all his fans are feeling at the moment, and it was kinda cool that he could acknowledge that about himself. Yes, as hard as I’ve been on Michael the past weeks, I still want him to do well. Because, damnit, he’s hot, ok? :)

I fast-forwarded through much of the filler, to get to the end. And who was the person going home? Was it Kristy? No … once again she was safe. Was it Carly? No … which I’m thankful for, since she deserves more chances on stage, even if she hurts my eardrums. So, that meant that Amanda was going home. She took it in stride and good spirit…which finally made it clear to me why I liked her despite the fact she was so limited in performance scope. Out of all the contestants, Amanda seemed the most genuine. She was herself, and damn what anyone else thought she should do. I never had the feeling she was trying to pander to the judges, or to the audience - she was always saying “this is who I am, if you like me, cool, but if you don’t, hey that’s cool too.” Does that make sense? So for that reason, I will miss her, and I wish her success with whatever she undertakes in the future.

P.S. I just had to mention another Michael Johns note - when Ryan said “You’re safe!” Michael crouched on one knee in relief, which was super duper cute. Yeah…he was worried he was going home this week, that’s for sure. So was I, for that matter. Michael, you obviously have a huge fan-base who refuse to let you disappear - I mean, he wasn’t even in the bottom 3 (again). Heh.

American Idol apparently had so many demands for it, that they brought back the Beatles for last night’s show. So we were all treated to the Top 11 singing yet more Beatles tunes. This time around most of them did not, in my opinion, stand out or do very well. It was largely all mediocre, and my lack of enthusiasm caused me to brush my teeth and go to bed, rather than hurrying to my computer to write my thoughts to this blog. It’s not that the Top 11 all did horrible but they pretty much all put me to sleep. Either that, or all our current preparing-to-move put me to sleep. I’m not really sure which.

A top moment during the show for me was when Ryan pulled a cellphone away from a “ringer” in the audience to do an ad spiel. It was a top moment because it was so hilarious. Ryan, of course, knew it was a blatant ad work-in, and he didn’t look terribly comfortable about it. So he played on that with some sardonic and possibly sarcastic wordplays and expressions. And at the end, he motioned to the judges whilst saying something about “raising their glasses” - a reference to the ever-present red plastic Coca-Cola cups that Paula, Randy & Simon drink from. I giggled.

Amanda Overmyer - Back in the USSR: I have a complaint about the AI band. They’re too loud. They drown out the singers, making their voices fade/merge into the instrumentals to a point where it’s hard to judge the vocals. Maybe this is on purpose, to hide the fact some of the singers really don’t have much of a vocal range. Amanda’s performance tonight was just ok. I found it to be a little bit shrieky in tone, and even her usual entertaining prancing around the stage seemed a bit mellowed out this time around. Still, I think she’s safe enough for another week.

Kristry Lee Cook - You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away: Kristy sat on a stool this week. That’s often not a very good sign. I can sum up her whole time on stage in this way: “zzzzzzzzz.” At least it wasn’t hyper-kinetic country, but the arrangement was in too low of a pitch for her, which made her vocals sound breathy and weak. I don’t know if it was her performance or the actual arrangement, but it seemed like she slowed the pace of the song down, as well. Since the song is already fairly slow, slowing it down even more just gave it more of that “zzzzzzzz” factor. In her video-taped segment, Kristy mentioned the fact that she’s pretty much always been in the bottom 3, and I don’t think she’s going to change that this week. Definitely not safe.

David Archuleta - The Long and Winding Road: The Wonder Kid made up for his goof-up last week with a good performance of this classic Beatle tune. He sang it well, no mistake. He’s still adorable, and he’s once again back on top with no reason to fear. I still can’t quite put my finger on what it is about him that I don’t like, however. One petty thing: the constant lip-licking - someone give that boy some Chapstick. Or perhaps it’s because his voice is, to me, in that middle stage between young-boy-choir sound and mature-adult sound. He still sounds like he belongs in an all-boy harmonizing band … it’s a certain quality or lilt to the voice. Yes, he is still young, and harmonizing boy-bands can be entertaining, so I don’t mean that as a big criticism. But it makes me wonder what he’s going to sound like 10 years from now. At any rate, he’s definitely safe.

Michael Johns - A Day In The Life: Michael, Michael, Michael. Another of my personal favorite Beatle tunes, and for the first couple lines, I thought Michael was going to pull it off. Then he lost the first high note, and it was all downhill from there. When he picked up the speed for the one fast-paced bit, he bounced up and down in time to the music like a demented jack-in-the-box. Again, if I just listen to Michael’s vocals without staring at the TV, it’s not quite as bad as first impressions might give, but it was still a poor performance. For the first time, I think Michael is not safe. He might even be in the bottom three this week. If he is, and he isn’t eliminated, I hope being in that position gives him a kick in his pants. He also should stop picking songs that have “personal meaning” to him - liking a song doesn’t mean you can sing it.

Brooke White - Here Comes The Sun: Not nearly as strong a performance as last week. Brooke came out wearing this funky yellow dress that looked like layered kitchen-window curtains. Ick. The song suits her, but early in her performance she did this little dance-twirl and a corny “whooo!” popped out of her mouth. Double-ick. Still, she has that infectious smile and her vocals were solid if not exactly super-inspiring. She’s safe for this week, but I hope she does better next time or she may start to fade.

David Cook - Daytripper: The band was once again drowning out the vocals. Which is saying something considering how much David C. screams. He pulled out the voice-box - or as my husband likes to call it, the “squawk-box” - for a few brief moments. Not impressive. And once again, he turned a song into the typical alt-rock arrangement. I grant that David C. has alt-rock pipes, but just like with Amanda, he needs to do something besides turn every single song into the same genre/style and arrangement. In other words, I still don’t like him. And I think all the recent attention is going to his head more every week. As Simon said “I don’t think it was as good as you think it was.” But he’s also definitely safe.

Carly Smithson - Blackbird: Great voice potential, ok performance, decent work with lower pitch range. Her “big” notes still cause my eardrums to fold in on themselves. My upper-range hearing ability is higher than average and the way she modulates her voice on those notes just plain hurts, like a loud ringing in the ears might. But I still give her kudos for her abilities as a singer, even if my own ears can’t quite find a comfort zone. Side note: there are two things I’ve noticed about Carly - one, she could use to stop scowling so much. Those lines between her eyes are going to be canyons before long, and her facial expressions border on the almost scary at times. Two, her accent seems to be getting stronger every week. What’s up with that? Was she trying to “hide” it before, because she was afraid voters might be turned off by it? Was she ashamed of her accent before? It’s a little odd.

Jason Castro - Michelle: Arrrrgh. Every time Jason sang the word “MIEH-shell” I cringed. That one word was terrible, the way he accented it. the rest of the performance was ok, but kinda boring. Nothing outstanding and nothing stood out. Vocals seemed a little too “soft”. And this time around he seemed like he might be on some … uh … pharmaceutical aid. I’m not sure he’s got a lot upstairs, if you know what I mean. But he still seems like such a nice guy, and his grin gathers you in and makes you want to hug him, so he’s still safe for now. But he might run into problems in a couple weeks if he doesn’t come out with a strong performance again.

Syesha Mercado - Yesterday: NO NO NO NO. This is the one song I was hoping no one would do. I can’t be impartial for this song, I’m sorry. You can’t mess with this song, you can’t change its arrangement as much as Syesha did here, and you can’t “force” the emoting to a point where we can tell it’s being “forced”. But wait - what about her vocals? They were pleasant, sure, and worked well with her range, and the judges liked it. Syesha also changed her hair again, which I personally liked. I think she was trying hard to reinvent herself after her bottom-3 scare last week. I may have hated her version of Yesterday, but again I seem to be in the minority, so I suppose it might have saved her arse.

Chikezie - I’ve Just Seen a Face: It was Chikezie’s turn do a weird country-jig. The first bit of his performance seemed pleasant and ok, but then he pulled out this harmonica and out came the country hoe down. Ugh. Last week his inventiveness and daring turned out well, this week it … did … not. I’m really not sure if he’s safe or not this time around. He might have built a big enough fan base by now to be safe.

Ramiele Malubay - I Should’ve Known Better: After being accused of being boring and dull last week, Ramiele tried to pick it up with a more upbeat performance. Unfortunately, she was still boring and vanilla. And she still wears too much lip gloss, making her upper lip look swollen and overly pouty, which visually overwhelms me every time they do a close up on her face. Something about her during this performance screamed out “hyper-active 12 year old from the 80’s Valley Girl” period. She’s still cute, she still has a good vocal instrument, but her performances are not exciting anybody. That hat/outfit didn’t help either.

I predict Ramiele, Kristy Lee Cook will be in the bottom three. It’s hard to predict who will be the third. I’d guess either Chikeze or Michael. Regardless, I pray think that Kristy will be the one going home.  Edit: minor re-tweaking of some wording throughout.

Ground squirrels having fun by the coast in Monterey, California.

No need to be coy about it at this point - plus I’m too tired to write up a snazzy recap of the show - the voters have decided, and David Hernandez is the latest Idol contestant to exit, stage left. It wasn’t surprising, but it was a little disappointing to me. I really think Kristy Lee Cook should have gotten the boot this time, but I guess her golden good looks have given her a pass once more.

Honestly, Hernandez had a better overall voice. However, he was a little more broadly inconsistent, which likely made voters tired of wondering if he was going to be good or bad from one week to the next. Still, we’re running out of obvious cannon fodder, so I’m hoping Kristy will be gone next week.

If I didn’t have DVR, I would have been seriously annoyed by the fact that American Idol has decided to force us to listen to the entire bottom three sing their songs over a second time. My ears (and eyes) couldn’t take listening to either Kristy’s or David H. mutilating Beatles tunes once more. Luckily for me, I could fast forward, thus turning an hour-long show into about 15 minutes. Yay for technology.

The best thing about the episode was seeing the ever-cute Jim Carrey in giant elephant feet/ears (he was promoting the Horton Hears a Who film) and the quick glimpse of Sanjaya in the studio audience. I don’t like Sanjaya, but it was amusing to see him there. Oh and … Ryan Seacrest showed the his obession with Chikezie’s near-bald pate wasn’t a one time thing. Ryan, Ryan … you’re getting stranger all the time.

Finally - if you’re wondering if I think the Hernandez “scandal” of where he used to be employed was a factor in him being voted off - well, I suppose it’s possible. But I’d like to think people aren’t that shallow. Who bloody cares where he used to work, or what he did, or what his sexuality might be. The question in terms of the show was: could he handle the pressure and continue to give us entertaining performances? Apparently the answer was: no.

American Idol’s Top 12 contestants tackled the songs of the Beatles tonight. With a couple exceptions, they were moderately successful, although of course none could compare with the original classic tunes they were being forced to sing. I mean, you just can’t “outdo” the Beatles. Sorry. You can, however, do a really good cover, and some of the Top 12 pulled that off, while others were ok to mediocore, and the rest were just plain lousy. In other words, typical American Idol.

The shocker of the night had to do with David Archuleta, aka The Chosen One, who as everyone knows has been slated by the media and general public to be the “surefire” winner this year. Well, we all know making predictions like that can end up. Especially when the person in question has a really off night. Whoo, boy. But don’t worry - I seriously doubt our David is in any danger. He simply has too many fans.

Syesha Mercado: “Got to Get You Into My Life” - Yes! She did something different with her hair. She looked lovely. Not that she doesn’t look lovely with her usual ‘do, but as I said last week, very nice to see some variety. Anyway, her performance was all right. Some good notes, nice arrangement. But in the end, I found it a little bland and forgettable - not something the AI audience is going to reward with tons of votes. Since I don’t think she has the strongest fan-base, she could be in trouble.

Chikezie: “She’s a Woman” - His outfit was mellower but I never did like the casual-preppy look. His performance starts out like a hoe-down than starts to turn more “rock.” It was a decent performance, but I don’t know - I still admire his vocal talent, but he doesn’t do anything for me personally. The judges loved him this night, however. And what was up with Ryan Seacrest’s spazzing out over Chikezie’s head and running around the stage? Very weird. Perhaps Paula slipped Ryan some of her “happy juice” during the break.

Ramiele Malubay: “In My Life” - She’s cute, she’s short, she can hit those “power notes” like crazy. But tonight, she’s also extremely boring. Borrrriiiiinnnng. One of the things I’ve liked about this season of AI is that there is a decided lack of dull predictable ballads, even among most of the women performers. I like music with a beat, and Ramiele’s performance had none. Plus her voice was too quiet or weak or something through most of the vocals. It’s not that she messed up or did terribly, but not entertaining and completely forgettable. I think she’s in mild danger - maybe not this week, but because we have a couple others that may have shot themselves in the foot a lot worse, but …

Jason Castro: “If I Fell” - Not as strong this week as last week. His lack of stage experience seemed to show through a little more today, but vocally it wasn’t bad. He grows on me more each week, seeming more and more adorable. I like how we seem to be watching him grow as a singer/performer as he goes along.

Carly Smithson: “Come Together” - My eardrums still don’t like her higher notes…a lot of the time it just sounds shrieky to me, and listening to just the audio of the song through headphones makes me wince a little. I think this reflects more on my eardrum’s shape and design more than her vocal ability, tho. She sure rocked it out, and it was far better than I thought it was going to be. Carly showed some genre range ability, as well as stepping up her stage-persona a notch. I give her props.

David Cook: “Eleanor Rigby” - Vocals decent, stage performance the same as always. I loved this Beatles tune, and while DavidC did a fair job at giving it a “rocker” arrangement, I’m tired of his rock-clothes, his smug rock-attitude (even if it is more genuine than Robbie’s was) and the repetitive nature of his alt-rock sounding vocal uplilt. But I’m sure he’s safe, since I’m obviously in the minority.

Brooke White: “Let It Be” - One of my favorite Beatles song ever. I was terrified of it being mangled to death. I shouldn’t have worried. I loved the real piano and Brooke’s playing. I loved her singing and the emotional vulnerability she showed. The only bad thing for me was that the piano was obviously distracting Brooke from being able to “perform” to the audience/camera. I think she should have ignored the camera and just concentrated on playing/singing. Of the women, Brooke is the one I’m cheering for.

David Hernandez: “I Saw Her Standing There” - Very campy, very tortured. Bad arrangement, bad dancing. Vocals were actually ok, but the “performance” was so awful I think he just hurt his chances pretty badly. Not much else to say than that.

Amanda Overmyer: “You Can’t Do That” - Good strong vocals, but sounded like she was mumbling the words half the time. Plus, it was still “typical” Overmyer. I’d really like to hear her do something softer or more mellow to show range and versatility. I have the feeling she can’t do soft or mellow or another genre, and that’s going to be her downfall. But at least she was smiling this week. And she absolutely commands the stage with her presence/moves.

Michael Johns: “Across the Universe” - YES. Finally, Michael does something different than his usual “rock with the microphone” style singing/performance. I’ll be honest and say I’ve never liked the original “Across the Universe” very much. Too hippie or whatever, for me. But with Michael’s voice it became more of an alt-rock ballad and I enjoyed it. Michael managed to control his vocals this time and the result was a much smoother and consistent vocal performance. It still doesn’t beat his “Bohemian Rhapsody”, and he couldn’t seem to keep his arm from wanting to do at least one of those “raise in the air for dramatic emphasis” moments, but at least was different than his usual and it didn’t feel as much as if he was just “coasting” along in a “The Doors mode”. The judges did have a good point that the song was a bit “boring” but I don’t think that’ll matter. He has enough fans that he should be safe.

Kristy Lee Cook: “Eight Days a Week” - *shakes head* The country blonde turned the simplistic rock tune of the Beatles into a horrible, Speedy-Gonzalez paced country vocal, complete with spangled top and ripped-up jeans. I don’t like country music much, so I’m prejudiced, but … all you can say is … terrible. BUT - again, I do give props for her guts to take a risk and do what she wanted with the song. Sometimes the risk doesn’t gives us the gains we were hoping for. Kristy has a good chance of going home, unless the country-fans (and male fans) vote enough to keep her from the brink.

David Archuleta: “We Can Work It Out” - He said he was nervous, he looked nervous, and not long into his performance he proved he was nervous by forgetting the words. Recovering from that, he proceeded to wander around the stage, and forgot the words again another couple of times. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the vocals weren’t as strong as in previous weeks. He seemed uncomfortable and you just had to feel awful for him. We all know he has the talent, the stage persona, and the experience - but he’s also 17 years old and this time the pressure got to him. How will this effect his chances of winning? Well, if it’s the only time he really “messes up” - I think not much. I hope he won’t let this one bad performance toss his confidence. I may not be his biggest fan, but I do know he deserves to be in the Top5 at least. One wonders if the producers of AI wanted him to be less-than-stellar this time to make sure the viewers would stay tuned into the show. ie, the more everyone thinks Archuleta is a shoo-in for #1, the more likely they are to tune out. This is reality TV after all - tossing in a monkey wrench now and then is good for ratings. Not that I really believe in a conspiracy. It’s just fun to doodle about. :)

At any rate - I think Kristy, Syesha and David Hernandez should be worried tomorrow.