JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum American Idol 2009

When Danny chose "What hurts the most" I thought, "man if he can pull this off, he will be a contender". But to do it, he would have to do as well as Gary LeVox in the Rascal Flatts original. I think he gave it his all; but now he has showed us that he is no Gary Levox- and that does not bode well for his chances to finish on top.

My favorite for the Final Four are Adam, Allison, Kris and Danny. All the other 4 show significant weaknesses. Scott isn't any better than some of the kids in my sons choir!

Allison has been in the bottom 3 twice so you could make a logical case for her NOT to be in the final four but she deserves to be there. Like Adam had to do after his outrageous cover of "Ring of Fire", she must now play a little politics: dress cute and rein in her urge to be too extreme.

Not surprised and kind of glad Meagan went home. She showed a good amount of "attitude" that I'm sure is the reason Simon said "forget it." I found her aping at the camera annoying.
What was with the crow wing flapping?? weird.

No idea about the flapping...that WAS weird. Both girls did it.

On the other point, yeah, she sure does know how to flirt with the camera. It doesn't bother me. The VJ's all do it (VH1, etc).

My guess is she's probably already had an offer from some producer. She'll still be going on the road tour with the rest of the contestants so will have time to polish her performance skills a lot. In the mean time, she can spend time with her toddler and be a mom.

Who knows, she may end up being another Kellie Pickler: 1. Not a good singer, but a good looker; 2. knew how to flirt with the camera and was very likeable.

My guess is that Adam and Alison will in the finale. Adam is a shoe-in, and the judges will save Alison should she get voted off.

They keep trashing Alison and driving her into the bottom 3. They had nothing bad they could say about her performance, so they spent a huge amount of time slamming her.. for her clothes... I don't get why they are against the idea of a great young singer with a bright future ahead of her doing well? She's not going to win.. that's a 1 horse race with 3 second tier folks vying for who will compete with Adam in the top 2. (By the way, Adam can't lose on talent.. he can only lose on non-talent factors.. like if little girls who vote like one of the others better). Alison, Kris and Danny are all on equal footing and along with Adam are worlds above all the rest. But the judges seem to want Lil Rounds who sucks to be in that final 4 instead of Alison.. who needs another weak R&B wannabe singer? Didn't they learn anything from previous boring R&B singers? They don't have a country act this year so they can't mimic the success of Carrie Underwood, but they have Alison who CAN mimic the success in the Pop/Rock genres. But they just don't want her to do well. And it's clear that's not based on their opinions of her singing, but something else. Hmmmm.

Meagan was cannon fodder. So is Anoop. So is Scott. Scott is that contestant they have every year that is terrible but gets propped up for no apparent reason long enough to outstay his welcome. He has sung well exactly 1 time on the show and that was in Hollywood week. Since then he's been terrible. Even this week, his best, was cheesy and lame from start to finish.. but at least he wasn't out of tune the entire time.

So we'll watch the next few weeks as Anoop, Scott and probably Matt all go down. Sadly Alison may end up out with them.. even though she doesn't deserve to go. Then we'll have Danny and Kris trying to fight over the table scraps left after Adam is done eating then alive.

Brian

think it will be
Adam, Kris, Alison, & Danny will be in the top 4

when you go to the AI community
http://myidol.americanidol.com/go/forum/viewcategory/32575/Current_Season

here's how many threads & responses that fans have been written about each

Adam Lambert 1,870 53,663

Anoop Desai 1,045 30,744

Matt Giraud 702 19,199

Danny Gokey 605 17,174

Allison Iraheta 425 3,817

Kris Allen 408 4,809

Scott MacIntyre 365 12,296

Lil Rounds 172 1,126



Megan Joy 522 7,791
Michael Sarver 306 5,349
Jasmine Murray 105 462
Jorge Nuñez 116 2,408
Alexis Grace 202 1,827

Interesting info Ande. Thanks for posting it. (And nice to see you around.. haven't seen you in ages!).

With those numbers it seems weird that Lil Rounds is still on the show doesn't it? I don't think she deserves to be.

Brian

TOP 8 – APRIL 7/09

Here’s my ranking, from bottom to top:

SCOTT (The Search is Over) – unfortunately this was totally the wrong song choice for Scott. He’s not a rock singer and it felt like the music was off kilter – something in the timing didn’t work. Instead of showing Scott’s skill, the song made his vocal weakness quite clear. His instrument is really just not ready for a singing competition.

LIL (What’s Love Got to Do With It) – Seemed a bit low at the start. Tina Turner? Why not Shirley Bassey or Whitney Houston or something that sits higher and brings out the voice more effectively. She did pull it out a little about half way through. Again, song choice. Kara made an excellent point about the low range not working effectively. Choose songs that accentuate your strengths, then.

KRIS (All She wants to do is Dance) – good vocals, on pitch, nice groove. Not bad. Didn’t think it was really challenging, but it was fun.

ALISON (I can’t Make You Love Me) – her voice is very mature for a 16 year old. I thought she sang with restraint and simplicity, this served her well. The song didn’t thrill me as a show of skill, but she sang it well.

ANOOP (True Colours) – solid tone, very emotive, on pitch, nice bloom on the voice, sweetly sung. Nice modulation and phrasing. Yes, not brilliant but solid.

MATT (Part-time Lovers) – very musical, easy riffs, good arrangement, sung with great spirit. Fun.

DANNY (Stand by Me) – great song choice, a little nasal in quality sometimes. Secure, confident, worked it out – a very good performance.

ADAM (Mad World) – excellent control, beautiful phrased, sung from the heart, good song choice. Magical, powerful performance. I wrote “a star” and then Simon rose to his feet and gave a standing ovation. This is what good voice training can do – assist in the expression of the artist within.

Likely Scott or Lil will go. It should be Scott. Give Lil one more chance to show what she can do with the right song.

I thought that overall, tonight's performances were not all that strong with a couple of exceptions.

Here's my take on the top 8, in performance order:

1. Danny Gokey (Stand by Me) - 8; I thought this was a respectable, but not outstanding performance - especially for the show opener. Unique arrangement that the judges liked as well.

2. Kris Allen (All She Wants To Do Is Dance) - 7; I loved Don Henley's version, but this version was slowed down and made into some stock R&B groove. If he'd have just kept the same Henley rock groove and kept it rock, it would have gone over better. This was disappointing and he could be in trouble.

3. Lil Round (What's Love Got To Do With It) - 5; a bad karaoke version. The best comments the judges found were that she looked good tonight. She was pitchy and totally unoriginal. She's had a few bad weeks in a row, so I think she's also in trouble.

4. Anoop Desai (True Colors) - 7; not bad, but I heard more than a few pitchy notes. He didn't pull me in and convince me he was sincere. He's no idol and will probably go about the same time as Scott.

5. Scott MacIntyre (The Search Is Over) - 6; he had some really weak parts of his voice too far out front in this song. He sounded like someone "trying" to sing like a pro - and NOT succeeding. This was one of the few performances where I couldn't wait for it to end...

6. Alison Iraheta (I Can't Make You Love Me) - 9; finally, the judges heard what I've been saying (along with Brian, too) that this girl is pretty amazing. Easily the best performance up to this point in the show. She took a difficult song to sing and did a unique interpretation that still respected the original version. Excellent!

7. Matt Giraud (Part-Time Lover) - 8; That's a generous 8. I don't know why the judges were going ga-ga over this performance. I was sure Simon would pull the ol' "self-indulgent" cliche he overuses. It really was overly indulgent with the mock megaphone/nasal vocals at the beginning and (at times) pitchiness. I will say that even with that, I enjoyed the performance, so he was entertaining at least. He's definitley safe this week.

8. Adam Lambert (Mad World) - 10; Adam, Adam, Adam...the guy is simply killing his competition. I had never heard this song before, but he just sucked me in and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole song. He doesn't seem to be burning out early...he's still in a league of his own.

Top 2: Adam and Alison
Bottom 3: Lil Round, Kris Allen, and Scott MacIntyre.

I think Lil will be going home. She's had several bad weeks in a row, whereas Kris has been getting better - except for this week when he mis-judged the song & arrangement. I think the Tweenie girls are voting (and texting) for him more so than the Bible Belt voting for Lil. Scott is there simply to show people that the judges can be kind. I'm finding it terribly hard to believe he's getting enough votes to keep him there legitimately.

Wow.. was that a suck fest.. it was by far the weakest show of the season... they ALWAYS have a week each season that is terrible...

They didn't even get the timing right so I bet no one is going home because Adam performed well after most DVR's were done recording. We had added 5 minutes to ours and only because of that did we catch his performance.. most did not.

So.. who were the best this week? Nobody was great. Not even Adam.

Best of the night:

Kris: They trashed him.. but vocally and vibe wise, he came off as the most commercially polished and accessible of the night. He was on par with John Mayer in every way vocally and charismatic. I wonder if he can write good songs?

Adam: It's really just status quo. I'd say it was his weakest and most irrelevent performance to date. But his worst is still better than most of these folks best. By the way, that song was actually made famous by JPF member Gary Jules and Gary does it SO much better than Adam.

Alison: My least favorite performance from her of the season. But she did do 1 thing better than all the others: She interpreted the song with feelings and you could tell she knew every word and sang the story rather than the notes. This girls is mind blowingly mature for her age. Most singers just sing past whatever lyric is there. She lived those words at 16 for that 1.5 minutes. Very impressive.

Anoop: He's got a great tone for ballads. Boring, but sang well.

Worst of the Night:

Scott: He's simply an embarassment. And they talk to him with kid gloves as if he's mentally impaired instead of physically. It's disgusting and offensive to me. But he needs to go. He's not even as good as an average open mic performer. Sad.

Lil Rounds: once again, she needs to go. She's gets all these props for being an amazing singer. Really? When was that exactly? She's the worst female vocalist ever to make it this far. Hopefully they'll nuke 2 people next week (as I doubt anyone is going home this week) and her and scott will go together. THEN we'll have a respectable contest.

3. Matt Giraud: Part Time lover? Really? That was pathetic. Bad song choice.. cheesy performance. Pointless.

4. Danny Gokey: Speaking of pointless. What a lame ass song choice. Taking a tired old song from the 60's and saying it was a cover of a re-release was really pathetic. And he sang it EXACTLY the same as he sings every single song. He has zero diversity and zero musical personality. Nice guy who can sing and who I'd never buy a record from or even want to see him perform live. A total yawner.

They desperately need a strong mentor like Barry Manilow who is fantastic with the kids in previous seasons. The energy on the show right now is very low.

Brian

I was only able to see the last ten minutes of the show last night. However, I was able to view them on the AI website. The best was Allison and Kris. I still do not see the fascination with Adam even though Simon gave him a standing ovation. Lil was disappointing this week. When is she going too blow us away with her powerhouse vocals. Matt, Danny and Anoop need to be more original and blow the audience away. Scott was medium. The bottom two:

Lil
Scott

Reading the comments, guess I'm not so sorry I missed last night's show. I did leave the TV on for the Bud, the dog while I was gone and made sure it was set to Fox/AI ... I'll have to ask Bud his thoughts of the performances.

I keep my DVR set to record 15 minutes past - just in case.

Yeah...they keep talking about how great a singer Lil is. I can't remember a time when I felt that way - maybe Hollywood week?

Alison needs to warm up to the audience. That's probably her weakest point.

I did NOT enjoy Kris' performance at all. According to one the prediction sites, dialidol, he's most likely to get voted off. If that were to happen, do you think the judges would use up their one "save" on him? I kind of doubt it. They would want to use that for someone who is more likely to win, and I don't think Kris is likely to win.

i didn't understand why they all flipped out over 'part time lover'? that was so confusing to me. all the judges loved it... i kept waiting for simon to say 'karaoke'.

i'm not really connecting to any of the performers for some reason... ah well, maybe next season

RESULTS - Apr 8/09

ADAM - safe. Good. No suprise.

KRIS - judges said he was boring & indulgent. I don't think so. Yes, Kris is safe.

ANOOP - judges said he was original & flawless - in the bottom 3.

DANNY - judges said he sang well, made song his own, brilliant. Safe.

MATT - judges praised his vocal ability, incredible on every level. Safe.

SCOTT - judges were not impressed - in the bottom 3. Good.

ALISON - judges loved her rendition, a la Kelly Clarkson. Safe. Darn right.

LIL - she should be bottom 3. Beautiful karaoke, 3rd rate Tina Turner. Needs to be more original - in the bottom three.

So we have Anoop, Lil and Scott on the stools waiting.

In the meantime, let's talk about Scott, cause I've been thinking about him all night. As a voice teacher it is part of my ethical obligation to be both supportive and also honest. I appreciate Scott for all he is, but at this moment in time, he does not belong in this competition. It is a disservice to his talent to allow him to think he is currently singing at a professional level. We must have enough respect for him to be honest in our assessment of his instrument and his skill right now. I believe in dreams but I also believe in hard work and humility. My coaches paid me the compliment of using their eyes and ears and instincts to help me assess where I was, and shared their expertise with me so I could grow over time. They taught me to observe myself disspassionately, objectively, without judgement and use my awareness to know what needed work. When they told me something was very good, I knew it was excellent. They never led me astray. Their honesty was a gift to my process of growth as an artist.

Is it just me or is Kelly Pickler way off key? Ouch.

One person back to safety is.... Lil. Well, I disagree with that. Anoop clearly sang better than Lil last night. However, I think they both should stay. Hopefully that will be the result. We shall see.

Anoop & Scott. 34 million votes. 30,000 difference in votes between them. The lowest number of votes goes to Scott. I nod my head. Anoop is safe. This is right.

Scott needs to sing for a save, which I hope they will save this time. His performance doesn't change my mind. They are divided on the save, which suprises me. Simon finally speaks up. He's right. It doesn't diminish what Scott has accomplished, he will tour with the top ten, he has a chance to make a career. But for right now, he's going home.

Nice recap, Vikki.

I personally don't think Scott belonged in the top 12, but the fact that he made it this far was due mainly to the courtesy and compassion of the judges (and possibly fear of the ACLU OR EEOC or some other special-interest group). He has defintely run his course and then some.

The judges are definitely saving their "save" for someone who will have a chance at the #1 spot, and there are only a couple I can think of...

Yeah, my wife wanted me to fast forward through Kelly Pickler. She was a bit pitchy but definitey nice to look at. She was WAY way improved over Season 5 - she was painful to listen to back then - but she was funny and does have really nice legs. I'm sure she couldn't even sit down in that super-tight dress.

Flo-Rida was a typical rapper a-hole. He didn't even perform live - he was lip syncing. The kids seem to like him though. I guess my parents HATED that some of my favorite artists as a teenager had bad reputations for wild sex parties and trashing hotel rooms, so I guess what goes around...comes around.

Frankie Avalon DID sing live (and he definitely can't sing like he used to), but at least he showed some integrity by performing live.

Hey, did you notice that this week the Idols opening song was done LIVE? It was NOT lip synced! I guess enough people complained. It wasn't perfect (I heard some pitch and timing problems), but it was much more enjoyable simply because it had the human imperfections in it.

Next Week: Songs from Movies

They were NOT split on the vote. That was all just Political Correctness run amok. They SAID they were split because they don't want to be mean to Scott. But by being so patronizing and treating him differently BECAUSE of his physical limitation, they did exactly the wrong thing. People want to be treated based on merit, not on some non related factor. It's not as if Scott was born without vocal cords and was overcoming something that would affect singing. Their entire treatment of him with kid gloves and false praise was revolting and inexcusable.

Lil Rounds at least made the bottom 3... apparently Anoop can do nothing to save himself since he well outsang Lil Rounds every single week but still rates below her apparently. But Anoop has always been canon fodder with not only no chance of winning, but no chance of being in the top 2. He's already outsurvived his life expectancy on the show and might have one more week in him to survive should Lil Rounds tank once again, especially without Scott there to be even worse. Anyone want to bet she'll do some R&B version of a movie song again? Nah.. that would never happen. She'd be smart to do some type of theatrical performance, or maybe do a song from the 20's or something just to show a little personality and get out of the generic dreck she's done every week.

Two more weeks of Cannon fodder before things get serious in the race for second place.

Brian

I didn't know Gary Jules was a JPF member...I have his CDs , and they're pretty good ... as far as AI, here's Lambert's performance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XOpgcEOhC4

My wife and daughter are devoted to this show...me I'm too busy these days...but they tape it and play me what they think is great...and this one they absolutely loved! I agree it's a "breakthrough" that should put this guy as the odds on favourite to win...if he's not already there.

The way he made this "his own" by coming into the chorus in a unique way, and by his ending, and the way the angst came to the forefront...(you have to know how Jules does it to understand what I mean) was IMO what made it for me.

Here's Jules' version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4


Oh, and, from what Ive heard coming from them, Allison deserves to be there with Adam in the finals...great voice for such a youngster...

curious to see how things go in the coming weeks

Right now Adam seems to be the run away favorite,
Kris is talented, handsome, & very commercial,
Allison is a raspy voiced wunderkind, &
Danny is an excellent emotional singer.

Think Lil & Anoop might be next to go, but if someone makes a bad song choice or has an off night, the order might shift.

Ande

Top 2 will be Adam vs (Kris, Allison, or Danny)

Hey Larry....

Didn't hear this, but it got me thinkin' about possible choices for the contestants:

Adam: "Live and Let Die"

Danny: "Against All Odds"

Allison: "The Morning After"

Matt: "The Way You Look Tonight"

Lil: "The Way We Were"

Anoop: "A Whole New World"

Kris: "Streets of Philadelphia"

I guess the fact that I had a hard time picking songs for Anoop and Lil (these are just shots in the dark) reinforces some of the judges' comments: I'm having trouble pegging who they are as musicians too.

Anyhoo, this should be a fun week. There are tons of good options -- no excuses for poor song selection. I just pray Danny doesn't sing "Tears In Heaven" .

Feel free to join in the guessing game...

Beth

I'd like to hear Lil sing a James Bond theme a la Shirley Bassey.

Those would actually be fun choices Beth... something tells me, however, that their choices will not be so inspired or fun. They almost always pick useless songs to do.

Brian

is it just me or is it painfully apparrent this year that 19 entertainment has already picked there guy(adam)? he never gets a bad comment. simon acatually gave him a stading o. i've heard several pitch problems along the way and randy never pointed it out. i mean is there at least a chance that the votes(and the easterbunny) arean't real? ok maybe thats a little extreme.........i do get candy every year

The've always used clever and legal ways to manipulate the results, but it's never been so obvious as this year. I think in part that may be because no one except Kara seems to even be trying (though I must say that Paula has been the more accurate judge during the final weeks.. shocking as that seems) and perhaps they are just so burned out they don't care. Once you've become world famous and have pretty much any project you want to work on pre-green lighted and you have multiple truck loads of cash, I can see that it might get a bit boring.

Adam is the most talented vocalist, but he's very cabaret/theatrical and would be better suited for that scene or to front an art rock band or something similar. Danny sings well but he's nearly identical to that gray haired guy who won (totally forgetting his name.. which by itself sort of makes my point) and was never heard from again commercially. They seem determined to make sure that Alison doesn't do well even though I'd sign her WAY before any of the others. And no one else has enough talent to sustain an AI type career outside of Kris and I am not sure how long he'll be around. And I think his strength in a John Mayer type and it will all depend, in the long term, if he can write his own songs. Otherwise he'll suffer from credibility issues in that scene. (After all, why listen to him to covers when you have John Mayer writing his own hits).

Brian

good points brian, i guess that's what is most irritating this year. it's like if they want someone to get voteed off they put them first, or at least they are testing their fan base that way. If you ask me danny is more of the clear choice as far as a lasting artist only i see it bieng in a christian rock genre really. if adam wins he'll probably be done with records after 2. then it will be onto broadway, where he really belongs.

OK, the weekly recap...of the top seven doing songs from movies.

Overall, MUCH better than last week. Quentin Tarantino was the vocal coach. Yeah, I thought the same thing: "He's a movie producer, what's he know about singing", but honestly, he did more for the contestents than Randy Travis did during country week. He actually gave them some direction and probably saved a couple from dreadful (or at least mediocre) performances.

There were a couple of surprises, too. The main one was that they split the judging into pairs: Simon and Paula would judge one contestant, then Randy and Kara would judge the next one. I could see Simon squirming a bit when he couldn't comment - just itching to make some nasty remark. This new judging method was supposedly because they've been running overtime and needed to cut back. That doesn't make sense to me. They can simply play the "Idol" music as a cue when each judge has reached their 15-20 second time limit and keep everything under control that way. I also don't buy it because once they eliminate one more contestant, they'll have an extra 3-4 minutes of time.

Anyways...in order of appearance:

1. Allison Iraheta, 9 - "I Don't Want To Miss a Thing" - best opening performance of the season. Not perfect, but very solid. She gave it her all.

2. Anoop Desai, 9 - "Everything I Do, I Do For You" - I think this was Anoop's best performance of the season. He actually did a nice job on this.

3. Adam Lambert, 9 - "Born To Be Wild" - Well, appropo to the title, it was wild. Personally, I think it was a bit pitchy at times and he screamed more than usual: not his best performance. However, the man is simply mesmerizing on stage and I would pay money to see him perform.

4. Matt Giraud, 7 - "Have You Really Loved A Woman". The first clunker of the evening. He tried to make the melody too fancy. It's a tough song NOT to do copy-cat, but he took it way too far and it lost the power. He could be in danger this week.

5. Danny Gokey, 9 - "Endless Love". Nice job. My wife actually got teared up right at the end. It was really heartfelt and possibly his best performance of the season. He's definitely safe this week.

6. Kris Allen, 7 - "Falling Slowly". This song is pretty obscure and didn't really do much for me. Randy agreed with me. Kara and my wife felt a connection though. Maybe it's a "guy" thing, but I didn't get it and I think he'll be in the bottom three this week.

7. Lil Round, 6 - "The Rose". Ooh bad, bad performance. Pitchy all over the place. The producers gave her the coveted "last song" spot and she still blew it. Not only did she give a performance that didn't move me at all, but she then argued with Simon, who quipped "no excuses anymore", and she copped an attitude that was a combination of defiant and stupid ("...but I MADE it more R&B!"), so I think she's a goner this week.

I don't think anyone knocked it out of the park, but Allison, Anoop, Adam and Danny all had good solid performances that should keep them out of the bottom two or three.

Matt, Kris, and Lil are the bottom three. Lil will probably go home. After tonight's performance, I'm convinced that she deserves to go home. She hasn't had a good performance for at least 3 weeks, maybe longer.

here's the original version of
Falling Slowly
by Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSL_qayMCc

here's their live version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=938XY6DX02w

they won an Academy Award for best song

Remember this thread where a JPF member got a really cool break?
http://www.jpfolks.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/656431

I was actually surprised this week—I thought it was going to be a disaster but I felt Quentin Tarantino was one of the the best vocal coach they have had thus far. I was glad for Anoop—he’s been one of my favorites from the beginning. I know he has no chance of winning but I just love his voice. Matt has been a favorite also but last night he performance was average he had good moments and bad. And Lil was disappointing I think this may be the final week for her--unless the judges use this “Save” they have. I am glad that they finally acknowledged that Allison is just as good as Adam as a Vocalist. I like Adam but he is just too theatrical for me and I cannot see myself buying an album of him screeching and screaming. The top three were Adam, Allison and Anoop. Danny was good but he just does not seem to have the star presence of Adam or Allison.

The bottom two:

Matt
Lil

Thanks, Ande. I liked that original version better than Kris' version, but now I can appreciate his more - and see why it touched the gals. The lyrics are beautiful.

I didn't see the movie "Once", and even if the song won an Academy Award, it probably didn't make it high on the Billboard charts. I still think he'll be in the bottom two or three - but I don't think he needs to go yet.

April 14- This is the way I heard it- best to worst: Adam, Anoop, Allison, Danny, Chris, Matt and Lil rounding out the bottom.

Allison ("I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing") sounded like Kelly Clarkson did after too many weeks stressing her voice in that first season. But she delivered anyway. Annop (Everything I Do) had the most uniform, pitch perfect night I can remember from any contestant on any show. Danny (Endless Love) was solid as ever, but wavered a bit in the low register. Adam (Born to be wild) rocked the house and is unstoppable. Lil' Round (The rose) and Matt(Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?) made the same mistake, taking a beautiful melody and screwing in up with pretentious and poorly executed 'soul'. The bell will toll for Lil round and Matt soon. Chris' performance (Falling Slowly) was curiously forgettable- I could barely remember his song. He reminds me of that kid on campus that plays at the local coffee house and draws a good crowd on the weekends. There is a lot of potential hiding there but it's all up to him. If he stays the same, he will be gone in 3 weeks behind Lil round and Matt.

No judge in their right mind will save Lil Round. She has blown it for 6 weeks in a row. The save will be for Allison who is right now AI's money girl for a recording contract. She has been in the bottom 3 twice before so obviously the unwashed masses don't quite get her- but I think the judges do.

Adam will win this thing. What I like most about him is that he acknowledges the contribution of the folks who perform with him. The back up singers and the musicians love him. On stage, he is an 'event'. He has a big heart and is musically generous- if that makes sense. Play back his version of 'Born to be Wild' and watch the band- they loved it. He is going to have the biggest tour draw since the Eagle's Hell freezes over tour.

I agree. What do you think the chances are that Simon will agree to use his "save" after she argued with him last night?

Answer: Nil.

One of the prediction sites says that Kris will get the low vote. Now if that happens, the judges MAY just use their "save". He doesn't deserve to go before Lil.

I hear Quintin is doing a new movie after getting an idea last night...it's called Kill Lil

You're welcome, Falling Slowly was an obscure choice I was familiar with it, Once was an indie film, it was quite a triumph for glen & marketa to win an oscar for it

It didn't do much on the charts

here's their acceptance speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx8yLvb0gZM

John... HA!!!! Was that your idea? Fantastic quip.. send it to the media...

I just saw the tape and they are getting ready to announce who is eliminated so I better make it quick.

Unlike many others, I thought this was another weak week. Better than last week, but boring for the most part.

Alison, my favorite contestant, was bad this week. That's two weeks in a row and ironically, after being the best all season and having the judges trash her.. they over praised her this week. Hard to figure that out.

Best:

Kris
Anoop
Adam

Worst:

Lil
Matt
Alison

In the middle and boring as always...

Danny

Lil needs to go. Anoop is more likely to go being in the bottom for so long, but he deserves to outlast both Lil and Matt. We COULD see Matt go.. that would be fine.. but I think finally Lil may be out of here. Her attitude has always been terrible and the last bad attitude performer was told upfront she wouldn't be saved.. Lil might get the same treatment. Ironically this was her best performance of the season because she wasn't singing flat the entire time like she has never every previous performance.. but she's boring and predictable and a jerk. Bye Bye.

I agree they would save Alison. Or Adam. Or Kris. Or Danny. Anyone else is gone gone gone.

Brian

Brian

I can't believe they wasted a "Save" based on that performance.
I know he was emotional but life does go on after idol.
Lil should have went home tonight. I like Matt--he just doesn't know who he is as a artist yet. Lil and Anoop are having the same problem--vocal identify crisis. I hope they pull this together by next week. Its Disco week.......

The only reason I think the judges made the right choice in saving Matt is that he shouldn't go before Lil. She should have gone tonight.

Next week they're doing disco (my least favorite night) and Lil COULD pull a good Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor or even Chaka Khan peroformance out of the hat. But if she does, I'll be surprised.

Since TWO will go next week, it's highly likely she'll go then.

I think Lil should do "I Will Survive" and give a knock out performance. I want to see her powerhouse vocals...

they might wish they had their save if Alison or Danny end up in the bottom 2 next week. It's entirely possible with folks trying to protect both Lil and Matt since they were in the bottom 2. Anoop is the one screwed the most. I bet it will be him and someone else just because of that factor. If lil had gone, then Matt, then Anoop.. that would have been perfectly fair.

Ah well.. it was pretty predictable they'd "save" him simply because they wanted to use it and establish "history."

Yawn.

Brian

It's too bad they wasted the save on Matt. Simon said it: "You don't have a chance to win" I think Allison is going to need it some where in the final three weeks.

I hate disco so everybody will suck next week, and I will probably want everybody kicked off. Well, Adam might find an interesting way to twist disco. Now if he can twist it as much as he did for country (Ring of fire) I might even like it.

I love disco! Classic 70's disco has some tough songs to sing; and this will be a real test for the males.

[quote=Samuel (joe) Harris]It's too bad they wasted the save on Matt. I think Allison is going to need it some where in the final three weeks.

they could only use the save up til week 5 ......that's when i want adam to go. i can't take the falsetto much longer... give the guy a broadway show already and get him off my tv.

matt was lucky and the only reason i think they honestly saved him was because nextweek they won't be able to justify saving anyone. not looking forward to it.

I'm rooting for Anoop. He has the best RAW vocals among the male contenders. The others, I believe, have the common "boy band" voice, and are getting through mostly because of their looks.

Paula looked at the three bottom contestants and said, "All of you had some flaws in your performance" She was wrong. Anoop had no flaws. It was perfect, but perfect doesn't win this contest. I think he has a little "slum dog millionaire" appeal that may keep him afloat for a couple of weeks but eventually, no matter how brilliant he sings, he is not going to win it all. I agree that he may have the most control of melody of any. I would like to put a pitch meter to see if he is as accurate as he sounds to me.

I actually think the males will be better off than Alison who's rocker voice isn't as well suited. Anoop, Matt and Adam will have no problem at all since they basically are pop vocal singers anyway. Danny just needs to choose the right song. Lil should have an easy time, but to date she hasn't performed anything very well. Perhaps the number of votes between the bottom 3 and top 3 candidates are so substantial they felt there was no risk to one of their favorites next week anyway.

Brian

so what disco songs would you like to hear each performer sing??

All I can hear in my head is Adam doing the Leo Sayer popularized song, "You make me feel like dancin" ...

Here's an article I wrote during the auditions.

-----

Why I hate American Idol (but still watch it nevertheless)

I used to LOVE watching American Idol, not because I believe it's a venue for fresh faces or one that actually gives those with REAL talent a chance to shine (and this is not to say that those with REAL talent didn't really make it), but basically because it shows the obvious flaws EVERY human being on earth has, from the one who conceptualized it, the ones producing it, organized it, judging it, the ones who fall in long lines all day just to have a shot at the judges, both to show what they've got, or humiliate themselves with what they think they have, to the ones who actually watch Simon, Paula, and Randy from time to time make fools of themselves when they scratch their heads and wonder how in the hell that one particular contestant even make it into Hollywood, oblivious to the fact that they had something to do with it in the first place.

I love hearing new and unique raw voices that I would love to have myself. I love seeing some of them make it through the auditions, the eliminations, the finals. I love seeing and hearing them evolve or devolve. I love hearing their weekly song choices, and compare my "judgment" of them with that of the 3 (now 4) judges. I love the fact that it's actually America who votes for their favorites, and it kinda gives you hope that raw talent could really still make a difference in the world.

I used to wonder why they had to show MOST of those who actually shouldn't even think of singing at all, least of all think that they have the talent to do so. I kinda hate those parts, but, after eight 7 seasons, I started to understand that without those "talentless freaks," David Cook won't even shine. I started to understand the gimmicks and the costumes come of these people get into just for 5 to 15 minutes of TV air time, because for some or most of them, getting attention, that proverbial 15 minutes, was all they need. There's always next year, or the comedy club downtown.

And there's the real special ones; it began with William Hung, who for his charm got a one hit wonder, then the guy who looked like Clay, who we didn't really care about, and who can forget our very own Renaldo Lapuz who impressed the three with his all white garb and Pinoy fighting spirit with his original song "we're Brothers Forever.

Then, there's the bikini clad Casey Carlson Katrina Whatsherface who got through the auditions by sheer, er, skin factor, despite the fact she dissed Cara whatshername, earning the ire of Paula in the process.

There's also the occasional surprise of a REALLY talented individual in an unsuspecting "Indian (not Native American) geek grad student in shorts" package that left all four judges in awe when they heard that the guy's got the voice to get him through to the next round. (edit: And I was really glad Anoop made it as a Wildcard.)

I loathe Simon as a person, but love his sarcasm. I mean, he's really nothing compared to House, but House isn't auditioning singers. Being sarcastic myself, I can't help but agree with most of his quips about life and the 12 notes, yet still end up loathing his presence.

What about Paula Abdul? Who cares? She's a dancer who sings, and that's just about it. Her voice is NOTHING compared to the talents she's auditioning, and she should just have stuck to dancing since I can't find a reason to hate her back then when she was dancing.

And Randy, whom Ive never really heard of until Idol, basically transformed from a whale to an elephant seal, probably because of the stress of being with Paula and Simon for the last 7 seasons.

And who can forget the controversies? A few to mention, but one worth the spotlight is the AI "songwriting contest" which is actually marred with issues, since most of the finalists are professionals and the winners so far actually didn't need to win since they've more than a dozen hits on their belts, considering the fact that the AI organizers had the gall to charge $10 dollars an entry. That actually doesn't surprise me anymore, since the issue is quite familiar in our local songwriting contest scenes.

I mentioned David Cook. I knew he was going to win, but NOT because of his talent. I actually like the gayish David Archuleta since the kid has a better tonal quality and a wider vocal range than Cook can ever sing in his lifetime, and Archuleta is still a kid.

So I still hate AI, but, I still watch it from time to time, when the reruns on other channels have run their course and have burned themselves onto my idling brain, I idle it further watching Idol.

Because, in all honestly, at one time or another, we've all wanted that 15 minutes...

Excuse me, but is there a good disco song? name one. I guess it depends upon how loosely you categorize it. For instance Men at Work's song "Land down under" was classified as disco. I love that song.

Copa Cobana is a Disco song...

I did a little research and made a real effort to find some stuff I liked about disco...

I tend to think of disco as two different genres: those with sophisticated chord changes, interesting grooves/rhythms and high energy, and the four-on-the-floor repetitive rhythms with intelligence-insulting lyrics that made every musician I knew cringe.

Here are some of the WORST songs (IMHO):

1. Boogie Oogie Oogie - A Taste of Honey
2. Macho Man & YMCA - in fact, anything by the Village People
3. Disco Duck - Rick Dees
4. We Are Family - Sister Sledge
5. That's the Way (uh huh, uh huh) I Like It - KC and the Sunshine Band (anything by these guys is really bad)
6. Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now - McFadden & Whitehead
7. Copacabana - Barry Manilow
8. Car Wash - Rose Royce

Now that I've made everyone cringe ;), I decided to find SOMETHING about Disco I liked. Here are some that I think are actually decent songs:

1. Billie Jean - MJ
2. I'm So Excited & Jump (For My Love) - Pointer Sisters
3. Turn the Beat Around - Vicki Sue Robinson (prior to Gloria Estefan)
4. September - Earth, Wind & Fire
5. Brick House - Commodores
6. Lady Marmalade - Patti LaBelle
7. Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
8. Conga - Miami Sound Machine

I actually like 3 of the songs on your WORST list Larry. = )

I'd have to get a big list of Disco Hits and choose my most and least faves from that. But this is simply like all eras of music. Many hated it while it was happening but it comes back for many without that bias. 80's music is all the rage and keep in mind, anything from the 80's is now considered classical rock by young kids and classical rock from the 60's and 70's are golden oldies... anything before 1960 might as well be Classical for most young listeners. Disco sounds far more inspired than most of pop today. At least all those songs had hooks that you remember. I could sing every single song you listed easily. I can't even tell you what any of the songs in the current top 10 are without looking, let alone sing them. Can you Larry?

Brian

Larry,

I'm not watching AI this year (I've seen two shows, total), but I'm one of those folks that liked, and still likes, Disco. From your two lists (worst and liked) I like all but three of them, the first three on your worst list. I do not agree, however, that "anything" by The Village people and KC and the Sunshine Band is awful. They both had one or tewo that I liked.

"Copacabana", "Carwash" and "Conga" are three of my favorite songs. I's all a matter of taste. But since I was playing lead guitar in a country band from the 60s through tghe early 90s, even admitting that I had ever listen to a Disco song was consider near blasphemous! I generally like Disco music and enjoyed dancing to it. As I said, all a matter of personal taste.

Hope all is well in Santa Clarita. When I lived in Bakersfield, we went through Santa Clarita almost every month enroute to the Ventura County fairgrounds. That's a real pretty valley between Santa Clarita and Ventura. We usually stopped at the Taco Bell in Santa Paula (Highway 126, I think) and had lunch on the way daown.

Take care, all the best.

Alan