Hello again everybody! After a brief break due to some guy giving a speech in Congress, American Idol is back on the air! I'll be hanging out with you LIVE blogging during the broadcast, so keep up with my thoughts after the jump!
THE SHOW
This.......
*pause for suspense and wisecracks*
.....is AMERICAN IDOL!!!!
*make signature strange hand gesture*
7:00: And away we go. Seacrest looking casual today. Must have been a rough day at the beach.
7:03: Anybody else notice that Idol ripped its big-screen graphic animation straight from the movie Contact?
7:04: JASMINE MURRAY performs. Things get started on a rough note. She sang "Love Song," and it was anything but lovely. Bad low notes, no big chances = another mediocre girl performance. The judges agree, but Kara says she's dissapointed in Jasmine because "she's commercial." Gag me.
7:10: Upcoming performer and dueling piano player Matt Giraud does a dorky "air piano" as we go to break. Ripped straight from the movie I Love You, Man. You'll get it when you see it.
7:15: MATT GIRAUD performs. He decides to sing Coldplay's Viva La Vida, and he makes Chris Martin sound like John Lennon. Matt was TERRIBLE. Randy actually makes a good point - Chris Martin wouldn't be singing Ray Charles, but Matt can. Too bad he doesn't stand a chance of making it further because of the new rules. On another note, anybody else find it weird that Matt's mother and girlfriend look exactly alike? Weird!
7:25: JANEANE "HOLY LEGS" VAILES performs. She attempted to sing Maroon 5's This Love, in her words "because I wanted to sing something I knew." How about singing something you could sing? She'll need those long legs to walk herself home. She gone!
7:35: NICK "NORMAN GENTLE" MITCHELL performs. And wow did he perform. Norman took on Dreamgirls' And I Am Telling You and turned in one of the most entertaining performances in American Idol history. His parents looked horrified as he made love to the American Idol signage under the judges table. I hope this guy moves on, just to make this horrible crop of contestants more interesting.
Best line of the night - Simon asks Seacrest if he liked the performance. Ryan says "in a different way than you did." Simon responds, "I can believe that." He walked right into that closet!
7:50: ALLISON IRAHETA performs. The doors to the nuthouse opened, and this strange 16 year-old lit up the stage. She sang Heart's Alone and absolutely "blew it out da box," as Randy put it. She was fantastic, easily the best female performance we've seen this season.
7:55: KRIS "Why would I think about singing Michael Jackson" ALLEN performs. He might have a nice voice, but nothing compared to Michael's. Another victim of the terrible song choice, Kris probably won't make it through, although Simon disagreed. We'll see what happens with the rest of the guys.
8:08: MEGAN JOY "Let's Do The Twist" CORKREY performs. She did some weird arm-waving, twisting thing during her take on Corinne Bailey Rae's Put Your Records On. At times she sounded good, but overall? Not so much. She's the next best girl to Iraheta, so she could be the #3 vote.
Kara induces a gag reflex once again, salivating over Megan's "viability" as a commercial artist. Gross.
8:18: MATT "The Welder" BREITZKE performs. "We like you Matt, but you suck." That was basically the vibe from the judges after our second blue-collar contestant walked through The Way She Loves Me by Tonic. He sang it fine, but no better than your average blue-collar singer-on-the-side. You'll forget all about this performance.....say...........now.
8:23: JESSE LANGSETH performs. It started with an awful keyboard, and Jesse's rendition of Betty Davis Eyes never recovered from there. It was the second lazy performance in a row. Randy made a great point here - tonight is the night you introduce yourself to America. You want to leave an impression, and Jesse certainly did. During her judging session, she felt it necessary to keep chiming in with little quips, as if she wanted American to know how "cool" she is. Say it with me America - she gone!
8:28: Nicolas Cage clearly missed The Number 23.
8:32: KAI KALAMA performs. I really like this guy. He has a nice voice, but he sounded about 90 years old when singing What Becomes of the Broken Hearted. The judges got it right when they called him "old fashioned." Simon called him "corny." It's too bad, I hope he moves on, but that was way too easy for him when only 3 people get through. Take some chances, dude.
8:32: Where is Paula tonight? Mercury? Mars? You make the call!
8:41: MISHAVONNA "A-A-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" HENSON. She accomplished something tonight, singing Train's Drops of Jupiter in one long note. Man was this girl boring. The judges weren't crazy about it. In fact, Paula wasn't happy to hear Mishavonna singing about her home planet.
8:46: Is this horrible show over yet? I have a date with Jeremy Bentham!
8:52: ADAM "Eyeliner" LAMBERT performs. He has a theatrical background and it shows. He pranced around the stage with huge mannerisms and manic pacing. Randy pretty much guaranteed Adam's entrance into the Top 12 when he compared him to Robert Pattinson from Twilight.
Prediction time! Here are my three winners:
TOP GUY: Adam Lambert. The next best thing to Edward Cullen - but what if he's the bad guy?
TOP GIRL: Allison Iraheta. No girl came close to this 16 year old's Heart performance.
RUNNER UP: Kai Kalama. This was a tough one. He picked a bad song, but is the next best of a bad lot. The only Wild Card is how America responds to Norman Gentle. Vote For The Worst is pushing him hard. We'll see how big of an impact they can have this year.
I'll see you for results tomorrow, but right now I have to catch the 316 to Guam. Namaste!
