American Idol 3/30

Cafe Society
21

I was addicted to AI last year. This year, I’ve ignored it until tonight – so this episode was my first glimpse of these contestants. I don’t remember all their names, or even all their performances; I’ll just stick to the ones that stand out most in my mind.

Funniest line of the night was Paula calling Camille “Carmen.” Still, while Camille wasn’t great, she was no Goat Girl! She seemed very young and untried to me. I could barely hear her over the music.

Jon has a fairly good voice, and he’s cute (from what I could tell on my teensy portable B&W TV) … but like Camille, he seemed weak and tentative. (Was it my craptastic TV or was the sound awful? It seemed as if the band was totally overpowering most of the singers.) I imagine he’ll last, though, since he’s the only cute white guy in the bunch.

John Stevens. Uh, can someone tell me what the HELL this guy is doing in the top ten??? He was flat the entire song, he sang like a man overdosed on Lithium, and he had not an ounce of personality.

I swear, he’s so horrible I thought I was being whooshed when he started to sing. This guy’s voice reminds me of when someone slowly lets the air out of a balloon. What, did he get in on the Clay Aiken Honorary Geek Scholarship or something? Except in addition to his offbeat charm, Clay has a set of pipes that would blow everyone of this group off the stage. This guy’s worse than Military Man JOSH, and that’s saying something.

Okay, movin’ on. LaToya started waaay flat but improved as things moved on. “Ooh Baby, Baby” is not an easy song to pull off in a competition atmosphere, since it’s so laid back and slow. She’s got the voice, emotion and power, and she probably has the looks too when she’s not wearing a hairstyle straight out of Dr. Seuss.

Single White Female, uh, Amy I think her name is? Meh. Big pile of steaming meh. More than anyone, she reminded me of the lackluster voice of Carmen – although it was coupled with the downtown/funky appearance of Vanessa. Did I mention meh?

Jasmine with the annoying flower behind her ear. Oy. She COULD have a good voice, if she got some weight to it and learned some technique. I understand she’s pretty young though, right?

Fantasia was definitely tied at #2 with Latoya, excepting her wardrobe. (Was that a sweater vest???) Strong pipes and unlike others here I thought she connected very well with the crowd.

Finally … George. George! Holy SHEEYIT! Loved him. LOVED HIM. His deep, husky voice was ab-so-lutely perfect for “Ain’t too proud to beg,” which practically requires the desperation of a man who’s got a bit of roughness to his sound. Is he the oldest of the group this year? Dang, he sounds like a man in his thirties, not some just-out-of-college kid. I thought he was adorably surprised when hearing all the praise; he got such a kick out of it all! (But yeah, what was with the hanky? Who is he, Pavarotti?)

Sort of OT, but I just realized that only three out of ten finalists are white … and none is very likely to get to the top three (barring an outpouring of SF voters, LOL). Hee! Wonder what Fox thinks of this development, especially after last year’s final three resulted in two chubby African Americans and a skinny geek. Now, many of us found all three attractive, but certainly Fox and the producers would have preferred a more conventionally photo-friendly bunch (read: sexy WASPs) at the top this year.

Commenting on the judges: Randy is almost incomprehensible with his usual patter. Paula is even more uselessly positive than she was last year, and this is coming from someone who really likes her and owns two of her CDs. Simon was way outta line with the Jay Leno crack, but otherwise standard quo. As usual the guest judges were pretty pointless.

And I still like Ryan, God only knows why.

Good grief I think I’m hooked again. Just when I think I’m out … !

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I forgot about them. I was relieved that there were no guest judges in the two previous episodes and I thought Fox had finally realized what a dumb idea they were and dumped them. Totally pointless.

BTW, anyone remember Lionel Richie last year? When Carmen Rasmussen sang “You Can’t Hurry Love,” Richie mentioned that he’d covered the song years ago and praised her version. Simon told her she didn’t pull it off, then turned to Richie and said “I didn’t think you pulled it off either”. The look on Richie’s face was priceless. If they’re going to stick with this guest judges crap, then I want more moments like that.

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A forgettable evening. No one was better than so-so. The show needs a new sound engineer. Blech.

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They talk about it on Television Without Pity, although I don’t know how they know. I’ve posted the question several times and no one bothers to answer, and there’s too much traffic to track down the original post. Anyway, they know. It’s Big Band next week, then (I think) movie night with guest Quentin Tarantino, then Barry Manilow is on the show and they sing Manilow songs. I don’t know if they have the whole thing planned out through the end, but I know they also have a Latin Pop night scheduled (and I am sure there’ll be a guest for that show). This is culled from the forums mentioned above, but I have yet to see a list.

25

Well, y’all seem to have covered the vocal entertainment…so just allow me to bash Fantasia’s outfit here. I had more of a problem with the skirt. Memo to everyone: Short does not necessarily equal sexy! When the skirt is shorter than it is wide, it starts looking very awkward. Fantasia’s skirt reminded me of a denim colored bandage on a finger knuckle at the end of a hard day. (It also reminded me of Colorforms. Colorforms, for you youngsters, were a toy popular in the seventies which involved sticking bits of colored plastic to a picture.) Then, from the waist up, she looked like a fat caterpillar larvae bulging out of a half-opened cocoon. (Remember that scene in Silence of the Lambs where the museum guy slits open the cocoon and the slimy Death’s Head moth is exposed?)

Maybe Fantasia was trying to get that bandaged plastic larvae look?

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I think was going to say something like: Camille may be thanking you for saving her this week.

–

Anyway, I hope that isn’t the case… Camille NEEDS to go! She’s just painful to listen to. Just a pretty face. I don’t care who else is in the bottom three, as long as Camille has to leave (Please make her go!).

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I’m afraid John’s gonna go, because he really did suck this week, but I still love him. I figured this was going to be a bad week for him, poor kid. He’s gotten a good bit of exposure out of this, though, and I strongly suspect he’ll be just fine. I’d buy his record in a heartbeat.

As for George, since he grew up here, the Fox station is milking him for all it’s worth. Not that I blame them, really. One of his relatives (I assume it was a relative) in a news ad displayed a t-shirt with what Simon said about (I think this is it) “you don’t know how good you really are,” on it. My mom admitted that if Simon had said something like that about me she’d probably have done the same thing. Needless to say, they’re thrilled. And so is the paper; a week ago they did a big story on him.

Based on overall performance I think Camille should go, but who knows. I’m hoping John has enough of a screaming hormonal pre-teen type fan base to keep him in it for another week or two at least.

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Poor John, especially with Granny and Grandpa there. I saw an episode of the Dean Martin show on DVD in which Dean attempted to sing “Rollin’ on the River” and it was a similar disaster.

Did anybody else think that the singers were drowned out by the band? I know the Funk Brothers are legends and probably the greatest back-up band in the world, but somehow the acoustics were just biased against even the good performers.

I’m convinced that the Simon v. Seacrest feud is real and not made-for-on-air-shtick- they really seem to loathe each other. That’s one of those “who do you root for?” moments- the bitchy muscle-shirt loving Limey or the mirror-loving media ho prettyboy?

29

…etc.

I was just saying to hubby last night that ever since the first person of the 12 performed (I believe it was Diana) and did well enough to receive a standing ovation, EVERYONE now receives one, regardless of their suckitude.

I wonder if it would be the same if Camille or Leah had been the first to perform.

I don’t remember it happening in the first two seasons.

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You ain’t the only one. They hyped up the band so much and then let them drown out the singers. Not good for a singing competition.

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Okay, now my take on last night. Not in any particular order:

John Peter Lewis: Horrible. I don’t get the appeal at all and last night, his dancing made him look like he forgot to go potty.

Fantasia: Great voice, but I didn’t like the ending. She was trying too hard. And, I don’t care if she sounds like Macy Gray.

Jennifer: I liked her when I was in the kitchen and couldn’t see her, but when I went to the TV to watch her perform, her facial expressions and spastic movements ruined it for me.

Camille: She not only looks frightened, but she looks like she’s in pain. It’s as if someone is behind her with a red-hot poker in her back, forcing her to sing and burning her at the same time. I especially enjoyed Paula’s Freudian slip when she called her Carmen (Rasmussen, perhaps?). Hee!

Diana: I didn’t like her as much as I have the last two shows, but she did well.

George: I love this guy. His voice is very sexy, but he’s got a goofy look to him at the same time. Very unique package.

Latoya: I think she’ll win the whole thing. Great performer, great voice. Enough said.

John Stevens: That poor, poor boy. He’s too young to be in the competition. He needs to work on his voice more. I haven’t cringed that much since the above-mentioned Carmen Rasmussen.

Amy: I loved her voice in the auditions and last week was really good, but she was just a’ight last night.

Jasmine: Much better than last week. MUCH! I’m sick of the flower. She’s trying for a “205 jersey”-like trademark.

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Loved Fantasia, I like the Billie Holiday/Macy Gray tone. Plus she seems to have a real indiviual style. Some of the others look like their act is something the coaches over the week told them to do. With Fantasia it just looks more natural (even if it doesn’t work sometimes).

George was also great, and he has such a “good” face (can’t imagine him being anything but a nice guy).

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The band was way too loud, but I think that’s the fault of the sound mixer. It seems AI has had trouble with the sound at least two out of the three weeks of the actual competition. They should fix that!

On another topic, there was a front page story in THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL this morning about how Asian-Americans are banding together to support both Camile and Jasmine. They hold huge AI watching parties. They phone in votes for both these girls. And it’s not just a local phenomenon. Apparently it’s going on nationwide. Which explains a lot, especially about Camile. :rolleyes:

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YO YO YO!!!

First of all, Slacker, that was fucking hilarious.

I’ve been following local coverage in the Honolulu Advertiser regarding Jasmine and Camile, and the Filipino community in Hawai’i is so behind these girls. I get the sense of pride in seeing them up there, but shouldn’t it come to a point where you accept the suck that is Camile and stop throwing votes her way? I bet she’s nice and all in real life, but on stage she’s awkward and gawky and as I believe someone here said a week or so ago, sounds like she’s singing into a fan.

John Stevens is still a snoozefest. I think he knows he’s totally out of his depth on AI, and it’s going to come as no surprise to either him or us when he gets booted.

I still despise Fantasia. Nothing will change that. Her speaking voice, her singing voice, her attitude all stink. She thinks she’s hot shit and while the judges’ feedback is heaping it on, I get a sense of “I’m better than all of you” from her.

Compare that to George Huff, who continues to get up there and give great performances while maintaining a sense of humility and gratitude. He THANKS the judges when they give him feedback. But I did not really get the towel. I would have cut a bitch for a Matt Rogers-sweat-soaked hand towel.

Camile deserves to go. Amy and John Stevens should be standing there beside her to hug her and say goodbye.

Judith, out.

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The band, and those backup singers/recordings didn’t help by drowning out the singers.

I also think that a Motown theme is tough in that these songs have become almost cliches. Everyone knows them and it’s hard to “make them your own”. As much as Fantasia bugs me, she did get a little creative with her delivery.

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I know y’all love redheaded John, but if I have to hear him sing one more time I’m going to beat my head against a wall. The kid has a certain charm, but he’s no American Idol. When he sings I imagine all the people his grandparents age getting on their rotary dial and voting for him. haha. His family creeps me out and his singing is off key. Add to that zero personality and you have a recipe for loserdom.

Diana is too sugary sweet. If she won, she’d be the next Hilary Duff, with a fanclub of 10-year-olds. She can sing, but so what?

Isn’t Amy a hairstylist? If so, then what was going on with her last night? She looked like she just got out of the shower and let it dry. Ick. Flat and not attractive. And then there’s the pink–I’m ok with that for an edgier kind of gal. But Amy is a Celine Dion wannabe. Her pinkness just looks wrong. Oh yeah, and I don’t like her singing.

My faves are Fantasia, George, and LaToya. To me, they are the obvious top three. Your opinions may vary. :smiley:

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George is awesome! He is my absolute favorite this season – I so want him to win this thing. If you’d like to get up up to speed, as it were, on previous performances, you can find mp3s from every week since the Top 32 at Idol Fansites Forums (it might require registration). I’d highly recommend the following George songs to download: the March 9th Wildcard performance of Lean on Me, the March 16th performance of Dock of the Bay and, of course, last night’s Ain’t Too Proud To Beg. Even the March 24th I Can Love You Like That was pretty dang good.

I’m not a fan of her in general (don’t care at all for her style), but reluctantly admit that she has done pretty well on a couple of her performances, including last night’s. However, I said to my husband at the end, “why do some of these girls feel like they have to “gospelize” the end of every damn song they sing, regardless of genre? It just sounds wrong and has no business at the end of a Motown song.”

In reading the Television Without Pity boards, I’m starting to get a little annoyed with the John Stevens and Jon Peter Lewis fans who keep “voting their fingers off” just because they “like” them, even while acknowledging that they completely SUCK vocally. I don’t care if they’re nice boys or sweet or cute, my ears just simply cannot stand any further assault. Please, I’m begging on bended knees, Make! It! STOP! Thank you.

Though almost everyone completely stunk last night, my choice for bottom 3 would be:

Jon Peter Lewis
John Stevens
Camille Velasco

John Steven should be going home – he’s so out of his league, but his rabid fans will keep him off the seal and probably put Amy down there again ( :mad: ) Oh well, so long as it’s not George.

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Speaking of, is John’s father blind? He never seems to be focusing and he’s often looking in a completely different direction from the people around him, so it makes me wonder.

John will be cute when he grows up and would be a great singer for a niche market ala Josh Groban, but much as I enjoyed “King of the Road” (especially his brilliant save), I’ve no problem seeing him go after the Big Band show.

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Last Night

Camille – Weak voice, pretty girl. John Stevens may have given her another week.

Jon Peters – Reminds me of a kid who has to take singing or perform in the school production, but is afraid he won’t look cool to his friends.

Latoya – For most performers this would have been a great effort. But for her a little average.

Amy – Good, but a slight let down from last week. Her version of “Sin Wagon” is starting to become my favorite performance of the completion so far.

John Stevens – Last week I said he was a 16yo Steve Lawrence. My apologies to Steve Lawrence. No personality at all. Nothing. Reminds me of singers from
another country who don’t speak English, but learn the song phonetically, and don’t have a clue to the meaning of the lyrics. I don’t care if it’s big Band night next week. He must go.

Jennifer. If I don’t look at her, I really like her. Someone has got to help her get her stage presence together.

Jasmine – Better than last week. Should be around a while.

Diana – A lot of energy. No soul. But she has that great voice.

Fantasia – Good performance. I though she worked the stage too much. It seemed a little forced.

George – He’s really getting into a grove. Better each week.

Top three last night – George, Latoya, and Jennifer

Bottom three last night – Camille, Jon Peter, and John Stevens

kevja’s overall

  1. Latoya
  2. Amy
  3. George
  4. Jennifer
  5. Jasmine
  6. Diana
  7. Fantasia
  8. Jon Peter
  9. Camille
  10. John Stevens
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My predictions for the rest of the competition:

John, Camille and Jon Peter will be axed, in whatever order. (Pleasepleaseplease give John ‘big band’ week, then I’ll shut up!)

When they’re out of the way, Amy and Jennifer, again in whatever order, will be next. Unless they improve a lot and someone else starts to burn out. I believe last year there was some doubt about Ruben, in the third-to-last week or so, on the grounds that he might have shot his wad. Could happen.

Fantasia, LaToya, George and Diana will battle it out from there. Diana may win or come in second. What Simon doesn’t seem to realize about her is that pageant veterans are tough.

Jasmine, I can’t be sure about. She seems to be teetering between improvement and decline: the next couple weeks will determine which way she’ll go.