American Idol Feb. 20-22

Cafe Society
141

I missed the first hour but wow, everyone sucked hard from the clips they showed at the end (probably unfair, but that was my impression).

I agreed with Simon completely about Chris Sligh (the only guy I have much interest in); he is likeable, I’m pulling for him, but it wasn’t an amazing performance. I wonder how long Chris has been waiting to pull the Teletubbies/Il Divo line :rolleyes: And Simon is right; they’re not there to patronize anyone, since in real business they wouldn’t.

And Ryan at the end “I want to thank Randy and Paula.” I know the producers probably tell them to play up the feud but it’s uncalled for.

Yep, he changed to the song at the last minute to honor his wife and new baby girl.
You know how Sanjaya said his sister brought him the song he ended up singing? I smell attempted sabotage!

142

Heh. I bet that guy who got cut in favor of Sundance is some pissed!

143

Huh. I thought it was Quagmire from Family Guy.

My favorite: Sligh
Strong second: Beatbox Boy (Chris?)
Third: Phil the Bald Guy Who Would Be Super Hot If He Had Some Hair.

Very, very bad: Sundance Head.
Worst: Barefoot Paul. Kee-rist, that was awful.

144

Okay, okay. I was just watching the local news and they mentioned Jared Cotter, said he’s from Coram. Yep, that’s on Long Island. I feel better now.
**
Eleusis** - I noticed that lisp, too, and I hadn’t before last night. It’s going to bother me.

145

No kidding! I voted for Blake for that reason alone! I’m glad he didn’t beatbox and that he realized that this is primarily a singing competition. Yeah, he hit a few bum notes, but the lead singer for Keane has a very pretty voice and that song is hard to sing.

146

Songs that should be banned from AI:

-Careless Whisper, especially if someone is trying to call attention to his guilty bare feet
-Hero, Mariah Carey
-Whitney Houston’s entire songbook, esp “I’m Every Woman”

147

Is Chaka Khan’s version allowed? How about Chaka’s version-- but only if a guy sings it?

148

Was Ryan trying to butch it up last night? He kept making odd statements that seemed designed to let people know he was Not Gay. There was a discussion on the couch about him being glad he was seated away from someone who said something about the boys being pretty. He made a clumsy comment about the girls being cute or something, and acted a little weird when Simon called him Sweetheart.

I’ve heard the rumors about Ryan’s sexuality and I don’t know whether he’s gay or not. It really isn’t relevant to his job. But his attempts to convey heterosexuality seemed really clumsy to me.

Last year was the first time I watched Idol. This is the first time I’ve watched it from the beginning. Is he always like that?

149

You’re right about that. I thought Toby was a great singer and performer. Comparing AI guys and RS guys is like apples to oranges.

But lookswise, I was thinking last night that Phil looks a lot like Magni. He even has the young child at home.

Hugh Jass, Ryan wasn’t trying too hard to look butch when he brought up the fact that he just had a pedicure.

150

To the poster who said that one of the contestants sounded like a character from Family Guy-- My husband came out from the bedroom just to ask “Is that guy married to The Lovely Loretta?”

Yeup. He really, really sounds like him.

151

I liked Sligh and Phil Stacey the best last night. Brandon and Blake were also good. Poor Sanjaya was awful. I was waiting for Simon to comment that his sister must have encouraged him to sing that song so he’d get sent home.

I see I’m not the only one who was reminded of their father by Sundance’s “who needs a baseball glove when you’ve got these?” hands.

Anyway, I think one thing we’re all forgetting here is that this always happens in the first weeks and we complain about how everyone sucks. I blame it on the vocal coaches. Each of these people has his/her own style and then they get on the show and the vocal coaches start messing with them and telling them they need to do things differently. After the first few weeks the kinks get worked out and everyone starts sounding like themselves again.

152

Yeah, I noticed it too and I think it will continue to bug me. Didn’t Chicken Little Boy from last season have a lisp too?

The only performance I got into was Blake’s. That kid is just a natural performer. Didn’t he say he plays guitar and piano also? He’s more Justin Timberlake than that other guy.

153

Chris Richardson? I think his style is very Justin Timberlake, but he looks like a mix of Justin and Kevin Federline, which…is…weird. I hope Britney isn’t watching. I think her head would explode at that realization.

Do they have TV in rehab?

154

Yeah, but at least there wouldn’t be hair all over the place. :smiley:

155

My evaluations:

Rudy Cardenas B+ Not bad at all. The overly affected Southern “on” was a bit much, but the voice was quite pleasant. Lots of energy (bordering on, but not crossing over, too much).

Brandon Rogers C Please stop making love to the camera. There are people on the other side of it. Not a bad voice, but not great either. As the Austrian Emperor would have said, “There are too many notes”.

Sundance Head A- I don’t care about what he did with his hands. The voice was quite good. He interpreted the song well. I had expected him to do much worse.

Paul Kim D Lousy song just for the pun if nothing else. The foot fetish gimmick is distracting and stupid. All that, plus the voice sucked. Almost no interpretive feel.

Chris Richardson A I don’t know why I like him, since I dislike boyband voices, but he’s just got that thing. Good voice. Great movements. A fine interpretation of the song.

Nick Pedro B- The voice was decent, but his silhouette from the side looked like a question mark. He didn’t quite have a performance quality stage presence.

Blake Lewis A+ Holy cow! Color me bowled over. I had no idea his voice was so beautiful. It’s like the new Paul McCartney. Outstanding performance. Great surprise.

Sanjaya Malakar F Terribly, gut wrenchingly, embarrassingly bad. Just horrible. He sang in a weird mixolydian minor key or something. And god, get a haircut.

Chris Sligh C+ Not as good as I expected. Decent voice, but it was drowned out by strange dancing. Chris was not made for camera mugging or Tony Randall interpretations.

Jared Cotter C Probably will secure a career in modelling when this all fails to pan out. He’s already half way to Zoolander. Average voice. Just an overall meh.

A.J. Tabaldo D+ Forgettable. Limited range. Fairly decent tone, but couldn’t hold the key. Another worm dancer. Really not even Holiday Inn lounge quality.

Phil Stacey B- Not too bad. I don’t like him for some reason. Too much “happy as a little girl” vibe. Camera mugging is a big put-off, but he deserves credit for a pretty good voice.

156

I didn’t understand where the Il Divo/Teletubbies thing came from- my wife and I looked at each other with WTF? expressions.

So, WTF?

I thought poor Sanjaya was going to implode right there next to Seacrest.

Sanjaya out!

157

Chris Sligh
Jared Cotter
BeatBox Boy (can’t remember his name)

These are the only three that I thought were OK for the whole evening. There were zero “goose bumps moments” for me.

I was rooting for Sundance, but he truly sucked last night - the pronuciation of the word “you” in the chorus really stunk.

158

I’m ashamed that I didn’t have the guts to say the above. I didn’t think Sundance was that bad. But when everyone was trashing him here, I thought maybe it was the glass of wine I had. My husband thought I was nuts when I said he did a decent job. Weird song choice, but I thought he pulled it off. He was much better than he was at Hollywood week, but I still think the guy he beat out was better than him. He’s there because of his father and his weird name and facial hair.

I thought that was a weird comment from the judges about his arm movements. I didn’t get it.

I agree with all of your other grades, except I would switch Sanjay’s F with Paul’s D. Paul was horrendous and Sanjay was noticeably nervous, he’s 17 and we’ve seen him do better, so I’m giving him a pass. I’ve never liked Paul and I still don’t.

159

No, he wasn’t that bad, and I didn’t say it before either. I do think it was a bad song choice. He really can sing well, but I wanted him to do something with a little more soul, a little more pep. I could totally see him doing “Chantilly Lace” or something like that. He’s got that great throwback vibe to him and that’s not a bad thing, but he can do more to make it seem fresh.

160

It’s about the voice. For my money, Sanjaya and Chris Sligh have by far the best voices. With the right coaching, I think both will turn out to be powerhouses.