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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

They Mostly Didn't Do It My Way

At least we were spared BM singing My Way. I love Sinatra and songs of that era so I was really looking forward to the show tonight. Who can mess up these songs especially if Harry Connick, Jr. is doing the arrangements?

Well...Candy Man can (remember eye candy and ear candy Casey)? Oh dear. The arrangement seemed too slow (sorry Harry) but maybe it seemed that way because each note was so painful to hear. Vote For The Worst actually made a last minute switch of its pick from BM to Casey after that performance. VFTW has been talking about Casey's *goat* vibrato all season and it appears that Kara has now quit fantasizing about Casey long enough to actually hear him sing and listen to his vibrato...although she called it a *lamb* vibrato. I think this might be the week where Casey goes home. I wish that BM and Aaron were going home before him but...if he's not getting the lion's share of the *vote for the hottest* votes...and clearly he isn't if he has been in the bottom 3 for 2 weeks in a row, there is no way someone is going to jump on the Casey bandwagon after tonight.

And, jumping on bandwagons is what the show is about at this stage. A bunch of people have lost their favorite and are either pouting and will never vote again if they were truly obsessed (Siobahn's fans) or are looking for someone else to vote for (like me when Brooke White was voted off). So they are going to look for a new favorite.

So...for the rest of them:

Aaron was cute enough and sang a song that everyone knows and likes so he will probably survive another night. Plus, the only really bad thing anyone had to say was he doesn't have the stage presence or charisma of Frank Sinatra. No shit Sherlock! The kid is 16 years old, has somehow managed to get up here in the top 5 despite his rather mediocre talent and you are complaining because he is not Frank Sinatra?

As stated above, Big Mike spared me from cleaning up projectile vomit. As my cat knocked over a half gallon of milk on my area rug last night forcing me to scrub my floor and do laundry at 1 AM, I am grateful for that small blessing. I suppose, if I didn't hate BM so much I would have something nice to say about his performance. I thought it was predictable, boring, and really old-fashioned in a bad way. Like a lounge singer at a seedy motel bar on the very edges of the Vegas strip. The kind of place that rents by the hour. But the judges loved it. And what is this stuff about his band in New York? I thought he was an impoverished personal trainer who cannot afford to feed his kid. Could it be we have had a *plant* all along?

Lee sings That's Life and does a great job. The judges are pushing him a lot lately so maybe he is getting the most votes every week. It was much better than BM's performance and I like Lee so good for him. I'm not so sure that shyness is genuine...he seems to have cosied up with Siobahn quite easily (groping her thigh on the couch) and someone mentioned he was very familiar with Lacey in that Top 12 group number during Idol Gives Back Week. But he did well tonight and deserved the praise he got from the judges.

The big question on the official idol boards Crystal Bowersox page this week was *what song should she sing?* There were some votes for My Way (so wrong for her or really anyone but Sinatra himself), That's Life, and Come Rain or Come Shine. The overall preference was a song called Blues In the Night which wasn't even on the list. NO ONE suggested Summer Wind. Probably because no one had ever heard of it unless they were not only fans of Sinatra, but pretty hard core fans. When I read on a spoiler site that she was singing it tonight, I went to Youtube to hear Sinatra sing it because I had never heard of it. Also on Youtube is a video of some 6 year old auditioning for Britain's Got Talent singing that song. I suggest you watch that if you were unimpressed with Crystal's performance.

As she was singing it, I was thinking...I LOVE this but get BIG Crystal. She did get big where the song should have been big (as least if you listen to Sinatra sing it). She also seemed, to me at least, to invoke those girls who sang with the big bands, like Rosemary Clooney. I was thinking *oh good*...another moment....and then Randy decides to dump poop on her. And Ellen thought she swallowed the lyrics. Kara was not effusive but at least she mentioned her phrasing (notice no other contestant was complimented on that aspect, which, after all, is Sinatra's claim to fame). And Simon just called it self-indulgent (a comment he normally reserves for people who go over the top....not people who are understated). So..I'm thinking...maybe I'm wrong about it. Then, after voting pretty much non-stop for 2 hours for her, I go to a site and watch it again. And I was not wrong. She was amazing. She hit every note including the high one (without a scream); her phrasing was impeccable; and she just oozed the era. But...that is my opinion.

My theory why the judges panned her and why others might find her performance not that impressive is that it is a song that hardly anyone knows, with the exception of Simon. Also, she said the lyrics meant a lot to her. Well, everyone was trying to figure out the lyrics of a song they had never heard before and completely disregarded how well she sang them.

I hope she is safe tomorrow. Next week they get to do two songs, I think. Based on the judges comments tonight I think she ought to sing *Proud To Be an American* like Kristy Lee Cook; or *And I Will Always Love You* like about 7 other idol contestants (Siobahn was working up to it...you know that she was); or *Over the Rainbow*; or *I Who Have Nothing* or *Alone* or *Put Your Records On* or some other song that has been sung to dreck on Idol in years past.

I think the judges need to watch her performance again!

I don't know if they will do a bottom 3 or not tomorrow. If they do, my predictions are: Casey, Aaron, and Crystal. With Casey going home to the Blue Skies of Texas.