The Candy Man Can

*You're not just eye candy, you're ear candy*.

I REALLY did not want to go into the Kara/Casey drama as my very second paragraph but that would be like ignoring a full cat litter box. I don't WANT to clean it but I have to. Frankly, I am rather chagrined to discover that Kara and I have the same taste in men. Casey is a bad boy who is way too good looking for his own good (although a bit scrawny) and I'm sure has left scores of women heartbroken who thought they were the love of his life . He is exactly the type of guy I adored in my teens and twenties. And then I married a man who resembles Andy Garcia. Except the man I married cannot sing. And, unlike Andy Garcia, he goes to work every day instead of sitting around the house crying about not being able to afford food for our cats.

Seriously, my enjoyment of Casey James is diminished by knowing that Kara thinks he is hot too. Of all the performances tonight, his was the only one I was smiling through. I resisted the impulse to vote for him. And Kara seriously needs to tone down the story line here. It is very unfair to the other contestants. Casey, being the bad boy that he is, is shamelessly taking advantage of her lust (you can hardly blame him) and I hope we don't hear anymore about it. Ryan was right, HR does need to intervene here quickly or they are going to have some legal trouble over this. I like his music. I'm sure KK is going EWWWW...he is so cheesy. Well, I like cheesy. Enough of me on Casey James and I promise I will attempt to stifle my Kara Cougar impulses in future posts (although I think at my age I'm more like a a plow horse than a cougar).

So..back to reality. I was a bit surprised to hear Randy say the ladies *blew it out last night* because the judges seemed to hate all the girls. Here is my take on the contestants who did not make me smile through their songs.

Todrick Hall. Con man extraordinaire. I'm sure the little kids who come up to him and say they loved his original audition song are not the same little kids whose parents got scammed out of thousands of dollars in numerous cities to be in a production he never planned to stage. His song choice was lame and he sang it like a bad cruise ship performer. He cannot leave soon enough for me. He got marks for being *creative* even though it sucked. Sorry....I'm with Simon, except I would go further. His performance wasn't verging on stupid it was just plain stupid. And, as they say...you can't fix stupid.

Aaron Kelly. He was not that original and I HATE HATE HATE those random falsettos that are so popular in the current songs..I guess Mariah Carey started that trend and its ugly to me even when she does it. But he did fine for a 16 year old.

Germaine *the Diva* Sellers tried to live down his reputation for being a complete ass in Hollywood. I was wincing and wincing as he sang because he is not very good. And then of course, he tried to convince us he really isn't a conceited ass but forgot who the heck he had insulted in Hollywood. *Whose Michael?* Oh just some guy who makes a living in the music business which I believe you will never do.

Tim Urban. Oh man. Bad. He seems nice and I liked some parts of his voice but once again that stupid falsetto brought him down. He's gone.

Joe Munoz. Well he doesn't grab me but seems nice enough and is not horrible so that should get him through.

Tyler Brady. Well, he does look a bit like KK's brother but KK's brother is way cooler than Tyler. You know, he was just too obvious with his 70's stuff tonight. Of course he was told in Hollywood week that his 70's vibe *set him apart* so who can blame him for working it.

Lee DeWyze. He almost made me smile through his song. He is a bit of a David Cook type. I like him. I voted for him because I was too embarassed to vote for Casey James. But now I cannot remember what he sang!

Jon Park. Didn't really see much of him leading up to this week, but I like him personally. I love that song and I think he loves that song but I agree it didn't quite work. I hope he gets enough votes for being nice and loving his parents to get a chance to sing something else.

Michael Lynch. More about the baby. More more about the baby. Hey...did you know he has a baby? Unfortunately, it appears he will be on for a long time so I will just refer to him as Big Mike Who Has A Baby Like Everyone (BMWHALE). He thinks he has already won this contest. I thought the song was too rushed and his herky jerky movements made me dizzy. I've tranferred my Andy Garcia malevolent ill will to him.

Alex Lambert. I know he is an awkward kid and was scared. His song had more stupid falsetto in it which he could not quite handle. He complimented the band which was a very mature thing for him to do. I hope he stays for awhile but that is mostly just me being motherly about him.

Andrew Garcia. They gave him the pimp spot because he did knock them out in Hollywood with the Paula song. I have never heard the song he sang tonight which was a pretty depressing thing and, dare I say. it *self-indulgent*. On the other hand, they told him how great he was when he did something original with the Paula song so I imagine he is a bit confused that tonight they didn't call his original work genius. I think it was an intellectual performance as opposed to an emotional performance which is odd since I thought he was emotional. He will be around for a very long time so we will see if KK's hopes for him are realized. I don't hate him quite as much now that he reminds me of my husband (who I do not hate at all..just for the record..for one thing he has moved around a great deal of furniture the past few weeks which I doubt Casey James would bother to do).

Predictions: Tyler Urban and Alex Lambert go home. Todrick should go home simply for dashing the dreams of young children througout the United States but I think he will scam his way into a few more weeks.

Oh..earlier I said that the Todrick scam story had not been verified. It now has been verified and researched. At least one local news station reported on it. He went into communities and approached dance schools and said the kids could be munchkins in his musical about Oz (to be produced at some local location he had already booked). He held auditions and then told the *winners* that the fee to participate would be $50 or $75 depending on the city. Supposedly this was to pay for the costumes the kids would wear. Then, he skipped town. Then he sent word the production was cancelled for various reasons. Local venues he supposedly had booked to show the production claim they had never even been contacted about the show. He now claims he is *trying to pay them all back*. To be fair, the production did actually play in 3 or 4 cities. As everyone who has studied grifters knows...you have to have something that appears legit in order to bring in the suckers.

Now that the first performances are behind them all, I'm hoping the remaining contestants have a good week next week.

And a side note about Angela Martin who was totally screwed out of a top 24 spot. Evidently, Ellen has arranged for her to have a recording contract and Kara is going to write some songs for her (the songwriting could be a good or bad thing). I hope she succeeds. I really think the reason the producers cut her out was they thought that her mother would be discovered dead during the season and that would generate sympathy for her which would be unfair to the other contestants as well as not wanting the news to reflect on Idol (probably more of the latter than the former). But I'm happy for her to get a shot at a contract and hope she is produced well, has good songs, and that the label promotes her. Go Angela!