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38Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyIdol Season 9: Top 9 -- Casey James
Back In The Hunt To Win
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Read More: American Idol , Casey James , Crystal Bowersox , Ellen Degeneres , Kara DioGuardi , Randy
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Because David Letterman was sick, Didi Benami
appeared on his show Tuesday. Again, they insisted on
emphasizing she'd been kicked off the show and
running Idol down. (Why have the contestants on the
show if you hate it?) Didi was polite and sang Kara
DioGuardi's "Terrified" to tentative if decent effect.
Then the Top 9 contestants on American Idol were
given the keys to the greatest catalog in pop history:
the tunes of Lennon and McCartney. The results were
so-so, but Katie Stevens received more praise than ever from the judges (enjoy it while it lasts) while
Casey James put himself back in the hunt for the finale.
Really, there's no excuse for not shining tonight (unless it was Crystal's cold). No matter what genre you
love, the Beatles have a classic tune you can shine on. Country, rock, folk, funk, punk, pop, ballads,
rockers, blues, gospel -- they've got it all. It's a shame the night wasn't filled with better performances.
AARON KELLY -- Sang "The Long and Winding Road," one of six Paul songs (John nabbed three). It's
also one of three in the Paul vein of weighty anthemic ballads -- and all three get performed tonight. I am
nutters about the Beatles but "The Long And Winding Road," "Let It Be" and "Hey Jude" are not songs Iwould recommend people tackle. All three have been covered many, many times by great artists...butrarely memorably. "Road," for example, is a very meandering tune and quite difficult to sing and I've
never heard more than a passable cover. Aaron's youth is catching up with him. Here again he seemed a
bit lost, though his raspy voice came through nicely. And a big, fan-pleasing note at the end should savehim. Better than last week, but he's lost his groove. Mostly likely, he just needs to grow and mature and
perform for five or ten years to get some seasoning and see what he might become.
KATIE STEVENS -- Sang -- yikes -- "Let It Be." Obviously not concerned with comparisons to Kris
Allen (or Aretha Franklin's seminal take), she was immediately more focused and confident. Katie always
gravitates to mature, older tunes so obviously this works for her and she clearly knows the tune inside
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and out, not to mention understanding the lyrics. It wasn't great but it was good and as good as she can
do (at this age). This will be her peak. I understood Simon's comment about it being sort of country: it
might have been an arrangement Trisha Yearwood would do.
ANDREW GARCIA -- Sang an anonymous version of "Can't Buy Me Love." (My favorite is a jazzy
version by John Pizzarelli, which I do a killer performance of in the shower). He strummed his acoustic
guitar so sparingly (and it was miked so low) that it looked like a prop. And his vocals were buried by the
band. And his hair keeps getting taller every week. Flopping is not nearly as dangerous as being
forgettable and Andrew was forgettable.
MICHAEL LYNCHE -- Sang "Eleanor Rigby," not in the style of Ray Charles (my favorite cover) or at
least not exactly. It was ok and got better towards the end. Simon nailed it: it was musical theater-like.
Randy said that was fine and referenced the TV show Glee . Kara insisted it could be played on the radio.
(Maybe satellite radio, with hundreds of channels. Most radio today wouldn't even play the original if it
were a new single.) A busy arrangement with a flashy vocal but hard to ever get a handle on emotionally.
CRYSTAL BOWERSOX -- Sang "Come Together," the first John song of the night. (Aerosmith has the
best cover, though I am intrigued to hear the covers by Diana Ross solo and the Supremes on their own.
Trippy!) I think she lost the lyrics for a moment in the middle (that's when she turned away), somethingnone of the judges commented on. (Of course, the lyrics are Lewis Carroll-ian nonsense anyway.) And
she has a cold. And the didgeridoo was actually distracting (if fun). But then she hit her groove and
started to wail and it was fine. Kara finally mentioned Bonnie Raitt (isn't that the first time on-air they'vemade this obvious comparison?). Solid but not as good as I expect from her. (By the way, on the originalrecording, the song starts with a crazily catchy "ssshhhhummmpppppp" and to this day I have absolutely
no idea how they got that sound. Can any Beatle fanatics enlighten me?)
TIM URBAN -- Sang "All My Loving," a tricky early tune with a chorus that sort of rambles down into a
lower register and can be hard to sing effectively. (Out of a weak batch of covers, I'd pick the rather
obscure but lovely Sara Mann version done for the great TV show American Dreams -- one of the girls
could have killed with her slow, acoustic arrangement. Gosh I loved that show.) But Tim used a good
spare arrangement (I wish he'd left the band out even more than he did) and mixed it up on the chorus so
he could go higher and not get bogged down in that draggy section. Easily his best performance since"Hallelujah" and a clear home run for him. Like Katie, this is as good as it gets for him. Very Jason Mraz.
Ellen and Simon agree with me. It's not just good for him, it's better than most of the other performances
tonight -- not that he's suddenly a good singer. I find it extremely difficult to believe he didn'tconsciously wear his hair to echo the Beatles but what possible reason could he have for admittingcluelessness?
CASEY JAMES -- Early on it seemed like Casey and Crystal would be in the finale but after a few weeks
of anonymous delivery the final four seemed the end of the road for him. Not any more. His performance
of "Jealous Guy" (which The Strokes should do in a speeded-up, punk tempo) was excellent, by far the
best of the night and the best by him so far. He had a ton of vibrato at first, but soon settled in and reallydelivered. As an artist, he seems a pretty lightweight spin on Stevie Ray Vaughan, but he could have what
it takes to win the show. By the way, who knew they could do solo stuff?
SIOBHAN MAGNUS -- Sang "Across The Universe." Ellen namechecked a Rufus Wainwright cover as
her favorite (I assume she means the one on the soundtrack to I Am Sam. ) But my favorite is a live
version with Rufus and Moby and Sean Lennon for a tribute concert. It's acoustic and lovely and just
gorgeous. I'm simply not a fan of Siobhan as a singer (she always sounds like she has a stuffy nose to me)
but many people smarter than me (like producer Steve Lillywhite) think she's special. Happily, she didn't
wail away tonight, instead delivering a softer, quieter performance. That's all to the good, but it exposedher weaknesses as a singer even more as far as I'm concerned. She's a cool wacky person (though I dothink, as others have said, she looks much cooler backstage with her dorky glasses than when she gets
into "costume"). Bizarrely, a man kept shouting out during the show and instead of having security
quietly take him out during a commercial if he refused to behave, they put him on camera and theninvited him onstage.
LEE DEWYZE -- So is the new confident Lee a permanent fixture or will he settle back into timidity and
confusion? The answer is...we don't know yet. Lee was certainly confident in his choice of how to present
"Hey Jude." (Wilson Pickett does a rousing, soulful take that manages to deflate the song's inherent
"bigness" and sidestep all the pomposity.) Lee brought in a bagpipe player for the finale Note to Lee; onebagpipe player is just silly; four or eight bagpipe players would have been cool. More interestingly, herecognized the heart of "Hey Jude" is the sing-along at the end and actually devoted much of his
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Bump...performance to the "na-na-na-na" section and kept urging the audience to sing along. I've often
wondered why the contestants don't try to play to the audience more often like that, but maybe it's
because Lee tried it and either they didn't bite or we couldn't hear them. (They certainly applauded at the
end.) It was nutty and silly and not terribly good but in a crazy way it was pretty gutsy. Maybe he is moreconfident. But next week he needs to deliver, not just try.
Oh, the bottom three. So many possibilities. i actually think Tim and Katie will stay out of the bottom
three for a change. I think the bottom three will be Aaron Kelly and Andrew Garcia and Siobhan Magnus.
Is that possible? Tim's been in the bottom three every week and Katie's been in it the last two. They
clearly have a weak fan base. Still, I say it'll be Aaron and Andrew and Siobhan, with Andrew and Aaronin the bottom two and Andrew going home. The judges would use their save for Aaron or Siobhan, butnot Andrew. What do you think?
Thanks for reading. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog. Download his podcast of
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First things first;
KATIE STEVENS WILL BE GOING HOME TONIGHT. It's done, over. Underline it with a red marker, call home the authoritie s...... She's like John Forsyth!
She is history!!! !
Also, after last night I'd say Casey will be the ultimate winner. Another thing..... . Will the Judges stop talking about the "albums" that the contestant s will surely
record once the show is over.
THIS IS NOT 1970!
PEOPLE DON'T BUY ALBUMS ANYMORE!TEENAGERS DON'T TURN CRATES INTO RECEPTORS FOR ALBUMS ANYMORE!!! NOT EVERYONE OWNS "CHEAP TRICK/ LIVE AT BUDOKAN!!! YOU GET THE PICTURE?
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14 Fans
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43 FansWhy did you have to play the Forsythe card? The man is dead and has nothing to do with
American Idol. Leave him be! :P
I played the Forsyth card because I wanted to pay tribute to a great man.
Besides, it's a cheap laugh.
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First, is your caps lock stuck? Second, Katie isn't going home tonight. hahahahaha haha
While you're right that "album" was originally short for record album, I believe it has come
to refer to the body of music, and not the format. I own Stevie Wonder's album "Talking
Book." I've purchased that album on LP and cassette and several times on CD and could
purchase it as an MP3. I could also listen to that album on streaming audio withoutdownloadin g or owning it at all. Whatever the format, those are different ways of listening to
the album he created. EP used to refer to literally an LP with just four or so songs on it --now it just refers to a briefer work of art, more than a single but less than an album. Withso many artists releasing singles and EPs and then another single and then maybe analbum, it gets confusing. But I don't think digital downloads mean the end of albums asworks of art, whatever the format. It's still a cohesive work of art that's meant to be heard inorder from beginning to end -- and heck, the concept album predated LPs anyway, sinceFrank Sinatra was doing it on 78s. And man, I need to get Cheap Trick's Live at Budokan!
Idol manages to destroy the Lennon-McC artney catalog each season. Sony, please, stop allowing
this to happen.
That being said, while I thought Crystal did a nice, personal rendition of "Come Together," how soon
we forget that Carly Smithson did a stand-out version during her time on Idol. Now *that* was howto tackle that nonsensica l song...tat s and all.
I think you're underestim ating Katie, btw. Last night was a great performanc e, probably the best and
most controlled of the night (her other performanc es, however, have been less than what we
expected to hear from her since the auditions) . It proved that when she does what she wants to do
with conviction , even for her 17 years, she does it well. I think she's been flummoxed with too much
input, and she's been listening to everyone except herself. I don't think she's an "Idol winner," butshe does have a good voice when allowed to let it be....so to speak.
As for Casey...oh come on. It was okay, great song choice for him, but nothing vocally special. Just
because he managed to get one fairly right for a change doesn't mean he will suddenly win thiscompetitio n.
Bagpipes for Lee? Why not an entire chorus of kazoo players? What? Too gimmicky?FOLLOW HUFFINGTON POST
voyage2k 06:19 PM on 4/07/2010
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59 Fans
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6 FansWhen I said that was the best katie could do, I did mean at her age. She's only 17, has a
good voice and who knows what might develop in years to come. If every song can be aspersonal and meaningful to her as "Let It Be," and she could deliver, she'd go far some day.
My friend lives on Andrew Garcia's block and said they were power dialing last night. Interestin g...
we'll see if it pans out for him. He and Aaron were the weakest for me.
I would HOPE friends of the contestant s were speed-dial ing last night! At this stage, I think
family and friends aren't enough. You have to win over the millions of people watching youwho don't know any of the contestant s. On the other hand, I think being from a smaller
state can be a big help, since a small state can get much more excited for a finalist than,say, California or New York, which really wouldn't care.
Would love to have heard:
Lee -- "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" or "Help!"Big Mike -- "Oh, Darling" or "We Can Work It Out"Aaron -- "I Will" or "Here, There and Everywhere "
Siobhan -- "In My Life" or "Helter Skelter"Crystal -- "She's Leaving Home" or "Sexy Sadie"
Andrew -- "I've Just Seen A Face" or "You Can't Do That"
Casey -- "I Feel Fine" or "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party"Katie -- "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" or "You Never Give Me Your Money"
Nothing for Tim? You just don't care?
Otherwise, some really good ideas. Lee doing "Bathroom Window" would have beenawesome and much better than the stolid "Hey Jude." He'd be smart to do it any time downthe road, frankly.
Casey was fantastic. It is so nice to hear a less familiar song by the Beatles (Lennon). I am so over
hearing the same old song on Idol. For me Casey was the stand-out, solidifyin g in my mind that he
deserves to be in the top three: Crystal, Lee and Casey.HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Michael Giltz 11:40 PM on 4/07/2010
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22 Fans
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33 FansAlthough many criticize this season as lackluster it has been the most individual istic ever. I'm
surprised that very individual ity could ever be considered lackluster .
Casey & Lee. That's it.
Casey had the best performanc e of the night. Crystal is still my favorite Idol of all time. I'm still
waiting for someone to tell Big Obnoxious to keep his hands to himself. I'm still on the Siobhan train,
but she's had a couple of rough weeks. The rest can go home right after Big Obnoxious (he won't,but one can hope.)
Casey went up about 1,000,000 points in my book. That was a great song choice, not so well
known that he could do just about anything, and beautiful lyrics that can be filled with emotion. Justreally an excellent choice, even my husband came in from the other room to comment positively .
I agree Katie would be perfect for Glee. I kept thinking, as the commercial s for Glee auditions were
being shown over and over, the answer was just under there nose, right there on AI.
Simon needs to broaden what he considers current and modern. As the mother of high-schoo lers, I
can attest to how popular the glee stuff is. Kids these days have such a range of musical influences
to choose from, which is pretty cool. Across the Universe was a big deal to my daughter and herfriends, which basically is the same kind of stuff as Glee. There is more to music than theoverproduc ed pop junk that appeals to 13 year olds. Adult Alternativ e is even considered a genre,
thank the lord, because that is music being made for me. :)
I practicall y live at Adult Alternativ e :) Thanks for commenting and you're certainly right
about Glee, High School Musical et al being current with kids.
I just hate to say it, but honestly we could just scan forward over Ellen's commentary and not leaveanything out. It was pointed out at the beginning of the show last night by somebody I was watchingwith "Look, Ellen will mirror Randy on each call." That was pretty accurate. Ellen, get out while thegettins good, people love you on the talk show, but here, you're just irrelevent .
Casey was phenomenal . He really raised his game, finally! I knew he had it in him. Fantastic song
choice too. LOVED it. He'll be in the finale with Crystal.
I would love it if Katie went home, she bugs something fierce... Ugh. But I think it might be Aaron.Permalink | Share it
MarshaMarshaMarsha 02:47 PM on 4/07/2010
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femmyror 01:22 PM on 4/07/2010
59 Fans
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326 FansOr Andrew. Out of ALL the songs to choose from, Aaron picks that snoozer. Why? He kind of
deserves to go home for that alone... And Andrew: parts of his performanc e had a slight rockabilly
vibe to it, which I liked, but then bandzilla kept happening. He should have pushed it further into thatrockabilly direction, it would have worked much better, been much cooler. Like a rocked up StrayCats kind of thing, am I right? But his musical instincts/ taste seem to be somewhat lacking.
The absolute worst vocal of the night, though, was Lee. Listening back to that... woah! That was
some uuuugly singing. Out of tune, and the raspiness sounded like shite. But he gets a lot of praise
from the judges, and it was sort of entertaini ng – in a craptastic way – so he won't even see the
bottom 3.
A rockabilly , Stray Cats vibe would have been cool, indeed. Thanks for commenting .
Mr. Giltz is kicked off this column for daring to use the B word (Beatles) when "Idol's" licensingagreement obviously prohibits mentioning that word, as Harrison-S tarr songs are not part of the
package. :-) But, he's brought back again for rightfully noting the three McCartney songs that shouldbe banned from covers for a decade.
Nothing that was done on this show matched the unexpected creativity that Lilly Scott managed with
her rendition of "Fixing A Hole" in the first week. Last night was a snoozfest.
Never thought I'd praise Tim, but his "All My Loving" was the one moment that captured the
infectious youthfulne ss of The Beatles (oops, now kick me off).
Crystal nailed "Come Together", a Lennon tune not often nailed. Casey should have had theperformanc e of the evening but missed substantia lly, regardless of the judges overpraisi ng.
With his Jeff Beck guitar licks, he should have stuck to one of the loveliest melancholy melodiesever written, a la Bryan Ferry, instead of changing the melody to "make it his own." Make it yourown, Casey, just don't dare to call it "Jealous Guy".
Did I say "Beatles?" Whoops. My bad. What is the deal with that? No "Here Comes TheSun?" And of course it only blocks out George since I don't believe Ringo had a songwriting credit on Beatles albums -- though if I'm wrong, someone will correct me quickly.Certainly most of his songs were written for him by Lennon/McC artney (c) 2010.
I think the agreement with Sony Publishing only allows Lennon-McC artney tunes
as opposed to all the lads. Harrison's songs are more popular now than they werewhen he put them out, so that's a shame. And while Ringo DID write "Don't PassMe By" and "Octopus' Garden", there's no reason to think they would be songchoices when there were so many others to choose from.
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Michael Giltz 01:30 PM on 4/07/2010
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CAMBEL 01:45 PM on 4/07/2010
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FollowI would have LOVED it if somebody had taken on George Harrisons "Something " by
George Harrison, or even "My Sweet Lord" if they could have gotten the backing choir.
Lennon and McCartney have incredible songs, but Harrison had a few good ones, why notopen up the entire catalogue?
Of course, they also would have had to clear that with the writers of "He's SoFine." :) Heck, "My Sweet Lord" was so catchy I was kind of afraid as a little kidthat it would turn me into a Hare Krishna. Seriously!
I happened to like Big Mike's rendition of 'Eleanor Rigby' simply BECAUSE it had a theatrical feel.To me, it had a rise and a climax and it was enjoyable.
I did not like Bowersox's 'Come Together' because she's settled into her schtick.Why is it that Bowersox and the others have such an allowance to go 'soulful' but when Big Mike
tried to do the same thing, it's questionab le?
Beatles Night sucked, imo.
EVERY night on AI sucks. But this one was sacrilegio us.
My final four are Crystal, Siobhan, Casey and Lee (not particular ly in any order). I like Mike, but
think he's a gonner once we get down to the half-way mark unless he picks things up a bit. I agreeabout Aaron and Andrew in the bottom two but not sure that Tim won't round out the bottom three,even with the praise, which I took as a backhanded compliment , probably forced by the exec.
producers after all the Tim bashing that has gone on since the top 12 began. I mean what was withRandy saying "judging Tim on Tim performanc es?" That isn't how this show works and the fact that
they had been picking on him for smiling so much? Heck I'd smile too if I were still on the show andmade the tour no matter what they said.
I think a guy goes home tonite. There are only 3 girls left and all three put up good enough
performanc es to keep them at least one more week.
You could be right about three girls being safer than the six guys. These gender
imbalances tend to straighten themselves out, though I still think Crystal will be aloneamong gals in the final four.Permalink | Share it
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Michael Giltz 11:48 PM on 4/07/2010
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21 Fans
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59 FansI've been watching Idol since season two and was stunned in season three when
the final four were ALL girls. But for the most part, the gender imbalance isn't so
obvious. I would like to see a guy/girl finale, but not sure how that will shake out
now. Guess it all depends on the next two weeks when we get down to the finalsix. I've been wrong more than right when picking the winner, but usually do wellpicking the final two.
Two years ago, after the first week's performanc es (which, btw, were Lennon/McC
artney songs), I pegged David Cook to make the finals. He really made everyone
take notice that he was in it to win it and for me he never looked back from thatfirst performanc e.
I think David's version of Eleanor Rigby was by far way better than Mike'sperformanc e last night. He played to his strong suit, whereas Mike didn't.
Only time will tell.
Absolutely right about the final four. Then it will all depend on who of the four goes homefirst and where their voters go.
Agree on Casey James being the performanc e of the night. Disagree with your suggestion his
previous performanc es were "anonymous ". I think he has delivered good, solid performanc es
consistent ly throughout . Thought that was a brill song choice and a brill delivery.
Agree on Siobhan. She seemed to peak with "Think". I've been waiting to see other stirringperformanc es each week, but mainly getting "the scream", which I'm happy she dispensed with for
last night. No question, she has a good voice. However, as you say, that song choice last nightrevealed the flaws. Was waiting for it to be over after the first few lines made it obvious it was goingnowhere. The "cool wacky stuff" seems a little contrived. Adam Lambert wannabe? Getting worn outon her.
Agree on the rest of them. Was really expecting a much more exciting set of performanc es, given
the available material, but, oh well. Enjoyed seeing the didge guy just because he was very cool.
Had nothing to do whatever with Crystal's arrangemen t in any meaninful way that I could see. Yeah,
Distractin g. Her song choice and performanc e were just ok. Same with the bagpipe player, to a
lesser extent. Kind of fun, but definitely both were WTH moments? LOL!
Still feeling this is a very lacklustre season.
Siobhan shoulda done "I am the Walrus"; turned it out ala Lambert. Instead she seems to be
melting down, emotionall y.
Casey James ruled the night with Lennon's lesser known, "Jealous Guy".
Never thought it'd be a boy this season 'til last night.
Mamasox still rox, and I defend Katie as Glee-worth y.
Katie is absolutely Glee-worth y and "I Am The Walrus" would have been kind of awesome
for Siobhan -- if you're gonna let your freak flag fly, that's the song to do it.Permalink | Share it
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38Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyIdol Season 9: Top 9 -- Casey James
Back In The Hunt To Win
What's Your Reaction:
Read More: American Idol , Casey James , Crystal Bowersox , Ellen Degeneres , Kara DioGuardi , Randy
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Because David Letterman was sick, Didi Benami
appeared on his show Tuesday. Again, they insisted on
emphasizing she'd been kicked off the show and
running Idol down. (Why have the contestants on the
show if you hate it?) Didi was polite and sang Kara
DioGuardi's "Terrified" to tentative if decent effect.
Then the Top 9 contestants on American Idol were
given the keys to the greatest catalog in pop history:
the tunes of Lennon and McCartney. The results were
so-so, but Katie Stevens received more praise than ever from the judges (enjoy it while it lasts) while
Casey James put himself back in the hunt for the finale.
Really, there's no excuse for not shining tonight (unless it was Crystal's cold). No matter what genre you
love, the Beatles have a classic tune you can shine on. Country, rock, folk, funk, punk, pop, ballads,
rockers, blues, gospel -- they've got it all. It's a shame the night wasn't filled with better performances.
AARON KELLY -- Sang "The Long and Winding Road," one of six Paul songs (John nabbed three). It's
also one of three in the Paul vein of weighty anthemic ballads -- and all three get performed tonight. I am
nutters about the Beatles but "The Long And Winding Road," "Let It Be" and "Hey Jude" are not songs Iwould recommend people tackle. All three have been covered many, many times by great artists...butrarely memorably. "Road," for example, is a very meandering tune and quite difficult to sing and I've
never heard more than a passable cover. Aaron's youth is catching up with him. Here again he seemed a
bit lost, though his raspy voice came through nicely. And a big, fan-pleasing note at the end should savehim. Better than last week, but he's lost his groove. Mostly likely, he just needs to grow and mature and
perform for five or ten years to get some seasoning and see what he might become.
KATIE STEVENS -- Sang -- yikes -- "Let It Be." Obviously not concerned with comparisons to Kris
Allen (or Aretha Franklin's seminal take), she was immediately more focused and confident. Katie always
gravitates to mature, older tunes so obviously this works for her and she clearly knows the tune inside
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and out, not to mention understanding the lyrics. It wasn't great but it was good and as good as she can
do (at this age). This will be her peak. I understood Simon's comment about it being sort of country: it
might have been an arrangement Trisha Yearwood would do.
ANDREW GARCIA -- Sang an anonymous version of "Can't Buy Me Love." (My favorite is a jazzy
version by John Pizzarelli, which I do a killer performance of in the shower). He strummed his acoustic
guitar so sparingly (and it was miked so low) that it looked like a prop. And his vocals were buried by the
band. And his hair keeps getting taller every week. Flopping is not nearly as dangerous as being
forgettable and Andrew was forgettable.
MICHAEL LYNCHE -- Sang "Eleanor Rigby," not in the style of Ray Charles (my favorite cover) or at
least not exactly. It was ok and got better towards the end. Simon nailed it: it was musical theater-like.
Randy said that was fine and referenced the TV show Glee . Kara insisted it could be played on the radio.
(Maybe satellite radio, with hundreds of channels. Most radio today wouldn't even play the original if it
were a new single.) A busy arrangement with a flashy vocal but hard to ever get a handle on emotionally.
CRYSTAL BOWERSOX -- Sang "Come Together," the first John song of the night. (Aerosmith has the
best cover, though I am intrigued to hear the covers by Diana Ross solo and the Supremes on their own.
Trippy!) I think she lost the lyrics for a moment in the middle (that's when she turned away), somethingnone of the judges commented on. (Of course, the lyrics are Lewis Carroll-ian nonsense anyway.) And
she has a cold. And the didgeridoo was actually distracting (if fun). But then she hit her groove and
started to wail and it was fine. Kara finally mentioned Bonnie Raitt (isn't that the first time on-air they'vemade this obvious comparison?). Solid but not as good as I expect from her. (By the way, on the originalrecording, the song starts with a crazily catchy "ssshhhhummmpppppp" and to this day I have absolutely
no idea how they got that sound. Can any Beatle fanatics enlighten me?)
TIM URBAN -- Sang "All My Loving," a tricky early tune with a chorus that sort of rambles down into a
lower register and can be hard to sing effectively. (Out of a weak batch of covers, I'd pick the rather
obscure but lovely Sara Mann version done for the great TV show American Dreams -- one of the girls
could have killed with her slow, acoustic arrangement. Gosh I loved that show.) But Tim used a good
spare arrangement (I wish he'd left the band out even more than he did) and mixed it up on the chorus so
he could go higher and not get bogged down in that draggy section. Easily his best performance since"Hallelujah" and a clear home run for him. Like Katie, this is as good as it gets for him. Very Jason Mraz.
Ellen and Simon agree with me. It's not just good for him, it's better than most of the other performances
tonight -- not that he's suddenly a good singer. I find it extremely difficult to believe he didn'tconsciously wear his hair to echo the Beatles but what possible reason could he have for admittingcluelessness?
CASEY JAMES -- Early on it seemed like Casey and Crystal would be in the finale but after a few weeks
of anonymous delivery the final four seemed the end of the road for him. Not any more. His performance
of "Jealous Guy" (which The Strokes should do in a speeded-up, punk tempo) was excellent, by far the
best of the night and the best by him so far. He had a ton of vibrato at first, but soon settled in and reallydelivered. As an artist, he seems a pretty lightweight spin on Stevie Ray Vaughan, but he could have what
it takes to win the show. By the way, who knew they could do solo stuff?
SIOBHAN MAGNUS -- Sang "Across The Universe." Ellen namechecked a Rufus Wainwright cover as
her favorite (I assume she means the one on the soundtrack to I Am Sam. ) But my favorite is a live
version with Rufus and Moby and Sean Lennon for a tribute concert. It's acoustic and lovely and just
gorgeous. I'm simply not a fan of Siobhan as a singer (she always sounds like she has a stuffy nose to me)
but many people smarter than me (like producer Steve Lillywhite) think she's special. Happily, she didn't
wail away tonight, instead delivering a softer, quieter performance. That's all to the good, but it exposedher weaknesses as a singer even more as far as I'm concerned. She's a cool wacky person (though I dothink, as others have said, she looks much cooler backstage with her dorky glasses than when she gets
into "costume"). Bizarrely, a man kept shouting out during the show and instead of having security
quietly take him out during a commercial if he refused to behave, they put him on camera and theninvited him onstage.
LEE DEWYZE -- So is the new confident Lee a permanent fixture or will he settle back into timidity and
confusion? The answer is...we don't know yet. Lee was certainly confident in his choice of how to present
"Hey Jude." (Wilson Pickett does a rousing, soulful take that manages to deflate the song's inherent
"bigness" and sidestep all the pomposity.) Lee brought in a bagpipe player for the finale Note to Lee; onebagpipe player is just silly; four or eight bagpipe players would have been cool. More interestingly, herecognized the heart of "Hey Jude" is the sing-along at the end and actually devoted much of his
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Bump...performance to the "na-na-na-na" section and kept urging the audience to sing along. I've often
wondered why the contestants don't try to play to the audience more often like that, but maybe it's
because Lee tried it and either they didn't bite or we couldn't hear them. (They certainly applauded at the
end.) It was nutty and silly and not terribly good but in a crazy way it was pretty gutsy. Maybe he is moreconfident. But next week he needs to deliver, not just try.
Oh, the bottom three. So many possibilities. i actually think Tim and Katie will stay out of the bottom
three for a change. I think the bottom three will be Aaron Kelly and Andrew Garcia and Siobhan Magnus.
Is that possible? Tim's been in the bottom three every week and Katie's been in it the last two. They
clearly have a weak fan base. Still, I say it'll be Aaron and Andrew and Siobhan, with Andrew and Aaronin the bottom two and Andrew going home. The judges would use their save for Aaron or Siobhan, butnot Andrew. What do you think?
Thanks for reading. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog. Download his podcast of
celebrity interviews and his weekly music radio show at Popsurfing and enjoy the weekly pop culture
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First things first;
KATIE STEVENS WILL BE GOING HOME TONIGHT. It's done, over. Underline it with a red marker, call home the authoritie s...... She's like John Forsyth!
She is history!!! !
Also, after last night I'd say Casey will be the ultimate winner. Another thing..... . Will the Judges stop talking about the "albums" that the contestant s will surely
record once the show is over.
THIS IS NOT 1970!
PEOPLE DON'T BUY ALBUMS ANYMORE!TEENAGERS DON'T TURN CRATES INTO RECEPTORS FOR ALBUMS ANYMORE!!! NOT EVERYONE OWNS "CHEAP TRICK/ LIVE AT BUDOKAN!!! YOU GET THE PICTURE?
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14 Fans
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43 FansWhy did you have to play the Forsythe card? The man is dead and has nothing to do with
American Idol. Leave him be! :P
I played the Forsyth card because I wanted to pay tribute to a great man.
Besides, it's a cheap laugh.
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First, is your caps lock stuck? Second, Katie isn't going home tonight. hahahahaha haha
While you're right that "album" was originally short for record album, I believe it has come
to refer to the body of music, and not the format. I own Stevie Wonder's album "Talking
Book." I've purchased that album on LP and cassette and several times on CD and could
purchase it as an MP3. I could also listen to that album on streaming audio withoutdownloadin g or owning it at all. Whatever the format, those are different ways of listening to
the album he created. EP used to refer to literally an LP with just four or so songs on it --now it just refers to a briefer work of art, more than a single but less than an album. Withso many artists releasing singles and EPs and then another single and then maybe analbum, it gets confusing. But I don't think digital downloads mean the end of albums asworks of art, whatever the format. It's still a cohesive work of art that's meant to be heard inorder from beginning to end -- and heck, the concept album predated LPs anyway, sinceFrank Sinatra was doing it on 78s. And man, I need to get Cheap Trick's Live at Budokan!
Idol manages to destroy the Lennon-McC artney catalog each season. Sony, please, stop allowing
this to happen.
That being said, while I thought Crystal did a nice, personal rendition of "Come Together," how soon
we forget that Carly Smithson did a stand-out version during her time on Idol. Now *that* was howto tackle that nonsensica l song...tat s and all.
I think you're underestim ating Katie, btw. Last night was a great performanc e, probably the best and
most controlled of the night (her other performanc es, however, have been less than what we
expected to hear from her since the auditions) . It proved that when she does what she wants to do
with conviction , even for her 17 years, she does it well. I think she's been flummoxed with too much
input, and she's been listening to everyone except herself. I don't think she's an "Idol winner," butshe does have a good voice when allowed to let it be....so to speak.
As for Casey...oh come on. It was okay, great song choice for him, but nothing vocally special. Just
because he managed to get one fairly right for a change doesn't mean he will suddenly win thiscompetitio n.
Bagpipes for Lee? Why not an entire chorus of kazoo players? What? Too gimmicky?FOLLOW HUFFINGTON POST
voyage2k 06:19 PM on 4/07/2010
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59 Fans
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6 FansWhen I said that was the best katie could do, I did mean at her age. She's only 17, has a
good voice and who knows what might develop in years to come. If every song can be aspersonal and meaningful to her as "Let It Be," and she could deliver, she'd go far some day.
My friend lives on Andrew Garcia's block and said they were power dialing last night. Interestin g...
we'll see if it pans out for him. He and Aaron were the weakest for me.
I would HOPE friends of the contestant s were speed-dial ing last night! At this stage, I think
family and friends aren't enough. You have to win over the millions of people watching youwho don't know any of the contestant s. On the other hand, I think being from a smaller
state can be a big help, since a small state can get much more excited for a finalist than,say, California or New York, which really wouldn't care.
Would love to have heard:
Lee -- "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" or "Help!"Big Mike -- "Oh, Darling" or "We Can Work It Out"Aaron -- "I Will" or "Here, There and Everywhere "
Siobhan -- "In My Life" or "Helter Skelter"Crystal -- "She's Leaving Home" or "Sexy Sadie"
Andrew -- "I've Just Seen A Face" or "You Can't Do That"
Casey -- "I Feel Fine" or "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party"Katie -- "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" or "You Never Give Me Your Money"
Nothing for Tim? You just don't care?
Otherwise, some really good ideas. Lee doing "Bathroom Window" would have beenawesome and much better than the stolid "Hey Jude." He'd be smart to do it any time downthe road, frankly.
Casey was fantastic. It is so nice to hear a less familiar song by the Beatles (Lennon). I am so over
hearing the same old song on Idol. For me Casey was the stand-out, solidifyin g in my mind that he
deserves to be in the top three: Crystal, Lee and Casey.HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Michael Giltz 11:40 PM on 4/07/2010
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22 Fans
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33 FansAlthough many criticize this season as lackluster it has been the most individual istic ever. I'm
surprised that very individual ity could ever be considered lackluster .
Casey & Lee. That's it.
Casey had the best performanc e of the night. Crystal is still my favorite Idol of all time. I'm still
waiting for someone to tell Big Obnoxious to keep his hands to himself. I'm still on the Siobhan train,
but she's had a couple of rough weeks. The rest can go home right after Big Obnoxious (he won't,but one can hope.)
Casey went up about 1,000,000 points in my book. That was a great song choice, not so well
known that he could do just about anything, and beautiful lyrics that can be filled with emotion. Justreally an excellent choice, even my husband came in from the other room to comment positively .
I agree Katie would be perfect for Glee. I kept thinking, as the commercial s for Glee auditions were
being shown over and over, the answer was just under there nose, right there on AI.
Simon needs to broaden what he considers current and modern. As the mother of high-schoo lers, I
can attest to how popular the glee stuff is. Kids these days have such a range of musical influences
to choose from, which is pretty cool. Across the Universe was a big deal to my daughter and herfriends, which basically is the same kind of stuff as Glee. There is more to music than theoverproduc ed pop junk that appeals to 13 year olds. Adult Alternativ e is even considered a genre,
thank the lord, because that is music being made for me. :)
I practicall y live at Adult Alternativ e :) Thanks for commenting and you're certainly right
about Glee, High School Musical et al being current with kids.
I just hate to say it, but honestly we could just scan forward over Ellen's commentary and not leaveanything out. It was pointed out at the beginning of the show last night by somebody I was watchingwith "Look, Ellen will mirror Randy on each call." That was pretty accurate. Ellen, get out while thegettins good, people love you on the talk show, but here, you're just irrelevent .
Casey was phenomenal . He really raised his game, finally! I knew he had it in him. Fantastic song
choice too. LOVED it. He'll be in the finale with Crystal.
I would love it if Katie went home, she bugs something fierce... Ugh. But I think it might be Aaron.Permalink | Share it
MarshaMarshaMarsha 02:47 PM on 4/07/2010
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femmyror 01:22 PM on 4/07/2010
59 Fans
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59 Fans
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326 FansOr Andrew. Out of ALL the songs to choose from, Aaron picks that snoozer. Why? He kind of
deserves to go home for that alone... And Andrew: parts of his performanc e had a slight rockabilly
vibe to it, which I liked, but then bandzilla kept happening. He should have pushed it further into thatrockabilly direction, it would have worked much better, been much cooler. Like a rocked up StrayCats kind of thing, am I right? But his musical instincts/ taste seem to be somewhat lacking.
The absolute worst vocal of the night, though, was Lee. Listening back to that... woah! That was
some uuuugly singing. Out of tune, and the raspiness sounded like shite. But he gets a lot of praise
from the judges, and it was sort of entertaini ng – in a craptastic way – so he won't even see the
bottom 3.
A rockabilly , Stray Cats vibe would have been cool, indeed. Thanks for commenting .
Mr. Giltz is kicked off this column for daring to use the B word (Beatles) when "Idol's" licensingagreement obviously prohibits mentioning that word, as Harrison-S tarr songs are not part of the
package. :-) But, he's brought back again for rightfully noting the three McCartney songs that shouldbe banned from covers for a decade.
Nothing that was done on this show matched the unexpected creativity that Lilly Scott managed with
her rendition of "Fixing A Hole" in the first week. Last night was a snoozfest.
Never thought I'd praise Tim, but his "All My Loving" was the one moment that captured the
infectious youthfulne ss of The Beatles (oops, now kick me off).
Crystal nailed "Come Together", a Lennon tune not often nailed. Casey should have had theperformanc e of the evening but missed substantia lly, regardless of the judges overpraisi ng.
With his Jeff Beck guitar licks, he should have stuck to one of the loveliest melancholy melodiesever written, a la Bryan Ferry, instead of changing the melody to "make it his own." Make it yourown, Casey, just don't dare to call it "Jealous Guy".
Did I say "Beatles?" Whoops. My bad. What is the deal with that? No "Here Comes TheSun?" And of course it only blocks out George since I don't believe Ringo had a songwriting credit on Beatles albums -- though if I'm wrong, someone will correct me quickly.Certainly most of his songs were written for him by Lennon/McC artney (c) 2010.
I think the agreement with Sony Publishing only allows Lennon-McC artney tunes
as opposed to all the lads. Harrison's songs are more popular now than they werewhen he put them out, so that's a shame. And while Ringo DID write "Don't PassMe By" and "Octopus' Garden", there's no reason to think they would be songchoices when there were so many others to choose from.
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CAMBEL 01:45 PM on 4/07/2010
59 Fans
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59 Fans
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FollowI would have LOVED it if somebody had taken on George Harrisons "Something " by
George Harrison, or even "My Sweet Lord" if they could have gotten the backing choir.
Lennon and McCartney have incredible songs, but Harrison had a few good ones, why notopen up the entire catalogue?
Of course, they also would have had to clear that with the writers of "He's SoFine." :) Heck, "My Sweet Lord" was so catchy I was kind of afraid as a little kidthat it would turn me into a Hare Krishna. Seriously!
I happened to like Big Mike's rendition of 'Eleanor Rigby' simply BECAUSE it had a theatrical feel.To me, it had a rise and a climax and it was enjoyable.
I did not like Bowersox's 'Come Together' because she's settled into her schtick.Why is it that Bowersox and the others have such an allowance to go 'soulful' but when Big Mike
tried to do the same thing, it's questionab le?
Beatles Night sucked, imo.
EVERY night on AI sucks. But this one was sacrilegio us.
My final four are Crystal, Siobhan, Casey and Lee (not particular ly in any order). I like Mike, but
think he's a gonner once we get down to the half-way mark unless he picks things up a bit. I agreeabout Aaron and Andrew in the bottom two but not sure that Tim won't round out the bottom three,even with the praise, which I took as a backhanded compliment , probably forced by the exec.
producers after all the Tim bashing that has gone on since the top 12 began. I mean what was withRandy saying "judging Tim on Tim performanc es?" That isn't how this show works and the fact that
they had been picking on him for smiling so much? Heck I'd smile too if I were still on the show andmade the tour no matter what they said.
I think a guy goes home tonite. There are only 3 girls left and all three put up good enough
performanc es to keep them at least one more week.
You could be right about three girls being safer than the six guys. These gender
imbalances tend to straighten themselves out, though I still think Crystal will be aloneamong gals in the final four.Permalink | Share it
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Michael Giltz 11:48 PM on 4/07/2010
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21 Fans
164 Fans
1 Fans
59 FansI've been watching Idol since season two and was stunned in season three when
the final four were ALL girls. But for the most part, the gender imbalance isn't so
obvious. I would like to see a guy/girl finale, but not sure how that will shake out
now. Guess it all depends on the next two weeks when we get down to the finalsix. I've been wrong more than right when picking the winner, but usually do wellpicking the final two.
Two years ago, after the first week's performanc es (which, btw, were Lennon/McC
artney songs), I pegged David Cook to make the finals. He really made everyone
take notice that he was in it to win it and for me he never looked back from thatfirst performanc e.
I think David's version of Eleanor Rigby was by far way better than Mike'sperformanc e last night. He played to his strong suit, whereas Mike didn't.
Only time will tell.
Absolutely right about the final four. Then it will all depend on who of the four goes homefirst and where their voters go.
Agree on Casey James being the performanc e of the night. Disagree with your suggestion his
previous performanc es were "anonymous ". I think he has delivered good, solid performanc es
consistent ly throughout . Thought that was a brill song choice and a brill delivery.
Agree on Siobhan. She seemed to peak with "Think". I've been waiting to see other stirringperformanc es each week, but mainly getting "the scream", which I'm happy she dispensed with for
last night. No question, she has a good voice. However, as you say, that song choice last nightrevealed the flaws. Was waiting for it to be over after the first few lines made it obvious it was goingnowhere. The "cool wacky stuff" seems a little contrived. Adam Lambert wannabe? Getting worn outon her.
Agree on the rest of them. Was really expecting a much more exciting set of performanc es, given
the available material, but, oh well. Enjoyed seeing the didge guy just because he was very cool.
Had nothing to do whatever with Crystal's arrangemen t in any meaninful way that I could see. Yeah,
Distractin g. Her song choice and performanc e were just ok. Same with the bagpipe player, to a
lesser extent. Kind of fun, but definitely both were WTH moments? LOL!
Still feeling this is a very lacklustre season.
Siobhan shoulda done "I am the Walrus"; turned it out ala Lambert. Instead she seems to be
melting down, emotionall y.
Casey James ruled the night with Lennon's lesser known, "Jealous Guy".
Never thought it'd be a boy this season 'til last night.
Mamasox still rox, and I defend Katie as Glee-worth y.
Katie is absolutely Glee-worth y and "I Am The Walrus" would have been kind of awesome
for Siobhan -- if you're gonna let your freak flag fly, that's the song to do it.Permalink | Share it
transparent 05:12 PM on 4/07/2010
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MiraMcB 09:51 AM on 4/07/2010
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Buffy57 08:35 AM on 4/07/2010
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