Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu

Ryan begins the program by inviting us all to play judge. I swear he’s reading this blog (hey Ryan, how you doing? My Dad thinks you poisoned Dick Clark to steal his New Years Eve show by the way). Of course Ryan has to promote the talent in this year’s competition, and so he proclaims for the umpteenth time that this is “the best Top 24 in Idol history.” He then starts making excuses by saying that many of the girls have been hit with the flu. I wonder why he didn’t say this last night before the guys sang.

Paula is looking better than last night. Simon is looking the same as last night. Randy still can’t stop talking about dogs. For some reason Ryan finds it strange that Simon likes it when the contestants fight back to his criticisms and asks Simon what universe he lives in. Paula thinks it’s the black hole. I would have guessed Sanjaya.

Kristy Lee Cook, “Rescue Me”: We hear about the horses but not the MMA hobby. I suspect an image make-over here, which apparently has carried over to her appearance as well. This may be the first time we’ve seen her in make-up, and I must say it’s working. Her vocals are flat and a bit pitchy. I’m not sure if it’s the nerves or what. After calling Kristy "Dude", Randy agrees with me and gets boos from the audience, presumably for the comments and not the gender thing. “It’s OK, though,” Paula reassures us, and gets cheers from the audience. Simon was critical of course but was actually softer than he could have been. Of course it still gets jeers. Then we get bombarded with excuses about how sick she was. I doubt the flu caused her to make that song choice though.

JoAnne Borgella, “I Say a Little Prayer for You”: The last of the 12 girls to get in. She slowed it down from the original, which is good because it’s a very technical vocal that would have likely buried her if she tried it straight. I think she did alright. It's a little pitchy at the beginning but less so at the end. Randy and Paula are lukewarm. Simon, take a guess. He hated the song and the singing, so much so that it almost brings JoAnne to tears. He was much more critical of JoAnne than he was to Kristy, even though she sang better. Maybe it’s because Kristy is a skinny blonde and JoAnne is not.

“Thank goodness I’m here,” Paula declares and I agree, otherwise I would have nothing else to write about.

Alaina Whitaker, “More Today than Yesterday”: The youngest contestant this year, even younger than that kid David Archuleta. I hadn’t noticed until now how much she resembles Carrie Underwood. There must be an overactive clone machine somewhere in Oklahoma churning out all these blonde country singers. Perhaps a date with Tony Romo is in her future. She starts the song as a ballad and I fear the worst, then she picks up the tempo to the pace we all know and love. This seems to be a popular trend since a number of dudes last night did the same thing. Chekezie Eeze, who sang the same song, wasn’t one of them though but he’s probably regretting it now. Toss out the sappy ballad at the beginning and it was a great performance. Paula thinks Diana Ross sang this song and I want to throw something at the screen. I was Spiral Starecase who originally recorded this song you wacky woman. Oh, she does know who sang this song. One of the producers must have been screaming at her too.

Amanda Overmyer, “Baby Please Don’t Go”: She promised not to sing Janis Joplin any more. I think all the other girls except her should take that vow. What an interesting song choice. Totally anti-Idol. This may be the first time a Yardbirds song has ever been performed on this show. I love it for how different it was. The scatting was a little off but the rest sounded good. I remember how Chris Daughtry blew everyone away on the first performance and this reminds me of that. Ryan thinks Amanda can whip Simon’s ass. I think Ryan is the one who should be worried. He and the semi-truck driver that crashed into her car. It’s hard to believe that she is 22 and a nurse. This performance seals it, she is my favorite.

Amy Davis, “Where the Boys Are”: The working class gal who is a trade show model. She don’t look like no redneck. Ohh, she starts off way off pitch. Half way through, it is not getting much better. What a difference from the performance before hers. Randy gets all technical and gets booed. Paula gets all positive and gets cheered. Simon gets only semi-critical and gets booed, though not as much as usual. No excuses though, since we don’t know if she has the flu or not.

Brooke White, “Happy Together”: The innocent nanny who looks and sounds like a co-worker of mine. She starts off acoustic though someone else is playing the guitar, then the band kicks in for a generally fine performance. It’s not bad, not great, but not bad, better than David Cook who sang it last night. That’s the second time a chick has out sung a dude on the same song. Randy urges her to “get her slaying on.” Unlike Paula, Randy can actually explain to Simon what he means. Simon, now known as Mr. Happy according to Randy, starts talking about washing liquid and then can’t explain what he means. Ryan attempts to get a clarification and just makes things worse. I cannot tell you how difficult it is to keep up with this jocularity.

Alexandréa Lushington, “Spinning Wheel”: She’s added another e, with an accent, since the auditions. She survived the do or die round in Hollywood. I had wondered if any of them made it this far. She looks like a completely different person since Hollywood. Not the best voice, it’s a bit pitchy, but she’s got lots of spirit and emotion in her performance. I’m mesmerized by her shaking shoulders. Not the best singing, but certainly one of the better performances. Simon hates it and almost causes Paula’s head to explode. His opinion of her improves after Alexandréa rags on Ryan for pronouncing her name “Alex-and-Andrea.”

Kady Malloy, “Groovy Kind of Love”: She’s a recording studio assistant, so does that make her a ringer? She’s the best looking girl in the competition, and I feel so dirty typing that since she’s only 18. She starts the song as a ballad but unlike so many others she keeps it there. It’s a little stiff but OK. Again she slurs half the words but she shows off a really good voice, better than Britney would have done it. All three judges push her to be lighter, but Simon goes the extra mile by comparing her to a pencil. He’s almost begging her to sing like Britney next time. She just stands there and pouts. Leave it to Paula to end this debate on a positive note by urging her to “just be you.” Kady’s clearly not a happy camper.

Asia’h Epperson, “Another Piece of My Heart”: The girl with the ‘tude who is singing for her dad. I’m surprised that it took 9 singers to get to a Janis song. It’s a totally different sound but she’s got Joplin’s spirit. It sounded pretty good. Nice vocal, nice voice, lots of emotion. One of the better performances of the night, and I’ve run out of things to say. The judges were all equally as brief and as complimentary.

Ramiele Malubay, “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me”: Let’s hope she doesn’t do yet another Aretha song. Nope, it’s Dusty Springfield instead. She shows off a lot more range than what we’ve heard so far, under control at first and then she belts it out at the end. Shows some good phrasing too. Simon thinks it’s the best singing performance of the night and I would agree. If she keeps singing like that she’ll get a lot more people besides Filipinos voting for her.

Syesha Mercado, “Tobacco Road”: She’s still smiling even under the pressure of the cameras. Let’s see if she still smiling at the end. She doesn’t have the flu so she has no excuse if she sings badly, especially after she survived Hollywood Week with laryngitis. Another interesting song choice. I would have pictured her as more of a ballad/soul singer and she goes rock/country. She shows off a very strong voice but it doesn’t really fit the song. I admire the chance she took though. Yes, she is still smiling after the judges all give her positive vibes. Simon thinks she got the package. Paula tries the “S-yes-ha” thing again but bails out when Syesha stops smiling.

Carly Smithson, "The Shadow of Your Smile": The dude ringer closed the show last night so of course the chick ringer closes things tonight. Oh my gosh, they actually let her admit that she once had a recording contract. OK, it took 24 singers but she’s singing a song that I cannot recognize and have to look up (it's a Tony Bennett song). She is doing it very well though. No doubt she has the pipes. Randy thinks it the best of all the 24, even though she has the flu. It was good but not that good, though she is the only one who actually coughed so I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. Simon is disappointed. He was hoping for Kelly Clarkson or Fantasia and got something a little less. Interesting that he’s apparently not holding Michael Johns to that standard.

There is some time to kill at the end so we get some more babbling from Paula, more criticism from Simon, and Ryan deliberately neglects to thank Simon for the second straight night.

The Final Score: 9 digs at Paula, 7 digs at Simon, 7 digs at Ryan, and only 2 digs at Randy (I need to start working harder to develop riffs for The Dawg). 1 reference to Kelly Clarkson, 1 reference to Chris Daughtry, 3 references to other former Idol contestants, 1 reference to an NFL player, only 1 reference by Ryan to the talent level this year (though it seemed like much more), 4 references to male contestants, 1 reference to my old man, 2 names with accents, and 1 more poor attempt by Paula to sound clever. And out of 24 singers not one of them sang a Beatles song on 60’s night. There has to be some reason for this.

Your 3 Stars of the Night: I think as a group the chicks out sung the dudes. Among the girls the best were Ramiele Malubay, Alexandréa Lushington, and Asia’h Epperson. I know I’m limited to three but with your permission I would like to make it 4 and add Amanda Overmyer to this list. Heck, let’s go crazy and make it 5 by adding Alaina Whitaker.

The Fearless Prediction: The only one who really stood out on the not so good side was Amy Davis, so she’s probably a safe bet to go home. Kady Malloy got panned but I bet she has the high school and college boy vote locked up so she stays. Kristy Lee Cook’s makeover should keep her around a little longer. That leaves JoAnne Borgella. I would be said to see her go, because I do like her, but I suspect that she will.