AI : Ta-Ta Lisa

Lisa is a very cute, composed and talented girl, but
she was outclassed here. She is so much younger than the rest - I don't really
expect a 16 year old to compete with the same level of
maturity as a 25 year old, but she still did a great
job and hung in there a long time.

The biggest shocker of the night was that Katharine
was standing up there with Lisa and Ace in the bottom
three. In fact, Ace was sent back and Katharine and
Lisa were left as the two bottom vote-getters. Not my Katharine!

21st Century songs was not a successful theme choice
for these folks.

Lisa: Lisa sang Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You",
which probably sounds great when she sings it in the
shower but on-stage it was thin - her voice is not big
enough to carry it well. Based on this and other performances,

I'm not surprised at all to see her voted off.

Kellie: Followed her roots and went to a 21st Century
country song - Sara Evans' "Suds in a Bucket", which
is a very cute song and I like it very much. I
thought Kellie did fine with the song, but the tempo
got away from her a bit. Of course, Simon hated it.

Ace: Ace sang Train's "Drops of Jupiter" which is a
good song for Train but not so good for Ace. Again,
it probably sounds great in the shower but he had
difficulty making it work on stage.

Taylor: Ok, I'll admit that I watched this one. I
was interested when he said he was singing "Trouble"
by Ray LaMontagna, and I was not disappointed. For
the first time in the competition he left the goofy
mannerisms at home and just SANG the song! And it was
great. He does not have to act like a maniac every
time he sings....although then Randy spoiled it by
asking "Where's Taylor" and saying he missed the
"performance" - Paula upheld me and said that
sometimes it's the right thing to just stand behind
the mic and sing, and I agree. Completely.

Mandisa: Mandisa went off the crooked end for AI and
went for a gospel song. I'd never heard the song, but
it was "Wanna Praise You" by Mary Mary. Mandisa,
Mandisa, Mandisa, what were you thinking? Unless it's
gospel-theme night you NEVER do gospel on AI and, if
you must, PICK A GOOD SONG! This did not go well at
all.

Chris: Chris is my favorite contestent and I have no
doubts that he will have a successful career post-AI.
But, Chris, you might have gone too far with Creed's
"What If?". It's a bit hard edged for AI audiences -
but luckily Chris has a large enough fan base that
they kept him in it - I would have liked a different song.

Katharine: Again, what was she THINKING? She chose
to sing Christina Aguliara (I know the spelling is
probably wrong but I have no interest in Googling it)
"The Voice Within." Awful awful awful...I know they
always say how much better the sound is in the studio
than in our limited-to-our-TV's sound at home, but
fuck, it was awful. The judges all said she was
great, but that's not what I heard. Apparently, the
rest of the home-audience agreed with me because she
received the runner-up-least-number of votes and had
to stand on the Stage of Shame with Lisa.

Bucky!: I still like Bucky! and wish people would
stop picking on him. What is it they really object
to? The man is cute and sweet and could not be a
nicer guy - I agree he could enunciate better. And
there's something about his mouth I haven't figured
out yet (too many teeth maybe?). Anyway, given the
choice of all 21st century songs, Bucky! of course
chose country. He sang Tim McGraw's "Real Good Man"
which is another very cool song. And Bucky! did a
great job with it, and obviously enjoyed himself
tremendously which I loved to see.

Paris: Paris sang Beyonce's "Work It Out" which she is
too young to sing without sounding like a young girl.
Frankly, I was surprised she wasn't in the bottom
three. I'm "this close" to being completely over
Paris - I'd like to see her in about 5 years when
she's grown past the little-girl stage.

Elliott: Elliott sang "I Don't Want To Be" by Gavin
DeGraw. A song that was done by Bo Bice last year,
Elliott changed the arrangement a bit. It was fine.
It's not a song I'm ga-ga over. Elliott consistently
chooses songs that work well for him and he sings them
very well, but he still comes across as bland - I
don't know how it's all going to work out. He's kind
of a mystery.

Next week's theme: SIMON'S FAVORITE - heee!!!
C O U N T R Y!!!!! Bucky and Kellie are in seventh
heaven, I'm sure. And Simon's in Hell.

I wonder what song Chris will alt rock?