American Idol: Top 6 Perform

Well to open, many may be wondering why the blog is so late. Well, in years past we've had LOST stand in the way of Full Idol Blog treatments. Well kids, there's another CULPRIT in town now. Flyers were in a game 7 playoff game that went to OT. And I can assure you we are moving to ROUND 2!!! What does this mean? Well, I'm not sure yet, but I know I'll be watching these games! So if you don't see a blog up, check the NHL schedule. What's the NHL? Yikes...it's become that unpopular hasn't it?

Anyways, I'll stop boring you with the awesomeness of the Flyers! I watched 2 contestants per period intermission and eventually got through it all! What did I think of Andrew Lloyd Webber week? Well, ironically, I grew up with my Mom blasting this stuff on the house stereo system every Saturday morning while little ol' me was trying to sleep after a long long grueling week of grade school! Needless to say I'm a Broadway Musical Addict. And Phantom was always one of my favorites! Anyway, I did enjoy tonight and I loved all of the songs. But the performances? Well, there's a clear bottom 3 in my mind (well maybe a clear bottom 2). As I've said before, everyone is fair game for elimination besides the DAVIDS (ironically both picking Phantom tunes). And it seems that this will remain the case when we enter results night Wednesday night. Here's how it went down:

1.) Syesha Mercado

Song: One Rock and Roll Too Many

Musical: Starlight Express

Well, once I saw Syesha was going first tonight, I thought the Idol producers were trying to get the girl kicked off. I read an article yesterday about statistics of Idol eliminations. The odds of being eliminated when going first are significantly greater than any other position on the show. And the odds of remaining safe when going LAST are greater too. The producers pick the order every week except the finale where a coin is tossed. What they do is figure out who went first the week before and don't allow consecutive weeks at first and they like to start with an up-tempo song as well. Syesha's pick was a good one to kick off the show indeed. I keep saying every week that she's the one on deck to leave, but she keeps pulling some tricks out of her sleeve (and everyone thought Kristy Lee was the genius!). Apparently Syesha was in her "WHEELHOUSE" (thanks for the word Randy) with Musicals because it's what she loves to do. Simon gave her a backhanded compliment by saying she seems very comfortable with it. She did very well with it. In any other week, it would've been TOO CABARET. But in BROADWAY WEEK, it's just what the doctor ordered. I'm guessing Top 3 performance of the night and safe from elimination.

2.) Jason Castro

Song: Memory
Musical: Cats

Obviously this week is a rough one for some of our Rockier contestants. Castro was amusingly bewildered in his pre-performance clip. Loved the comment how he didn't know a CAT was singing the tune in the musical. While I love that tune, and assumed it had Archuleta printed all over it, ol' J. Mon (get it? like jamaica-mon!!!? no?? okay, i'll never say it again!) started it off pretty well, but then it got mundane and in the lower register non-existent. It was a disaster. And after a couple strong weeks, this could spell his doom. But with Simon telling people NOT to vote for it, you gotta think his fans will come to his rescue and sympathize with him not being a Musical kinda guy. I say he returns to the bottom 3 this week (if there is a bottom 3 - once we get into this final 6 stuff, it's always a tough call how they're gonna do it). But I think he'll be safe. Of course, in a season where Michael Johns left out of nowhere, you just never know.

3.) Brooke White


Song: You Must Love Me
Musical: Evita (Movie only)

Poor Brooke. You can only feel bad for her. But I'm sorry. I have to agree with Paula on this one. This is the second time she's stopped a song and started again. This time because she forgot the lyrics. It was VERY VERY awkward. And as Simon said, she seemed all nervous the rest of the performance. Nervous for the 2nd week in a row. I still thought she sang it very well, but based on her work with Sir Andrew, I was expecting something amazing. Can't quite go that far. You can only say "I really like that girl but...." so many times. She was close to elimination last week, people may have felt bad about her missing her sister's wedding. Will they feel bad for her forgetting her music yet again? It's 6 talented singers up there. Someone has to go. Syesha came up with a late inning homerun. Someone has to lose. Poor poor Brooke. I just don't know.

4.) David Archuleta

Song: Think of Me
Musical: Phantom of the Opera

Gotta love when Simon tells Archie boy he's forgettable. Let me go one step further. I could have sworn he messed up the words in there! I don't think there is ever a part in the original song that goes "mmmm hmmm hmmm mmmmm Think of me oohhhhhh think of me! pleeaaaaase think of me! yeah think of me.....whenever you want tooooooo!!!!!" Or something like that. The dude was making up a whole section of the song because he totally forgot the words! Of course, now this is the other side of the coin. Brooke completely acknowledged the mistake and started over. Golden Arches just kept on trucking through and ad-libbing. But to me, his mistakes are just so blatant and ridiculous! But then again, I have it out for the kid. Simon summed it up better than I could have. Sure he wanted to try and be David Cook for the day and change up a song and make it "POPPY" instead of Ballady. What did he get? A slow slow dreary pop song. Forgettable. Will he see the bottom 3? Come on, let's be real. This kid got hugged by 10 11 year old girls before his performance with 50 more and their mothers waiting in the wings! He has fans. He's getting through.

5.) Carly Smithson

Song: Jesus Christ Superstar
Musical: Jesus Christ Superstar

Okay, maybe better than her singing "All I ask of you" from Phantom. And I think ol' Andy was on the right track giving her a big song to sing with that big voice. But I have to acknowledge some comments that I've been hearing about ol Carly this week. Wasn't it just a tad too Screechy? I'm totally thrown off that Simon thought it was one of his more favorite performances of the night. Then again, he also isn't a big Broadway fan. Or at least not when comparing to POP IDOLS. Yeah I did like her stage presence and her theatrics. She was comfortable with the song. But the SCREAMING. Ugh...a little too much for me. For that I'm thinking she's our 3rd spot on the bottom 3. Just seems like basic math to me. Of course, now that I'm trucking through these performances, will Syesha going first still cause her a bottom 3 spot even though she was really good? Yikes. Stop 2nd guessing yourself Michael!!!!

6.) David Cook

Song: The Music of the Night
Musical: Phantom of the Opera

Okay, granted I'm biased again but I thought the Cookster really nailed this one. Yes, one comment about the lower register. But come on. Those notes are lower than low! Only Michael Crawford can hit those bad boys! (yes the original Phantom). I'm also biased in that this is my favorite song from Phantom. (yeah I know...real original it's one of the well known ones!) I was so scared that Archmeister was going to snag this one up and pour syrup and melted cheese all over it. But David Cook for one week just played it straight. Didn't try to change up a musical number to give it a rock edge (probably would've been a disaster). He just sang "The Music of the Night" and had to painfully flirt with Andrew Lloyd Webber in the process! Remember what I said about the odds of being eliminated after going last are very slim. Combine that with a frontrunner and a decent performance, and you have a safe kitchen for the only Cook left!

Okay, burning the midnight oil on this one (though you won't be able to tell from the timestamp on this post, since it reports the time that you create the blog entry!) Who do I think is going home?

Let's start with who is NOT going home? David Cook, David Archuleta

Who of the non frontrunners gave the best performance? Syesha Mercado

Who got decent remarks from judges but I didn't think was that good? Carly Smithson

Who fumbled tonight? Brooke White, Jason Castro

Bottom 3: Brooke White, Jason Castro, Carly Smithson Wildcard: Syesha Mercado

Elimination Pick: Brooke White - 2 Questionable performances in a row. 2 times where she stopped and started over causing major awkwardness. Her talking to the judges has not made her any more popular with long-time fans. She's a long way from the confident "Let it Be" girl and "Love is a Battlefield" girl that we saw what seems like ages ago. She has made several trips to the bottom 3 and was in the bottom 2 last week. I'd say people would rally to her cause, but Simon supported the stop/start instead of really talking down to her. Meanwhile he told America NOT to vote for Jason Castro. But America loves that Jason. I think they'll spare him. So yes....I was instructed by some commenters to pick Brooke this week so that she'd be safe. But I gotta say, I have to be right eventually don't I?

One more comment about tonight. Why on Earth did they let Paula talk on and on and on like she did tonight? Being on TiVo delay with a Flyers game waiting for me, I definitely had to fast-forward what seemed like several minutes before I could hear what Simon had to say! And that's after she already talked for a minute! Yikes. And Ryan, singing at the end? Stick to your bad scripted jokes man!

That's all I got for tonight. Let's Go FLYERS! And I'll see you Wednesday night for the results!