American Idol: Top 10 Guys Perform

Welcome back! We're still trucking through these semi-finals but at least the performances are improving a bit this week! The guys came back with a vengeance and picked out some tunes from the 70's which we got to enjoy on various levels depending on the contestant. Some were great, some were okay...some were just very unintentionally hysterical! Or you know...you could be Yeagermeister and just self-proclaim that "We're ALL killer singers this year" Don't be modest there Jason...please...don't hold back! I mean has anyone ever dissed 6 previous seasons worth of contestants while being so obnoxious about one's self in a sentence like Mr. Yeager did tonight? How AWESOMELY fantastic is that? Anyway, we're getting ahead of ourselves as always. We have to figure out 2 contestants that are going home! Before we do that, I did promise that I'd lightly touch on last week's elimination show. Here's the brief summary!

• 2 out of 4 picks Right! I pegged the girls dead-on. And I spent the least time on that blog. Hmmmm...maybe I tend to over think things sometimes? The guys, both of my wildcard picks got booted. No sense wasting time on who got kicked off..they're gone! We still have to deal with Yeager and Menard this week one more time!
• Paula's new music Video? WOW...talk about unintentional comedy being off the charts! Of course, my favorite part was Randy jamming on the bass.
• The Top 24 Performance - May have been the most painful experience I ever put my ears and eyes through at the same time!

And that's it. Moving on to our top 10 guys. Who is going home? Who may win the whole thing? Yours truly may have found himself changing his mind a bit this week. Let's chat:

1. Michael Johns - "I love Tennis" - I think the judges were a bit harsh on the seasoned "pro." My problem with Michael is...he just seems a bit TOO professional for his own good. Does that make sense? I mean, I've complained in year's past of people being too amateur and having problems staying in tune and just sounding plain awful. But Michael? He just seems like he's been doing this forever. And sometimes I feel that this is a bit unfair I guess. Like...he had a deal, he had his chance. But here he is again getting 30 million people a week seeing him perform so he gets a 2nd chance to break through. I'm rambling. But as for performance, I liked his Fleetwood Mac song choice. He channeled his inner Lindsey Buckingham and gave a solid performance. I guess I can see where Randy and Simon were coming from with there being "No Moment" in the performance where he took control and really sold it. But whatever, if I was Michael Johns and knew I had a 90% chance of making the top 12...I'd play it safe too! Save the good stuff for the top 12 performances. This was good enough.
2. Jason Castro - "I hate interviews" - While the guitar was his asset last week, it became his enemy tonight. To me it felt like more of the same and got a little boring. Talk about One-Trick ponies, last week was the first time we saw Jason, and he brought us more of the same this week. Randy and Simon united once again on Jason saying that it wasn't really that good. Paula tried to be constructive but ended up calling him cute. She did make a comment for him to lose the guitar. And well...that would probably be a good move. But how will he be WITHOUT the guitar? Will we even find out? Tough call with a couple other kids tonight.
3. Luke Menard - "I am Mr. Acapella and I like singing Falsetto for a whole song!" - Well I couldn't have said it any better than Simon. While he was performing Queen's "Killer Queen" tonight, I was thinking to myself...of all Queen songs, that is one that only Freddie Mercury himself could pull off. Sure, Luke did his best to hit every single high pitch note, but it lacked Freddie's stage theatrics. That song will always be compared to its original singer. And I couldn't help laughing at him when he tried to do some of the more talkative parts of the song. I could've sworn I heard him say "Prestigious and Precise" at one point. And of course, I happened to do a search on it to see if that was the actual Queen lyrics. Guess what? There's a website for Misheard lyrics...and "Prestigious and Precise" is on there. It's actually "Fastidious and Precise!" Go figure! Anyway..my point was...when he said that I lost it! Between this week and last week, I don't think he's garnered too many fans. We'll see!
4. Robbie Carrico - "No Really, I am a rocker. Come on? Didn't you know I Drag Race too? How cool am I now???" Well, he was better than last week wasn't he? He is a good singer. No one is doubting that. It's really just his image. And he didn't help his Steve the Pirate image that I created for him by his pre-performance slip-up "I Be ME....ARRRRRR" Okay, so I added the "arrrrrr" but whatever! When I saw him perform, I thought he was pretty decent. The judges were so so with him (Maybe Simon was more positive than the others who seemed to be prematurely trying to predict how Simon was going to respond to Robbie). Problem is...after everyone else performed, he kinda got lost in the mix. But I still think there are people worse than him that need to go. So he may be on the edge next week.
5. Danny Noriega - "No Really, I WAS a girl when I was younger. Look at my pictures!" - Here's my take on Danny. She...sorry.....He has a very good voice. But he needs to gain 50 lbs, get a masculine hairdo and stop snapping his fingers and moving his neck when he talks and sings. Sure, say I'm taking shots or whatever you will. I can't take this kid seriously! And yeah, Simon says he's unique but telling him that he looks terrific on camera????? Come ONNNN Simon! Anyway, I wanted to say that maybe he'd go home this week. But it's not looking too good. But all 3 of the judges stated how he tried TOO hard with his performance. Maybe that will come back to haunt him. Who knows. For now, he's my least favorite top 12'er because I just don't see how we're going to get rid of Sanjaya's Sister.
6. David Hernandez - speaking of manly "I like gymnastics and cartwheels! Now give me my MAN BADGE!" - Hey, I like this kid. I wasn't sure what the judges didn't like about him last week. I had him as a definite top 12'er when I made my picks and this week seemed to solidify that with his rendition of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" Great Voice, Great performance. Not much else to say about it. He's sticking around for next week.
7. Jason Yeager - "Look at all these instruments I'll never get to play on the show because I'm an idiot!" - Yep, he plays piano, guitar and drums. Whoopity Doo Yeagermeister! He is so obnoxious that he is looking forward to playing them when he finds the right song. I guess because he's a "killer singer" he thinks he's going to be around for awhile? I mean, yeah there's some good talent this year. But I don't think they were EVER referring to this guy! I think he just needs to worry about making ALL of his hairs one color! I mean DUDE...seriously! Lose the 3 blonde hairs! Anyway....he took criticism last week for being boring...so I guess he thought if he just danced across the stage in some kind of jig-like fashion and smiled like the doofus he is...that this would be good enough to win over the millions? No no no no yeagerman. I'm with Simon...cue the OSCAR Music and ship this guy off stage!
8. Chickezie - "My name is Nigerian and I am well crafted by God! And I'm still the love child of Forrest Whitaker and Gary Coleman!" - Hey, I like Chickezie! He really brought some soul into the house tonight with Donny Hathaway's "I Believe." Got in some James Brown-like screams and really brought the house down. Keep this guy on the show, he's entertaining and he can saaaaang!
9. David Cook - "I like words" - Fascinating backstory! At least he's entertaining on stage. David brought out the guitar tonight and rocked to a little "All Right Now" I was a little concerned when he skipped singing a majority of the chorus to play his guitar in front of the crowd. But he more than made up for it when he sang. He threw some picks out intot he audience. It was a good time. I liked him ever since his audition and still do. But he DID get a little obnoxious with Simon about "I only need to impress the fans." It was a bit much. But I'm sure it won't hurt him. It was just his lack of personality when not performing that made him look to give Simon the cold shoulder afterwards. He'll be fine!
10. David Archuletta - "I Sang for Kelly Clarkson....So Mike, please stop hating me!" - Well, that's a step in the right direction! Afterall, if the original Idol is impressed by the kid, maybe I should be too? For some reason, I feel like I've seen that clip of him singing to Kelly before this season of Idol ever aired. But maybe that's all in my head. Whatever the case, I cannot argue that David is a fantastic singer. And I can't lie that his performance of "Imagine" didn't move me. It did. It was AWESOME. And, based on it, I can't even disagree with Simon that he is the one to beat. And what really drives me crazy is how genuinely nice and gracious of a person he seems to come off as. But, it goes against every bone in my body to go ahead and predict a 17 year old "BOY" as the favorite to win American Idol this year. Sure, Jordin won last year, but she seemed older for her age. Then again, David's vocal skills are similar in that respect. Like Michael Johns, he seems to be a seasoned pro when he sings, but doesn't come off like one when he doesn't sing. I can't explain it! He's just got that likability factor. The big question is (and I questioned it with Jordin too) is song selection. Will a 17 year old be able to choose the right songs in each theme week to stay competitive? David is going to be around for awhile. The question now is just...can he maintain his edge for the whole show? I'm gonna take it easy on him for now. As long as he stays away from John Mayer and they don't focus on his paralyzed vocal chord storyline!

Alrighty...so it's time to cast our votes for who is going home! Here's how I see it.

SUPER SAFE (and hopefully 5 of our top 6 guys): David Archuletta, David Cook, David Hernandez, Michael Johns, Chickezie

Vying for Spot 6: Danny Noriega, Jason Castro, Robbie Carrico

Trying to be eliminated next week instead of this week: Jason Yeager, Luke Menard

Elimination Picks: Jason Yeager, Robbie Carrico Wildcard: Luke Menard

Tried to be bold this week with the Robbie pick. It just seems too easy to pick the worst 2 performances. Jason Castro had an off week and he might not make it to the top 12, but his week 1 performance should be plenty to get him through this week. Danny is unfortunately too unique to say goodbye to just yet. Luke? Maybe Ryan referring to him as Dawson's Creek will remind the world how much they miss James VanderBeek in their lives. But for now, we shall be prepared to say farewell to Steve the Pirate!

That's it for tonight kids. See you tomorrow night after the Top 10 Girls perform!