American Idol 2006--Live Thread I

FOX ^ | 1-16-06

[silent_jonny]

for Tammy

[misterrob]

Nothing like that so far.

What I have heard is that all of the guys are pulling for one another to make it. No competition, no petty BS, just everyone rooting for one another and encouraging each other to do well. They seem to be a bit shocked at people knowing who they are when they go out. The hours are brutal and there are a lot of shows left.

Elliott is a serious diabetic so he should probably remember to eat before he sings. But, he roomed with one of the guys who got booted last week and Sway is is roomie now. If Sway gets booted then I can tell you one male singer next week who will go home based on that trend.

[misterrob]

Are you serious?

[Wyatt's Torch]

They can't be under contract anywhere. Individuals and groups make independent, self financed CD's all the time. Bo had done the same.

The CD's are all over eBay: Link

There is no way Idon doesn't know about this.

[Maximus of Texas]

My Top Five:

1. Chris 2. Elliott 3. Ace 4. Taylor 5. Gedeon

What is the panel's fasination with Kevin? Average voice and no stage presence.

[Wyatt's Torch]

My wrap-up for the guys top 10:

Better show than the girls but only slightly. Still too many sappy/safe songs.

Taylor - did not like the song choice but I loved watching him perform it. He is feeling it every time while on stage. He's a performer. He just needs to find the right type and stick with it.

Elliot - I'm not nearly as caught up in his vocals as most appear to be. I thought it was okay. Better than most though but that's akin to being the world's tallest midget.

Ace - Simply awful. Pretty boy can't sing and that song proved it. He'll sail through because the tween girls don't care about singing ability.

Gedeon - Honestly, I was most surprised by him. It was really good and MUCH better than last week. His stock went up IMHO

Kevin - cute act is over and he's showing he's not ready for prime time at all.

Sway - worse than last week and that's saying something. I thought he was supposed to be good??? Not even close

Will - the vocals were really strong IMHO but the song choice was dreadful. He needs to find his niche as well as he can sing. His "look" is popular now so he's likely to stick around. One of the best vocalist though.

Bucky - Better than last week and in his element but not good enough to be in the top 12 overall IYAM.

David - I wanted to like it as I enjoy that genre but Simon was right. If you are going to sing the standards, you have to have that aire of supreme confidence that you don't give a crap about what anyone thinks, you are going to sing the hell out of this song. He's not there yet. In a few years maybe...

Chris - Absolutely brilliant! He has the ideal voice for the alternative rock genre and he completely nailed that song. He moved to the top of my leaderboard tonight. It will be interesting to see how he does on those ridiculous theme nights. But if Marty Casey could pull off singing Britney Spears on Rock Star INXS, Chris can likely do the same. I thought he was clearly the best of the top 20. Hs only problem is that I'm not sure alt.rock is the target for AI.

In summary:

Top 4: Chris, Taylor, Elliot, Gedeon

Middle 3: Will, Ace, Bucky

Not good enough: David, Kevin, Sway

Who is going home?

Guys: Kevin and Bucky

Girls: Kinnik and Heather

Predictions for top 12:

Guys: Chris, Taylor, Elliot, Gedeon, Ace, and Will

Girls: Katherine, Paris, Lisa, Ayla, Mandisa, and Kellie

Prediction for the Finals: Chris and katherine

[Always Right]

Prediction for the Finals: Chris and katherine

Katherine definitely has the talent, but I haven't seen her really step up yet. Chris and Taylor are about the only ones that really put it all out there when they perform. Ace has proven to be way too much of a pretty boy. Ace needed to toughen up his act to appeal to a broader range of people, but instead went the opposite way. It will be a very strong top 12.

[Wyatt's Torch]

I put Katherine in there on potential. She has an amazing voice. Personally, I woul be thrilled with Chris and Taylor in the finals. My two favorites to this point.

It will be a very strong top 12.

I'm not sure I agree. There are 3 (maybe 4) guys who are really good and 3(maybe 4) girls. IMHO cose to half of the top 12 will the the best of the worst and not deserve to be there. I just wonder which of the good 6 will get screwed this year....it happens at least once a season.

[Collier]

I love this song. Know all the words. He left out some of the more explicit ones.

I had the album by King Pleasure in the 60's.

Anyone remember King Pleasure?

[Collier]

I love Elliot. And I loved his version of Mood for Love.

[ken5050]

Let me guess..you LOVE "Last Kiss" by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers...

"Oh where oh where can my baby be..
The Lord took her away from me..."

[ken5050]

I bought Carmen Rasmussen's...

[ken5050]

could be..if he wins....you think his marriage stays together?

[ken5050]

Question.....will Gideon shave the moustache off during the show's run?

[silent_jonny]

I thought they weren't allowed to be professionals..meaning no CD's.

Last season, both Bo and Constantine had CDs out before they auditioned for Idol.

[silent_jonny]

trust me... he sang it much better than the guy from Fuel.

Yep :) And I still say he sang "Dead Or Alive" better than Bon Jovi last week.

[silent_jonny]

Honey,,those are not new "boobs". New boobs do NOT sag!!

Growth spurt, then? ;)

[kevkrom]

Well, the guys were better than the girls this week. Then again, fingernails scraping a blackboard would have been better than the girls this week. My snarky judge comment for the night would have to be about Simon's "you need to be confident which will lead to confidence which will make you more confident" riff to David... was Simon perhaps drinking from Paula's cup without realizing it?

Anyway, as I saw and heard it (and I'm ready from the backlash from the "Ace" fan club):

1. Elliott - What a pleasant surprise... Elliott doing a "standard" and doing it quite well. It was a very pleasant sound, and the only knock I have is that he needed more intimate interaction with the audience. My Grade: A-
2. Will - What I like about Will is that he takes songs that are so well known and tied to a particular artist, and yet he makes them his own. As with Elliott, he needs a little more work relating to the audience, but with a song like "Lady", he could get away with it a little better. My Grade: A-
3. Gedeon - Yeah, the smile is creepy, his performance is too "affected", and he has some diction issues... but man did he sing that well. I had written it before the judges mentioned it, but they were spot-on -- he is a throwback to the 60's soul/R&B singers. My Grade: B+
4. Taylor - I'm still waiting for Taylor to take advantage of the spotlight to "wow" us. And waiting. To use Randy's vocabulary, this performance was "a'ight", not great. It was good to see him try something a little outside of his "comfort zone". My Grade: B
5. Chris - It's very hard to judge this performance because of how un-melodic the song was. So, it's all about the performance, which was energetic and (note my first use of the year of the "C" word) convincing. But I still have to mark down because it wasn't great singing. My Grade: B
6. Ace - Sounded very nasal, especially in the first half. The falsetto was not particularly good (overdone, strained, and not in tune), and it didn't match his natural voice well at all. I actually thought it was kind of dull. My Grade: B-
7. David - As if measuring up to Will wasn't going to be hard enough, Elliott showed earlier what a "crooner" should sound like. David comes off as an impersonator, not a unique talent. Nice voice, nice kid, yada yada yada... My Grade: C+
8. Jose - Better than last week, which is pretty faint praise. Noticeably lacking in power, this was a passable impersonation, again not a unique sound. At least it wasn't all in ghastly falsetto again. My Grade: C
9. Bucky - Again, better than last week, and again, that isn't saying much. Diction problems, pitch problems... I just don't "get" Bucky. The number started OK and got worse as it progressed. My Grade: C-
10. Kevin Covais - A really bad song choice for someone who has as much soul as a piece of Wonder bread. Seriously, this wasn't a competitive performance, it was a joke. Sure he (mostly) hits the notes, but so what? It was like a high school talent show number, not American Idol. My Grade: D+

Overall rankings:

1. Will Makar (+1)
2. Ace Young (-1)
3. Elliott Yamin (+3)
4. Chris Daughtry (-1)
5. Gedeon McKinney (NC)
6. Taylor Hicks (-2)
7. David Radford (NC)
8. Jose Penala ("Sway") (+1)
9. Bucky Convington (-1)
10. Kevin Covais (NC)

It should be Bucky and Kevin going home, but I'll say Bucky and "Sway".

[silent_jonny]

Taylor. I'm really sorry to put The Hicks in this category since I like him, but his song tonight rose only to the top of this category, no further. He needs to find The Definitive Hicks Song to put his stamp on this competition. Hasn't happened yet.

Sadly, I agree. We're all waiting for him to sing Ray Charles, not Elton John or the Commodores (but I did like "Easy" much more than "Levon"). And Taylor needs to calm down a little--don't hoot while the judges are talking to you.

Most Likely to Appear in The Chronicles of Narnia: Elliott (Say hi to Aslan for us!)

LMAO!!!

[kevkrom]

Jazz...... Musical wanking.

Without Jazz there would be no Blues. Or Soul. Or Swing. Or Rock & Roll. Or Disco.

Ok... maybe I should have stopped while I was ahead...

[kevkrom]

Brenna put on Ace's cap. That's okay, she can keep it :)

It'll be a nice souvenir to console her on the plane ride home tomorrow.