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HERE's A RECAP OF LAST NIGHT's ELIMINATION SHOW. I've included quotes from some other sources ( those that I agree with ).

OK Folks in the Pacific and elsewhere.. if you read the internet as most of you do, you already know that Ace Young left us yesterday.

If you don't know it and are still waiting for the results show to be shown in your country... NOW YOU KNOW.

When the camera pans the contestants, they all look really nervous...except for Kellie. I wonder if the kids look at the DialIdol results? Dialidol.com called the Bottom 3 and the elimination correctly this week.

See here :
http://www.dialidol.com/asp/predictions/Predictions.asp

After watching the clips from last night's performances, I'd like to add: Katharine McPhee's dad moved to tears during her performance was a sweet moment ( my little baby is all grown up and singing SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME ). Kat in her little girl video was one of the cutest little girls I've ever seen.

And Elliott Yamin sure looked sharp in his suit. Let me tell you this --- I'm glad my man E is still here to amaze us with his voice. Simon is right, he has one of the best voices ever in AI. Note --- I said voice. I did not mention stage presence or performing skills, which leave much to be desired. The fac that he looks like a FAUN from the Chronicles of Narnia does not help either. But the fact that he outlasted Ace shows that America still values substance over style.

Note on this week's Car-mercial

This week's Ford commercial featured life-like billboards of the Idols. Taylor Hicks as a blues brother was pretty amusing. You know what ? he should be given a chance to sing one of the BLUES songs of the movie ( e.g. SWEET HOME CHICAGO), that would be awesome ( complete with guitar riffs and harmonica ).

RE: Rod Stewart

I love Rod Stewart's early rock stuff, particularly records he made with his band, the Faces. The disco era in the late 70's and 80's sorta put him in a mini-hiatus . He bounced back again later after the DISCO fad went away ( which goes to show that if you have real talent, your career will span DECADES. Question ---- where are the New Kids on the Block ( they're now the Old Kids on the Block ), where is N'Sync ? Where is Lance Bass ? ).
Well, where is Rod Stewart ? HE's STILL HERE, 30 years later. Charming as ever and still marrying women half his age.

But this classics stuff? I dunno, it's OK, but if I were going to listen to standards, I'd go straight for Ella Fitzgerald and Sinatra. But then, I'm pretty much a sucker for the real deal anyway, so it's probably a moot point. Rod's voice ain't what it used to be. I heard he's suffered some vocal chord damage over the years. He doesn't appear to have much of a vocal range these days. I was pretty bored during his performance.

But as a guest star and coach on the show, I think he did a good job. He seemed to give the kids helpful advice and was pretty entertaining during his film clips. He announced during his appearance that he's recording a "70's classic rock album" Not sure how his voice will hold up for that, but it sounds interesting.

BUT IN TERMS OF GUEST COACHING, YOU CAN'T TOP HIM AND BARRY MANILOW. THEY BRING OUT THE BEST IN THE KIDS.

Next Week's Theme

Classical pop singer, Andrea Bocelli, coaches the Top 6 as they perform "The Greatest Love Songs of All Time." Then he'll perform during Wednesday's results show.

NOW THIS -- I GOT TO SEE.

Are they going to sing Italian ? ( I AM SALIVATING IMAGINING Kellie Pickler singing THAT's AMORE with her country twang ).

ON TO THE ELIMINATION :

The eliminations started with 11 minutes to spare. This was going to be quick. Hooray. Except--yuck--they are separating six of the contestants into two groups and leaving the seventh to choose which group isn't the Bottom 3.

This gimmick is getting a little stale. Last year, Bo Bice was asked to pick between two groups. He stood in the middle, refusing to choose. The previous year, they did it to poor George Huff in Barry Manilow night when the shocker of shockers occured --- the 3 best singers, the 3 Divas as Simon called them --- Fantasia, Jennifer Hudson and Latoya London ( arguably one of the best singers in AI history ) were ALL IN THE BOTTOM 3 !
Jasmine, Diana and John Stevens were in the TOP 4 !!!

Poor George took the natural step and went in the direction of the divas only to be promptly told he was WRONG !

Jennifer Hudson was eliminated that night in one of the biggest travesties in history ( you could see the discomfort in John Steven's face ). Jennifer Hudson was famously eliminated that night--to much consternation and hand-wringing. Not to mention Elton John charging "racism" and poor, young, John Stevens pilloried in the press for having the audacity to outlast a Diva--like it was his fault. Gah. At that point I was all, "Settle down people! It's only a TV show!"

Well, it's all for good --- Jennifer is now starring in what promises to be a hit movie together with Beyonce and Eddie Murphy in the film DREAMGIRLS ( something like re-telling the story of Diana Ross and the Supremes ). John Stevens is back in college studying music and of course has come out with a decent album of standards of his own which sold decently too.

But I digress. This season, the two groups shake out to be Elliott Yamin, Kellie Pickler and Katharine McPhee on one side of the stage. Chris Daughtry, Paris Bennett and Ace Young on the other.

Taylor Hicks is left on the couch, declared safe, and is then told he's got to choose which group he thinks is safe. He looks slightly bemused. The audience immediately starts booing. This crap is so played out. It's a gimmick that's designed to make the odd man out look like a tool, no matter which group he picks. With two Idols who are currently perceived as front runners--Chris and Kellie--split into different groups, it's tricky deciding which group is which.

After the break, Taylor and Ryan are standing on the seal. Ryan tells Taylor to go ahead and make his pick. Taylor heads over to Chris and shakes his hand. Ryan starts, "Taylor, I'm sorry..." But Taylor is smirking and already heading over to the other group. "Wow," says Ryan, "I'm sorry, but you've chosen the correct group now--they are all safe." Kellie and Katharine hug a still smirking and bemused Taylor who, I swear, throws in a little eyeroll for good measure. Because it is all pretty stupid. The safe group, including Elliott, heads back to the couches. Taylor apologizes to the group he didn't pick. It was explained in the Idol boards later that Taylor chose his best bud -- Elliott's group to give moral support to him.

IF I WERE TAYLOR, I'd DO AN EVEN BETTER GIMMICK, I'D TOSS A COIN. NOW THAT WOULD BE A FIRST.

Four minutes left to find out who goes home. Chris is in the Bottom 3 for the first time. That's surprising. Chris showed us that he isn't one dimensional and can be versatile if he wants and he gets rewarded for this ? More comments later....

Ace is smiling. No deer in the headlights this week. HE KNOWS IT's HIS TIME TO GO, HAVING VISITED THE SEAL NUMEROUS TIMES.

Paris is sent back to the couches while the camera zooms in on a very nervous looking Mrs. Daughtry.

Chris and Ace are left, and at that point, Ace, whose made several trips to the Bottom 3, must know it's over. This has to be the most undramatic Bottom 2 of the entire season. Chris, whose been a front runner for most of the season, is unlikely to go home. Ryan calls the two, who are friends, the Ben Affleck and Matt Damon of American Idol. Ha ha. Ryan asks Simon what he thinks, and of course he declares the end of Ace. No kidding. Ryan quickly tells Ace he's going home. Unfortunately, with just a minute left, poor Ace's singout is cut short.

During the semis, I told someone in my office during one of those water cooler breaks that I thought Ace Young and Kellie Pickler would battle it out in the Final Two, with Ace taking it all. And honestly, I believed that at the time. And I was not the only one. IT WAS NOT BECAUSE I FELT THEY WERE THE BEST VOCALIST, BUT BECAUSE I DID NOT TRUST PEOPLE TO VALUE SUBSTANCE OVER STYLE and I thought these two were the most (how shall I put it ), TV friendly contestants ( I personally prefer Taylor <--- but that's just me ).

During the audition and Hollywood phase, Ace was heavily promoted. I can remember Randy raving about his voice during his audition--with Simon not so convinced of his vocal abilities, but thinking that his charisma could carry the day. Looking back at Dialidol.com results starting with the Top 24, Ace scored high for the first couple of weeks, but then began losing steam. I think what did him in was a combination of nerves, poor song choices, and ultimately lacking the vocal chops to compete against a talented group of contestants.

Ace is so boy band, so Justin Timberlake. HE DOES NOT HAVE THE POWER and RANGE to tackle the more difficult songs and it shows. He had to result to falsetto when falsetto was not even required. After his first performance of George Michael's FATHER FIGURE, it was all downhill from then on. When he tried DO I DO in Stevie Wonder night, I knew that Mario Vasquez was MUCH better and more entertaining and Ace was done for.

And his fan base is also very insubstantial... it is composed of early and mid teens who DO tend to dial their hands off but do not outnumber the older voters. When the contestants started to dwindle, Ace's fan base NEVER EXPANDED. I knew his days were numbered.

Ace performed well when he choose songs that matched his vocal abilities. Unfortunately in this competition, he tended to pick songs that he liked, rather than songs he could sing well. You can run from the tough ones only for so long and he knew it and to his credit, he chose to take the challenge earlier rather than later. Well, good intentions still does not compensate for limited vocal talent.

He doesn't have a powerful voice, but he does have a sweet tone and a disarming vulnerability. With the right producer, he could make a decent pop record.

I know where I can put him already ---- Remember the film --- WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON ? It made a decent profit at a low budget playing to the teen crowd.

With Ace's sweet voice, charisma and good looks, HE IS PERFECT FOR SUCH FILMS.

Someone should talk to him now before the Idol Tour starts so that they can start planning his post Idol career.

I'm wondering why Chris scored so badly this week. Did performing first hurt him? With most of the Idol's performing well, perhaps it was difficult for Chris to separate from the pack this week. This tells me something -- CHRIS' FAN BASE KNOWS THAT HE's VERSATILE BUT THEY DO NOT WANT HIM ANY OTHER WAY. THEY WANT HIS HARD EDGED ROCK AND THEY DON'T WANT HIM TO CHANGE.

This puts him in a major dilemma. The themes are only going to be further and further away from his genre with DISCO night looming. It will be interesting to see how he tries to please the die hard ALT-ROCK fans and still remain true to the themes. That's what happens to you when you get to be too specialized.

I knew of a PH.D graduate from Duke whose life work was studying blood clotting. HE CAN TELL YOU EVERYTHING ABOUT THE SUBJECT AND NOTHING ELSE. He got layed off from work at age 62 and decided to stop working and go on social security because all the other jobs available in his field did not require the study of blood clots. TOO MUCH SPECIALIZATION has it's disadvantages.

Six contestants left. Who goes next? Personally, I think it should be Kellie. A Top 5 made up of Chris, Taylor, Katharine, Paris and Elliott sounds right to me. But something tells me that isn't going to happen.

I wrote this to another friend but might as well share it with everyone else.....

This much is clear -- THE WEEKLY DIALING RESULTS OF BOTH DialIdol.com and the AT&T Landlines clearly shows a distinct
DIRECTION that cannot be ignored.

The top 3 used to consistently be -- Chris, Taylor and Kellie. Now, it seems that Kat is displacing Kellie by a tiny
number. This is not enough for us to conclude anything yet, but quite enough to know that the top 4 might be two
men and two women. Kat is VERY OBVIOUSLY ON THE UP-SWING.

If you bothered to look at the actual dialing numbers, you might be surprised to know that Taylor is always number 1. He is a very polarizing figure because his style is a throwback to the great singers of the late 60's and 70's --- music which the young ones no longer appreciate. That is why you see so much love and hate for the man. SOUL PATROL is very rabid and unified and you'll continue to see him on top until the rest are eliminated and voters of the those gone gravitate to the remaining ones. THEN, you'll see how large the SOUL PATROL numbers are ( I suspect they number in the millions ). Within weeks, it's going to be Soul Patrol vs The rest of America.

THEN, well get to REALLY see how large Soul Patrol is.

In Taylor, you are seeing some sort of generational war going with the later Gen Xers and baby boomers loving him and the under 25's NOT liking him. In Taylor, there is no in between. Simon has nightmares of him winning because he has a financial stake in the outcome and is used to marketing/promoting modern pop singers whose genre he is familiar with selling. Simon DOES NOT know how to sell Taylor in the 21st century.

Chris is easier to sell because his style fits into the current Boy/Girl band, hip hop, R&B, rapper, ALT-rock genre that is the current music fad. That's why Simon prefers Chris to win. He's lazy and wants only to sell what he knows without having to go through the hard work of learning other niches.

Katharine is relatively easier to sell because she is one of the most beautiful women to grace AI in it's 5 seasons. She has the cover girl look, the voice to match, and as Simon says in her pre-idol audition -- CURRENT.

However, I'm not sure what modern niche she fits in because her style is very Cabaret/Broadway ( she starred in Annie Get Your Gun on stage last year ). Kat's style reminds me more of Barbra Streisand. But I don't know how that will sell. I'm not sure how "force fitting" Kat into one of the modern style mode will go .... It could be Kat can adopt like Kelly Clarkson did. But I can't answer that question just yet. I am a fan of her type of music but I am just one person and don't really represent the modern market ( I dislike MOST MODERN faddish music and simply got dis-interested buying these CDs in the early 90's ). I just continue to watch them as a cultural phenomenon but NEVER enjoy them.

There used to be a time when I eagerly anticipated the Grammies.... NO LONGER. That's how modern music has lost a late baby boomer like me.
But note --- Baby Boomers are a $2 Trillion marker and guys like Simon who continue to ignore our taste are losing a significant opportunity to profit by simply concentrating on what they are comfortable with.

Which brings us to Kellie. IT IS NO SECRET THAT SHE IS THE WEAKEST SINGER REMAINING. heck, Mandisa was TONS BETTER ( and I mean that in the singing sense because weight goes without saying ).

We already know that Kellie can't sing anything well outside her COUNTRY genre and we all know that Carrie Underwood is miles better than her in the singing department. Kellie looked lost in Stevie Wonder night as well as American Standards night. Oh Yes, she tries to tackle the hard ones but it only revealed her limitations. Whereas Carrie can do musicals, country, decent rock ( as in Pat Benatar ), some Elvis, and even Roy Orbison ( Crying ) and Air Supply ( Making Love Out of Nothing At All ), Kellie has not shown that versatility at all.

Here's where Kellie trumps Carrie and why Simon had the audacity to say he prefers her over "last year's winner" ----> PROMOTABILITY.

Carrie isn't TV or Movie ready. Her down home personality does not make for great TEE VEE.

Kellie, with her humorous naivette and aw shucks, "what's a ballsy" type of personality IS EMINENTLY SALE-ABLE.

This, together with a decent set of country pipes and good looks and youth makes her GREAT for the media and gossip pages.

But folks, this isn't about finding the next TV star. IT's ABOUT FINDING THE NEXT GREAT UNDISCOVERED SINGER.

At some point in time, people will have to say to themselves --- IT WAS FUN WHILE IT LASTED. BUT THIS IS STILL A SINGING COMPETITION AND ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

So where does that leave us ? Well, with the real singers.....

1) Taylor Hicks --- THIS MAN's LIFE IS JUST DEDICATED TO MUSIC AND PERFORMING. if there is anyone who can claim to say I'VE PAID MY DUES, it is him. I heard that his dad argued with him early in life and wanted him to be a dentist or a marketing man, but at 18, Taylor had other plans. He dropped out of college at 20 and never looked back. If there's anyone who KNOWS the industry, it is him. His self-rpduced CD, UNDER THE RADAR is selling like hotcakes right now, but it would have remained obscure had it not been for American Idol. Those who came to form the SOUL PATROL became his fans BECAUSE they've heard his compositions and his voice and KNOW HE's GOOD. They see a potential singer/songwriter in him in the style of Paul McCartney or Jim Croce. I suspect most of his fans are like me --- THOSE WHO LONG FOR THE GOOD OLD DAYS when singers could write, perform and sing. We don't get a lot of them nowadays ( Nora Jones being a notable exception ). Carole King, Carly Simon, Don Mclean, Cat Stevens, Jim Croce, etc. WHERE ARE YOU ? Well, if we can't have you, maybe Taylor Hicks will do. THAT's THE REASONING OF THE SOUL PATROL FOR YOU. It's really sad that Taylor has to prostitute himself to a cheesy show like AI to make his voice heard btu he's gotta do what he's gotta do.

It is said that this CD was his final project and if his voice still could not be heard, he would take his father's advice and go on to a career in real estate and property management.

THE MUSIC WORLD WOULD BE POORER FOR THIS.

2) Chris Daugtry --- THIS MAN Already has a rock album fronting for his band -- ABSENT ELEMENT. Even as he had to support a wife and two kids as a Customer Representative in a car company for his day job, he never abandoned his dream of music. This man has paid his dues as well and deserves a big break. The fact that his wife supports his ambition is added bonus.

3) Katharine Mcphee -- OK, she's a liitle young -- Just 21. But this woman has grown up on nothing but music. Her mom is a vocal coach, she went to a conservatory for music ( same college as Constantine ), and starred in Broadway plays since she was a teen. She was nominated for best actress last year for ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. She's paid her dues in a short term sort of way.

4) Paris Bennet -- OK, I don't know what to make of her. MUSIC IS IN HER GENES as her grandma is the legendary Ann Nesby and she already knows a lot of people in the music industry ( Beyonce's dad reportedly wanted to promote her ). But this kid has TALENT and it looks just like she was BORN WITH IT !!!

She owned one of the most amazing pre-idol auditions in the history of the show and her rendition of Billie Holiday last Tuesday just evokes the mood of the 1940's period. SHE JUST HAS THE NATURAL TALENT.

5) Elliott Yamin --- Well, he was born in a family of musicians too as his mom was a professional singer in her younger days. What I like about this kid is he's got one of the best, smoothest, soothing vocals I've heard since Johnny Mathis. Why am I rooting for him ? He isn't handsome, looks like a FAUN, has bad teeth and can't even be on the cover of a magazine without you cringing.

Well, I am rooting for him because I value CONTENT over COVER. This kid has overcome so many physical difficulties ( 90% deafness in one ear, diabetes as a teen ) to get to where he is. THAT's AN AMAZING POSITIVE STORY and should be retold in READER's DIGEST ! He does not deserve to win, BUT HE CERTAINLY DESERVES TO GO DEEP !

Heck, if Rod Stewart, who used to be a fencer, soccer player and grave digger among other things, can make it big and last this long, WHY CAN'T ANYONE OF THESE KIDS WITH SO MUCH TALENT ?

	Posted by silent_jonny On General/Chat 01/16/2006 4:00:11 AM PST · 14,693 replies · 124,181+ views American Idol 2005--Live Thread
	Posted by silent_jonny On General/Chat 03/15/2005 5:53:32 AM PST · 10,810 replies · 103,572+ views