American Idol 2006--Live Thread (Part III)

Fox ^ | 5-8-06

[misterrob]

NSA RESOLVES ‘AMERICAN IDOL’ PHONE VOTING CONTROVERSY

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1633079/posts

[Wolfstar]

"Dancing in the Dark" is a great song.

[Wolfstar]

Did you just call jonny a dog? :) LOLOL! Sorry couldn't resist.

Grin...no, just his drooling smiley, which is cute.

[SirLinksalot]

http://ilovereality.com/News/051162006americanlidol.html

5/16/06 Simon on Leno - thinks Taylor has a chance to win.

Simon was on Jay Leno last night and when shown a picture of each contestant said that while he felt Chris was a better singer, since he is no longer in the competition Taylor Hicks now has a very good chance to win it all.

Simon also said that Katherine McPhee would probably be in the final two and had an mediocre week last week. Simon said she will do much better this week because he is choosing one of her songs for tonight's show.
On Elliot, Simon felt he has one of the best singing voices of any contestant ever on American Idol.

Ryan Seacrest also was a 'surprise' guest on the show with Simon, he came on the show shortly after Simon joked that he (Ryan) had the biggest ego of anyone on the show.

I also think Taylor is now the front runner - because he knows how to play to the audience even though he doesn't necessarily have the best singing voice.

American Idol airs tonight on Fox at 8pm where the contestants will sing three songs each. Then one will be eliminated on Wednesdays hour long show at 9pm.

[GraniteStateConservative]

If you are going to make statements that Venke Knutson is hot then the burden of proof is on you.

Here you go...

[sirchtruth]

"I also think Taylor is now the front runner - because he knows how to play to the audience even though he doesn't necessarily have the best singing voice."

Right, but without a doubt, Chris and Taylor are the best singers. Chris' voice is better, but Taylor knows how to sing a song slightly better. "Takin It To The Streets" was without a doubt my favorite, and Taylor opened up a major can of whoopass on that song!

[Wyatt's Torch]

The idea that Kat and Pickler were muff diving behind closed doors at AI doesn't decrease my interest in either of the AI ladies. How about the rest of you guys?

Prolly make me vote for her....hell, bring Pickler back too! (as long as she brings her camcorder.....;-)

[Wyatt's Torch]

I don't like any of these picks. Open Arms is TOUGH. Steve Perry is right up there with best rock vocalists of all time. The Springsteen song is B-O-R-I-N-G. Never cared for Kat's song.....Is Clive geting senile? I don't get these at all...

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

Thanks for another verrrrry interesting post, SL! I especially agreed with one assessment of Elliott:

Put him in a sleek dark suit and tell him to knock off all the excess vibrato and pointless melisma, respect the melody and just hold the notes.

He's ABSOLUTELY RIGHT about one thing: the pointless melisma, especially on the very end of a song. (I disagree with him about the vibrato, though. I think Elliott's vibrato is charming and not at all over the top.) But Elliott has what I regard as a *very* bad habit -- weakening the very end of a song with some sort of pointless run. It is vitally important to stay strong on the very end of a song. End Strong!! People say "Wow!" to a "wow note," but say "Eh," to a weak little bunch of notes tagged on at the end. Elliott had better cut that nonsense out this week if he hopes to win.

And I also agreed heartily with this assessment of Kat -- this encapsulates what I've been saying all season:

She frequently seems too concerned with pleasing an audience (the subtext of most of her performances seems to be "Gee, I hope you like me!"), which means she often forgoes connecting with the material — and, in fact, giving the audience anything that's genuinely her.

Yup. I can't improve on that comment, except to add that people don't like fakes, and when you fail to connect, it's easy to come off as a fake.

[Wyatt's Torch]

She frequently seems too concerned with pleasing an audience (the subtext of most of her performances seems to be "Gee, I hope you like me!"), which means she often forgoes connecting with the material — and, in fact, giving the audience anything that's genuinely her.

Exactly..........

[misterrob]

I volunteer to offer up a good spanking to correct that behavior

[Wyatt's Torch]

What do you think about Elliot's vibrato on Journey's Open Arms?

Yikes!

[Netizen]

http://www.splash-video.com/index.html

Click 'video' under the guest log in,
Scroll down slightly.

Second row, third from the left.

[MarMema]

It's confirmed. I think he laid down huge challenges for all of them and just might have given them a hint of what they would be singing, a al puppies and kittens, for 19E.

[Netizen]

I'm not sure what Clive is looking for, certainly not playing to their strengths...

I'm not sure either.

[Netizen]

Clive picked some lame songs.

Worse than the judges?

[Wyatt's Torch]

Interestingly, each of the contestant eliminated on Final 3 night have been females and each sang first:

Season 1 - Nikki McKibbin
Season 2 - Kimberly Locke
Season 3 - Jasmine Trias
Season 4 - Vonzell Solomon

Kudo's to posters on MJ's Blog for digging that factoid up.

[MarMema]

This time Elliott is singing first, I am reading, and he is overdue for the pimp spot.

[over3Owithabrain]

In all fairness, E should be going last.

[over3Owithabrain]

Judges' picks are kinda lame too. I like it better when the contestants pick!