[silent_jonny]

Pics & Bios of The Top Twelve (in alphabetical order)
(bios taken from E! Online)

Bo Bice, 29, of Helena, Alabama, has opened for Warrant and Blackfoot and performed and recorded with Jonny Neal of the Allman Brothers.

Lindsey Cardinale, 20, of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, is a student at Southeastern Louisiana University who plays trumpet, guitar and piano and enjoys riding four-wheelers.

Anthony Federov, 19, of Trevose, Pennsylvania, is a Ukrainian-born singer of ballads who is currently in his third semester at Bucks County Community College.

Mikalah Gordon, 17, of Las Vegas is a junior in high school and enjoys cheerleading, dancing and acting.

Constantine Maroulis, 29, of New York City plays in a hard-rock band called Pray for the Soul of Betty and has toured in the international production of Rent.

Anwar Robinson, 25, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, is a middle school music teacher who performed at President Bill Clinton's second inauguration.

Scott Scoval, 28, of Shaker Heights, Ohio, is the father of 4-year-old Brandon Scott Scoval and plays the trumpet and the piano.

Jessica Sierra, 19, of Tampa is a full-time nanny who considers her grandmother to be her American Idol.

Nikko Smith, 22, of St. Louis, MO. Son of baseball great Ozzie Smith, he replaces departing contestant Mario Vasquez.

Vonzell Solomon, 20, of Fort Meyers, Florida, is a black belt in sembact martial arts--a combination of karate, jujitsu and tae kwon do.

Nadia Turner, 28, of Miami is a waitress and bartender who performs with Christian rock-soul band the Tool Box.

Carrie Underwood, 21, of Checotah, Oklahoma, is a student at Northeastern State University who loves animals and rescues strays.

[silent_jonny]

American Idol ping! This ping list is assembled (mostly) from names found on other AI related threads. If you would like your name added or subtracted from this list, please Freepmail me and I will abide by your wishes. Next ping will be tonight, between 7:30pm and 8:00pm EST. Enjoy the show!

[smith288]

So what happened to Mario Vasquez?

[CAluvdubya]

This is great jonny! I keep forgetting some of the names. I heard on Fox that Mario's mother was quoted as saying she didn't know of any family problems and didn't know why Mario quit. Odd.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Bo and Anwar are way ahead of all the others. It should be a two-man race, unless somebody stumbles.

[Lijahsbubbe]

Great! Thanks for putting me on the list. I won't be posting and watching (too slow for that!), but I'll be commenting after the show.

I predict Lindsey, Vonzelle, or Scott as next to go.

[NRA2BFree]

Thanks for the ping! Great job of getting them all together. It's really getting difficult now but for my female choice, I will stick with Nadia. For the male choice, I'm leaning to Bo or Anthony. They're all good though.

[twin2]

Good job Jonny. I'll be back later tonight.

What I'm hearing about Mario from my business (radio) is that he's probably been approached with a contract offer and he just can't discuss it yet. If this is true, next year I'm sure AI will close this loop-hole.

[twin2]

look here, it's AI on FR!

[StrictTime]

Dude, how ya doin' tonight, dog? Well, ya know, this ping list idea is just okay for me, ya know? It started off a little pitchy, ya know, and you had some rough spots in there, but, yeah, ya know, it was just all right for me...

VOTE OFF RANDY AND PAULA FOR AI 2006!!!!

(and GO BO!!)

[ex-snook]

WGAS

[kevkrom]

For all of the talk over the guys outshining the girls this year, it didn't happen this week. The top of my scorecard is female-heavy. Of course, so is the bottom...

1. Nadia -- Good overall performance, with some minor technical issues. She doesn't have the best voice, but she does a great job with what she has
2. Bo -- Again, a better performer than a vocalist. I thought the singing was a little weak, but an excellent stage performance nonetheless (though someone should mention that the mike does indeed come off the stand)
3. Carrie -- Always looks great, nice voice, understands that the right move is to fit the style to herself, not the other way around
4. Jessica -- There's something intangible I don't like about her, otherwise she would be higher on my rankings -- solid but not spectacular
5. Anthony -- Better song choice, good vocals for the most part, still looks a little uncomfortable up there at times
6. Constantine -- Better than the last two weeks, still pales when compared next to Bo, even though he has a slightly better vocal range
7. Scott -- too technical tonight: sounded good, looked good, but no emotion in the vocals at all
8. Anwar -- I expect much better from him, this was sluggish and "pitchy"... good emoting keeps this from being a total disaster
9. Lindsey -- Nothing really wrong with the performance, but nothing right about it either; she looks good but is immediately forgettable
10. Vonzell -- I really wanted to like this performance, but the beginning and end were a mess
11. Nikko -- Needs to put less energy into the "performance" and more into the vocals; he has potential, but he's not helping himself much
12. Mikayla -- Moving from Streisand to Cher this week? Either way, she just isn't up to the standard of this competition

[missyme]

I love American Idol..Who's going to be voted off tonight?

[silent_jonny]

((( American Idol Ping )))
How ya doin’ tonight, Dawgs?

This is a low-volume list.
Names are pinged only on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, coinciding with the live AI shows.
If there’s an AI related story or thread that you think would be of interest, please post a link or an excerpt here on this thread.
Thanks.
And as always, if you want on or off this ping list, just let me know.

[Wolfstar]

Well, hi, jonny. Thanks for this thread. I love American Idol, so will happily join in the discussion.

I don't have a favorite this year, so far. Lindsey Cardinale was voted off last week. Mikalah Gordon couldn't carry a tune if they gave her one in a bucket. Nikko has a grating falsetto-style voice. The rest all have some talent.

I think the two best women are Carrie and Nadia. Carrie has a much better voice than Nadia, but she has all the charisma of a tree stump. Nadia has tremendous charm and charisma, and a good voice.

As to the men, Bo is probably the favorite to win it all, but I just haven't settled on my own choice, yet.

[clamper1797]

Jessica was robbed

[StrictTime]

Trouble is brewing for Scott/Slingblade. AI Finalist's Violence Rap from The Smoking Gun.

[StrictTime]

Trouble is brewing for Scott/Slingblade. AI Finalist's Violence Rap from The Smoking Gun.

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

Found a very interesting analysis of the remaining contestants here, written by an opera singer! I am not an opera singer (though I do love the opera) but I studied for a long time, and I think this guy just nails it. Here's a representative snip:

Bo Bice - man, I just think Bo kicks ass. He actually has the most limited voice in the group. No top, and his natural vocal register would be classified as baritone. That's cool - Elvis would have been considered a baritone, too. But what the dude does with what he has is very entertaining, and he makes up for not having the best vocal range, for already perhaps having a little wear and tear on his cords, by being totally invested in everything he sings. My stupid comparison from the part of the singing world I'm most familiar with, opera, is Placido Domingo. (Guarantee you that's the only time you'll see Domingo and Bo Bice mentioned in the same paragraph.) Domingo never had the clarion high notes of a Pavarotti... there were and are tenors out there who can out-sing Placido up in the stratosphere for days. But that didn't matter - he was Domingo. He used everything else he had; vocal quality, musicality, pitch, emotion, honesty. Bo Bice as a rock singer does the same thing; he doesn't try to be the next Robert Plant - he's Bo, and he puts his stamp on every song. He has a good ear for what fits him most of the time too. He will need to avoid the usual rock singer pitfalls if he wants to keep singing into his 40s - smoke, smoking, too much drinking, lack of rest, bad PA systems that don't give him proper monitors and force him to shout.

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

Good show tonight! And I saw something I never would have dreamed possible ... a halfway decent performance from Slingblade!

Anthony has grown on me personality-wise, but neither of his songs tonight were impressive. Given that, plus Scott's mischievous worst-one-wins lobby, I think he'll be gone tomorrow.

Bo certainly looked the most relaxed on stage, and had a definite "pro" quality (as Simon remarked upon), but I found his singing unimpressive tonight. He is good at picking songs that fit his range, but let's face it, that's because he doesn't HAVE much of a range! He seems like a very nice fellow and it wouldn't upset me unduly if he wins, but I don't really think he deserves it.

Vonzell is a very charming young lady with a brilliant smile and terrific pipes! I had to agree with Simon, though, that her first song was a bit of a mess -- the beginning seemed very unfocused (though I think that was partly the arrangement and the conductor -- they were really drowning her out -- perhaps on purpose?). But the ending was terrific, I thought. Second song, very nice also, though she REALLY needs to work on her head voice. Whenever she crosses that bridge between midvoice and head voice, it's kind of a shaky journey ... but I think that is simply because she is young, and women's voices don't fully mature until 30 or 35. Also, she relies on her chest and midvoice too much because they are naturally so good. (I think Anthony suffers from a similar malady. His thin voice is largely the result of being young, I think. If he keeps working on it, he might have an impressive voice -- in a few years, though, not now.)

Carrie has the most finished voice, though not the most finished performance. She tore it up with the first song (good for her!) but I had to agree with Simon that she looked robotic on the second. But her singing was very, very nice on the second song. I hope she heads toward a country career -- that seems to be her natural forte.

All in all, votes from me for Vonzell and Carrie. Who will win overall? No clue. This competition is largely a popularity contest, and I'm having a difficult time figuring out who is most popular now (especially since they booted Connie, my favorite, last week! Did you hear the audience boo that outcome again this week?)

[GraniteStateConservative]

I meant to reply to you, too on this post of mine:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1363125/posts?page=7070#7070

I figured you'd be interested, too. This Carrie-Anthony thing is gold, Jerry. Gold! It will buy Simon another private jet and probably more.