The West Coast wrapup!
(A little shorter this week since I cut my hand last night -- 3 stitches = less typing!!!)
Mandisa: Awesome, baby! A polished, perfect performance. (A number of busy signals when I called to vote.)
Bucky: Poor guy. Looked like stage fright to me. Say "Bye bye," Fluffy.
Paris: Why am I just not excited about this girl? Her best perfomrance to date, though.
Chris: The whole was greater than the parts. Opening section too low for him, missed notes, but sexy as hell when he jumped up the octave. Cool arrangement. Overall a memorable performance, though admittedly not his best. When is he touring here...?
McPhee: Best performance to date. Looked spectacular, sounded great. But missed the freakin' POINT of the song! That is NOT a happy song and she was Miss Smiley all the way through.
Taylor: Good (not excellent) rendition of a boring song. Liked his stage business. Get a better song next time, Bubba.
Lisa: Quite competent but boring as usual. Go do musicals, Lisa.
Kevin: Wow, Manilow dragged his best performance to date out of him. Whatcha got in the pocket, Kev?
Elliot: Keep the hair stylist, FIRE the clothing stylist. Is that your daddy's tie or what? Otherwise, his most relaxed and engaging performance so far. His voice is sounding furry, though: a warning signal. Elliot needs to get more rest so that his voice doesn't conk out on him (if anyone who knows him just, ahem, happens to be reading this ... :)
Gherkin: Has found her true trailer park persona at last. A good performance but not my style.
Ace: Not the train wreck of last week, at least. Can't see what Paula was so excited about, though.
It was great seeing Manilow work with the singers. It seemed like most of them got a lot out of it. For me personally, it was a real blast from the past when they showed the montage of all his old pics ... I had SUCH a crush on him when I was 14!! LOL! (That was before my gaydar had begun functioning.) And I remembered ALL of those old publicity stills. Yikes. What I waste my brain cells on ....
Overall, a much more interesting show than last week. I pick Bucky to go, with Lisa in the bottom 3 again.
Hope your hand heals fast. You keep US in stitches!!!
You nailed it again. She works best when she sexes up a classic like that, because men like myself will respond to her with their inner trailer trash selves. She hits you on a very consistent level, about waist high.
And the thought that her convict Daddy will come after you with a shiv once he leaves the joint adds an element of danger to the proceedings.
Which is one reason I'm pleased to hear that Constantine has been circling the pickle jar.
I certainly didn't notice :) Sorry about your hand, though.
Paris: Why am I just not excited about this girl?
My theory is it's her age. 16 year olds are boring creatures.
Speaking of which ...
Lisa: Quite competent but boring as usual. Go do musicals, Lisa.
Yep. I won't be surprised if she goes tonight. Bucky's on thin ice too, but I'd like to see him stick around for at least one more week.
Mandisa - Flawless. That girl can flat out sing. The whole "Mandiva" thing is completely inaccurate. A "diva" is someone with an attitude. She does not have that. I like her a lot and I hope she makes top 5. I don't think she will win because she doesn't "look" the part and America won't vote enough for her.
Bucky - Following Mandisa, he must have thought, "Someone set us up the bomb!" That was a setup if I've ever seen it. He looked positively ridiculous following Mandisa. Unless he has a huge redneck/NASCAR fan base following the show, he's bottom 3 sooner rather than later.
Paris - great vocal but I cannot get into her performances. I just don't connect with anything she does. It was "a'ight"...
Chris - When I heard he was doing Cash's "Walk the Line" I was like, uh-oh. But then when he decided to rearrange it into a modern, alt-rock song, I thought it had potential. Frankly, I thought the whole arrangement was absolutely brilliant. That is the second time i've seen a brilliant artistic performance like that on this show (first was Bo's a capella version of In a Dream last year). Sure, he missed some notes but he could release that song on the radio right now and it would be a smash. Brilliant performance and he remains the one to beat IMHO.
Katherine - She's growing on me. She's always had great vocal ability but a cold, robotic nature on stage. She's getting better as she's getting sexier and more sultry. She should be top 5.
Taylor - I love Taylor but that performance was just not up to par. Bad song choice but a good performance. He'll cruise through and live to wow us somewhere down the line.
Lisa - as with Paris, good vocal but just no connection. She cute and fun but just doesn't seem to connect. She belongs back on Broadway where she will be a star. Not good enough to make it in "popular" music IMHO.
Kevin - zzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz. Enough already. The act is wearing thin and it's time to go. Now.
Elliot - as I've said before, I am simply missing what people are hearing with Elliot. I have never once been captivated by a single second of his performances. Last night was no different.
Kellie - I have to say that for the first time, I heard something in her vocal that made me notice. That was a pretty good performance. I still cannot stand to look at her as the whole poor-blonde-bumkin act is getting old. That and her makeup was dreadful. If I could just listen and not have to look at her and hear her speak, she might be tolerable...
G'Ace - actually, I thought it was pretty good. I thought it was a good arrangement and it surprised me coming from him. Decent vocal but the whole "stare" crap at the end of EVERY SONG has to stop. Creepy.
Top Tier - Mandisa, Katherine, Chris
Middle of the Road - Taylor, Kellie, G-Ace
I Just Don't Get It - Elliot, Paris, Lisa
Need to go home - Kevin and Bucky
Predicted Bottom 3 - Bucky, Kevin, and Lisa
Who should go home - Kevin
Who will go home - Bucky
If there is a surprise, it will be Elliot in the bottom 3.
I always look forward to your AI reviews, and you did not disappoint with this one. I agree with almost all of your assessments.
I did think that Paris was fabulous this week. I have to remind myself that she is only seventeen, so her kidlike remarks are OK. She felt like she was "really in the fifties." Very cute.
Mandisa's advanced voice training at Fisk is finally showing. She doea have a leg up on the rest of the competitors, with her music education and her professional appearances. Still, not my idea of the American Idol.
Chris was good, but he is in danger of getting monotonous with the uber-rock shtick.
Re: the dressers. They seem to have favorites, too, making Katharine look gorgeous while dressing down Lisa to make her look like a kid in the sandbox. Marketing???
LOL about Elliott and Kevin. Back in Catholic school, us boys would've been smacked for doing either of those no-no's--keeping hand in pocket for more than two seconds; and wearing your shirttails OUTSIDE of your pants. Some disciplines of the fifties.