LOL!
Time for the West Coast Wrapup!
At long last -- I enjoyed the whole show! Whoopee! (Well, except for certain moments of Kellie's and Ace's performances, where I found myself cringing sympathetically -- of which, more later.) The judges' comments that everyone did well tonight tickled me. First, you've gotten rid of the vocal deadweight now, so of COURSE everyone should do well -- but more importantly, they had REAL SONGS to sing tonight! Picking a decent song is half the battle. It helps when you're picking from a list of the greats.
Chris -- I cringed a bit when I heard he was doing "Wonderful World" since I've gotten deathly tired of hearing that standard mauled over and over again. But it was quite a nice performance. I'm not going to go overboard and say it was the best of the night since it wasn't. But it was a soulful and professional version, and I'm not sure what else you can ask for.
Paris -- Her best performance to date (despite the weird orange satin secretarial suit -- she ought to have worn something flowing instead). She should wear her hair like that all the time -- it made her look slender instead of chunky, and almost (gasp!) pretty. Paris clearly has an innate feel for music of this type. She lost points with me, though, for mumbling some of the words (death in a song like that), and worse still, performing the entire song at almost exactly the same volume level. Gave it a pedestrian feel. I kept thinking of what Mandisa could have done with that song ... sigh ....
Taylor -- Sure glad the last half of the song was there, since the first half was deadly dull. I was not Moved, though Taylor seemed to be.
Elliott -- Nice work! And I'd give him an A- on looking relaxed on stage (up from a C+ a couple of weeks ago). This sort of song is perfect for him. Like Paris, he was clearly in his element. And perhaps the audience noticed it ... I say this because I'm typing this up while I am taking a break from voting from him because I CAN'T GET THROUGH. I keep a tally so I know how many times I've voted for someone, and when I began, at one hour after the show, I dialed 34 times before I gave up. Seventeen votes and 17 busy signals. Up significantly from past weeks. (Note: Final number of votes I cast for Elliott: 94. Number of busy signals during that time: 140.)
Kellie -- I was kind of getting into the first part of the song, even though the country accent was definitely distracting, but then she got mired in the quicksand of the middle of the song ... oh dear ... and lost the band completely at the end -- all but going "glub, glub, glub!" I don't think any other contestant has actually LOST the band before. Simon must have been taking his happy pills indeed since I expected him to rip her a new one ... but no, his pet minx escaped the extreme censure she deserved. (Big surprise, eh?) All that said, BBB is a VERY hard song. She shouldn't have attempted it unless she already knew it before this week. I actually felt sympathy for the Brave Little Gerkhin tonight (though not, alas, enough to vote for her).
Ace -- I just can't appreciate that nasal thing he does, and his falsetto sounds like nails on a blackboard to me. (Actually, does *anyone* appreciate that whiny nasal thing of his? Even Rod Stewart commented on it. I have a feeling the teenyboppers just ignore it.) He would have looked nice in his suit, at least ... if he hadn't had his hair in a freakin' OLIVE OYL BUN! Ye gods! (Okay, he finally demonstrated that it was a tiny little 'tail. But it looked like a bun. I kept looking for the hairnet to go with it.) I can't even dignify this performance with the term "karaoke." Ace the Nasal cannot leave this competition soon enough for me.
McPhee -- Holy guacamole. Well, she DID it -- what I've been looking for all these weeks -- she finally performed a song without pulling out the "Golly I'm Cute, Vote For Me" card. I have a feeling it was solely because she's been doing this song since she was ten and can recite the lyrics in her sleep, but ... nonetheless. A terrific performance. However, I'm going to be cynical and predict backsliding to her old ways next week, unless it's another song she knows in her sleep.
And just to compare votes vs. busy signals: I also cast 50 votes for Chris (14 busy signals) and ten for McPhee (three busy signals). Not exactly scientific but ya get what you pay for. :)
LOL!
LMAO!! It did look like Olive Oyl's hair!!! Can you buy him a hamburger? He'll gladly pay you for it on Tuesday.