Hello everyone. Sorry I missed you last week. Too much on the plate at the end of the week and no one went home anyway so the whole week was kind of pointless on the show. The reason they gave for not sending anyone home was that the judge’s save, which is now expired, wasn’t used so they had an extra week to fill. I don’t buy that but whatever. In previous seasons, when the save has been used, there has been a double elimination the following week. Click the Idol banner to watch the show.

Last weeks performances included three for each contestant. First song was contestant’s choice. Second song would be a one hit wonder. You know, the kind of song that makes you wonder why it was ever a hit. Then two pairs with duets. Duets were done by Angie and Candice and Kree and Amber. To be completely honest, the entire show left me dry and somewhat bored. Even my girl, Kree came in on the mediocre side. Jimmy pretty much hated most of the performances and even wondered (my words) what the judges were smoking and blowing up these contestant’s butts. Especially with the one hit wonders. Kree’s “Whiter Shade Of Pale” really drew some venom from Jimmy though, the judges loved it. He said that it was a shitty song then, it’s a shitty song now. I’ve met the guy who wrote that song. He was running Karaoke night at a local dive bar about 15 years ago. He claims he wrote it anyway but never got rich from it, partially due to his divorce. Don’t ask me for his name, I didn’t know it then, don’t know it now. Anyway, with no one going home last week, Kree and Angie were top two. Candice and Amber were bottom two. With these 4 ladies, again, I have my favorites, someone is going to leave and it’s going to be a pretty great singer. That’s just the way it crumbles. For this week, Last week’s vote counts will be totaled with this week for an overall score. The theme of the night is “Songs from 2013” and “Standards”. A guest mentor this week, Harry Connick Jr. . Once again, I’ll be recapping only the results show with highlights from the performance show. It just works better for me that way. Let’s get to it, shall we?

• Angie Miller – “Diamonds” and “Someone To Watch Over Me”
• Amber Holcomb – “Just Give Me A Reason” and “My Funny Valentine”
• Candice Glover – “When I Was Your Man” and “You’ve Changed”
• Kree Harrison – “I’ll See You Again” and “Stormy Weather”

Throughout the mentoring sessions, one thing Harry kept stressing was understanding the song and for the most part, especially with the ‘standards’, don’t change them up too much. Save the vocal runs for the more modern songs that are built for them. I agree (a perfect example is the way these pop divas torture our national anthem. Just sing the song please). The judges disagreed with that sentiment (and I’ve some things to say about these asshats later on).. He was telling them not to add all the runs where they don’t need to be. The show opens with the usual foolishness. The judges stagger out and Ryan walks down the stairs. I would pay money to see him trip and fall down the stairs one day. Just sayin’. Then the people who matter are brought out, the contestants. Filling out the show tonight will be Will I Am, David Cook, and Harry Connick Jr. The project the show is pushing tonight is the movie, The Great Gatsby.

Results

Okay.. The kidbop tradition continues. The ladies are joined by a group of dancers and they do some number from the Gatsby movie (I’ve never seen the original and if this new one is a musical, I won’t see this one either). I didn’t care for the song or the performance from any of them, it just isn’t my glass of diet pepsi. Then we get to the Ford Fiesta Mission. They go to this warehouse to meet up with some artist. I didn’t catch his name but what he does is comic book type art and murals. That is, he’s a graphic dude with a huge print capability. The mission this week is to come up with designs that define their styles to put on the cars. They mess around with some stickers and such and a couple days later, 2 Ford Fiestas are unveiled with their designs on them (a printed vinyl wrap). Then finally, we meet the 5 tweens who do all the voting. Ryan is pushing something called an American Idol fan pack or something like that and he has these 5 young ladies standing on the stage with him. Fun, I guess, if you’re into that sort of thing. If you want to see the show, Click the ‘Results’ link above to watch it online.

How about some real results. Jimmy’s critiques of the night. We start with Angie. Her two songs were “Diamonds” and “Someone To Watch Over Me”. The judges absolutely panned Diamonds and kind of praised “Someone To Watch Over Me”. Even though she did Diamonds at the piano, the judges, particularly Nicki, thought she was playing to the camera too much and lost some of that Angie that they all like so much as a result. Jimmy didn’t care for either song. He says she’s in trouble.

Amber is next with “Just Give Me A Reason” and “My Funny Valentine”. The judges again, panned the first song. Harry, when coaching Amber, asked her if she had any idea what the song she was singing was about (the valentine song). Line by line he asked her and she didn’t have a clue. He was stunned at how or why she could sing a song she doesn’t know what it means. This is the song that got her from Las Vegas to the final 10 rounds and allowed her to make it to this point. It’s a repeat. When she sang it, the judges swooned. They also noted that she seemed nervous and afraid all the sudden. Final 3 gets to do the hometown heroes stuff. Then she pulled Idol trick #423- Dry Cry.. Groan.. Maybe she worked up some tears, I don’t know. It’s dark on that stage so I couldn’t tell. Jimmy agreed with the judges. First song kind of sucked, second was stellar. It’s no secret that of these 4, Amber is one of my least favorites, for genre alone. I’m sure she’s a sweet girl but I just don’t like the power ballad genre.

Now we get to Candice.. Her songs were, “When I Was Your Man” and “You’ve Changed”. She sang that first one without changing any of the pronouns and sang it as written. The second is a Billie Holliday song and I have to admit, she did her usual greatness with both of them. Not that I love the songs but, and the judges agree, Candice can do very little wrong when she sings. Jimmy also agrees. Best of the night.

That leaves, Kree. Her songs, “I’ll See You Again” and “Stormy Weather”. Both songs met the judges with a lukewarm reception. With I’ll See You Again (Carrie Underwood), Keith was talking about waiting for a big moment that never came. She did the song sitting next to a guitar player while the orchestra was playing in the background behind the curtain. In other words, he’s complaining about the staging of the whole thing. Keith, Shut the fuck up. Every one of these women can out sing you. When Harry was coaching Kree on Stormy Weather, he suggested she do it more like Lena Horne rather than Etta James (her first choice). When she did the performance, I thought it was pretty damn good (but you know I love my Kree). Randy was complaining that she didn’t do the Etta James version and in the same breath telling her that she should just be herself. Well, Randy, which is it? Do you want a parrot or do you want her to be original. Even Harry got in on this act and asked Randy WTF he was talking about. Finally, someone called him on his bullshit. Personally, I think Yo Dawg has spent too much time with Snoop Dogg. Dude has fried his brain with something. Someone needs to sniff that coke cup to see what’s really in it. Jimmy, by the way, said that both of Kree’s performances were good but neither had a wow factor punch.

I guess I just did recap performance night. A little more on it later. Next in the show, Flashback Thursday. They reviewed Constantine someone or other from Season 4. Apparently since the show, he’s been doing Broadway and has found his niche there. Good for him. Then, David Cook comes out to do whatever he’s releasing on a new album about to come out. I know there are some fans here so I won’t talk too much smack about the guy. I didn’t see much of his season anyway. Next, Will I Am and his group are there with another number from The Great Gatsby. Ummmmm, This, to me, looked like a 1920’s minstrel show complete with Will, tap dancing. The only thing that kept it from being one, IMO, is that the black people were really black. Not painted. Don’t get me wrong here, When it’s well done, I actually enjoy watching And listening to a tap dancer. He, however, looked like he had just learned a few basic moves, for this particular number. Finally, wrapping up this wasted half hour, Harry Connick Jr and his band are on stage. I don’t know what he talk sang, I didn’t care for it but he too has a new album about to come out. Enough of these people.

Let’s get to the real results. The three that move on are now on their way home for the Hometown Heroes visit. The one that doesn’t, just goes home (or isn’t in the contest anymore). Dim the lights, Here we go. In no particular order, the result of a combined 2 week vote count of 89million, Angie and Candice are sent to the stools for the first two spots in the final three. Next Kree and Amber are brought center stage… The one just going home, is Amber. Kree is in the final 3 (Yay! 😀 ). We see Amber’s journey on the show, she sings a swansong, and that’s it folks. Two more weeks of this.

The Judges.

I don’t know if they are amping drama for ratings or not (the show isn’t doing very well these days) but, while critiquing Angie on her second song, Nicki and Mariah got into it again. Nicki went so far as to hand Mariah a q-tip so she could clean out her ears because clearly, they didn’t hear the same performance. I’ve said all along, that even if I didn’t like what she said, I’ve agreed with Nicki on a lot of her critiques. I feel she’s the only one not blowing smoke up the contestant’s butts, unless it’s deserved. Naturally, this rekindled feud has made the rag-mag press. You can read more about it here. Here is the reason I’m even mentioning this. Apparently Nicki took to twitter bashing Mariah, saying that the show was going to bring Jennifer Lopez back to replace her because her judging style is so sleepy. While I agree with that sentiment, if they bring J-Lo back to replace Anyone, I’m finished with this show. I cannot stand a season or even a minute, of hearing about J-Lo’s ‘goosies’. We will be talking about The Voice instead of American Idol at that point.

See you next week… MTH.