Wahl Kin & Friends...American Idol

Four years ago, after watching American Idol with a group of loyal experts (all females), I began taking notes of their opinions and writing a short synopsis of their thoughts...sort of a program to help me understand what to expect to happen the next night...elimination Wednesday. MY ADVICE: "TAKE ONE DAY AT A TIME!" That's it...pretty simple. In birth, death, illness, relationships, problems, all of life...Take one day at a time.

Name:
Location: Augusta, Georgia, United States

Vietnam Veteran 5 children and 9 grandchildren I am happy and at peace!

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

WEEK #11...FINALS NIGHT...Jordin vs. Blake

FINALS NIGHT...FINAL BLOG...RETIRED:

This is my fourth season of American Idol, seasons 3, 4, 5, 6 (Fantasia, Carrie, Taylor, and Jordin). My across the hall housemate, Dasia, is now 8 1/2 and playing soccer. I plan to come out of youth coaching retirement to coach her this fall and spring with Tristin's Daddy coaching with me. My other granddaughter, Tristin, is now almost eleven months old and by next Idol season she will be more fun than she already is...There are 4 little grandsons in town and 3 other grandchildren out of town. Too much to do and more important priorities. This will be my last issue of the American Idol Blog.

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We had an infamous celebrity at this evenings FINALS. Randy Jackson showed up disguised as Idi Amin. I don't believe in coincidences so this was perfectly fitting for my last blog. Many of you may have picked up on my obvious distaste for this blowheart, racist, Yo Yo Dawg. I yearn for the opportunity to piss on his hydrant.

Idi Amin was born in about 1925 and came to power through military force (overthrew the goverment) in 1971 in Uganda and ruled for 8 years. In 1972, he ethnically cleansed by race (MURDERED) 5,000 soldiers and leaders because they were loyal to those he put out of office. Over the next seven years, he ethnically cleansed between 80,000 and 300,000 people...again racist. Amnesty Internationally reported that he killed 500,000 people during this same period.

However, the "New York Times" and the press corps in general found him to be a "delightful" murderer and slaughterer of men. He was a comical character. It seems that Idi Amin had a sense of humor and was eccentric. How funny...Ha! Ha! Ha! Too bad Hitler didn't have a sense of humor, maybe they would have enjoyed him too?


For those of you in Vermont, Idi Amin killed black people and Asians of Indian descent. Since I live in Georgia, you may think that I approve of killing dark skinned people. This is totally false. If they are black, yellow, brown, or red and have blonde hair and blue eyes, then it is acceptible, but eye color and hair color are important traits in the killing cycle of rednecks down here (smile).

Idi Amin named himself the "King of Scotland" among other ridiculous titles. Hollywood even made a movie about him and Forest Whitaker won the Oscar as the Best Male Actor this year...I won't see it!

Well, tonight we got to see a bigger, fatter, Randy Jackson, looking very Idi Aminish, dressed in a Michael Jackson jacket (I wonder if these two Jackson's are related?)...Perfect for Yo Yo Dawg...

One of the "New York Times" quotes from 1977 in reference to Idi Amin fits Randy Jackson: "BIGHEARTED BUFFOON & STRUTTING MARTINET."

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#1...Blake began with a reprise of his best performance from earlier in the season with Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name." He "performed" it well complete with all his beat boxing. Of course, it is the only song he can do well and not seem like a karaoke performance from a bar room, and because it was no surprise like the first time he pulled it off, it was just O.K. and for Simon...no big deal.

Of course, I really don't think anything the boy does tonight will matter. Idol is really a singing competition this year. Last year, (Taylor Hicks) was a "performing" and not a "vocal" winner and WHERE'S TAYLOR? We fans will not make that mistake this year.

Blake's next song was a perfect karaoke rendition of Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved."
As Simon told him, the song was "safe and good" but this was finals night. I don't know about you folks out there, but I hated Maroon 5 last week. They were yukky.

Blake had to sing the song that fans or someone had picked for the final song for each contestant to sing because the songs Idol Producers have been choosing have been so bad. Well, this song was really bad for Blake. The title was "This is my Now"...Blake's "NOW" is Good-Bye...Ouch, ears hurt...dancing stunk...song sucked...
really terrible. The perfect end for a bad season for the guys.

A comment from the Atlanta Blog from someone who really liked Blake sums it up:

"That was as pathetic as "You Make Me Proud." When is AI going to hire some REAL lyric writers, some REAL melody writers. Hell no this ain't a guys song so this round will go to Jordin even before I hear her. Blake was off-key, but who cares? I wouldn't listen to this song if I were buried for eternity and they gave me the option of silence or THIS song!!! Give me silence! UUUgh!!! Jordin next...she'll be better. (Song still sucks)."

Simon told the audience that you should not judge Blake by this song. Judge him by the first two songs. Why? After all, this is a singing competition so why shouldn't you judge the boy for his singing??? C'mon Simon...You blew it. Idol blew it. Paula can't blow it, because she "broke her nose" or so they say...falling over her dog...really? Why should Simon be nice all of a sudden because "his boy" cannot sing?

And finally, Randy is a racist...Idi Amin!!!

#2...Jordin sang "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera as her first song. Not bad, but she has no stage presence so no "performing" ability either, so the judges say, and I guess they think a 17 year old cannot be taught? Great vocals, but for some reason the judges seem to think this is no longer a singing competition. They make me sick!!!

Song number 2 she chose was a "Broken Wing" which I think she sang earlier in the competition made famous by Martina McBride. She hit a home run and knocked it out of the park AGAIN. Even Simon said "THAT WAS GOOD." Of course, the audience already knew it and heard it clear enough. Simon didn't need to tell the standing ovation audience anything that they didn't already know. With this performance, she eliminated Blake.

Song #3 was the same song that poor Blake could not sing. Jordin sang it very well and ended the song and was crying at the lyrics...WHAM!!! The end. Blake was taken by ambulance to a local hospital to be resuscitated. Nice guy attending the school of singing with Jordin Sparks, but not in the same class.

I didn't bother to vote this evening...Jordin should win in a landslide.

Blake will do well writing songs and arranging. He may not need to perform to have a successful music career. He appears to be loyal and nice with good character. This should take him places in life. I still don't think Melinda makes it as a pop singer even though I like her. I think she was over hyped by the judges. She is a singer just like thousands out there all over America...not a superstar.

Look for Haley Scarnato on the pages of some glossy magazine some day showing her main assets...legs, puppies, and azz.

At 12:33 P.M. Dial Idol has Jordin ahead by over 17 points...a landslide. There are still several hours to go before the vote tally will be final and of course, text votes are not in and Blake does well on the West Coast. Last week, surprizingly he lost votes to Jordin overnight. Dial Idol said that Melinda was in first place last week by 2% and she went home. This time 17% is beyond the error percentages.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

TUESDAY May 15, 2007...WEEK #10

WEEK #10...FINAL 3:

With the death of Jerry Falwell today (condolences to his family, friends, and church), I may be the only person God will be speaking to this evening since I have often proclaimed that "God speaks to me as often as he speaks to Jerry Falwell."

There definitely should have been a bit of confusion in "heaven" when Jerry arrived. Jerry doesn't think that "gay people" are permitted in "heaven" and has steadfastly preached against gays and lesbians. Golly Gee, I wonder what Old Jerry will be muttering when he first sees them? "What are YOU doing here?" or questioning "Am I in Hell?" Poor Jerry...He will adjust, and he should APOLOGIZE!!!

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This evening's American Idol telecast (Final Three) was a bit more interesting than the routine weekly show because each contestant performed 3 songs. One song chosen by either Randy, Paula, or Simon...one song chosen by the "Idol Producers"... and one song chosen by the contestant.

#1...Jordin Sparks...She sang first and Simon was kind enough to pick a song for her that she had never heard before in her life. Neither did most of the people in the audience. He picked a song named "Wishing on a Star" by Rolls Royce and Cover Girls and the song was from the 1970's and the version was out before she was born. In other words, it was old...very old. Simon consistently wants Jordin to sing younger songs and so he picks an old song for her and then criticizes the way she rearranged it and jazzed it up. Guess what? Simon is a Melinda fan and Simon wants Melinda in the finals and Simon does not want Melinda competing with Jordin for the title. Duh?

How do you accomplish this? Pick out a lousy song and then criticize the singer all night. Good job Simon. You succeeded so far.

Second song for Jordon was chosen for her by the "Idol Producers" and was a Donna Summers song "She Works for the Money" and we all know that Jordin cannot dance very well...She stomped around the stage, but did a nice job on the vocals. Simon, keeping with his theme for the night "the arrangement was a little old fashioned." He also joked with Paula during the critique and half heartedly said that "it was a very good performance."

Final song for Jordin that she chose was Shirley Bassey's "I Who Have Nothing" and she was great as always with this ballad. I think she may have sung this song before in the competition (repeat choice). Again, even though she sang it spectacularly well, Simon said "There's no disputing you sang that well. There's part of me that hates you sang a 60 year old song. I wasn't loving it. It's incredibly old fashioned. I wish you had chosen another song."

Methinks, Simon wants her gone. I don't know why I get this feeling? I'll wait for my message from God tonight. Perhaps he knows what Simon is thinking? Simon thinks that HE is God.

#2...Blake Lewis...(looks a little like Mork, from Mork and Mindy doesn't he?) Paula chose "Roxanne" by the Police for Mork (Paula appeared to be drunk this evening). Mork did O.K. but not great. Again, the judge, Paula, did not help Mork with this choice, but it seems like the judges want Mork in the finals so they were practically falling all over themselves after he finished. Randy: "Great, great performance. It was pretty good vocals. I gotta give you an A on that. It was hot." Paula: "You did me proud." (burp) Simon: "I'm not going to call that earth shattering. The trouble with that song. You are always forced to do an imitation of Sting. It was good. It wasn't great. You can't say it's fantastic."

I acknowledge that Simon was not full of praise, but compared to Jordin, who did not do too badly, that was praise.

Song number 2 for Mork was indeed better and may have been his best of the night. The Idol Producer's chose "This Love" by Maroon 5. Naturally Randy and Paula almost had orgasms over this performance (and Paula may have had one) and Simon said: "I preferred that to the first song. You sounded very comfortable. That was good."

Final song, his choice, was Robin Thicke's "When I Get You Alone"...Here's where I am obviously too old and lost. I liked Mork from the beginning and expected him to be in the final three. However, I have no clue how this song choice fits into becoming the American Idol or getting into the final against Melinda. Randy and Paula loved it as always and even Simon said: "I actually really like that!" Geez...I hated it, but who knows? I really didn't like either of Jordin's first two songs that Simon and the Idol Producers forced her to sing. I know that Blake/Melinda in the final two will guarantee Shrek a win and that is obviously what they want.

#3...Melinda Donothing...Shrek started off in what they call the "pimp" spot singing last. Each time she sings tonight, she gets to sing last...a distinct advantage that always guarantees top votes and a berth the next week. However, we knew she would be there because she is technically the best singer and deserves to be there...I have no problem with Shrek getting to the finals.

Her first song chosen by racist Randy was taboo up until tonight, a Whitney Houston song. He chose "I Believe in You and Me" and for the first time ever, he praised someone who sang a Whitney Houston song. Shrek was nice enough to thank Randy Johnson, a white baseball pitcher, for choosing the song for her. Randy was kind enough to choose one of Whitney's lesser known ballads. I thought it was as boring as Shrek. Simon said it was her best performance of the past four weeks. That is not saying very much.

Shrek's next song was chosen by the Idol Producer's "Nutbrush City Limits" by Ike and Tina Turner and I feel sure I would have this one on my IPod if I owned one (Yikes!) Simon thought it was "another brilliant performance." I read another review from someone who had seen Tina live many times and she said that it was a terrible performance and she had no idea what the judges were talking about. Shrek isn't even close to Tina. I could care less.

Her final song that she chose was a repeat of a prior song (Shirley Bassey's) "I'm a Woman" from a few weeks ago. We may see it again next week if she gets to pick again. Shrek is certainly original. She owns this song. Simon said: "If I'm going to reward someone a spot in the final for consistently delivering, it's you."
(No bias here). I thought the voter's sent Shrek to the finals, not Simon.

IN CONCLUSION: My belief is that Shrek is in the final two...

Dial Idol has no idea who is going to be there. As of 12:09 A.M., Jordin and Mork are running 2 and 3 and they are just .06 apart. However, Mork does well in the overnight voting from the Left Coast.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

TUESDAY May 8, 2007...Week #9 w/Barry Gibb

Week #9...Final 4:

We said Good-Bye to the alien, Phil Stacey, and Justin Timberlake wantabe, Chris Richardson, last Wednesday. Both men were likeable and very classy in their departures. I will not miss them, but the time had come to say good-bye and we did.

This evening begins the FINAL FOUR...A brief bit of American Idol history may jog your memory and help you recall some previous Final 4 Idol eliminations.

Season 1: Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini, Nikki McKibbin and #4 (Tamyra Gray!)

Season 2: Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, Kimberley Locke, and #4 (Josh Gracin!) In addition, that evening was a "Bee Gee's" theme evening. Hopefully, after tonight, we will have no more.

Season 3: Fantasia Barrino, Diana DeGarmo, Jasmine Trias, and #4 (LaToya London.) (The big surprise that year was Jennifer Hudson finishing #7 when the telephone phone banks in the entire midwest were out for most of the voting period and Jennifer was from that area.)

Season 4: Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice, Vonzell Solomon, and #4 (Anthony Federov.)

Season 5: Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, Eliott Yamin, and #4 (Chris Daughtry!)

Season 6: Who will it be? Jordin, Melinda, Blake, LaKisha???

Dial Idol says it will be LaKisha going home with Melinda Doolittle in big trouble and Jordin the top vote getter with Blake, the only male, also safe.

Geo Predictions, whoever they are, (I found a reference to them on the Atlanta Blog Site) had LaKisha in last place in 47/50 states at approximately 10:30 or so...Not good.

Could it be that "race" is finally raising it's ugly head? The least pretty contestant is Melinda on the women's side and she may have looked the best she has looked this season tonight. I don't think "ugly head" has anything to do with it. Blake is really ugly himself and with his hair stylist contortions and highlights and dye jobs, I don't think he should be one of the top vote getters with his "ugly head." Consequently, it is either a "race" or "sex bias" issue with the voting.

On the "sex bias" issue, two out of the three men were voted off last week. This certainly seems to indicate that "sex bias" is not an issue since statistics indicate that most of the voters are women and "sex bias" would be toward the men. (Although I will have to admit that I voted 10,000 times for Haley Scarnato each week because I thought she was the most talented) Also, what sex is Blake? I would say neutral at best. This would be another reason that "sex bias" would not be the reason that Blake is getting votes.

This brings us to "race." When I made my first predictions for this season's Final 3, I included the Fab 3 ladies without regard to their "race." I still predict that "race" is not controlling the vote at this time; however, methinks very much that American Idol (and Simon Cowell especially) will desire my personal favorite, Jordin Sparks, to win the competition. She is young, vivacious, pretty and marketable.

There is a distinct possibility that the voter's are actually sick of Melinda Doolittle's boring same old same old and somehow were tone deaf enough and mentally ill enough to vote for Blake Lewis instead of Melinda or LaKisha, even though Blake was sick to my stomach horrible this evening. However, what I think happened is that Dial Idol had telephone and computer problems and their published results are in error.

#1...Melinda Doolittle...sang first and fifth tonight. Her first song was "Love you Inside and Out" which I hated, but the people who I was watching with, who really like Melinda, loved the performance. Since I am quiet, polite, and reserved, I was respectiveful and did not show my distaste for her halloween Unamerican Idol like look and I could care less if she has a perfect pitch or not. If her pitch is so good, let her sign with the New York Yankees. They really need pitching! Roger Clemons doesn't get there for 3-4 weeks.

Her next song was much better "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart"...What I liked best about "Miss Confidence" and she should be one of the certain finalists (with Jordin) for this season's American Idol was that she refused to sing the important lyrics in the song:

"How can a loser ever win?"...HOW CAN SHE???


#2...Blake Lewis...He screwed up one song and then sang a song that no one had ever heard of and will never hear of again. I won't even tell you the name of the second song, but Simon said: "I don't know what that song was. I thought it was completely tuneless. I don't think you had a good night tonight. That was a weird, bizarre choice of song."

As you know, I ignore "Randy the racist" and "horny Paula" because they are of no consequence to the show. Last week they told us that Alien Phil was the greatest performer since Caruso, however Simon told Phil he was in trouble and Randy and Paula couldn't believe that Simon didn't hear what they heard from Phil. Phil was sent home.

In any case, I thought it was noteworthy to mention that Paula was on her best behavior tonight even though she was incoherent in her comments, she seemed sober and as always, still horny, even though I have surmised that Blake is of neutral sex or unisex, he did wear long pants of his own design tonight. After his first song, Paula said "Your beatboxing, you showed good musicianship." (???) Simon: "I'll give you unique. This is a matter of personal taste but I thought it was absolutely terrible." (Simon looks peeved.)

#3...LaKisha Jones...She sang "Stayin' Alive" possibly the most famous Bee Gees song in the world. She tried to slow it down and make it a bit funky. Simon blasted her by telling her that there would be no kisses tonight and "You're back to shouting. The performance verged on the scary. Not great tonight so far." My opinion is that she had a chance to sing balads, her favorites, and she chose to sing a famous dance tune and she slowed it down...As Ron Jones, the famous comedian says: "You can't fix stupid." Her next song was better, but she had to sing it in a higher voice and her voice was a bit worn out from all the singing and practicing. Better job, and much better than Blake's toilet job, but probably not good enough to keep her around based on some of the voting results I have seen. I dialed her number many times to try to keep her in for one more week and never got a busy signal one time...Not a good sign.

#4...Jordin Sparks...She sang "To Love Somebody" and I thought it was the performance of the night. She also was the final performance of the evening and chose a song from Barbra Streisand's hit list "A Woman to Love" that the judges were not loving as much as we at home did.

Jordin was by far the best of the evening for me and I suspect she is the top vote getter again, but I am prejudice...For those of you in Vermont, Jordin has a black daddy and a white mama...I will let you guess where my prejudice lies. Jordin is my favorite!!! My favorite sport is football and her daddy was a professional football player for the Jets and the Cowboys. I was in Vietnam the year that the Jets won the Superbowl and I was a Jets fan back then, but he did not play for the Jets. I wonder if any of this matters?

Based on performance, Blake should not even come back tomorrow night to say Good-Bye; however, I think LaKisha is probably going home unless we have a Final 4 Suprise!

(Doubtful...I really think tonight's show was so boring that many people did not take the time to vote at all).

I voted for Haley Scarnato!

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

TUESDAY May 1, 2007...Week #8 w/Bon Jovi

MAY 1, 2007...Week #8 with Bon Jovi

This week, we lose two more contestants. Idol is going to add the votes from last week and this week and then take the lowest two totals and send them home. Because of the fund raising efforts of last week, there were 78 million votes, so the top vote getter, Jordin, got a lot of votes last week. Tonight, Jordin did not do very well. For the past several weeks, LaKisha performed poorly, but tonight she got back on track. Can she be saved? Very interesting!

Last weeks Dial Idol final results were as follows: (Only Jordin was considered safe last week as the other busy signals were too close to call).

1. Jordin Sparks 25.23
2. Phil Stacey 21.58
3. LaKisha Jones 20.65
4. Blake Lewis 20.54
5. Melinda 20.11
6. Chris Rich.. 18.10


This evening we have a rocker, Bon Jovi, and the girls should be at a disadvantage.

#1...Phil Stacey...He chose a song that he had been singing in front of a mirror for fifteen years from the movie Young Guns. Randy and Paula couldn't heap enough praise and Simon thought it was just "O.K." The audience booed and hissed his comments and as usual he had a completely different opinion from Randy and Paula...in his opinion "the truth." He told a happy Phil that he probably did not do enough to save himself from going home. Based on last weeks high numbers and his clear second place finish, he may be safe in spite of Simon's unimpressive comments.

#2...Jordin Sparks...She is no rocker and although she told everyone that she was raised on Bon Jovi songs, she was pretty terrible...cute, smiling, vibrant, but terrible. Hopefully, she has her fan base out there and her large vote overage from last week to keep her around to compete against Blake and Melinda for the Idol final.

#3...LaKisha Jones...She finally sang a balad type song, possibly the only one in Bon Jovi's song list that fit her perfectly and she did very, very well. Will the votes tonight be enough to keep her in? She was so bad for so long leading into last week, who knows? Tonight was a huge improvement...too little, too late. We'll see.

#4...Blake Lewis...Blake rearranged one of Bon Jovi's biggest hits and he really did a great job. I actually clapped for the boy. I think this performance showed everyone that he belongs in the final 3. At this time, I think Chris Richardson continues to take the women's vote away from Blake.

#5...Chris Richardson...Chris needs to be worried tonight if Dial Idol is correct from last week (he was in last place). Chris is no rocker and all three judges said he did O.K. on the song he chose this evening. Simon worried out loud that he may not be safe tomorrow. Women voters better get dialing because I think Chris is in trouble. Of course, I have said this in the past and not been correct yet; however, only Phil is ahead of Chris and Phil's voters have kept him near the top for several weeks now.

#6...Melinda Doolittle...This gal is definitely not a rocker, but she can sing. She sang a fairly new song by Bon Jovi and as can be expected from Melinda, she sang it well. Simon said she was vocally in a different league from the other competitors this evening. I think the name of the song was "Have a Nice Day."

As far as tonight's performances went, the judges loved Melinda as always, but the audience may vote for LaKisha again. I think Jordin will be hurt by her terrible performance.

I am going to post this message very early and then I will look at www.dialidol.com in the morning to see what they predict. If you would like to check them out, just log on and go to the top of the screen and link "predictions" (they are 75% accurate, but I don't know how accurate they are with the double telephone numbers).

I won't dare to predict who is going home with last weeks 78 million votes and tonights "rocker" songs and the combination of the two for elimination tomorrow evening. Only Melinda appears to be guaranteed safe.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

TUESDAY APRIL 24, 2007

Week #7...Tuesday April 24, 2007:

We are down to our final six contestants...3 gals and 3 guys. I was not one of the people that would have thought we would have this many men left at this juncture in the competition...possibly one and no more than two, but at the end of this evening's performances we could have three men and two women left...UNTHINKABLE just seven weeks ago.

#1...Chris Richardson...He sung "If I Could Change the World" by Eric Clapton. He wore a tie and a jacket and impressed all three judges with his performance. Simon criticized him last week for being "nasally" and this week he was not. Simon liked the song choice and told him he was finally living up to the potential they saw in his first audition. This is good news for Chris and his fan base of woman voter's out there. There is a certain gal in New Jersey whose evening started out well tonight.

#2...Melinda Doolittle...She sung "There will Come A Day" by Faith Hill. This song is only 8 years old, a newborn for Melinda; however, Melinda insisted on wearing a gray dress doing her best to maintain that hip-hop American Idol look. I think she thinks the Taylor Hicks old age look is "in". She is doing her best to look older.
As usual, she sung it well and the judges drooled and praised and clapped and yippee kayayed over her performance as they do every week.

#3...Blake Lewis...He sung "Imagine" by John Lennon and of course Randy Jackson thought it was boring because Blake was not John Lennon. John Lennon was gunned down on 12/8/1980 in New York soon after he turned 40 years old by a punk kid named Mark David Chapman...there was no way he could be there Mr. Dog Pound. Last year, you may recall Jackson pushed for a Beatles night after Taylor Hicks sang a Beatles song. The Idol Producers were wise not to do this because Dog Pound would do something like he did tonight...compare it to the original and then crucify the contestant because Randy is such a "big time" producer and he knows this and he knows that...piss on his fire hydrant. He was hired because they needed a black guy for diversity...the only reason.

Simon liked the vocal and thought it was more about the sincerity than the vocal. Paula...who cares?

#4...LaKisha Jones...She sung the Season 3 coronation song "I Believe." She wore a black strapless dress. The judges did not BELIEVE! They were unkind to her and compared her to Fantasia and Fantasia sung the song very well. Simon accused her of shout-singing and last week he also told her that she was shouting. Truthfully, she shouted again. Last week she ending up in the bottom two and only Sanjaya was below her. This week Sanjaya is not there to protect her.

She has a lot of fans in the audience, but her voters have not been showing up on Dial Idol for several weeks and methinks this will be her last night. However, there are plenty of record deals out there and she has a great personality...I wanted her to finish higher than sixth place, but she should still get a career out of this and her life will be better than it would have if she had not been in this competition. Good Bye LaKisha unless Phil leaves before her...not likely.

#5...Phil Stacey...The repitle/alien seems to be finding a groove in country music. Tonight he sung a Garth Brooks song, "The Change." The judges seemed to like him again and Simon advised him to continue going for the country-style songs. Tonights song was by a country singer, but certainly was not a country-style song. Phil sung it well for Phil, but I don't know if the voters will load up on him like they did last week. Vote for the Worst lost their main man/child last week, Sanjaya. They have picked up Phil as the worst singer left in the competition and are asking their voters to vote for Phil.
I think he should be in the bottom 3 this week, but LaKisha should beat him out.

#6...Jordin Sparks...She sung "You'll Never Walk Alone" and just like last week was the top performance of the evening. All of the judges liked her performance and Randy told her that it was one of the best vocals by any Idol on any season; however, she is of color (salt & pepper) and Randy is racist, so you must take his comments with a grain of sea salt. Her two performances back to back from last week to this week may have been the best two consecutive performances ever. Jordin's problem is that even after last week's superb performance, she still finished third behind Chris and Phil. The horny women and discrimating girls still control the final votes...they do not necessarily vote for the best singers. I still don't see the sex appeal of Phil.

My prediction of the bottom 3 are: LaKisha, Phil, and Blake with LaKisha going home.

There should be at least 50 million votes this evening, the most this year...I don't know how this increased vote will effect the final tally. The laws of probability imply that LaKisha, who has been one of the lowest telephone vote getters for many weeks now, will be "squeezed" out.

GOOD BYE Sanjaya Malakar

WEEK #6 ELIMINATION:

Good Bye Sanjaya Malakar...Enough said!

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

TUESDAY APRIL 17, 2007...Country Western

WEEK #6...COUNTRY WESTERN THEME

Before I begin this weeks comments, let me tell you about Ryan Clark. Ryan was from our county and graduated from one of our local high schools in 2002. His mom is a school teacher and he has a twin brother and a sister. He was one month from graduating college with a 4.0 average with a triple major of Biology, English and Psycholgy and upon graduation was going to pursue a doctorate in Psychology. He was a proud 5th year member of his college marching band and was the Resident Advisor of the West Ambler Johnston Dormatory. He was one of the first two people senselessly murdered at Virginia Tech. His family doesn't even have the money to properly bury him and thankfully our community has set up a fund to help.

The good news this week for me was that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have finally shut up. Typical news was that the whore/slut lying accuser in the Duke rape case was getting scholarship funds from Jesse Jackson. I thought those payments were called "fees" not "tuition," however, we all know that Jesse is rather imaginative with his "tax free" Rainbow Push Coalition gifts and personal welfare payments. Perhaps Senator Leahy of Vermont will explain this accounting to us.

Being a perceived redneck hick from Georgia, I also happen to love Country Music so Martina McBride and her type of music was a wonderful addition to the show for me.
The first country music I ever heard in my life was in early 1968 in Vale, N.C. after basic training and after finishing my various Army schools. I was driving my 1958 MGA from Stamford, Connecticut to Atlanta, Georgia for my final 3 months advanced training before departing for Vietnam. I stopped at a farm in Vale, N.C. to stay for a few days with an army buddy. I had never been on a real farm. I woke up in the morning to eggs and pork chops (not bacon). I couldn't believe it! Later on, I discovered that we were eating a pig from the yard...YIKES! We were eating eggs from the henhouse and for dinner (at 2:00 P.M.) we ate chickens that they killed during that morning. I was in the country and these were real farmers.

That Friday night I witnessed my first and only knife fight in a bar and we left the bar at 2:00 A.M. and got in someone's car that had bucket seats and 4 on the floor and a cooler full of beer in the back seat and drove all night to a place called Rockingham, N.C. and the only thing playing on the radio was COUNTRY MUSIC (not the wonderful sounds of Motown). I did not like the music compared to what I normally listened to (50's 60's Rock and Roll) but in the moment: country, pork chops, knife fight, beer, bucket seats, 4 on the floor, revving engine, etc....the music fit the moment in 1968.

I did not listen to it again until after I married the "Wicked Witch" 15 years later. We finished our trip at a dead end line of cars and trucks and camplers and more cars at 6:00 or 7:00 A.M. Our very drunk driver took an abrupt right turn down a hill and drove across a corn field (before Smokey and the Bandit) and came out of the field ahead of all the other cars (as is customary for me, I was not drunk but quite alarmed...they laughed and hooted and rebel yelled) and we proceeded thru a pay gate into the infield of a huge racetrack (Rockingham). I had never even heard of car racing nor had I ever seen a racetrack with banked roadways. Loud engines, motor homes, pretty girls...I thought I was in outer space. Who ever heard of Richard Petty in Connecticut?

I clearly remember my first exposure to country music and Rockingham (which got rained out after several hours) and my trip thru the cornfield on my way in and on the way out my trip back thru the same cornfield to avoid the traffic and a car full of drunken full blooded southerners...the 4 on the floor, the bucket seats...the country drunks...the pork chops...the dead pigs and chickens..."Jesus took the wheel!"

I had recently turned 21 and just months later I was in Pleiku, Vietnam sitting on sand bags near our shelter sipping beer and observing our returning dead body truck convoy getting attacked just 3-4 miles away returning from Kontum and Dak To near the Cambodian Border...every day. I lived thru it and returned home all grown up.
Again, "Jesus had taken the wheel!"

American Idol this evening gave us Phil performing great for him without his silly ear covering hats and Sanjaya turning in his worst effort ever.

#1...Phil Stacey...He sung a Keith Urban song and for once showed some personality and all 3 judges, the two baffoons and Simon, really liked him. Voters on Dial Idol had him in second or third place last week and yet he was in bottom two. Tonight he is the top vote getter BY FAR as of 1:15 A.M. Methinks his voting public does not know how to text and the text people are voting to keep the others ahead of him and he may have a telephone superiority and gets a lot of busy signals that don't hold up overnight. We are down to only 6 kids and one old lady so bottom 3 is easy for any of the borderline people to make. His performance does not justify him going there tomorrow. He may not be in the bottom 3.

#2...Jordin Sparks...She sung "Broken Wing" (or whatever the real name of ths song is) that Martina McBride made famous and as we say down here "She done it proud."
WOW! WOW! WOW! Simon ended the rave reviews with "You could win American Idol."

#3...Sanjaya Malakar...Simon said it best "UTTERLY HORRIBLE!"
I think that Sanjaya, whom I really like (however I don't want him to win American Idol) is taking his newfound success wrong. In other words, this week showed us that Sanjaya's success has gone to his head like his hair. He has finally become so cocky that his song choice was foolhardy and improper. There was no way that he could sing the song so it sounded TERRIBLE and his amateur cuteness is now successful cockiness. I don't think his fans will appreciate this type of arrogance (and he needs fans to go along with his other non fan voters). At this time on Dial Idol, he has finally lost his customary "safe" place near the top of the standings and is DEAD LAST; however, Lakisha is in her near last place where she usually resides.
HE SHOULD BE GONE!!! I SAID IT HERE! I have been his apologist until tonight. I think arrogance did him in!

#4...Lakisha...Country Music may have taken out one of the good ones and one of my Fab 3 this evening. Maybe not tonight, but the seed is planted. I think Sanjaya is going home, but Lakisha has not been doing as well as people think these past several weeks. She has been moving downhill since her opening few weeks and tonight was no exception. She oversung the Carrie Underwood song and at times was "SHOUTING" 'Jesus Take the Wheel.'

We just celebrated Jesus rising from the grave and now Lakisha is yelling at him to "take the wheel." As much as I like Lakisha, she may be taking the wheel herself and driving herself home soon if she continues to make these poor song choices.
The Dial Idol vote predictors have had her in last place or next to last place for the past two weeks. However, the text message votes have kept her out of the bottom three. In the past, the Country Music genre has set a tone from a poor performance that hurts a decent singer later in the competition. This could be the case with Lakisha.

#5...Chris Richardson...He sung "Mayberry" from Rascal Flats and tried to explain the nasal tone as "on purpose." Simon said the performance was "insignificant." As usual, I thought Chris' performance was horrible. I know the guy is cute and has a great personality, but I beg you, get rid of this everybody wantabe...I know that Sanjaya earned his walking papers this evening, but please, dear God...send Chris Richardson packing...He is no Idol. He is a nice boy with a cute smile and personality. Hire him as a singing birthday card telegram boy!
This one ought to get me hate mail. Chris is the #2 vote getter, according to Dial Idol, just behind Phil and both ahead of Jordin. Only women and girls could possibly be voting for this guy. They should lose their right to vote! (smile)

#6...Melinda Doolittle...She found an old country song. Last week, she chose a song that was 50 years old. In my opinion, this song choice was fitting for this contestant...OLD and BORING...Yawn! I know that Melinda is the favorite singer among the judges, among this blog, among my friends, among the back-up singers, and among the nation...I may be the only one that hopes she makes it to the final two and then LOSES! My apologies to Jersey Girl. I don't think American Idol should be for old professional boring, meely mouse singers. Tonight she sung a song really well, as usual...I could care less. For once, the Dial Idol voters seem to agree and instead of leading the vote getters, she is in 4th place behind Phil, Chris (horny women/girls), and Jordin, out of 7. God forbid someone makes her sing a modern song from 10 or 20 years out...She may have a panic attack and go berserk. However...to the glee of all of you...She is safe!

#7...Blake Lewis...He is not a fan of this genre, but took a stab at a slow song and did O.K. Hopefully, he will survive until next week. I still think he can win this thing, unless Jordin or Melinda take it. My only worry for Blake is that except for last week, when he may have been the top vote getter, he does not score overly well each week. This week, Dial Idol says he will be in the bottom 2...Except for lowly Sanjaya, Blake is only 1% ahead of Sanjaya and Lakisha is almost tied with Blake.
He is in deep trouble unless text messages bring him ahead of Sanjaya and Lakisha.
Lakisha seems to do well with the texters. Blake does not appeal to women and young girls. I guess it is a gay thing? How else do you explain it? Rarely is talent measured and voted on this year.

Summary: Finally, I believe Sanjaya is gone. If not Sanjaya, then I believe Chris should go, but Dial Idol tells me I am wrong and I have been wrong before, but they are wrong almost every week. Lakisha sung country and got burned. In the past, good singers have been sent home after Country Song Week. I find it hard to believe that Lakisha could go and Sanjaya could stay. Arrogance trumps innocence and I believe that Sanjaya was arrongant and terrible...He should go. I will miss him, but I never miss arrogance.

Blake may be the most overall talented person in the competition. Jordin is the most exciting and would make the best long term American Idol.

Melinda will most likely win it, but has been a back-up singer for 100 years for a reason...Lack of ambition, DULL, BORING, SNOOZE...however, NICE, KIND, DROP DEAD GORGEOUS...The end.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Good Bye HALEY SCARNATO...Week #5 ELIMINATION

Good Bye Haley Scarnato...Week #5 Elimination

Haley the stripper left us this evening with Phil Stacey runner up and Chris Richardson filling out the bottom three. Not much of a surprise to any of the viewers.

Next week will be Country Music week with Guest Mentor, Martina McBride.

This coming week is when some of the better singers seem to flop; however, we have so few good singers in this competition, I am curious if the show can flop any lower.
Rating were down 30% this week over last year at the same juncture. Eliminating Haley Scarnato will help with the credibility issue, but as Sanjaya gains in popularity the ratings will likely stay in the dump.