Well... babies are not always so cute...

Alright ya'll here we go. We're in the thick of things and it's getting down to the point where there are no more truly bad singers to send home. (Now that Lawnmower voice is gone) Everyone left can sing and therefore voting will be key.

STOP

Did you hear me people???? Voting will be the key to getting the right people to the finals. We've seen it in years past... don't get lazy and assume everyone else voted for your favorite - you have to vote people! VOTE and vote for the right person. All the greats have been in the bottom at least once over the years because everyone assumed they didn't need the vote... ruben, j-hud, ... blah, blah, blah... what was I saying? I know you've heard it all before. But this is where we lose faith in the system every single season. This is where it starts to break down. But this year we have the judges SAVE and maybe that will even things out.

Maybe...

Ok so right off I'm gonna tell ya if you only have a few minutes to watch or are short on patience (whichever) here is your TiVo take: Beginning for Soul Train, 30 mins in for Anoop Dawg, then 45 mins in for the two showstoppers Allison and Rock Star. The rest you can afford to miss.

The theme - kind of a When They Were Babies weird idea of a theme. Who the heck sat at the meeting and admitted to having that idea? Anyway, even though the baby photos may have been the highlight for many of these kids, some actually had a really good night. Loved it for the most part.

My boy Danny Soul Train Gokey started it off with one of my favorites - Stand By Me. Well... at least the original was. This version kind of leaves you wondering what you're listening to. I was like "I know this song... I think... well the words are the same.. but where is the music I'm used to... oh maybe this middle part... no... shoot, well the end was still good... sigh. But vocally it was good as usual. Love's me some Soul Train. Just a tip tho - Baby that skinny tie thing was over a long time ago. Let it go. Don't want anyone bringing it back.

Kris - I grow weary of this one. And you are NOT a rock star boy. (not to be confused with Adam who IS a rock star) I know he can sing... but they all can now so it's just time to start weeding out the boys from the men.

Lil - What's love got to do with it - well everything Lil cause I did not love that. she's in danger. She REALLY needs to just pick up the pace and sing her butt off if she survives this week!! She is worth keeping. She's not better than Allison, Soul Train or Rock Star but she's got a heck of a voice.

Anoop Dawg - FINALLY, that performance that we haven' t heard since the auditions. Cindi Laupers True Colors . Super smooth vocal. I loved this! Go Anoop fight for your spot... cause you probably don't have too many more weeks left.

Piano Man or this week should we call him Barry Manilow - need I say more? Ugh... bye, bye now.

Allison - what can I say ya'll? Sigh... when I heard she was singing a Bonnie Rait tune I was all kinds of shocked and scared for her. But I should know better by now. Whatever comes out of her mouth just sounds incredible. Amazing for a 16 year old. Here's what I figured out about her - the reason most people (and by most people I mean Simon) didn't like 16 year old Diana Degarmo was because she oozed 16 year oldness... creepy 16 year old pageant girl oozed from her pores when she was on stage. Her voice was great... but not this great. Allison would blow her away. Allison is still young feeling without seeming childish and like a High School Musical star. (Love HSM - have them all... btw)

JT - Well he sang a song I despised when it came out 20 years ago and I still despise today: Part Time Lover. And unfortunately I couldn't separate that from his performance. The judges thought it was amazing...uhhmmm... I did not. It was o.k. He was all kinds of JT tonight that's for sure (without the dancing) so I guess he may hold on another week. I'm not sure what it is about him that isn't getting the votes from the girls but he keeps ending up in the bottom 3 so he probably will again this week too.

Rock Star - Now those of you that taped this on your DVR... you probably got screwed over by the network because the show ran 8 minutes over. That means you only saw the version of the show that had 7 performers on it huh? Sucks to be you. Look, superstar, rock star Adam pulled the vocal performance of the night out again. I loved this! Amazing sound to this kid's voice. I've said before that he is the most talented with his age and stage career and therefore the most aware of his capabilities and of what he can do with the music. LOVE HIM.

Alright everyone. Gear up for the vote off. My gut is telling me something shocking will happen tonight... but I hope I'm wrong!!

Peace out!

ain't no sunshine

just returned from the happiest place on earth... and no, i do not mean a taping of american idol - i mean disney. a little spring break fun in the sun. the kids are happy and i am a hero mom. walt - you are a genius. go me. On to idol for this week.

i was too busy watching mickey's greatest firework show to watch idol last night so I rushed home to my tivo remote tonight to see what i had missed. and much to my dismay i found that last night the kids sang some whacky song choices again. this won't take long...

anoop dawg - usher?!?!?! ok son, you got some cool, ghetto funk to your voice i'll give you that. but you are no usher. i thought this could be a cool performance for anoop and that he might finally show us some more personality. well...no, i was wrong. it was ok. but just ok. and just ok won't cut it now.

megan - you know what? if i thought she'd be around long enough i'd give her a name - lawnmower. Her voice reminds me of an irritating motor whining on and on. PLEASE, make it all stop. i don't even know what the heck she was singing because i was so busy trying to tune that voice out that i couldn't hear the words! no joke. but i will say this - spanx are your friend megan when you have that little pooch in the front and muffin top on the sides... we all have it... i love my spanx and you should find some you love too if you plan on spending more time on tv.

soul train - at first i was like RASCAL FLATS??? You're killing me. but then he put a little soul train spin on the middle like i hoped he could and brought me around. don't write me - i LOVE some rascal flats ya'll... i just thought it would be tough for him to turn that into a danny song. i was wrong.

allison - really?!?! honey, you do not need that crazy get up for us to know you are a wild rocking teen! We hear it in your voice. It's all good, great voice like I've always said, but this week she does not get the best of the night shout out from me at all. and the judges were right, the crazy getup was all very distracting for me. unnecessary.

piano man - speaking of piano man...anything billy joel should be good right? i loved billy joel back in the day...sigh..... what can i say - I'm just an old school kind of girl. ok look, scott was admittedly better than the performances we've seen lately. he wasn't all that to warrant all the gushing by the judges though. and another thing, that new look is just horrible. if he could see i can't imagine that he would have looked in the mirror and said "dang, i look gooood". it's like a cross between patrick swayze in dirty dancing and michael jackson in beat it. both good looking around 1987. neither good in 2009. thank you very much.

JT - funny, but i liked what my boy JT did tonight. apparently I was the only one who did cause all the judges slaughtered him. yes, the boy can sing some Awra & B (that the way some of us like to say R&B for those that don't know) but shouldn't we be applauding the versatility? every artist today is dying to find the crossover niche for themselves. I disagree with the judges completely.

lil rounds - she looked really, really good this week I will say that. and even beyonce's booty has never looked like that in a dress! what?!?! bootyliscious is an understatement. having a stylist has been good for her and she should consider keeping him or her when this is all over. ok the song... sigh... i want her to do well... i love her voice..... but i honestly did not like this performance. the judges were right - she is having trouble picking songs each week. but how adorable were those lil' girls?!?!

rock star - i don't know this week. play that funky music white boy... play that funky music... this is a solid hit by wild cherry back in the day and this did not work for me at all. i still got mad love for ya (as randy would say) but that was a hot mess to me. a hot mess.


kris - said he was trying to make one of those moments... hhmmm... great voice... but nothing special to "make one of those moments" for me. sorry. with a great song like ain't no sunshine when she's gone - i gotta disagree with the judges a little here. he could have made that an incredible bluesy r&b moment yes, but he didn't. too "pop sounding" for my taste for that song. what he did was ok - but i certainly do not think it was all that. not a great moment in AI history and not one of the best of the night not any of those things.

you know, i'm too tired to even give you a tivo moment. maybe the best moment would be the end. thank you very much. sorry. not sure i'm still writing coherently as my head is now very foggy and sleep deprived. must disappear for some sleep. did not watch the results show yet so DO NOT go telling me all day tomorrow who got voted off!

whatever. peace out everybody.

Really?

OK. So Rigger Boy goes home. No shocker there. But really people?? Next week Megan has got to go.

I mean Megan most definitely should have been in the bottom - and then it's a toss up from there and I'm fine with it all. But year after year, somebody hangs on that shouldn't cause their myspace or facebook pals are just text voting away. (Is anyone still on myspace?? Facebook has sort of taken over the world hasn't it?)

Pull it together people. This is a singing competition, not the Miss America contest, the which one do you think is the cutest, has the best hair, walk and most sincere world peace answer.

Are ya feeling me?

the motown sound

Who isn't excited about Motown week?!? WHAT?!?! Motown - hello! But 2 hours?

Sigh...I must be old but these long shows are so tiring I'm gonna start a new feature tonight. Each show I'll give you working, non-voting, power watchers who don't have the time to sort thru all the irrelevant performances a TiVo tip...

TiVo power watchers: Second half brought on the power. If you're short on time watch the very first performance and then skip to about an hour and 30 in. Just a tip ya'll.

So here's the thing though. Once again here these kids go singing all this great music, some true classics probably and are they gonna be able to live up to the expectations of what we've loved about the song all these years. PLUS... if these arrangements suck as bad as the Michael Jackson ones did... i will be forced to kill someone on the production staff immediately.

ok not really, that's a little harsh. Maybe I'm kidding.

a little.

Let's just get this little housekeeping bit out of the way right away - what the heck kind of ballerina crap dress is paula zipped up in tonight?? PAULA fire your stylist immediately. I've been holding back a little on Paula's outfits... but I can't anymore. Her face is creepy and plastic looking at times and her hair is equally bad and wig looking most nights... sigh.... honey please listen to me... please I'm begging. Ok I got that out. Done.

JT - So my boy Matt starts off the show with his Timberlake style oozing from his pores as he crooned the great Marvin classic Let's Get it On. And it was good. You know I like him.

Kris - I like this kid. Interesting cause although I think he can really perform and sing, I also think people are voting for him because he's cute and that will soon wear thin... maybe. That's the unfortunate part of AI... you never know how crazy the voters will be at times. No, but the kid does have a good voice. wow... that shot of Kris's family... do they still make argyle sweaters in those colors? ok I got a little distracted...

Piano Man - You Can't Hurry Love... hhmm...and unfortunately Scott we can't get past the fact that you sound like James Taylor playing in a hotel lounge each week now. I'm really excited to see him doing this well in the competition but I'm kinda over it. Don't go writing about how I'm a James Taylor hater... or blind people hater... really people. It's a competition and each week you gotta bring your A game to stay in when the voices are all this good.

STOP IT... crazy Paula just pulled out a box of crayons and some coloring books and gave them to Simon!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! These two are just nuts. No other way to describe it. Freaky, creepy, crazy nuts. Perfect. Those crayons will come back to haunt Paula at the end of the show. Simon will have the last laugh.

I hate Megan's voice and am growing impatient with the voters!! There I said it. And note to Megan: just because Smokey Robinson said you were one of the most original singers does not really mean that he loved you... it means just that... original. And this was a terrible vocal tonight... even if I liked her voice - it would have been bad. BYE BYE child. Randy said it perfectly - train wreck. And when Paula says things like "your stunning beauty takes my breath away and the camera loves you" you know she's struggling to find something good to say about the performance.

Anoop Dawg in the house! With a slow down, good vocal like Oohh Baby Baby... boy you were on tonight. But he has got to get a little more personality up there with his straight cut boring look! He could have walked down and sang that right up in a girl's face, while holding her hand and that would have been it ya'll. Panties on the stage ... but instead... it's little quiet thesis writing Anoop. Come on dawg you gotta pull it out now to stay in this!!

Rigger Boy - ok so in his video piece he says "I'm gonna kind of take it to church"... and I'm thinking hhmm... ok... let's see what you got cuz Aint too Proud to Beg is one of my favorites boy. I mean Ruben sang the heck out of that song in Idol 2. And you know what? Just as I thought, rigger boy did a version that just wasn't that good... but the one thing he had instead of good vocals was exactly what I just said Anoop lacked. He walked right out and grabbed some girl's hands and sang and that's probably all he needed to survive another week.

Wouldn't it be funny if Paula just punched Kara in the face? Do you think she's as tired of listening to her as I am??? Cause I'm really tired at this point...

Lil - ok I love Lil's voice and she is looking so much cuter last week and this week. She rocked a vintage look in tribute to the Motown ladies - redemption from the pastel nightmare... BUT... this wasn't the best show. I won't dis her too bad, but it wasn't that good. Not horrible at all, but nothing fabulous when I definitely thought she could have totally burned down the house on Motown week. MOTOWN week and she could have blown us away like Simon said. I think she'll be forgiven because she's so likable (and Megan was so much worse). Plus she gave the Obama shout out so she'll still get the votes she needs to hang in there another week I think.

Rock Star - I like that better for Adam than Theatre Boy I think. First of all, WOW, WOW, WOW what a crazy transformation he makes with his hair slicked back in that period look he was going for. I could totally see how theatrically he can play such a variety of roles, instead of just the punk kind of look he gives us all the time. That aside, this was an incredible performance. He has the best interpretation of songs and musically is absolutely the most talented one in this competition. Not vocally better than Allison, but his knowledge of his voice and use of music is way above everyone else. That talent may sadly be wasted on the tweens who are voting each week who don't get that but that won't matter at all for his career that's for sure. Standing ovation from Smokey Robinson. Crazy good vocal and interpretation of this old classic that I LOVE by the way and was worried about him messing with. No worries. Go on with your bad self. That was a rewind, Fantasia singing Summertime, J-Hud singing Weekend in New England, AI go down in history moment right there. It was just one of those moments on the show. And I don't even care that I haven't heard Danny who is next. Watching Rock Star again.

Danny Soul Train Gokey - was without the glasses tonight in the video piece... could he go on stage without them? Nope. Danny was rocking another pair of glasses. Did he take Smokey's advice and sing the rest of the phrase with the backup singers. Nope. Hhhmmm. The thing about mr. soul train is that he can sing anything and sound good so he has to be careful. It's exactly like Ruben. Exactly. No matter what he sang he sounded good, that wasn't the problem at all. You started to wonder just how much he was going to put in to it each week since singing was effortless in itself. I love this kid's voice. LOVE IT. But he has got to step it up and start thinking about the fact that he's in a competition where people vote to keep you. You have to bring something every week that makes people want to keep you Danny. Please I'm begging you to think harder about your song choices!

Allison - Now, girl, I was really wondering what we'd hear from you when I heard it was Motown. I thought about it for one minute and then said come on baby bring it with that voice! Light it up!! And my girl lit that stage on fire. HOLY SMOKES this girl sang the heck out of this song! WHAT?! WHAT?!? Sing that song girl! Kara is right about one thing tonight - you can't teach that. Pure talent at 16... that girl is money in the bank the way she feels music. You know what? I'm gonna go there and say that this is the best vocal by far that I've heard on Idol in all 8 seasons. Yep, I said it. I know what you're thinking. Better than my Rickey Smith singing Endless Love all by himself? Yep. (I went deep for that one didn't I??) Better than Trenyce channeling Bodyguard Whitney? Yep. Better than any of the 3 divas in their top rounds you ask? Yep. In fact, I'm almost thinking that vocal was better than anything J-Hud did while on the show... wait I gotta seriously think about that for a minute... Yep it was. I said it. Take it to the bank. I stand by it.

Tonight anyway.

ok. whatever. the show was sooo much better than last week's and the week before. And they did Motown proud actually. My girl Allison was sooo good I don't think anyone will remember to vote for some of those on the edge like Lil, Megan, Anoop and Rigger boy. How cute was Barry Gordy after all these years! And Smokey is still looking good ya'll! I mean really now, he has to be 80 or 90 now right?... oh ... wait... not that old?... ok. well... he looks good and I would still buy a ticket to a concert. I would. Whatever, you don't know.

O.k. ya'll I'm heading to bed so I'm out.

The velvet teddy bear RUUUUUUUBEN Studdard is the results show night returning idol this week. Can't wait!

idol on the wednesday/thursday plan

So our beloved Idol is on the Wednesday/Thursday plan again this week... probably due to the presidential speech is my guess... well who really knows. Anyhow... no panic attacks like last time right?

Well... maybe a small one.

Checked the listings and my tivo approximately 22 times admittedly... but whatever...who's checking anyway.

...so until tomorrow...peace out.