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!