I Can't Get No Satisfaction with the Idol Top 12

The fact that I love to gamble should be evident by the fact that for the second year, I've entered into a wager with my cousins (and their posse) on who we believe will go the farthest in the American Idol Top 12.

Here is who we have selected this year (Initials shall be used to protect the guilty):

LB – Crystal

C – Casey

EB – Big Mike

Me – Siobhan

JB – Didi

R – Lee

Also worth noting is that The Wife and I have our traditional Idol bet going where we each pick a guy and a girl at the start of the Top 24 and bet a dinner on whose people will go the furthest.  The scoreboard on that bet reads
The Wife: 2 remaining (Katie and Andrew)
Me: 1 remaining (Lee)

So I am currently rooting for Lee and Siobhan to go a long, long way in this competition.  Now, on to the show.

Big stage, big production, big announcer voice.

Not-Alex-Trebek gives his monologue before introducing the Top12 and the Stone’s video montage. 

The contestants are singing Rolling Stones songs tonight.  The Stones have a huge catalog of songs (50+ albums, 40+ number one songs), so song choice cannot be an excuse tonight.  Too bad Adam Lambert isn’t still in the competition, because he would have totally sung “Shattered” and would have created quite the uproar at the water cooler tomorrow morning. 

EB’s selection “Big” Mike tells us about how music helped him get through his mother’s death.  Mike’s singing “Miss You” and has arranged it into an R&B song (similar to how it would have sounded had Michael Jackson covered the song, assuming MJ never did cover it).  Not a spectacular vocal, but he was entertaining and enjoyable.  Good song choice, he’ll be fine this week.

And Not-Conan-O’Brian and Simon are having an uncomfortable moment together (I have it on mute because I don’t care what is being said), which should waste JUST enough time to cause everyone who is DVR-ing the show to miss the final performance.  Excellent production value, this show has.

JB’s selection “Tall Blonde” Didi is being quizzed by Not-Pat-Sajak on stage, and then they show her video package about her family (mainly her mom).  Didi is singing “Play with Fire”, she starts on the stair case and the mood is all serious.  She has a pleasant voice but her facial expressions are not very appealing.  I keep hoping the song will pick up the pace, but it never does, which leaves me puzzled as to why she chose it.  Great vocally, but lacking in entertainment value.  I liked last week’s performance more.

C’s selection “Pretty Boy” Casey grew up with his mom and brother and is singing “It’s All Over Now” which is not the song I would have picked for him.  There are too many long notes for him, which leads to his patent-pending “Goat Vibratto”.  But he plays the guitar well, so he’s got that going for him.  He tried to turn this song into a country song (which was smart) with a blues feel, which I liked, but I don’t like his voice one bit.  Good performance, awful voice.

(ASIDE:  Ellen is incredibly funny when she throws out a one-liner.  Reminds me of the great Paul Lynde and how great he was at this skill during Hollywood Squares.)

Some Red-Haired Lady sang something by the Rolling Stones, but since she made it to the Top12 instead of my girl Lilly Scott, I’m going to talk to my cousin LB on the phone during her performance.  And it looked like the judges were none too impressed (at least their facial expressions didn’t look “off the hook”).  And what the hell is she wearing?  It’s like Where’s Waldo meets Xtina.  Weird.

“The One-time Favorite turned Underdog” Andrew tells us about his family (his father thought he’d grow up to be a janitor because Andrew liked keys as a kid) and his parents seem sweet.  Andrew is singing “Gimme Shelter”.  He is putting no emotion into this song, and this song’s lyrics have a fairly intense meaning behind them, which is lost on Andrew.  Not a good vocal and his stage presence is lacking without his guitar.  He was wooden with the microphone stand.  Not good.  

“Youngster Girl” Katie sang “From this Moment” at someone’s wedding when she was 10 (which was something like two years ago I think).  Tonight she is singing “Wild Horses”.  She’s not singing it in the style of the Stones (which is smart) but she needs to get to the chorus soon, because it’s dragging along.  When she gets to the big part, she sings it well.  Great song selection on her part, and she should be fine to next week.

Not-Larry-King tells us to go online to download the songs tonight (yeah, I’ll pass).

“Teen Beat” Tim apparently has a big family and was often mistaken for a girl as a child.  He’s singing “Under My Thumb” with a guitar and is singing it in the style of reggae and it is just awful.  This should insure he receives the “Vote for the Worst” vote tonight and for all eternity.  Yikes.

My Gal Siobhan is apparently from a place where they divide where people live into “towns”.  I must look into this “town” thingy after the show.  Tonight she is singing “Paint it Black” which I’m pretty sure has been sung at least once every season of Idol.  She’s singing it in the style of “Phantom of the Opera” to start, and then the lights go psychedelic and she picks up the pace.  The middle is fine, but the final note before her quiet ending was shrill.  Interesting.  Very interesting.  Where she’s not the most talented vocally, at least she’s entertaining.

R’s selection “Grungy Dude” Lee is talking with Not-Regis-Philbin on the stools and is being asked stupid questions.  (Fun Fact:  Lee is a Junior).  Lee is singing “Beasts of Burden” which is one of my favorites.  He’s singing it how I would imagine the Counting Crows would cover it, which is another way of saying he is nailing it.  (Just googled it to make sure that the Crows didn’t cover it, and from my two second research, they did not).  Great song choice, great arrangement, great all around.  Best of the night so far.

Another girl who should not be in the competition when Lilly Scott is out is going to be singing “Honky Tonk Woman” and is trying to make it into a country song.  AND SHE’S CHANGING THE GENDER SPECIFIC WORDS AROUND!!!!!!  Very little annoys me more than when a guy or girl sings a song by a person of the opposite gender and switches around the gender specific words.  Just sing it as it was written.  Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggg!!!!!  I should have just muted it, because that was awful.  Why is she still in the competition?  

“Chicken Little Part Deux” Aaron was adopted as a young child.  He is wearing cowboy gear in all of the pictures from his youth, which would explain the song choices he made the past weeks.  Tonight he sings “Angie”.  He’s playing this one pretty safe and is singing it like the original version.  Not great, not horrible, just enough to make it to next week.

LB’s selection “Feather in the Hair” Crystal was raised by a single father, who seemed like a great, supportive guy.  She’s signing “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” in her “Lilith Fair” style.  She does a fine job as usual, but I wouldn’t say that it was spectacular.  She’s almost too solid of a performer.  She is going to have a hard time improving and she needs to hope that it takes everyone more than 11 weeks to catch up with her (which I predict will happen).

(ASIDE:  I hope LB reads my blog so that he can be reminded that Simon said that My Gal Siohban did a better job tonight than Crystal.  So, Crystal may not have as big of a head start as one might have thought coming into tonight, which is nice.)

Tonight I would rank them:

Lee

Siobhan

Crystal

Katie

Andrew

Didi

Mike

Casey

Aaron

Tim

Bottom Two:  The two girls that are the reason that Lilly isn’t in the Top 12

Goes Home:  I don’t care who does, so long as it is one of this girls.

(But I’m not bitter at all.)

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SONG:  Tie -- "It's Only Rock and Roll" and "Start Me Up" by the Rolling Stones -- which were the two best Stones' songs that were not performed tonight.