Wednesday, April 2, 2008

American Idol - Dolly Parton night.

The idea of the iconic Dolly Parton being on American Idol, was more exciting in thought then in practice.

Dolly does not look a day older then when she appeared on stage with Kenny Rogers singing "Islands in the Stream". Clearly her and Demi Moore share the same plastic surgeon.

She was completely endearing, but my knowledge of her songs was very limited.

Tonight there were no trainwreck performances, but also few memorable ones.

First up was Brooke White singing "Jolene".

Brook who was sitting down, this started the trend of the night, was surrounded by a violinist, a back up singer, and a "drummer" I use that term loosely.

I liked the arrangement, however not so much her singing tonight I thought she was a bit flat in parts. However I thought she looked gorgeous.

I just wish Brooke would shut up when the judges are critquing her I am finding it very annoying.

Randy Jackson said "This music suits you", and "Not a stellar performance."
Paula Abdul said "You have an emotional connection with every song you perform"
Simon said "Lacking emotion - thought you were busking through the song, and all performers looked weird together."

The front runner David Cook was next, and Ryan interviewed him about his song arrangements. Doxoligy will be pleased with the publicity they have been receiving for their Eleanor Rigby cover.

However tonight he was doing his own arrangement of "Little Sparrow". Not that I can compare it with Dolly's arrangement I had never heard of the song.

It was pleasant enough but unmemorable. David again played the guitar just to emphasise to the audience that he is not just a singer but a musician.

Randy said "Another hot, consistent performance."
Paula said "Never heard a guy do that song before - fantastic"
Simon said "If you can make a song about a sparrow good - which you did - congratulations."

Ramielle Malubay sang "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind". Can the phillipine contingent please stop voting for her as it was another dull performance. Also I thought she fluffed the lyrics at one point, or was she just running the words together?

She is going to need more then faux lesbian photos to get me interested in liking her.

Randy said "Pretty good performance 6 1/2 out of 10.
Paula said "Really connected with the audience."
Simon said " We are not going to remember that in 10 years time." and "Cruise ship".

Jason Castro sang "Travelling Through"

Being in the bottom three last week definitely gave him a jolt, as he looked more animated this week. Again I had never heard of the song so had nothing to compare him to. The arrangement was slighty poppy. Just not sure if he will escape bottom 3 this week.

Randy said "It was pretty good"
Paula said "One of your best performances."
Simon said "At this point I lose my season pass to Dollywood. I didn't like that at all. The music doesn't suit you."

Next up was Carly Smithson singing "Here You Come Again". Again the camera's flash to her husband, it is a wonder he doesn't frighten the little kiddies that view the show.

The tattoos everywhere are grotesque, and to me it is the equivalent of body mutilation. What do you do when you grow old and saggy and don't like them anymore? Or when you decide you don't want to own a tattoo parlour. I suspect his body art is career limiting.

Carly sang it beautifully and Dolly in the package was very impressed with Carly's singing.

Randy said " One of the better performances of the night"
Paula said "Glorious"
Simon said "I thought it was good, I didn't think it was great.", and "You have got to have a word with whoever is dressing you at the moment. You have got to start looking like a star."

I have to agree with Simon on the clothes issue. I think she has a hard time defining what type of singer she wants to be.

Ryan came out and said to Simon quite aggressively "What is your problem, don't you like country music?" Maybe Ryan's knee was hurting as it was rumoured he had ran into a wall with it.

David Archuleta sang "Smokey Mountain Memories"

He got the big thumbs up from Dolly she said he had the voice to become a great singer.

David is becoming a bit samey for me. He sings a similar type song every week. But tonight I was clearly in the minority.

Randy gushed " That was the best performance of the night"
Simon said "Absolutely on the money"

Kristy Lee Cook sang "Coat of Many Colours". In a weird way I am starting to look forward to her performances to see what sort of train wreck she was going to turn out.

This was ok as you would expect as it was in her genre, but it was no a standout performance. She too sat down for some of the song which I thought a bit strange as it was a boppy arrangement. But maybe she was sick of people slagging off her wide leg stance dance style.

Randy said "Gave nice performance"
Paula said "Best performance from her"
Simon said "Pleasant but forgettable"

Kristy-Lee sarcastically said to Simon "Thank you Simon - love you" Maybe she should "blow his socks off again" and this might help.

Syesha Mercardo sang "I Will Always Love You" made famous by the former crack addict Whitney Houston. Maybe Whitney should have a few words to Amy Whitehouse.

She sat on the piano but refrained from any Fabulous Baker Boys writhing. I thought her singing was quite pleasant.

Randy said "Took on the biggest tiger of the night." and "Did it alright"
Paula said "Growing and growing"
Simon said "First part good, second part paled in comparison to Whitney version."

Last was Michael Johns singing "It's All Wrong, It's Alright." Again I have heard of the song, and it was quite pleasant and he sang it well. The highlight for me was his purple cravatt.

Randy said "Blazing hot performance"
Paula said "You're a star"
Simon said "This is the best I have heard you sing".

Bottom 3 predictions - Ramielle, Jason Castro, and Kristy-Lee Cook.

6 comments:

Sue B said...

Actually, I think the bottom three will be Sayesha, Ramiele, and Kristy Lee, and I would like to see Kristy or Ramiele exit post haste.

Favorite three performances:

Michael Johns (SMOKING)
David Cook (LOVE HIM LOVE HIM LOVE, though the song wasn't my favorite)
David Archuleta (he is kind of boring, BUT he did a fantastic job with the song).

I continue to believe that David Cook is going to win, with David A and Michael right behind. My niece who is 11 ADORES David A and I think David and Michael are HOT. I would see either of them in performance. As a matter of fact, my mother, my niece, and I are going to get tickets to the tour. Three generations of fans. How funny is that?! ;-)

In the middle:

Carly (not a big fan anymore, she also needs to learn how to dress)
Brooke (pretty good, not as connected as she might have been)
Jason (again, just alright; where's the earlier magic?)

I think Ryan is becoming very annoying, Paula was more coherent last night than usual, Randy had little to say, and Simon was right on the money, as always.

Reality Raver said...

Big call an all female bottom three, but I will defer to your judgement on these matters.

As you well no my track record on these matters are not good.

Sue B said...

SPOILERS






Well, two out of three ain't bad. ;-) And at least I called an all-three bottom three (you go, me!). The men are stronger this year, as the women were last year.

I was surprised to see Brooke there, but Jolene was pretty boring. Kristy Lee Cook will probably be punted this week (I hope). Sayesha has a beautiful voice, IMO, but has to pick non-Whitney, etal songs. Jason had an okay week. He's growing tiresome. The others were strong. I am pretty sure I was right about the top three (not that I would know), with Michael (first up) getting the most votes.

Oh, and the Clark Brothers were from last year's Best Great American Band or something like that. I picked them to win, voted for them, and they did! They are really brothers, are cute, very talented, and sing their own songs. I think they showed how limited some of the current vocalists are. I will definitely buy their CD when it comes out.

Sue B said...

Here's the current power listings on TVGuide.com:

Poll Results: The Top 8: Who's Your Idol Now?
Brooke White: (7.6%) 7%
Carly Smithson: (7.8%) 7%
David Archuleta: (21.0%) 21%
David Cook: (42.0%) 42%
Jason Castro: (4.3%) 4%
Kristy Lee Cook: (1.5%) 1%
Michael Johns: (14.4%) 14%
Syesha Mercado: (1.3%) 1%

David Cook is still number one; booyah! I guess I don't have to start voting for him in actuality yet. :) I will start voting for him and Michael when we get to the top five. And Michael Johns is moving up the charts as David Archuleta is moving down, as is Jason Castro.

BTW, there will be at least one Idol voted off next week on a VERY SPECIAL (ha ha) Idol results night next Thursday. This means:

Performance night (Tues)
Idol Gives Back (Wed)
Results show (Thurs)

How much money does Fox and Nigel make off this program? Er...a LOT.

Reality Raver said...

Thanks Soobee, sorry about being so late on elimination night post, but circumstances outside of my control....

I enjoyed the show but no time to blog afterwards..Hopefully later this morning I will find some time to do it.

I must admit in a weird type of way it amused me that Kristy-Lee came on she at least is giving some type of entertainment value but not in a good way...

Ramielle was just getting dull.

I loved the Clark Bros, as I would have liked to hear more of Bo Bice's southern rock. He was a favourite in our household.

Thanks for the powerratings interesting how they change each week.

Sue B said...

The Clark Brothers are genuinely terrific. I was one of about 10 people who watched (and one of three who voted) for Best New American Band or whatever (it was pretty bad, but they, of course, were amazing, and won), and wondered what had happened to htme. I hope they make it big on the country charts (Kristy Look should be so lucky), and I wish Ryan had actually spoken to them afterwards and we didn't have to deal with the stupid "call in" segment (lose that, please, Nigel). They also need to stop with the stupid mosh pit. Ugh. Apparently Jordin and Chris Brown recorded a song for next week's Idol Gives Back and Jordin was not impressed with the mosh pit (for good reason).

Top four:
David Cook
David Archuleta
Michal Johns
Brooke or Carly or Jason

Yeah, the power ratings are interesting, but the Davids remain at the top and Michael is now right behind them, while Brooke and Jason continue to fall. I really was surprised that she was in the bottom three; I thought for sure that Sayesha or Jason would have been there. But I guess those contigents (along with Carly's) are actually voting now. If David C or Michael ended up there (or when they do, I guess), I'll be on the phone for two hours trying to get them to from being voted off the next week. :)