Andrew Lloyd Webber night on AMERICAN IDOL

So it’s Andrew Lloyd Webber night tonight, I think this is a make or break night for Jason, Carley, and Brook. The 3 who are going to find the evening the easiest will be Syesha and the 2 Davids.

I’ve been thinking over ALW’s song list and think that the idols will do really well if they opt for these choices.

First off all girls should stay FAR away from “Phantom of the Opera.” None of them have the vocal chops to even try Christine. That out of the way - here are the musicals where I think the idols should pick songs from. Also everyone should stay FAR away from “Cats.”

1) David Archuletta - he should pick something out the “Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat” songbook. With his big voice I think he’d do great w/ this musical – the musical is not too dark and its uptempo which is something that I think he needs to explore again in order for him to step up and remind everyone of his range. He’s been picking songs every week that sound similar, I think picking something f

rom “Joseph” would be a great choice for him because the songs from that list should challenge him vocally but not be too “big.”

2) David Cook – “Music of the Night” from “Phantom of the Opera”…even though I would’ve preferred Michael singing this, David is the one person left in the competition who can take this huge emo song and make it even MORE emo. This isn’t a week for him to be shy – he needs to tackle the biggest song of the night and run with it to remind everyone why he’s the forerunner on the show.

3) Jason Castro - If he’s smart he’ll pick something from “Evita” - the songs have a Latin sound and I think

he could do anything from the songs that Antonio Bandares sang in the film and will do fine. Other than that, I have no idea what Jason could sing, his voice isn’t a real match for most of ALW’s music, I think out of everyone this week, he’s going to have the hardest time finding something.

4) Syesha - there are 2 songs that I’m pretty certain she will pick - she will either pick “Memory” or “Don’t cry for me Argentina.” I’m hoping that she’ll pick the latter. Memory is WAY overdone and is too big for her vocal range…although I think she probably could pull it off. I love Syesha when she really emotes w/ her singing and I think she’d be just magical doing “Don’t cry for me Argentina.” If there’s one Diva who’s range she can match it’s Madonna. She would kill with that song.

5) Carley - Carley needs to pick something from “Sunset Boulevard.” Glenn Close originated the big lead part in the musical on Broadway and her voice is right in Carley’s range. She can pick a big song from there a

nd do well. If she picks “Memory” or something from “Phantom” I think she’ll fall on her face.

6) Brook – There’s a musical that ALW did very early in his career where there’s a song in it that would be PERFECT for Brook. The song is “Tell me on a Sunday, Please.” Brook can sing this on the piano, it’s not well known and as a result so she could own the song. I have a copy of it on an ALW compilation CD and it’s one of my favorite songs that he’s written. The song is all melody and lyrics and I think she’d just do beautifully with it – it could be the song to put her back into the hunt in the competition.

Anyways that’s my thoughts on things for tonight. I’m excited about tonight – if the kids pick the wrong songs they’ll all really fall flat. The thing I’m worried the most about is the kids picking songs that are too big for their vocal range. There are plenty of middle of the road songs that they could pick that will fit their voices – we’ll just have to see if they chose wisely or not.

Paula Abdul- Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow

Paula will be singing live on the Today Show’s outdoor stage in August- until then check out her new music video! Has the definite Paula sound- I know people have argued about it but I always liked Paula- I cannot tell you how many nights I spent dancing to Paula along with the other fun dance tracks of the 80s during the 80s!

Posted to My Favorite AI Moments on April 21, 2008

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Teri Hatcher does Carrie Underwood

Thought I’d share a quick bit of fun from the big American Idol telethon- Teri Hatcher sings Carrie Underwood’s song If He Cheats

Teri Hatcher Covers Carrie Underwood on Idol Gives Back

Posted to My Favorite AI Moments on April 21, 2008

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Best Part of Idol Gives Back

Fergie and Heart sing Barracuda- highlight of the entire 2 1/2 hour long otherwise boring telethon…..

Idol Gives Back ‘08 Fergie & Heart

Posted to My Favorite AI Moments on April 14, 2008

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Michael Johns- Idol Moments and Beyond

The biggest surprise that came out of last week and the uninspiring Top 8 was the removal of Michael Johns from the show. On one hand was total shock- on the other- this is good for Michael as he does not have to take part in tonight’s Mariah Carey night- how can a rocker rock out on Diva fare? I mean really…..

I have been watching the tube and managed to catch some nifty Michael clips - here are the latest including his wonderful performance of “Across the Universe” on the FoX Morning Show this morning.

4-15 Fox Morning Show Michael Johns

Posted to My Favorite AI Moments by supernatural66 on April 15, 2008

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New FOX Promos

New fun FOX image piece with all of the PARTY People

Fox Party People

Posted to Favorite Movie n TV Moments by supernatural66 on April 14, 2008

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Back to You- new episodes. This is a show I am glad I have seen since winter- I really like Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammer. Fun cast and quick snappy writing- well worth checking out.

Back To You April

Posted to Favorite Movie n TV Moments by supernatural66 on April 14, 2008

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Finally- new episodes of House are coming!

House Teaser

Posted to Favorite Movie n TV Moments by supernatural66 on April 14, 2008

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Uninspiring American Idol Top 8 Review

Uninspiring American Idol top 8 Review

By Erika Blake

Pictures courtesy of WireImage

Talk about a weird night on AI. Last night’s Top 8 theme was Inspirational songs and I think what best can be shown about last night’s overall competition is what the show would be like if our forerunners were not on it…the show would just fall flat. All of the top leaders bombed or didn’t quite hit that perfect mark leaving the weight on the shoulders of the less qualified to really pick up the slack.

I honestly can’t rank the performances last night, in the words of Gordon Ramsey – we’ll examine the worst and work our way up to “the best of the worst.”

My choices for the bottom 3 are – Syesha, Carley, and Brook.

Syesha Mercado -

Syesha made a HUGE song choice blunder in picking Fantasia’s “I Believe” to sing. Why she chose one of AI’s winning songs is beyond me, but it bordered on desperate. She started off shaky and although her voice was pleasant, like Randy said it was impossible not to miss Fantasia’s unique gravel in the song.

That aside, I personally hate the diva comparisons that Randy and Simon are constantly harping on, especially considering in the weeks ahead Mariah Carey – the ULTIMATE Diva – will be on as a mentor and everyone will have to sing one of her songs.

Syesha’s take on the song was solid, but she just didn’t do the song justice and unlike last week where her performance dripped w/ emotion, this week she fell flat.

Carley Smithson –

I really hate putting Carley in the bottom 3 this week, but her performance put her here. I’ve never been a huge Carley fan but last night as she belted out Queen’s “The Show Must Go On” (an ODD choice for the theme btw) I started seeing glimmers of the artist that expect to see whenever she takes the stage. Simon commented that she sounded angry in the song – frankly, it was that raw anger that appealed to me the most in her performance. After weeks and weeks of her doing one sappy torch song after another, I realized what I’ve been wanting from her – I want her to be the next Alanis. Carley looked fantastic last night, she got up there and for once could’ve had all of the makings of a killer performance – I was actually awake and grooving with her rendition of the song, then ½ way through she fell completely flat and didn’t even end the song on a long high note.

Carley’s been really inconsistent, she’s got a great voice, but she’s done nothing to define herself throughout this competition. She should’ve come out as the hard rocker chick like Alanis from the outset, if she’d done that she’d be unstoppable. Unfortunately, I think it’s possible that the show WILL not go on for her after this week.

Brook White –

Brook probably had one of the overall best vocals of the night with James Taylor’s You’ve got

a Friend, her voice was magically pure and 100% Brook White, however, the performance was rather blah. Rather like the crooning songs that Chikezie insisted on singing that eventually got him booted off, this performance came off as very old fashioned and could’ve been on the radio in the 70’s but certainly wouldn’t be on pop charts today. Brook seems to have lost her confidence some and if she stays in another round needs to get back to just enjoying herself by being true to her voice and style, her fans love her, but she’s slowly losing her sparkle and needs to get it back quickly to make it to the top 5.

American Idol Gives Back Preview Photos

Sneak Preview photos from tonight’s AMERICAN IDOL GIVES BACK show. Sizes of photos are either 400×600 or 1200×1600.

All of the Contestant photos are smaller because that’s what I have access to in my paid account on WireImage, so far it doesn’t look like anyone is seeking out Hi-Res versions of their photos so that might be all that we get.

The rest of the hi-res photos are courtesy of GettyImages. I will add more photos as they become available.

AI Season 7 Contestants

Click Below to view photos of the Judges, guest celebrities and singers!

America gets it right tonight

American Idol Top 9 results show was tonight and America got it right vis a vis who went home. Ramiele Mulabay had a tough time connecting with the country song and looked visibly nervous last night during her rendition of “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind”.

The other girls who joined her in the bottom two were Kristy Lee Cook who even had her own tag for her stool in preparation for landing in the bottom three as she has week after week on this competition. How many more times can she survive this?

Newcomer to the bottom three was Mesa, Arizona native Brooke White. Brooke was really emotional as we had seen her earlier in the competition. She and Kristy both hugged Ramiele giving each other comfort before the final results were read. When Ramiele was named she broke down and Kristy held her tight until Ramiele could pull herself together for the final video with her journey. Much like when Alaina had gone home during the top 24 all of the girls came down to the stage to offer support to Ramiele when it was time for her to sing her way out. One funny- you could tell the guys were all feeling uncomfortable with all the tears and waited until Ramiele was singing before they came down to join the girls on the stage.

You can watch the Top 9’s performances from last night in my AI video channel- click here

Dolly Parton sang her new song “Jesus and Gravity” during the results show and then did what she does so well chatting with Ryan and charming the audience including the judges. She even complimented Simon on telling the truth when folks don’t want to hear it.

You can watch her interview that was broadcast on last night’s episode with the Top 9 performing her songs.

Top 9 Dolly Parton Interview

Posted to My Favorite AI Moments by supernatural66 on April 02, 2008

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American Idol – Top 9 Performances.

 

American Idol – Top 9 Performances.

By Erika Blake

Images all courtesy of WireImage

Last night was Dolly Parton night. Dolly who’s a legendary songwriter and singer presented our contestants the most challenging night of the season. Here are my list of how the performers faired in this tough round.

9) Kristie Lee Cook

 

I won’t lie and say that I haven’t been rooting for Miss Cook to get booted off each week, but I have. She certainly looked nicer tonight than she has all throughout the competition, I loved her dress and thought her earrings were gorgeous. She actually seems to be somewhat improving in her stage performance as well. The problem is, like Simon keeps repeating – she’s boring and forgettable. If you paid attention to Dolly’s talking about her, her biggest compliment was “Your momma would be so proud of you.” That’s about the sweetest way of saying, “Hon, you’re a lovely girl but are seriously lacking in real talent.” Her rendition of “Coat of many colors” was bland and uninspiring. Out of everyone who’s left in the competition she’s got the least amount of vocal range and needs to leave this competition for those who are more qualified to duke it out for the top 5.

8 ) Ramiele Malubay

 

I can’t even tell you how many weeks I’ve been sitting in my living room telling my sister that Ramiele could have a long career working on a cruise ship. Last night, Simon actually echoed what my main complaint of her has been all along. Ramiele is a sweet girl and when she belts out her big notes it’s rather shocking hearing these notes coming out of this tiny package. The problem is that she’s not very contemporary with her singing style and she’s been utterly inconsistent throughout the competition, letting nerves get the best of her. Her performance last night of Dolly’s “Do I ever Cross your Mind” was sweet and bubbly – but like Kristie, it was forgettable. Ramiele’s days are numbered…I still see that she’s got a long singing career ahead of her, it just won’t be on the pop charts.