From the people they’ve got involved with the special show they’re going to have in a couple of weeks on April 24th, and the sponsors they’ve already got lined up to sponsor the number of incoming phone calls, I think this relief effort is going to raise a couple of million dollars at least!

The focus of American Idol Gives Back is to raise awareness of poverty and it’s impact on children in the United States and in Africa. The two day event will entail the following:

• Tuesday April 24, your vote will count more than ever. Each time you call, sponsors will make a donation to Charity Projects Entertainment Fund to help children and young people in America and Africa.
• Wednesday April 25, a very special results show will feature a star-studded extravaganza of celebrity artists performing at both the American Idol stage and prestigious Disney Hall, including: Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Helena Bonham Carter, Forest Whitaker, Pink, Gwen Stefani, Mr. Bean – Rowan Atkinson, and Daniel Radcliffe from “Harry Potter!”

Do you realize it more stars and celebrities got involved like this and put their money where their mouth is, the efforts of Hollywood and professional sports teams could probably eliminate a significant portion of many of the problems that are not solved purely because of effort and money.

I applaud American Idol and its producers for trying to impact change in our world by using their clout and popularity to do something really good.

Post from: Idol Stalker

Blake Lewis
Blake is singing “Mack the Knife”, which according to Tony Bennett is “pre-rap” music. He’s nailing it to the floor man! Blake is totally smooth in just about everything he does on stage. The question will be if he adds any of his flair to the rendition. His dancing on stage reminds me of some of the moves Harry Connick, Jr. has in concert. Probably his best performance in my opinion. Great trumpet flair by the band at the end (coming from the guy who’s played trumpet for years)

• Randy: that was a very good way to start off the evening. Perfect song for you, couple of pitch problems. I liked it.
• Paula: you personify pizazz. “You’re just cool!”
• Simon: good choice of song, performed it well. 7-10, but gives the band 8-10. The band played a big part.

Phil Stacey
Phil has been looking forward to this week ever since he knew it was coming. He’s considers Tony a legend and Tony said that Phil is one of the better singers in the competition. I believe he did a good job on this genre.

• Randy: interesting choice, just didn’t feel any real connection or action
• Paula: reminiscent of a young Frank Sinatra, I still need you to have more joy and warm up the vocals. Have the personality come through
• Simon: had all the joy of singing in a funeral parlor, completely and utterly gloomy and slightly dark. No life in the performance

Melinda Doolittle
Singing “I’ve Got Rhythm”, and sporting a bit of a new look herself. Melinda’s phrasing and articulation as she’s singing is absolutely professional quality already. She’s putting a lot of personality into the performance, let’s see if the judges recognize it.

• Randy: you come out here every week and give everyone a lesson in singing, “this is how you do it right here America!”
• Paula: it’s like a master class, flawless from beginning to end.
• Simon: thought it was a bit cabaret, thought the 2nd half of the song was great, had personality and fun

Chris Richardson
Fan question, “What do you consider most when choosing a song?” First and foremost you gotta do something you’re comfortable with, then what the audience likes and hopefully the judges will like it as well. Chris is singing “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”. A little bit of a transition for Chris on this performance from what he’s been doing the last couple of weeks. I think he’s really showing up tonight and bringing to the contest. He’s built himself up some more status for votes tonight I believe.

• Randy: one of your best performances of the whole season, you came out with a vengeance and interjected his own style
• Paula: didn’t compromise anything, made it so hip and cool. Best performance “bar-none”
• Simon: thought it was very good, very believable. Agree with Randy and Paula, made it kind of hip and worked it out very well. Probably one of the strongest tonight.

Jordin Sparks
Tony says that Jordin is terrific. Very intelligent about her improvisation as well. It wasn’t outlandish. She’s doing a good job, but I think Simon will label it “forgettable”. It seems to be at the height of her range too, which catches me off guard. Sounds like she’s straining more to hit the notes, I wonder if she’s fighting a cold or something. Last note was nice and strong though.

• Randy: we got some heat up here, the bomb again, she’s like a pro and only 17. what?
• Paula: you’re a natural and you exude when she’s onstage
• Simon: she sang it very well, but didn’t make the song young and current, very old-fashioned and traditional though

Gina Glocksen
With Gina singing “Smile”, this will be a vast departure from her normal style of song and performance. WOW! Let’s talk about a completely different look at this stage in the performance. Her classy style tonight reminds me of the same kind of contemporary style that Gwen Stefani has. She did a great job as well. It’s a contest tonight.

• Randy: very nice controlled, performance from the rocker girl. I liked that
• Paula: flawless performance
• Simon: not too pleased with the vocals, two other female performers came out and totally out-performed her.

Sanjaya Malakar
He says his goal this week is to make America see that he actually can sing. We’ll see. Looks like he found the flat-iron hairstyling that Melinda was using. I will admit that he’s doing a much better job this week, but everyone I’m sitting with tonight watching the show agrees that it just comes across as a high school level performance.

• Randy: what I like about you now is that you’ve turned into an entertainer
• Paula: “I get why people love you”
• Simon: let’s try something different this week, “incredible” [Was that sarcastic?]

Haley Scarnato
Big discussion in my brother’s living room tonight about whether or not Haley is portraying herself a little too “trampy” with some of her warddrobe choices.  I didn’t really have a problem too much with what she’s worn, but she’s definitely displaying a significant amount of cleavage this performance. My brother said this, if she were your wife or girlfriend, would you want her dressing like that? Her performance is coming across very cabaret tonight with “Ain’t Misbehavin’”.

• Randy: thought this would be a good style week for you. what about you Paula [Randy totally didn't say anything]
• Paula: did I mention you look good in green
• Simon: you’ve got great legs. A little pageanty.

LaKisha Jones
Picking “Stormy Weather” is totally the right choice for LaKisha tonight. She should be able to totally rock this performance with this style and particularly this song. LaKisha brought back the gauntlet tonight, but so did just about everyone else so we’ll see what happens.

• Randy: loved it, perfect song for her
• Paula: most gorgeous she’s ever looked, sounded beautiful as well
• Simon: sassy, great performance!

So, what will it be this week? Will Sanjaya go home? Honestly at this point, I don’t think so. He’s probably still got a couple of more weeks on the show. I think he’ll be around until some other contestants are out and the people voting for them start piling up their votes for the other contestants that can actually sing.

Post from: Idol Stalker

I’m looking forward to the live performance tonight from Gwen Stefani. Can’t wait to see what she’s wearing and what she’s singing.

I think the ones to worry about tonight are going to be Chris Sligh and Chris Richardson. Hopefully Sanjaya will be the one to go home this week, but if he makes it through again. One of the two Chris contestants are probably the ones to be a little anxious on the votes.

The Ford commercial this week shows off the Mustang, so we’ve got a little bit of a western theme in the commercial. Okay, well not a little bit, completely western theme.

• Blake Lewis – safe (no surprise there!)
• LaKisha Jones – safe (no surprise again)
• Phil Stacey – bottom three (little surprised there actually)
• Melinda Doolittle – safe (absolutely no surprise)
• Chris Richardson – safe (a bit surprised)
• Sanjaya Malakar – safe (what the crap!)
• Haley Scarnato – bottom three (not a big surprise, but wish it wasn’t true)
• Jordin Sparks – safe (good job girl!)
• Chris Sligh – bottom three (not surprised given my previous comments)
• Gina Glocksen – safe (she did a good job again)

If you haven’t voted yet, here’s the Idol Challenge this week. Who’s the “Velvet Teddy Bear”, Bo, Ruben or Taylor. Ummm, let’s go with Ruben Studdard. Go vote now.

Gwen Stefani performs “Sweet Escape”, which she also performed recently on the Ellen Degeneres tour.

Bottom three is confirmed: Chris Sligh, Haley Scarnato and Phil Stacey.

Phil just gets sent back, he’s safe again for another week. Simon says it’s “bye-bye curly” and that’s a vote for Chris going home.

Chris goes home. There’s lots to be said about rhythm coming through. It’s probably one of the most noticeable things the average viewer can really pick up on and catch when it’s not quite right. Chris is a good guy, and I’ll absolutely miss his comedic personality and outlook with everything. You could always count on him bringing a smile to your face for something.

Next week we’ll be enjoying the songs of Tony Bennett.

Post from: Idol Stalker

LaKisha Jones
She’s doing some Donna Summer song this evening. Not sure what it is about LaKisha, but she’s just not wowing me anymore with her performances. She can still sing, but for me it’s just not there anymore. This is a tough point in the competition to be hitting this type of wall too. Maybe it’s just me though, she’s still been doing well with votes it appears.

• Randy: good to see her up tempo song, true fly diva right there, it was hot
• Paula: Donna Summer’s not an easy artist to start out with, and she did her proud
• Simon: 30 years younger this week and agree with Randy, nice to see an up tempo song. Great vocal, putting her mark back on the competition

Chris Sligh
Viewer question from Barbara, “How much down time do you have and how do you spend it”. Not a lot, but he likes spending it knitting and crocheting as well as paying bongos in his boxer shorts. No, for his real answer he says sleep as much as possible to stay healthy. Singing some Police, “Everything She Does is Magic”. Gwen’s advice to Chris is watch the tempo and stay with the music. He’s had problems with that in a variety of songs. Sounds like tonight though they’ve upped the reverb in his mic and it makes it sound like he’s echoing, which will only make staying on beat even harder. Hopefully he can fight through it because this is a great song. It’s not quite there, but not too bad either.

• Randy: good song choice, rhythm and tempo not balancing out
• Paula: biggest amount of criticism is “staying in the pocket” with the rhythm. vocally was good, good tone
• Simon: thought it was all a mess, bad timing in this stage of the competition. Didn’t represent him well

Gina Glocksen
Gina is a big fan of Gwen’s so, she was very emotional in the whole process of working with Gwen during the week. This song was a good choice for Gina, “I’ll Stand By You”. Fits her style and range very nicely. Timing seemed a bit off though. We’ll see what the judges think.

• Randy: boot night, another fly pair of boots. One of her best performances ever. She’s got the big voice, just believe and choose wise songs
• Paula: improving each week and coming into her own. Great song that she picked and allowed her to soar with her vocals
• Simon: wasn’t one of her best, it WAS her BEST! This was all about knowing who you are and choosing the right song. The transformation from a few weeks ago was significant. Best performance of the night so far.

Sanjaya Malakar
Singing “Bathwater”, hopefully that’s fitting because we’ll throw him out with the bathwater tomorrow night finally. Gwen said he forgot the words during rehearsal and it as a hard song, but he picked it. Best of luck to him, but it didn’t sound like she’d be too torn up if this was his swan song as well.

What the heck did he do to his hair? It’s a faux-hawk. That’s just weird. If he makes it through this week with just forgetting the words, hair like that and his normal sub-par singing skills, we may have to hire some hackers to go after some people at VFTW. It’s just sad, sad, sad, sad.

• Randy: speechless every time, the hair is weird. He can sing, just put it out there
• Paula: if he had the ability to just go for it and do it, leaves a lot to be desired
• Simon: presume there was no mirror in his dressing room. He doesn’t think it matters anymore what the judges say. He is in his own universe and if people like him good luck.

Haley Scarnato
Singing “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper. Gwen didn’t like the extended flourishing that Haley added to the end of the song. Do they contestants here that stuff before they perform? Hopefully they do, Haley doesn’t need to try any risks on her performances and see if she can outlast Sanjaya. You’d think that should go without saying, but not so from what we’ve seen. She seems to be staying with the main, known version of the song. Ending was kind of weird, but nothing too off the wall.

• Randy: started rough, got better towards the end. Just kind of all right. Didn’t really grab him
• Paula: beautiful song that requires nothing other than just singing the song, less contemporary
• Simon: sweet, but forgetable. Nothing to remember really

Join us for part two of tonight’s performances

Post from: Idol Stalker