Three Little Birds

Okay, so, DVR had to hold onto the entire episode while I was having CPK with Louise, which was yummy!

Ryan comes down the stairway from heaven, looking good and telling us that Kris, Danny, and Adam went back to their respective hometowns. I don't remember when they started doing this, but tomorrow will be the quickest results show in history, because I don't really get this, and it takes me about 5 minutes to watch this show. Though I will admit to being a little choked up when David Cook went home last year (and David? I'm very sorry for your loss), I am really not interested in Local-Boy makes good day. Anyhoo, it generally doesn't interest me, and it seems the whole point is to send these kids home is to give them their chosen song while they are there. And sure - that sounds like a great way to unwind before what is probably one of the biggest performances on the show. Makes an incredible amount of sense.

First up - Danny Gokey - Paula chooses Dance Little Sister for him, saying that Terrence Trent D'Arby was an overnight sensation after The Hardline According to TTD dropped, and that Danny has the ability to be an overnight sensation. Think. Discuss. Anyhoo, I admit that was hoping he'd do the "Get up out your Rocking Chair grandma!" line like TTD on the original, but that probably would have been cheesy. Ricky Minor's band, especially the brass, is rocking already tonight. I don't love this, but it's not like I loved the original all that much either. This song works on the cd because, as those of you who own Hard Line know, you're jamming by the time that track comes on, so you just keep partying, and you're all..."yeah! Dance Little Sister" rocks...but if it were earlier in the cd? Perhaps not so much. Personally, I think there are a lot of other songs on THA2TTD (Wishing Well comes to mind). Paula is out of her chair rocking (of course she has to be - she chose it). Randy calls it "dope", saying he started off the night well...Kara likes the song choice because it's in his "money" range, but that his dancing was gyratey (uh? What?), and that she wouldn't remember it. Paula says as the choreographer she thought it was really good, and I think Paula is a little tired of Kara. And because Paula doesn't try to start off sober at the end of season, she starts talking about magic...Simon doesn't love it, wishing for another TTD song (and really? I'm calling a lawyer for plagiarism!). Eh...Danny claims that he wanted to throw it all out there, but it seems kind of phoned in to me. He does that from time to time.

Kris Allen has Apologize by One Republic chosen for him by Randara. At first, I don't know what the bloody hell song this is, but then he starts playing...and I know this one. Did I know that Kris plays the piano? He's doing a good job with this, although it sounds like he's not comfortable with the upper range of the song. I really like Kris, and I really liked that. Randy begins by saying, while he knows the show at this point is about who could win, he thinks that he did a great job of showing the kind of artist it could be. Kara doesn't like it, saying that he wasn't that original (and what? Why did she pick it if she didn't expect him to uh...SING IT). Paula kills him softly, saying she didn't love it, but she loves him and knows that Danny has been phoning it in so she won't be mad if Kris gets that top 2 spot. Okay, so I'm paraphrasing and maybe projecting a little bit, but that's what I heard. Simon calls bullsh!t on Kara telling her that she can't choose a song and then blame him for doing said song. Word. Just freakin' Word, Simon. Simon says he did a competent version, but not was good as the original, and Kara goes ballistic, loud talking the rest of Simon's critique and asking him (Simon) if he's ever arranged a song in his life (saving me from the letter-writing campaign to rid my tv of her...she's gone next season). They argue leaving Kris looking very uncomfortable, and he looks as though he's wondering if they will finish all of this in time for him to get back to the Idol Mansion to watch Transformers. Well, I thought it was good, and for the young voters, I think that may serve him better than TTD will serve Gokey. And I'm only comparing these two because we all know this will come down to who's in the finals with Adam.

Proving that point further, Simon, the only judge that makes sense, chooses Adam's song. Adam gets his text, asking (directing) him to sing "One", by U2. Simon name drops Bono's; St. Bono apparently called Simon to tell him it was fine for Adam to sing a U2 song. I'm wondering where Simon found him - no doubt somewhere trying to turn water into wine [Bono touches wine] "Dammit! I still can't get that!" Okay, so I didn't love this nearly as much as I expected to. It started off wonderfully, but then it kind of got away from him, I think. I don't think this was a song that needed to be altered. Randy loved it; Kara says that it sounded great. Paula says that it sucks to sit next to Simon while he gloats. Paula then says what we all know: that Adam has won this. Even if this sucked, Simon wasn't going to say that, but he says it's brilliant, and that if Adam isn't in the finals, it will be one of the biggest upsets in Idol history. And I'm sure everyone will take that comment as a reminder of Daughtry, or maybe even J.Hud. But for me, the biggest upset in Idol history is still that Tamyra Gray was not in the finals...I loved that mop head Justin Guarini, but if I recall, even HE knew he wasn't supposed to be there. Anyhoo, Adam steps on the smug-o-meter just a bit, saying if the audience rewinds the song, they will see beautiful lyrics. Yeah, kid, those are beautiful lyrics -- that song, according to Walter's estimate, is just about 20 years old, so perhaps, just perhaps, we've heard this song, and the lyrics a time or two before. And now Walter and I are sitting in disbelief that Achtung Baby dropped 20 years ago...can someone tell me where the 90's are...and how 1990 was almost 20 years ago???

Carrie Underwood is in Africa working Idol Gives Back. That's all I got, besides some super cute kids, and that Idol is distributing bed nets to stop the spread of malaria. And yeah, I get that this plugs Idol and Exxon Mobil and that what they are giving probably doesn't skim their profits, but I still think this is a good thing they do, even if the motivation isn't all that altruistic. And I saw this kid who had tears in his eyes, and I can't help it -- sad kids make me cry. Ryan brings it back to Idol, and calls the Judge's Pick the Battle of the Egos, which is...priceless.

Danny's back for his second song...his pick. He's singing You Are So Beautiful. He should ROCK this. Okay...so I can honestly say that I'd never heard some of these lyrics that Danny was singing. I was eh on the beginning, but once he put his raspy into it, I LOVED it. I'll remember it fondly, I think. Randara loved it....Kara even calls it stunning. Paula says she was breathless, and said he did "magic" to it. Simon says it was a vocal master class, but that he didn't need to do a new arrangement (I'm dizzy over here). Okay, I may have to rewind this tomorrow...right now it's late and I'm sleepy, but I didn't hear what the judges heard.

KANYE WEST? Seriously? This is the artist that Kris has chosen...Heartless. Oh no. I really hate Kanye West. just Kris and a guitar, let's see how this goes. Okay, so, Kris is leaving it ALL on the stage tonight -- he's doing what he does best. His guitar, his arrangement, and I love it more than I've ever loved anything Kanye has ever done. More over, I appreciate that Kris seems to get that this is the last week...no sense leaving the studio tonight saying "aww, I should have done". this should have been a mess, and it was N-ICE. They show the judges, and I swear, Simon's look is "oh sh!t, Kris is going to be in the finals." Randy likes this better than Kanye's version, and it's very easy for me to agree with that. Kara starts talking and I tune out because Randy joins in and they are sharing a brain, blending into Randara once again. Paula loved it, and Simon says that he had written him off after Kara and Randy's effed up song choice (I'm paraphrasing), but that he (Kris) totally changed the game with that performance. It was awesome, and he slayed it. Again, because we know Adam is a lock on the finals, now that Danny and Kris are done, I can honestly say that I think that Kris has earned a spot in the finals.

Last up -- AI 8's winner, and he's chosen Crying, by Aerosmith. He says he's twisted it his way, but gives props to Steven Tyler. Adam owns the stage, but his back-up singer in the beginning is bothering me. Okay, so tonight's Adam is the Adam I hated for the first half of the season. This, like "One" was screechy and pretentious and I didn't like it much at all. Randara calls him amazing, rock star, see you at the finals, etc. Paula pulls out her best cliche yet, saying that Adam sets the bar so high she hopes he's collecting frequent flier miles. Simon, who actually watches the show and knows that America can make a mess of things when they are left to vote, wisely reminds Adam that it's not a lock, and more importantly, reminds America that they can't assume he's got it locked up. And then, in blatant favoritism -- all of the judges remind America to vote.

So that's a night. If I'm ranking performances tonight -

1. Kris' 2nd song
2. Kris' 1st song;
3. Danny's 2nd song;
4. Adam's 1st song;
5. Danny's 1st song; and
6. Adam's 2nd song.

And, the ranking is damning with faint praise as I was REALLY unimpressed with "One". All in all, a lot of nerves, not a lot of love. It's a tough one to call.

Good night friends!