Not Very Inspiring

Guest Blogger Kevin Litwin

Tuesday was called Inspiration Night on American Idol, with contestants choosing songs they especially enjoy. I liked a couple of the performances, was bored by many of them, and disliked two or three.
Since Teree asked me to guest blog this week, I'm going to rate the performances from best to worst -- in my opinion. Here goes:

David Archuleta
David is the contestant I want to win it all, so he has to really butcher a song for me not to like his performance. He sang the gospel song Angels, and did a good job.
Randy said it was David's hottest moment of the whole season, calling it “crazy hot.”
Paula simply said that Randy's words summed it up for her, and Simon said it was the best song choice of the night, but not David's best vocal ever.
“But I'm nit-picking here because you are going to sail through to the next round,” Simon said.

Kristy Lee Cook
Kristy Lee Cook with the second-best performance of the night? Yes, she did very well because she stuck to country music, which she sings with ease. She sang Anyway by Martina McBride, and all three judges raved about it.
“I thought you were very, very good indeed,” Simon said. “Tonight, you look like a star. Very smart song choice by you.”

Syesha Mercado
I thought she did okay, but not great. She sang I Believe by Fantasia, and Randy called her out on it.
“You took on a tiger of a song that Fantasia sings the living daylights out of, and you didn't,” Randy said.
However, Paula said it was one of Syesha's most shining nights, while Simon questioned the choice of song.
“Last week you take on Whitney, and this week Fantasia. I would actually like to know what you, yourself, are all about,” Simon said.

David Cook
Okay, I've run out of contestants I thought performed well last night, so next comes David Cook. He sang Innocent by a band called Our Lady Peace, and I thought he was adequate. However, my wife thought it sounded monotone and bland.
“I'm a huge fan of yours, but I’m not sure if this was one of your strongest weeks,” Randy said.
Simon agreed.
“I didn't like this performance very much at all, and actually thought it was a teensy, weensy bit pompous,” Simon said.
I don't know what that means, but I usually agree with Simon so I guess David Cook was pompous.

Jason Castro
I just don't like this guy to begin with, but everybody seemed to enjoy his Somewhere Over the Rainbow performance, accompanied by a ukulele. Singing about lemon drops and bluebirds? It was so bizarre that the 14-year-old girls in the mosh pit weren’t even waving their hands ,like the producers tell them to do each song.
“I thought it was fantastic,” Simon said.
But I sure didn't. I would have given him a zero out of 10, but I’m not on the judging panel.

THE BOTTOM THREE
Brooke White
She sang You've Got a Friend by Carole King. What a yawnfest – and I like Brooke.
“It was okay, but not one of your best performances,” Randy said.
“Was it nice? Yes. Was it original? No. Was it pleasant? Yes,” Simon said.

Michael Johns
He sang Dream On by Aerosmith, and he stunk.
“I don’t like when you do an impersonation of a rock star,” Simon said. “I thought it was a little wannabe-ish.”
Randy concurred.
“There were some pitch problems and you aren't anything like Aerosmith,” he said.

Carly Smithson
I thought she gave a pathetic rendition of The Show Must Go On by Queen, but I probably hated it because Queen is one of my top-5 favorite bands ever.
“I think you oversang it, and you actually lost control of the song,” Simon said. “It came off as an angry performance that was out of kilter with the inspirational theme of the evening. You might be in a bit of trouble after tonight.”

Whew. This blogging is work.
Sweet T -- it's all yours.