Top 8 Dudes

Well the girls were just ok again last night so lets see if the guys can get things rolling tonight and get this season of Idol on the right track.

Lee Dewyze: To me Lee is always a bit pitchy but it seems tonight that he has corrected those issues and he really looks comfortable with this song. I think Lee is Top 10 bound for sure but not sure he can go Top 5 if he doesnt improve a bit more. Judges were just ok with the performance. Id say it was a little better than average. Grade: B-

Alex Lambert: WOW great song selection. Love this song. Please dont butcher it Alex. Alex's smokey voice is a great fit for this song but I dont like his little Jason Mrzaisms he throws into all his songs. I thought his performance was better than that of Lee's and so far the guys are way out performing the girls. Grade: B

Tim Urban: Ok dream boat please suck again this week so you can get voted off. Tim has skated by the last 2 weeks and Im ready for him to be gone. Unfortunately he really isnt doing bad at all tonight. No pitch problems and a good song selection in my opinion. Maybe Ill get lucky and the judges will hate it and make people not vote for him. Nope not lucky they like it. Grade: B-

Andrew Garcia: So far easily my favorite performer of this season. He was a little off last week so I hope he can get it back going tonight. Interesting version of this song thats for sure. I really loved the end of the song when he really started to get into it. I would agree with Randy that it seemed like there was only like 3 notes to the song until like I said the end. Judges were a little overly harsh just because he has been so good in the past. They think he is going backwards rather than forward. Grade: B

Casey James: Casey is the female favorite and that will take him a long way in this competition but besides to that he has really impressed me with his voice. He is impressing me again tonight and this was a very good song choice for him. I think the ending was a little off but again I thought he performed well. I dont know if Randy likes to name drop or whatever but he said Casey James needs to go back to his Stevie Ray vibe which he has none of. He is no Stevie Ray Vaughan but needless to say he is a force to be reckoned with in this competition. Judges say it was a safe song but he sounded great. Grade: B-

Aaron Kelly: I think Aaron is another kid that is on the chopping block. He has a strong voice but he is very countryish and like in years past those male country singers dont make it a long way in this competition. Very bad vocals in a lot of spots tonight. And it seems as if he knows it. Worst performance of the night so far. Randy likes it for some reason, Ellen wasnt a fan, and neither was Kara. I liked how Simon slammed Kara for saying she didnt like the song because it wasnt relatable to a 16 year old kid cause it was about a married man etc. Thats just a weak response to a performance. Who cares about it its relatable or not its how the song is sung. Grade: C-

Todrick Hall: Lets hope this isnt the opposite of the girls night and have the last few guys stink it up. I really like Todrick and think he has the best stage presence of all the guys. Very strong vocals tonight once again for Todrick. The ending was a little bad as he seemed to struggle a bit on the last note but its a hard note to hit. Very good performance. Now Kara is slamming Todrick for being over dramatic singing a Queen song fronted by Freddie Mercury one of the most dramatic lead singers there has ever been. Normally I like Kara but not tonight. Simon thinks Todrick saved himself tonight and I would have to agree. Grade: B

Mike Lynche: Mike might be in some trouble tonight. I think the newborn baby vote is going to start to wear off. Wow very strong vocal from Mike tonight. I would say his best so far. Not sure of the dance moves but a great vocal. I might even say the best of the night, in fact I will. In fact Im calling this the performance of the night. Man the guys really came with it tonight. The judges love it. And Kara gets back into my good graces with her tears. Man a crying hot chick is pretty hot right? Grade: A

It is too bad that we cant get rid of 4 girls tomorrow night cause they deserve to lose 4 as the guys just kicked their vagina's right off stage tonight. Its hard to pick a loser tonight but Id have to say that Aaron Kelly and Tim Urban are still in trouble as well as Alex and Todrick but none of that is based on this weeks performance as they all did well minus Aaron.

Top 8 girls

Well again last week pretty much went as predicted. Tonight better start to get better though as so far there arent too many shining stars in this crop of American Idol contestants.

Katie Stevens: Well wasting no time they get Katie on stage and get her going. I can already tell this isnt going to turn out well for Katie as she isnt making it her own. I think she has a very good voice but she needs to pick songs that are up lifting and quick. Judges arent big fans as predicted but neither was I as it was just another ok performance. Grade: C

Siobhan Magnus: Unfortunately another slow song that isnt going to impress me. This girl has some pipes and some range but the song was just ok. I never understand why contestants dont pick up lifting quick songs to get the judges and the fans moving. Judges like the performance and Im just ok with it. It was better than Katie but not outstanding. Grade: C+

Lacey Brown: Well before she even performs I can tell you I think Lacey is going to be the one to go home this week. There is just something about her I dont like. Another slow song and I dont know if Lacey is trying to put some country into this or if this is a country song but she never seemed country before so I dont get it. Judges like it and again its just ok to me. Nothing special. Grade: C+

Katelyn Epperly: Finally someone that is trying to get the crowd into it. I dont like her standing to play the piano. I wouldve liked to see her just sing this song and not play the piano at all. Judges arent digging Katelyn and are saying she isnt Carol King and Randy says she is doing the whole Carol King hair even though she hasnt changed her hair at all. I dont understand the comments that the judges are making. Do you want them to be themselves or someone else? I wasnt a huge fan either but I didnt hate it and I could care less if she acts or looks like Carol King. Grade: C+

Didi Benami: Please Didi make me give somebody and B or better before this night is over. So far so good. She is making the song her own and she sounds good and better yet she looks amazing. Didnt like the high note from her but overall I think this was the best performance of the night so far. Kara and Simon think it was one of the best performances of the season so far I dont know about that but best of the night so far for sure. Grade: B+

Paige Miles: Oh my god another slow downer song. Man I dont know whats up with Paige tonight but she seems really nervous and her voice is showing it. I thought she had one of the strongest voices in the competition and man she is blowing it tonight. Not only was it a bad song her vocal was even worse. She may have just gotten herself voted out of this competition. Wow she is pulling the Michael Jackson card. It was hard for her to sing it cause Michael is gone. Give me a break. Grade: F

Crystal Bowersox: Well thanks for the TMZ commercial about stuff no one cares about but Id rather see Crystal's performance. I feel like we missed a good 15 seconds of it or more. Crystal is the lead horse. Great performance and best of the night. Sorry Didi I still love you though. Great energy, great song, and thank god she went to the dentist and got rid of those brown teeth. Grade: A

Lily Scott: Well I hope you choke cause I hate you but lets see what happens. Not sure why the judges love her so much since Megan from last year sounded exactly like her and she was way hotter. I will be honest with you though after that performance I think she should get to stay another week. I still dont like her but this was easily her best performance of the season. Grade: B-

Well if we are going by this weeks performances I think this is the end of the road for Paige. However, I wouldnt be surprised if Katie gets the axe. Crystal Bowersox is on her way to being the best female performer and maybe the next American Idol as I dont see any of the girls taking her down.

Top 10 Girls Perform

Well its time for the top 10 girls to perform tonight and hopefully they can break this competition out its funk cause so far Im not impressed with this seasons crop. Lets get it started:

Crystal Bowersox: Well lets see how Crystal performs after spending yesterday in the hospital again my guess was a bad trip or maybe too much teeth whitening as her brown teeth are still a thing of the past. Crystal has a very strong voice and I kind of like her. I wouldnt buy her record and I have never heard this song but I think she is one of the better girls in the competition so far. Judges loved it and so did I. Grade: B+

Haeley Vaughn: Well Haeley does have a very strong voice but I cant get over her speech impediment. Most artists that have something like this can usually hide it or it goes away when they perform but all I hear is Haeley's pronunciation of the words. Judges didnt like her performance but I didnt think it was really that bad. Grade: C+

Lacey Brown: Well Ill beat the judges to this one. Very Karaoke like performance. She didnt make the song her own and they dont like it. She did perform the song ok and there werent any pitch problems but there really werent any pitch problems to be made as it was a pretty monotoned song. Grade: C

Katie Stevens: Can we please not allow anyone to sing this song anymore in a singing competition cause its driving me crazy. Katie is another young girl with a voice way more mature than she is. Again just a little bit better than average performance for me and the judges seem to agree. I do give Katie some credit though as she seems to have some sort of personality which Haeley and Lacey are definitely lacking. Grade: C+

Didi Benami: Oh my love Didi. Please perform well cause I need you in this competition for a good period of time to get me through each week. Didi definitely has a very soulful voice for a skinny white girl and I think this is a very good version of this song. Didi has done nothing here to make me think she is going away anytime soon. Oh no the judges are throwing her under the bus. What are you doing. I am going to stop watching if they get her voted off. I mean I know I think she is hot but was she really that bad. Im gonna rewatch it. Dude rewatched it. Dont get the criticism at all. Grade: B-

Michelle Delamor: Ok so far this is a horrible interpretation of a very good song and I think the judges will probably anger me even more by telling us that is exactly what they are looking for from the contestants. This is brutal and she is brutal. Well Kara and Simon of course just said exactly I thought. Randy hated it and Ellen told her the same thing she tells everyone. I was so happy when I saw you were going to sing that song I loved that you choose that song. Grade: D

Lily Scott: Wow does this chick bother me. She and Didi and Lacey all kind of have the same type of voice and she has the worse vocals of the 3. Of course the judges love it and I thought it was horrible. Are you serious? Isnt this a singing competition? Brutal. Grade: D+

Katelyn Epperly: Ok here we go local girl. Get me back in a good mood please. Well I dont like that she made a slow song even slower and I love her being more energetic than the way she performed tonight but overall I thought it was ok and alot better than the last 2 performances but still not great. Damn it. Grade: C+

Paige Miles: Ok this is going to be a repeat of Lacey Brown's performance. It was Karaoke like and you did nothing to make this song your own. You suck in the judges eyes. Her voice is very strong and probably the best female voice in the competition. Kara is nothing but smiles of course since it was her song. I was kind of right about the judges as Randy and Simon didnt like it but Kara and Ellen thought it was ok. Grade: C

Siobhan Magnus: Besides the fact that this is easily the weirdest chick on the show and has the hardest name to spell and pronounce. Ok her is another white chick singing a soul song so we know what Randy is going to have to say about this one. Karaokeish performance again in my opinion. Nothing special but she has no problem hitting the notes she has to hit and those werent easy. W0w Randy actually liked it as well as the rest of the judges for the most part. Grade: C+

Ok here is who I think is going home. Michelle Delamor for sure then the next 2 are wishes Haeley and Lilly but since the judges threw Didi under the bus she is probably gone.

Top 10 Guys perform

Well sorry I missed the guys last week but I have been battling a stupid cough/cold that wont go away so I was hitting the sack early. Dont think there was any surprises with the contestants that left us last week except that 2 hotties left in the same week from the girls group which was a bit surprising but they weren't good singers so see ya.

We are going to lead off with guys tonight cause the hippie Bowersox chick must have tripped on some bad acid and had to be taken to the hospital. So the guys being the gentlemen they are will perform a night early

First up tonight:

Mike Lynche: This was a great song choice for Mike. Not sure I like this guy yet but this song choice was killer for him. Big dude with a fairly good voice. Dont think he is gonna win the competition but I think he is safe on Thursday. Randy loved it dogg. So did the rest of the judges. Grade: B-

John Park: The Korean sensation choose a John Mayer song tonight and I gotta say it would be alot better if he could play the guitar as this is half of the song. So far John is struggling on this song and is just a little too layed back and not into the song. I think could spell bye bye for Johnny boy. Judges werent that big of fans of the performance either. Grade: C-

Casey James: The heart throb. Unlike where the John Mayer song looking funny without a guitar the Gavin DeGraw song doesnt look funny or sound funny with the piano. Casey has gotta be in the top 3 as far as the guys go. Wasnt the greatest vocal performance but overall it was a decent performance. Kara surprisingly didnt like his performance. Simon made a great joke for once in mentioning that Kara slammed him cause he wasnt returning her calls. Grade C+

Alex Lambert: This is no Adam Glambert but Alex's hair is just about as bad as last years idol runner up. Alex is trying to be very Jason Mrazish and he isnt near as good so I dont think its going to be a long run for Alex. Alex's other problem is that he picked a song that not too many know. His vocals were ok and it was just an ok performance in my book. Ellen continues to compliment the mullet that this guy wears. Grade: C

Todrick Hall: I thought Todrick had one of the best vocals last week and I think he has the best vocal of the night again. Im not a big fan of the song choice but he seems to hit every night and has a very smokey/silky voice. Judges arent big fans again. Todrick could be gone as the judges dont really like him again. Its funny how they tell people to be original but when they do they get slammed and when they dont they get slammed. So which is it? Grade: C+

Jermaine Sellers: What the hell is this guy thinking? First he wears a onesy in his promo then he has a terrible hair cut and a womans sweater on? Not a big fan of this performance at all and his high pitched voice is killing me too. He looks like David Allen Grier's character from In Loving Color and in his words I "hated it." Grade: D Oh and there is no such word as axed them. ITs asked them. Goodbye Jermaine. The banter with Simon may have saved him but his singing didnt.

Andrew Garcia: This is my favorite performer so far this season. If the contest were to end today this would be my next American Idol. So lets see what Andrew has for us this week. Love the song choice but he gets a little too crazy for me in a few spots with his intensity on such a soft song. This performance didnt give me any indication that he wont be around in the last few weeks of the competition. Grade: B

Aaron Kelly: The other 16 year old in the competition and another 16 year old with a huge voice. The only problem I have with Aaron is he is going to be a country singer when he records his first album and Im not a big country music fan. Very strong performance for Aaron as he really seems to get into the songs he sings which makes me like him more than some of the sing songy performances from the other competitors. This will get him through to next week. Grade: C+

Tim Urban: The Michael J Fox look alike in my opinion should probably not have made it through to this week as his performance last week was horrible. Decent song choice for this kid but this is very karaokeish performance and I dont think the judges are going to be big fans of this performance. Nobody liked it but Simon some how did, not sure why but I dont think he will be back next week. He is only here because of his looks and I dont think we will be looking at him at all next week. Grade: D

Lee Dewyze: The other "rocker" of this group if you call Casey James a rocker is finishing off the night. So far I am not a very big fan of this David Cook wanna be which Im not sure why you would even want to be a David Cook wanna be. I thought it was a horrible performance of a decent song. I think he has done enough to make it through to next week but that was ruff. Wow Simon just said he was the best vocalist of the entire group. Dont agree at all. Grade: D

Well overall it was another lack luster night and I think Idol is starting to sweat cause so far I dont see too much talent this season.

Who would I vote off: John Park and Tim Urban or Jermaine Sellers.

Top 12 Girls

Well its American Idol time again and they are kicking it off with the top 12 girls tonight. I watched a little bit of the program as they boiled it down to the top 24 but I fast forwarded through most of it so I dont have any favorites yet. Oh and Ellen replaces Paula and Im not sure I like it so far. But we will see.

Paige Miles: Like what I am hearing so far she has a very stong voice. Very Christina Aguilera like voice and not bad at all. Judges dont like her song choice and I can already see they are looking for the contestants to mix up the orignal songs and make it "their own." Not a real big fan of that idea as I thought this was a competition about being the best singer and not the best producer. Oh well. Grade: B

Ashley Rodriguez: Ok so Ashley is hot so she has that going for her. Voice was just ok to me so its a good thing she has looks or she may be gone soon. Judges not a big fan. Grade: C

Janell Wheeler: Did I mention hot already? Cause Janell is hot also. Dance moves need alot of work and she is very nervous and its showing. Worst performance so far and I think Janell could be gone very early if she doesnt clean it up. Grade: D-

Lilly Scott: Ok first of all that hair is scary and I can tell what color it is? Is it white? Is it purple? Is it just really dirty from living out of her car? Ok we had a singer like her last year and her name was Megan Joy. She was a lot hotter and had a lot better voice. Not digging this at all. Not as bad as Janell but pretty close. Judges of course like the uniqueness but I dont. Grade: D

Katelyn Epperly: The hometown girl. Ok she is from Iowa anyway so Im going to like her of course and she gives you good reason to like her. Very strong performance and not nervous at all. Performance of the night so far. Judges are so so on the perfomance. Grade A-

Haeley Vaughn: The young gun. She has a decent voice and has her own style for sure but something about her voice bugs me at times like she cant get the right words out or something. But overall she did very well. Grade: B

Lacey Brown: Not much to say about this performance. Tried to throw a little southern twang into a Stevie Nicks song. Dont really like the back ground vocals either. This is supposed to be about your voice not someone elses. Judges not a big fan either. Grade: C-

Michelle Delamor: Ok first mistake is to pick this Alicia Keys song as you are never going to sing it anywhere near the way Alicia Keys sings it. Overall it was another just ok performance. Not horrible, not memorable. You just are never gonna sing that song with the anger and heart that Alicia sings it with. Grade: C

Didi Benami: Ok another very cute and corky contestant. So far she is easily the winner of the corky not so mainstream voices in the competition. I really liked her performance alot and thought her voice was right on and never heard a bad note. Im still giving the Iowa girl the performance of the night so far but thats 2nd place for sure. I think I may have found my remonace girl for this season. Big fan of Didi. Grade: B+

Siobhan Magnus: Not sure where you get a name like that and Im not sure its going to matter wheter or not I figure out how to pernounce it either cause that seemed very force and painful for her to sing cause her face sure hurt when she sang it. Judges kind of liked it but I hated it. Grade: C-

Crystal Bowersox: First thing first is I remember this girl for her brown teeth and I am glad to see that between getting selected and tonight that she invested in some teeth whitening cause that would have been hard to look at every week in HD. The judges are going to like her for her orginality and its going to carry her going forward in the competition. Grade: B

Katie Stevens: Finishing up the night is another young gun and she has the voice of a much older women. Needs to work on the dance moves also but her voice is very strong and I could see her making it into the Top 5 with no problem. May have just stolen the performance of the night but Im going to call it a tie. Judges slammed her of course. Grade: A-

Ellen is definitely not Paula and the judges were very critical tonight but lets see what happens. Maybe this needs to be American Idols last season cause it seems each judges complaint is that theyve seen it before etc etc etc.

Just an okay night overall and if I had to make any predictions Id say Katie Stevens and Katelyn Epperly are the big hitters of this group so far.

Top 24 American Idol Time

Now that the circus side show of narrowing it down to the Top 24 has begun look for me to be a little more active on my blog giving you my opinion of who should be the next American Idol.

Its STILL a Hawkeye State!!!!!

Well another one in the books. And thankfully we didnt make it much of a game this time as the Iowa Offense finally woke up a little bit in the second half after a horrible first half. The reason this game was won though was the continued domination by the Iowa D. To put it into prospective how well the D has played in recent years here is a fact for you, Iowa State has not scored a TD against the Hawkeye Defense since 2006, 14 quarters of football to be exact.

Grades:
Offense- B+: I am going to separate this from Ricky Stanzi and give him his own grade. The Offensive line was a force this game as they gave Stanzi all day to throw the ball and opened up some huge holes for the running game. Great job by the offense

Ricky Stanzi- C: Stanzi continues to struggle with either getting t0o jacked up or just not throwing the ball well. He missed wide open receivers while having all day to throw the ball in the first half and in the beginning of the second half. He was throwing everything way high or leading his receivers to the wrong spots. He better get it together soon as sooner or later we will run into a team with a decent offense and we will get too far behind to catch up in the 2nd half as we have done the past 2 games.


Defense- A: See my statement above about not allowing a TD to ISU since 2006. ISU's QB's helped us look a little bit better than we actually were but you dont get that many INT's by being lucky. Good pressure for the most part and did a great job of keeping the mobile ISU QB off balance.


Special Teams- B: Donahue didnt look as good as he did against UNI but he also didnt get as many opportunities so Im fine with his play. Still need some work on our punt and kick returns though. Kicking game, well we didnt need them for anything but XP pretty much so that was nice.

Coaches- A: When you beat ISU Ill give you a A every time. Nothing much really needed to be coached in this game minus someone getting into Stanzi and settling him down as we were in control and didnt need to worry about 4th down calls or clock management or anything. I also thought it was nice to see them get Wegher in there and give him a shot. Paid off.