American Idol Season 8 - Night 2 of the semi-finalists

Well, Night 1 results went as I pretty much expected so I'm off to a good prediction start! :)

My thoughts for Night 2:

Jasmine Murray - This girl has it all - looks and talent so that made it soooo disappointing to hear how she sounded and the song she picked. I think she made a big mistake with her song choice.

Matt Giraud - This guy can sing but also picked a bad song for his voice. Not a good start to night 2.

Jeanine Vailes - Don't remember her from any of the opening week shows but she didn't impress me and I wasn't and am not a fan of wearing shorts for performances.

Norman Gentle!!! Big fan of this guy! Honestly, he CAN carry a tune and his entertainment value is off the charts. I was hoping for Norman to show up and not Nick. Was very happy to see Norman posing at the top of the steps to begin the song. Loved the way out there performance!! Would love to see him on the show because he would add life and personality to a show that takes itself a little too seriously at times. I would much rather watch Norman with one of his off the wall performances than hear Simon making crude remarks to Ryan or the dumb question and answer with the fans that doesn't really do much to add to the show.

Allison Iraheta! Wow, can that girl sing!! She has such a mature sound to her vocals at such a young age and her phrasing and vocalizing is way beyond her years. This girl is for real and she served notice to everyone that she is a real threat to everyone. I don't agree with Kara that she doesn't know how good she is - I think she does and she hasn't shown Kara everything she can do yet.

Kris Allen picked the perfect Michael Jackson song that you can do something with. He sounded really good.

Megan Joy Corkrey was very good vocally and the camera really loved her. She looked great. Her performance was a little awkward but at the same time it was cute as the little rocker chick tried to dance, that will get better with time though.

Matt Breitzke was good but I agree with Randy that if he was going to do a rock song then it needed the edge a rock song should get. I agreed with Simon that his performance was good but boring.

Jesse Langseth was good and she's really pretty but her schmoozy attitude put me off a bit to her.

Kai Kalama disappointed me as he picked a very safe song that seemed easy for him to sing.

Mishavonna Henson suffered the same problem as Matt Breitzke.

Adam Lambert will have to show me more to win me over. His over the top performance of a Stones song would've been laughed off on Rock Star. Its hard to tell whether he wants to be a rocker, emo or Joe Jonas wannabe! He hasn't convinced me of any of the above but he definitely has the Broadway star down and that's not a compliment when being on a show such as AI.

My thoughts are that Allison easily gets the most votes as Top Female. Unfortunately, I do think that Adam will get in and I hope to see Norman make it, if its even just to piss off Simon. LOL!

American Idol Season 8 - Night 1 of the semi-finalists

Season 8 of AI is underway and as you already know, that's time for my family to get some quality couch potato time in front of the TV!

Some thoughts on the auditions and Hollywood week. The whole bikini girl thing was ridiculous, from Kara's catty exchange with her to Simon and Randy putting her through. What drama during Hollywood week!! Wow! It was good to see how passionate some are and were about their music and big shot at making it. I so felt for Rose and Lineesha, I would've liked to see them both go through. I'm a big fan of Danny Gokey and I totally admire the friendship and support that his friend showed throughout the whole process. I'm not one that has a lot of close friends so I always admire true shows of friendship such as he showed to Danny. I'm also a big fan of Norman Gentle. The shoutout to Ryan while doing his song was priceless! LOL!

Last night was the 1st round of the semi-finals and I like that they've brought back the old way of voting people in with the highest vote getting male and female voted in along with the 2nd highest vote getter of the night. I also like that they have brought back the wild card round because that is how Clay Aiken and Jennifer Hudson got a 2nd shot at getting in and deservedly so.

Well, here are my thoughts on the 1st round semi-finalists:
Jackie Tohn was pretty good but I'm not too fond of her. Seems to try too hard to be a rocker chick and last night was no different. That outfit was horrible too! She looked like Olivia Newton John at the end of Grease!

Ricky Braddy was very good.

Alexis Grace was also very good and I loved her look. Love the pink highlights! Very cool.

Brent Keith was good and will make a good country artist. I like that he played straight for his intended audience and didn't make apologies for it.

Stevie Wright sounded overwhelmed by her moment to sing. I felt for her and didn't like Simon being so harsh with her. Shocker I know. By the time the judges critique had gotten to Simon, she got the point and didn't need him piling on. I'm glad Kara called him out on it.

Anoop Desai was very good.

Casey Carlson picking a Police song to do was a bad idea before I even heard her sing. The song was WAY too big for her. I agreed with the judges criticism and Simon seemed to learn from his bashing on Stevie Wright and at least gave some helpful criticism. Now that's not too hard, right Simon?

Michael Sarver was good but I had wanted him to be very good.

Ann Marie Boskovich was good.

Stephen Fowler was disappointing. I really wanted him to do well but doing a Michael Jackson song? What was he thinking? Anything Michael sings works for Michael and pretty much Michael only. Stephen has a lot of potential, he's just dropped the ball twice already in showing it.

Tatiana Del Toro... the audition and Hollywood week drama queen. Honestly, I didn't want her to make it because of all the dramatics and over exposure on her antics but I must say that she can sing. Sing she did last night, I must say that I thought she was the best female singer of the night. I see she toned it way down last night. It seems that she saw how she came across and was portrayed during the auditions and Hollywood week and if indeed it wasn't her as she mentioned last night, then I can see how she would be embarrassed by how she came across. As much as she loves attention and boy does she, I think she's also smart enough to see that she needs to tone it down and not come across as so whiny and annoying if she wants America's votes.

Big, big fan of Danny Gokey. Honestly, I predict him as this season's winner already. This guys sings with heart and emotion and gets into the heart and soul of a song's lyrics, reminds me of me in a lot of ways. Of course, his story is one of deep despair and amazing triumph in the face of adversity so who can't love that? I agree with Simon that his performance wasn't his best but it was very good.

Danny easily is the top male vote getter and Tatiana should be the top female vote getter but if there's a voter backlash against her then I see Alexis Grace being the top female vote getter for the night. The second highest vote getter also going in IMO will be either Anoop or the roughneck Michael Sarver. Should be an interesting night.

Very happy but cautious

I just came back from seeing my mom at the physical therapy rehab place and got some great news, it looks like we'll have my mom back at home by the end of the month or the 1st or 2nd of March at the latest!! Wow!! Its hard to believe its almost over and that we'll have her back home. Almost 7 months of hospital stays, setbacks, sadness, frustration, tears and more is almost over. Its so hard to explain all the feelings but they all end in being very happy, just still very cautious since a setback can ruin it all. Been down that road a lot throughout this journey but I'm optimistic and have faith in God that the worst is finally over.

Back to doing what I love!

My mom's health has stabilized and we hope to have her home this month or next so now that she is close to coming home, I am getting back to doing what I love ~ working on my new latin pop/rock album to be titled "El Camino Espiritual" (The spiritual journey). The past 2 years have been very hard on me with personal problems with my wife in 2007 and just when things were getting and feeling normal and I was finally back mentally and emotionally to where I wanted to be to begin work on what I love to do, then my mom's health situation began and threw me for a loop again. It has indeed been a spiritual journey for me these past 2 years and I have a lot to reflect on and let out through my music. It will definitely be the most personal album I have recorded to date. I have always been a very introspective songwriter and singer and you can learn a lot about me through my music but I think this will be step beyond all I've previously done. It should be quite the experience for me.

My fans have always been so important to me and I've always tried to reach out and let them know, you can see that especially on MySpace. I've posted on my MySpace blog for my MySpace fans & friends to give me their opinion on which is their favorite song from my first 2 albums "De un corazon a otro" and "Rockero soy". If you haven't already and are a MySpace user, stop by my blog and give me your opinion. It's always cool to hear what my songs mean to my fans.

A not so merry Xmas and not so happy new year

Well, my mom's health issues have continued. Since my last post about my mom in October, she had 2 hospital stays while in rehab. She had one in November that set her back a bit but she came back from that hospital stay more determined than ever to get her health back and not lose any of the progress she had gained to that point. It was good to see, it made us all optimistic. However, in December she developed a cold (probably from visitors seeing their relatives) and it got progressively worse until she was admitted back into the hospital again, this time on Xmas eve. It was a very sad day for my family because we had all, my mom included, planned to have my mom home for Xmas. Indeed, she had even been told that should could get a day pass for 2 days to spend Xmas at home but with her health not good, my mom had decided against it. Still, we rather she had been at the rehab place than in the hospital! Needless to say it was a very sad and bittersweet Xmas for my family. I did my best to put on a brave face but I had my breakdown moments in private. Thank god for my kids and seeing their happiness at getting their xmas presents. Their smiles and happiness made me forget everything for a little while. My kids can always do that for me.

My mom was back at the rehab place before New Year so that was good. She was back at the rehab place on the date of my grandmother's (her mom) death, and I must say that December has always been a hard time for me since her death over 20 years ago. This December has been especially hard and I've been even more reserved and quiet than I usually get this time of year. Also making it hard is seeing that people I thought I could count on weren't as there for me as I thought they were. Lesson learned I guess. I must say though that people that I barely knew, at least in person, such as my MySpace friends were extremely amazing in how they showed they cared, supported me and showed that for my mom and me through their thoughts and prayers. Really amazing and meant so much to me. However, back to what I was saying... having my mom there on New Year's was hard. On New Year's I usually look back on the year and evaluate what I've done, haven't done, what's gone on throughout the year, etc. and just thinking of my mom still not home as the New Year began and the old year ended made me really sad for her. My family has a tradition where we all call each other within minutes of the New Year's ball drop and not being able to call her and not hearing her voice really made me sad and I had to retreat in private to compose myself. My stepfather has had it especially hard through all this so we spoke to him for a bit on New Year's and I think it really made him happy. That's all I can ask. I've gotten very close to him through all this with mom. Gotten closer to my brother as well, its been tough on all of us.

In the midst of cloudy days came a ray of sunshine!

In the midst of the cloudy days surrounding my past few months, finally a ray of sunshine shone. I got a message at the beginning of December that MTVTr3s.com took notice of my Ropa Rockero clothing and wanted to include it in their 2008 Holiday Gift Guide! On December 17th it went live!! 2 days after my birthday so that was nice! It was right on the home page in a topic titled "Need last minute gift ideas?" - on page 6 of the MTV Tr3S Holiday Gift Guide 2008 there it was, one of my Ropa Rockero shirts being recommended along with other cool items! That was definitely so cool and brought some much needed sunshine to my life. A big thank you to Sandra!

The struggle continues for my mom

The past 2 weeks have been really hard and crazy with things going on with my mom's health. Its been a depressing time with lots of long nights of worry and despair on my end. I'm a very optimistic person but the past 2 weeks tested that as I saw my mom weak not only physically but mentally and spiritually as well. The physical weakness is to be expected after all she's been through but it was the mental and spiritual weakness that worried me because without that, one can't fight back to get better. I can understand how she got there after everything she's been through in the past few months but its still not anything you want to see a loved one go through. I felt helpless but I tried to be there for her as much as I could, to let her know that not only I was there and cared but also to remind her that she had her grand-daughters to think about and fight for. I was able to convince her to finally accept to go to a physical therapy center for rehabilitation. She had been refusing to do this for the longest and I kept on urging her to do it because at the hospital and at home, she was not going to do what she needed to do to get stronger but at a rehab place they would push her to exercise and begin moving and feeling vital again. She was transferred on Friday 10/17 to the rehab place and began her physical therapy on Monday. She's already showing signs of getting her old self back and that is such a huge relief!!! Knowing how it goes, I know that she'll have some setbacks along the way but I also know that once she begins to see some results and starts to feel better that will push her to do more and that's what we want. So, coming full circle I am back to being optimistic! Its been a crazy time but I hope to end this year with my mom home and healthy for the holidays! That's all I want right now.

Back to blogging but first let's step back a bit

Hey everyone,

Been a long time since my last post but before I begin let me just pick up where I was before... I'm glad that David Cook won. I love his song "The time of my life" and the message it has. I wish him the best in his career. David A.'s song "Crush" is nice and I wish him nothing but the best of course as I wish almost anyone striving for their dreams.

Well....

It's been a rough past few months. Before I get to that though, I must backtrack a bit to explain what else has been going on with your favorite artist (that's me I hope!). Last year was a very rough year for me, was going through a serious rough patch in my marriage that in the end worked itself out but during that time I had stopped doing my music and working with my other artists. That in turned made my year rougher as the thing that fills my soul with purpose and life had faded. As things got better on the personal front, I found myself needing to get back to that other side of my personal life that I felt I had neglected. I felt frustrated, sad and a bit angry with myself that I had let that happen but family had to come first so I don't regret that. Still, I found it hard to get back to where my head was at before 2007 happened. Slowly but surely and through much introspection and frustration, I found the artist inside and began working towards getting to work on new music and working with new artists. I must admit that it took a long while to get there, much longer than I would have ever imagined. Anyway, so here I was ready to finally get back to things when life decided to throw another curveball my way...

My mom, who had a heart attack and open heart surgery 10 years ago, began having health issues starting back in June when she passed out at her doorstep after coming home from the store on a very hot day. All sorts of tests were done including a stress test and everything seemed fine but in my heart I felt that this would only be the beginning. Man, do I hate being right! Over the past few months my mom has been hospitalized 6 - 7 times (I've lost track already!) with various problems and complications from those initial problems. Some of the more recent issues have been more serious including gall bladder surgery which she had complications from and wound in ICU for almost a week and then they found an obstruction in her artery that required an angioplasty. Even after all this, she's already been back to the hospital for stays 2x more and she's in the hospital now with another complication from everything she's been through. I tell you, its been very rough and I almost feel like a hospital worker with how much I've been to the hospital in the past few months. I've not only had to be there to keep my stepdad and brother informed and calm, informed, etc. - I've also had to do that with my own family, more specifically my girls and its been rough being strong for them and at the same time trying to keep them informed. I can't just tell them that their grandma will be ok when she keeps winding up back in the hospital so that makes it harder for me since I don't lie to my kids. Kids are smart and they can tell if you're not being straight with them so I try to be as straight with them as possible without making them worry too much. So, its been rough on all us. I've wanted to get back to my music, I feel ready, I feel its time, I feel I need to BUT I can't while all this is going on. I have to let this play out and see what God has planned for my mom and my family first and foremost.

I want to thank everyone, my friends and all my MySpace friends who have done an awesome job of lending me support and encouragement through these tough times. Its in tough times where you see who your real friends are and I feel truly blessed to have friends and fans that have taken me and my family's troubles to heart. Thank you for all the messages, e-mails, comments and prayers - it has done my soul a lot of good to see such good hearted friends and fans there for me. THANK YOU.

America's Next Top Model crowns a new Cycle 10 winner!

Yes, I watch America's Next Top Model! Of course I do! LOL! I've watched every cycle of ANTM and this cylce's winner Whitney was a bold and brave choice by Tyra and the judges! I say bold and brave only because I totally applaud their decision to crown the plus-size (for modeling, in the real world her size 12 is pretty normal) Whitney the newest winner. It sends a great and healthy message to young girls everywhere that you don't have to starve yourself to make it in fashion and modeling. Whitney can be the role model that young girls can look up to and relate to in a real way. Kudos to Whitney and more kudos to Tyra and the judging panel on their progressive and open-minded choice.

American Idol gets down to the final 2!

I was happy to see Jason go. As much as I was a fan of his when this began, I have become that disappointed in him in recent weeks. He just doesn't seem to want a serious career. Even after being booted and doing the media rounds, he comes across as if he's not taking anything seriously. That's a shame because there are hundreds of thousands of other singers who would gladly step in his place and would take things seriously. I hope he shows some maturity and a real sense of priority to his music as he is talented and it'd be a shame to see him waste away this opportunity that has been given to him.

I was happy to see Syesha make it and do well this past week. Even though it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that she would be going home against the 2 Davids, she accounted well for herself and I hope and expect her to go on to big things with her music. Good luck Syesha!

So, it all comes down to the 2 Davids in the Finals. Not a surprise after contestants Carly and Michael were voted off. They were the serious threats to the Davids and their departures made the 2 Davids a lock IMO. Let's hope they both do better than this past week which was a bit underwhelming. I thought Syesha was the more solid of the 3 but even if she did perfect performances this week I think she still would've gone home with America voting for the more popular Davids.

I'm hoping that David Archuleta is the winner and I hope he has a great week this week. Simon and the Producers seemed to target David A. this week after news of his Dad being banned from the backstage area broke out. As bad as the Dad may be, the issue was taken care of and they shouldn't be taking it out on David A.

The Top 4 go tonight

Yikes, been missing in action here! Doh! Sorry! Anyway, my thoughts on the last 2 weeks is that Brooke should've been gone after Broadway week. Carly should not have been sent home.

Jason should've gone last week, not Brooke. In last week's Entertainment Weekly they had an article on a week behind the scenes with the contestants and one of the revelations of the article was that Jason blew off rehearsal time to hang out with his brother and friend. Look, I know they miss their families, etc. but they are also in this to win, not to slack off now! Anyway, when the reporter asked Jason about it, he said he doesn't really care much anymore and that he's ready to go home at this point. Oh really? He's got it. There won't be another vote from this household for him. And just so you know, we take voting in this household seriously! LOL! My daughters vote after the show and they have done up to 300 votes for our past favorites such as Jordin and Carrie.

I'm hoping Syesha shines tonight so that Jason can go home as he's ready to.

Kristy is gone and 6 go Broadway!

Kristy went home last week. Mariah week did her in, even though she did better than a few others IMO. Syesha and Brooke were indeed in the bottom 3 though and that should serve notice to them to pick up their game.

It was Broadway week and Syesha did just that IMO. Her performance began a little boring but then she picked it up and did a great job. Her vocals fit the song really well too.

Jason's performance was not the best vocally but I liked the emotion he displayed for the song and its lyrics.
I am an emotional type singer in that I like to show lots of emotion in my vocals so that the listener can hopefully feel the emotions behind my lyrics. I get that from Jason and I really like that aspect of his performance.

On a side note, it was cool to see KISS' Paul Stanley in the audience. That excited me as he's a huge idol of mine. I've had fans over the years tell me that my voice is similar to his and I consider that a compliment. I just wish I had the career he did!

Anyway, back to the show! Brooke imploded again. Her nerves are clearly getting to her. While she got praised for beginning over last time she made a mistake, you just can't keep doing that and for it to happen again just comes across as her being unprepared. It totally sent her into a small tailspin and Simon was right when he said she spent a large part of the song trying to not make anymore mistakes instead of just singing. I also didn't get the emotion from her again. She's going backwards now instead of progressing. Very disappointing.

David Archuleta must've been jumping for joy with this week in line to do. He did a great job as usual.

Carly oversang a bit in the middle of the song but sounded strong and solid.

David Cook was very good.

Bottom 2 is Jason and Brooke with a toss-up for Carly or Syesha for the 3rd but safe person. It can go either way but with this being Brooke's 2nd bad week in a row and probable 2nd straight week in the bottom 2, I think Brooke goes home before she has a breakdown on stage.

Michael is gone and the Lucky 7 sing Mariah!

I had 2 out of the 3 bottom contestants right last week but I didn't see Michael Johns going yet at all. By all the talk on the local radio stations, the DJs and women all loved him. It seems the same can be said about David Cook so hopefully he goes too! LOL! Yeah, I know... bad Mario!

Last night's mentor was Mariah Carey and I figured it would be an interesting night of hits and misses and I was right. I'm a big Mariah Carey fan and was a huge fan of her older material early in her career. I hated to see her go through all she did after doing "Glitter" and her breakdown but I'm glad that she's come back stronger and better. I'm also really happy to see her back to the style of singing where she is using her full vocals instead of the light singing she was doing in recent years. As a mentor she did a good job. She came across very down to earth and she was very helpful to the contestants in giving them ideas and melody lines for their ideas for her song. It was all very interesting to see and must've been a great experience for the contestants.

David Archuleta was in full effect doing "If you believe" from the movie "Prince of Egypt" which Mariah dueted with Whitney Houston. Great way to start the show.

Carly did "Without you" and while it was good, I agree with Simon in that it sounded as if it never really got where it needed to go.

Syesha took on "Vanishing" and while they kept saying she was smart for picking a lesser known Mariah song, with 160 million albums sold world-wide I think there are not many lesser known songs of Mariah's. For true Mariah fans, this song is a favorite because it is such a great song with amazing vocals. Syesha did a nice job but she didn't get the song where Mariah got it and that is probably enough to turn off Mariah fans to voting for Syesha.

Brooke's performance of "Hero" just left me flat. She was overly nervous, her voice never seemed to be in the right key and it was just a very disappointing performance.

Kristy's version of "Forever" was nice. She keeps soldifying who she is as an artist even if she isn't the best. That is an important quality that she is showing and will help her score a record deal in the near future.

I didn't like David Cook's version of "Always be my baby" at all. It was definitely original though! ;)

On the other hand, I loved Jason Castro's version of "I don't want to cry".

So who goes to the bottom? IMHO, I think the bottom 3 will be Brooke, Carly and Syesha although everyone is in danger except for Archuleta. I think Brooke gets to go home 1 week too late. (She was upset this week because she missed her sister's wedding).

Ramiele is gone and the Top 8 do inspirational songs

Ramiele was sent home last week and unfortunately it was time. She was clearly not ready and not yet sure of her identity and how to use her vocals to their best light. She's a cutie though so we'll hear plenty from her in the future.

Last night the Top 8 did Inspirational songs to kick off "Idol Gives Back" week. As those of you who follow me and my music know, I love to write inspirational music. I truly believe that music has the power to heal, inspire, motivate, move and bring positivity to society and always try to have positive messages in my music. Even in seemingly dark material of mine, that is usually just a superficial layer that if you look past it and dig a little deeper into my lyrics you will see a hidden positive message. My lyrics are a reflection on my personality and how I view things and being an optimistic and positive person, I like to let that be seen through my lyrics. So, with all that said, I was happy to hear last night's theme and am looking forward to "Idol gives back" tonight.

Michael chose "Dream on" and I found it good until the end when he tried to hit the Steve Tyler falsetto screams. Uh no, shouldn't have tried that. No no no. LOL!

Poor choice of song for Syesha to pick Fantasia's "I believe". That is a song so closely associated with an AI winner that it shouldn't even be considered because you will be compared harshly and rightfully so. Fantasia also has a very unique voice which makes the comparison stand out even more. I totally agreed with Randy and Simon in that I also found that she was doing a very good talent show performance but that she totally lacked Fantasia's emotional connection and conviction to the song that made Fantasia's version so special. Syesha continues to pick BIG songs and they are poor choices.

Jason's "Somewhere over the rainbow" was very very good. I'm glad the judges loved it too.

I love Martina McBride's "Anyway", it has an awesome positive message that helped me get through some rough times last year so I was happy to hear Kristy do a very good job with the song. Kristy continues to make very good song choices and she is really connecting with who she is and wants to be. Syesha should take notes.

David Cook's version of "Innocent" was interesting. I'll leave it at that.

I am a HUGE Queen and Freddie Mercury fan and I thought Carly would do well with "The show must go on" but that song swallowed her alive. It was her worst performance IMO. Very disappointed by her performance.

David Archuleta's version of "Angels" was excellent. 'Nuff said.

"You've got a friend" is a song that I did with my band Vogue's Rogues on our "Desecration of an Innocent World" CD so its obviously a song near and dear to me. Brooke's performance was nice but felt a little mechanical for some reason. I'm just not seeing a lot of the emotional connections to the songs that she was getting before. I hope she can get that back soon.

With it being "Idol gives back" tonight, I don't expect anyone to go home but if they were to have a bottom 3, for me it would be David Cook, Syesha and Carly with Syesha going home.

No one will be going home tonight which will make tonight all the more easier to enjoy.

Top 9 is reached and Dolly Parton night?

Hey, I was 2 for 3 with last week's bottom 3. Ramiele squeaks by again and Syesha is again shown no love. It was Chikezie's time though and he knew it. Good luck Chikezie Eze! Gotta love that name!! :)

The Top 9 performed last night and it was Dolly Parton week! Kind of a weird choice for theme of the week but she is a good mentor and legend in the business and that came across well last night.

The performances were a bit scattered all over the place all night long though.

Brooke opened the show and her performance was solid but not exciting. I'm not seeing the emotion of the songs coming through on her performances and that is going to hurt her soon. She needs to connect better with the songs to get the most out of them. She'll be safe though.

David Cook didn't impress me with his arrangement, the vocals were interesting. After last week's Chris Cornell rip-off and not giving credit where it was due, I watched him with disappointment and skepticism last night. It'll take a while for me to warm up to him again.
Bad news for David after the show where he was rushed to the hospital with a high blood pressure. From what I read, he has a relative battling cancer and the person is having a hard time recently and that combined with the pressure and tension from being on the show, etc. seems to be taking its toll. I hope David can deal with it all and that his relative gets better.

Ramiele was better last night. She seemed focused and confident and her vocals were good. She still needs to pick better songs to really show what she can do.

Jason seemed back to his singer-songwriter style last night and gave a solid performance.

I loved Carly's performance and vocals. I also thought that last night she looked the best she has looked so far, I don't know what Simon was talking about but Simon and fashion are 2 things that don't exactly go together. LOL!

David Archuleta's vocal performance was great, loved it. Best of the night. The tone he has in his vocals is amazing. He is definitely blessed with an amazing voice. I was glad to see him with a slower tempo song since he reminds me of Josh Groban and that style of song is perfect to show off his voice.

Kristy sounded good and with it being a country themed week she should be safe this week.

Syesha made a poor choice of picking a song that most people associate with Whitney Houston. Trying to do a mix of Dolly and Whitney's version just left certain parts sounding empty and other parts not full enough. She picked a song way too big for her.

Michael sounded great and I was very impressed with the performance.

Bottom 3 is difficult so I'll pick Syesha, Jason and Brooke. Although picking the bottom 3 is hard this week, picking who is going home seems easy. Bye bye Syesha.

The Top 10 does their birth year songs

Interesting theme for the night. The judges seemed a bit passive tonight and the performances were on and off all night. Not the best AI night for sure.

First we got Ramiele doing Heart's "Alone" which was a risky choice considering that song distinguished Carrie Underwood as a frontrunner when she did it. Ramiele was said to be sick and I can see how that probably affected her singing and pitch but still, the song seemed too big for her. She did some nice solid big notes in there though. All in all, I am becoming more disappointed with Rami as she still hasn't stepped it up like she should be able to. It seems she doesn't know how to pick a song to best highlight her vocals.

Jason's version of Enrique Iglesias doing "Fragile" was not good. "Fragile" is such a great song, one of my all-time faves so I was hoping Jason, who I have been a fan of would do something good with it. However, it never reached where he was trying to go with it. Hearing Jason agree with Simon that his guitar playing was sloppy and that maybe he should've practiced more really disappointed me. Is Jason getting complacent this early in the show? Not good.

Syesha sounded great. Very professional sounding vocals and performance. She has stepped it up since being in the bottom 3 in the first week. Good for her.

Chikezie sounded good last night as well, even though Randy and Simon didn't seem to like it.

I was not crazy about Brooke's performance. Maybe it was like with "Fragile" in that "Every breath you take" is one of my all-time favorite songs and The Police and Sting are 2 of my favorite artists. Just sounded like Brooke never got on the attack with the song and that lack of edge and urgency that Sting brings to the song was very missing IMO.

Michael was very good and has shown that he can do Queen well. IMO Queen should consider approaching him for the band as he is a much better choice than Paul Rodgers who made me cringe trying to Queen songs. I am a HUGE fan of Queen and especially Freddie Mercury and only George Michael had impressed me up to this point doing Queen songs. After last night though, although he's not nearly in the same league as Freddie or George, I think he would make a good frontman for Queen.

Carly, why did you have to pick "Total eclipse of the heart" to sing? Aaaaaah! That is one song that I have heard so much in my life that if I never hear it again in my life that is a-ok with me! LOL! Man, she deserves to be in the bottom 3 just for picking this song! Ok, not really but it was brutal to sit through hearing that song. LOL!

What did David A. sing? Seems very few know! Listening to the radio this morning, the DJs were discussing it and one of them actually knew the song and mentioned how this song spent 20 weeks at #1 in Australia where the artist is from. It was an ok performance. Hard to compare it to anything though. Simon made a comment of how he'd be shocked if David picked this song and the DJs mentioned how it was a dig by Simon at David's dad who is rumored to be picking the songs for David to sing. Interesting.

Kristy made a great choice to pick a song that would be hard to get her voted off. Simon was right to say that it may have been the smartest song choice a contestant has ever picked. I love that song too.

I wasn't crazy about David Cook's performance and even more so since he didn't give Chris Cornell any credit for the song idea. For those that don't know, Chris Cornell did the original rock version of this song that David C. did last night. Chris' version is much better. Not cool of David to not give credit where its due, especially since you're covering the person's version of it.



All in all, I didn't like last night much. My bottom 3 picks are Ramiele, Chikezie and Jason. Jason is safe and Chikezie goes home.

AI Eliminations - Top 10 is reached!

Tonight was the AI eliminations to get to the top 10 and what a weird show it was.

The opening show Beatles medley was not very good. They should just scratch that one right off the tour IMO.

I had 2 out of 3 right. Carly was just a crazy pick by America to be in the bottom 3. Very strange. Thankfully she was saved. However, so was Kristy. She was last contestant standing again and she even mentioned that yesterday in her video clip. I was not sad to see Amanda go at this point. She just was too uncompromising and not really offering any different looks or sounds. I'm sure we'll hear some more from her in the future but she'll need to listen to people in the business when they tell her to change things up a bit. Only AC/DC can get away from doing the same things year after year. :)

America may have had the bottom 3 a bit off but they weren't wrong in their choice of who to send home. Good luck Amanda!

AI does Beatles x 11!

Another night of AI doing Beatles songs! Fun! Not really. LOL! Not the biggest Beatles fan and it led to me agreeing with Simon more than ever last night! Blech! LOL!

Amanda opened the show and I hate to say it because I liked her whole rocker chick vibe and look but I agree with Simon in that she needs to change it up. Her performances are becoming more and more like one big performance and unfortunately you've seen one performance and you've seen them all. I hope she changes things a bit. Her voice reminds me of Dilana who was on RockStar INXS except that Dilana knew how to use her look and voice to its best advantage. Let's see if Amanda can change before its too late. I did like her defense of trying to show what it would be like to see her in a show but she also has to adapt a little to the show that she's on. Like Chris Daughtry did, he never changed who he was but adapted the songs within the show's format, etc. to show him in his true form.

Kristy went next and while her voice was better, her performance was rather bland. She just needs more experience.

David A. is back as I knew he would be. There was no way he'd have 2 bad performances in a row and he didn't disappoint. Great song choice and very good performance.

Michael just didn't do anything for me again with another indulgent song choice. Its cool to do songs that mean something to you as you can give more emotion to the lyrics but at the same time, this is a competition and he needs to draw the line at doing indulgent songs as opposed to doing songs that can really let him show off his vocals.

I liked Brooke's song choice and the performance was nice BUT it did seem a bit too cutesy, as was some of her faces up there when the judges were offering their critique. It wasn't nearly on the level of Melinda Doolittle's "aw shucks" attitude but it was getting in that area. I'm glad to hear her say that she would be getting back to her style of performing next week. I assume that means she'll go back to playing behind a guitar doing her best Phoebe from "Friends" impersonation! =)

David Cook was good but he also has to change it up a little. I think last week's judge's glowing comments went to his head a bit. This week should help humble him a bit.

Carly was very good! Loved her explanation for picking the song "Blackbird". Something that all artists can relate to. I still don't understand how Simon works with artists since he just doesn't show that he understands or can relate to them the way Randy and Paula do.

I was not crazy about Jason's song choice or performance. I'm still a big fan though.

Syesha totally redeemed herself last night with that performance of "Yesterday". I loved everything about her performance, she was very into the song and it showed.

I liked Chikezie's vocals until the song went all country again. Not sure what to make of the whole thing. It left me with mixed feelings. I hope he's safe though.

Ramiele's song choice was more upbeat but it still bored me a little which is disappointing because I really like her.

Bottom 3 is interesting to pick this week as few were really good. I'll say that Chikezie, Kristy and Amanda are the bottom 3. Amanda will be safe and Chikezie will go home. :(

Wk. 1 - The Final 12 goes down to 11

I was 3 for 3 but I got the safe person and person exiting wrong. :(

David should've been the safe one. I don't think he deserved to go yet and wonder if this vote for the worst crappola that seems to go on every year is already rearing its ugly head. Based on the performances, Kristy should've gone but maybe David's controversy caught up to him. We'll see if another bad performance goes unpunished next week.

Syesha seems to have been handed a little humility and hopefully she steps it up next week.

Oh well. I think we'll hear a little more from David H. in the future.

Wk. 1 - The Final 12 sings!

They introduced the new set and I liked it. Not a drastic change except for the band and the audience being much closer to the stage and around the judges. The band so spread apart is kind of weird but it works for the show.

Big night for AI with being able to do songs off the Lennon & McCartney catalogue. BIG songs! Admittedly, I'm not the biggest Beatles fan but I do respect their music and lyrics especially. For those of you that follow my music, you know that my lyrics tend to lean towards deeper topics so I definitely appreciate their lyrics. I agree with Simon that these songs can be tough if you pick the wrong songs.

Syesha started off the show and I liked that she undersung for once but it seemed like that made her boring. I think the song was too big for her and her performance was forgettable. That's what you don't want to be on AI.

Chikezie absolutely did a Charlie Brown on the pitcher's mound to me and blew my socks off! :D
His arrangement was amazing as was his performance. IMO he was the performer of the night and had every reason to be as happy about it as he was.

Ramiele needs to stop singing about losing her friends that she's just barely begun knowing on the show and start concentrating on the fact that this can make a career for her! She really needs to step it up! C'mon Ramiele!!

Jason continues to provide solid singer/songwriter performances. I'm a fan!

Carly was very good but I wasn't overly thrilled with her performance for some reason.

David Cook has improved with each show IMO and he definitely is becoming a dark horse in this competition. Another very good performance.

I'm a fan of Brooke's and I loved her emotional, heart-felt rendition of "Let it be" which is one of the greatest songs ever written IMO. I love that she also played the piano. Randy's comment that this was probably something she has dreamed about since she was a kid was so right on. Randy always seems to "get" what the artists are doing (or trying to) and where they are coming from as artists.

David Hernandez was good but it wasn't the best song to do what he was trying to do. I have to say that I liked Tiffany's version better! :D

Amanda, Amanda, Amanda... I'm just not feeling her anymore. It just seems like the same song and performance over and over. She needs to change it up a bit.

Michael Johns vocal performance did nothing for me. I liked how he performed it though.

Kristy's idea of country-fying "8 days a week" sounded like a good idea in theory but in practice it was a trainwreck. That was the worst performance and arrangement of the night. As Simon would say, it was absolutely dreadful. :(

David Archuleta finally stumbled and I'm sure that the other contestants were privately a little happy about it. There were rumors that they were getting upset with all the publicity he's gotten and how some have said that he's already the clear-cut winner. Simon tried to open that door a little with telling David Cook that he's becoming a front-runner. I expect David A. to come back strong though. He was clearly not comfortable with the song or lyrics but could it all have been a pre-calculated mis-step by David? Hmm.

Randy was on with his advice and critique as always. Paula too stepped it up and didn't just parrot what Randy was saying. Simon was his usual rude self. I cannot stand his disrespecting Paula and I'm glad that Paula spoke up when he rudely told her to shut up. He also needs to pay attention to the show that pays him so well. His saying "what is the Irish girl's name?" is inexcusable and disrespectful. At least have the respect to remember the names of the singers who are counting on you to help them build a career in this business. Also, his childish jabs at Ryan need to stop. It has nothing to do with the show and its just a waste of time.

All in all, it was a good night but I think the bottom 3 will be Kristy, David H. and Syesha with David H. being safe. Kristy goes home tonight.