ALL DAY AND ALL OF THE NIGHT AT AMERICAN IDOLS LIVE 2009

Spent the day in and around Staples Center where the American Idols Live Tour lit up the night. However, for the Idols, it was a full day of work. They started with a press event at 2:30 which I attended with Fred Bronson, who was gathering quotes for a possible radio special. There were journalists and interviewers from radio, TV and print. Each participant got a minute or two with each Idol. Kris Allen had just returned from Arkansas and immediately joined the lineup.

Next up for the Idols was a meet and greet with fans, who got their shirts and programs signed and also got to take photos with their favorites. Meanwhile, I went to Starbucks, followed by dinner at Wolfgang Puck. The service was a little slow but we still made it back across the street in time for the show.

While I didn’t feel this was the best of the “American Idol” concerts I’ve seen over the years (I’ve previously attended the Los Angeles concerts for Season 3, 4, 5 and 7), it was still an entertaining show. Some of the highlights included Scott MacIntyre’s take on Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles,” every one of Matt Giraud’s three songs (he brought such passion and showmanship to his set, he seemed like a totally different artist than the one who competed on “Idol”), and Allison Iraheta’s “Cry Baby” and especially her version of Heart’s “Barracuda,” which had all the power and intensity of the original. Of course, the Top Three shined. I enjoyed the variety that Danny Gokey brought to his set, mixing the R&B pop of Michael Jackson’s “PYT” with the Latin spark of “Maria Maria” by Santana, then showing his heart on two Rascall Flatts songs, “What Hurts The Most” and “My Wish.” And I have to admit, after reading a bit about Danny’s interlude where he does a bit of preaching, I was worried it might spoil my enjoyment of his set but the opposite happened. Rather than making the moment about him, he makes it about the audience, encouraging everyone to follow their dreams and not to let anything stop them.

Next up was the performer the audience had been waiting for, yet it was a performer they had never seen. That’s because we were about to witness Adam Lambert unleashed. Adam showed off not just his great voice and rocking spirit, but also a gallery of rock star poses and quite a bit of hip action. The audience ate it up, and the excitement went even higher when Allison joined Adam for “Slow Ride.”

Of course, Kris Allen was the night’s final solo performer and in addition to his emotional take on “American Idol” favorites “Heartless” and “Ain’t No Sunshine,” Kris let out his inner rock star on Matchbox 20’s “Bright Lights.” Then Kris was joined by the rest of the Top Five for “Hey Jude.” Kris got the lyric on the first verse wrong (I asked him about it later and he just hung his head in shame), but at the time, I actually thought that maybe they had edited the song for time. Still, the sing-along chorus was perfect for the event, as was the final song, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” The song started with Scott and Matt playing piano and trading off lines and believe me, they both have that famous Steve Perry falsetto perfected!

After the show, we headed upstairs onto an outdoor balcony for the after-party. For a while, we were worried that a better party for VIP’s was taking place somewhere else in the building, but eventually the Idols started showing up, so we were definitely at the right place. There was plenty of time to get a chance to talk to your favorites. I got to congratulate both Matt and Danny on their triumphs, and also got to meet the families of Allison and Scott, all of whom were super nice. Also in attendance was Debra Byrd, the “Idol” vocal coach and a longtime background vocalist for one of my favorite artists, Barry Manilow. Whenever I see Byrd, I always like to bring up a concert memory I have from the many times I’ve seen Manilow in concert This time, I talked about the night in Reading, PA when the sound went on the fritz and Barry entertained the crowd by beginning a strip tease until the problem was fixed a few minutes later!

All in all, a fun concert, so if you get the chance to see the Idols on tour, by all means check them out! All you can lose is your voice (from screaming of course!)…

IDOL INTERVIEW PARADE

Haven’t posted recently, but I have been typing up a storm! Writer Fred Bronson has been working his way through interviews with all of this year’s “American Idol” Top 10, and as always I tagged along. He’s done video interviews for hollywoodreporter.com (click on TV at the top of the page, then scroll through the video interviews. Kris Allen and Scott MacIntyre have been posted so far with more to come), as well as longer interviews with some of the Idols for their official press bios. It’s my job to type up the longer bio interviews, which has resulted in more than 100 single spaced pages so far!

The “Idol” interview parade started with the two-fer of Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta. Fred and I spent over an hour with Adam. I was fascinated to learn that for all of Adam’s confidence and mastery of the stage, his career has certainly seen it’s share of ups and downs. In fact, Adam really emphasized with the movie, “Slumdog Millionaire” because he realized that just like in the movie, all his trials helped prepare him for stardom. One of the low points was when he appeared in a production of “Debbie Does Dallas” at a Reno casino (don’t worry… we’re talking about a musical comedy version of the movie minus the sex). Adam admitted that the audience was a bit more interested in ogling the topless actresses than in hearing him sing. I was also intrigued to hear that Adam lived in my North Hollywood neighborhood when he first moved to L.A. from San Diego.

I have to admit I didn’t know much about Allison except for what I saw in her brief profiles on “Idol.” It turns out Allison didn’t quite start out as the rocker we know her as today. As a kid, she loved to sing Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go” on for people. More recently, one of her high school bands was known for playing a rock version of the recent hit, “Bleeding Love.” I would love to hear that and wish she had sang it on “Idol.”

Last week, we spent an hour with Kris Allen to help Fred prepare for writing his bio. There’s little doubt the humble nice guy America fell in love with is the real Kris. Did you know that Kris has traveled all over the world doing missionary work and that he and his wife don’t even own a TV? In response to a question I asked about if he thought his dark horse status on “Idol” helped him win the competition, Kris said he always flies under the radar and his time on the show was no different.

We spent the most time with Scott MacIntyre and I learned that Scott’s “American Idol” stint barely scratched the surface of his life story. The problems he’s faced (visual impairment, kidney failure) have been mountainous, but fortunately he had the intellect and ambition not to let those challenges slow him down. Amazingly, he entered college at age 14 and later obtained a Masters Degree. But maybe what impressed me most about Scott is his determination to make sure that his appearances on “American Idol” are just the beginning of his music career. While in L.A. for tour rehearsals with the rest of the Top 10, Scott is not letting the grass grow under his feet one bit. He’s been taking non-stop meetings with both recording and music publishing companies.

Yesterday during the hour long lunch break for the tour rehearsals (yes, I heard a bit of one of the group medleys but I’ve been pledged to secrecy… I will say I can’t get one of the songs off my mind so I just put it into my Itunes!), Fred completed video interviews with Lil Rounds, Megan Joy, Matt Giraud, Michael Sarver and Anoop Desai. All of them gave great interviews, as being on “Idol” doesn’t just give the contestants lessons in stage presence. They also get plenty of practice speaking to the press. I am alarmed though by how many contestants cite Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” album as an influence on their music. For instance, if you ask Kris Allen what his earliest memory of music is, he remembers playing “Dangerous” as a kid while dancing around his room pretending to be the Gloved One.

Now don’t get me wrong… I enjoy MJ’s music as much as anyone, but I went to college when Michael was King of the Discos with “Off The Wall” and “Thriller” came out the year I moved to California so “Billie Jean’ was the big song when I first started going to nighclubs out here, so it’s hard for me to believe “Dangerous” is the album that set someone on the path to music stardom. I guess it’s the choice of a new generation!

AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 8: THE FINALE

The day started with lunch with one of my all time musical favorites, Neil Sedaka. Neil is amazingly busy these days. He has a hit children’s album called “Waking Up Is Hard To Do,” they’re doing a musical in London based on his life and he’s planning another assault on the pop charts with an album of brand new Sedaka songs. Can’t wait for that…

Neil was pulling for Adam to take home the “Idol” title, but as you all know by now, it was not to be. Still, even if you loved Adam, it was hard not to be impressed by Kris too, so I hope the Adam fans won’t take the loss too hard.

I have to say the highlights of the finale both involved Adam, as his rocking medley with Kiss got the audience on their feet cheering, and his duet with Kris on Queen’s “We Are The Champions” was the emotional high point of the show.

After the confetti flew, I headed with my friend Fred Bronson to the Mondrian Hotel for an after-party at the famous Skybar sponsored by 19 Entertainment. While it was a few hours before any Idols showed up, that was okay because it gave us a chance to sample the many dishes that the waiters and waitresses circling the party were handing out (I still have nightmares about last year’s wrap party, when Fred and I got there too late and they were done serving food, so we ended up eating at 2:00 in the morning).

The first star we saw in attendance was Janice Dickinson, but it wasn’t long before the party became a true Idolpalooza! Not only were the entire Top 13 from this year in attendance, but so were some favorites from past seasons including Bo Bice, Carly Smithson, David Cook, Diana DeGarmo, Kimberley Locke and Jason Castro. Of course, I always get a kick out of seeing Jason at these events because during an interview I sat in on during his time on Idol, he said how much he hated being asked to take photos with people. Of course, that doesn’t stop Jason from saying yes to every request with a smile. I asked Jason when we can expect an album from him. He said he’s planning on an October release and will start recording soon.

Of this year’s crew, I especially enjoyed spending a little time with Scott MacIntyre, who is every bit as funny in real life as he was on the Idol stage. And after a past Idol contestant told me how some singers in past years spent all their tour money before they even got out on the road, when I ran into Michael Sarver and his wife, I told him to be careful spending the money he’ll make on tour, but he was way ahead of me. He’s already planning some smart investments!

Of course, the party was almost like a treasure hunt, as people ran around getting their photos taken with the Idols on hand. Unfortunately, when one girl asked me to take a photo of her with Paula Abdul, her camera wouldn’t work, even after I tried five separate times. Fortunately, I didn’t have that problem when I took a photo of a friend with Kris Allen.

The most interesting conversation of the night was with Kris’s father, who was being schooled in what was ahead for his son and their family by Diana DeGarmo and David Archuleta. Mr. Allen said that people were already dropping letters to Kris on their porch (one nine year old wrote that she was single in crayon!), but David insisted that was nothing, as people had gotten inside his house! Needless to say, Mr. Allen is going to try to remember to turn on his home security system from here on out!

I also sympathized with the plight of Brooke White’s husband, David. Brooke had an early flight scheduled in the morning, but naturally she wanted to say hello to all the friends and well-wishers she could. I told Dave that he had to be the steering committe and steer her out of there. He said it was more like the tugging committee and sure enough, the next time I saw the couple, Dave was leading Brooke off to the valet parking station.

Just a very fun night. Hopefully, we’ll do it all again next year for American Idol’s ninth season finale!

AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 8: TOP TWO ANALYSIS

Tonight I have a very special report for you, as I actually attended Tuesday night’s American Idol show at the Nokia Theater (and also plan on being on the scene tomorrow too!)!

The afternoon started with lunch at The Farm of Beverly Hills at LA Live, just around the corner from the Nokia. Also enjoying lunch there was former Idol producer and current “So You Think You Can Dance” producer/judge Nigel Lythgoe.

The meal was followed by some time spent at the AT&T tent on the red carpet where many of the past Idol contestants were signing autographs. On hand were Blake Lewis, Bo Bice, Chikezie, Chris Richardson, Diana DeGarmo, Haley Scarnato, Kimberley Locke, Kristy Lee Cook, LaKisha Jones, Melinda Doolittle, Mikalah Gordon, Paris Bennett and Vonzell Solomon. I watched as Cory the warm-up comic for “Idol” hosted a promotion where each Idol was given a cell phone with an amount texted to it. A contest winner from Texas got to choose an Idol with the amounts going from ten thousand dollars to a million. I told my friend Fred Bronson that I would pick Blake. He picked Chikezie. The actual contestant picked LaKisha, whose phone had an amount of $ 50,000! It turned out picking Blake would have been worth just $ 10,000, but Fred had it right! Chikezie had the million dollar phone!

We then headed inside for the show, where we sat in Row HH (just two rows in front of fifth season Idol contestant Kevin Covais, who told us he’s just made a movie with Lindsay Lohan called “Labor Pains”). While not as close to the stage as my seat for the finale last year, this time at least I was in the center. And while many have complained that Adam Lambert has a tendency to scream when he’s rocking out, he had nothing on the girls sitting behind us. Piercing!

The show started with Adam’s reprise of “Mad World,” which was one of my favorite performances of the season. While not as emotional as Kris’s first song of the evening, “Ain’t No Sunshine,” I still enjoyed it the second time around.

Adam upped the emotional ante quite a bit with his second selection, “A Change Is Gonna Come.” This was the Adam I came to hear. An amazing voice in the service of a dramatic song. There wasn’t much Kris could do to match Adam when he sang his version of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On.” I’m fond of the version Cyndi Lauper does on her “True Colors” album, which is both rocking and very emotional, and Kris didn’t reach that plateau.

Next up was the reveal of this year’s “American Idol” single, “No Boundaries.” While Kris could have done a great job on this had he been allowed to perform it acoustically with his guitar, the rules said he had to stand at the mike and sing it. The arrangement seemed high for Kris’s voice and didn’t play to his strengths. While I thought it was a bit hard to understand the lyrics at times when Adam sang it, Adam definitely won the final round.

So while I would say that Adam won the night hands down, I’m not so sure Adam will be the next American Idol. At least in the beginning of the night, the audience was definitely on Kris’s side and screamed the loudest whenever he was mentioned. True, Adam got a bigger ovation for his version of the final song, but you’d have to say the title of “American Idol 2009″ is truly up for grabs.

It turns out that one person who doesn’t care who wins is Kris Allen’s father, who we ran into the lobby after the show. Mr. Allen is a truly nice guy who realizes that Kris and Adam are so different as artists, they can both do well in the music business. And he’s right!

The evening ended with a wonderful dinner at another new downtown restaurant, Fleming’s, and the best news of all: the Lakers won the first game of the Western Conference Finals!

See you back here in 24 hours with tales of the Finale and the after-parties (well, if I get into the parties, that is…)!

AMERICAN IDOL 8: TOP 3 ANALYSIS

I always enjoy the strategy of Top 3 night. What will the judges pick? What will the contestants pick? What will Clive Davis pick? What’s that? They’re only doing two songs a piece this year? Let’s see what we got:

“DANCE LITTLE SISTER” – Danny Gokey

I have to admit I was stunned by Paula’s choice of this song. If you’re going to have Danny sing Terrence Trent D’Arby, why not make it one of his Top Five hits, “Wishing Well” or “Sign Your Name,” rather than a song that only hit # 30 that not many people remember? Yet the song choice ended up working for Danny. He pushed his voice hard in the first verse and sounded pretty good, then made the mistake of doing some jazz scatting. Still, the performance was fun for the most part and was one of Danny’s better outings on the Idol stage.

“APOLOGIZE” – Kris Allen

Unfortunately, Kris came in second in my mind to David Archuleta’s take on this song during the finals last year, when Archie even surpassed One Republic’s Ryan Tedder when they were on stage together. This would have been an impressive performance during say Top 6 week, but Kris needed a knockout punch and didn’t deliver. With the exception of improving on the high notes, I’m not sure there’s much Kris could have done with the song. While Randy and Kara were hoping Kris would rearrange it, this wasn’t really a song that gave him any leeway to do that. It’s a pleasant ballad but not exactly a deep lyric. Maybe they should let Simon choose all the Judges’ Choice songs…

“ONE” – Adam Lambert

At first I was so wowed, I didn’t take any notes… but then Adam started shouting a bit and I thought lost some of the emotion inherent in the song. He’s certainly not playing it safe. It was nice to see Adam speak a bit after the song.

“YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL” – Danny Gokey

Danny sounded a bit like Michael Bolton on this, and I mean that as a compliment. Could Danny be purposely bad some weeks just so he can come back and redeem himself the following week? Of course not, but that’s exactly what he did on his two songs tonight and it should put him in the finals next week.

“HEARTLESS” – Kris Allen

You have to hand it to Kris. He chose a song that was popular during the last few months, which should help bring in some votes. It was brave to redo a rap song with just his guitar. I thought there were so many words in the verses that it made it hard to sing, but the chorus was catchy.

“CRYIN” – Adam Lambert

Now that was a vocal master class, even if the female background vocal took away from Adam’s performance a bit. I did think the showiness of his vocal lacked the proper emotion in the song a little, which should be sadness. And yet I can’t wait for the Idol tour to hear Adam wail live. I have a feeling my television hasn’t come close to capturing his voice.

Next week, it’s goodbye to Season 8! See you then!

AMERICAN IDOL 8: TOP 4 ANALYSIS

First off, a get well soon shout out to Idol stage manager Debbie Williams, who took a tumble on the set today, just one of the problems Ryan alluded to on the show tonight.

Is having Rock Week this late in the game fair to all the contestants? Fair or not, let’s see what we got…

“WHOLE LOTTA LOVE” – Adam Lambert

Adam came on looking a bit like Elvis. I wanted to see him jump around a bit more early in the performance.  I think he held back a bit vocally this time out, sticking close to the recorded version of the song. Even so, it was a performance that was bigger than the Idol stage!

“CRY BABY” – Allison Iraheta

An excellent performance, but it would have been even better if she hadn’t been giving the audience little smiles here and there. Obviously Allison loves performing, but she could have been even more committed emotionally to the lyrics.

“RENEGADE” – Kris Allen & Danny Gokey

My friend Fred Bronson has always wanted to see an episode of Idol that features duets, perhaps pairing the contestants with past winners and runners-up (and I’m especially reminded of this as I could see Fred in the audience a number of times tonight). Still, while this would make for a great moment during the “Idol” concert tour, the contestants singing with each other doesn’t belong on the show.

That said, Kris seems more comfortable on the song, but Danny holds his own. I especially liked the breakdown when they sang together.

“COME TOGETHER” – Kris Allen

I was worried that after Simon said Danny was better on the duet, it might have seeped away some self confidence from Kris, but that didn’t happen. But while he gave the song his all, Kris turned in a performance that was good but not that special. One problem was that it’s tough to connect to a song that has nonsense lyrics, plus the verses of “Come Together” have an angry tone to them and that’s definitely not Kris’s strong suit. He probably should have rearranged a rock song, which would have wowed the judges. I also think if Kris is going to sing rock, he’s much more suited for power pop, a la Crowded House or a more poppy Beatles hit.

“DREAM ON” – Danny Gokey

This was the song that got Michael Johns booted off the show last year. At the time, I thought the problem was it’s a long song that was hurt by editing. This time out, Danny puts a spotlight on the lyrics before pulling out the vocal fireworks on the chorus, so I wasn’t bothered by his having to cut the song down. I did think adding a little jazz in the breakdown seemed weird and I’m still trying to decide if that final scream was musical or not (and if you have to think about it, it probably wasn’t). Too bad, because the scream Danny did in the highlights package at the end of the show (taken from rehearsals) was right on.

“SLOW RIDE” – Adam Lambert & Allison Iraheta

Just great to watch, as Adam and Allison played a musical game of “Can you top this?” Their voices matched perfectly, and given that it was a duet, I didn’t mind them having fun onstage.

So who should go home? If you’re judging just from tonight, you’d have to say it was Danny. But I think the voters will take into consideration that rock isn’t in Danny’s wheelhouse, plus the judges came down pretty hard on Kris. We’ll see what happens tomorrow night, but at least we got an enjoyable night of rock and roll!

AMERICAN IDOL 8:TOP 5 ANALYSIS

It’s “Standards From The Rat Pack Era” tonight on “Idol.” Of course, that doesn’t mean we heard much swing, unfortunately. Just about everyone chose songs identified with Sinatra, with one exception. Gee, I wonder who that could be? (Hint: He sang last!)

Let’s see what we got…

“THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT” – Kris Allen

His version reminds me of Michael Buble, and sure enough, Michael has recorded the song. Kris seems confident and heats things up midway through the song. Speeding things up wasn’t necessary though. A nice job. And if Kris doesn’t make it in music, there’s always the CW…

“SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME” – Allison Iraheta

I liked what Jamie Foxx stressed in his mentoring: relating the song to your life in order to make it more heartfelt. That’s always been a problem in past seasons with many contestants not reflecting the lyrics in their performances.

Okay, I see what people are complaining about when it comes to Allison’s diction. The entire middle sounded like another language, like it’s one of those cases on “House” where the patient doesn’t realize they’re being affected by sickness which is changing their perceptions. Too bad, because Allison’s voice is impressive.

“MY FUNNY VALENTINE” – Matt Giraud

As soon as I heard the song title, I immediately thought of the master class in feeling Melinda Doolittle brought to this classic. This time, I didn’t agree with Jamie’s advice, as I didn’t find Matt’s deeper tones in the early part of the song that pleasing. I thought it sounded better when he started going a little higher. He had a nice catch in his voice, showing some emotion. Matt’s best performance in a while, which may spell trouble for Allison tomorrow night.

Funny thing… I read the review of the performances on MJ’s Big Blog before the show came on here in L.A. She thought Simon was throwing Kris and Allison under the bus in order to keep Matt and Danny in the competition. I read elsewhere that Simon had earlier predicted an Adam/Danny final and he may have wanted to help move things along to what he envisioned. But after seeing the actual performances, while I think Simon may have been undully harsh on Kris, I do think he said what he believed, as Allison really wasn’t that great.

“COME RAIN OR COME SHINE” – Danny Gokey

I certainly didn’t expect this. Although he could have been a little looser posture-wise at first, Danny gave an excellent performance. He certainly stepped it up at the right time. Anyone predicting a surprise elimination of Danny will have to wait.

What does it say about these contestants that some of them gave their best performance in weeks on a night devoted to American standards?

“FEELING GOOD” – Adam Lambert

While I didn’t recognize this song, now that I’ve looked it up on Itunes, I know I’ve at least heard it before, because it’s on George Michael’s album, “Twenty-Five.” But the most famous rendition is by Nina Simone. Sammy Davis, Jr. also recorded it, making it eligible for tonight.

Turns out Randy had it right (that this was the most Broadway Adam has been) until he had it wrong (that this performance wasn’t that good). A very catchy song (I could have sung along with the chorus after hearing it the first time), it was really a showcase for one long held note. Wouldn’t you know it… just when the other contestants have a great night, Adam comes along and blows them all away. Ladies and gentlemen, your American Idol!

AMERICAN IDOL 8: TAKE 2 TOP 7 ANALYSIS

Ah, nothing says disco like Vince Neil of Motley Crue, who was sitting in tonight’s audience…

As a veteran of the disco era, tonight’s “American Idol” should have highlighted some of my favorite music, but it didn’t.  It turns out that while the contestants played it safe with their song choices, they went wild with their arrangements, making for a rather un-disco Disco Night. Let’s see what we got…

“I’M EVERY WOMAN” – Lil Rounds

Obviously Lil is trying to be more of an entertainer in her performance tonight. Unfortunately, she should have chosen a song that gives her more lyrics to sing. Instead, she concentrates on runs and trying to get the audience involved and the judges hammer her for it.

“SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY” – Kris Allen

This sounds like something Jason Castro might have done, but Kris is way more comfortable on stage. Yes, it works, but then I think this is kind of cheating. It’s like when I found out I could take a meteorology course in college to fulfill my science requirement instead of the harder chemistry or biology. I want to hear some disco!

“SEPTEMBER” – Danny Gokey

And Danny makes my wish come true, doing “September” with the original arrangement. Unfortunately, the performance is like a kid playing with a light switch that turns Danny’s soul off and on at random. Sometimes he sounds great, sometimes just fair. As always, he sounds good by the time the last chorus comes around.

Because Paula’s critiques this year have been so on point, I hate to hear her yell to Danny, “See you in the finals!” Not that Danny doesn’t have a good shot at being one of the last two standing, but I wouldn’t count Kris out just yet…

“HOT STUFF” – Allison Iraheta

Kara: “That was a nine or ten.” Really? I found it to feature quite a bit of shouting. Here’s an instance where the original arrangement would have worked better. While Allison was my early favorite, she’s fallen behind Kris and Adam in the last two weeks.

“IF I CAN’T HAVE YOU” – Adam Lambert

I know I ripped on Kris a bit for not doing disco the way it should be done, so I don’t have the right to call Adam’s performance here genius… but it was. Sure, there was a little out of control wailing on the chorus and he may have dropped a few words here and there, but color me impressed.

“STAYIN’ ALIVE” – Matt Giraud

I thought Matt came out strong, but that first falsetto note was awful. Then he got it back together, only to have the performance fall apart on him. And this is why people like Simon. After hearing three judges natter on about how Matt can really sing, Simon tells the truth and delivers the bad news.

“DIM ALL THE LIGHTS” – Anoop Desai

Anoop makes a bad mistake by either not staying with a ballad tempo through the entire song or at least revving it up in the end. Instead, the performance comes across as not very exciting. Anoop has been quoted as saying he’s very hard on himself, and you can see the disappointment on his face at the end. With two going home this week, it could be the bookends of the show, Lil and Anoop, although I’d rather see Lil and Matt go Home Sweet Home.

AMERICAN IDOL 8: TOP 7 ANALYSIS

You may have noticed that unlike last season, I haven’t been doing any analysis of the latest season of “Idol.” One reason might be that for the most part, the contestants haven’t captured my heart, but I think the reality is President Obama is to blame! His press conferences have pushed two “Idol” performance shows up against my beloved “Lost” and “Lost” comes first, and knowing that I wouldn’t be able to blog week in and week out about “Idol” made me think I shouldn’t start. But since I have nothing else to blog about right now (and the judges were so often off base tonight), I’ve changed my mind. Let’s see what we got tonight…

“I DON’T WANT TO MISS A THING” – ALLISON IRAHETA

When I have tuned in this year, I’ve usually found myself rooting for Allison. I even picked up the phone and voted for her, something I usually don’t do until the final week. But tonight she disappointed me. First I didn’t like the string intro and then Allison made one of the biggest mistakes a contestant can make: she made the performance about her voice, not the song. In trying to show off her big voice, she forgot about the emotions in the lyrics she should have been trying to convey. At least it was nice to see Simon moving away from his support of Lil and give Allison some props. She may need it going first.

“EVERYTHING I DO (I DO IT FOR YOU)” – ANOOP DESAI

I’ve been rooting for Anoop since the beginning, although he’s really had his ups and downs. Tonight was more down than up. He showed nothing special in the verses and the chorus wasn’t much better, as he kept trying to hold notes and add runs which didn’t work. The amazing thing was Kara saying the performance was one of Anoop’s best. You could see Simon in his corner wishing he had the chance to correct that overstatement!

“BORN TO BE WILD” – ADAM LAMBERT

Now here’s a contestant who does have the voice to play around with a melody. While I found the electro take on this Steppenwolf classic jarring at first, Adam was a lot of fun to watch. His vocal power reminded me a bit of Meat Loaf, which is what I think Simon was getting at when he mentioned “Rocky Horror.” Of course, he also has the wide range of a Freddie Mercury, so let’s hope Adam can find some songs that let him show that off.

Simon was wrong about one thing though. The people that would be appalled by Adam’s take on a rock classic like “Born To be Wild” aren’t watching “American Idol,” although he’s right when he mentioned that “Mad World” was better. Adam is doing a great job of mixing things up each week. It’s just too bad there isn’t another horse in the race to really push him each week, like last season’s Cook/Archuleta duel.

“HAVE YOU EVER REALLY LOVED A WOMAN?” – MATT GIRAUD

This performance was just okay. It seemed like every time he reached for his falsetto, Matt was out of breath. I had to laugh when Kara admonished him for doing a rock song. While this may have been originally performed by a rock artist, it’s no rock song! I also wonder if Simon knew he was on camera as he made those goofy facial expressions while Kara was speaking.

“ENDLESS LOVE” – DANNY GOKEY

It seems like everyone who ever recorded this song has a richer voice than Danny. Paula was right on when she pointed out the key was wrong for him. But as always Danny impressed on the chorus. I just have to wonder… with the gravel in his voice, maybe the judges should have pushed him into trying a soul classic or two.

“FALLING SLOWLY” – KRIS ALLEN

A very emotional performance from a singer who actually looks like a star. If anything, he didn’t need the background vocals behind him. Showed off a great falsetto too. The performance of the night.

“THE ROSE” – LIL ROUNDS

I think it was a big mistake to add the R&B flavor on this. When she was riffing on the words  “cold, cold winter,” I actually laughed. I think a more straight- ahead version would have served her better, but with all the songs to choose from, she could have easily picked something that was completely R&B. She’s lucky she was last on the show, because otherwise she’d be in a lot more trouble vote wise, although arguing with Simon won’t help her case.

IDOL FUN FACTS: SEASON 7

With Season 8 of “American Idol” about to premiere, I thought it would be nice to look back one more time at the Season 7 contestants. All these tidbits of trivia were gleaned from interviews Billboard Magazine’s Fred Bronson conducted that I sat in on and later transcribed. Unfortunately, Fred conducted his interview with Michael Johns over the phone, so Michael gets left out of the rundown. Here we go…

CHIKEZIE:

1.  When Chikezie performed in his first talent show in middle school, he was so good his friends thought he was lip synching.

2.  Chikezie tried to join the girls’ choir in middle school because there was no boys’ choir at the school.

3.  Chikezie’s favorite Idol contestant judging by their “Idol” performances is Clay Aiken.

4.  Chikezie lost fifty pounds between Hollywood Week and appearing in the Top 24.

5.  Chikezie’s favorite album of all time is “Get Lifted” by John Legend.

RAMIELE MALUBAY:

1.  Ramiele was born in Saudi Arabia.

2.  Ramiele’s first live performance was in a fifth grade talent show. She sang “Too Much” by the Spice Girls in a group with four other girls.

3.  Ramiele planned on becoming a nurse like her mother.

4.  Ramiele worked as a waitress and hostess at a sushi restaurant called Wasabi.

5.  Ramiele rates herself as the most emotional contestant of her season’s Top 10.

KRISTY LEE COOK:

1.  Kristy’s brother played a lot of country music when she was growing up, which got her interested in the genre.

2.  Kristy first concert performance was opening for Glen Campbell at a music festival.

3.  Kristy was home schooled but was still a member of the local high school’s girls’ softball team and went to all the school dances.

4.  “God Bless The U.S.A.” is Kristy’s father’s favorite song.

5.  Kristy once recorded a live album called “Devoted.”

CARLY SMITHSON:

1.  “A Star Is Born” is one of Carly’s all-time favorite movies and inspired her to try out for “American Idol.”

2.  Carly first met her husband at an airport in Los Angeles.

3.  Carly got her first tattoo at age 18.

4.  Carly demoed a song that ended up on Carrie Underwood’s debut album.

5.  During Andrew Lloyd Webber week, Carly was going to perform “All I Ask Of You,” but Sir Andrew suggested doing something more uptempo so Carly chose “Superstar.”

BROOKE WHITE:

1.  When she was seven, Brooke sat down at the piano and played “Right Here Waiting” by Richard Marx totally by ear.

2.  Brooke’s favorite movie as a child was “Mary Poppins.”

3.  Brooke played the lead in her high school musical, “Meet Me In St. Louis.”

4.  Brooke originally planned to be a cosmetologist and was going to beauty school before she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music when she was 17.

5.  Brooke once performed in front of Kiefer Sutherland during an L.A. radio station’s “Rock Star” talent contest.

JASON CASTRO:

1.  Jason was studying architecture when he tried out for “Idol.”

2.  Jason started wearing dreadlocks during his senior year of high school.

3.  Coheed & Cambria was Jason’s favorite band in high school.

4.  Jason only performed in public a few times before his “Idol” audition, once at a Starbucks and once at a club called The Door.

5.  Jason was originally planning on singing a Don Fogelberg song for 80’s week before he found out “Hallelujah” was originally released in the eighties by Leonard Cohen.

SYESHA MERCADO:

1.  Syesha’s mother was once a background singer for Pops Staples of the Staples Singers.

2.  Syesha’s appeared in her first play in first grade. It was called “One Special Cookie.”

3.  Syesha was a contestant on the TV show, “The One: Making A Music Star.”

4.  Syesha writes her goals down on paper.

5.  Syesha would like to open an organic restaurant.

DAVID ARCHULETA:

1.  David’s father is a trumpet player, but David hated hearing him play when he was growing up because he played so loudly.

2.  David cites Tamyra Gray’s performance of “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” as his inspiration to start performing more soulful music.

3.  David quit his job working at an amphitheater to try out for “Idol.”

4.  David participated in his local CBS affiliate’s morning show’s version of “Star Search.” He lost, but just a few weeks later, he was a contestant on the network version of “Star Search.”

5.  David refuses to watch any footage of himself singing when he was a child.

DAVID COOK:

1.  David’s first musical instrument was violin.

2.  The first recording David ever bought was a tape of the teen rap duo Kris Kross.

3.  David lost ten pounds during Hollywood week because he was so nervous.

4.  David appeared in three musicals in high school: “The Music Man,” “West Side Story” and “Singing In The Rain.”

5.  In college, David had a theater scholarship but quit the theater program because it was so cutthroat.