Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Ever dream of owning an autographed Simon Cowell T-shirt?

How about taking voice lessons from Kara DioGuardi and Randy Jackson?

Those are among the items up for grabs in an Idol Gives Back auction, announced today at AmericanIdol.com.

Bidding on those items and more begins today and runs into the wee hours of April 21, the day of the Idol Gives Back episode.

Other auction items already announced include a meet-and-greet with Simon, and tickets to every performance and results show featuring the final 10 in season 10.

You can learn more about the auction here.

Other auction items will be announced in the future. Wonder if they’ll be auctioning off anything autographed by former Idol contestants?

Judging from the enthusiasm David Archuleta fans have expressed about his appearance on tonight’s show, he could autograph any type of memorabilia and the bids would pour in.

His return to Idol should be one of the highlights of tonight’s results show, which will also feature peformances by Rihanna and Jason DeRulo, which means we’ll once again likely be spared from watching an Idol group performance.

As for the results … well, I’d still be awfully nervous if I was Katie Stevens tonight.

Ellen might have guaranteed she’d be safe after last night’s perfomance of “Let It Be.” But she performed early in the show, which can hurt a contestants’ vote total. And she’s been in the bottom three the last two weeks.

Yep, I’d be very nervous, Katie.

If you’re just checking in, you can go here for song-by-song grades from last night’s show, here for a recap of the show and here for a photo gallery from week four featuring all the contestant. Hey, we aim to please.

Ryan says we should expect shocking results tonight. Watch out Crystal Bowersox and Siobhan Magnus. Seeing either in the final two would qualify as shocking.

Oh, well, I was wrong about that. We weren’t spared a group number.

This talk of surprising results has me a little worried. Last night was a bizarre show. Katie and Tim Urban were among the best performers. Lee DeWyze, Michael Lynche and Siobhan turned in performances that left me wondering why.

Siobhan is being summoned to the center of the stage.

Crystal is being summoned to the center of the stage.

OK, I’m getting a little nervous now.

Katie Stevens is being summoned to the center of the stage.

Ryan says Crystal is safe. And so are Siobhan and Katie.

All three girls survive. Hooray!

So what does that mean? Tim Urban heads home after his strongest performance this season?

Now a music interlude, courtesy of Jason DeRulo. OK, that was entertaining. Better than Ke$ha a couple weeks back.

And now we hear from David Archuleta, singing “Imagine.” This should be special. On the piano no less.

Listen up, Aaron Kelly. This is what you’ve been aspiring to. Two years ago, this is the song that made David a favorite on American Idol. And he sure didn’t forget how to sing it, huh?

Pretty special, just like I predicted. David always displayed wonderful vocals on Idol. And he was always at his best performing sensitive songs like that one.

David says he’s always nervous in front of the judges, afraid of the critique to come. Really, David, you’d have nothing to worry about after a performance like that. Trust me, it would have ranked as one of the best in season nine.

And great news for David fans. A new single and a new album should be coming soon.

Ryan is keeping things interesting tonight. He’s splitting the guys into groups.

In one group, he’s placed Lee DeWyze and Casey James and Tim Urban.

In the other groups, he’s placed Michael Lynche, Aaron Kelly and Andrew Garcia.

And I’m hoping the latter group makes up the bottom three.

They do, but the wrong guy — Aaron Kelly — heads back to safety.

Michael Lynche is in the bottom two, undeservingly, along with Andrew Garcia, who belongs there.

Before we find out who’s in jeopardy, we hear from Rihanna, who has concert tickets to sell starting Friday. She’ll be singing “Rock Star 101.”

Wow, I’m not a fan of this song. They should have closed the show with David.

Meanwhile, how about the judges’ save tonight?

If I was a judge, I wouldn’t even contemplate using it on Andrew Garcia.

Michael Lynche … that’s a tougher question … but I still think I’d save it in case it’s needed later for an even more deserving contestant.

And now we find out who goes home on Idol.

Andrew Garcia is safe.

Big Mike has to sing for his life.

And now we find out what the judges have decided.

He turned in a fine vocal, but I still wouldn’t vote to use the save.

And the judges vote to use the save on Michael Lynche.

Check back in a few minutes for the recap blog.

Check back tomorrow morning for photos from the show, including (hopefully) pics of David’s performance.