Idol Chatter & Voice Views

In the schizophrenic sort of way that nothing has quite worked out right on Idol in season nine, the lineup for this week’s top four shows makes perfect sense.

Follow along.

Last year at this point, the top four sang rock music. The guest performers on Wednesday’s results show are Bon Jovi and Daughtry. They’d perfectly fit a rock song theme.

Ah, but this week’s theme isn’t rock music; it’s music from the movies.

As for a host, we have Jamie Foxx. He was with us last year too. Back then, he coaxed very solid performances from the final five on Rat Pack
Week.

So isn’t he showing up a week late? I mean, the show surely could have used him last Tuesday, when the cast tried to tackle the Frank Sinatra
songbook.

Brave effort, lady and gents. Boring show, American Idol.

Take heart, fans. This week’s theme offers hope of more current music. And there are duets to look forward to. Crystal Bowersox has told us as
much.

“Duets!” she tweeted on Friday, likely revealing more with one word than Idol would have liked. “Love it! You guys will too, I hope.”

Well, if our remaining Idols can pull off anything as impressive as last year’s “Slow Ride” by Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta, it would rank as a
hightlight of season nine.

On with the rankings. Last week’s ranking appears in parenthesis.

1. Cyrstal Bowersox (1): Toledo is planning a hero’s welcome for Crystal on Friday, and not because city officials think she’ll be eliminated this week. The top three on
American Idol are treated to a trip home, a visit that will be filmed for next week’s show. So Toledo is planning a parade and a concert. Crystal will
even get to sing the national anthem at a minor league baseball game … if she survives Wednesday night. She should, of course, especially if the
judges give her the credit she deserves. Last week, she turned in the top Sinatra, but the judges failed to appreciate it.

2. Lee DeWyze (2): Ah, the benefits of being from a bigger city. Crystal might be singing at a Toledo Mud Hens game Friday; Lee might be throwing out the first pitch for the Chicago Cubs. Again, if he makes the final three. He sure had the judges in his corner last week. First, they raved about a Sinatra Week performance that was one of Lee’s weakest since the finals began. Then they spent way too much time talking about how far he’d come in the competition on Wednesday’s results show. Hey, I agree, he deserves to be standing alongside Crystal in the finals. But he’s got a lot of great singing to do and only three weeks left to convince me these rankings are wrong.

3. Michael Lynche (3): Yes, that was Big Mike, not Casey James, standing alongside Aaron Kelly in the bottom two last week. That’s the third time Michael has been in the bottom three. And it followed a Sinatra Week performance that drew praise from the judges. A key for Michael on movie music night: Go up-tempo, please. Enough of the sleepy ballads already. Oh, Michael has a new ally on his side in the mayor of St. Petersburg, Fla. Apparently, even the hold music at city hall encourages residents to cast votes for Big Mike on American Idol.

4. Casey James (4): Here’s the tweet Casey sent out last Thursday: “I have never been more surprised in my life. Thanks for giving me another chance.” Oh, yeah, his Sinatra Week performance was that bad. Even he knew it. So bad, I’ve pretty much written Casey off as a potential winner in season nine. But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t survive at least another week. Here’s a sure bet: Unless Idol hides it from him, Casey will have his guitar on stage with him for both performances Tuesday night. Last week, he was lost without it. In fact, some of those moves and
expressions looked downright goofy.