Idol Chatter & Voice Views

On a night when one of the commercial breaks featured the Meatloaf classic “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” as a cell phone advertisement … well, anything could and did happen on American Idol.

Top performers turned in lackluster performances. Also-rans rose to the top, possibly inspired because, after all, it’s inspiration week on Idol.

And now we have to wait two agonizing nights to find out who goes home because tonight’s marathon version of the show is all about doing good deeds for others, not about ruining someone’s dream of stardom.

Nope, Idol will wait until Thursday to deliver the bad news.

Here’s how it could play out.

Best of the bunch

I’ve knocked his vocals in the past, but Jason Castro stands all alone in this category. He showed up on stage with a ukulele to go with his dreads and smile and wowed the audience with a heartfelt rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Wow.

Deserves to go home

David Cook picked a self-indulgent song (“Innocent”) and turned in easily his worst performance since the field was narrowed to 12. But he isn’t going anywhere. Which brings us down to Carly Smithson. She followed Simon’s advice and looked more like a star this week. Problem is, she still can’t sing like one. Carly, just once, could we have a little emotion to go with all those too-big notes?

Please keep her

Brooke White landed in the bottom three last week. This week, Simon called her version of “You’ve Got a Friend” a “pleasant walk in the park,” which pretty much summed up the performance. She’s still the most distinctive voice among the ladies. I downloaded last week’s performance of “Jolene,” which didn’t get great reviews, and love it.

Baffled by the judges

Syesha Mercado might have gotten more credit Tuesday than she deserved. Last week, the judges tried comparing her to Whitney Houston, and I jumped to her defense. So what does she do this week? A song by Fantasia, who has a far more distinctive sound. Now how in the world was that going to end well, Syesha? I believe Fantasia sang “I Believe” much, much better.

Best line of the night from the judges

Hey, Paula woke up. Okay, she still can’t help but praise every single performance, whether it’s good or bad. But she hadn’t said anything really silly since the prelims when she threatened to squeeze David Archuleta’s head off and hang it from her rearview mirror. Then, Tuesday night, she told Michael Johns, “with the high notes you hit, I think my Chihuahuas are going to come and join you on stage.” Michael, by the way, was trying to sing Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” Hey, Michael, understand this: No one can shriek like Steven Tyler, so let’s not try that again.

Surprise of the night

Kristy Lee Cook got a lot of grief for pandering to the audience by singing a patriotic number two weeks ago. Then she wasn’t that great in country week. But give the girl credit. She’s hanging in there. And, darn it, last night she looked great and did a pretty decent job with Martina McBride’s hit “Anyway.” Might not keep her out of the bottom three, but it was one of her best efforts yet.

Prediction for Wednesday … oops, make that Thursday night

Based on performances, Michael Johns, David Cook and Carly Smithson deserve to be in the bottom three, but I doubt the first two will wind up there. Which might spell trouble for Kristy Lee. Or Syesha. Or, heaven forbid, Brooke. Gee, and we’ve got two nights for the suspense to build.