American Idol Finals, Results - May 24^th 2006

Anti-climactically, Taylor Hicks is the 5^th American Idol. With the revellation in the last 4 minutes of a much too long 2-hour show, it was even put out pretty much with little fanfare and a sense of haste. The producers have done that for the other male winner, Reuben Studdard as well.

The reveal followed a song that saw Taylor and Katharine singing at the same time, but not really together. They have no chemistry together.

Canadian Idol starts next Monday. Hopefully I'll have some jazz content here as well while that one is on.

I'm watching the American Idol finale right now... and I'm realizing how I misnamed both Becky AND Bucky's family names wrong. I called them both "Carlysle". It's Becky Donahoe and Bucky Covington. Sad how I got Becky's name wrong after finding her so fascinating,

I'm posting just after a duet by Katharine McPhee and Meatloaf. I was blown away by how BAD he sounded though.

American Idol Performance Show (Finals) - May 23, 2006

That's right: Finals for this year. Tomorrow we crown the new American Idol, and these posts will be done.

(Well, Canadian Idol starts next week, and I'll be blogging about it... but many of my readers aren't here in Canada, so you may not be terribly vested in the results.)

The two finalists traded top performances each round. It was an interesting touch to have them each sing a different new track - but Taylor was given the better song. In itself, that's not fair in my book.

I think Taylor Hicks will be crowned the new American Idol tomorrow night, but I think that Katharine McPhee is the more talented singer of the two.

American Idol Results Show - May 17, 2006

Well, my imagined finals are 0 for 0... both my picks have now been eliminated!

The voting was all close, to within less than 1% difference -- but Elliot Yamin was eliminated... making the finals between Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee.

Now comes the finals. I think that ultimately Taylor will be the winner. He's an entertaining performer... but I find his singing style rather limited. As I said before: the world already has a Mike Macdonald and a Bruce Springsteen. I don't see Taylor bringing any new sound to the mix.

American Idol Performance Show, May 16^th 2006

Here we are at the penultimate one, and I have to say the voting will be difficult for you Americans... all three had stellar performances mixed with so-so ones.

My favorite bit of the night came when the judges were down on Katharine McPhee's first song: they gave her flack for song selection, and she pointed out "It wasn't mine!" (Clive Davis chose that first song).

Of the three, I'm guessing Taylor Hicks will be in the finals. I'm just not sure yet if Elliot or Katharine will join him yet. I'll be curious of the results tomorrow.

American Idol, Results Show - May 10, 2006

SHOCK. That's the best way I can sum it up. Tamyra Gray from season 1 level shock.

Chris Daughtry, the guy everyone saw as the frontrunner in the competition, was the person eliminated tonight.

My thoughts of the finals coming down to he and Elliott are now just my imagination.

American Idol, Performance Show of May 9^th 2006

Here we go again. :)

I hope this will be the last year for Elvis week. As I said last year it's difficult to perform his songs without performing like yet another Elvis impersonator. That's not really fair to the contestants.

Based on the performances, I think either Taylor Hicks (he seems to alternate a song acting goofy with a serious one) or Katharine McPhee (after months I finally spell her name right!) will be cut tonight. Sadly, I think Katharine will go this week -- after Becky Carlysle she's been my favorite lady -- she just didn't perform as well as she could.

Goodbye Princess P

I goofed and didn't post yesterday. I just saw the Idol results show though, and came to my keyboard right away this time.

The voting is getting more difficult... ALL the remaining group are very talented. I think now folks are just voting for who blew them away the least.

The bottom two I semi-predicted. I suspected that Elliot Yamin would be there based on his shaky first song. Paris Bennet I only suspected at the beginning of the show tonight.

With Elliot surviving however, my guess of the finals coming down to Chris Daughtry and him may still be possible.

One thing I've noticed this season however: after 4 other years, there seems less emotional upset among the performers.

Idol Results for April 26, 2006

I think it showed great integrity for Simon Cowell to apologize to Katherine McPhee on the show!

The end result was what I predicted last night, but it was also an expected result for the person cut, Kelly Pickler. She also showed a lot of class when the result was announced.

American Idol Performance Show - April 25, 2006

First off: Paula Abdul did nothing to quell the theories that she has a drinking problem tonight... she was crying at Elliot's performance, then stood up to cheer Chris about a half hour later. Such inconsistent behavior is questionable at the least.

It was a really mixed bag, the love songs. I still really dig Katherine McPhee, but the judges didn't tonight. Kellie Pickler stood out as the least impressive of the group, and I'm suspecting she'll be cut tomorrow. Taylor Hicks was great tonight -- but I'm wondering if Mike McDonald really has any more hits for him to cover.

I actually didn't like Chris Daughtry's performance tonight (it seemed off to my ear), but the judges all loved him. Go figure...

Jazz Artist Interview - Chick Corea@ jazzreview.com

Chick Corea is a perennial favorite at the Montreal Jazz Fest. Anything he produces is worthy of study to me, and to many here.

American Idol Results - April 19, 2006

I said the results often surprised me, and Wednesday was no exception!

I was sure Kelly Pickler would get cut tonight, but she was safe. The Bottom Three had two of the best singers in the group, Chris Daughtry and Paris Benet. Fortunately, neither were cut. Instead Ace Young got the axe.

I found him too nasal in general, but it's a safe bet he'll still have a great career.

American Idol Performance Show - April 18^th 2006

We're down to a very talented 7 right now. Ace is still too nasaly for my tastes, and every week I like Katherine McPhee more. The camera really loves her.

Of the current group, I'm guessing Kelly Pickler will be cut this week. I could still be surprised, but she really messed up her song last night.

Out of touch

I read a newspaper article last week about the Burlington Jazz Festival, and realized that I'm out of the loop when it comes to the newer stars of the musical genre... I read the list of several performers -- not all of them -- and realized that I didn't know most of them!

It's a moot point: while we have the free outdoor concerts here in Montreal, the Burlington one is all shows at a local theatre, and all on paid tickets. Too rich for my blood!

American Idol Results Show - April 12, 2006

I didn't get to watch the show (the first Passover seder was far more important), so I read the results on the Idol Website:

Buh-bye Bucky.

Regular readers of this site know I'm not a fan of his, and I've been surprised he wasn't Bottom Three-bound many times before... at least we now know he isn't this year's Houdini in the voting.

American Idol - April 11, 2006

As I expected, coming up with new interpretations of songs given iconic significance by Freddie Mercury was challenging, to say the least.

Based on the performances, I think Ace Young will get voted out this week. His was the least interesting of the performances.

Paris' performance to end the show both surprised me, and in the case of the song choice really moved me. To stqaqrt with her look was so much older than we've grown accustomed to in this 17-year old dynamo. The song (Show Must Go On) is one I took as a theme right after I was diagnosed with MS, so I got very emotional at a song with such meaning for me.

American Idol of April 5, 2006: Goodbye Mandiva

The results show has been over for more than an hour now, and I have to echo what Kenny Rogers said: I was heartbroken by the results this week.

I was sure that based on their performances this week either Taylor (who really didn't sound comfortable in the country genre) or Ace (I'm starting to dislike his nasal performances) would be gone. Instead it was Mandisa, who I saw as a front-runner!

Next week I'm both looking forward to and dreading. I'm a huge fan of Queen, but the group also has a very defining sound. I don't see any of the current singers able to really do justice to Freddie Mercury's performance.

Weak Idol tonight

Most of the group didn't fare well tonight. Most of them were told they made bad song choices - and based on her performance tonight, Lisa Tucker in the bottom three tomorrow wouldn't surprise me.

I always think this will be Bucky Carlisle's final shot, but if it isn't I'll suspect he'll be this year's performer who lasts longer that he should. He could fit into the group with Nikki Cox, Carmen Rassmussen, redhead John (forget his last name) and Scotty Salvo.

I'm back!

Apologies for the loud proclamation. I've been checking my WSP for ages to see if they fixed their connection problems. An inability to add new content on a blog is bad for it. I'm taking steps to fix this... I hope to have news soon. It's the paranoia in me that I won't talk of it until it happens.

In jazz-related news, I finally found a Jazz theme for my PC! If I recognize the music style it's ragtime jazz... this theme will rotate with my Dracula one in the sunnier weather.

Tags: Jazz, PC destop, blog glitches.

American Idol Ladies Show for March 7, 2006

For some reason Blogger has been giving me trouble with this site. We'll see if it works today...

Last night was the final ladies performance show for American Idol before the final 6 of their gender are chosen. I can figure one of the ladies who probably won't make it: Kaniq. She was off-tune for much of her song - what the judges politely call 'off pitch'.

Other than her I'm not sure who'll be voted out, but one thing is sure: this year's crop will not be voted out for lack of talent, more for just not having enough votes.

I don't expect I'll be able to say the same for the guys. So far only 3 of them have impressed me.