AND I'LL TRY NOT TO SING OUT OF KEY: As far as I'm concerned, the night belonged to Casey Abrams and James Durbin. Casey's With a Little Help From My Friends sounded totally authentic -- which is not so easy when taking on Joe Cocker. And after I got over my realization that James's bandanna thing is less a stylistic move than an aural restraint mechanism, I was wowed by his Maybe I'm Amazed. He sounds like a less precious Adam Lambert -- which ain't a bad thing at all. These two guys are off to a strong, strong start.
This leaves me with some other questions and comments.
#1. Can Pia sing anything other than Big Ballads? Rewatching her group sing from Hollywood Week, I'm reminded that the answer should be yes. But only two weeks in, I'm already restless. She's safe, and should find herself easily in the top half this week, but please, can one of this vaunted flock of producers score a bit of tempo for Pia next time?
#2. Exactly how strong is the country voting bloc? I don't have a good sense as to whether Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery can phone it in until the top 5 or so, but I suspect that it doesn't matter whether I think Scotty is a one-trick pony or who Lauren decides to be as between Melissa Etheridge and Kellie Pickler. Neither one should be in any trouble anytime soon.
#3. Paul McDonald did not previously reveal this level of twitchiness. When Adam posited yesterday that Casey Abrams might be a less shticky Taylor Hicks, I thought that it was actually McDonald who might fall into that category. After watching him tonight, though, I find myself concerned that maybe he's a more shticky (or at least more twitchy) Hicks. Relistening to his performance without watching, though, it was still pretty bad. It improved about half way through, but there was just no comparison to his Blackbird or Maggie May.
#4. If there is one thing in this life as to which I am consistent, it is that I hate Stevie Wonder songs on AI. And thus Stefano Langone has no place in my life. (He even sang Stevie in Hollywood!)
#5. Jacob Lusk sings like an Eddie Murphy parody of Jacob Lusk. stab stab stab stab stab
#6. No one else really worth extended discussion. Thia got screwed by her producer, and she knew it. Yodeling has no place on Idol. Declaring that your idol is Miss Ross does not mean that you need to style yourself exactly like her. Good to know that Jennifer Lopez has adopted the Paul Abdul "you're so pretty" lead-in to kiss of death commentary on actual singing. And while I didn't care for Naima's performance, I appreciated the effort to dance and thought she seemed much more relaxed than she did last week.
One last thought: Did anyone else notice that the "My Idol" theme deterioriated over the course of the show, so that what started out as this is my idol turned into this is a person whose song I have decided I would like to sing now?
