Random "AI" Notes +

Hello,

Due to time constraints, I'm writing a quick review of last week's Disco themed "AI" performances. I already reviewed Lil Rounds woeful performance of "I'm Every Woman". I'm also going to include their % of votes in the predicting of who might be sent home in ew.com/Predictify Predict Who's Going Home contest. Here's the rest:

2) Kris Allen sang Donna Summer's "She Works Hard for the Money". Yawn! Only 1% of the people voting in that contest predict he's going home. I can't believe it, why is he so popular? The judges love him. Kris please shave I don't know what statement you were trying to send with that wimpy mustache. Grade: D+. Buy: No!

3) Danny Gokey was not good singing Earth, Wind and Fire's "September". 20% of those predicting thinks he's going home. Let's hope they are right. What was up with the wimpy facial hair theme this week anyway? Danny shave please. Simon said Gokey had "no star power", that's the truth. Grade: C. Buy: No.

4) Allison Iraheta sang Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff", giving it a rock twist. She has that amazing voice and she was looking good this past Tuesday. The judges seemed to be conflicted in how they felt about the performance. I'm not conflicted, it was another very good performance. Whether she wins "AI" or not I think she has a chance to go far in music. Grade: B-. Buy?: Probably.

5) Adam Lambert absolutely destroyed Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You". 3% of those predicting think he's going home this week. The judges fawned over him as usual with Paula being in tears. Please! Paula is predicting he and Danny Gokey will be in the finals. I'd have to cheer for Adam in that instance, please no. Grade D-. Buy? Hell no!

6) Matt Giraud sang a very good version of the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive". With Anoop, Matt becomes the punching bag. 65% of predictors are predicting he's going home this week. The song got too repetitive by the end of the song, other than that it was great. The judges were mixed in their critiques. Grade: B. Buy? possibly.

7) Anoop Desai got the pimp spot and it didn't help survive for another week. He drastically reworked the Donna Summer classic, "Dim All The Lights". His was a slow, boring arrangement of that song. He also continued the night's wimpy hair theme. Again the judges were mixed on his performance. Grade: F. Buy? No.

Wednesday night's results show was a complete disaster. It was probably one of the worst "AI" episodes ever. Paula did the choreography for the group performance as they danced to and sung a medley of disco songs. The Idols looked like they had fun performing but please do not let Danny dance anymore. He dances like a white boy. As usual I was thankful for my DVR as I fast forwarded through the Ford music video.

Lil was then sent home. Yeah! Then there was that atrocious three song medley by three old disco singers. Freda had the arms but couldn't sing. Thelma Houston had some serious cleavage action going and time has a been a lot nicer to her than Freda. Then Danny Gokey in 30 years came and horribly performed "Get Down Tonight". That was KC of KC and the Sunshine Band. Each time he sang "make a little love tonight" the collective libido of America dropped considerably. That performance actually would be a very effective birth control method. That three song medley was the definition of "train wreck".

Then everyone you would predict would be safe is safe. The bottom three is Lil (who already was eliminated), Anoop and Allison. What the hell is Allison doing in the bottom three yet again? I keep on waiting for Danny Gokey to be in the bottom three. Those of you voting for him, please stop.

Then we had the terrible David Archuleta sing his new song, "Touch My Hand". That was horrible. Ryan called him the "adorable David Archuleta" which is the kind of thing you say about a kid. That is appropriate then. He has that dorky grin and lame personality. How did he come in second last season? He's going on tour soon opening for Disney star Demi Lovato. Nuff said.

Then we find out Allison is safe which means Anoop is going home. Anoop sings that horrible arrangement of "Dim All The Lights" as he heads off into the sunset.

Miscellaneous news: The Kings of Leon were the latest Rolling Stone cover boys. The next cover subject should be revealed this Wednesday morning at rollingstone.com. After six years of eagerly waiting there finally is a release date for the new Dan Brown book. Dan Brown is the author of the fantastic "The Davinci Code". The name of his new book is "The Lost Symbol" and it will be released September 15th. It seems to be similarly themed as "The Davinci Code". Robert Langdon, the hero in "Davinci Code", also returns in this book. I had mentioned that Rhapsody only now has two Black Label Society CD's available. I did a little more research. Four of those "missing" CD's are listed under Zakk Wylde. So on Rhapsody use his name as a search term if you want more Black Label Society than the two CD's that are listed.

"The Celebrity Apprentice" has sort of been rocky the last couple of weeks with a lot of drama. We're down to either our final 4 or 5 contestants, depending on whether Joan Rivers comes back. They final 4 or 5 are the non-listening Clint Black, the hilarious Joan Rivers, the gorgeous Brande Roderick, the female version of Piers Morgan, Annie Duke and the seemingly very cool Jesse James. Melissa Rivers was "fired" last night after being ganged up on by Brande and Annie. Melissa spent last night's episode whining about Brande and Annie. She was right but that didn't help her. What Brande doesn't realize is that Annie is playing her perfectly as well. Annie is all about the game and is not caring about hurting people's feelings. She's also very smart and a master manipulator. She's isn't quite as loathsome as Piers, but pretty close.

Two things semi-related to my new job at Verizon Wireless, which will be noted moving forward as VZW. I'm currently reading "The Cell" by Stephen King. It's a very good book and very hard to put down. There are a lot of similar story elements to King's "Dark Tower" series.

Last but not least VZW and Apple are in "high level discussions" about bringing the iPhone to the VZW network. That would be a merging of two great brands. While the Blackberry Storm looks very cool, the cell phone I would prefer is the iPhone. Apple products have a very high level of quality. You pay more but you get what you pay for. We'll see where those "high level discussions" lead. If everything gets agreed up on, the iPhone could be on the Verizon network as soon as next year.

Other "Idol" news: Slash is using his twitter account to announce that "AI" has asked him to be the mentor for rock week. Also the two newest ew.com "Idolatry" episodes are available for your entertainment. They had a new "Idolatry" this past Saturday and two new "Idolatry" episodes available today. One of today's episode is a viewer defending terrible judge Kara D. It should be interesting to be their reasoning, I think Kara has been a complete disaster.

Have a great week, themusicaddict