American Idol Week Seven

Tony Bennett and The Great American Song Book

7 for 13

This is usually one of my least favorite weeks. Don’t get me wrong I love Adult Standards, but most Idol wannabes fail miserably to shine in this week. Tony Bennett is so adorable, and still sounds fabulous in the Elegant Eighties of his life. What a man, what a singer, and he didn’t do to bad as a guest judge, better than Diana Ross at least.

How do you put a new spin on an old classic? It’s not hard and as a contestant you are most likely to hit on one of the two main speed bumps ahead of you.

1) Sounding out of your element, because your voice, mood, and lack of interpretation don’t fit the song

2) Destroying it with your interpretation that you stand out like Chippendale at the Easter Parade

So how did they do?

First up my favorite guy of the competition Beat Box Blake. His rendition of Bobby Darin’s Mack the Knife was upbeat, showed some nice tones in his voice, and I liked the ending.

Phil Stacy offered up the Cole Porter classic Night and Day. Oh mi gawd it reminded me of Mel Torme’ singing Blue Moon. It was nice, but I didn’t like it.

Melinda Doolittle, wow the Gershwins never sounded better. This lady his one hell of a show stopper.

Chris Richardson offered up the Duke’s Don’t Get Around Much Anymore. It sounded like he lost his boy band, stepped out of the shadows and gave it his best. The song showed his character and that he has range. For once I liked Chris Richardson.

Jordin Sparks, this lady amazes me every time, and I think it was the first time I truly disagreed with Simon. Now Sid is shaking his head and say, “See, what have I been telling you Cele?” I am a Barbara Striesand fan. Now when Jordin sang On A Clear Day no flowers began blooming, the sun wasn’t shining, but I was smiling. She gave it a fresh, up beat, application for an open great performance.

Gina Glocksin, people please vote for Gina, I’m so afraid she’s going to go home before her time. I like this lady, and the rocker stepped out of her box and gave a nice clear presentation of Nat King Cole’s Smile. It’s not her genre, it showed, but she didn’t come off uninterested, campy, or bad.

Sanjaya sang Cheek to Cheek. He sang it flat, he sang it campy, he sang it pitchy and it came off a smarmy presentation. Then he had the audacity to be smug. I tried so hard to watch as little as possible and turned it over to watch Jessica Stein get blown up on NCIS.

Haley, oh Haley. Ain’t Misbehavin’ came off very home town theatre. She has a pretty voice but should be singing in a revue, honey, you’re no Ella Fitzgerald.

And finally Lakisha covered Billie Holiday’s Stormy Weather. Not my favorite singer of the night, but by far not the worse. Hmmmm, I guess I have no comments about the performance. I could take it or leave it, I think part of that has to do with her stage movements, but the dress was very lovely.

So, not a lot to say over all. No words of wisdom to impart about American Idol, how the alum are fairing this week. Oh sheesh, any thing. Why? Because I know Sanjaya will be there next week. But I did hear someone was thinking about or suggesting a lawsuit against Vote For The Worst. Which I didn’t think was possible, but you can read about it here in the Chicago Suntimes. On the other hand death threats against the website’s owners are terrible. So sad. Just as sad has how they are screwing up the future for people who needed and deserved the help.

So my favs this week

♫ Melinda
♫ Jordin
♪ with an honorable mention to Chris R.

And I continue to pin my hopes that the person to get the boot will be Sanjaya. I know the best laid plans of mice and me.

Sith