Neil Diamond has a wealth of strong (if somewhat dated) material. This should have provided the contestants with a lot to work with, but…
Read the rest of this post »

I have intentionally restrained myself from commenting too frequently on American Idol this year. For me, the show has lost some of its luster. It still has my interest…and, in some ways, they’ve improved it this year (for example, I think the viewer phone calls are a nice addition)…but there are still so many things that they really need to improve that I continue to find it frustrating as well.
Read the rest of this post »

Following up on my earlier post about American Idol. Tonite was the Final 10:

Ramiele Malubay – I think this was Ramiele’s swan song. She’s been hanging on by her fingernails for awhile now, and she just didn’t deliver. She’s too staccato in her delivery (although she has improved in this area since the beginning) and simply lacks the power to really deliver the big payoff (critical in the style in which she chooses to sing)…plus, her song choices are mediocre at best. Simon’s comment about her surviving was goofy. There were 9 more performances to know…how could he assume that she’d survive without hearing them first?
Read the rest of this post »