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

First of all, the reactions halfway thru:

Jason Castro was pretty embarrassing…too much playing around with his range. Better to have gone down the middle and worried more about communicating the song.

David Cook…not that special. Pretty much the “standard Cook treatment”. It may not have been a song anyone knew before…but it’s not going to be remembered a week from now, either.
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.

For example, while the judges continue (very legitimately) to whine about song choice, the producers have refused to use the show to do what it most obviously SHOULD do…build in a LEGITIMATE songwriting competition that’s designed to be a part of the show itself…rather than this joke of a competition to write these sappy season-ending anthems. They should be having great stuff written by up-and-coming amateurs that could actually become hits during the season…real songs.

While this year’s cast has been interesting, I don’t know that I’d buy into the “strongest field ever” claims. And, the loss of Chikeze weeks ago was a joke. I know…that’s the way the cookie crumbles, but that kid had the talent to be in the top 3. Anyway…enough of the griping for now.
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?

Jason Castro - I love this kid. Sure, in part its his endearing “stoner” personality or his dreads and his eyes…but he’s got a very sweet voice and what seems to be a gentle spirit. He doesn’t seem to take “all of this” too seriously. I get the feeling that if he was voted off, he’d just shrug and say “thanks for having me”. That being said, tonite he chose a poor song (it was pretty, but was neither recognizable not special in any way). He’s fine this week, but he needs to get back to better song choices.
Read the rest of this post »