Elimination Thursday - 4/21/11

Hello. Another Thursday is upon us and now things are getting tense as we once again have to say good-bye to another contestant.
Only seven remain and the show starts off with words that the future of the top 7 is in our hands as we see photos of them. The big question however is "Did We Vote"? I know I did for the full two hours but it looks like that was in vain which I will get to later.

Our judges and Ryan are introduced and each is wearing black in one form or another. Then come the top 7 and Ryan let's us know that over 52 million votes were cast for this group (pretty impressive). Ryan asks a question of each judge; Randy doesn't have a clue who will be going as each of the contestants are so talented. Jennifer hopes it is not a girl. She also mentions how her Marc Anthony thought the "kiss" from Casey the night before was cute. Ryan wants to make sure that Steven is going to behave himself tonight with the cussing and Steven fakes him and the sound man out with "what the".

:sing: Okay enough of this "filler" time. Ryan introduces Lauren Alaina, Jacob Lusk, Haley Reinhart and Stefano Langone who try to entertain us with the song "Soul Sister" by Train. Parts of this sounded pretty good while sometimes you could certainly overhear one being more prominent than the other. Overall it was not bad.

The Ford music video tonight involves our group being in the desert. They lasso a cloud, bring in mountains, greenery and a lake to make a pretty picture all to the song called "World". This "riverside" look made me want to go camping.

:sing: Next up are Casey Abrams, Scotty McCreery and James Durbin singing the Coldplay song "Viva La Vida". Again in parts they sounded good but there were certainly some flat notes involved in this performance.

Our group is now seated on the couches to get some results. First we get a little chat between Ryan and some of the contestants. Jacob talks about his peers calling him a diva and he feels they really do not mean to be cruel. Scotty says he misses North Carolina and has found out in his hometown they have made a "Butterscotch Scotty cupcake". Most impressive is a portrait a fan has sent Casey which has him and his dog pictured on a guitar. Casey can barely pronounce the name which sound oriental but whomever certain has talent as an artist.

First result: Casey and Jacob. Casey is safe and Jacob is the first to the bottom 3.

Our first guest is David Cook who is singing his newest release from his next album which comes out June 28th. The song is called "The Last Good-Bye". I like it although I do think David and his band seemed to be having technical difficulties with the sound of the mics and equipment. Regardless I am looking forward to getting the new cd from this talented guy. A cute moment comes next as David's mom is a fan of Steven Tyler and is rewarded with a big hug by her idol. One last note is David will be part of a charity event on May 1st with all proceeds going to brain Cancer research (sorry I did not catch the name of the charity). He also will be doing a concert at the Warner Theatre in Washington D.C.

Seems our idols got some free time to have some fun. They get to go to a Dodgers game and meet Tommy LaSorda. Next is going bowling and finally a trip to a spa. Looks like all really enjoyed themselves.

More results: Lauren, James and Stefano are up first. Both Lauren and James are safe with Stefano taking the second seat in the bottom 3. Now comes Haley and Scotty. Once again Scotty escapes the bottom 3 with Haley in the last seat. She is only there briefly as Ryan has her get back up quickly and whispers to her that she is safe. I am not liking how these results are turning out at all.

Our next guest singer is Katy Perry who I think is trying to out-do Lady GaGa with a crazy stage presentation to the song "E-T". Katy is dressed sort of like a space woman while her background dancers look like aliens. Kanye West makes an appearance in the song but overall this was indeed a "spacey" performance that made no sense to me at all. What can I say I am not a Katy Perry fan.

It is now down to the wire. Ryan has a chat with both Jacob and Stefano backstage before we get to the final result. Sadly Stefano is eliminated. James Durbin is shown being really upset by this turn of events. Stefano however takes his exit very well and is happy he has made it this far in the competition. After we see his journey on the show he sings the song "Lately". I do not know about anyone else but I hope to get some music from this guy as I think he is a really good singer.

Final Thoughts:

Next week our final six will perform the songs of Carole King which I believe will be a real challenge for the guys. One thing that really gets my goat however is the fact that once again popularity is winning out over actual performance on the Wednesday night show. Anyhow I am sad about Stefano.

So now another week is over so closing this account with a wish you all have a great week ahead.

Because of a busy day yesterday and last night I wasn't able to see the results show. OMG, how sad to find out Stephano got the boot. I agree with you Crystal. I'm looking forward to buying some music from him. He was one of the better contestants of some of the few that are there. :(

I am slightly upset that I missed David Cook's performance. I really like him and I'm also looking forward to buying his new Cd come June. Yay!

Well, next week is going to be anyone's guess on who goes home next. Carole King songs, huh? This is going to be interesting.