Hello and welcome to the first re-cap of the real show of American Idol now that we have passed the auditions and the Hollywood rounds. Several of the people who will perform tonight were on my list of favorites to make it to the top 12, however after viewing the show the best I can say for many is that they were less than stellar. I hate to quote Simon but his word "forgettable" covers over half that sang tonight.
Ryan Seacrest gives his usual intro looking quite casual in jeans and a sweater. He introduces the judges who also look casual and somewhat laid back with the start of this new season. Lots of prompts to Kara DioGuardi who is our newest judge follows with a question directed to each judge on what the contestants need to do to stand-out. Basically the same answers are given as with each season but the main one is: sing well.
Our format this year is different for the eliminations as our votes will determine who is the highest vote-getting guy and girl who will advance to the top 12. The next highest vote-getter whether it be male or female gets the honor of the third spot of the top 12. This process will last for 3 weeks and then comes a wild card show where I am assuming the judges will pick who should go on. I could be wrong on this but we will soon see how this will all pan out. Now for the performances:
Jackie Tohn is up first and looks goofy in her black pants and polka-dotted top. She is singing the 1968 song "A Little Less Conversation" that was a big hit by Elvis Presley. She shows lots of energy and overall the vocals were not terrible but as Simon mentions she seemed more like a clown than an entertainer. Randy, Kara and Paula were kind with their remarks but I was not overly impressed with her. My grade: B-
Ricky Braddy was one we saw little of during the process of choosing who should make the top 36 so this is a huge moment for him to show us what he has got to offer. He is singing the 1969 classic "A Song For You" written by Leon Russell. He has range and does a fair job with the song although I honestly feel Elliott Yamin of season 5 did it better. Paula loves him and gives him a standing ovation. The other judges mention his good tone but Simon is not sure he has star quality to advance. My grade: B
Our next contestant is 21 year old Alexis Grace. She is a pretty girl dressed in black and loved her blond hair streaked with pink. Doing the 1967 Aretha Franklin hit "Never Loved A Man" she wows the judges. Personally I thought she tried to make it her own but there were moments in there where she was almost shrieking the lyrics. Overall I found her to be just okay. My grade: B
Brent Keith is a cutie with his adorable dimples. He is doing a country song by Jason Aldean entitled "Hickstown" which came out in 2005. I am not into country as you all know but I sort of liked this song and Brent did sing it nicely. The judges felt he played it to safe with his song choice and once again I sort of agree with Simon that while he did well he is not showing any real star quality. Simon's word "forgettable" played into this critique. My grade: B-
The next performance was one of the worst of the night in my opinion and that is sad as I liked Stevie Wright. She is performing Taylor Swift's 2008 song "You Belong With Me". In my opinion this was just an below average karaoke version of this song. She had some rough notes along the way and frankly I was bored with this performance. All the judges agree this was indeed the wrong song choice for this 16 year old and Simon added it was terrible. I agree. My grade: D
Anoop Desai has already gotten a big fanbase and I feel they may have to vote extra hard to get him to make it through the next phase. He chose the wrong song I think by doing Monica's 1998 song "Angel of Mine". He has shown he has soul as we saw in Hollywood but this song bordered on dreary in my opinion. Some of the judges mention that some of his notes were sharp and that is a true statement. I think this guy can sing but overall I was not wowed at all. My grade: B-
Why on earth would a pretty girl like Casey Carlson pick a Police song to sing on this first night. Wrong song choice as she performs the 1981 hit "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic". The judges were brutal with their remarks but I feel they were justified. The performance was totally overdone and very animated with her being off-key most of the song. Bad, bad, bad. My grade: D-
I like Michael Sarver and feel when he sings soul he is awesome. However tonight he sort of lets me down by performing Gavin DeGraw's 2003 hit "I Don't Wanna Be". Overall he just sounded okay doing this pop number and if I am being honest I do not think any idol has done this song as well as the original. While all the judges agreed this was not his best performance Simon does add that he hopes he has another chance to come back. Me, too. My grade: B-
I think Anne Marie Boskovich sealed her doom by her performance of "A Natural Woman" which was a 1967 hit by Aretha Franklin. Talk about lackluster and boring. Her only saving grace was she showed some range on some of her notes. At best I had to agree with Randy's comment that the whole performance was subpar. My grade: C
Another contestant that fails to impress is Stephen Fowler. Remember he was the one who did so dismally during his solo in Hollywood. Tonight he picks "Rock With U" by Michael Jackson which was a huge hit in 1979. I felt the whole performance was karaoke with a capital K plus several bum notes along the way. Paula described the performance the best by calling it the kiss of death. My grade: C-
Tatiana Del Toro manages to keep her annoying self zipped up for her moment on the stage. Tonight we are getting a reserved Tatiana who is singing the 1985 hit "I'm Saving All My Love For You" made famous by Whitney Houston. When she started I had to strain to hear her as she was singing so softly however gets louder as the song progresses. She does have a few off-key notes but also shows some talent with her ability. I was not wowed and felt she did just okay overall. The judges were more into the fact that she was acting so demure then her actual performance but Randy and Simon thinks she did better than expected. My grade: B-
Our final contestant is Danny Gokey and frankly for me personally this was the only shining moment of the whole night. When I heard that he was going to sing the 1993 hit "Hero" by Mariah Carey I groaned however he made it his own and gives a stellar performance as said by Kara. Simon was not totally blown away but Paula and Randy were very happy with this performance. My grade: A
So our first 12 have performed and I found most of it boring and using Simon's word again forgettable. Who do I think should advance on; well for sure Danny Gokey for the guy. Not much to choose from on the girl side of the show but I will go with Alexis Grace. My third choice is another tough one because I would love to see Michael Sarver advance but think he will be out-distanced by Anoop Desai. I now close and wait to hear what you think of tonight's performance. Back tomorrow with the results.
Take care all!
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Subject: 12 Take The Stage - 2/17/09 
Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:39 am
Most of the performances last night were dull, at best. However, I really liked Ricky Braddy. I had not heard him until last night and I was very impressed. 