They Did It Harry's Way

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!

Did you all enjoy Harry Connick Jr night on Idol?  Oh forgive me, I meant to say Frank Sinatra night.  It was an easy mistake to make considering Connick (as Seacrest kept referring to him in the video opening) took charge of all the song arrangements, played on each song, brought half his band and provided critique on occassion during judging.  To quote a friend of mine who posted this during the show, "Frank must be rolling in his grave right now and if possible, he may have thrown up in his mouth a little."  I completely understood where he was coming from as only 2 of the Top 5 contestants bothered to make an effort worthy of Ol' Blue Eyes.  And that effort only extended to the singing/performance and not to the whole package (at least for Mike, Aaron and Lee).  What do I mean?  Well I'll tell you (like you were worried).  Take a few minutes and Google Frank Sinatra and then count how many photos you find of him dressed like an Abercrombie and Fitch or Gap ad.  I'll save you the trouble (unless you are looking to kill some time then by all means Google away!) because you won't find any.  Sinatra was the dean of swagger, of cool and of dapper dress.  The man knew how to look the part and live the part.  Sure jeans cost $300 these days and are very high fashion but when performing Sinatra songs to an audience of 20 million or even an audience of 20 people you should take an extra minute or two and put on the suit pants and the wingtips (make sure they are nice and shiny) to go with the jacket and/or vest, tie and pocket square.  For crist sakes, his family was in the audience and low and behold, they were dressed up.  I'd even extend this complaint to Simon Cowell who apparently has forgotten how to button his shirts.  I keep expecting to see Tatiana del Toro pop out of his forest of chest hair and start singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."  But I digress....back to the topic at hand. 

I have to gice Casey his due.  For weeks on end I've been bashing him for his Western shirt and jeans uniform.  Lats night Casey understood that to be the man, you need to look like the man.  So Casey dressed up.  Sadly his vocals on "Blue Skies" were less than stellar and he will most likely find himself back in the bottom three.  I thought he did a pretty good job both vocally and by moving around the stage (albeit sparingly) in an attempt to not look like a statue.  But where Casey was ripped by the Judges for his poor vocals, Aaron was praised.  Why?  I have no idea.

Here's my thoughts on Aaron and his rendition of "Fly Me To the Moon".  They come in the form of a riff on the Old Spice commercial with Isaiah Mustafa:  'Hello ladies, look at Aaron, now back to Casey now back to Aaron, now back to Casey, sadly, he isn't Casey, but if he stopped dressing in clothes that are 2 sizes too big for him and started picking clothes from Crew Cuts, he could possibly look like Casey.  Look down, back up, where are you? Your on a stage with the man your mom wishes you'd dress like. What's in your hand? We have no idea because your sleeves are too long.  Look again, Aaron is in the bottom three because he sounds like a wonded baby animal when he sings.  Will Aaron be voted out?  Anything is possible when you butcher Sinatra.  The Judges are deaf."

Does anyone else find it interesting that there is only one girl left in the competition?  Especially when this was supposed to be the year (purported by all the Judges on various talk shows and in magazine interviews) that a girl would win?  Well it's now all up to Crystal and based on her last few performances, she is losing ground rapidly to Lee.  Crystal has been the front runner all season but what was once a run-away is now going to come right down to the wire and a photo finish is probably going to be needed to determine the winner.  Crystal looked the part last night in a lovely gown and updo but her performance of "Summer Wind" was anything but breezy and refreshing.  Not only do I not care what personal reasons were behind her selection of the song, I also don't care to hear Randy say "in it to win it" to someone that tried to quit the show.  If she were truly "in it to win it" then she wouldn;t need to explain herself each week because her performance would have already done the talking.  Time to shut up Crystal and just take the comments Tim Urban style (silently with a smile) and do better next time.  

Guess who's "in it to win it?"  Well that would be Mike, according to Randy.  Sure his rendition of "The Way You Look Tonight" was better than Aaron, Casey and Crystal's offerings but does that warrent the praise her received?  Yes and no.  I thought he sounded pretty good (compared to but again, he dropped a few too many runs into the melody - which Connick told him no to do (have any of the contestants actually listened to the mentor's advice this season?) and he almost completely dressed the part but his swagger still comes off a bit conceited/entitled for me.  It shouldn't hurt him thought as he should be in the Top 4.

Lee "Mini Connick" DeWyze picked a good time to have probably his best week to date.  He finally showed some life on stage and let loose.  "That's Life" could be the life for Lee if he manages to feed off the confidence that he showed last night and actually steal this season's crown.  I've said it before, Lee has the perfect voice for radio and he certainly has the look that the ladies seem to like (even if I still want to hit him with a 2x4) but if he doesn't grow from this week and he pulls a Casey (one step forward three steps back) he'll ensure that Crystal gets the title of Season 9 winner.....actually, that might not be a bad thing.

What did you all think of the show?  Are you excited for tonight?  Lady Gaga and Harry Connick, Jr!  Not a bad twosome.  Sadly we still get a Ford commercial and a group Lemming lipsync fiasco.  Leave comments below!

Congratulations to Scott to leaps into the lead after last weeks dibacle.
   
Current Standings (with who we picked to go home)


Scott -- 11 (Mike)
Yolanda -- 10 (Mike) (-0 for Siobhan)
Eric -- 10 (Mike) (-5 for Siobhan)
Mary M. --10 (Siobhan)
Lois -- 10 (Siobhan)
Emily -- 9 (Mike) (-2 for Siobhan)
Betty -- 8 (Mike) (-3 for Siobhan)
April -- 8 (Mike)
David -- 8 (Siobhan)
Jeff -- 5 (No Vote)
Shannon -- 4 (Lee) (-0 for Siobhan)
Kristen -- 4 (Mike)  (-4 for Siobhan)
Jon -- 1 (No Vote) (-5 for Siobhan)
Mary W. -- 1 (No Vote)
Margret -- 0 (No Vote)