In addition to being a band director, do you also teach choir?

No.

ETA: our choir director is hot, though.

haha Cook did really well with that. About 2 cringe-worthy pitch problems, but he knocked it out of the park.

Incidentally, I abstained on Syesha intentionally. She sang in a style that I just don't really enjoy and I think is pretty tough for me to critique. Purely objectively, I think she did fine, though the run at the end was a bit rough in the middle. Subjectively, though, I didn't enjoy it at all and was kind of lost musically most of the time.

Well this is a disaster. What a terrible song choice. Am I the only one that doesn't know this song again?

eta: dammit people learn your effin lyrics

I thought they all did well with their first song. Cook did exactly what I thought he would do and was the best of the first 3.

That Chris Brown song just did not fit DavidA at all, and he struggled. Just didn't look comfortable at all.

David A shouldn't have done that.

Syesha should call Carrot Top to get some props.

Now that was a performance I can behind by Syesha. Very nice.

eta after judge: wow, I didn't agree with them on that. I thought she did a nice contemporary take on the song.

I doubt the voters see it that way but I'm in the camp that believes the public votes are used as advisement.

Does Archuleta need to have the same face for every song? He is singing this song looking like he is trying to drop a duece.

Round 1: Cook, Archuleta, Syesha
Round 2: Syesha, Cook, Archuleta
Round 3: Archuleta, Cook, Syesha

Simon said Cook wins the night, and I agree, but not by much, as you see above. It wasn't by virtue of that Aerosmith disaster. His pitch was horrible, the worst I've heard him in awhile (pitch has always been his achilles heel, but he has controlled it pretty well in the last, say, 6-7 weeks). Cook's performance of the Roberta Flack tune was what won it tonight. Archuleta was very average (to bad!) all night, but that was enough, I think, to sneak past Syesha's really bizarre night, and abyssmal last song (worst of the night from anyone).

Should be Syesha going home on merit this time. In reality, who knows. It certainly doesn't always go by merit.

Archuleta's song was good, Cook's song was good......what in the hell was that crap they gave Syesha? She sang whatever was there to sing ok, but really, against the songs the 2 David's got to sing? Really?

I didn't expect Syesha to make it to the final two, but did they have to give her a song that basically guarantees she won't make it? I've seen Happy Feet with my kids more than once and don't remember that song at all. I could pick 5 contemporary female R&B artists for her to sing, and they choose Gia Farrell? Who?

Just disappointing. If she makes it to the top 2 after that, I'll be totally shocked.

yeaaaaahh, im gonna go ahead and have to disagree with you on that one

Totally agree. Clear as day who the producers of the show want to make the final two. It's really somewhat shameful to look at it to be honest. They could have chosen a song that many more people would know and that would not have been seen as some little kiddie song. I actually think she was better than David A tonight who I thought had his worst night all season overall. However, she doesn't have a chance against the other two.

MJ4H you are so out of the loop with contemporary hits :)

Best performance of the night goes to Cook's rendition of "Miss a Thing"

Archuleta has just proven to the world that he can only do shmaltzy ballads and is unable to do anything contemporary.

AND he did it by his own decision. Not very wise.

where is the vomit smiley

Good God. Just watched the tivo'd show, and I think Simon called a Bryan Adams song "One of the greatest songs of all time." I am now flabbergasted.

*shakes head*

I'm only about halfway through the show, but I think Archuleta did fine with the Chris Brown song. He actually looked like a kid, not a trained puppy doing an act for old people.

You mean Aerosmith. Written by Diane Warren, who just happens to be in the audience.

I think between the one-two punch of that Chris Brown song followed by Dan Folgelberg, David A. has cemented his place as the next Michael Bolton. He has been compared to Clay Aiken some, and I've got another reason to compare them - it's going to take one hell of a post-AI/pre-CD release makeover to turn this kid into what they thought they were getting when they hand-picked him to be a finalist for this show last summer.

Aside from the fact that he couldn't breathe or stay in tune at all, I completely agree

I stand corrected. Terrible song, less embarrassing artist. As for DA, it was impressive to see someone take a Dan Fogelberg song and make it even less ballsy.

At least he was smiling. He actually looked like he was having fun for a change. We already know the kid can sing. I'd rather see him enjoying the experience at this point instead of making grandmothers across America touch themselves.

I was underwhelmed with Cook tonight. Pitch problems all over the place, nothing that really rocked, and I was very disappointed the Collective Soul choice was either wrong or he changed it.

As usual, Syesha was better than the judges gave her credit for, and she's the easy choice to go home. Randy is so far up the producers' asses, it's not even funny. He automatically gives her bad/non-enthusiastic reviews, then goes apeshit after every Archie performance.

At this point, I don't care who wins. And ironically, I'll be traveling during the final episode, so I'm already looking forward to next summer's auditions.

Tay Zonday is probably enjoying himself when he sings, but that doesn't translate to listening pleasure.

OK, grandma.

Are you speaking to me or MJ4H?

The judges were all on Paula Pills tonight.

Just watched the recording. Strange night.

Only one thing stood out.... Syesha looked HOT and LOVED her second song.

How long can they get away with this? Archuleta has been decidedly mediocre for several weeks now, and they rave for every one of his performances. At one point my wife and I were screaming "Are you even listening?" to the TV.

From the Frontier:

http://www.solecismic.com/frontierblog/?p=256

Overall: A predictable night where each contestant was firmly planted exactly where he or she belongs this season. We heard what they will record as professionals. And what they won’t.

Interestingly, Paula herself was not. She was very critical last night.

except for the fact that he missed the next to last note (which he held for 5 seconds) by about 2 miles....it actually started to hurt my ears he was so far off

thats the thing about david archuletta...he is the only one that hits his notes in stream...the others miss by a little (or in some cases alot), and then tune themselves while they are holding the note.....last night was the first time i really noticed david cook doing it, but syesha has been doing it the entire competition.

Until tonight, because after tonight, it won't matter anymore.

Interesting DI results...predictable, yet I don't think Seacrest will tout the "closest race ever" in the matchup of Davids.

That's always been Syesha's problem. She's much better now than she was a few years back on The One (NBC's attempt at an AI show), but I remembered her enough to recall her massive pitch problems then. She's reigned it in a bit, but she can almost never get through a performance without some pitch problems.

I was speaking to you, grandma. Sorry, I was a bit ambiguous there, grandma.

:D

That was more of a tweak aimed at MJ4H than anything. I just couldn't resist, especially since before you even posted that I was thinking of taking his "David Archuleta is pleasing to listen to" comment and posting a picture of someone's grandma under it.

Best column, yet.

I agree with the critiques, as well.

Well, damn.

HA!

One of my friends does a recap of each AI show as part of his blog, and had this line:

It's that Aerosmith song from Armageddon that Bryan Adams must have passed on.

So, I think you have a legit excuse for confusing the two.

No surprise tonight.

Fantasia is one hideous creature, did anyone see the look on Simon's face right after she performed? It was priceless.

Indeed. That was almost the highlight of the season for me...

Chris Tucker in drag...NOW WITH RED HAIR!

You know what's funny? We watched the first 45 seconds of her song (would have been less, but I was so dumbfounded by what I saw I couldn't tear myself away) that I saw Simon's look even through the fast-forward past the rest of her performance. We went back and watched that part in real time to confirm what it looked like in FF.

I obviously haven't followed her since she left AI, but every time she has come back has been an absolute disaster. I remember when she came back to do her first single and almost went hoarse she was screaming so much. And last night...I'm not sure what the hell that was. I couldn't understand of word of it, and I'm not sure she was even singing. That was horrid. I wonder how many sales she's lost by appearing on AI?

lol, my wife and I did the same thing.

I can't get over what a beast she is.

I was actually frightened watching her.

My first comment upon seeing Fantasia was "It's RuPaul!" Then my mind made the connection to Chris Tucker in "The Fifth Element." Fantasia's entire, uh, "performance" was utterly disturbing. Simon's face definitely said it all.

gosh, where did they all park?

The only other memorable moment last night - besides Ryan reading the Chaka Khan thing and getting flustered because he knew immediately that was wrong and lost his train of thought - was when the 112 year old mayor of Sarasota did a handstand, and I cracked, "That's the closest her boobs have been to her shoulders since 1974."

That, in a nutshell, is why I enjoy watching reality TV.