quick critic

OK, the female American Idol contestants have two advantages over the men. First, more of them have more obvious talent. And second, all of them want to win and take the whole thing way more seriously.

I only have a few things to grumble about tonight, unlike last night, which was so icky, I reduced it to a tiny footnote in an entry otherwise about the Bicentennial! By the way, one more thing about last night. Sundance Head. I'd included him in my "honorable mention" category last week (which can be taken with a grain of salt because my only other H.M. was voted off), but this week, I've completely jumped off the Sundance bandwagon. He attempted to sing "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam, and it became painfully apparent to me why nobody except Eddie Vedder should ever sing a Pearl Jam song. Ted was baffled that I found it such an affront.

So, brief girl gripes. My biggest issue is with Antonella Barba. She should have been one of the first off, but she's managed to hang on through a few weeks of remarkably weak attempts at singing. As if that weren't bad enough in itself, tonight she had the audacity to mutilate the wonderful Corinne Bailey Rae song, "Put Your Records On." Shame, shame, shame!

Otherwise, Gina did a respectable Evanescence although she shouted it a bit -- Amy Lee, she's not. Sabrina proved again she can sing even if her power and flair were a bit lacking tonight. Jordin tried a bit too hard on a Pat Benatar song, but the talent peeked through. Haley was OK but ultimately forgettable.

Which leads me to the girl highlights. Here are my favorites, in order of my preference.


1. Melinda Doolittle. Holy cow. Let the judges say whatever they want about her timidity, Melinda is world-class. She may be shy and unassuming in pre- and post-singing chat, but when she's on stage, she is a superbly talented and entertaining professional. And her performances have never disappointed me. Not once. Not only my favorite female, but my favorite to win the Season 6 Idol crown.


2. Lakisha Jones. It's unfair to put Lakisha in second place, because -- much like Melinda -- her performances are always flawless. She has a confident and powerful voice and presence, and clearly should make a living as a singer (not a banker!). This is obviously some inexplicable differentiation in my head that puts Lakisha slightly behind in the ratings, but it's certainly not for lack of talent. She has also never given anything other than lustrous performances.


3. Stephanie Edwards. Also talented and strong, she's a little less consistent than Melinda and Lakisha. Still, she's got the ingredients: she just needs to cook them up the right way every week. Noteworthy though really meaningless in the context of singing well to win a contest -- her dress tonight was stunning. And her hairstyle reminds me of Fantasia.

With that, I bid bon soir. I'm tired, and even the quickest of blog entries takes me an hour. Someday in the not-too-distant future, I will have more time to dedicate to this process. You'll see.

"You Taught My Heart to Sing" by Dianne Reeves. The funny thing about iTunes shuffle is that I feel like I should always be entering different artists here, but there's always the possibility of hearing the same artist numerous times in a sitting. Usually, it's a sign that there is a larger number of songs by said artist in my library. But sometimes, it's just random. In this case, it is the former. I love Dianne Reeves and am in possession of all of her recordings.