The "Haves" and "Have Nots"

Andrew Garcia, welcome back to the competition. While taking on "Forever", a song immortalized by a bridal party entrance last summer, Andrew actually brought himself back into the minds of those watching American Idol by infusing the song with a fresh arrangement. I knew he was capable of providing a refreshing take on songs, and tonight he reaffirmed that by putting a great spin on "Forever". Great addition of the strings, and loved using a percussionist on the cajon, my personal favorite percussion instrument of the moment.

By proving himself as a legitimate contender once again, he made the other ones who are not that much more obvious. Tonight I felt was a real breakdown of the "haves" and the "have nots".

The other "haves" tonight were Casey, Lee, Crystal and Mike, all of whom are quickly establishing themselves as the top 5 to beat. My problem with Casey is that he's just too...stiff. And, he has two moves. One of them is stepping up to the mic with the guitar. The other is stepping away from the mic with the guitar. And it all happens with literally two steps, or, really, one rocking motion. Kind of like a pivot. So, Casey has one pivot, and he doesn't stop smiling the whole time. Only, it's not a happy smile. It's more like a "I'm in a beauty pageant" smile. Forced, fake and uncomfortable. He's a great performer, don't get me wrong, but he's just not showing me that he really likes this ride. He's not comfortable.

Lee is the same way. Fantastic voice, but treats being on stage like getting a shot at the doctor. He has to go through it, but he's really glad once it's done because he doesn't have to do it again till next week. He strikes me as a guy who will do some great tracks on a CD, and a guy whose record I might actually have an interest in, but not a guy I'd go and see in concert.

Crystal was good tonight. I'm not going to knock her. At all. Just because she wasn't behind the guitar doesn't mean she was bad. It was a change, and I think if she receives criticism, it'll be because people fear change. People will say she had a good thing going with the guitar, why leave it? I think that's ridiculous. She's a top tier performer, no matter where she is or what she's doing. Tonight was her best of the season, but by no means was it poor. She simply got outshone by a few other performances.

Big Mike was also good, not great. I'm starting to get annoyed by his whiny, soul voice a little bit, but that doesn't mean he doesn't bring it every week (that sorta sounded like Randy). The gist of it is, Mike won't have to worry about any votes until it gets down to the top 5. Then, he might have to do a little something else with his voice. For now though, he's fine coasting along, doing safe songs that are in his wheelhouse.

The rest of the performers fall into my "have nots" category. I seriously couldn't distinguish the rest of tonight's performances from each other. Siobahn was pitchy (I don't know man, for me, it was pitchy dawg). Didi was boring. Katie shouldn't be singing Aretha. Aaron sang a song that's been sung by everyone and their mother's mother. Tim sucks.

I think tonight that Siobahn was actually revealed for who I feared she might be. She really had some pitch problems tonight, and I discovered that when she isn't power shrieking her top notes, she has a hard time singing out her upper range. She had a hard time finding the right note to sing when the song got higher, and she just never looked comfortable singing that song. I think this is a truth about Siobahn, and the further she goes into the contest, the more obvious this flaw will become.

I think Didi has worn out her welcome with America. She's got a cute voice, and a nice stage presence, but it's quickly becoming apparent that she just can't hack it with the best of this season.

Poor Aaron. Has he watched American Idol before this season? If he had, he would've known not to choose "Ain't No Sunshine", because Kris Allen most recently knocked that out of the park. Aaron didn't do a terrible job on that song. But comparatively speaking, he was just sub par with others who have done it. Even on the whole night, he was sub par. It just wasn't an interesting performance tonight.

I'm sorry, but no skinny white girl with a mediocre voice should EVER take on Aretha Franklin. I can't help but imagine Aretha sitting at home, watching tonight's performance, shaking her head over what has become of her once great song. It's been butchered by karaoke singers in probably every state, and she deserves better than that. Tonight, it was sung with amazing karaoke quality by Katie. If she were singing it at a bar, I'd have given her a round of applause, and then gone back to eating bar pretzels and finishing my black and tan, never giving a second thought to what I just heard, because it just blended into the background noise.

And Tim, well, come on. What more criticism could the judges offer except the one, glaringly obvious truth that they can't say on TV: "I don't know why we picked you to be in the top 24". They won't say it, but every comment they make, every joke they offer every week just dances around that one statement. They really want to admit that it was a mistake to put him in the top 24 and give America a chance to vote for his cuteness, but they won't. To do so would lessen the credibility of American Idol, whatever credibility it has left.

So, all that being said, tonight's Idol Rankings:

1. Andrew. 2. Lee. 3. Casey. 4. Crystal. 5. Mike. 6. Siobahn. 7-10 (whatever order...doesn't matter). Didi, Aaron, Katie and Tim.

Tomorrow night's bottom 3: Katie, Tim and Didi.