AIVI recap lite, Finalists x 6B (05/01)

Just a mini recap this morning. Or a recap lite, if you will.

First off, I thought Idol Gives Back was a great thing last week. They’ve raised over $70 million so far. Although, I don’t mind AI helping raise money, I’d like to see them donate a TON of money too. I don’t think matching all of the donations is necessary, but a substantial amount wouldn’t be out of the question, seeing how much FOX, etc makes off this show. News Corp was going to give $0.10 per vote for the first 50 million votes. $5 million isn’t a bad donation. They said that their major sponsors gave undisclosed amounts. Why not disclose? Anyway, they are taking donations up to May 31, but if you really wanted to donate after that, I don’t think they’ll turn your money away. And yes, we did give a little.

I didn’t watch the whole two-hour show last week (we TiVoed it), but I did see Carrie Underwood (how do you think Gina Glocksen felt after hearing that version of “I’ll Stand By You?”) and Mama Cass, er Kelly Clarkson. I thought the Josh Groban with the kids thing was cool. Annie Lennox looked good for her age. I saw Blondie a few years back on a free DirecTV concert and she looked old and heavy. I’ll have to watch the whole benefit again to catch the whole effect.

Jon Bon Jovi night. He’s kinda sold out as of late. He owns the Philadelphia Soul, an Arena League football team and is way overexposed from that. I think they got a contract with NBC to start and they might be on ESPN now. John Elway was the same way. After he divorced his wife, I think he needed to feel appreciated and be in the spotlight. TAP helped that, as he was a spokesperson for Prevacid for a bit. And he also owned the Denver/Colorado AFL team. Didn’t Bon Jovi play at a Super Bowl recently? Still, his rock songs are pretty classic.

Thought Jordin would be the frontrunner because of her Pat Benetar performance earlier in the competition, but she struggled mightily. How old did it make Bon Jovi feel when Jordin kept talking about how her mother would be so jealous that she was singing with him?

I thought Phil was okay. Same as always. Good voice. Nice guy. Scary looking. Not an original voice. He’s really on borrowed time on this show. It’s like he called the front desk for a late checkout and they accommodated it. He should be gone tonight.

Didn’t know the song that LaKisha sang but that probably worked to her advantage. She blew this song out, probably because it wasn’t a rock song. Was it enough to keep her in? Maybe to next week, but then she’s probably gone. Third place is her ceiling, but she’ll be fighting Blake for that.

Speaking of Blake, THIS was the performance I’ve been waiting for all year. Honestly, it was this song that motivated me to write something this morning. Because I’m not your classic rocker, this song was cool for me. It might have been hard for Bon Jovi to see this done to his song, but he allowed him to do it (unlike Queen with Ace Young last year) and it totally worked. Like Simon said, probably half loved it and half hated it. I was in the “loved it” category. His beatboxing and sound effects are so cool. He should team up with the dude from Police Academy and do a whole CD without instruments.

I thought Chris was okay. I really think he’s almost out. He kinda R&Bed the song up, but not really. It was like N*Sync singing Bon Jovi. Doesn’t really work.

Melinda continues to shine. She said “I’m so bad at rock,” but then sings spot on. And adds a little Tina Turner to it. If she’s not the frontrunner again, I’ll lose faith in this show. She’s really reminiscent of Kelly Clarkson in the first year. Kelly never had a bad night. That doesn’t make you an American Idol because because consistency doesn’t make you a star. It just means you can navigate through the different genres that they throw at you. But, Melinda’s voice is so good and her personality is such (like Kelly’s) that I really think she should win going away.

Bottom 3 should be Phil, CRich and LaKisha, but don’t be surprised to see Jordin down there after last night’s debacle. Blake could sneak down there too. I only think that Melinda is safe.

On a different note, does anyone watch “Dancing With The Stars?” We just started watching last week, but it’s tough to fit it in with everything else we tape. On Monday alone, we’re taping “How I Met Your Mother,” “The Class” (which is done for the season already) and “Two And A Half Men.” I had “Studio 60” taping but they are on permanent hiatis right now. I absolutely love DWTS. It’s not the stars. It’s not the skimpy costumes the women wear (although that doesn’t hurt). It’s not even the dancing. It’s how much fun the celebs are having. There is so much pressure on AI because this is the singers’ shot at stardom. But the stars have already made it. There is a genuine camaraderie going on. And it’s cool to see how hard they work and train to look somewhat competent on the dance floor. And Carrie Ann Inaba is hot. I think she looks like a Japanese Jennifer Lopez. She’s Paula, but meaningful. And the hosts are good too. Tom Bergeron is pretty good. But that girl has such a husky voice. How did she get a speaking part? No, I won’t be recapping DWTS, but just wanted to throw it out there that we’re watching.