For A.I. Fans Only: 4 Down, 4 To Go
By CATHY S.
sokocathy(at)gmail.com
I became a fan of Jason Castro last week when he sang The Lovin’ Spoonful’s Daydream. I thought he was an adorable performer and I enjoyed his vocals. A cactus i.v. reader told me that he was one of her choices for best of the night. What a difference a week makes. One co-worker predicted that he would be the one sent home this week and the judges who loved him last week told him that his vocals weren’t great, his vocals were weak and he looked very uncomfortable. It’s got to be some emotional roller coaster ride for the contestants. I give them a lot of credit for doing what they’re doing.
I thought that this would be Jason Yeager’s last week after his performance of the Doobie Brothers’ Long Train Runnin. The adjective that kept coming to my mind as I watched him was “corny.” Simon agreed with me then added a few other, not very flattering adjectives namely boring, awkward, horrific and ghastly. America agreed and Jason is out this week.
Also out is Robbie Carrico. Maybe Brittney Spears will let him open for her again when she feels better.
David Archuletta was the choice of the majority of people that I talked to as their favorite of the night. One of my family members commented she loved the way Archuletta covered John Lennon’s Imagine, a song she never particularly liked before. The judges loved the performance saying “brilliant,” “one of the most moving performances” and “risky, but you pulled it off.” I wasn’t that enthusiastic about the performance. I kept wishing that I would hear some of the melody of the original version of the song, which I did finally, but it was so brief. One of my co-workers wondered what all the fuss was about also.
David Hernandez was another huge favorite of the night. I loved his rendition of Papa Was a Rolling Stone. I thought he looked very comfortable and that his vocals were amazing. He is becoming one of our favorite contestants but because we never saw his audition, he is not on any of our lists. Despite that, we are rooting for him to get into the top 12.
Our third favorite of the night is the third David. I believe that David Cook is the real deal and he knows who he is musically. I am becoming a big fan of his. I am finding, though, that a lot people are having a problem with him. It’s not with his music, but his hair. If someone forgets his name, they will describe him as the one with the horrible hair and I know instantly now who they are talking about. I never had a problem with his hair, but apparently I don’t know the difference between good hair and bad hair.
I also liked Chikeze. I didn’t care for him at all last week; maybe it was the orange suit.
Two girls were tied for the choice of the night among people I talked to.
Carly Smithson sang Heart’s Crazy On You. One week made a huge difference for her, especially for her health which got her bad reviews last week. This week the judges loved her with Randy thinking she was “good towards the end.” Two of her big fans are people who live in a mostly Irish community and who come from Irish descent. I am guessing that Carly will always be their choice for the week.
I was rooting for Amy Davis because she had the same ethnic background as I do. I guess my rooting didn’t help her any. Neither did the readers of Vote For The Worst. Now that Amy is gone, VoteForTheWorst.com is asking readers to vote for Amanda Overmeyer. She was the guess of two cactus i.v. readers for the girl who would go home this week. Was she saved by Vote For The Worst?
Kristy Lee Cook sang Linda Ronstadt’s You’re No Good. he also had to deal with illness last week and also got bad reviews. The judges all agreed that she was 100 percent better than last week.
She was a choice of mine for one of the best of the week. I agree with Simon that she might have some “real potential.” Too bad I didn’t notice it when I was making up my top 12 list.
Brooke White was our third choice of the night. She is a Carly Simon-Carole King type of singer so the song You’re So Vain suited her perfectly. The judges loved her, saying how much they “really loved it” and “absolutely loved it.” One of my co-workers calls her “plain and boring” and had just the opposite feelings about her as the judges did.
A couple of us really liked Ramiele Malubay and were very confused by the comments of the judges. Are they hearing something different than we are or are we that bad at judging singers?
Besides for Amanda Overmeyer, some guesses for who would be sent home this week included Kady Malloy and Alexandréa Lushington (You were right about this one MB). Alaina Whitaker was a surprise, although some of us didn’t like her song choice at all.
My top 12 is now down to 6. How are you doing? Hopefully better than me!

February 29th, 2008 at 1:41 am
I thought Syesha and Ramiele and Carly were good and the others were boring.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I thought that kid with the dreads was the one with the bad hair. Although this year, there are so many of them with bad hair
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Michelle - I liked Syesha also. How did we all hear something different than the judges when Ramiele performed? Hopefully, the retract their comments about her next week. They did that once before for someone else.
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Beth - I agree with you on your pick for the guy with the worst hair. I never noticed that David Cook had such bad hair until people were telling me that he looks like he’s practically bald and he takes whatever little hair he has and makes it fall down his forehead. I’m starting to see that now. I like him anyway. He’s one of my favorites.
March 5th, 2008 at 9:27 am
i really liked ramiele last week. i missed carly, but i liked the 10 second clip they showed of her at the end. luke menard has to go. i don’t understand how he stayed after that awful song he sang. and, michael john, i like him no matter what he sings.