American Idol - Songs from the Cinema

Some weeks at AI, you just get an abundance of riches...Quentin Tarentino! Muted judges! Stars! Stars! More stars! D-listers! I mean...where to begin... I guess, at the beginning. This week, Quentin Tarantino is the guest mentor. He's a music fan and a surprisingly good mentor. Despite looking like the waxy love child of Joan Rivers and Jay Leno, he's actually very good. He understands the visual aspect of delivering a song, and he gave really good notes (some of which were ignored to the detriment of some of the performers).



The audience was awash in celebrity. It's like being in the audience of the show is the hottest ticket in Hollywood. Seen in the crowd:

Christina Applegate
Katie Couric
Steven Van Zandt
Calpernia Adams
Cast member of Days of Our Lives

Okay...on to the performances!

Allison Iraheta - "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
Uhhh...wow! She sounds like Pink here, and that's a good thing. She took some liberties with phrasing that were nice and added some wonderful colors to an overdone, oversung song. She kinda strained at the end, but pulled it out.

Anoop Desai - "Everything I Do"
I loved it. Anoop very often is hit or miss. When he misses, he misses hard. When he hits, he knocks it out of the park. His voice here was just amazing...controlled and sure.

Adam Lambert - "Born to Be Wild"
It's always interesting in a "jump on a rollercoaster" sorta way, to watch Adam perform. He really is very self-assured and he sounded good. I still think he could dial it down from 12. Hubby says Adam just doesn't have a middle. He does quiet well, he is wonderful in his big notes and such, but he hasn't done something that didn't go to that over the top place. All in all, the performance was greatness.

Matt Giraud - "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman"
I can't say enough about how much I love his voice and phrasing. Still, he tried to do too much here and at one point he was so off that the good moments that began the song were eclipsed by the horrors of bad vocal runs.

Danny Gokey - "Endless Love"
I got chills. It was lovely. Now, would I have thought it was as lovely if I didn't know the backstory? Maybe. But, having the story made it all the better.

Kris Allen - "Falling Slowly"
Again, Kris is brilliant. It is a little known song that compared to the others wasn't a big showstopper, but he made you listen to him. You wanted to hear the lyrics, and THAT is what made this performance fantastic.

Lil Rounds - "The Rose"
Damn...she's wonderful! I liked the spin she took on the song. I loved the build. I loved the finish. She listened to the notes and delivered, if not a moment, one of the best performances of the night in a night of great performances.

Top 2: Adam and Lil

Bottom 2: Matt and maybe Danny

*sniff* Bye bye Matt.