Nick_Dussault's Blog

Sanjaya got mentioned more times last night at the Red Sox Welcome Home Dinner than Manny Ramirez. To be fair, Manny wasn’t in the house…then again neither was Sanjaya. He was busy working the crowd on Latin night – and it may have worked. Dubbed by Randy “one of the smartest contestants ever,” my favorite Italian was actually pretty good last night. But more on the man in the pimp spot later.

First let’s talk about J. Lo. She’s hot. Real hot actually. And she admitted she watches “American Idol.” Same day, different town, Taylor Hicks was heard saying he’s too busy to watch the show that gave him his fifteen minutes of fame. Isn’t his time up yet? Anyway, back to J.Lo. She was having a blast with the contestants, something the judges (and in all likelihood the viewers) couldn’t do. After hearing the Latina lovely claim “the key to Latin music is the passion” the rest of the evening was a long, slow, dull descent with only a couple of  bright lights to keep the masses awake long enough to watch the pricey ads on the small screen.

Melinda Doolittle started the night with “Sway” a sexy little number that she performed in a black dress that made her look like the 50-year old single aunt of a bride at a really dull wedding. Before she began Doolittle said she’s “not sexy” but I think the problem is her lack of confidence extends far beyond her vocal prowess. No doubt she can sing, but even Simon, one of her biggest fans, commented on her lack of personality calling her performance “a bit lazy, a little bit wooden.” Ouch. First cut is the deepest, Melinda.

Kiki didn’t fare much better in the eyes of the judges but I have to disagree. I thought her rendition of “Conga” was actually a lot of fun to watch. She moved around the stage, working the crowd and shaking her bodacious booty like the sexy lady that she is. You go, Kiki. I voted for you…over and over again.

Not so Chris Robinson whose take on Rob Thomas and Carlos Santana’s “Smooth” was anything but. The judges all liked it, Paula even called it “sexy.” (Watch out, Chris.) But the sound on my TV must be going because I heard an awful lot of pitch problems, a plethora of missed notes and a decided lack of rhythm in his karaoke-like performance. And what was up with that scarf around his neck when he met with J. Lo? She’s Jennie from the block dude, not you.

Now Haley could use some help from Tom & Katie’s new best friend. We all know the wedding singer’s two best assets – one comes in cup sizes and the other is a matching set of long and lean. The rest is so simple. She just needs to keep them on display. Simon, one of her biggest fans, commented on her “tactic at this point. Wear as least amount of clothes as possible.” Nobody knows how to show skin better than J. Lo. You borrow the green dress that made her famous and you’ve just bought yourself a couple more weeks on “Idol.” Every red-blooded American man who watched the hottie bounce around the theater singing “Turn the Beat Around” had to cast a vote for her. When Haley said her performance “got the audience going” do you really think she meant her singing?

Speaking of going, please let this be the week Phil Stacey takes his leave. His rehearsal gave J. Lo “goose pimples.” His performance gave me a reason to fast forward. Why do people vote for him? Simon said it was “nothing I can get excited about.” He’s right. But then the David Koresh lookalike said his daughter’s stuffed cow is named Simon Cow. Ugh, there he goes again. He always manages to slip something in that makes people want to give him a vote because he’s such a nice guy, he’s got a nice family and he’s in the military. And it seems to work, unfortunately.

Jordin Sparks sang “The Rhythm is Gonna Get You” and I liked it, a lot. Randy and Paula also sang her praises. Simon, though admitting she’s a “good singer” called it an “okay performance.” Seriously, was he even listening? She looked good, dressed age appropriately and finished with a huge note and a diva move. Seacrest might be right about her winning the whole thing.

But not without a fight from Blake Lewis. In what seems like the ultimate in suck-up moves, the beatboxer chose a song from the vast repertoire of Mr. J. Lo. And yet despite being turned off by this move, it was hard to not pick up the phone and vote for probably the best performance of the night. He worked the crowd, moved his body and made a few hearts go pitter patter as he deliverd, in Randy’s words, a “hot performance, dawg.”

I’m trying so hard to resist the temptation to use the cliché saving the best for last…let’s just say that seven singers later the only thing left was the performance all of America would be talking about the next day. Love him or hate him, it’s hard not to watch Sanjaya. And let’s face it, that’s what the producers want. Everyone knows who he is. Everyone has an opinion on his talent and his fate. And nearly everyone was probably surprised by his sweet, bi-lingual delivery of “Besame Mucho.” Sporting the kind of goatee that is the exclusive domain of 17-year olds, the national treasure even got Simon Cowell to admit “it wasn’t horrible.”

Let’s not forget Simon, Paula and Randy are the reason he made it to the top twenty-four. And let’s not forget the plethora of young girls, (and not-so-young as well I suppose), who probably got weak-kneed after he grinned for the camera and batted his puppy-dog eyes. Sanjaya’s no joke to the other contestants in this competition either. Somebody’s going home tonight and it won’t be him.

If there’s a bottom three, I’m guessing it’ll be Phil, Haley and (sadly) Melinda Doolittle. And, finally, I think tonight’s the night to say adios to Phil Stacey.

But first we get to watch an extended version of results night that includes a performance from J. Lo. 

I wish they’d bring the cheesy group numbers back. I miss them.

 

Until next time…

 

Vote for Sanjaya.

 

Go Kiki.

 

And, as always, Dussault, out.