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Well, America voted and sent home one of the contestants with the most true vocal talent – Jessica.

Anthony didn’t end up in the bottom 3 as I predicted he would. Anwar did, but he was saved. I don’t know why I am surprised by this. I go though it every season of this stupid show. America votes on popularity, not pure talent. Anthony should have gone home. He has been inconsistent and off key through much of the competition.

This has all the potential to be like last year when America kept that red-haired freak of a Sinatra impersonator, John Stevens, around for way, way, way too long. His “talent” ran out of gas on the first week or two of the show yet America kept him around until his presence was uncomfortable. Even he was at the point where he realized he should go.

So here we are again. We’ll keep Anthony around not based on talent, as it should be, but based on the fact that he is a young, blond haired, immigrant that couldn’t even speak until his operation. It’s a fantastic success story. They should make a made-for-TV movie out of it. But he doesn’t belong on this show any longer.

America, we’re still a bunch of dumbasses.

See ya next week.

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The theme of tonight’s show was The 90′s. Tons of great songs that could have been chosen. Too bad very few of them were. Last week I said that everyone showed up to sing. Tonight I wish a few would have stayed home instead of just going through the motions. I think I actually enjoyed some of the commercials more than some of the performances tonight. Don’t these people realize what is at stake here?

Bo - Took a little risk with this song. I never liked the song much but he did it pretty well. Jessica - Nice voice. Strange place in the song for a key change. Guess it’s the arrangement though. Just OK. Anwar - This guy has an amazing voice, but I’m not sure he knows how to control it. He really nails high notes. Everything else bores me. Nadia - One of her better performances for me. Still just OK though, but it should keep her out of the bottom. Constantine – Nice job. Interesting song choice after talking about how the 90′s grunge got him in to music. The best I have heard him sing. Nikko – Not bad. Heard a couple pitch problems. He has a good voice though. Anthony - Honestly, this guy bores me to tears. Nothing unique or exciting about him to me at all. This level of talent exists in just about every Church across the country. Strong finish, but I think he’ll be in the bottom 3 tomorrow. Carrie - Went Country. I think this is where she sings her best. Not her best performance for me tonight though. One of the best though. Scott - Does this guy freak me out? Absolutely. Can he sing? Yes. Not his best tonight. May be in the bottom 3 tonight. Vonzell - Probably her best. Whitney is a tough one to do. I liked most of it. Heard a few bad notes.

So, who do I think should be in the bottom 3? Anthony, Anwar, and Scott. Might be close for Bo, but I would like to see him avoid it. I think Anthony and Scott are the most vulnerable. I think people probably find Anthony more likable, but based on talent he should be the one to go. Of course I say should, which means we may have seen Scott’s last performance tonight.

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Some of the best performances I think I have ever seen on American Idol happened tonight.

First, the great… - Carrie absolutely did her best tonight. Truly blew the roof off the place. - Bo did a great job tonight, as usual. Very consistent performer. - Vonzell made up for last week’s week performance. - Scott did a really good job as well. - Constantine took a huge risk and did pretty well, but I expect he will fizzle out soon. - Nikko did the best he has ever done tonight. - Jessica did a nice job tonight. She’s better than I thought she was.

Now for the not so great… - Anthony isn’t good enough in my opinion. - Nadia took a big chance and I’m not so sure it paid off. - Mikalah just did her last performance I believe. She should be voted off after this one. - Anwar, Anwar, Anwar. Trust me on this, stay away from the low range. You don’t have it. High range, great. Low, no way. Be glad Mikalah is still on the show to get voted off this week or you could be in some trouble.

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As you may know from reading earlier posts here, I stopped listening to anything Clear Channel owned over 1 year ago. That’s when they pulled Stern from the air. At that time I thought Satellite would be a possibility for him to move to, so I thought I would buy some stock. But which one should I choose. The choice for me was pretty simple since Clear Channel is an investor in XM. Sirius would be it then. It has not let me down – yet.

I have assumed I would add Sirius to my car some time before January 2006, just before Howard goes on the air there. That is still “probably” what I will do, but I have been getting hooked more and more on a thing called PodCasting. Don’t let the name fool you, PodCasting does not mean you have to own an iPod. The “Pod” piece of PodCasting could be pretty much any mp3 player. People, just like you and I, record their own shows and post them on the web. From there you can listen to them or have them download to your mp3 player. I won’t get in to all the technical particulars on how to do it, but I’ll add a few links at the end of this for those that want to learn more.

The first PodCast I ever listened to was called the Daily Source Code, by Adam Curry. Remember him? He was a VJ on MTV. He does one of the more polished shows I listen to, but there are pieces of it I really don’t care for. I like more of a Talk Show feel to it, but he adds MashUps (which I really don’t care for) and does a Hit Test, which I care for even less. Remember the old Name That Tune game show? I didn’t care much for it either. But I do like everything else he has done. My favorite one right now is probably the Dawn and Drew Show. It is just fun to listen to and it lacks that redeeming social value that you know I really don’t care for.

How does this affect my decision to subscribe to Sirius radio? Well, right now all of these PodCasts are free. Sirius is a monthly subscription service. I can pull down any number of shows on various topics every day and build my own radio station of things that I want to hear. The only thing that would be missing for me would be the Stern piece. I would, however, be willing to pay a small fee for his shows that I wanted to hear.

If you are already in to this you realize the amazing transformation that is about to happen. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you owe it to yourself to read up on it a little. Here are a few links to get you started.

http://www.ipodder.org/ http://www.podcast.net/ http://www.thepodcastnetwork.com/ http://www.podshow.com/

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I’m not sure anyone really blew me away tonight, but based on some of the performances you start to wonder how they got this far.

Anwar - Maybe the worst I ever heard him starting out. Improved by the end but… Jessica - I thought she did pretty well. Mikalah - I think her attitude has worn out its welcome. Possible casualty this week. Lindsey - Sounded off-key to me for most of the song. Might be joining Mikalah. Constantine – One of his best performances. Anthony - Started off strong but had a terrible finish. Will it cost him? Nadia - Probably the best I ever heard her. Wow. Potential to win it all. Bo - My favorite. I’d love to see someone like him win it. Song matched his voice perfectly. Vonzell - Looked amazing. Sounded like some pitch problems to me. I thought it was just OK. Scott - This guy freaks me out, but he has an incredible voice. He should go far. Carrie - Great song choice for her voice. I expected her to be a little better though. She is better than her performance. Nikko - This guy has a great voice. Did a decent job with this song.

I’m guessing it will be between Anwar, Mikalah, and Lindsey packing their bags this week. Nikko was just OK, but I think he’ll stick around a little while. Mikalah was the weakest this week in my opinion, and should be the one to go, but I’m guessing there are too many people out there that will keep her around for her personality instead of eliminating her because of her talent.

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