Author: Andy Labis

By:

The Dude on the Right
So it’s 80’s night, and it’s ladies’ night, hope they’re feeling right, and
wearing clothes that are tight.  I’m gonna stop now and just get to what I
thought of the signing…

Asia’h Epperson
– She fell on her roller skates, wow.
– I Wanna Dance With Somebody – Whitney Houston
– Sings well enough and is smart enough to know she isn’t Whitney, but she
performs well.  Paula is on her feet.  Yay!
– Randy has to show how cool he is.  Dude, we get it.

Kady Malloy
– Who Wants to Live Forever – Queen
– One of my favoritist songs ever, and singing wise I thought she way great. 
If she actually did the entire version instead of a shortened version I might
actually buy the thing on iTunes, but sadly it was shortened.  The other
problem is that I guess they aren’t letting these people actually perform,
seemingly being restricted to that small circle in the center of the stage.
– And Paula knows where the magic is, but Simon kind of gets it right on the
personality side.

Amanda Overmyer
– I Hate Myself for Loving You – Joan Jett
– She almost seems to have lost her confidence and keeps looking at something at
the edge of the stage likes she’s not sure of herself.  Too bad because she
should have bolted this song out of the ballpark.  The singing was okay for
it, but for me it seemed timid.
– I guess the judges saw something different or maybe she was singing to them,
and for that it would work, but for my TV it didn’t.  She almost looked out
of it.  Guess we’ll see.

Carly Smithson
– On a personal note I don’t want her to win because she already had her
chance at a recording contract and has the performing experience, but I
digress…
– I Drove All Night – Cyndi Lauper (1989), Celine Dion (2003)
– She sang great, her tattoo bugs me, and fine, give her a recording contract
but get her off the competition.
– Paula thinks Carly is a dependable dog.

Kristy Lee Cook
– She thought she was a dog?
– Faithfully – Journey
– What are the odds on Randy mentioning he worked with Journey?  We’ll see.
– She’s a girl, but can’t hit the high notes like Steve Perry did?  And
what’s up with the red tongue?  She would have done better trying to turn
this "Faithfully" into a country version.
– Yup, Randy called Steve Perry, "Perry." Paula thinks it could be a country
hit, but for me it wasn’t country enough except for maybe the looks.  Maybe
the red tongue is from medication as it sounds her voice is having problems.

Ramiele Malubay
– Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) – Phil Collins
– I like her, thinks she sings well, but man, this song didn’t work for me. 
Worst song choice of the night, mostly because she couldn’t sing the entire
thing to work it.
– Paula is, well, in full Paula mode.

Brooke White
– Love is a Battlefield – Pat Benatar
– She sings purty, she is purty, but this song is all about passion, and her
performance totally lacked it.  And what’s up with the giant "looks like
one of those candy, sucker" rings on the girl’s fingers.  I guess I’m just
not a fashion guru.  She needed to kick butt on this song, and didn’t.
– Randy proves that he doesn’t know things, again, and I don’t agree with Simon
on his take on her performance.

Syesha Mercado
– Saving All My Love for You – Whitney Houston
– At times she sings like an angry Whitney Houston, which is okay, and does a
fine job with the rest of it..  She should move on, and with no real
comments from the judges I’m guessing they are running out of time, but if you
watch her doing Whitney compared to Asia’h at the top of the show, you can see
Syesha being the better singer.

Once again I question some song choices
because I seem to remember that during the 80’s there were many a decent, power
song for dudettes to sing, in just about every genre.  Fine, I don’t know
if they were given a list of songs and were told "Here, pick something from this
list," or at least were able to make some suggestions before being told they
couldn’t sing them, but then again, as I think about it, how many of these girls
actually know any decent songs from the 80’s because while I was attending high
school and college, well, some of them weren’t born yet.

Right now most of any
of them can be voted off the island tomorrow, I mean booted from "American
Idol," because I have no emotions tied into their stories, but when the final 12
time comes next week I think this competition turns in to "cute dudettes" v.
David Archuleta.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see for a week.

That’s it for this one! 
I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

By:

The Dude on the Right
So it’s 80’s night, not to be confused with Ladies’ night, and dude scandals are
all over the place, from David Hernandez once being a stripper to someone
looking like Danny Noriega spouting stuff about Santa.  Doesn’t matter,
here comes the singing…

Luke Menard
–  Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go – Wham!
–  Dude, what in the hell were you thinking?  I know the 80’s is a
weird place to find music, but umm, Wham!?  Very boring, lame, and how in
the hell does this make you shine?
–  Paula Abdul is starting to look to be in rare form tonight.  I hope
it keeps going.

David Archuleta
– Another Day in Paradise – Phil Collins
– Does his own piano playing – nice, then works from the piano to the stage to
work the crowd.  Outfit blows, but he’s got everything this competition
wants in someone to win and take control.
–  Simon is correct, though, that David needs to pick things up a bit with
a "happier" song.

Danny Noriega
– Tainted Love – Soft Cell
– The problem is that when you try to cover an 80’s song, and be an 80’s poser,
unless you were living in the 80’s, you probably can’t pose like the 80’s. 
The song was boring, and at this point I would like to see the list these dudes
were given of the songs they could pick.  If he picked this song on his own
it’s another "Dude, what in the hell were you thinking?"

David Hernandez
– Dude, I know it’s embarrassing, but we don’t want to know about your boogers.
– It’s All Coming Back to Me Now – Celine Dion (and Meat Loaf)
– You are not Meat Loaf, and you are not Celine Dion, because you’re not a
performer like Meat Loaf, and, well, you’re not Celine Dion.  David sang
nice enough, but this is a performance song, and for me he fell flat. 
He’ll still, probably, go on to the final 12, but if you want to know how to be
a performer, find some video of Meat Loaf singing this song, or any song.

Michael Johns
– Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Simple Minds
– I’m guessing, so far, that every one of these people have to pick a crappy
song from the 80’s because why else would all of these dudes be singing these
songs?  I liked "The Breakfast Club," but songs from that soundtrack aren’t
the best songs of the 80’s.
– The other thing I wonder is why Randy Jackson is referencing Michael Hutchence
from INXS for this song, unless I missed something, or Randy just thinks this
Michael is being Micheal Hutchence.

David Cook
– Hello – Lionel Richie
– I’ll give him credit for trying to turn this song into his own, and playing
the guitar, but the problem I had is that for him this should have been a 90’s
theme, with him turning it up another notch and being possessed by either the
spirit of Nirvana or maybe The Offspring (ala their version of "Feelings") for
the song.

Jason Castro
– Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen (I think).
– Sure, this song has been done by the likes of U2, and Jeff Buckley, and tons
of other folks but do you really think any of the kids have heard this song
before, except from maybe "Shrek"?  He did a nice job, but is pulling out
an obscure song the way to go for "American Idol"?  You sing well, the
judges loved it, but will the kids like it?  Hmmm?

Chikezie
– All the Woman (Man) I Need – Whitney Houston (Luther Vandross)
– He did good enough singing, is coming into his own knowing where he needs to
be in the R&B nation, but as an "American Idol" finalist, he still has some
work.

Part of the problem is that the singers are in that mode of "too many
singers, trying to fit too many songs, into a one hour show" so they have to cut
the songs pretty much in half.  This doesn’t let anyone really be able to
state the song, work the song, and then show they are fantastic doing the song. 
I don’t care what anyone says, and especially if he can pull out some spunk,
David Archuleta already has this thing won.  And I still want to see the
list of songs these dudes could pick from the 80’s because there was some decent
music from that decade, but you wouldn’t know it from watching the dudes sing.

We’ll see how the dudettes sing tomorrow.

That’s it for this one! 
I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!