TV Wednesday: American Idol

** SPOILER ALERT FOR REST OF POST **

Last week, we bid a fond farewell to Stephanie Edwards. I liked her, enjoyed her singing, and it's too bad the voting is so out of whack this season. Ever since I heard her name at the beginning of the season, I kept thinking to myself, "Where do I know that name?" Well, it just came to me.

My West Coast readers will recognize the name as the co-anchor of the KTLA (Los Angeles Channel 5) Tournament of Roses Parade with Bob Eubanks. I think this coverage may have been sold to other markets in years past. Not only was Ms. Edwards a decades long presence high atop the viewing stands on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, but she was the voice for Lucky Supermarkets as well. She was unceremoniously dismissed from the parade, and after Lucky was swallowed by Albertson's, her services in the grocery aisle were no longer needed.

Continuing on with this (boring to you but interesting to me) stream of consciousness, DJ Rick Dees — responsible for Disco Duck back in the 70's which may have been the downfall of all disco — built the #1 morning drive time radio audience at 102.7 KIIS-FM with funny characters and antics. One of his sound bites was Stephanie Edwards saying "Boston butt" clipped from a Lucky radio ad promoting Easter hams. Okay, here's where it all ties in. After Rick Dees was unceremoniously dismissed from behind the microphone, he was replaced by none other than...Ryan Seacrest.

Now for this week's show:

These 10 made the live tour this summer.

Gwen Stefani is awesome. No Doubt broke it big in Orange County after I first moved there...kind of a home town band. Their break through CD Tragic Kingdom was a play on Disneyland since they are from Anaheim.

The Final 10
Gina Glocksen (pictured) — Wow! She blew me away! Excellent!
LaKisha Jones — I love Last Dance by Donna Summer. It reminds me of high school dances (where I NEVER danced). This is the first LaKisha performance that I've loved.
Chris Sligh — Noticed a lisp in the pre-song interview. Singing was awful. Off key and he seemed out of breath almost from the start. And the whole Bob Jones University thing is in my craw.

OMG ROFLMAO! — Ryan's reaction to Sanjaya's hair before going to a break. Yahoo News is calling it a "Pony-Hawk." The hair reminded me of Nadia Turner from Season 4 with a fro-hawk, but she looked hot and pulled it off.

Sanjaya Malakar — Vocals weren't too bad. I think he forgot the words 2/3 way through.
Haley Scarnato — Showed off them gams again this week. Tempo a little slow for me but I enjoyed her performance. True Colors always reminds me of Kodak and the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics. I saw Cyndi Lauper open for Cher a couple of years ago and she was great...she's back on tour this year.
Phil Stacey — Pretty good. Lots of reverb in the mike. Noticed it on Chris Sligh's performance, too.
Melinda Doolittle — Consistently great.
Blake Lewis — I appreciated the unusual song choice. The Cure is great.
Jordin Sparks — What was up with that get-up? My top performer from last week let me down this week. She was pretty good. She had difficulty with the lower notes.
Chris Richardson — Pretty good. Kept the vocal gymnastics under control.

My Predictions For This Week
• Best — Gina Glocksen
• Worst — Chris Sligh
• Out — Chris Sligh

Past Results
• Out 3/21/7 — Stephanie Edwards
• Out 3/14/7 — Brandon Rogers
• Out 3/8/7 — Jared Cotter, Sundance Head, Antonella Barba, Sabrina Sloan
• Out 3/1/7 — Nick Pedro, A.J. Tabaldo, Alaina Alexander, Leslie Hunt
• Out 2/22/7 — Rudy Cardenas, Paul Kim, Amy Krebs, Nicole Tranquillo
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