American Idol--Top 12 Guys Take the Stage!

We’re finally here!  The real stage, the backup singers, the audience, Steven’s bleep cover on a stick!  So exciting!!  

Tonight is guys’ night.  The top 12 male choices from all that America could offer.  Well, almost.  We lost some fabulous talent in Hollywood week that made these 12 decisions highly questionable.  If the likes of Brett, Jordan, Clint, Tim, etc. don’t bring it tonight…..  we’ll REALLY question the dismissal of Jacee Badeaux and Chris Medina.

First up is Clint Jun Gamboa with Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious”.  Clint is channeling Harry Potter this week.  I have a feeling we’ll see a plethora of eyewear, a la Danny Gokey from him this season.  He’s wearing jeans, fun red sneakers, a plaid shirt, and a jacket made of combination leather and fabric.  He sounds pretty good.  I’d say going first on the first real night would be quite nerve-wracking, but I think he got passed his jitters pretty quickly, and had a solid performance.  Judges seemed to like it….Steven said “Beautiful.  Started and ended strong, brilliant, nice going.”  Randy and Jennifer both agreed. 

I wonder if America will remember the performance.  And, will they forget his actions in Hollywood week?  We’ll see. 

Next, we have Jovany Barreto singing “I’ll Be” by Edwin McCain.  He is wearing a gray jean/gray vest combo over a white shirt with a couple of button undone.  Looked nice, but he could’ve gone shirtless and picked up a few more votes, methinks.  Another solid performance.  Nothing to write home about, but no problems either.  What a smile.  Two of the judges liked this one as well.  They seem to be easing the contestants into the critiquing process.  Randy says, “I hate to be the one to break up the apple cart”.  Huh?  Mixing some metaphors, are we?  He says it was just ok.  We feel the same about your grasp of the English language.  Doh!

Overly confident Jordan Dorsey takes the mike in black pants, a royal blue tee, and suspenders that are revealed when he strips off the military jacket.  He sings “OMG” by Usher.  Jordan would be the one who made group members audition to be in his group in Hollywood.  I’d say we should expect a lot.  We are collectively not impressed.  Steven says, “You have moves, but it wasn’t my favorite performance of yours.”  Jennifer concurs with, “I’m not sure who you really are.”  I think we may not see much more of Jordan’s big head if he doesn’t choose songs that are better suited to his voice, because he does have a nice sound in certain genres.  He needs to stick with those, though.

Tim Halperin sings Rob Thomas’ “Street Corner Symphony/Come On Over” wearing a layered look of tee shirt, button down, and a blazer with cute whiskery jeans and a chain that may or may not have a pocket watch attached at the end.  I remember being very impressed with him at the piano in a duet with a girl at the end of Las Vegas week.  Unfortunately, this song doesn’t do justice for his style or voice.  Ugh.  I wish he would’ve chosen better.  The judges agree that this wasn’t his night.  I hope he can live through this one!

Brett Loewenstern’s hair takes the stage, looking more kempt than usual, wearing a gray outfit with Mister T’s Silver Collection around his neck.  As he begins to sing The Doors “Light My Fire”, his hair flips to and fro.  Randy says he had someone counting 14 hair flips during the song.  Impressive!  I actually liked his take on The Doors, and thought it was a good fit.  Randy tells him he was a bit pitchy, but all other comments were positive.  I’m glad he did well…we all like the kid at my house.

Current rocker, James Durbin is up next.  He’s got his spiky faux-hawk, many bracelets, jeans, gray tee, denim shirt-jacket rolled up to show yellow sleeves underneath, and a tail coming from under the back of his shirt.  Nice.  James sings Judas Priest’s “You Got Another Thing Coming”.  A first appearance for Judas Priest, I believe.  He rocks it like a good rocker should, and the judges and America are equally awed.  Son, CJ hopes he is not a one-trick pony, but time will tell.  For now, I think we’ll see more of James and his tail. 

Robbie Rosen sings Sarah McLachlan’s “In the Arms of An Angel”, a song I normally pass on because of it’s link to dying animals.  But, interestingly enough, Robbie changes it enough for the good that I hardly recognize the song.  Even with that, I’ve heard him a lot stronger than tonight.  I don’t think he’s in trouble, but I think he’s a lot better than this.  Steven and Jen like it, but Randy agrees with me.  Weird.  I do hope we get to hear more from him.

Country star in the making (and I mean soon), Scotty McCreery takes the stage to sing John Michael Montgomery’s “Letters From Home”.  I am not familiar with the song because I don’t listen to much country, but Scotty is the bomb.  Good voice, cute kid; he will be snatched up to Nashville before most of us hit the pool this year.  The judges adore him, and we don’t worry about his fate in this comp at all.

Stefano Langone is next.  This is just a likeable guy.  He wears a red v-neck tee with a black leather jacket and black jeans.  He sings “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars.  This is the most current song, and he does a great job with it!  One wonky note, but a good effort overall.  The trio like him, and he’s told that he could be on the radio.  Good for him—I like him.

Established Nashville vocalist, Paul McDonald takes the mike in all black.  He becomes Rod Stewart before our very eyes, with his version of “Maggie May”.   Funny enough, to watch him, he staggers around the stage like Captain Jack Sparrow.  A strange one, he is.  He is called quirky, unique, joyful and a character by the judges.  All in all, I think he’s good to go for now.

The two we have all been waiting for are saved for last.

Jacob Lusk is dressed for church in his navy suit, pink plaid tie, and paisley pocket handkerchief.   He belts out Luther Vandross’ “House is Not a Home” as only Jacob Lusk can.  The guy has chops.  I was happy that he toned it down from what we saw in Las Vegas.  While extremely good, he was quite over the top for me in Vegas.  All three judges are at his feet again, and Jacob is not worried about his standing with American Idol.

Last tonight is Casey Abrams with "I Put a Spell on You", by Jay Hawkins and a host of other people.  Personally, I like the Bette Midler version from “Hocus Pocus”, circa 1993.  He’s wearing a suit coat over a gray button up shirt, over a tee with dark pants.  Casey is a dream.  He reminds me of a friend from high school—amazing talent!  My favorite of his was when he played the bass in Hollywood, but he gives it his all in each performance!  Love him.  The judges love him too, and Jen calls him SEXY.  Probably made his year!

Well, that’s it for the guys…tomorrow night, the girls.  Can’t wait!

That’s all I know!

~Karissa