Paula Abdul Flashback - Cold Hearted Snake

Remember Paula Abdul in this hot little number?



It was inspired by Bob Fosse's even hotter number from the movie All That Jazz.

Idols Past: Jim Verraros

Jim Verraros was contestant number ten in season one of American Idol. After the American Idol tour, Verraros came out in an article in The Advocate.

He released an independent CD Unsaid and Understood in 2003 and in 2005 he went mainstream with Rollercoaster.

After American Idol, Jim Verraros was said to be living the gay teenager's dream.

Verraros went on to star in Eating Out and Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds, both gay themed comedy movies. He has roles in two movies, in production, Pizza on Sunset and Copacabana, of Love and Shadows, the latter a movie with an angry drag queen set to stir things up. Both of these movies are also romantic comedies.

Now twenty five, he does a weekly show called Idol Chat with Jim and Penny. Here is a sampling:




American Idol opens some interesting doors.

Official Jim Verraros Website.

Chikezie Eze Goes Home

Chikezie leaves American Idol, but mediocre Kristy Lee Cook is still in the competition. Who is voting for Kristy? She shouldn't be encouraged.

Chikezie warmed my heart with his dulcet Luther Vandross tones, but he never repeated his breakaway performance and opted to stick with the ballad type numbers, which he preferred. I think he should have ridden the crowd pleasing wave a bit longer, as he'll have plenty of time to do exactly what he wants down the line. He'll be on the tour, so life is still good for Chikezie.

Shame on Simon for calling him cheesy last night.

Talking of cheesy, Lee Greenwood called to say how much he liked Kristy singing his schmaltzy song.

It was extremely long hour tonight. I don't know why I watch this show.

Full recap at MTV: Chikezie Goes Down Easy

David Cook Does it Again

David Cook has not been my favorite in this competition, but that's changing. The guy has pulled magic out of the hat twice now, first with an original arrangement of Lionel Ritchie's Hello and now with a somewhat dark arrangement of Billie Jean. It was refreshing after sitting through some disappointing performances and then suffering through Kristy Lee Cook's performance of that sickly, sappy, gooey, nauseating Lee Greenwood song, God Bless the U.S.A.

The only noteworthy performance of the evening, in my opinion:





You can read Jim Cantiello's full and interesting take on Tuesday's American Idol show over at MTV.

Amanda Overmyer is Outta There!

She is safe...from having to do any more of those dreadful, drippy group opening numbers on American Idol and having to schlep around the country on the American Idol Tour. Too square for Amanda. She knows what she wants to do and the show has given her her start. The tour will be boring without her, but she has better things to do. She makes American Idol look like the Mickey Mouse Club.

Kristy Lee Cook will be on the tour though. Why is that, I wonder? At least she'll be able to buy her horse back. She sold her horse to get a plane ticket to the American audition in Philadelphia. Allegedly. There's some question about her Oregon, log cabin, horse riding idealistic life before American Idol came along. The girl's a pro and was once signed to Arista, Nashville.

The best thing about American Idol last night was the Ford Commercial, and that's not saying much:



You can read the full recap over at MTV.

American Idol - Did Kristy Lee Cook Save Herself?

I'm with Simon on this contestant. She's forgettable. She's a pretty girl, has a great voice, but she's yet to reach the stage where she'd got that certain something that reaches out and grabs the audience.

Last night she made sure Simon would not forget her by telling him if she stayed with the show she would "blow him out of his socks" and followed up with "and you know it". Paula, the good cheerleader that she is, encouraged her to aim for blowing him out of his socks. The grin on Simon's face indicated, that although he might forget her performance, she'll no doubt be on his mind and undoubtedly in his fantasies.



Go here for MTV's Recap of Tuesday's show.

American Idol - David Hernandez Goes Home

....but it should have been Kristy Lee Cook or better still, Simon Cowell. I miss the Simon Cowell from the earlier Idol seasons. He has run his course with American Idol and it shows. He has been quoted as saying he finds the show quite dull this year and it appears he can hardly bother to participate at this point. Apparently his contract said nothing about being professional.

And then there was Jim Carrey sitting in the audience dressed in bits of an elephant costume, helping (or hindering) in promoting the crap out of Horton Hears a Who. Carrey does the voice for Horton, the elephant. But no one wants to see this:



Oh, that's just so wrong for so many reasons!

MTV has a full recap of Wednesday night's one hour show.

Chikeze's Break-Away Performance on American Idol

Wow! Now that's entertainment! American Idol seems more and more like a regular talent search and most often the performances are dreary and there is no entertainment value, but not last night. At least not while Chikeze was on the stage. He reminded everybody what it was all about. He did one hell of a job with the unique arrangement of the Lennon-McCartney song "She's a Woman". Here is his performance, including pre chatter with Ryan and the judges comments after his his performance. It's worth watching to the end, when Ryan Seacrest joins him on stage and goes a little crazy.



Sadly, my favorite, David Archuleta was having a rough time of it on Tuesday night. He stumbled through the song, sometimes forgetting the lyrics. Hopefully he'll be back next week and be back on form.




Ramiel Mulubay delivered the most boring performance of the evening, one boring enough to make the commercial break seem very entertaining. Kristy Lee Cook tried to countrify "Eight Days a Week" and it didn't work. David Cook "Eddie Veddered" his way through Eleanor Rigby and I didn't much care for it, but the judges did. I can't warm up to Carly Smithson.

If you would like a full recap of last night's performances, you can check it out over at MTV.

Idol Eliminations Night

Danny Noriega was voted off. Hallelujah! The kid is talented and maybe when he grows up a bit and drops the bad girl attitude, he won't be so painful to watch. When he was subdued and teary eyed for his farewell performance, he seemed a lot more "true to himself" than the rest of his time on stage.

Luke Menard was not entirely a surprise, but I think he'll go on to bigger and better things than American Idol. He's a class act.

Kady Malloy's number was up tonight. She never quite cemented herself into the competition.

Asia'h Epperson came this far while grieving the loss of her father. Her Dad would be proud.

Here is what I consider Danny's best performance:

American Idol - David Cook

David Archuleta is still my favorite. Danny Noriega was more annoying, if that's possible, last night than ever before. But the person who delivered the breakaway performance of the night was David Cook, with a rather haunting arrangement of a Lionel Ritchie song, Hello. Here is the noteworthy performance of Tuesday night:

Taylor Hicks - Caroline Lyders Mystery

If Taylor Hicks had a regular girlfriend, there would be lots of pictures by now, not just a few beach photos from the summer of 2007. But it seems to have become an obsession, to the point that a forensics expert was brought into the mix to try and solve the mystery of who was frolicking on the beach with Taylor and where or if Caroline Lyders figured anywhere into the mix.

It's still being discussed over at 10086 Sunset Boulevard and here are a couple of links that try to shed some light on the situation:

Caroline Lyders TV News Fake Girlfriend for Hire

Who is Taylor Hicks Mystery Lady Friend?


I just hope this silliness is not going to outlast his music career.