A somewhat redeeming night

Is it me or did there seem to be fewer fans in the hometown visit clips this year? The last few years the crowds were humongous. We got to see the family, the parade, meeting the mayor, ballgames, etc. This year it feels like the producers just want to get it done and over with. Yeah I know it's been a pretty lame year, but do you really have to rush them off like that? The only thing I can think of is maybe that since this has been such a lack luster year, that it's highly possible that there WASN'T the crowds as per usual and the editors simply didn't have enough to cut together a decent enough package for each of them. Then again, maybe they're just saving the primo stuff for Results night filler. It's possible, as they only have 2 guests that they announced for the week. Gotta have SOMETHING to kill the hour with.

The Map and the Charts (as well as the Dial Idol Hard Graphs, something I don't normally bother posting) are all in agreement this week, which is an oddity in and of itself. If the results go according to these sources (as well as the Vegas odds), there shouldn't be any surprise at all this week and we'll be having the finale that everyone has been seeing coming for weeks. However, this is Idol and we all know that sometimes they skew things just a tad.

I'm going to lump both performances for each contestant into one entry, just to make it easy on me. I'm kind of under the weather and not really feeling like writing this in the first place, but I know I'll feel bad about not posting something if I just crawl into bed without doing it. I mean, I've managed to write all season for goodness sakes and I'm not about to let a silly little cold keep me from getting this done.

Casey
(Ok It's Alright With Me by Eric Hutchinson) I wasn't familiar with the song at showtime. I thought he did an ok job with it. Nothing to really write home about. The nice short notes pretty much hid that vibrato of his. Upon finding a copy of the original, I'd have to say he just phoned this one in. Shoot, he didn't even bother phoning it... he texted it in. It completely lacked the energy of the original. To be honest, Lee would have done better justice to this song. The judges tossed Casey under the bus for this one.

(Daughters by John Mayer) This was judges choice picked by Kara and Randy. I'm not a John Mayer fan. Never have been and doubt I ever will be so I'm not even going to fake liking this one. Nope. Not at all. It's pretty bad that the judges all but admit they picked it because it has a limited range and it "fit like a glove". Ok. It was the better choice, but I still didn't like it. The judges, for the majority, liked him better for the second song.

This week Casey had 3 wins and 18 losses for a total of -15. This is down 15 states from last week. He is the ONLY contestant listed in red. Third spot. Last on the list. Dial Idol is that sure that he's gone this week. If you recall, they haven't listed a contestant in red all season. Singing first and practically smoke signalling in his performances didn't help matters. I'm wondering if he realizes that he doesn't really want to win this thing. Then again, I suspect the next one up is feeling the same.

Crystal

(Come to My Window by Melissa Etheridge) This one was ok for her voice, but something was a tad off. I don't know if it was the vocal or the arrangement. It may have helped her if she'd just sang it straight as written. Even Kara was marginally correct in that she should have just done it as an acoustic. I know that the judges harp on originality, but something needed tweaking there. The judges liked her but didn't exactly love her this time around.

(Maybe I'm Amazed by Paul McCartney) Can someone explain to me why in God's green earth the best judge's pick this time around was made by the judge who has nothing to do with the music industry????? She's not a producer, singer, arranger, writer or any kind of musician... yet she made the most amazing choice for her charge. Kudos for no instrument as well as not changing the lyric to make it more gender appropriate. Kudos for not compromising, much. I can't wait for the studio version of this one. The judges really liked her, but again didn't love her.

This week she won 12 states and lost 3 for a total of 9 states. Crystal slipped 3 states from last week. She's listed on the chart as a solid 2 and in green. By all rights, she shouldn't be leaving this week at all. However, if the judges want a sausagefest (which I'm pretty sure they don't because we've had 2 years of that) then she'll be the one kicked to the curb. Why her? Because she wasn't in the pimp spot and her performance was just the same ol same ol Crystal. Like I told a friend of mine in Facebook, it's hard to improve something that needs little if no improvement. This makes it hard on Crystal because she has nowhere to really go at this point and as a result can't show progress or growth of any kind, she's already as good as she'll get. Maybe, she's realized that she doesn't want to win nearly as bad as she thought?

Lee

(Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd) This was a brilliant pick for his voice. All these weeks and I still don't think we've seen the best he has to give us yet. I will not be shocked if that moment comes right on finale night. One or all of the songs he'll be doing will be just that. He got a hella lotta SUTA from the judges but it was pretty much deserved so you won't hear me argue. Then again both of my faves make up 2/3 of the Top 3 so either way I've at least picked one finale placer for the year. Can't complain with that.

(Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen) When I saw this choice, my heart fell. Why? Because I did not believe Lee could pull this one off. I was cursing Simon for a terrible choice because surely this would trip Lee up and put Casey into the finale. The best rendition of this song that was ever performed on that stage was done by Jason Castro. I even told Chicagolady that Lee was going to have to really surprise me with this one because I wasn't really holding out any hope that the pimp spot was going to save him even with a good first performance. To say that I was surprised, is a complete understatement. He surpassed expectations and then some. In fact, in my opinion, he edged out Crystal and won the night. Damn I hated having to admit that but ya know, I'd rather have to admit that with my other favorite than the one I want to see gone. The judges SUTAed him good and proper.

Lee won a staggering 22 states this week and lost 2 for a total of 20. This is up 8 states over last week. As much as I suspect a good many of those votes are due to the pimp spot, I suspect he would have pulled almost as many if he'd sung in any of the other positions. He is listed firmly in a first place green position on the Chart. There is no way in hell he's going anywhere this week. If he is sent home, it'll be an absolute shock.

So who goes home?

The judges have been calling it a girl's year all season long. Yet we only have one girl left. Assume that she's the shoe in for a finale position as that's what we've been steered herded towards this entire time. This leaves a fight for the last remaining spot between the two guys and Lee had an amazing night while Casey was thrown to the wolves. This gives Lee that last spot and Casey sent home. However, let's assume Lee ain't going anywhere because of the pimp spot and performances. This means the last spot is a toss up between Casey and Crystal. Although this wasn't her absolute best night, she still sang rings around Casey easily with one lung tied behind her back. The odds are still calling Crystal the winner of it all (as of yesterday at least, they've closed the pages out like they do every Tuesday and won't reopen them until later this morning so I'm not certain how Tuesday's performances factor in yet). The Maps show her in firm second and the Chart backs it up. What if they're all wrong and VFTW actually DID their job? What if they managed to break up what everyone's been saying is the unavoidable finale match up? If they call Casey safe first, we'll know we lost Crystal and it's yet another sausagefest.

A couple of interesting items:

01) Simon has the rights to that Leonard Cohen song. Rumor is he acquired them shortly after Jason performed Hallelujah on the show.

02) According to the Maps, not one of the kids won their home state this week in the voting. Crystal won Lee's state, Lee won Casey's and Casey won Crystal's.

EDIT 8:16PM: The site where I usually get the odds for the kids has changed its event. For the last several weeks, it stopped putting all the odds up and simply had a Crystal to win event. This has been changed to a Lee to win event . His odds which were listed at a +236 in the beginning of May (payout of $236 for every hundred you put down on him), have now risen thanks to this week's performances. It's no longer viable to put money down on him as you'd need to put down $225 to break even. On another site, Crystal's odds fell and now she's just breaking even. Casey's odds are the lowest he's ever had. Vegas is basically saying Casey doesn't have a chance in hell at making the finale. However, if you have money to burn... drop a C-note on him because if he wins anyhow the payout will be over $3000 if you move now.