It's American Classics Week on Idol!

Well, our picks say that Sundance goes out this week. Since he didn't even make the top 12, we thought it was high time Phil Stacey gets his own pic.

Ideas for what Phil Stacey looks most like in this picture? I think it's some weird mix between this


And this


Yes or no? Ideas for Phil Stacey lookalikes? We're tired of picking on the freakshow. It gets tiring. So, new meat Phil Stacey is fair game this week. Anyone have any Phil limericks?

Our weekly "this performance is better than anything that Sanjaya has ever sang ever" comes from Bjork! Amazing.


Tony Bennett hosts the master class this week for "American Classics" week. Idol Pool HQ has been buzzing about this week as we all love our Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Richard Rogers & Hammerstein/Hart songs.

Of course, we were also excited in Season 3 for Big Band week, and we got a real mixed bag that episode - We got some great standards like "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "Cheek to Cheek" and "The Way You Look Tonight", some trite standards like "What a Wonderful World", some arguable big band songs like "Don't Rain on My Parade" and some songs that definitely don't fit the bill like Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love".

"Crazy Little Thing Called Love"?!?! If that's a big band song, it makes us very scared what the American Classics are......



One person who would have been very strong with American Classics would have been Chris Sligh. Unfortunately, he got the boot, and has been playing too-cool-for-school since then. Has anyone seen this? Turns out he just wanted to make the top ten:

"I never came into this wanting to win it," Sligh told The Greenville News on Thursday. "I made the Top Ten. That was my goal."

Sligh said he decided not to quit because the top 10 contestants participate in an "American Idol" summer tour that comes with a nice paycheck.

"I wanted to make the tour," he said. "I wanted to be able to make music for my living, so I don't have to work at the marketing company that I was working at."

Way to reach for the stars, Sligh! I'm sure when you made it to the top 24 you said to yourself, "Alright! Now I can reach my life's goal of making the top 10 and then tank!". Whatever. Go back to Bob Jones.


American Classics could mean scary things for people like Gina, maybe LaKisha, and obviously Sanjaya, while we're sure performers like Melinda, Blake, and Jordin should all have very strong performances.

That could mean good news for people like Damian, Jaime, Lisa Bags, Liz, Missy, and Team Zach & Sarah who all have Gina out this week and bad news for people like Jen, Milly, and Paul F. who all have Blake out this week.

Here's what the pool picked going out this week -
8 people had Sundance, 8 people had Sabrina (she would have been awesome this week), 7 people had Brandon, 6 people have Gina, 3 people have Jordin, 3 people have Phil, 3 people have Blake, 3 people had Jared, 3 people had Stephanie, 2 people have Sanjaya (well done), 2 people had Chris S., 2 people have Chris R., and 1 person had Antonella.

Like last week, if you are one of those 32 people who has someone already out going out this week, you want one of the people still alive who's not in your top 9 to go home.....for the majority of you, this means Haley, Sanjaya, or probably Phil.

You people with Blake or Jordin or Chris R. going home would be pumped if you call that correctly (especially the Blake people)!

Looking at the standings, Lisa Wagner can go 7 for 8 if either Haley or Phil goes out. Matty can also go 7 for 8 if Sanjaya or Haley goes. Those are the only 2 who can go 7 for 8.

Everyone else - you can't afford to lose anymore people that you already have out. If you have a "dead" person going home this week, you need to have somebody not in your top 9 to go. It's still very early in the season, but almost everyone's picks have been hurt by the shocking results so far this season. If another favorite goes home this week, your picks could get very ugly.

Happy viewing!

The Master