Next up on Idol is Idol Gives Back -- the two day event where American Idol reminds the American public that Africa is a continent and not a country.
Last year due to the economy (which has apparently made a miraculous recovery!) Idol Gives Back did not take place but two years ago, it was the week that Aussie Michael Johns was sent packing. This was a major disappointment one week after his sexy Dolly Parton number, "It's All Wrong, But It's All Right".
God, remember when Idol contestants put on performances that actually made you press rewind so you could watch them again?!
This week, we expect to see the following special guests:
First of all, everyone who watched American Idol on Wednesday night, not to get you down, you did not see Rihanna performing live. Her entire performance was staged about an hour before the show. It was prerecorded, which means they record the performance before the show and run the footage for the show. While on the topic of Rihanna and her performance, my mom and I agree that Rihanna is much prettier in real life. And, she cannot play guitar.
Another little Hollywood secret, they have a “pepper-upper” person on the set to get everyone in the crowd pumped up. His name is Cody. In between the commercials and everything, he plays fun music and talks to everyone. At one point, he had two brothers, Max and Jack, come onstage and dance. The boys ended up ratting out their mom, who won't let them vote. So, Cody gave the boys a brand new AT&T cell phone.
Also during commercial breaks, all of the judges get up and leave. We don't know where, we don't know why. But on the show, the judges are only in their chairs for like, 12 minutes.
Another funny thing about Idol is the makeup girl. She is about a foot around and she carries this bag around her waist that is just as big as she is, if not bigger. She carries about every makeup brush, puff and brand known to man.
The studio is very small. There are only about 25 rows of seating. We were in the seventh row behind Randy. The pits (the people standing by the stage) are constantly moving to put in a new piece of stage or to light something up. People were dressed kind of casually and just walked around and talked.
The Idol studio and the people within are very fond of rules and regulations. Like, no electronics of any sort in the studio. They take your cell phones, cameras, iPods, anything that could possibly record something or look bad on TV. While on the subject of looking bad, the Idol producers and stagehands do not want the audience to be unattractive. So, their brilliant solution is to pass a gum cup. For those of you who have never heard of a gum cup, it is a cup passed around the entire studio in which people dispose of their gum. I personally found it disgusting.
After Idol, we went over to this restaurant called Wild Ranch. As our food was being served, my mom screams 'Oh my gosh! It's Katie!' We had already met her mother, so, she kind of recognized us. They walked over and Katie seemed genuinely happy to meet us. She has a very good sense of humor and is very talkative.
Lacey was at Wild Ranch as well.
Also during this dinner outing, I discovered my mother’s slight stalker side. Casey James showed up at the Wild Ranch, too. He immediately headed towards the bathroom, which was right by our table. Almost instantly, my mom tells me to watch the door until he comes out. It was a little weird. Eventually, Casey came out and we got our picture.
We met Big Mike and his wife (Idol Central!) outside of the restaurant. We got a picture with him and soon retired to our hotel. I think my mom is still a little star struck.
Idol's producers really grabbed our attention here at Idol Pool headquarters when they announced that Adam Lambert would be this week's mentor. Just what kind of job can we expect of such a young star? Will his advice offer contestants a boost or the kiss of death?
Thinking about these questions led us to larger musings on the nature of mentorship itself. As someone who was first an Idol Pool Apprentice, then an Idol Pool Journeyman, before becoming the Idol Pool Master, I know about mentorship from both sides. Though the Idol Pool Internship Program has now folded, old-timers in the Pool will no doubt remember Debbie the Intern, author of innumerable emails and blog posts during Seasons 3 and 4.
Many of you have probably wondered what happened to Debbie. What has she done with the last five years of her life? Where did she go after her auspicious start here at Idol Pool Headquarters?
Well, we're happy to report that Debbie has been in a grad program studying statistics since she left Headquarters, and all that education is finally paying dividends. Debbie's dissertation, "Performance Order as Destiny: An Empirical Study of the Determinants of American Idol Success" is nearing completion, and she wrote to share some of her early findings. Apparently, we've all been fooled this whole time. As it turns out, on Idol, mentorship doesn't matter. Song choice doesn't matter. It doesn't even matter whether you can sing. (That's the good news, Tim Urban.) The ONLY thing that matters is the order in which the contestants perform. Here's Debbie's proof:
For those who don't understand statistics, can't follow graphs, or are colorblind, Debbie summarizes: "America hates contestants who go first or fourth. They are doomed to failure."
Frankly, we find this hard to believe. Doesn't Debbie's own story prove that good instruction and careful mentorship makes anything possible? If that's not true, why would we have spent $17.95 worth of your Idol Pool entry fees on "What's Up Dawg?: How to Become a Superstar in the Music Business"?
As Ryan announced last week, we’re back to the Lennon/McCartney songbook. I guess no Taxman. Would have been topical…
Two seasons ago provided some heroics, especially David Cook’s coming out party with Eleanor Rigby.
It also brought along some disasters, like David Hernandez’s swan song with “I Saw Her Standing There”
At IPM Headquarters, we’re expecting the same this time around. With so many songs to choose from, I can already imagine Kara’s condescension and Simon’s exasperation as they wonder how the contestants might not choose the right one of 400 songs.
I’ll just pray that no one sounds like Steven Tyler last night.
Maybe we should add an extra side pot for the person who identifies the woman he won’t take his hands off of during the song.
I try to be forward-looking in these previews, but I can’t help but go back to Didi’s elimination. She was the first contestant to leave that really put a dent in a significant number of pool members’ picks (with apologies to the Alex Lambert fans). Was Ryan too pushy on Tuesday night? Was Didi too visibly irritated? Didi clearly didn’t want to tell her story, but she has since said her friend was on her mind. Would it have helped Didi had she told the story on stage and gotten some extra sympathy votes? Would she have seemed too fragile? We’ll never know. But it’s clear that Ryan is intent on making himself more central to the show this season, perhaps to try to make up for some of the missing excitement in the show overall.
Back to looking forward, here are the results from the IPM supercomputer’s predictions for this week’s performances (again, no order):
Sanja…I mean Tim Urban: I said “Michelle” (reggae style) last week, and the computer agrees. Though it sure would be fun to see Simon’s inevitable reaction if he did “Ticket to Ride”.
Aaron Kelly: Seems like he has “Yesterday” written all over him. It will be boring but solid, and he’ll move on. As usual.
Casey James: I know he said acoustic this week, but I’m betting he won’t be able to resist “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”.
Katie Stevens: I’d love to see her do something interesting, like “Norwegian Wood”. She’s not going to win anyway, but the wanna-be diva stuff is getting a bit tiresome and it would be nice to mix it up.
Siobahn Magnus: Seems like a pretty good bet that she’ll move back to some the more haunting songs (House of the Rising Sun, Paint it Black) that she’s thrived on. She would either do an incredible “Day in the Life”, or it will totally bomb.
Michael Lynche: Maybe an R&B version version of “Lovely Rita”? This week could be tougher on him, but, to play Kara for a moment, he seems to know who he is.
Crystal Bowersox: She could go in a lot of directions, but a “Blackbird” cover not so different from Sarah McLachlan’s would be fun to see and would work well with her style.
Lee Dewyze: Am I the only one who thinks his raspy vocal would make for a really good rocker version of “Day Tripper”? I could see that being a highlight.
Andrew Garcia: Finally got back on track last week. Is he building momentum or was it just a flash in the pan? It would be funny to see him sing “Nowhere Man”, but the computer thinks he’ll bring back the guitar on “Here Comes the Sun”.
With so many possibilities, I would guess that all of these are wrong. Please chime in in the comments with your predictions.
