I wasn't all that impressed by anyone last night.  At least not by both of their songs.  Here's how I rank them:

ROUND 1

1. Jordin Sparks -- Clearly the best of the first set of songs.  Everyone else had issues, Jordin was virtually flawless.

2. Melinda Doolittle -- It wasn't her best but it was definitely better than LaKisha & Blake.  I didn't feel a whole lot for this performance.  I don't think it was the right song choice.  I think she sang it well but...wrong song.  Simon's comment was borderline mean about the "backup singer" thing.  Uncalled for.

3. LaKisha Jones -- I kinda liked how LaKisha showed a little something with "Stayin' Alive".  I still don't think she's all that convincing doing much beyond what she does best but I did like that she took a little bit of a chance with this.

4. Blake Lewis -- It just wasn't very good.  That's all.  He's trying to be original but sometimes, as the judges said, his originality becomes not so original when you do it every week.  He nailed it with Bon Jovi, he missed the mark with Barry Gibb.

ROUND 2

1. Melinda Doolittle -- The only two finalist worthy performances of the night were this one by Melinda & Jordin's first song.  Melinda is most definitely the best "technical" singer Idol has ever seen.  But the reason she could win this is because she has the ability to turn songs into her own thing (something LaKisha doesn't do that well).

2. Jordin Sparks -- This is a distant second to Melinda though.  I think what we saw last night was the effects of singing two songs for the first time.  I know it doesn't sound like it should be that difficult but we saw it last year, too.  The contestants started to get a little uneven in their performances once the double & then triple rounds hit.  This sort of reminded me of Kat's version of "Can't Help Falling In Love".  This should have worked really well but for whatever reason...it got a little screechy, a little...I just wonder if Jordin was straining her voice to get through this.  That's what it sounded like to me.

3. Blake Lewis -- I prefered this to the first one.  I know the judges were saying "I don't know the song".  So what?  You aren't going to know the songs on Blake's CD when it comes out either.  That doesn't mean it isn't any good.  Now, this wasn't that great but it was better than....

4. LaKisha Jones -- I think LaKisha is having a hard time figuring out what to do at this point.  She set the bar so high with her first performance of the season that it's been hard for her to match that.  Sometimes, Simon will tell her she's screaming.  Other times she isn't showing personality.  It seems like she can't win.  And honestly, I just don't like her.  That's not fair to her, but I...I know lots of people didn't like Katharine last year and it had nothing to do with singing.  So...

So what happens tonight?  I think Idol will be sneaky with their pairs and put Melinda with whoever is going home because she hasn't been placed in a danger spot yet (they already did it to Jordin).  I'm sure Jordin & Melinda are safe.  I think Blake is more popular than LaKisha and that's really all that matters on this show.  Is he a better singer?  No, he isn't.  But this isn't all about singing.

So I'll say they stick Jordin & Blake together in one group; Melinda & LaKisha in the other...it'll be dramatic, Ryan will probably try to make you think Melinda is this year's shocker but then LaKisha will be sent on her way.

Speaking of Clive...anybody read that story about Kelly Clarkson's fight over her album...how Clive apparently hates it and threatened to shelve it.  Nice threat, Clive...like you'd squash one of your top sellers' albums.  Good to see Kelly understood that she's got the power of multi-platinum albums behind her...if only Katharine can get to that point.  Kat won't exactly be in the best spot to do what she wants for album #2 at this point unless say Love Story catches fire.

I'm back to tell you guys that I'm just fine. No, I cried for Lakisha. And, my Dad got mad. That's true. I love her voice. I just I do. You see, I didn't change my mind about her at all, even though I had some funny feelings that she could actually leave tonight, based on last night's performance. She looked beautiful tonight and she performed "Stayin' Alive" very, very well, the way I wanted her to sing it. That was a treat, indeed.  I tell you, she may not have been as popular as Blake during the competition, but I could sense a certain vibe that immediately, Lakisha would be on many shows, which would only help to reinforce to the public her natural vocal talent. Popularity for Lakisha has officially started even as i write this. Her face is all over my local network.  Good luck to you, Kiki, and much love for your little girl. More power to you and great success in your career! Keep going, girl!

I also must tell you that I go for sheer vocals, and of course, hoping that my choice would win. But if my choice doesn't win, I'm still fine. I'm just happy and grateful that I get to watch and hear good singing voices. That is more than entertainment for me.

Well, I must congratulate Blake for making it to top 3, and I think I ought to attend his homecoming. After all, he only lives within 5 miles from me. How wild is that, Co, Greg, Bill, and Joe? Blake, the "contemporary rebel", has good looks and cool moves, and I guess that is very important in this year's AI. I'm awake now. Blake shook me up. Thanks, Blake.

Congratulations! I have enjoyed my top 4 picks this year. And, if I still got something to say, it's bound to be---- Jordin and Melinda for the finals. I can't be too fanatic at this point. I love them both. But let's say, my heart is with Jordin, but my mind is with Melinda. Ah, I'm ready to get knocked out by anything right now--- lightning rod, electric cord, a double tequila, or an electric ice tea, anything. I'm enjoying great singing voices and great music too. I'm a sucker for great singers, like Katharine McPhee. Thanks, Kat! You got me into this, big time.

Note: Jordin's eyeshadows were purple tonight.

I don't think I said that Clive can't do whatever he wants to do.  But it's obvious from how this went down with Kelly that he was just making a threat and wasn't seriously going to make her do everything over again.  I'm sure he figures Kelly will still sell plenty of albums to justify the thing and maybe he's going to let her learn a lesson on her own with this.  I was more complimenting Kelly for sticking up for herself against a legendary figure like Clive than anything else.

And I don't love Kelly's "Never Again" either.  I can understand why he's a little resistant to her going a little further in the rock direction than I'd like her to do.  But I don't think he wants to lose Kelly from the label either...

Alright...we're getting down to the end and it's still totally up in the air how this is going to go.  In this week's scoreboard I included your placement last week & this week just so you can see how much you moved up or down the charts.

We had three people get perfect scores this week!  AI12345, BigShady & Gregoriancant!  It moved the first two up six spots and Greg up five spots.  I think the three of you are still too far behind to make it to the top but...it's better than nothing I suppose.

I think this is probably a five-horse race to the finish.  Making up more than 2 points on the leaders and jumping more than just a few people is likely too difficult to do with only two weeks remaining.  But I guess we'll see.  Here's the scores:

TW	LW	Player	Prev	Top 12	Divine 9	Elim	Total
1	1	Margarethsuherman	36	9	4.5	0	49.5
1	1	sjwolves	36	8	4.5	1	49.5
3	4	cobabycmw	35.5	8	4	1	48.5
3	5	Shinamarih	35	8	4.5	1	48.5
5	7	Spree	34	8	4.5	1	47.5
6	5	bcollan	35	7	4	1	47
7	11	Collette_Leyton	32	8	4.5	1	45.5
7	10	Je_suis_jess	32.5	9	4	0	45.5
7	8	Vadia	33	8	3.5	1	45.5
10	1	Marmie467	36	6	3	0	45
11	17	AI12345	30	9	4.5	1	44.5
11	11	ASiriusObsession	32	8	3.5	1	44.5
11	13	Barlo	31.5	9	3	1	44.5
11	17	BigShady	30	9	4.5	1	44.5
11	15	zzyzx	31	9	4.5	0	44.5
16	8	Misha515	33	7	4	0	44
17	22	Gregoriancant	28	9	4.5	1	42.5
17	13	KatBBall06	31.5	6	4	1	42.5
19	21	Katatonic Fan	28.5	8	4	1	41.5
19	15	Mattsie	31	7	3.5	0	41.5
21	19	Misty	29	7	4	1	41
22	22	Bian	28	7	4.5	1	40.5
22	22	Kate4Chris&Kat	28	8	3.5	1	40.5
24	19	Proof	29	6	4	1	40