My viewing was severely hampered last night.
We couldn't find the remote for the "real" tv (which for reasons I won't go into the tv cannot function without). We searched high and low.
Tommy, the 3 year old, blamed it on his friend Matthew, which for some reason reminded me of the time I looked my Mother straight in the eye and told her Danny Johnson had lit the field on fire -- while secretly clutching a book of matches deep inside the pocket of my Sears Tough Skin jeans.
Anyway, my wife and I ended up huddled around the 9 inch tv in the kitchen with rabbit ears and very mediocre reception and less than mediocre sound quality.
I didn't like any of these songs much anyway. But I thought it was cool that Bocelli (sp?) and his producer (?) were actually giving meaningful help to the contestants.
McPhee -- missed it entirely and only saw the snippet at the end (which is always edited to the best part). My wife said she thought it was very good but the judges hated it.
Elliott -- I really respect his singing ability, even though I don't like his style of music much. He did a very good job vocally. Paula's meltdown after his performance was CLASSIC!!
Pickler was putrid. She was painfully flat at least 5 times and she looked awkward. For the second week in a row, her performance was easily the worst of the night.
Paris -- Damn this kid can sing. I agreed with everything the judges said. I thought it sounded loungy in a not good way. BUT, and it's big but, she is so talented vocally that it really didn't bother me very much. Not many people on the planet could sing that the way she did.
Taylor -- I hate to admit it but he's growing on me. I didn't think his performance was great but it was very good. Simon's "you could see this in a thousand bars across the country" comment may have been somewhat accurate but Taylor is likable.
Chris -- Performance of the Night. Easily in my book. I don't know who makes the decision to pull two guitar players out on the stage to flank him but it was brilliant from a presentation standpoint. Made him look like a real pro.
My current ranking, in order:
Chris
McPhee
Paris
Elliott
Taylor
Pickler
Tonight's bottom 3? I think it is almost impossible to say (but I will anyway). In terms of pure singing talent I think there is a reasonably distinct cut-off after my top 4. But, having said that, I think all six of the remaining contestants are talented enough as singers to make a living doing it. I also think there are enough intangibles and unknowables thrown into the mix that just about any of the remaining six actually COULD win the competition.
Bottom 3 (remember there are only 6 left):