Alabama On My Mind

Right now, I'm in a haze of Oscar fever, trying to catch all the biggies before my own personal Super Bowl, February 25, so my Idol fever has abated just a tad. But daughter Mimosa, whose priorities are in the right place, woke me this morning with the cry, "Mom! Tonight Idol's in Alabama!"

Sweet home Alabama. I spoke to Mimosa of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and also of Reese Witherspoon having to choose between Patrick Dempsey and Josh Lucas and how only Hollywood could see this as a Big Problem. Okay, Alabama references? Mine are limited. (And we'd already covered the Montgomery bus boycott two weeks ago.) But I'm excited now, because every night brings us closer to the end of the audition process, and that's what I really care about.

I agree with my blogging sisters that the adopted 16-year-old boy is pretty-pretty and has a nice voice, but beyond that—we'll see. When I look back over the sad, wasted contestant pool, it's mostly girls who have stayed with me:

• Army Girl, my first favorite
• Background Singer Girl, who's more than ready for her place in the sun
• Half-Pint New York Pride, the little girl with the three different voices (more on her in a minute)
• The Glamorous BFFs, namely, untrained BFF #2, who outsang her pallie
• Bad Daughter, who's here without Daddy's permission

. . . and a handful of others.

My favorite of the freaks, hands down, was Tone-Deaf Girl, who dreamed of being the first American Idol who couldn't sing. She fascinated me, because she seemed so not-crazy at first, and I thought she had a legitimate, smart point to make . . . but I kept listening and waiting for it, and turns out? No. She did not. But I loved her weepy dripping entitled little crazy self, and I'm so glad we had this time together.

So about Little Miss New York—she has the kind of in-your-face confidence that borders on obnoxious, and right now she's on the delightful side of that line, but no guarantees that she and I won't teeter-totter across it for the rest of the season. But I'm rooting for her. She's one spicy meatball, and I can't wait to see how she plays with others.

See you in Alabama, my friends! (I choose Josh Lucas.)

Lady Chardonnay (whose look today is "Hippie Hippie Chic") OUT.