I Learned the Truth at Seventeen...

The sweetest moment of the night was when, in response to Ryan's telling the audience that they could not adopt David Archuletta, he said, "I'm seventeen!" He did not follow it by saying "geeze!" but he did whack Ryan in the arm with his arm in the cutest way that made him seem ever so young. It was adorable. But more about that later.

And now, in chronological order...

David "blink and you'll miss him" Hernandez singing IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR:
He has a nice strong voice, but is so stiff and nervous that I worry he will break. He is one of the expendbles.

Chakeze "where's my last name?" [Eze] singing MORE TODAY THAN YESTERDAY:
I LOVED the changing of the style. I don't think it was in a great key for him. His voice sounded thinner than usual, but everything Simon hated about him, I loved. Didn't care for the "Is Charlie Chaplin your stylist?" quip, it sounded rehearsed and I hate it when people snot back at Simon (with one exception that I will get to later). He is on the fence.

David "my hair picks up girls at the bar and then doesn't call them the next day" Cook singing HAPPY TOGETHER:
I did king of like what he did with the song. Kind of an emo version which is ironic, considering the title of the song. But he sounded a little whiny. And I don't like him. He is expendable.

Jason "I HAVE A SON!!!" Yeager singing MOON RIVER:
Damn, I am tired of people pimping their kids on this show. I have two kids and neither one of them makes me a better singer. Shut up about it and just coast on your tremendous good looks the way God intended you to! Heh... Just kidding, his voice is actually very nice, and I liked the way he moved the melody around a bit. Ultimatly it was forgettable, but he may get by on his looks. This will be a theme with a few of these fellas. I am fence-y with him.

Robbie "not the kind of famous I was looking for" Carrico singing ONE:
He tossed off an aside about opening for Britney, but that was when he sang pop music. Ewwww! He's a rocker now! And I actually found his performance to be positively Bo Bicean. I liked him a lot. He did do a few boy band hand moves which I loathe (as did a few others) and he did pretty up his voice a few times before he noticed and recalibrated his rock-o-meter for maximum rocking. I like him a lot and I would bet the farm that he will be back next week.

David "who cares that I can't string two words together coherently" Archuletta singing SHOP AROUND:
Oh my gosh, he was amazing! And the fact that he was so gobsmacked by the compliments just made him all the cuter. He is adorable and I imagine that Walt Disney is feverishly trying to defrost himself in the nearest microwave in hopes that he can steal wee Davy away to clone him in a lab under Space Mountain to make an army of perfect teen-pop performers. Cute, personable, very very talented and absolutely safe.

Danny "not going to insert a prison joke here" Noreiga singing JAILHOUSE ROCK:
Oh Danny, I had such high hopes! He reminds me of one of my students and I love his voice, but he did horribly. He just chose badly. And his dancing really makes me question his sexuality. I had heard he was gay, but dang, he dances about as well as I do. Which is to say - ouch! I kind of agree that it was "verging on the grotesque" but I am really hoping for another chance for him. And I did love his little throw away "some people didn't like that" to Simon. It was just a little sassy aside and not an ineffective smack like Luke or Chikeze's. I am going to call him on the fence because I hope he is, but he is in the bottom four.

Luke "please just come to my house and let me look at your for hours and hours" Menard singing EVERYBODY'S TALKING:
His is ever so pretty and has a nice voice but it was fortettable. Truly. I liked the nice delicate note at the end, but it is only his lovely face that is keeping him on the fence.

Colton "my hair is not an extention of my personality, it is just nice" Berry singing SUSPICIOUS MINDS:
I liked this performance a lot! I don't like the goofy boy band hand gestures, but they seem in keeping with his "musical theater" background. His voice is nice, he seems genuinely likeable and I think he will appeal to people who find David Archuletta just a bit too edgy. He is on the fence.

Garrett "it's not my fault they keep me out of the sun" Hawley singing BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO:
He is a sad indicator that it might not be fair to have former professionals in with the great unwashed. He has a nice voice and is cute-ish, but just not very polished. He looks like the lost Bay City Roller and he is from Ohio. His performance was just dull enough to get him on the expendable list.

Jason "illegitimate son of Lisa Cuddy and the singer from Counting Crows" Castro singing WHAT A DAY FOR A DAYDREAM:
I was taken quite by surprise by the judges' response to him. I loved the performance, there was kind of a hippie-dippy jam band feel to some of his inflection that I thought would be lost on them. I was thrilled that they seemed to like him as well as I did. His family looked kid of grumpy, though. Heh, he is totally safe. I almost voted for him, but then I remembered that that would mean I care too much. (Unlike taking obsessive notes and typing this out for an hour or so...)

Michael "the anoited one" Johns singing (of course) LIGHT MY FIRE:
Words can not express how annoyed I was by this performance. Don't get me wrong, I like this guy a lot and I think he is the closest thing we have to a lock on the top 12, but my Grandma could sing this song and I would watch thinking, "Wow, Grandma, you do a good Jim Morrison!" It is his song and no one elses. And I think MJ did a nearly perfect Morrison impression without a lick of originality. From the wrap-up at the end, it looked like he went off the book a lot more in the dress rehearsa, so I might have liked that better, but I just didn't care for this at all. Needless to say, though, he is safe.

So, to recap, possible leavers are:
Garrett Hawley
Danny Noriega
David Cook
David Hernandez

Probably not leaving, but you never can tell:
Chikeze
Jason Yeager
Luke Menard
Colton Berry

Safe as houses:
Michael Johns
Jason Castro
David Archuletta
Robbie Carrico

If I were picking, Cook and Hawley would be leaving. We shall see...

Brunie, OUT!