Didgeri-diggity-doo!

Once again, I debated the merits of a likely dull Idol evening vs. crawling into bed with Lost and V and a hot cuppa (and I battled a migraine all day, I am one tuckered tootsie), but curiosity (or my Type A personality) won out, and I chose to hear the Idolettes tackle the Lennon-McCartney songbook. And the tide has turned, or the worm, or something, because these lackluster songbirds have finally stepped up and found their voices; tonight's weakest performer still wasn't half bad, and this was a pretty great show all around, I thought. Your mileage may vary, but me? I am drinkin' the Kool-Aid, man, and I'm a happier person for it.

First up is young Aaron, who sings "The Long and Winding Road" perfectly nicely. I think I say this about Aaron every week. He has a perfectly nice voice and is a lovely young man. I don't see any real star power, but it's a decent rendition of a lovely song. And — spoiler! — this perfectly nice performance, turns out, is one of the weakest of the night. So, not so great for Aaron, maybe, but good news for us!

Tonight's time-filling innovation is "Get to Know Your Idolettes" — little snippets about each of them in "real" life. I enjoyed it, and the person I enjoyed the most, consistently, throughout the night was — Katie! She is such a fun, funny girl; she can do hilariously spot-on imitations of the others, and seems to have warm, genuine relationships with all of them. Who knew?

And she's up next, singing "Let It Be," one of those perfect songs that it's hard to mess up, and Katie does well with it — changing the tempo just enough that it's not pure karaoke, but still respecting the purity of the song. It's a sweet, strong, confident performance. Wow, is she growing on me! I would not have predicted this. The judges are likewise surprised and impressed.

Andrew, still beaming with confidence from last week's surprise hit performance, does a bouncy version of "Can't Buy Me Love" and looks like the love child of Wayne Newton and Kim Jong Il, to the point where I can't even look at him any more. He sounds fine and it's a kind of fun version, but ultimately a bit silly. So he joins Aaron under the "Weakest of the Night" banner — but I've heard him be way worse than this, for sure.

Big Mike has chosen to speed up the tempo of "Eleanor Rigby" and sounds a bit like Tom Jones doing so. I liked the arrangement; the judges were mixed. I will say, though, that Mike's skill as a performer outweighs his skill as a vocalist, and at some point someone besides me will notice that. This is a singing competition, after all, as a certain Brit used to remind us weekly, before he became so obsessed with having "a moment."

When I hear that Crystal is singing "Come Together," a song I loathe, I groan and cringe and brace myself. Then I remember that Crystal is magic. (See: Tracy Chapman) And she is indeed fantastic. Best of the night, in my opinion. Didgeri-whee!

Tim "Can You Believe I'm Still Here?" is up next with a perfectly nice version of "All My Lovin'." His voice is fine, it's a peppy song (though he pronounces "I'll" like "all" — "To-morrow all miss you" — which I don't like; I'm a fan of e-nun-ci-a-tion) — again, I don't see any real star quality, but there's nothing really wrong here. The judges are a tad more impressed, and Tim seems gratified.

Casey Trevor Drake Fabio says that he's singing John Lennon's "Jealous Guy," a song I don't know, and a few bars in I grow very sad, wishing that John were here to sing it. But Casey does a great job, especially toward the end when he's all fired up and Bob Seger-y; I love his growly voice. To me, he was second only to Crystal tonight.

Mrs. C opined last week that only Lee is really getting better, but I think for the most part they all are, Casey and Katie in particular (in addition to Lee, I mean). And for that reason, perhaps, there is something to be said for having slightly-less-than-stellar contestants at the outset. I compare this season to the previous most-lackluster season, the one won by Jordin Sparks, and I think about those folks (Phil, Blake, Melinda, LaKisha, Haley, Sanjaya...), and I really do think this group is better.

(Because, that group? Really blew. But I digress.)

Siobhan's up next, and I'm nervous for her, given her not-so-great performance last week — and after she sings, I'm still a bit nervous, I must admit. Her restrained version of "Across the Universe" was technically almost perfect — "from a singing perspective," as Kara said, it was beautiful. But as a whole, it was just kind of odd — and Siobhan is an odd, quirky girl, and we all love that about her, but as I said — I'm worried. I don't think she's going home, but I do think she needs to be very, very brilliant next week. Which she totally can be.

I tend to read my book (tonight: Keeping the House by Ellen Baker, sooooo good so far!) during commercials without looking up, but this tag for a Fox news story made me howl: "Sent to Fake Prom." Oh, that poor girl.

(For some reason, it reminded me of one of my favorite Lifetime Television for Women movie titles: "She Woke Up Pregnant." Don't ask me to explain how my brain works.)

Lee drew the Pimp Spot this week, and, whoo! Talk about high expectations. Which he doesn't quite live up to, though his rendition of "Hey Jude" is really good, especially the ending . . . and I'm looking at my notebook to write these words, then I look back up at the TV screen — and there's a bagpiper.

(I totally thought I was on ludes. That was a trip.)

So that was our show, and I had a swell time: some lovely young voices, and some of the greatest music evah. Mrs. C said recently that people are either Elvis people or Beatles people, and I protested that I was both (which annoyed her greatly), but I realized later that I was talking only about singing; when you consider musicianship as a whole, of course the Beatles are the masters of the universe. (Sorry, King.)

The bottom two seats will likely contain Andrew and Aaron tomorrow night (though I think Aaron has a lot of rapid-dialing fangirls, so who knows), but I really have no idea who will occupy seat #3. Tim? Katie, out of habit? Siobhan (gasp!)? Mike? Truly, no clue.

Going home, I think, will be Andrew — which is too bad, in a way, as he should have been sent home for much worse performances than this one! But it's time.

Lady Chardonnay, out!