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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2008 > March > 26
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
3/26: Who’s out in the top 10? It’s not Ramiele! It’s Chikezie!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The man with the coolest name in “Idol” history — Chikezie Eze— is gone. (Why he dropped the Eze, I’ll have to ask him tomorrow!)
The 22-year-old Californian was this year’s male R&B singer, but he was on the bubble entering the top 12. He had one incredibly memorable performance with “She’s a Woman” week 12. That helped keep him around a couple more weeks. But last night, his snoozeworthy Luther Vandross take showed he only stands out when he sings upbeat songs. Truly, the man has great vocal skills and he’s duly likable. But And is a competitive field this year. In some other years, he certainly would have gone further.
And the contestant who almost got cut, Syesha Mercado, can’t cut a break. She was in the bottom three again despite a solid performance. Jason Castro was also in the bottom three, suffering for doing the same thing week in and week out and revealing his
So I got two out of three right.
But Ramiele is safe again! What the…? Who the heck is voting for her? So for the third week in a row, I’m wrong. Honestly, I don’t think she’s ever given me a performance that I especially liked. Please offer me some theories people! She hasn’t even been in the bottom three. Is it simply because she’s cute?
Jason at least got an almost immediate reprieve.
Okay, here’s a quick recap of the first 50 minutes:
Group sing hell courtesy of Maxine Nightingale. Okay, Michael and David Cook— no more chest bumps. Milli Vanilli did it and nobody should ever do it again! Syesha stood out in a good way.
Then a long infomercial for iTunes courtesy of the top 10 as they record their “Idol” performances. And I mean, a really long infomercial. How much did Apple pay for that?
In order, Brooke & Carly are safe, Chikezie isn’t. David A. is safe. Ditto with David C. (Chris Cornell loved his version of “Billie Jean”). Syesha isn’t so lucky. (Boooo!!!!) Michael Johns is fine. Ramiele is, too. Later, Kristy (who gets props from Lee Greenwood) and Jason are up and Jason is in the bottom three.
After the 2nd commercial break, a pre-taped Q&A features a question from Atlanta- Sarah wonders if Chikezie is single. Yes, he is. Ryan jokingly reads off a phone number starting with 404. Brooke would duet with John Mayer. A couple of amusingly pointless questions for Simon. Then a lengthy “whatever happened to” for Kimberley Locke, followed by her singing her latest single “Fall.” She has lost 40 pounds (without mentioning “Celebrity Fit Club”) and she looks great though she squashed her pups in a bit tightly - not that I’m complainin’.
Great analysis Negativo, by the way.
If you missed the photos from the Melinda Doolittle appearance at Kroger, check them out here.
In other “Idol” news:
Despite a good show last night, “Idol” had its second lowest ratings of the year and the worst one for performance shows. Competition wasn’t all that tough so that’s surprising. The show finished at about 24.5 million (comparable show two years ago: 31 million.)
I also checked ratings year over year in Atlanta and they are down about 15 percent this month vs. March 2007. That’s slightly worse than the national numbers.
E! News reports that Katharine McPhee has signed a two-year endorsement deal with Neutrogena to become the new flawless face of the skin care company’s anti-acne product line. She knows how to amplify her strengths and modeling is one of them!
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3/26: Melinda Doolittle at Kroger
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I stopped by Kroger off Chamblee Tucker Road to take some photos of Melinda Doolittle, promoting Slow Churned Edy’s Ice Cream. There was a steady line of people waiting to meet her while I was there. She never had one of those awkward lulls where nobody was around and she had to twiddle her thumbs.
The fan base was some parents with kids and an impressive number of older folks, a lot older than the fans who popped by a year ago to the Kroger near Ansley Mall for Ace Young. One guy even purchased her a lottery ticket ($113 million payoff). She pocketed it.
ABOVE: Melinda falls in love with sweet kid Othal Richardson, 2. ALL PHOTOS CREDIT: Rodney Ho
ABOVE: Melinda gets interviewed by WAGA-TV.
ABOVE: A Kroger employee dispenses the Edy’s Mint Karaoke Cookie mix Melinda prefers.
ABOVE: Adorable Sophie Jones, 8, of Sandy Springs, loved Melinda during the show last year and was thrilled to meet her in person. “Can I see her again?” she asked her mom a couple of minutes after leaving the autograph table.
ABOVE: This is my attempt to be artsy.
ABOVE: A friend of Melinda’s mom, Minnie Smith of Decatur, stops by. Minnie attended the same church as Melinda when Melinda lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
She later went to a winner’s home in Decatur to serenade them. That probably would have been more interesting!
Anyway, here’s food for thought:
Daughtry did covers of covers a couple years ago but got flak for not giving credit at the time. (e.g. Live’s version of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line.”).
Now David Cook is doing the same thing— taking covers of covers. But he is making sure Ryan Seacrest gives the arrangers credit. Does that make it better? And are the judges too dense to realize he is doing a cover of a cover and then call him “brave” and “original”? Sure, his takes on “Hello” and “Billie Jean” were great but should he get any bonus points for “originality”?
As for whether any of us got any of the songs right this week, I listed 6 to 8 songs each for the 10 contestants and got exactly one right. I listed Brooke White as possibly singing “Every Breath You Take.” I skipped over Queen from Michael Johns partly because he had already sung a song from that group. And I left “Alone” out from Ramiele because it felt played out. Naturally, “Billie Jean” never entered my mind as a possibility for David Cook. And somehow, I skipped over Bonnie Tyler for Carly. I actually considered Lee Greenwood for Kristy for a split second and somehow dismissed it without thinking why I did so at the time!
