posted March 26, 2008 at 17:44 in Other Articles

When the lights turned on, all I kept saying to myself was “please no more Beatles songs!” Thankfully, that request was granted, as the 10 remaining contestants would be singing songs from the year they were born. When it ended, the landscape of this contest changed dramatically in my opinion. Some new faces will jump to the forefront, and there will be some immense value on the former frontrunners that tanked last night’s performance. We were wrong last week for the first time all season. I expected Kristy Lee Cook and Ramiele Malubay to be sure things for the bottom three. I was right with Kristy, 3rd week in a row, but I was shocked to see Ramiele avoid the dreadful position at center stage. Instead, Amanda Overmyer, and shockingly, Carly Smithson finished off the trio. When it was all said and done, Kristy survived once again as did Carly, but leaving us was the bluesy Janis Joplin sound alike Overmyer. Congrats to those that cashed in on her at +350

Without further ado…

After putting forth boring performances the last two weeks, Ramiele Malubay opened the competition with Heart’s “Alone”. I didn’t think she had the voice to sing that song, and both Paula and Randy thought the song was too big for her. Simon thought the performance was good enough to get into the next round, but I’m not so sure. We’ve faded her two weeks running only to come up just short, but I’ll kick myself if I don’t get a taste of her again at +750 and she does get kicked off. It’s time for this tiny package to exit stage left.

Jason Castro and his pretty boy looks and dreads took the stage next. He had me clueless from the start. The performance was nothing special, agreed upon by all judges, but this kids looks and persona will carry him through to next weeks show.

Syesha Mercado put forth a brilliant performance covering “If I Were Your Woman”. Both Jackson and Paula drooled over her act, but Simon wasn’t as impressed. That said, look for Syesha’s odds to win this whole thing to drop substantially at next weeks open, currently 20:1. She’ll move on with ease this week.

After a pair of brilliant performances covering Beatles tunes the last couple weeks, Chikezie tried to tackle another ballad even though he got mixed reviews from the judges in previous weeks doing them. The one thing to know about Chikezie is that he can flat out sing. Randy thought his cover of Luther Vandross’ “If Only For One Night” was too old school, but Paula stated it came across like that because Chikezie’s a throwback. Simon thought he sung the song well, but he missed the personality he exhibited the last two weeks. I hope Chikezie makes it. The kid is really talented and owns one of the top three voices in the competition. The +550 return for him to go this week looks very juicy, but I think it’s a waste of a unit. Chikezie’s moving on!

I thought Brooke White’s cover of “Every Breath You Take” was good and bad. The beginning, save for the immediate slipup before starting, was very good. Then when it sped up, it was kind of all over the place. That said, the angelic one is going nowhere just yet, so all you Brooke White faders hold on to your cash for another week.

We’ve been patiently waiting for Michael Johns to erupt on stage since “Hollywood Week” but it just hasn’t come to fruition. Until last night. Johns’ cover of Queens “We Will Rock You” was electric to say the least and had the entire audience giving him a standing-O at the song’s conclusion. Randy was happy he finally challenged himself, and Paula exuberantly proclaimed, “You found your right song!”. Simon’s statement took me by surprise stating, “It was the first time I saw star potential watching you”. He’ll be back next week, and look for his overall odds that raised to 14:1 to come crashing back down next week.

Carly Smithson was a surprise entrant in last weeks bottom three, but I won’t be shocked if she finds herself back this week after putting forth a ‘heard it before’ version of “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. Paula was the only one that loved her, but then again, Paula always loves everyone. Simon felt something didn’t quite work, and wants her to loosen up a bit. At 20:1 to exit stage left, how can we not take a stab.

David Archuleta’s performance was mesmerizing, but in the awful sense of the word. I have no idea why this kids been dubbed the prohibitive favorite in this competition at –125. I haven’t been impressed with him since he covered Lennon’s “Imagine” and that was a month ago. He won’t go just yet due to all the teenyboppers being madly in love with him, but we’ll look to make a large position against him in the coming weeks if he continues to suck it up like this.

Kristy Lee cook has been in the bottom three since the final 12 was announced, but look for that to change this week after she made a brilliant song choice and got patriotic by covering “God Bless The USA”. Simon agreed with me wholeheartedly proclaiming “It was the most clever song choice in years”. Look for Kristy to take a huge sigh of relief when she finds out she’s safe Wednesday night.

The other Cook, as in David Cook, closed the show with his rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”; or so I thought. Truth is, Chris Cornell (former lead singer of Soundgarden and Audioslave) just wrapped up that exact track to be released on his May solo album. Regardless, the performance was the best of the night leaving Randy, Paula, and Simon blown away. Look for David to become the competitions favorite when odds are released after tomorrow night’s elimination show.

This will be the week we get all the money we blew fading Ramiele Malubay the last couple weeks. I advise you to lay 3x your unit amount on her to get voted off at +750, and for Carly Smithson and either Chikezie or Jason Castro to join her in the bottom three. It’s time for the pint-sized Polynesian to vacate the premises so she can hang out with Danny Noriega until she can rejoin her mates on the American Idol Tour over the summer.

BetUS.com American Idol Odds to win it all:

David Archuleta –125

David Cook +400

Carly Smithson +600

Brooke White +600

Jason Castro +1000

Michael Johns +1400

Syesha Mercado +2000

Ramiele Malubay +2500

Chikezie Eze +4000

Kristy Lee Cook +6000

Additional sports and entertainment odds can be found in the BetUS.com Sportsbook, in Futures/props, under Entertainment Props.