And, thanks Kariann for being my goodwill vocal ambassador over on Jason’s forum.

Maybe he has the time to sing correctly when in the studio, without the pressure of a live peformance.

I cannot wait for the show tonight. I love Neil Diamond.

Oh no, no MCL, I didn’t have to persuade anyone to read your articles. And I bet they WILL like them! Some just did not understand how much vocal training will help Jason. I even mentioned his posture. This was regarding his singing while sitting. Oh, please understand, your articles/reviews are really a clear focus of what the contestants should be concentrating on (as Janey says.)

I like rereader’s question about Jason’s studio versions.

I was listening to some of Jason’s studio recordings, and it seems to me that in those versions, at least, his technique is improving, certainly more than in the live performances. When you do get to listen to some of them, I’d be very interested to know if you think that that is in fact the case (rather than some sort of recording manipulation). Thanks!

http://idolforums.com/index.php?showtopic=553105

Apparently this was a radio show with Debra and Ricky Minor, dadmonson. I wish I could find it on YouTube.

Kristy excelled at performing songs that had an “anthem” feel in the harmonic and lyrical structure. In other words, songs with strong statements and “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”is another strong example of this.

She was getting stronger and stronger each week, so maybe TPTB were getting nervous. Who knows?

I haven’t met Debvra Byrd – except over the telephone. I interviewed her a few years back when she was working with the Canadian Idol contestants. She is a lovely, genuine and talented lady.

Feeling better with each passing day.

Where is the link to that article?

“THEN Debra said the most disappointing thing about this week is that (shocker)

Kristy wasn’t here to perform. Rickey agreed!! Debra said had Kristy got to sing her song . (She picked “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”) She would have Blown everyone away and it would have been the “moment” of the season. Rickey argues saying that he agrees it would have been the moment, but he thinks David A already had one with Imagine and David C with Billie Jean, Debra responded with “Kristy this week would have outdone both of those performances, I believe, it was one of the best things I’ve heard throughout the 7 seasons working on Idol” and Rickey said “I can’t argue with you there, this was shaping up to be Kristy’s week it was devastating to see her go after how excited she was for this week. You don’t know how good Kristy is until you hear this, it might have put her into front runner status” Debra agreed saying it would have definitely thrown a huge wrench into the competition.”

After listening to this version of it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx9f11m0zgc), I agree that we were robbed. That song is a perfect fit for Kristy’s range, and wow at Byrd’s comments! MCL, you have met her, correct? This isn’t an exaggeration?

Regardless if it is or isn’t, I hope she sings it on the tour.

I hope you’re getting better, and thanks for the great critiques this week!

I guess it depends where they are posted–on the TWOP site (in the Jason thread), you’ve been quoted at least once, and most of the reaction I saw was quite positive. I think the posters there skew a bit older than on the AI forums, and know that vocal training won’t “destroy” his sound, but will help him not only sound better, but preserve his voice–which, logically, fans should want.

Hope you are feeling better!

And Brooke? That’s enough now. Send her home. She is obviously in distress and needs to be released from her Idol obligations. Plus, she has to sing 2 songs this week? Good Lord help her and us.

But the Carly eulogy made me laugh. You have to read the comments after this article. They are so funny, but this guy said it the best:

Dude,

Is this a joke? ‘Historians’? ‘Angel of Death’? ‘We will be debating what happened for ages to come, but whatever the reason for her elimination, let us rejoice in the hours we spent together.’ !?

This is a Gong show, man. You need to go lie down, or, better yet, go grab a beer. I’m truly glad we live in a society where all people have to worry about is TV shows, but, really, if you need this much drama in your life, join the Army or something.

You made me laugh, anyway. You seem to be saying she’s got the talent to just go from here on her own, yet there’s all this poetry and other nonsense. Good heavens.

Enjoy your day.

Frank

Posted by: Frank McLean | April 24, 2008 at 06:23 AM

From Entertainment Weekly:

“Syesha and Brooke are hauled out next to deliver Shocker #1: Brooke ain’t going home. Even though Syesha, like, got to, like, play someone, like, different for a change, she’s sent to the space stools; meanwhile, Brooke heads to the couch where she proceeds to completely break down. First her head is in her hands. Then she puts her head between her knees while D.Cook rubs her back. I take a second to check in on Syesha, who has wandered offstage, and suddenly Rushfield is nudging me to look at the couch again, where Brooke is full-on lying down. I am not sure that America’s decision to keep Ms. White around is doing much for that poor girl’s psychological condition. She’s been in a steady decline for weeks, and tonight she practically went fetal in public. But god bless that “mosh pit”! Soon, the screaming girls have Brooke up and laughing. And as Corey (the warm-up entertainer) enters my section to hand out swag — OMG, he’s in my ROW! eek! — Syesha is being totally ignored. She emerges from the wings, clutching a Kleenex and looking visibly distraught, then starts swiveling around on her stool to collect herself while facing the back of the stage, hyperventilating with her hand on her chest, and clutching the other stool for balance. At one point, she goes to blow her nose, and a woman behind me gasps, “She’s gonna be sick!” She was not. But she was a little melodramatic. Broadway, baby. Broadway.” http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/04/on-the-scene–3.html

Anita

MCL, I have recommended your blog again on the AI Forum in Jason Castro’s threads. The title is, “Is everyone here opposed to vocal training?” I was surprised some people actual oppose vocal training because Jason’s voice is so beautiful. “We” know better, thanks to you!

Get well soon!

What do you all think?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2008/04/american-idol-8.html

Shock, grief, anger, betrayal. These were the feelings that swept through the Idoldome after the stunning dismissal of Carly Smithson, the contestant this column has called the most electrifying in “Idol” history. But the tidal wave of horrified feelings was entirely in the audience. On stage, Carly Smithson herself, always the most spirited and nurturing of this year’s contestants, stayed upbeat and even cheery as she said her good-byes and took a last look around from the “Idol” stage, knowing perhaps that for a talent such as hers, now that it has been loosed to the world, the journey is only beginning.

It is a funny thing about mortality –- we never ever have enough time. Although there is only a month left in this marathon, and although the spots on the Nokia stage are in all likelihood locked up by David Cook and David Archuleta, meaning that all the others will meet their ends very soon, Carly’s departure brings floods of anger and sadness. While there was still a hope, while there were still lesser candidates in the field, it seems impossible to let go of every moment we might have spent with Carly on the “Idol” stage. After the show, the crowd shook with resentment toward perceived undeserving survivors, akin the impotent frustration of people on the losing end of a stolen election. But such is why “American Idol” remains so compelling in its seventh season — this ability to summon such emotion from its various partisans, even when they are miserable, only fuels its strength.

From the beginning, there was an odd, jittery feeling in the Idoldome, presaging strange things to come. This deep into the season, the stakes for each elimination are all the higher, driving the collective nerves to new heights. Before the top of the show each week, the judges play a game with how late they can come in before airtime, striding in generally with only a minute or two to spare. Wednesday night, two of the judges (Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell) missed the cold open entirely, and had to sneak in while the opening credits sequence rolled, causing stage manager Debbie Williams, for whom getting the judges in their seats is the bane of her existence, to warn the crowd not to cheer for them as they slipped across the room.

Simon’s high jinks continued during the group number. As they sang, one of the vocal coaches came into the audience and stood next to the judges’ desk so that he might conduct the contestants through the number. However, ever the mischief maker, Simon grabbed a makeshift baton and offered his own rival conducting along a different beat. At the next break, Debbie admonished “Simon was a bad boy. He conducted the children wrong.”

The high jinks however, took a more dramatic turn after Brooke White and Syesha Mercado took their turns on the stage. Once Angel of Death Ryan Seacrest gave Brooke the all-clear, she rushed to collapse on the couch, lying face down once the show went to commercial and openly weeping, a spectacle that summoned Paula to the stage to comfort her and raised many an eyebrow about her seeming bottomless well of neediness. Meanwhile, across the stage, Syesha, alone on her death stool, turned her back to the audience to let her tears flow, clearly thinking, I gave it my greatest performance and I’m still here on this damn stool. What more can I do for you people?

Throughout the season, Carly has very much played the den mother on elimination night, being the first to comfort the eliminated or the merely rattled, joking around, keeping the atmosphere light even as Angel of Death Seacrest flapped his wings nearby. So when her turn at last came, had she demanded her share of comforting, especially considering the outpouring of affection for her, she would have been within her rights. But all class to the end, she stayed smiling, cheery and grateful in her last minutes, seeming to comfort Syesha and Brooke rather than receiving reassurance herself.

So what are we to take away from this? Right now, in the hours after Angel Seacrest wrapped Carly in his icy embrace, it still seems much too soon to say good-bye, and the reality that she will not be with us for Neil Diamond week seems too harsh to accept. It will take years for historians to have the time and perspective to sort through the meaning of what happened tonight, but in an attempt to write a first draft of history, let us consider that the winds, for all her talent, were blowing against Carly from the start:

• The Youth Vote. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times in this column, the children cannot be ignored. One 11-year-old supporter is worth literally several hundred grown-up supporters given that is how many times the child will call. Carly’s was the maturest of talents in this group; she and Michael Johns both offered in their singing and personas very grown-up styles and appeal. We can hope this will serve the both of them well in their post-”Idol” careers.

• Pastel tones. The finalists on “American Idol” are almost without exception those whose auras radiate in bright, soft, warm colors. Jordin Sparks was pure pink. Blake Lewis shone in azure. Taylor Hicks was green teal. Katharine McPhee — a light red. Carly’s aura is a deep, complex magenta (when she performs at least, unlike her chatty aura, which is very sunny).

• Female rockers. Seven seasons in, we can affirmatively say, they don’t seem to fare well on “Idol.” From Nikki McKibben to Gina Glocksen to Amanda Overmyer to Carly (who was only half-rocker) it’s a tough road.

• Definition. Without a clear, easily describable in two words or less outline of what kind of singer you are, it makes it hard to gather a consistent reliable demographic group and a singer is forced to ride the waves of fortune week to week.

• The judges. This season, Simon in particular seems to have an outsized effect on the results, writing the story of how every performance is seen. He was, ironically, favorable on Carly’s final performance night, but that came after weeks of very grudging compliments at best.

We will be debating what happened for ages to come, but whatever the reason for her elimination, let us rejoice in the hours we spent together. Critics threw stones at the fact that Carly had a recording career prior to “Idol,” but it always seemed to me, that as a result of her past, she brought to the stage a richer, more complex and fascinating history then any other contestant.

The narrative I constructed for myself of Carly’s story, based on her comments and what we know of her history, went something like this: Carly stepped foot on the stage professionally very, very young, touring with Les Miz as early as age 8. After devoting much of her youth to music and performing, she finally, at the end of her teens, lands the big one –- a record deal with a major label. She moves all the way to Hollywood from Ireland thinking she is on the cusp of her dreams coming true. However, for whatever reason –- poor marketing, youth, etc. –- the record does not take off. In the wreckage after the deal falls apart, Carly flees Los Angeles for San Diego, where she waitresses at a bar through what must have been very dark times, wondering after a life spent wanting to break into music, and no doubt feeling cast aside by the industry, what does she do next? The only hint of her dreams, the weekly show she performs at her bar.

Years pass. Taking a crazy chance, she tries out for “American Idol,” and is picked from the auditions to move forward. But because of problems with her immigration status, she is unable to be on the show. It must have seemed that fate was irredeemably against her.

More time passes. She marries. She keeps singing in her bar. And finally she auditions again. And makes it through.

Every night she went up on the “Idol” stage, Carly projected both the sure hand of someone who had spent her life working for this moment, and the gratitude of one who has learned that life doesn’t owe her anything. Hers was the joy, not of a dream that she felt the world had an obligation to fulfill, but of a dream that had been forced to hide away until its flame was so tiny, it was this close to being blown out. And finally, when it seemed just about to disappear forever, to be allowed to shine once again! No other contestant’s story could match depth and poignancy to Carly’s euphoria at being given this chance once again, to paraphrase her countryman, W.B. Yeats, a lonely impulse of delight drove her to this tumult among the clouds, which is why I called her the most electrifying performer ever to take the “Idol” stage.

No one could match that intensity, but we take comfort in knowing that that flame now burning so, so brightly can no longer be extinguished, and like many before her who came to this stage, even if they did not make it to the final rung of this competition, her career will undoubtedly continue and we will see its fire again and again in the years ahead.

And so I close tonight with the words of the poet C.P. Cavafy. His poem, “The God Abandons Antony,” reminds us, difficult as it may be, to not be filled with recrimination for what now passes, not to second-guess the way things have gone, but to draw on the strength that brought us to these heights to get us through and cherish the sublime moment we have known. And in Carly’s case, we can close this chapter knowing this ending will be the beginning of a new journey greater than anything that has come before it.

When suddenly, at midnight, you hear
an invisible procession going by
with exquisite music, voices,
don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive — don’t mourn them uselessly.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.
Above all, don’t fool yourself, don’t say
it was a dream, your ears deceived you:
don’t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
as is right for you who were given this kind of city,
go firmly to the window
And listen with deep emotion, but not
with whining, the pleas of a coward;
listen — your final delectation — to the voices,
to the exquisite music of that strange procession,
and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing.

– Richard Rushfield

The overabundance of ballads is probably the cause of my sluggish immune system. (I am now in week 2 of this ghastly flu/cold combo.)

Neil Diamond songs should offer everyone a wide variety of songs that suit their own styles and will be interesting to see what they choose. I hope David Archuleta picks something upbeat, would love to see him rock out a little bit! Actually after several weeks of ballads it’s time for some uptempo selections for them all.

We’ll see!

Jason should have more luck with song selection with Neil Diamond. As should all the other singers. (Shame on you, Jason, for not taking full advantage of the masterclass opportunity with Lloyd Webber! end rant…)

At this point, I have no idea who’s going to win. I am still waiting for the late-round “moment” that it seems like the winner needs to have at some point. Alas, I think it’s possibly too late for Syesha who still keeps hitting the bottom 2, despite good vocal performances. My advice for “Neil Diamond week”:

Brooke, Jason: Stay in your note comfort range. Brooke, lighten up! Your “human” side is making me increasingly uncomfortable as I don’t want to witness a breakdown onstage!

David A: There are lots of fun songs in the Diamond repertoire. Sing “I’m a Believer”!

David C: I’m still waiting for you to connect with a tender lyric. Maybe sing “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon”? And mean it! (Was I the only one a little skeeved out that ALW told him to imagine a SEVENTEEN year old? Yikes, milord, at least make the pretend female of legal age!)

Syesha: Keep you chin up (I don’t mean literally!) and don’t let the bottom 2 thing get to you!