February 20, 2014 
On Wednesday evening, I felt that the gentlemen fared better than the ladies in their performances. It wasn’t perfect, but I could see great promise in some of these young male singers.
And finally – host Ryan Seacrest extended a gracious accolade to the five male singers who were not called to perform in the semi-finals.
I guess all the nasty press regarding the manner in which they dismissed the eliminated female singers on Tuesday evening must have reached the ears of the Producers and they decided to correct the discourteous faux-pas during the male performance show.
However, couldn’t they have used that opportunity to bring out the females as well? Honestly. What does it take to get this show moving in the correct direction? A village?
Anyway, we mustn’t lose heart, dear readers, because, from what I understand, after the Top 10 singers are announced Thursday evening, 5 eliminated singers from the Top 20 Semi Finals will be invited to perform for the remaining 3 spots in the Top 13 Finals.
I hope this rumour is true, for, if it is, that means two of my favorites, Kenz and Austin Wolfe, have a chance to gain entry into the Top 13. This would explain why Ryan didn’t single out these gals when they were not given the opportunity to perform on Tuesday night. Maybe!
And, of the two, I really, really hope that Austin Wolfe makes the cut. She is a brilliant singer – a little pro that defies her young age. If given the opportunity, she will move deep into this competition. She is such a gracious singer as well – very humble as well as being very talented.
The American Idol XIII Results Show airs on Fox at 8:00 PM.
And, for a little fun, what did Harry Connick Jr. mean when he said that one of the singers (can’t remember his name but he was playing guitar) ended his song on the “9”? Do you remember? This is my Masterclass Musical Trivia question of the day. :). And, rewinding DVRs or Wikipedia surfing are not allowed! Ha!
So, who are you rooting for on Thursday evening? Comments are open for business. C’mon in!!!!
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MCL, I hope the 3 wildcards are Ethan, Kenz and Austin.
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To answer your trivia question, I believe it was Alex who ended his song on the “9”.
I was rooting for MK and Sam tonight and happy that both got the fifth spot for the guys and girls.
But I was disappointed that Stephanie was not asked to sing. I was very unhappy with the three girls who were asked, and not at all happy about the two who made the final 13. I was also very disappointed that Spencer did not make the final 13.
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Louise – thank you! Alex! Of course!!! I am not happy with any of the girls – to be frank! Even image wise. I thought Kenz and Austin were beautifully marketable artists. Oh well, their loss is The Voice’s gain.
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Louise-I wish Spencer got a place in that Top 13 as well. He sang better tonight than last night anyway. He really shined during Hollywood Week. The boys are definately stronger than the girls this season. It’s a rotten shame Austin didn’t get into the Top 13. I think they let the best girl of the whole bunch get away. How ridiculous! I really like Brianna’s voice alot, but I’m not surprised she didn’t get a spot. I think she should come back in a couple years or so. She’s only 16, and her artistry just needs time to grow. I still think she has tons of potential!
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I was so surprised that Spencer was not selected. I know it is early in the Season but I have to tell you I am not fully excited at all. I can barely remember the names. Crazy.
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AI needs to bring back the Top 24! This set up now is so terrible!! I really feel like hanging up the towel on this show. It’s disheartening.
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Yes, I hear you Anita and what a shame. The judges are very,very good. Also, as perceptive that Harry Connick Jr. is, I don’t think Rickey Minor being called out for a misstep during the intro of the first performer who sang for a save. Sigh
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I am so disappointed in the outcome of the top 13. Spencer and Gena were the only two who sang in tune. I believe this was all manipulation to get the chosen one a better chance. The scuttle butt is Spencer refused to do pop music and was sticking with Christian Music. Thus why JLO said how disappointed they were in his song choice. Spencer IMO had star quality unlike most of the top 13. Yes FC they left the girls with the most Star potential out of top 5.
At this point I am giving up on AI. The manipulation is too much.
I also think that Colton’s surprising ousts was do to his Christian Music leanings. I think they refused to sign Jason Castro due to his.
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I had a different understanding of your question than Louise. I thought you were asking what Harry meant by the term “9” or “9th.” I’m a true hack of a guitarist and a little better on a blues harp, so take my answer with a big grain of salt. Harry was referring to the version of the Chord that Alex ended his song on. A 9th is a 7th with an addition note added. Harry also mentioned the “root” in his follow up to Alex. So starting at the root note of the chord, or the note you would identify the chord by and build off of, you are playing you would alternate through the musical alphabet adding the 3rd and 5th to get your basic chord, skip another note to get the nest note to build a 7th chord and skip another to get to the 9th. When you assemble those notes together you have built a 9th chord.
That is a musical hack’s version of what I believe to be what he meant. Hopefully someone will have a better answer. Normally I learn chords from a chord book but sometimes I find them myself and have tried to learn a little bit about how to build them or identify one that you have found. It’s mostly way over my head. My fingers are too stiff to play more complex chords unless they just happen to line up in a favorable way. The big difference in someone like you or Harry is that you can hear that chord and recognize it by it’s sound and explain why you would want to use it and on and on. I only know what it is and if I take enough Celebrex, I may be able to crank out a few in a very amateur way. This type of stuff is one of the reasons that I enjoy the “Sing-Off” and the very knowledgeable judges they have. They frequently mention the chord structure that the vocal groups are using and what part of the chord a particular singer was adding to the harmony etc.
I think the purpose of Harry’s question was interesting as well. I think he was giving Alex a chance to shine and let the audience know that he is a real musical geek and likely the best musician of the group.
If I’m not mistaken they said at some point that Alex came from a marching band background in high school and played some sort of horn. He then became fascinated with many instruments and now plays around a dozen. My guess is that Harry also knew that 9th chords are not that common for most guitarists and that his choice of one to end his song suggested other influence. What are known as power chords are very common with rock guitarist. They are fairly simple versions of 5ths that are movable, in other words, you can hold your fingers the same way on the neck and move your position up and down the neck to the different root notes.
Here is a trivia question for you. What singing competition contestant was seen performing on the Beatle’s 50th anniversary show?
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Gene. – your explanation film was wonderful. Bang on! I love my readers and their knowledge of music. Makes my day! And I love the 9 chord and the 2 – which is similar to the 9 but an octave lowers.
Now, I didn’t watch the Beatles special but I know this answer and it is niggling in the corner of my mind. Drives me crazy when that happens. Anyone else know the answer-besides Gene?
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I want to say Judith Hill but I think it is because she was on another show. Ha!
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That’s right. Judith was one of the three backup singers for everyone except Paul when he did his segment along with his band. I’m pretty sure she sang when Ringo did his solo segment. I caught a few glimpses of her and thought that I knew her and then saw her in the credits and confirmed the sighting.
Harry mentioned the second to Alex and that didn’t fit my limited knowledge base as well so I have a “counting it out” session on my to do list.
It occurs to me that what you do has to be a thrill. It’s like playing the ultimate instrument, infinitely tunable and variable and adaptable to any style. I found a long time ago that if you just try to do a few things that are unfamiliar to you it opens up a whole new world of appreciation for what others do. I think I can make some quick money playing the guitar. I believe people might pay me to stop. It’s only taken about 20 years to get that good!
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AI has taken this show away from us. It’s no longer our show, since the judges have been making virtually all the decisions. They obviously don’t give a darn about us anymore. Oh how they forget that if it wasn’t for us, AI wouldn’t have been a skyrocketing success. They will have nothing to complain about when The Voice continues to dominate. They have dug their own hole!
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Anita – exactly. Which is why the Top 24 gradual elimination process to form the Top 12 Finalists made sense AND was exciting g to watch. What a thrill ride. This makes no sense. I am not invested in any of these singers and the Top 13 Finals start next week. I may as well be watching The Voice lol
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Gene – that is funny. Her name and face must have been buried in my subconscious.
I didn’t hear Harry mention the 2nd but you have better ears than I do. I tend to get distracted when the judges are speaking. Haha
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Rosanne-It sure was much more exciting. It allowed us to really get to know each ofthem as artistsand also allowed the contestants to get a fair shot at performing Live for America. They got cheated so badly out of that experience. I also don’t think it was considerate to the band members and vocal coaches who invested their time helping these kids. Ricky Minor and Michael Orland deserve much better! This crazy process seems like such a blurr to me!
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MCL,
It doesn’t surprise me at all that you and Harry would express it the same way because you both know what you are talking about. My understanding of it is very narrow and pretty much limited to my particular use of it, which happened to coincide with what they were talking about on the show. The broader understanding is lost on me, at this point anyway. But I’m working on it.
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Gene – you make me laugh. You are doing just fine. If you and I were in the same room, I could easily demonstrate on the piano.. :):)
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Yes, those were my feelings as well, Anita, regarding Rickey and Michael. All that time invested for nothing. The process is blur to me as well.
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Ok, if I ever see you in person, I’m going to hold you to that.:)
This season has been an awful process overall but there were some improvements to the early part of the process. This is the best judging panel as a whole that they have ever had. My guess is that the stiff competition from The Voice prompted the change so that Idol would be deeper into the process before The Voice started it’s season. Whatever the reason, it is a failure, but so was last year. The ham handed manipulation to achieve a female win was very unsatisfying in the end. The girls don’t need that sort of help in my opinion. All they need is to stop sucking up to the boys when they are under performing. Idol has always been heavily manipulated but this season is the least skillful use of the black art that I have ever seen.
I would prefer for them to have just started from the top 24, let them all perform for two or three weeks and let the public begin voting. There was no need for the public to see any of the “casting” decisions up until now.
I have taken a different approach this year by not paying attention to their names or digging around for more information until just this week. So I don’t care much about who made it or who didn’t. There wasn’t anything I could do about it anyway. The downside is that as MCL said, I’m not invested in any of these contestants. I have begun to see a few that are interesting to me and a few that definitely are not. I’m not expecting a superstar to emerge.
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Oh, Gene, you were right. I didn’t carefully read MCL’s trivia question. If I had, I wouldn’t have been able to answer it!!!
As for The Voice, I read that Usher and Shakira will be back this time, and CeeLo is definitely gone. Maybe it’s because of his legal troubles.
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No big deal Louise. You had the name part of it and I believe Alex may be a player this season. I looked a few of his You Tube videos of his original music and it’s pretty good stuff.
That’s interesting what you said about the Voice. I knew Shakira and Usher were back but I thought it was just the next round of the rotating judges theme that they have established. I hadn’t heard that Cee Lo was gone for good.
The rotating judges idea is one of the smartest things they have done on The Voice. I had never heard of Shakira before she joined the show but what a sweetheart she turned out to be. She pushed Christina to raise her game as well which is the same thing we are seeing on Idol since Harry came on board.
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I’ve made a decision that I’m not going to watch AI anymore. I can’t bear to see the show I once loved so much, be destroyed like it is. It just makes me cry. My excitment I once had is now totally gone, so I just can’t do it anymore. They might as well have Nigel and Ken back because these new producers aren’t any better. The talent isn’t near as great as it used to be, and they send home the most promising ones. Sigh…..
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Anita – I totally agree. The Top 13 are not a strong team this season. It is such a shame. Once again, the singers, who for me held the most promise, have long been eliminated.
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I agree Anita, and I also have decided to not watch. They had such awesome talent but as MCL says they have eliminated most with any star potential. They just are stacking the deck for someone. The thought all around is that the gals left out was to make it easier for Majesty or MK. That Spenser was left out to make keep the splitting of votes for the cute between Sam and Spencer.
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Aubry – not to mention Savian who was unjustly eliminated during the Hollywood Rounds. And Kenz and Austin who never received an opportunity to sing. Talk about taking the wind out of our sail!
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Exactly MCL. The manipulation is alive and well on AI. You would think they would have figured out by now that the most successful winners have been ones that the public has selected and not the ones that have been manipulated to win by AI’s PTB.
Kens, Austin and Spencer were all the ones I felt had the “IT” factor. To be a recording star IMO you need a decent voice but equally important are sparkle, personality and interesting good looks.
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Aubry – 👍👍👍
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Aubry-What also gets me is AI keeps saying they are the only singing competition that’s produced superstars. Yes, that’s true, but I just scoff at that, because they are running this show now like they don’t want anymore sucessful Idol Alum. It’s crazy, they let 17 people go the first week of the Live shows, whereas if it was the Top 24, it would have just been 4!!!
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Anita. Very well said! 👌👌👌👌
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Anita, it was a debacle letting go 17 singers in one week. It was downright insanity to let go who they did and keep who they kept.
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I don’t think the remaining 13 are nearly as talented as contestants were on last season’s The Voice.
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MCL & Aubry-I feel like flying to the AI studios and picketing with a sign that reads “AI-Quit making a farce of our show!!!” I don’t think I’d hold my breath that it would make any difference though.
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Haha Anita. Wait for my article on Wednesday. :):)
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MCL-Hi! I’ll look forward to your article!
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I really hope The Voice has learned from AI and doesn’t make the same huge, costly mistakes the show has made. I really believe at this time, AI is on the path of no return. It’s heartbreaking because I’ve loved this show for so long, but TPTB just don’t care about the show nor the AI fans who have been so faithful all these years!
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I am glad that Alex and Sam made it to the top 13…they were my favs out of auditions! I liked Johnny Newcome, but knew when he was the first up to sing in the hanger he was out of there, too much of everything going on and the tweens would have eaten him up, and TPTB aren’t having any of that any more…Out goes Spencer! The tweens would have power voted him right into the finale. Idol has an agenda and we the viewers are not going to mess with it. Spencer should have been singing in the top 13…
Guys – 1 Rocker, 2 Indy, 3 Country (How many guys is it again???, LOL) None of which are tween heart throbs! The girls, eh! not sure the thinking behind that other than they want a guy this year??? I think the five left sitting would have given us a better season than the five they picked.
I too have tried to not get too involved in idol this year, I have not been haunting my usual idol pages, I wanted to see the field and go from there, and as it turned out my two picks advanced and I am happy, so I will watch until they are voted off and then be done watching idol this year! That may be rather quickly…unless America gets Alex he won’t stay long, Sam will stay for a while, but I think the rocker guy may outlast them all. The girls are really going to have to jockey for position early on, but I think MK is going to go far just on back story alone!
I don’t see any real star power on idol this year…the two diamonds in the rough for me will be Sam and Alex, purely on a musicality level…both know their voices and what they can do, and hopefully will be able to influence their song choices and make them their own…both have an understanding of music, notes, pitch…they should be fun to watch! Understanding what it is your are doing makes it a lot more fun to watch!!!
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Yep Sam if he gains confidence has the looks and Star Potential to be successful. Sadly Alex may be the best artist but to me he has zero star potential.
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