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So there it was, the American Idol episode that I've been waiting for.  The songs of possibly my favorite rock group: Queen.

Sadly, tonight's show was plagued with a number of poor song choices and below average performances.  I wish that the contestants would have spent more time looking for a song to sing than simply reading the back of the "Greatest Hits" CD.

I think that if some of the contestants (namely Elliot, Ace, and Kellie) would have looked into singing either "Breakthrough", "Love of my life", "The Seven Seas of Rhye", or "Don't Stop Me Now", a poor performance could have been made much better.  Oh well, at least nobody sang "I want to break free" or "Don't try suicide." 

Tonight's Performances:

1.  Bucky Covington sang "Fat bottomed girls."  This song went well.  I don't know what Bucky did to make this song sound like a country song, but it sure did!  This was Bucky's best performance so far.  Grade: B+

2.  Ace Young sang "We will Rock You."  Stupid song choice.  The highlight of that song is a guitar solo, and those aren't included in Idol performances.  It didn't really help Ace's chances when Brian May didn't have much to say about Ace and his talents in the vignette.  Grade: F

3.  Kellie Pickler sang "Bohemian Rhapsody."  Why?     This song had the potential to be really bad, but it turned out better than that.  Kellie's clothes and hair made her look like Rod Stewart.  Grade: C-

4.  Chris Daughtry sang "Innuendo."  Chris found a good song to match his voice.  At least he researched the Queen library a little bit.  I liked the song, but I am not sure that the song choice was cut out for an Idol type show.  (Like ". . .Rock You", the highlight of "Innuendo" is a guitar solo.)  Grade: A-

5.  Katharine McPhee sang "Who wants to live forever."  A good choice for Katharine's voice and the way she likes to sing.  Katharine missed a handful of notes in the song, but it turned out basically okay.  Grade: B-

6.  Elliot Yamin sang "Somebody to love."  Elliot had that "deer in the headlights" look that he introduced last week.  I am thinking that he wasn't sure of his lines again.  In the end, Elliot's performance reminded me of something that George Huff would have done -slightly below-average.  Grade: C-  (Elliot REALLY should have thought about doing "Killer Queen.")

7.  Taylor Hicks sang "Crazy little thing called love."  About ten minutes before Taylor went on, I paused the TV, and told my wife that Taylor would sing "Crazy little thing. . ."  Unlike other contestants, Taylor chose an appropriate song, and he made it fun.  Grade: B

8.  Paris Bennett sang "The Show Must Go On"  Who would have thought that Paris would have the best performance on Queen night?  I was shocked with how well she did.  Good job Paris!  Grade: A

Tonight's best:     1) Paris   2) Chris   3) Bucky

Tonight's worst:    1) Ace (my first "F" of the season.  Perhaps ever. . .)   2) Elliot   3) Kellie