And his name is not Joshy. Last night's two hour show
finally felt like a show worthy of 120 minutes. Nine songs, plus lengthy
hometown visits filled the time slot like a perfectly poured beer. We also got
to encounter Heehaw Hand in the crowd with the rest of the Top 10 performers.
Good old HeeHaw, always out to obtain squealing laughter from his
contemporaries. Seeing Elise and Colton sitting there had me contemplating an
alternate universe in which those two would be in the Final with P2.
In any event, on with the show... the themes for last night fall in line with seasons past. Judges pick, Performer pick and Producer (Jimmy the Hat) pick...
Our first performer of the night is...
The Reverend Joshy: Judges pick - I'd Rather Go Blind: I actually thought this was pretty good, in other words, I didn't completely hate it. Of course the judges gave it a standing O (what else is new?). It wasn't that great you chuckleheads. Still, it was better than I expected. A-
Joshy's pick - Imagine: Lamo-rama! In easily the worst round (for all three) of the night, Josh picks this tepid song because it "means something to him." What it meant for me was that he's gonna get knocked down a notch. Even the butt-scotch-aroo kissing judges weren't all that jazzed. They tried feebly to compliment this performance, but they weren't fooling anyone. C
Jimmy's pick - No More Drama: Not as good as song 1, but miles better than song 2. However, it is just more of the same gospelly rigmarole that we are accustomed to. We even get the stripper routine with the jacket being tossed--that is HOT! NOT. B+
Memorable Hometown moment: Joshy is definitely comfortable on stage in front of thousands... he just ate that right up in his home coliseum. I believe Josh will be creating a new genre of music called "Joshpel".
Next up is Jessica Sandwedge... Judges Pick - My All: the softer side of Jessica comes out in a very high degree of difficulty song. She surprisingly shows some restraint and blew it away. This was a very good performance and raised the already high bar even higher. She also didn't look like a child prostitute for once, which is a good thing. A
Jessica's Choice (and a bad one) - Don't Want to Miss a Thing: Another one of those used up, already done eleventy jillion times songs... this song needs to be retired! It's like listening to a thousand cats jumping off the Sears Tower. I would call this very average at best, and in fact, she had pitch problems towards the end. The last note was painful and warbled. In sum, it was just ghastly, and probably my least favorite song of the night. C
Jimmy's Choice - I'll Be There: It started out pretty good, and she even sounded like Whacko there for a while. Then ghetto Jess came out and she started doing that growling thing again. Growling like a bobcat aint gonna get the job done here, not on this song. I think she may have hurt her chances of landing in the finale. B-
Memorable Hometown moment: Didn't know Jess was home-schooled and had a very sheltered social life. No wonder she can sing so well if that is all she had time for! (she probably hated her parents up until now). Performing on an aircraft carrier would have been highly exquisite, and the helicopter ride along the coast would be a ton of fun.
And phinally, Philly Cheesedip... Judge pick - Beggin: I beggin' your pardon? Never heard of this song, but man, was it a great choice by Steven for Phil? Hellz ya it was! I had thought that both Josh and Jessica's performances would be tough to beat, but Phil pulled out all the stops on this one. He nailed the melody part as well as kept the "phil"elements alive. This is definitely the kind of song Phil needs to be writing and performing. A
Phil's Choice - Disease: Phortunately for Phil, everyone else sucked in this round as well. How ironic that when they're picking their own songs, they flubbed the dub. This was not bad by any means, it was just too easy. One of the judges said he could do this song in his sleep, and I tend to agree. B-
Jimmy's Choice - We've Got Tonight: wow, just wow... I was not expecting that kind of subdued performance from Phil. I thought Jimmy the hat was out to get him and that he was going to fall on his face, head, neck, chest, breast and chin area. On the contrary, my friends. Phil just cemented himself in to the finale with that absolutely brilliant and eclectic performance. This was hands down, the best performance of the night. For the judges to give "under construction" Phil a standing O, that is really saying something. A+
In any event, on with the show... the themes for last night fall in line with seasons past. Judges pick, Performer pick and Producer (Jimmy the Hat) pick...
Our first performer of the night is...
The Reverend Joshy: Judges pick - I'd Rather Go Blind: I actually thought this was pretty good, in other words, I didn't completely hate it. Of course the judges gave it a standing O (what else is new?). It wasn't that great you chuckleheads. Still, it was better than I expected. A-
Joshy's pick - Imagine: Lamo-rama! In easily the worst round (for all three) of the night, Josh picks this tepid song because it "means something to him." What it meant for me was that he's gonna get knocked down a notch. Even the butt-scotch-aroo kissing judges weren't all that jazzed. They tried feebly to compliment this performance, but they weren't fooling anyone. C
Jimmy's pick - No More Drama: Not as good as song 1, but miles better than song 2. However, it is just more of the same gospelly rigmarole that we are accustomed to. We even get the stripper routine with the jacket being tossed--that is HOT! NOT. B+
Memorable Hometown moment: Joshy is definitely comfortable on stage in front of thousands... he just ate that right up in his home coliseum. I believe Josh will be creating a new genre of music called "Joshpel".
Next up is Jessica Sandwedge... Judges Pick - My All: the softer side of Jessica comes out in a very high degree of difficulty song. She surprisingly shows some restraint and blew it away. This was a very good performance and raised the already high bar even higher. She also didn't look like a child prostitute for once, which is a good thing. A
Jessica's Choice (and a bad one) - Don't Want to Miss a Thing: Another one of those used up, already done eleventy jillion times songs... this song needs to be retired! It's like listening to a thousand cats jumping off the Sears Tower. I would call this very average at best, and in fact, she had pitch problems towards the end. The last note was painful and warbled. In sum, it was just ghastly, and probably my least favorite song of the night. C
Jimmy's Choice - I'll Be There: It started out pretty good, and she even sounded like Whacko there for a while. Then ghetto Jess came out and she started doing that growling thing again. Growling like a bobcat aint gonna get the job done here, not on this song. I think she may have hurt her chances of landing in the finale. B-
Memorable Hometown moment: Didn't know Jess was home-schooled and had a very sheltered social life. No wonder she can sing so well if that is all she had time for! (she probably hated her parents up until now). Performing on an aircraft carrier would have been highly exquisite, and the helicopter ride along the coast would be a ton of fun.
And phinally, Philly Cheesedip... Judge pick - Beggin: I beggin' your pardon? Never heard of this song, but man, was it a great choice by Steven for Phil? Hellz ya it was! I had thought that both Josh and Jessica's performances would be tough to beat, but Phil pulled out all the stops on this one. He nailed the melody part as well as kept the "phil"elements alive. This is definitely the kind of song Phil needs to be writing and performing. A
Phil's Choice - Disease: Phortunately for Phil, everyone else sucked in this round as well. How ironic that when they're picking their own songs, they flubbed the dub. This was not bad by any means, it was just too easy. One of the judges said he could do this song in his sleep, and I tend to agree. B-
Jimmy's Choice - We've Got Tonight: wow, just wow... I was not expecting that kind of subdued performance from Phil. I thought Jimmy the hat was out to get him and that he was going to fall on his face, head, neck, chest, breast and chin area. On the contrary, my friends. Phil just cemented himself in to the finale with that absolutely brilliant and eclectic performance. This was hands down, the best performance of the night. For the judges to give "under construction" Phil a standing O, that is really saying something. A+
Memorable Hometown moment: I think this was Phil's clip, but there was a shot of a really pissed off and mean looking security guard pushing people away from Phil. It only lasted a second, but it was AWESOME! Guess he was not enamored by the whole screaming crowd thing. Also very touching was to see Phil get emotional at the parade. I think that is the first time I've ever seen him crack. Awwwww...
All in all, a pretty decent night for all. You take away the middle round, and we got a topnotch production. But because of the 2nd round, I'm going to give the night to Philly, without a sliver of doubt. His 1st and 3rd performances were stellar and were two of his best, if not his best performances of the whole season.
I am going to give the runner up award to Jessica by a very slim margin over Josh, but only because her first round song was scintillating.
Josh, sorry man, but it's so hard to look forward to your stuff. The first song was good, then it just went downhill. Even though his 3rd song was favorable, I was, at that point, not interested.
With that said, I was actually motivated to throw some votes Phil's way. I dialed 20 times and got through twice, so hopefully that's a good sign.
And even though Jessica edged Josh slightly, I think Ms Sanchez will be headin' for home this week. The first guy/guy finale since Dave Cook vs Bearhair Archuleta.
I just hope that Phil can carry this exceptionally timed momentum swing for one more week.
Stay thirsty my friends...
OUT
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