Welcome to the 80's. There's one year that the contestants should fear - 1986. Two of the men and 2 of the women will be 86'ed this week. Once again, Jason Block is here to give his viewpoints of what's going to happen. The men go first as they battle through the songs of the 80's.

Luke Menard starts us up this week with 'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go'. Luke's most embarrassing moment was when he was dressed up by her sister to look like a ballerina. Somehow, the song fits him.

The Good - He FINALLY picks a song that we've heard of. The best choice of song that he has selected for the 3 weeks that we've heard him. And he hits the money note at the end.

The Bad - Unfortunately, that does nothing for the fact that he raced through the song like Rosie Ruiz at the Boston Marathon and mangled the song lyrics worse than what Jason Vorhees does to Crystal Lake campers.

The Jason - Luke, you haven't learned. Again, it's passionless. You are out.

The Verdict - Simon says he's going home. I have to agree. Good-bye, Luke. Say hello to the Dark Side for me.


David Archuleta says that he ran out of voice singing a song - so his mom finished it for him. Yipes. He sings 'Another Day in Paradise' with himself on the piano.

The Good - Great choice of song. I like the arrangement that he did, and he can play the piano well. And of course, he's David, so he finishes the song off with a flourish.

The Bad - David is human, and it shows on the song. He's flat on the notes and I think the piano playing detracted from his singing. Maybe a little let down from last week. Maybe the crime is that he did too well singing Imagine?

The Jason - Another kiiler interpretation. A lock for the Top 12.

The Verdict - Simon says next week to pick a happy, fast song. Apparently, he forgot week #1, when David sang 'Shop Around'. However, I think there's a more valid point - David sounded really old in singing that song, and he should stay youthful. That being said, David at 90% is much better than most people at 100%, and he did nothing to hurt his cause this week. I'll be shocked if he's not the first person Ryan calls down into the Top 12 on Thursday.


Danny Noriega's embarrassing moment it that he slept with Denise Richards...oh wait, she's just in the audience. His real most embarrassing moment is that he was tripped and fell in front of one of his crushes...which may have been Denise Richards...or David Hernandez. Anyways, he sings 'Tainted Love', and for his sake, the song better not be tainted.

The Good - The best vocal that he's done. He brought the attitude with him to the song, which he needed to do.

The Bad - He shied away from the big money notes, which I think was a mistake. The arrangement was ghastly. And what's up with the magic swishes? You gotta sing it to back it up.

The Jason - Loved the arrangement. Hated the execution. In trouble time.

The Verdict - Simon called it useless. Danny gives Simon the 'hand gesture'. I hated the arrangement, but I thought Danny could have salvaged it if he let the vocals fly. He didn't, and I think that was a major error. Danny is in serious trouble, and he may need the complete Sanjaya nation of Vote For the Worst to bail him out of this one.


David Hernandez's most embarrassing moment is probably that the whole world discovered that he works as a stripper in a gay bar - but he'll tell us that his most embarrassing moment is that he had a booger in his nose during a photo shoot. I guess having your pictures of you all around the internet parading naked isn't nearly as bad as that nasty nose expulsion. You may think it's up your nose, but it's (s)not...anyways, he sings Celine Dion's/Meatloaf's 'All Coming Back to Me Now'.

The Good - He had flashes of brilliance that carried over from last week's performance. 3 very different songs in 3 very different genres shows how versatile he is...I mean in song. Mind. Out Of. Gutter.

The Bad - You all know my thoughts about men singing songs that women have sung - it's a terrible practice which usually leads to leaving the show, stage right. Bad choice of song, which is way too big for his voice. Pitchy all over the place.

The Jason - Very good interpretation. The scandal won't hurt him. Safe enough for the Top 12.

The Verdict - This is the first time I'm going to disagree with everyone. The judges liked the performance. I didn't. It reeked of karaoke and it was a shell of what he did last week. I think he could have issues this week.


Michael Johns wants to make a rock/soul/dance album. So did Taylor Hicks, and we saw how THAT turned out. Whoops. Michael dressed up as a kangaroo for a rugby match as people beat him up in front of 20,000 spectators. He's hoping no one will beat him up after singing Simple Minds 'Don't You Forget About Me'.

The Good - He picked a perfect choice of song. The vocals shows who he is (rock) and the execution of the song was quite solid.

The Bad - I hated the vocal choice that he made on the arrangement. Like Danny, Michael avoided the money notes on the song. if you're going to raise the song up an octave at the end, then you better be going for the money notes, instead of lowering the pitch at the end to sing a more comfortable ending but sacrificing the 'Wow' factor.

The Jason - Great song choice. Right in his wheelhouse. Good enough to get into the Top 12.

The Verdict - Like David Archuleta, he didn't do anything to hurt himself, but I agree with Simon that he hasn't found the 'Knock it out of the park' song yet. He'll get into the Top 12, but there's a disturbing trend here. If Michael, David Cook, and Carly Smithson all get in (and I think they all will), then you have 3 rockers in the Top 12. That's too many rockers. So I don't think Michael has as much time as the judges think he does...


David Cook , who got moved back a singer due to guitar issues, finally has the guitar kinks work out. But the most embarrassing moment is that he froze like a statue during a performance. He sings 'Hello' by Lionel Richie - rock style.

The Good - Very ambitious choice. Once the band kicks in, the ambition pays off, because he does execute the second part very well.

The Bad - The first part, however, was a mess. Maybe it was the instrumentation, or just a bad audio job from the Idol sound mixers, but him alone with the guitar made me cringe until the band kicked in. And like David Archuleta, the instrumentation definitely affected his vocals. That was definitely not him that I was looking for.

The Jason - Very very interesting song choice. However, I deplored this interpretation. Did not like this at all. He is in major trouble.

The Verdict - In general, I do like his song interpretations. This week, though was more miss than hit for me. The one thing he did do, however, was solidify his rock voting block, and that should be enough to get him in. I'll say the same thing I said about Jason Castro last week - let's see him do something that's not rock and that doesn't use the guitar.


Jason Castro had a date and one of his dreds fell out. The way he talks, I'm wondering if he goes to the same emporium that Bo Bice, Snoop Dogg and Ricky Williams used to (or maybe still currently) go to. He sings Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah', and I hope his performance doesn't go to pot.

The Good - He took a chance without using the guitar. Once he got to the chorus, he kicked in. I also like the fact that he emoted for the camera. By far, his strongest performance of the season for him.

The Bad - A very shaky first half. Started out very slow and he did not keep time with the solo guitar or the rest of the band until the second verse. Him running out of gas at the money note didn't help.

The Jason - Castro sings a song that I have no idea what it is. He sings it in a horribly weak way. He is out.

The Verdict - I'll say the same thing I said about David Cook. This is an ok performance, but a perfect song choice for his fan base. Like the others, he may not have helped himself, but he didn't hurt himself, and we should be seeing him in the Top 12 next week.


We end with Chikezie , who kept using the women's urinals in high school. Maybe he used that to be inspired to sing a woman's song this evening. 'All the Woman that I need' is his song of choice.

The Good - Of course, this was a wheelhouse song for him. You know he's going to sing it well...

The Cheesy - ...because he ALREADY SANG the song. When? During the audition process to go to Hollywood. And we saw him do it. Very Cheesy, Chikezie.

The Bad - And he didn't sing it nearly as well as he did during the auditions. Once again, we get a male singing a female song (and before you all write to me that Luther Vandross performed it first, the version that most people remember is the Whitney Houston version). Maybe it was the arrangement, but it didn't seem like a song. It sounded like an ad lib session and he forgot the lyrics while being pitchy all over the place. And the money note was ghastly. This is the second straight show where the last singer bombed.

The Jason - Very good. In his wheelhouse. Good stuff. Enough to get him into the Top 12.

The Verdict - I could not disagree more. I HATED the performance. The only thing I could think of that would make me enjoy it is if I went to the same emporium that Bo, Snoop, Ricky, and (maybe) Jason go to and get whatever they got. Second worst performance of the night (behind Luke), so he only has one good effort to fall back on. And for someone who has already been in the bottom early, this is not good news. This could be trouble.


The Final Verdict - For the most part, the songs were sung well (if not safe). The guys who knew they were in great shape sang songs that kept them safe enough. The problem is that so did the guys who were in trouble - and 'ok', going up against 'very good', usually leads to a dismissal.

Trouble - Chikezie, David Hernandez, Luke Menard, Danny Noriega

Luke needed a great effort, and he came far, far short of that. He's leaving. I think David Hernandez will be more damaged with his non-Idol activities, but I think he will make the Top 12. So who leaves? The Vote for the Worst posterboy? Or the last singer who couldn't resing his audition song too well? I'll go with the person who's fan base doesn't think he's in trouble, and won't vote, causing him to go home and for me to retire the 'Cheesy' moniker - in an upset.

Should be Out - Luke Menard, Danny Noriega

Out - Chikezie, Luke Menard

(The Jason Says - Trouble: David Cook, Danny Noriega. Out: Luke Menard, Jason Castro)

We'll do this again in 24 hours for the women. Join us then.