Crystal Rules Once Again on May 11th's American Idol

Songs of the cinema were celebrated on Tuesday May 11^th's American Idol. Jamie Foxx, in a return performance, mentored the top four remaining Idols-Crystal Bowersox, Lee DeWyze, Casey James and Mike Lynche. Jamie emphasized that the four should now be focused on being artists, not mere contestants. In my opinion, that's been established. Now, it's truly a wide open game. It's not simply a talent contest, but a popularity race as well. Anything goes in these next two weeks. Do these four American Idols care? I doubt it. Their futures are already sealed.

The top four Idols sang individually. In addition there were two duets. The duets were my second favorite part of the evening.

Individual Performances

The best moment of the night came when Crystal Bowersox belted out Kenny Loggins' "I'm Alright" from Caddyshack. Actually, she's much more than 'alright'. It was apparent that Crystal had decided to go her own way and do what she does best. She played acoustic guitar and truly kicked it on this tune. Crystal's career is already etched into the future. Let's face it-like her style or not-nobody touched her vocals tonight.

Lee DeWyze sang Seal's "Kiss from the Rose" off the Batman Forever soundtrack. Lee wasn't on top of his game tonight, but he was still good. The judges weren't all that kind...harsh, in fact. Hey nobody's perfect. I still think the guy's great. I believe he'll go far.

Casey James opted to sing "Mrs. Robinson", a Simon and Garfunkel tune made famous in The Graduate. I was sorry he chose this song for one reason. I knew the judges would go on about an older woman and a younger guy, seemingly implicating American Idol judge, Kara DioGuardi and Casey. Enough already. That's been done and redone in this ninth season of American Idol. It's getting old fast. Casey got right down into the audience tonight...literally...surrounded by a bevy of adoring fans. He played mandolin, once again showing off his multifaceted talents. Casey's fans could actually have a hand in altering the competiton this season.

Mike Lynche sang Michael Jackson's "Will You Be There?"... the main theme from Free Willy. Mike made a good choice in adding a chorus behind him for this performance. He needs to pull out all the stops at this point.

Duets

As I listened to the two duets tonight, I found myself thinking that maybe these Idols should consdier pairing up for recordings in the future. They meshed well.

Crystal and Lee sang "Falling Slowly" from Once. It truly was a great moment. They were facing each other, playing guitar and harmonizing impeccably...neither of them seemed the least bit worried about the spotlight. They just wanted to make good music. The mutual admiration was obvious and the song was awesome.

Mike and Casey matched up perfectly as well with "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman" from the film Don Juan DeMarco. Casey is always an asset on guitar. Mike was good too. They were cool, and they were sexy. I found myself thinking, "I'll bet they had a great time rehearsing this." It was a pleasure.

The American Idol top four will go down to three tomorrow. The blow will be softened by performances from Fantasia, Daughtry and Bon Jovi.

It's up to America now, but I'm still going with Crystal, Lee, Casey and Mike...in that order.

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