AI:5 - The King Is Dead, Long Live The King

May 10, 2006 · Filed Under popmedia

That was pretty good.

Right up front, I’ve got to say that I’m more a fan of “young” Elvis than I am of “old” (or, if you prefer, “Vegas”) Elvis. I prefer the badass, sneering, Ed Sullivan-won’t-show-him-below-the-waist Elvis to the jump-suited, bespangled, syrupy-string-arrangement, (yes, I’ll say it) fat Elvis. If I may channel South Park for a moment, Young-Elvis kicked ass, while Old-Elvis sucked ass…

That all said, Elvis was, is, and always shall be the King of Rock & Roll.

The performances last night were, all things considered, worthy of this group’s being thought of as the “best AI final four ever.” There were a few minor missteps along the way (by each of the four, IMO), but none were significant enough to make tonight’s elimination an easy or foregone conclusion.

The worst performance of the evening, IMO, was given by Simon. How, on God’s green Earth, could Simon expect anything other than “karaoke” type performances when the songs were from the early-Elvis period? Those are iconic songs that are so well known & ingrained in the popular consciousness, that such a criticism ceases to have any real meaning, IMO.

Tommy Mottola did a reasonably good job filling the “coaching” role this week, considering just how high up on the food chain he is. Knowing his past with Maria Carey, however, I must say that I found some of his comments about Kat to be kinda creepy! Priscilla Presley… Well… Hrm… I just don’t know. She seemed nice enough, but YIKES! Someone should have told her that, just because Lisa Marie was married to Michael Jackson, she didn’t need to use the King of Pop’s plastic surgeons… But, enough of that — on to:

The Performances:

Taylor: Very entertaining on Jailhouse Rock & wonderfully evocative on In The Ghetto. I know he likes to perform & do the whole dancing thing, but when he sings & emotes, he’s just so very good…

Chris: Solid on both Suspicious Minds and A Little Less Conversation — understated, but without doubt solid & nicely done, especially on A Little Less Conversation.

Kat: She’s so classy, and even when she messes up (by, say, dropping a lyric…) she covers it nicely. She made a game effort to rework Hound Dog/All Shook Up, and pretty much pulled it off. And Can’t Help Falling In Love was sweetly powerful. Not her best, by any means, but still good enough (IMO) to keep her around.

Elliot: Objectively, I can agree that Elliot is hugely talented, and that he seems to be coming on stronger, at this late stage of the competition, than anyone since Kimberly Locke (AI:3). Subjectively, however, I just don’t “feel” a connection with Elliot. His renditions of If I Can Dream & Trouble were sonically very good, and the judges certainly liked them. I just felt disconnected.

The voting at SchloÃŸ TB:
Mel: Kat
Deb: Taylor
ghp: Taylor

I’m going to dispense with the bottom two prediction, a) because there are only four left, and b) because I really have no earthly idea. At this stage of the game, I think it’s reasonable to focus on who’s going home & why.

Going Home: Kat
Note: I don’t want this to be the result, but I just have that gut feeling it’ll be someone other than who I want it to be (i.e., Elliot). I think Kat is more vulnerable than either Chris or Elliot (and Taylor is bulletproof). I really hope I’m wrong, and that Elliot goes — but I don’t think I am. We’ll see…

Thank yew. Thankyewverrymuch!

-ghp

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