9 perform - 2 to go home

Performance night is over. Decent night overall. Nobody was dirt horrible, but definitely a few weak ones.

Here are my rankings.

Top Tier
1. Crystal - didn't know the song well, but liked it. Very bluesy, good vocals, even her stage presence was better. The song was peppy and cool.
2. Casey - from sheer vocal and my preference of style, thIs was pretty good. Girls, don't let Casey fool you, I think he's a good singer too, not just a pretty boy.
3. Lee - pretty good.  Seems to be getting more comfortable on stage.
4. Big Mike - great vocals, good song, stark performance, but nice.

Next Tier
5. Siobhan - not bad, she's just grating on me a bit.
6. Katie - pretty good vocals, but I'm just not buying the sassy "I'm gonna act older" thing.
7. Tim Urban - look, I found very little to like about this whiney, pleading,annoying performance, but he wasn't that bad. Clearly trying to appeal to his teeny bopper base.
8. Aaron - sigh.  It was the karaoke moment of the year.  OK vocals, but everything else was cheesy and bad.
9. Andrew Garcia -  Surely his time has come. If that were ever to be on the radio in my car, I would wreck on purpose to stop it.  Maybe just a fender bender.

So, my bottom 3 are Tim, Aaron and Andrew, with Andrew and Tim leaving. I think Aaron will survive.

Vote in the bottom 3 poll.

So, how will you handle the scoring this week when two are kicked off?

Week 2 Standings - A Free Pass - Still 9 Left

Oh my!

That has to be one of the most shocking results shows ever.

I'm sorry, I know I picked Mike to win, maybe stupidly, but he was better than Aaron, Tim, and Andrew for sure this week.

Man, I was close to 8 weeks as a lame duck pool numbers runner. These updates would be pretty boring without a horse in the race.

No way Andrew, with his Michael Buble goes urban version of Can't Buy Me Love should have stayed over Mike.

Anyway, I guess there is no need to post anything. Officially, nothing changed in the standings.

Was I the only one who thought David Archuleta was pretty good?

As for Jason Derulo, well, he was Michael Jackson-like, only not as good. Rihanna was OK I guess, just not into her.

Week - 2 - Steve's Rankings

After watching the show last night, some normally weak people did well. You'll see a shake-up in my normal rankings.

Overall, nobody just blew me away, but it was a fairly solid night. Maybe it's because almost everyone loves the Beatles and it annoying to hear them done differently.

1) Katie
2) Casey
3) Christal
4) Mike
5) Siobhan
6) Lee
7) Tim
8) Aaron
9) Andrew

My, how responsible we are this year!

Just wanted to thank everyone for getting their money in promptly.

At this point everyone has paid, with no badgering whatsoever on my part.

So, don't email me that the fees paid hasn't been updated.  It was as yesterday.  Officially, everyone has paid.

Thanks.

9 Left - Standings

I have posted the standings for the first week. Check out the Picks and Standings section over at the left and click on the week you want to look at. I will leave them all up, with the latest week at the top.

Also, vote on who you think will be the last three standing, after this week's performances.

Since no one picked Didi to go home this week, we are all officially tied.  However, if you look at the potential points you'll see that there was some separation.

Alan has gained a slight advantage over everyone, since he picked her to finish 9th.  George, Lauren, Diana were dinged the most because they had her 5th.  The rest of us had her going out in the 6-8 range.

Still a long way to go!

Reflections on Week 1 (for us) Idol Shows

Oh wow! Where do I start?

First of all, how can you hate a show that introduces you to Justin Bieber? And was he squeezing his junk during Ryan's interview?  It looked like it. I'd go back and look again at the Tivo, but I'm afraid I'll see it again and I don't really want to see a 16 year kid old squeezing it. I thought maybe Ryan was making some odd joke, but I looked it up. That guy really has a top selling album.  I listened to 10 seconds of a preview of one of his songs on iTunes and turned it off. Not so good, really.

However miserable his music would make me, pictures like the one above make me laugh really, really hard, although I'm not sure why. Whoever made him a big star deserves their money.

Anyway, I did hate the results show. I'm in my 50's now, but that show made me feel 80.  Except for mild enjoyment to see good ol' Ruben Studdard, I enjoyed very little about the rest of the show. Man, Ruben is big and tall.

Usher had some pretty good moves I guess, but what is up with the electronically modified voices? I couldn't listen to it in my car.

And P. Diddy - Dirty Money? He's looking a little chunky. If he's getting paid for singing or performing that song, it probably should be called dirty money. As I prepare to hit the sack for the night, I'm afraid that  "Hello - good morning" song will be ringing in my subconscious all night and not because I liked it.

I thought the highlight of the show was Big Mike tossing Ryan Secrest around like a ragdoll. My second favorite moment was Simon telling whiney Secrest to get out of his face. Ryan WAS annoying tonight, but Simon is always that way, so...

Alas, goodbye to Didi.  Looking good, but sounding awful. If American Idol was all about crying, she'd be in the finals. It reminded me of the Seinfeld show where his girlfriend cried when she dropped her hot dog. As someone who has sung in a choir for some time, that girl could over-grind any diphthongs in any language.  And no guys, that has nothing to do with underwear.

As for Tuesday.  I REALLY liked Crystal's version of Midnight Train to Georgia.  It wasn't perfect, and she looked nervous, but if she recorded that in a studio I might actually download it.  It was a white soul version of the Pips song and I liked it. Probably because I'm a white boy, I don't know. But again, I felt very positive about her performance.

I also liked Big Mike and Casey. Both of those guys can sing, and do pretty well on the stage.

I'm still not getting the Lee thing.  I mean I think he's capable, but I don't get the fawning over him from the judges.  To me, his voice grates a little and he's almost always pitchy. Frankly, I'm prone to like remakes of old soul songs in a new way, but I wasn't a fan of his yelly version. It made me yearn for the original which I didn't like much the first time around.

Wasn't comfortable with Katie's singing Aretha.  It seemed goofy for someone so young to sing that song, although she sang it OK.

Tim Urban. Another week of him leaves "Idol Steve" a little depressed. Didi's horrible performance saves Peter Brady look alike. I mean I look forward to the train wreck that is Tim Urban each week, but I want him kicked off for stinking every week too. I'm so conflicted about this.

Below is a picture of Peter Brady / Tim Urban, although Peter Brady had better teeth.

Likable Aaron was, well, likable.  OK in my book, but nothing to write home about. I do like the fact that a 16 year old kid from PA wears cowboy boot.

Andrew was better this week, but his voice is too mousy or something for me. Every time he starts a song I think "Oh my! He's starting too high!" Then I realize he's not starting too high.

Which brings us to Siobhan, or Siobhan, or Shivan, or Chiffon or whatever.  If you picked her to win, don't spend the prize money yet.  She was pretty bad and deserved to be in the bottom 3. Heck, even Tim Brady, er, Urban was better than her this week.

Be prepared for these stupid Peter Brady / Tim Urban references until he's kicked off the show. I just can't seem to get enough of it.  Did you see Maureen McCormick in the audience? She was there to support Tim. Ha ha. Another Urban/Brady joke.

Will post official standings tomorrow.

Oh, yeah. we predicted two of the bottom three. Most of us had Siobhan in the bottom 3. Tim and Didi were locks.

Peace. Out.

Final picks are in.

Hi Idol freaks.  Thanks to all who decided to join.  It warms my heart to know that 17 people will have their lives enriched by this process!

In what has to be the most ridiculously sophisticated spreadsheet in American Idol Pool history, I have attached your picks. (click here) I've labeled this preseason period as Week 0, so at this point everybody has zero points and 90 potential points.  Of course, that will change starting tomorrow night.

Please double check the rankings I entered for each of you as well as the spelling of contestant names.  I had misspelled Siobhan's unusual name as Siobahn in dozens of spreadsheets before I realized it.  Anyway, it's important that the names are spelled consistently or you'll lose points because points are looked up in a another spreadsheet by name.  No, I'm not kidding, It really does.

So, another cool thing about this year's spreadsheet is it will keep track of your potential points - at least I think it will.  Thus, you could be winning in the short term, but because you picked somebody to win that's already out, you'll get beat up near the end.   So, as the contest develops, you'll see your weekly score, your current total, and your potential pints should every one of your picks pan out as the season goes on.

Again, if you haven't joined the blog, it's at stevesidolpool.blogspot.com .  You will need a gmail account to join. Once you join, you will be able to post articles and appear as moronic as me.  You will also be able to ridicule others' picks as you see fit by commenting on other stupid remarks. Only mild profanity allowed.

Not exactly sure how I'll post the results each week yet.  I'd like to use blogspot.com, but it doesn't appear well-suited for big-ass, spreadsheet web publishing. Oops. Example of mild profanity.

If you haven't sent your money yet, please try to do so by the end of the week. Mail to Steve Joiner, 1 Muirfield Greens Cove, Lakeway, TX, 78738.  If you work with me you may hand it to me in person. Also, you can PayPal to steve@thejoiners.us. No I don't take Visa.

Some initial analysis of our picks.

Favorites as established by our 17 member experts: Crystal (8 picks), Siobhan (4 picks), Big Mike (3 picks), Lee (1 pick), Aaron (1 pick)

Least respected: Poor Tim Urban.  Nobody picked Timmy boy to finish higher than 8th. 12 of 17 picked him to go home this week. Why? Maybe because it's R&B night and there are few on the planet with less soul than Timbo "Peter Brady" Urban.  Plus, we've seen his other attempt at music primarily produced by people of African descent, the awful reggae version of Under My Thumb.

Most respected: Crystal.  Everyone had her in the top 3.

Most puzzling:  One person had Lee winning, another had him 7th. Go figure.

Enjoy the show!  I'll try to post results sometime on Thursday, but to be perfectly honest it sometimes goes to the weekend.

2010 Rules

Welcome to Steve's American Idol Extravaganza Pool!

Here are this year's rules.

1. Entry Fee is $10
2. Rank the remaining 10 as you think they will finish from 1 to 10, with 1 being the winner
3. Submit your picks via email to steve@thejoiners.us by Monday, March 29th at 10:00 PM
4. Mail your $10 entry fee to Steve Joiner, 1 Muirfield Greens Cv., Lakeway Texas, 78738

Scoring: Each week there will be 10 available points, divided among the remaining idol contestants. You will be awarded points for each contestant you correctly picked to stay alive for that week. For instance:

1. In the round of 10, you will receive 1.11 for each idol contestant you still have alive (9.99 total possible points)
2. In the round of 9, you will receive 1.25 for each idol contestant you still have alive (10.0 possible points if all your contestants are still in it
3. In the round of 5 you get 2.0 points for each contestant you still have alive.
4. If you correctly pick the winner in the round of 2, you'll get whopping 10 points!

It sounds complicated, but my spreadsheet will explain it all.

I'll provide updates on Thursday or Friday each week along with the current standings.

The winner will get 70% of the prize money, and 2nd place will get the remaining 30%. Everyone else gets nothing.