Idol Thoughts || Vegas Edition

If I were a bettin' type (she says with a dry casino cough after 5 days and 4 long nights in Sin City), I wouldn't put my money on Ramiele Malubay this week. After another bad Beatles song-choice, one has to wonder if Ramiele has officially pulled a Hillary (pre March 4)--she's become a former front-runner now dangling on the precipice of elimination thanks to campaign mismanagement and questionable costume choices. I know Ann Powers made a similar analogy with Carly Smithson a couple of weeks ago in the L.A. Times. But if anything, Smithson is the Hillary heralded by Time and Newsweek post-March 4th: scrappier, but with the odds stacked deeply against her. It's unclear if her theatrical, multi-octave take on "Blackbird" will finally win people over, or whether her cocky judge's table showdown with Simon will instead convince everyone of her self-indulgence and sense of entitlement.

Fittingly, Ramiele sang "I Should've Known Better" last night. It was a performance one might find on the lesser stages at an off-strip casino like the Palace Station. Her hat was Culture Club cute, but her awkward stomp-shuffle dance was decidedly not. Meanwhile, her ersatz stage "momma," Brooke White (who knew?!?) rocked her best Big Bird impression, down to the dress, skipping and head-bobbing to "Here Comes the Sun."

On a conciliatory note, Amanda Overmeyerer--who I once dubbed a "Garbage Pail Kid"--has been solid the last couple of weeks, evidenced by her confident stage strut. Last night's outfit was much better than last week's. The tailored, Beyond Thunderdome vest worked to her advantage and accentuated her tough-gal guns. Syesha Mercado also offered a tasteful, restrained take on "Yesterday." I'll have to agree with Paula who, in one of her more lucid moments last night, advised Syesha to make more eye contact and sell the song. Like many of the ladies she suffers from a likeability gap. Look for Syesha to struggle again tonight. She and Ramiele will likely be clutching each other's forearms wishing for the best. But if I had to drop cash for real at the "Race & Sports" desk on who'll be eliminated, my money would be on Katy Lee Cook (aka REI Speedwagon). I actually liked her sweeping and twangy take on "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"--but her insistence on constantly missing the correct chromatic note on "Hide" (consciously or not) won't convince anyone to keep her around for one more try.

As for the boys...
David Archuleta is back, although I'm fundamentally suspicious of his awkward teen schtick. C'mon...the guy won Star Search when he was a kid. How "diamond in the rough" can he be? I'm cynical enough to think he screwed up last week's lyrics just to look a little more accessible. Jason Castro (let's just call him Santa Cruz) wins the Stoner Bob/Mr. Sincerity prize this season. I'm willing to give him a break for fessing up to the fact that his semi-finals rendition of Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" ended on a sour note. I frankly didn't mind the muppetry of his "Michelle," although it was strictly amateur hour.

Simon nailed it when he called David Cook out on his newfound "rock star" arrogance (I've always preferred the polished Aussie, Michael Johns, but like Ramiele, he's yet to knock anything out of the park). Chikeezie may be the most likeable contestant this season, but his pschizo-tempos on "I've Just Seen a Face" were at once, too reminiscent of a recently dumped Ruben Studdard (who lost his recording contract) and the Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland. I'm going out on a limb to say the bottom boy this week (if there happen to be *any* in the bottom three) will be David Cook. - (KT)