It's American Idol time!

Hey everyone, I'm back! Yes, I know it's been ages since I've blogged, but American Idol is finally getting serious, so it's time to get back to blogging. I'm on the good 'ol DVR 2-hour-delay, so I guess I won't get to finish the show tonight, but I'll start now and finish up tomorrow.

Tonight the top 12 guys perform as we start whittling them down to just six. Here are my thoughts as the guys perform.... but before I do, how about the diversity of this year's group? We've got one hispanic, one asian, one indian, two African-Americans, and one who looks to be Hawaiian or a Pacific islander? Quite a cross-section of Americana.

Rudy Cardenas - This guy's got a nice voice and good sense of pitch, but there's really not anything special about him. I mean he's really good, but I worked with singers just as good at Kings Dominion. Simon and Randy basically said the same thing. There's nothing that really stands out about him. I suspect he'll stick around for a while, but I doubt he'll be in the top 6 guys.

Brandon Rogers - Like Rudy, I think he's got a good voice, but I don't see anything unique about him. Actually, I thought the performance was pretty boring.

Sundance Head - I've never really been a fan of Sundance, so I'll be interested to see how he does tonight. "Knights in White Satin"... very interesting song choice. He's very pitchy and really doesn't have the power to pull the song off. He could go home this week.

Paul Kim - I've been impressed with him so far this season, but this is just a strange song choice and way too low for him. It almost sounds like the mic is muffled. He's much better in the upper register, but that falsetto was just awful. I would like to see him again, though.

Chris Richardson - Wow, the Timberlake look-alike decides to break out the alternative rock. It wasn't great for me, but it kinda put him closer to someone like Maroon 5 than Justin or Nick Lachey. I agree with Randy... I really liked the energy. But I also agree with Simon -- the vocals sounded a bit thin.

Nick Pedro - I like Nick, but I'm not so sure about this song. He's got a rougher voice than most of the other singers, which is what makes him unique, but it's not really suited for ballads. He also started out very pitchy. I agree more with Randy and Paula than with Simon (for a change).

Well, that's the first six, and it's after 11:30 local time, so this is probably a good place to call it quits for the night and pick up again tomorrow.