We’re live and it’s 4:48PM. Twelve minutes until the show and the Blake burgers are cooking. Wrestlemania brings back fond memories. I remember watching my first Wrestlemania on tape almost a year after it originally happened. My first real Wrestlemania memory was the Saturday Night Main Event that set up the main event for Wrestlemania 2. It was Hulk Hogan wrestling Don “Magnificent” Murraco for the title. Late in the match, King Kong Bundy jumped Hogan and put him in the “hospital”. Hey, in 1986, I bought it. And though I didn’t get to see Wrestlemania 2 live (it was the first Mania shown live on PPV), my friend let me borrow it that weekend. I was hooked. Hogan beat Bundy in the steel cage and I was a happy kid. Fast forward to now. Hulk is still around 17 years later. And I’m still hooked. But tonight, we’re here to party as hard as wrestling fans watching television with no alcohol can party.

The show is starting, my cable company didn’t screw up the ordering on the show like usual. Actually, it’s no longer AT&T Cable, it’s Comcast and that my friends, may be a good thing. Singing “America The Beautiful” is Ashanti. They have had great singers at Wrestlemania. Aretha Franklin. Gladys Knight. Ray Charles. Ashanti did not do them justice. Her singing was not very soulful.

The cast:
Me- Me
Eddy (Edson)- My pal, my bud, the Godfather of both my boys, enough said
Tawni- My sis, the caretaker during the day of my boys (with mom’s help)
Blake- The creator of Blake burgers
Hea Jin- My folly
Randy- My folly’s boyfriend
Jim- The dude
Jan- The dude’s girlfriend (she didn’t pick the matches, but she was into them)

As MC Hammer used to say, “Let’s Get It Started”. First match is Matt Hardy vs. Rey Mysterio. The predictions for the match are:
Jim- Matt Hardy
Blake- Rey
Tawni- Matt Hardy
Eddy- Rey
Randy- Matt Hardy
HJ- Rey
Me- Matt Hardy

Blake just let us know that the Blake burgers are done. Man, why can’t the Blake burgers be done during the Undertaker match? Matt Hardy simply looks much bigger than Rey. Five years ago, that wouldn’t have been as true. As Rey was going for the 619, Shannon Moore, an MFer (Mattitude Follower) pulled his legs and Matt followed it with his finisher. Rey kicked out to the chagrin of Michael Cole who said the match was “done”. Rey hits the 619, and then went for a victory roll, but Hardy stopped it, grabbed the ropes and pinned Mysterio. Really good opener but it needed at least 5 more minutes.

Limp Bizkit is performing next. Ooh, Blake burger time. This is almost as good as an Undertaker match as far as breaks are concerned. Actually Limp Bizkit’s performance of “Rollin” was simply the entrance music for the Undertaker. Does that mean they’ll be back? Looks like this will be a handicapped match as Nunzio, Show and Albert took out Nathan Jones before the show started. Taker takes on Big Show and Albert. Looks like Jones will be involved in the finish. Predictions:
Jim- Taker
Blake- Taker
Tawni- Taker
Eddy- Big Show and Albert
Randy- Taker
HJ- Taker
Me- Taker

Taker looks energized. However that doesn’t mean that Taker’s energy rubs off on Big Show and Albert. I’ll take that back, for a big guy, Albert can work. But I don’t think anyone can energize show, except for maybe his hot wife. Jones comes in late in the match and gives Albert the big boot before Taker gives him the old school “Tombstone Piledriver” for the victory. I guess they didn’t want Jones to screw up on the biggest stage in the business.

Next is the women’s match. Trish comes out and she looks Trishalicious. Jazz comes out. She looks Jazzalicious? Maybe not. Victoria comes out. Trish still looks Trishalicious. Predictions:
Jim- Trish
Blake- Trish
Tawni- Jazz
Eddy- Jazz
Randy- Jazz
HJ- Trish
Me- Victoria

Jazz and Victoria give Trish a double shoulder breaker. Trish looks dead. You shouldn’t do that to pretty girls. Why am I more interested in this match, than the last? One reason, er two reasons. Jim just said that he didn’t want to jinx it, but as far as “chick” matches go, this one isn’t bad. I second that. Trish just chopped Victoria on her boobs. Match is slowing down as the girls are getting tired. They should’ve gone for the finish about two or three minutes ago and it would’ve been really good. Trish rolled up Victoria and pulled her pants down a bit and we got butt cleavage. Trish gets out of Victoria’s finisher and hits a kick to pin Victoria to win the belt.

Rock is wearing his “Hit It Strong, Hit It Fast” shirt. The same one I wore today for my baseball game. Me and Rock, we hit it strong and we hit it fast. He calls Wrestlemania the “holy grail” and puts over Mania as the biggest night of his life. Rock says he simply has to beat Austin tonight, because all people remember is Act 3.

Los Guerreros vs. Chris Benoit and Rhyno vs. Team Angle. Predictions:
Jim- Los Guerreros
Blake- Los Guerreros
Tawni- Team Angle
Eddy- Team Angle
Randy- Los Guerreros
HJ- Team Angle
Me- Team Angle

Edson just shook his head in disbelief as he’s trying to break his 0-3 start and Hea Jin just chose Team Angle to win just as he did. He said he’s thinks he’ll go 0-4 now. Edson just told me a story about Rhyno. When the wrestlers were in the bay area just last week, a bunch of them went to Gold’s Gym to work out. Supposedly the wrestlers usually have a hook up with Gold’s but one of the bosses said that they don’t have a deal with WWE anymore. So he didn’t let them in free and basically made them buy a pass for 15 bucks. Eddy said most of the wrestlers were cool with it, expcet Rhyno who he calls “Cheapo Rhyno” now. Back to the match. Benoit just hit a wicked superplex on Eddy Guerrero. The match is really good so far. Rhyno goes for a Gore on Chavo and hits it but Eddy pulls Rhyno out of the ring, allowing Shelton Bejamin to get the pin on Chavo. Team Angle with the win. And Hea Jin and Edson hug.

They are doing a thing with the Miller Lite girls and Torrie and Stacy. Basically both sets of girls simply can’t agree on anything. Looks like there may be a match. This won’t be a Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind classic. Speaking of Michaels, HBK vs. Jericho is next.

This match is the one I’m looking forward to most. The Ayatolla of Rock and Rolla vs. The Heartbreak Kid. The Highlight of the Night vs. the Showstopper. My favorite vs. Randy’s favorite. Me vs. Randy. I’m going with me. Predictions:
Jim- Y2J
Blake- Y2J
Tawni- Y2J
Eddy- HBK
Randy- HBK
HJ- HBK
Me- Y2J

I really think HBK needs to do the job here for Jericho. HBK wrestles only a few times a year, but Jericho is a main eventer on Raw. He needs to go over. It needs to happen. It SO needs to happen. If it doesn’t, I might as well eat another Blake burger. Jericho flips off HBK right as the camera pans to him. This is the longest entrance ever. But I bet Triple H’s doubles it. We have a great match going here and Eddy asks, “Where’s Sting? When’s he coming in?” Who gives a flip about damn Sting? Not me. Especially when this match is going on. Not to say that this match is a classic, but it’s pretty darn good. HBK “skins the cat” as JR says after being thrown over the top rope and grabs Jericho’s head with his feet and pulls him over the top rope. But Jericho puts the “Walls” on HBK outside the ring and gets back in the ring before the count reaches ten. The match is so good, I can’t write. Hea Jin just left with my wife to Target. I guess they can’t party as hard as we can. They keep hitting finishers on each other and they keep kicking out. HBK wins with a roll up. The wrong guy got his hand raised as far as making business sense. However, Jericho loses nothing as he kept up with HBK step for step. HBK goes to shake his hand, but instead Jericho gives him a hug. What a guy. But then he kicks him in the nuts. What a guy. What a match. What a guy. Another Blake burger for me.

They do a promo for the arrival of Goldberg. About two years too late on that one. They promote his appearance at the Backlash PPV. He better show up at Raw tomorrow night.

Limp Bizkit is back. Time for more food. Where’s John Cena when we need him?

The Coach is out and says that we’re getting ready to see a Wrestlemania Catfight. The Miller Lite girls come out. They go to sit on a bed near the front stage. Here comes Stacy. She joins the two girls. Lesbian menage trois. Here comes Torrie. Lesbian menage four? Torrie gets Stacy’s shirt and pants off and starts spanking her. They depants Coach and he’s wearing tidy whities. At least we didn’t have to see skid marks this time. They pin Coach. Thank God no outlines of testicles were shown or else I would’ve gone and had another Blake burger. Next match is for the World title. Triple H vs. Booker T. Predictions:
Jim- HHH
Blake- Booker
Tawni- Booker
Eddy- Booker
Randy- Booker
HJ- disqualified
Me- Booker

Triple H is wearing the old Nature Boy purple tights. Maybe a little shade darker. The match is much slower than what the crowd is used to as far as workrate tonight. Triple H looks to have lost some of his body mass. But he’s still working borringly slow. HHH has been working Booker’s legs the entire night. JR says that Booker’s legs are so hurt that he can’t go for the pinfall. And then Booker hits the Scissors Kick. So much for sore legs. Booker brings out the Harlem Hangover and almost kills HHH. Best part of the match thus far. Then HHH who is supposed to be dead, reaches deep down and hits the Pedigree and gets the win. HHH is going to take heat from die hard wrestling fans for not putting over Booker. Average match, bad finish. The second let down of the show thus far.

Hogan vs. McMahon is next. Let’s hope this is short, but Dave Meltzer says it’s going 25 minutes. And Dave Meltzer is never wrong. Predictions:
Jim- Hogan
Blake- Hogan
Tawni- Hogan
Eddy- McMahon
Randy- Hogan
HJ- disqualified
Me- Hogan

I can see Hogan losing, having to retire and coming back for SummerSlam to pop a buy rate. But then again, I don’t think Hogan loses at Wrestlemania. Vince is usually good for losing for the right reasons when he’s in a match. The match has thus far been a chairshot fest and both guys are bleeding. Funny spot had Hogan swing the chair at Vince, but Vince moved and Hogan hit one of the Spanish announcers. Vince pulls out a ladder. Jeez. He jumps off the top of the ladder and hits a leg drop through the announcers’ table. Jeez again. Oh my. Roddy Piper. I would’ve never thought. Both Hogan and McMahon are down and Piper has a pipe. He pretends to hit McMahon, but hits Hogan. Piper has a gut. But still, he’s Piper. Hogan kicks out. Hogan has the crowd in the middle of his hand. And even at that, this match is awful. But what it has that HHH and Booker didn’t have, is the crowd going crazy. Just as Edson says we haven’t seen the Hulkamania shake, we get the Hulkamania shake. Hogan hits the boot and is ready for the leg drop. He hits the leg drop three times and wins the match. Hulkamania is immortal! Hulkamania rules the world! Ok, I’m done being 10 years old again. Austin vs. Rock is next. Lesnar vs. Angle is on last. That’s a great move.

I have a spot in my heart for Rock and Austin. So I’m going to enjoy this match. I think they’re going to try hard to kick some ass, but I’m worried about Austin. He doesn’t seem to be the same. He seems bored, apathetic, hurt, and everything else that he wasn’t before he came back. We’ll see here. Predictions:
Jim- Austin
Blake- Austin
Tawni- Rock
Eddy- Rock
Randy- Austin
HJ- disqualified
Me- Rock

Thus far, the fans seem spent. The match they’re working looks like there will be a big finish. They’re working very methodically. Rock puts on Austin’s vest for kicks. Austin hits the Rock Bottom for a two count. Then Rock hits the Stunner for a two count. Austin hits a Stunner and Rock sells it like he was shot dead. However, he kicks out at two. Rock hits the People’s Elbow for two. This match is very reminiscent of their Wrestlemania XVII match. He gets a Rock Bottom for two. JR is trying to sell that Austin is a warrior. Rock gets another Rock Bottom and Austin kicks out again. Rock is beside himself. He simply can’t put the Ragin’ Redneck away. Another Rock Bottom and the Rock wins. It took three to put Austin away, but he did. Lesnar vs. Angle is next. Jim, Tawni, and I all have five wins. Randy has four, Blake has two, Edson has two, and HJ was disqualified. Winner gets the new Kurt Angle Unleashed wrestling figure, but my son has probably already opened it and started playing with it. Predictions:
Jim- Brock
Blake- Brock
Tawni- Brock
Eddy- Kurt
Randy- Brock
HJ- disqualified
Me- Brock

Kurt goes into the ring needing surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his neck. He wanted to finish the match at Wrestlemania not only because it’s a huge payday, but because it could be his last match, not only for a while, but forever. If he hurts his neck further in this match, he could need one or two more fused and that would end his career. Kurt’s a crazy dude. Lesnar isn’t one to work soft. Just don’t get dropped on your head buddy. The match has started off fast and the crowd is into it after a long night. Angle takes a crazy press slam. Angle does a cool spot where he back suplexes Brock into the turnbuckle. It’s kind of hard to enjoy this match knowing that Angle is hurt, but it’s so far pretty good. Angle did the three German Suplexes spot. In a great spot, Brock had Angle in the F-5 and Angle turned it into the Ankle Lock. And yes, HJ is still disqualified. Angle hits the Angle Slam but Lesnar kicks out. Lesnar hits the F-5 on Angle but Angle kicks out at the last second. Great late action in the match. Brock goes for another F-5 but Angle small packages him for a two. Lesnar hits another F-5 and it has to be done. Brock goes to the top rope and goes for the Shooting Star Press, but missed horribly and fell on his head. It was supposed to be the finish and he hit the F-5 again for the win. Brock looks like he’s hurting pretty badly. Angle gives Lesnar a hug and the show has ended.

Excellent Wrestlemania and we partied as hard as we could. Kurt Angle is a man.

The Hot List

1. Ruben Studdard – Big Rube goes country and it’s not a bad thing.
2. Clay Aiken – The women like the nerdy boyish charm; I like the powerful voice.
3. Kimberly Locke – She takes a step up with two solid performences in a row.
4. Trenyce – One step down is nothing against her. She’s just been outperformed by Ms. Locke.
5. Kimberly Caldwell – Solid performance wise, may not have the pipes to win it all.
6. Joshua Gracin – His style of song and he did a great job getting the audience pumped.
7. Corey Clark – Baby MJ has had two average performances in a row. Needs a show to suit his style in order to keep sticking around.
8. Ricky Smith – I don’t think he really tried to sing country and to me, he sounded very similar to last week.
9. Carmen Rasmusen – Her style of singing, but the song sucked all that be damned.
10. Julia DeMato – The survivor of all survivors deserves to be out based on performance, but we’ll see if the fickle audience was charmed by her great look again.

The Defeated

Charles Grigsby
Vanessa Olivarez

My Thoughts

Tonight, the theme is country rock. Whatever happened to disco? I was so looking forward to disco. The celebrity judge is Olivia Newton John. She must be in her fifties and she looks really good. She and Paula must go to the same plastic surgeon. Last week I wanted to hear Physical and tonight, we get the lady who performed it.

Josh is up first with a song by Garth Brooks. I’m not going to act like I know what the song is, but he needs to stop running while singing because his voice is jumping. Take a breath buddy. Even though I’m not a country expert, he seemed to have the voice, but either his timing or his pacing was off. However, Randy and Paula loved him. All he needs is the tobacco under his bottom lip. First commercial break. The show is only an hour so it looks like all the packages they usually do will be cut.

Trenyce is next with LeAnn Rhimes. The female Charlie Pride? The song is semi-pop so it’s not all that far out of her range. It seems like she’s struggling on the high notes, but she does a decent job. Looks like they’re cutting some time off the songs. Isn’t it odd hearing Randy call the females dude and man? Kimberly Locke is next singing Bonnie Rait. Best performance thus far, but it doesn’t sound all that country to me. More adult contemporary than anything else. Now Josh, he sounded as country and country can get. But the last two performances didn’t really sound it. I don’t know if they’re supposed to be penalized for that. Will Paula and Randy ever disagree on a contestant? Simon said the same thing I did about the country rock theme not really being followed. Everyone seemed to love her.

Corey Clark is next with Drift Away. What is Corey wearing? Maybe he and Olivia Newton John talked before the show because he looks like an extra in the actual Physical video. Young Michael doesn’t knock my socks off, but I think he does enough to come back next week. Corey’s back to the afro. If you see clips of Michael Jackson in the late 70’s and early 80’s, Corey looks to be stealing wholeheartedly from him. From the boyish giggles to the high voice, he plays MJ very well. Go Carmen, it’s your birthday. Carmen sings Martina McBride. Sis says this should be right up Carmen’s alley. I don’t really like the song, but Carmen looks as good as any 17 year old R. Kelly has swooped on. She has done enough to stay this week. Since she was Simon’s pick in the wild card round, you won’t hear him say a bad thing about her.

Ricky Smith sings Larry something next. I honestly didn’t get the artist’s name. Ricky sings a ballad that sounds about as different from country rock as anything you’d hear. This is one guy I just don’t get. I simply don’t like his voice. Randy calls him Hercules. Brings back memories doesn’t it? Paula loved it. She says he sounded like “mellow sweet honey”. Mellow sweet honey? So if mellow sweet honey performed a song, he or she would sound like Ricky? Simon likes it but isn’t blown away. Me either buddy, me either. Christina Aguilera, I mean Kimberly Caldwell sings Travis Tritt. Kimberly is probably the best performer as far as body language and emotion, but her voice is too deep for me. Eh, I’m just nitpicking. But it’s probably why she peformed a Travis Tritt song rather than one sung by a female. Sis says she reminds her of Taylor Dayne voice wise. Can I get an amen? Randy loves it, but didn’t he pick her for his wild card choice? Paula for once agrees with Randy (tongue completely in cheek). And Simon is impressed.

Big Rube sings Sweet Home Alabama. Finally I’m bobbin’ my head a little. Leave it to Big Rube to impress me. Best performance to me thus far. Simon calls him infectious and again doesn’t talk about his weight. Next is the survivor of all survivors, Julia DeMato singing Faith Hill’s Breathe. I would expect her to rock out a little bit, but she goes ballad here. Her lack of vocal strength is killing her here. Sounds like a karaoke singer here. Actually my duet with my buddy Eddy doing Eye of the Tiger at my cousin Mike’s birthday party was a little better in my opinion. Randy, Paula (surprise), and Simon all say it’s her best performance. Sucks that such a pretty girl doesn’t have the skills.

Everybody’s Raggedy Andy, Clay Aiken goes ballad here and hits another homerun. He might be the best ballad singer of the group. Song wasn’t the best, but performance wise, he’s top notch. No Kelly Clarkson song this week, and no Rosie O’Donnell comment from me. See you next week.

Here’s my audio post roughly 30 minutes after the live showing of WWE’s Smackdown in San Jose.

audblog audio post

The Hot List

1. Ruben Studdard – Big Rube does it again. He was the favorite going in and he’s still the favorite in my eyes.
2. Clay Aiken – He had the wife in tears.
3. Trenyce – The best of the women.
4. Kimberly Locke – The biggest mover of the group.
5. Corey Clark – Just don’t do Phil Collins again bro.
6. Kimberly Caldwell – Just ok for me this week.
7. Ricky Smith – Mr. Humble is simply an above average singer in my mind.
8. Joshua Gracin – Country version of Aerosmith?
9. Carmen Rasmusen – Good job doing Olivia Newton job. I would’ve preferred Physical but hey, that’s me.
10. Charles Grigsby – Good song choice in my eyes, but he could’ve done Beat It acapella and I would’ve loved it.
11. Julia DeMato – Should be back on the chopping block tomorrow.

The Defeated

Vanessa Olivarez

My Thoughts

It looks like Kelly Clarkson will be on the show, probably later in the night. Gladys Knight from Gladys Knight and the Pimps, I mean, the Pips, is the celebrity judge tonight and she’s actually someone who I thought would be a great selection as a judge, specifically taking Paula Abdul’s place. The reason I think Paula isn’t necessarily a great judge is because she was a great dancer who made her career as an all style no substance pop singer. She wasn’t a great singer so how would she know greatness? If it was a dance or choreagraphy contest, she’d be number one on my list to be a judge. But here, someone like Gladys who is greatness personified would be a fabulous judge because she knows greatness herself when she sees it. One might ask what makes Randy or Simon an acceptable judge and the reason is because they are producers and producers work with singers both good and bad.

The theme to tonight’s show is songs from a motion picture. My boy, Corey Clark starts off the show singing Against All Odds by Phil Collins. Why he would pick such a non-hip song really boggles my mind. This kid is Michael Jackson from Off The Wall days. He should be singing Ben, or something from Lady Sings the Blues. He starts off shaky but makes it cool at the end. Still, young MJ needs to go back to the Motown sound. Commercial time.

Big Rube is next with A Whole New World. He absolutely kills it. Case closed. Contest over. Give it to Big Rube and call it a night. Wait, it’s only show two. My bad. But still, the dude just lit up the stage. Trenyce decides to sing Whitney Houston’s I’m Nothing Without You from Waiting To Exhale. Not necessarily the best strategy to sing Whitney as you will automatically be compared to her version and that my friends, is not a good thing. However, I think her voice is good enough, her relationship with the audience is spectacular and her lack of sweating (Whitney joke) will help her. Trenyce does an awesome job. If you closed your eyes, you might’ve heard Whitney for a few seconds. Another stud performance.

Clay Aiken goes with Somewhere Out There from American Tail. My wife started crying by just hearing what Clay was going to sing. She’s who the producers are looking for when they decided to make this show. Hook, line, and sinker. Clay decides to step up to Big Rube and Trenyce and in Simon’s eyes surpasses them all. He knocks it out of the park. My wife says that she wants to vote for him five times. And this is after saying that she already wanted to vote for Big Rube and Trenyce. Hook, line, and sinker.

Kimberly Caldwell is next and she goes for a more uppity song with Shoop, Shoop by Cher. Her voice is absolutely perfect for the song, but after three straight knock out performances, it’s a little bit of a downer, but still, she did a very nice job. She then kisses a fan. I hope Trish Stratus does that when I go to Smackdown next Tuesday. And I hope it’s me. Joshua Gracin decides to sing I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing by Aerosmith and he does it country style. Still, after watching the three performances in a row, I expected more for Joshua who Carol says is her man. Wait a second here. You get a guy in the military who can sing a little bit and now he’s a hearthrob? That’s fine, he can be a hearthrob. But step into the batter’s box buddy. We’ll see who the hearthrob would be after that. Just kidding. I like the dude, but there’s something missing in him for me.

Carmen sings Hopelessly Devoted from Grease and she does a good job in my eyes. However, the king and queen of nice, Randy and Paula don’t like the performance. I actually liked it better than both Kimberly and Joshua. I’m liking her better each week. Paula, in the most embarrassing judge moment thus far, says that Carmen should wear less makeup, and Carmen says, “I don’t do it (her own makeup).” Uh, Paula, do you do your own makeup sweety? Here comes Kelly Clarkson. What’s odd here is that I know she has a great voice, but as far as looks are concerned, she would be near the bottom end of the totem pole for the women if she were in this years show. Her only reason for being on the show was to promote her album. Blah! Actually, I think she’ll sing later in the show. Mr. Nice, Charles Grigsby is next with a song that Corey should’ve sung. You Can’t Win by Michael Jackson from that little movie called The Wiz is his choice. Even though I like the song choice and thought his performance was good, I still think he’s near the bottom of the list. But he still has Paula in the palm of his hand.

Pretty Ricky Smith is next. In an odd move, he decides to sing It Might Be You from Tootsie. In all honesty, I don’t recognize the song which might show my limitations in taste, but the wife knows it. Actually, the wife knowing it might not be that good too because she thought You Can’t Win was a bad song. Michael Jackson hasn’t done a bad song in his life. Ok, maybe the stuff with Paul McCartney wasn’t all that good, but it wasn’t his fault. Back to Ricky. He does a bang up job, but I do not dig his look or his voice. While he has a great personality and a pretty good voice, he doesn’t have that special charm that Big Rube, Clay, and Trenyce have shown.

Looks like Julia DeMato and Kimberly Locke are the last two left. Julia DeMato is going to sing What A Feeling by Irene Cara. I think she gets a bad rep because of her range of emotions. She’s either happy, or pissed. She has a good, not great (ala Kimberly Caldwell) look, but her major downfall is in her performances. And here, she looks like she’s thinking about it. For such a peppy song and one from a movie about dancing, Flashdance, she doesn’t do much other than the two step. She doesn’t knock it out of the park. She might be on the cutting room floor. Wait a second here, Paula agrees with Randy? Does she ever disagree with Randall? Gladys says that she’s not having fun with it. She’s thinking way too much. Not sure if she’ll have a second chance to prove herself.

Kimberly Locke is next. My guess is that she’s going to finish the show strongly. She has a bad look, but a really good voice. She sings another song from The Wiz and no, it’s not a movie about a urinal. She sings Home by Diana Ross. Her look is a little more glamorous as she straightened her hair. Her voice is so powerful, that she’s almost too strong for pop music. She ended the song great. Best performance since Clay. Simon says it’s redemption for her. But then he knocks her wardrobe. This coming from a man who wears black t-shirts and jeans. You know, it worked for Brandon Walsh and Dylan McKay in the early 90’s but …. Before they go to commercial, they show Charles hustling Ricky at pool. Why does the brother always got to be the hustler? I guess it would’ve looked silly having Clay play pool, but whatever. Kelly Clarkson is next.

Is it me, or does she resemble Rosie O’Donnell. Kelly has a great voice, but I still think Justin should’ve won last year. I’m just a hater. That’s it for this week. See you next week.

Here’s my top 12 list after the first show last night.

The Hot List

1. Ruben Studdard- He’s simply the best out of the group.
2. Clay Aiken- The most powerful voice out of the group.
3. Trenyce (who is listed with only one name)- She oozes sexuality and has Randy in her hip pocket.
4. Corey Clark- The one guy who could still make it in music if he couldn’t sing. He has that presence that makes Paula swoon.
5. Kimberly Caldwell- She reminds me of Pink circa 1999, aka when she used to sing r&b.
6. Julia DeMato- The voice isn’t spectacular, but the look doesn’t hurt the eyes. Needs to be a little more mature to criticism.
7. Joshua Gracin- Was hurt when Ruben performed the same song and did it twice as good. Good personality as his toe to toe with Simon showed.
8. Kimberly Locke- It sucked that she had to start off the show, but she did a commendable job, however didn’t sound nearly as good as before.
9. Ricky Smith- I don’t think he’s a good singer. He may have a decent voice, but his timing is off at times. Even though it was getting annoying, I was still waiting for him to say, “Hercules!”.
10. Carmen Rasmusen- She wowed me, but only because she was so bad before. I think the video package they did helped her image a bit too.
11. Vanessa Olivarez- Can I agree with Simon? She should do a variety show where she can show off her true personality, as singing may not be her best thing.
12. Charles Grigsby- The nicest of all the Idols. But I didn’t think he originally deserved to be here. Paula loves him though.

My Thoughts

I loved the Motown feel of the show. Most of the contestants seemed very content singing the uppity Motown songs. However, someone who seems classically trained like Kimberly Locke seemed out of place. She didn’t seem comfortable singing style. Lamont Dozier who wrote all the songs that were performed seemed comfortable as a judge, but he kept talking over the audience applause and his timing was off. It was irritating me. I wanted to ask Lamont to wait two seconds before giving his thoughts on the performance. Is it me, or does Paula Abdul seem like a young girl who has just hit puberty when Corey and Charles sing. She’s worse then the fans in the audience. Clay sang so well, but I semi have to agree with Simon. He probably couldn’t stay with most of the fast songs. I bet he’ll be awesome when they start doing more adult contemporary stuff. Julia looked great except for those awful pink boots. But her lack of vocal range is going to kill her by the middle rounds. Kimberly Caldwell looks great, but there’s something annoying about her. When she performs, she’s a mature performer. And when she talks to Ryan, she is almost childlike. R. Kelly might like that, but it’s a slight turnoff for me. Trenyce was making love to the camera last night. Very seductive. She’s going to get a lot of guys voting for her with those kinds of performances. And lastly, you notice how Simon never mentions Big Rube’s weight? Either because Big Rube would probably whoop him for doing so, or because he’s just damn good. Gerald Levert anyone?

Until next week.

GG