Just for Hicks: Seven up
By Wade KwonFor those who think “American Idol” lacks standards, we counted at least seven tonight. Birmingham’s Taylor Hicks and the other six finalists took their shot at the classics, with a helping hand from Rod Stewart.
And the competition just got a little tougher.
Recap after the jump …
Updated with video, elimination.
‘Darling you send me, honest you do, honest you do …’
• Song: “You Send Me” by Sam Cooke.
• Judges say: Randy: “What a difference some different music makes. … That was hot.” Paula: “Sam would be proud of you. You are finally in that zone to go the distance. … The ending was superb.” Simon: “It started, and I thought, OK, lame cabaret. And then, magic.”
• Rod says: “Don’t care what Simon says (about your dancing). … You’ve got to grab the audience by the balls, as they say, and (Taylor’s) very good at doing that.”
• We say: It started out blah but ended strong. A real showstopping finish, thanks to the Taylor touch.
• Taylor says: (on being parodied on “Saturday Night Live”) “It was awesome. Flattery is a great form of humor.”
Cheeky monkey; family ties.
• Idol thoughts: We need more of Rod’s tart quips. Taylor needs to step it up fashion-wise — a fedora would’ve completed the look tonight. Best of the night: Paris Bennett, Elliott Yamin and Katharine McPhee.
Voting closes at 10 tonight.
Update: See Hicks perform “You Send Me.”
Update: Eliminated on April 19: Ace Young.
• • •
This week’s roundup
- We never miss the recaps at TVGasm.
- The April 15 “Saturday Night Live” clip of “Taylor” on “Weekend Update.”
- Maybe it’s not how well you sing, but how many items you move on eBay … Taylor’s leading that race, too.
- This week’s cover story in Entertainment Weekly: Best. Season. Ever.
- Our pal Tamika Moore has some fab shots of the gray-haired one. (Thanks to Gray Charles.)
• • •
Read more on Taylor Hicks.
Thursday, April 20, 2006, 4:40 pm
This is my favorite performance so far of Taylor’s. God, I LOVE this guy! He deserves to win AI this year because, not only is he so talented, he seems to be a good, straight up person. Someone others can look up to. Part of being an American Idol should include character.
Friday, April 21, 2006, 8:18 am
Current AI message board post count by idols:
Ace 101,542 (about 20k of which are about his elimination)
Bucky 100,809
Chris 121,510
Elliott 85,608
Katherine 86,900
Kellie 54,941
Mandisa 22,765
Paris 15,635
Taylor 328,282
There’s no joke here, I just like saying 328,282.
Sunday, April 23, 2006, 12:07 pm
I AM SO ADDICTED TO TAYLOR!!!
Here is the URL to my webpage scrapbook devoted to Taylor:
http://community-2.webtv.net/bloomtaliercio/TAYLORHICKSMY/
Please sign my guestbook and let me know what you think.