American Idol Finale

Taylor Hicks wins American Idol (Mom, it's "the grey haired guy") in a 2 hour spectacular that I'm sure rocked the ratings for Fox. Here are my thoughts:

The past champions that they bring back look so much more natural when they sing than the current contestants. I will give them props as there was a lot of music that they had to learn. Granted the words are on a screen in the back for them to follow, but still - there was a lot of cheezy songs that we'd all wish wouldn't have been sung to go through and choreograph.

The duets thing was pretty cool.... Al Jarreau with Paris, Chris with Live (ok.... this was maybe the best part of the first half), Hicks with an older but still attractive Toni Braxton (who I think was making the moves on Taylor the whole time), and the other ones that I am trying to forget. I'm sorry, Meat Loaf has seen his better days, and I CAN'T STAND MARY J BLIGE who again murdered U2's One. For about 5 seconds I thought that U2 was going to come out to sing with Elliott.... how cool would that be? Would Paula still cry is the better question....

The segments that got me upset were the ones with my least favorite Kellie Pickler who had the extreme opportunity to eat with Wolfgang Puck. How cool is that? And how much of a fool did she make of herself? One of the most recognizable names in the food business and she acts like a 5 year old at the dinner table including hiding the escargot and freaking out when a Lobster was put on her table. Sorry, she annoys me too much.

More cheezy songs with the guys and girls singing.... blah blah... could have made this an hour show. And most of the awards they gave out for "worst performances" were also skippable. EXCEPT.... the fruity Die Hard Clay Aiken fan that won for best impersonation. That was pretty funny in my opinion to watch him wig out when the real Clay came out on stage. Some people don't have a clue. Clay actually looks more normal now than he did in season 2. Jeremy, you should have been watching to see your boy!

And then we get to the best part of the night.... no, not the actual results (which took all of 3 minutes out of the entire 2 hours) and no, not the 20 minute segment with Burt Bacharach songs that were cool 20 years ago. Now there were a lot of big names on that stage last night. But none of them come close to comparing to PRINCE!!! HOLY SHIT!!! IT'S PRINCE!!! He performed 2 songs in a definite surprise performance (thanks to Jill for thinking of me at this holy moment) and showed everyone what a real performer can do with a microphone. Not too many people can upstage Prince and last night was proof of that. I'm still tempted to pay the $320 for a single ticket to one of his concerts.

Then in an anticlimactic moment, Taylor is announced as the American Idol winner. In the words of Roommate-Adam, "what is the difference between the winner and the runner-up? The top 4 will all get recording contracts..." How true, how true!

There ya have it, the most successful reality TV show in history is done for another season. It now frees up my Tuesday and Wednesday nights (no, I won't be watching the Dancing competition reality show). I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I did. Prince rules!!

Oh yeah, Golf was better last night... I start my lessons next week so we'll see if they can help my consistency (or lack there of). Enjoy Thursday with only one more day to get through till the weekend! Hazel gets home tonight from Boston!!!

Song of the Day - Gotta be Prince today. No matter what he sings, he rules!

Video of the Day - nothing new, but I should pull out a mention to Prince's Purple Rain which isn't a horrible movie by any measure, just some good performances of old-school Prince!

Webpage of the Day - How does one steal a 600 pound Buddha Sculpture? It's like stealing a 6 foot wooden Indian from Hunkies.... how does one do it? I can sleep better now that the Buddha was found and returned to the restaurant.