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The top ten males in Fox’s American Idol showed their stuff this past Wednesday, 3/1/06.

 I am a bit more intrigued with this year’s crop of guys than the crop of girls. I write this missive the morning after the top ten guys’ debut but before the second round of elimination. In the interest of fair and balanced, I will put my thoughts and predictions for eliminations up front. After the second elimination round I’ll append the post then put it up for publication. Meanwhile here’s my initial post on the fellows of AI and another Blogcritic’s take on this year’s male contenders.

Even though I claim to be intrigued by the male choices this year for the 2006 American Idol, I thought the song selections for the top ten show to be a bit, well, boring. Now I suppose things will heat up as the contenders are further culled but based on the songs on the first night of March in this year of our Lord, 2006, I’d strongly urge a bit more originality. Taylor Hicks, an oddly Jay Leno look-alike, sang “Easy.”

 A nice song for a Karaoke party but hardly the stuff of superstar propulsion. Tonight I thought his voice had a kind of grating quality. A quality I didn’t notice during Hicks’ first performance so I must wonder if Taylor wasn’t trying to impress us with a voice ability we didn’t know he had. Whatever the case, the tone didn’t suit that song but might go well with a more rollicking rocking song. Hicks did wear a nice suit that was pleasant and a change from torn jeans. The judges all thought Taylor picked the wrong song.

After Taylor’s performance I moved him out of my top three picks to be replaced by another who did a better job on this top ten guy night.

Elliott Yamin sang a Stevie Wonder song. If one artist has been predominantly featured so far in this competition, it is Stevie. Which is fine in that Stevie Wonder has some great songs but if I were competing in this contest I’d be thinking a little more outside the box. Now with Yamin I see a big problem with this fellow and it has nothing to do with his voice. For Yamin does not have, eh, very good teeth. Indeed and I accept that this factoid is not germane to how well he sings or performs. I’d argue that it does. For what part of the body gets more display than a singer’s teeth when you think about it?

And yes, there are plenty of established singers with not so fine teeth but did they achieve their stardom via a national contest in which every aspect of their looks and talent are explored, even by unknown bloggers such as myself? Beyond the teeth, Yamin still doesn’t pop any buttons in my blogging brain. I honed in on Ace Young in my first post and I still see him as winning this thing. Which is not to say he gave the greatest performance this night of the top ten because he did not.

 But coupled with this fellow’s handsome face, casual but hip dress, and yes, his perfect teeth, Ace still seems to have it all in one handy guy package. I thought Ace showed some great vocals during his performance and Randy and Paula agreed. Simon did not. I have some thoughts on Simon. Sure he’s the curmudgeon of the judicial trio and it’s a part he seems destined to play.

At this point in the competition, with many contenders left but culled down to a manageable few, I suspect Simon chooses who he thinks should win. Then he becomes especially critical of the contenders he’d like to see move to the top. Yes, Simon also becomes his nasty self for those performers he likely doesn’t want to see win but there’s a difference. With those he’d like to see booted off quickly Simon tends to give a terse brush-off. With one of the female contenders he remarked she’s likely had her last chance to sing on this year’s AI.

Yet Simon gave scathing, yes, but insightful and constructive criticism to other contenders. It’s Simon’s curmudgeon method of helping out those he’d like to win. I thought Simon adapted that position in his comment on Ace. My sense is that Simon considers Ace one of the top five at least and wants to urge him on. Gedeon McKinney could go either way in this thing. After hearing two songs from him I don’t see him quickly eliminated. Yet I’m not moved enough to include him, for now, in my own top three predictions.

Gedeon gave a great soulful performance this evening. At one point I turned my attention away from the television so that I could only hear the singing. Yes I could see myself listening to a CD of Gedeon singing a roster of sweet and slow songs.

 Kevin Covais’ picture should be under the word “Nerd” in the dictionary. Add to this mind shot, said nerd singing “Heard It Through the Grapevine”. Come on. If a nerdy guy like Covais were to win this thing he’d have to come out and belt some melodic Josh Grobin tunes not Motown classics like Grapevine.

I see Covais eliminated this coming elimination round. I didn’t like a sing thing about Jose “Sway” Penala’s performance. Hated the song and thought the singer boring. I predict Jose will be adios in the next elimination round.

Ah, Will Makar. Who I compared to Bobby Brady but a commenter pointed out it’s more like Peter Brady. Whatever Brady he resembles, Makar is going to make the top three of this thing and mostly because the bubblegum crowd is going to jam the phones voting for him. Makar sang Kenny Rogers’ “Lady” this evening and I’m surprised at how deep and strong the voice is emanating from that angelic face. The judges considered it a bad song choice and I suppose that’s true. The teenybopper set, Makar’s demographic, probably won’t think much of the song.

Given Makar’s well-rounded voice I suspect he’d like to sing songs like “Lady”. Given the likely purchasers of any Will Makar CD’s, I think he’ll have to give up any hope of a career singing lounge lizard tunes.

Next up, Bucky Covington sang a country and western tune. I thought the music overwhelmed his voice at first. He got stronger toward the end but nothing major stood out. This is a fellow I’d have to hear a few more times before forming any sort of opinion. For now I don’t view him as a winner or a loser.

Then came Frank Sinatra. No wait! It was David Radford pretending to be Frank Sinatra. This guy, dressed snappily in a handsome suit, is a wonderful crooner with a good strong voice. I’d consider him a dark horse for now, but definitely not out of the picture.

Finally Chris Daughtry stepped up and I was very impressed. Chris sang “Hemorrhage” and wow, what a great voice. Another thing I didn’t know about Chris is that he is a family man. Which might cause him problems with the American Idol crowd. They’re looking for younger singers. In order to pull off a win, Chris is really going to have to stand out. His performance the night of the top ten males was just such a stand out. For now, I consider Chris one of the top three performers of the night.

Above my choice for the top three performers. I reserve the right to change my mind on a whim. The Elimination Round 3/2/06 The elimination round on 3/2/06 was interesting in that Carrie Underwood, winner of the most recent American Idol, performed. She is very pretty and talented and her success has been rather amazing.

Beyond that, the bottom three for the females were Kinnik Sky, Heather Cox and Brenna Gethers. I predicted that both Brenna and Heather would be eliminated this round. For the male eliminations, I was spot on about Jose “Sway” Penala. He was out of there. David Radford, this year’s AI Frank Sinatra, was also eliminated. Kevin Covais, who sang a lackluster “Heard It Through the Grapevine” was among the three lowest but he somehow managed to make it through to the next contest.

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