American Idol 7 Finale Performance Night

Here’s what I thought.

ROUND 1 – Clive Davis picked the song
David Cook – “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”
Gave me chills and it sounded like a soundtrack for a movie. I really liked it.
David Archuleta – “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me”
Good performance, but the same old sappyness and it sounded like a church song.

ROUND 2 – The contestant picks which they sing out of 10 submitted songs from non-famous song writers (Idol Viewers) and the contestant puts the arrangement together
David Cook – “Dream Big”
I LOVED it. It totally sounded like such a victory song and I loved how he put the arrangement together.
David Archuleta – “In This Moment”
He did AMAZING with it. He really did. But once again, it’s such a slow song that I could only stand to hear it a few times.

ROUND 3 – The contestant can pick whatever song they want…either one they’ve previously performed or a new one
David Cook – “The World I Know” (he picked a new song)
I really liked it. I loved the high notes he did toward the end and such. And he took a risk by doing a new song.
David Archuleta – ’”Imagine” (he’s already performed this song)
He played it safe by picking a song he knew he had success on…and then he sucked at it.

Technically, Archie won 2 of the 3 rounds, but Cook will take the title home.

Also, never underestimate the power of worried fans on Finale night. That's all I have to say.

My Random Weekend

Do you ever have those weekends where you didn't have ANYTHING planned, but it turns out to be a MUCH more busy weekend than if you had something planned? That was this weekend.

It all started Friday when my mom told me to stay away from the house. So I got home from work Friday, cleaned the kitchen, packed my stuff, and dropped my sister off at my grandma's. Then I went to Leslie's house, picked her up, and met up with Leroy and Jared at In N Out. Les and I ate while Jared and Leroy just watched (they had just eaten) and then we sat outside In N Out on those tables while we listened to Stephen Lynch on my iPhone. Then Troy and Alli called so we met up with them at the TGIF on Howe and had a good ole time there. Jared got lost and claims he drove through hell, but once he got there, we started making "creations" out of our food stuffs. We made a picture of Jared, a delicious looking piece of cake, and then an "iced tea". The "iced tea" consisted of the last bit of Jared's Coke mixed with ketchup, pepper, salt, sugar, lime, orange, and my spit. After seeing this abomination, I dared Jared to drink it for the $7 I had in my wallet. When he did it, I almost puked...and he took off into the bathroom. It was so gross. Next, we went back to Troy and Alli's and just played Smash Brothers and all till 3 in which Les and I finally drove back to her house and crashed on the hard floor.

Saturday, I slept in much longer than Les did. When I finally did get up, I pretty much just ran errands with her and added my forms of entertainment along the way (such as "walking it out" while half asleep). Saturday night, I drove out to Arden to pick up Alli from work and then we went back to Les' where Leroy joined us and we watched both Cloverfield and Martian Child. Please, do not watch Cloverfield. It's one of the worst movies I've seen in my life. There was absolutely NO point to that entire movie...and I searched for something. Martian Child, on the other hand, had some really good points in it. It taught you things about life or at least made you think about things most people have never bothered to think about before. It had a meaning and a purpose to it. I would recommend it to my friends. After Martian Child, I tried to wake up Alli so we could go home, but all she did was say "I already did it. What else do you want?" and when she did wake up, she said she was dreaming she was ringing me up at Nordstrom Rack. Lol. When we got back to her place, I played H3 with Troy and Caveman while Alli went to bed.

Sunday was the most laid back day. Woke up, took Alli to work, went back to Alli's (Troy had already gone to work) and played CoD4 with DJ till it was time to head home. Got home, showered, went to meeting (which was funny because Sister Wimer, some chick I don't know, Japheth, Brother Hawks, Lyndsi, Lindsey, Katie, Leslie, Nate, and I took up nearly the whole row), went home, got food, ate food, and went to bed.

Aaaaaaaaand now I'm dead beat tired at work. Today's going to be so blah. My mom is going out of town today and won't be back till Wednesday evening. That means no fighting her for American Idol. Haha.

And here are the pictures of the food stuffs...

iTunes Morning After Results

Alright, so I’ve been accused of making this blog an American Idol blog, but it’s not although I will bring certain AI points out in this blog. Don’t worry, my dear David, AI is over in 2 weeks.

Now to business. The list below is the AI iTunes most downloaded songs. Interestingly, David Cook controls near half of this list and tops all AI contestants with 9 songs. Archuleta currently holds the number one spot (one that has not belonged to anyone except Cookie since his Billie Jean performance), but everyone knows that Archie having that spot is due to the poor studio choice called “Hungry Like The Wolf”. And how strange is it that Syesha Mercado has made it to the final 3, but she doesn’t have a single song in this top 20 list? I say my Cookie has the clear advantage here.

1. David Archuleta — “Love Me Tender”
2. David Cook - “Hungry Like The Wolf”
3. David Cook - “Always Be My Baby”
4. Jason Castro - “Mr Tambourine Man”
5. David Cook - “Billie Jean”
6. David Cook - “Music of the Night”
7. David Cook - “I’m Alive”
8. David Archuleta - “Think of Me”
9. Jason Castro - “Over the Rainbow”
10. David Archuleta - “Sweet Caroline”
11. David Cook - “Hello”
12. David Archuleta - “Imagine”
13. David Archuleta - “When You Believe”
14. David Cook - “Eleanor Rigby”
15. David Cook - “Innocent”
16. David Cook - “Little Sparrow”
17. David Archuleta - “Angels”
18. Jason Castro - “Forever in Blue Jeans”
19. Jason Castro - “Hallelujah”
20. Brooke White - “I Am… I Said”

Check out Rickey.org for constant AI iTunes updates.

Thoughts on Top 4 AI Performances

ROUND 1:

David Cook's "Hungry Like The Wolf" --- I was really disappointed by it. It sounded like he was screaming and forcing most of the song and I, for once, disliked a song sung by my Cookie. *sad face*

Syesha Mercado's "Proud Mary" --- It was too slow, too boring, too forgettable for this late in the competition. She picked up the speed some, but it just didn't do it for me.

Jason Castro's "I Shot The Sheriff" --- Meh. It was okay, but forgettable. It's a bit more on the side of his style, but I still see him being a Jack Johnson type of guy over Bob Marley.

David Archuleta's "Stand By Me" --- OH. MY. GOD. I don't like Archie, but this song just blew me away. He sung it with absolute perfection!!! It was so amazing, I'm near speechless.

ROUND 2:

David Cook's "Baba O'Reilly" --- Aaaaaaaaand the Cookie I've grown to love is back and has redeemed himself. Woot. I definitely hope AI allows this song to be his studio version over that last one. *happy, excited face*

Syesha Mercado's "A Change is Gonna Come" --- Much, much better than her first song. The end was a bit too much, but she had an overall very good performance. Redeemed herself as well.

Jason Castro's "Mr. Tambourine Man" --- Forgetting the lyrics, eh? Jason...are you trying to go home? I believe so. The song was overall not too bad, minus the lyric skipping part. I love it when Jason plays his guitar. And this song was much more his thing.

David Archuleta's "Love Me Tender" --- And this is why he got the pimp spot. Both songs were amazing...with this one being less amazing than the first, but still amazing enough.

CLOSING THOUGHTS:

The David's are safe yet another week. They will be the Final 2. Syesha and Jason will be the ones endangered, but Jason is most likely to go home. He's colored red on Dial Idol whereas the other three are green. I've also heard through the grapevine that when Ryan was giving out Jason's number, Jason mouthed, "Don't vote" so I believe he's completely ready to go home. This just isn't his thing...he'd rather be a more laid-back performer like Jack Johnson, me thinks. Anywho, all that really matters is that my Cookie will go on to next week's performance and rock it once again, I'm sure.

To listen/watch the performances, visit www.rickey.org

David Cook Fan Bracelets Fundraiser

David Cook Fan Bracelets (like the Livestrong ones) are being sold now. Half the proceeds will go to a fund for David's older brother, Adam, to see Cookie at the AI Finale (cause we all know he's gonna make it). The other half will go to the American Brain Tumor Association.

I bought one because I'm a fan of DC and would be proud to wear his bracelet and because my family has recently found out that my cousin, Heather, has a brain tumor at age 28.

You can purchase and learn more about the bracelets here.

Top 4 - American Idol 7

Let's see what the top 4 are singing tonight...

David Archuleta
- "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King
- "Love Me Tender" by Elvis Presley (cover by Norah Jones)

David Cook
- "Baba O'Reilly" by The Who
- "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran

Jason Castro
- "Mr. Tambourine Man" by Bob Dylan
- "I Shot the Sheriff" by Bob Marley (cover by Eric Clapton)

Syesha Mercado
- "Proud Mary" by Tina Turner
- "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke

So for the first time, I'm excited to hear a song by David Archuleta. Archie's bored me to death all season, but this Elvis song is gonna be something. Unfortunately, I haven't heard of either song that my Cookie (David Cook) will be singing tonight. Both of Jason's songs fit him PERFECTLY! As for Syesha, I couldn't care less and I hope she goes home tomorrow.

Source of song choices: JU