American Idol Top 36 Round 1

As promised, my thoughts on American Idol Season 8. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Over the next several months, I'll be sharing my thoughts on the contestants and trying to pick who will make it through each round. I'm not an industry insider, just a couch potato with a computer who's watched too much reality TV in general and American Idol in particular.
Tonight we have the first 12 contestants out of the Top 36 singing songs from the Billboard Top 100 (theme nights? Already?). This year they're doing things differently. Only three people are making it through this round and there'll be a "Wild Card" week. I'm not sure I follow Ryan Seacrest's explanation of how this works but if it means we get down to the Top 12 faster, I'm all for it. Without further ado, This......is your Top 36!

Jackie Tohn: wow they're not making it easy for me, are they? Two hours of show to get through plus they're starting off with one of my least favorite contestants of the season. She has a big personality and comes across as if her thinking is her talent is so obvious she doesn't need to try as hard as her competitors. As the first performance of the evening, I honestly don't know what to make of this. She can sing, no doubt about it, but she's all over the place with vocal tricks and runs. All I could think when she was done was: if Rent hadn't closed, she should audition for Maureen.

Ricky Braddy: He wasn't bad. He may have been a little off key on some of the high notes, but overall gave a good performance. His weakness is he's a little forgettable: Once this episode is over, I won't remember him

Alexis Grace: She was one of my favorite contestants from the audition round. She is a capable singer and its nice to see that she's stepping out of her comfort range on this performance. At the same time, though, she comes across as a bit affected, like she's playing a character. I hope she makes it through this round because once she hits her stride, she could very well win this season.

Brent Keith: All I could think about this guy was he was overwhelmingly average. My next thought was he was leaning too hard on the performance cliches with the way he lifted his arm and pointed at the audience at the end of every line. By the end, I felt like I was watching amateur night at the local bar.

Stevie Wright: Amateur night continues. In her video package, she said she was going to try to be "young" and acting more her age. Well, she succeeded. She sounded like a high schooler at a talent show (and not helped by singing a Taylor Swift song) than someone who made it through the nation-wide cattle call auditions. If she has sung that song at her audition, she wouldn't have made it through.

Anoop "AnoopDog" Desai: There comes a point where all they guys on this show sound exactly the same when they're singing ballads. Anoop is no different, but he does what he can to make the song his own. His vocals were controlled when he sang the riff, and unlike the other two guy his performance was polished and put together. I like this guy. No, this wasn't his best performance, but I thought it was still pretty solid.

Casey Carlson: Aw man...I had the feeling when she said she'd be singing The Police this had the potential to crash and burn. She went flat a couple times on the verses and the faces she made throughout gave the impression she knew she wasn't doing well. Her voice is just too weak to give the song any weight.

Michael Sarver: Seriously, he was the first person tonight who looked like they were having FUN. He's a little stiff and looks like he's not quite comfortable on stage yet. No, it wasn't the best performance, but it was the most engaging performance of the night. I liked it. I was singing along. I don't think he'll go very far, but he's making the most of the experience that he can.

Ann Marie Boskovich: I really don't have much to say about her. I've always found her very blah. A lot of the time, with the faces she was making, she looked like she was trying to impersonate Celine Dion (albeit while singing Aretha). It wasn't strong, it wasn't weak it was just average.

Stephen Fowler: I really wanted to not like this guy. If you disregard the fact he's taking on Michael Jackson (who should join Aretha, Whitney, and Janice on the list of banned artists...NO ONE can do these songs justice except the original artists) he's average and on par for the rest of the night. Wow, everyone's coming up average here. Maybe I should be a little more discriminating. Or find another word for average :wanders over to thesaurus.com:

Tatiana: Yeah, I'm giving her the One Name treatment. Because she's just crazy enough to pull it off. Dammit. I REALLY wanted to hate this performance but I have to admit: homegirl can sing. Batshit crazy, yes. Amazingly good, also yes. Hers was the most polished performance of the night. BTW according to thesaurus.com, some synonyms for average include: common, so-so, unexceptional, and midling. So I guess Tatiana would rate an above-midling.

Danny Gokey: Again, I'm biased. I liked this guy during the auditions. Even so, he was hands down the best guy of the night. He had an emotional connection to the song, something missing from most of the other contestants tonight.

Whoo, that wasn't so bad. Okay my predictions for results night:
Top Guy--Danny Gokey
Top Girl--Tatiana
Wildcard--Either Alexis Grace or AnoopDog