Country night? So few singers remaining, so much cruelty in my heart. And, sadly, I missed the first couple performance--especially disappointed that I missed Mandisa.

Here comes Elliott singing “If Tomorrow Never Comes”. My best man, Missy, loved this song, so I feel obligated to give this song a thumbs up. Elliott sang it well, it was a lovely arrangement even if a bit bland. Nice but not great.

The real question is what the hell was Paula blathering on about? Has she been hitting the pill bottles again?

Paris--my obvious favorite in the contest--is obviously out of her element tonight. She starts wobbly and a little uncomfortable. Singing “How Do I Live Without You”, one of the sappiest choices she could possibly make, she didn’t have a lot of opportunity to show off what makes her special. Not really that good--although, surprisingly, Simon enjoyed the performance.

She’s lucky that she has built up a store of good will that could carry her through this week.

I hate Ace. His overly-studied mannerisms, his heartful gazes, his irritating habit of singing in public.

Kenny Rogers thinks that people like Ace because he sings with his heart; Kenny Rogers is wrong. The song was as boring a piece of song as you could imagine, not helped by the gratuitous falsetto at the end. Nasty little bit of singing there.

And then the g-phrase came over after a bad day at work and American Idol no longer mattered.

Which, from what I heard, was really for the best.