It’s always a little tough for the kiddies to attack music like the stuff that Tony Bennett made a career of singing. It helps for the singer to have a little age to sing a song about “Mack the Knife” which, for all its lively music, is a pretty dark song. So, while Blake sounded good and gave a good performance, I would agree with Mr. Bennett that the kid didn’t really seem to catch the feeling of the song. It’s a good, but emotionless, performance of the song.

On the sidewalk, sunday morning, lies a body oozin’ life
Someones sneakin’ round the corner, is the someone Mack the Knife?

Still, it was a decent stab (sorry) at the old tune and not without its own merits. Blake is a fine performer and his voice is decent. It’s hard not to like the guy.

“Night and Day” is another wonderful song, and, minus a few uneven moments, Phil has a perfect voice for this kind of thing. His style was a little old fashioned, but I’m not one to think that old fashioned is necessarily a bad thing. I think the judges were completely wrong and that this was as good a performance as Blake’s (although Paula’s comparison to Frank Sinatra was wildly off base).

Melinda Doolittle could be accused of a bit of an old fashioned take on “I’ve Got Rhythm”, and, again, that’s not a bad thing. She sounded, looked, and performed wonderfully (although I thought it got a little cabaret at the end (in opposition to Simon who thought that the cabaret portion came at the beginning of the thing)).  Any guesses as to whether she will win the whole thing? Or will the hordes of Sanjaya supporters manage to steal the competition?

The term “vocally limited” seems like a good way to describe Chris Richardson (not to mention “painful on the ears"). “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” exposed the limits of his voice, although he wears a hat like a champ. The judges are smoking crack--it wasn’t hip, he didn’t sound good, and completely unsuited to him.

Of course, to be fair, I haven’t liked the guy from the beginning and I do play favorites.

I like Jordin Sparks, though, and I loved it when Bennett commended her for singing without excessive ornamentation. She gave what was (at least to this point) the performance of the night. I loved it.

Gina is another favorite (and her wicked cool hair style). She wasn’t so impressive tonight, though, with a performance that didn’t end as well as it should have and a song that might not have been her best choice. Sentiment aside, she does better with upbeat and aggressive; she sounded good, but she didn’t play to her strengths. Pity since stragglers are eaten by the Sanjaya-loving hordes of evil doers.

Disco-suited Sanjaya failed to impress. He still looks and sounds like a high school student who stumbled into a competition with a bunch of adults. He can’t compete on talent, so he competes on goofy, youthful enthusiasm. The only good part was Simon’s hilarious attempt at reverse psychology and Randy’s admission that commenting on Sanjaya’s vocal was utterly useless.

And then there’s Haley, who always looks amazing but who has the emotional depth of the a Miss America contestant (and, no, I don’t mean that in the nicest possible way). It was as cutesy a performance as I’ve seen in my life; she just doesn’t connect emotionally with the song or the audience.

She does, indeed, have great legs, though. And other bits.

Lakisha tries to do too much with her songs. She has a powerful voice, but she works a little too hard to make the big moments count.