I thought Adam was horrible. Johnny Cash rolled over in his grave. Michael didn't give much of a singing performance, but he gets points for being able to remember the lyrics. I still like Scott and I hope he makes it through. Paula was obnoxious to tell him he used the piano as a crutch. I'm glad Simon told her that was a stupid thing to say and dropped names like Elton John and Billy Joel. Kris and Anoop were really good. I didn't care for Megan or Lil's preformances.

MJ's Blog is reporting that next week is Motown. I wonder what classic Motown song Adam is going to give the Ring Of Fire treatment and alienate every Motown fan in the process, as what seems to be happening to the Nashville fans. You know, David Cook used Dolly Parton week to take a good step outside of his box and prove he could do more than rock. Michael used Dolly Parton week to show that he truly deserved to be on the show and kicked ass. Adam, yeah I have no idea what the hell that was. I'm still confused and will probably never grow to like it. Apparently according to Adam fans on various sites, the haters just 'didn't get it and it flew right over their heads'. Whatev. It sucked.

In the case of Adam, my hate is not misplaced. There's doing a new interpretation of a song and there's intentionally effing with a classic because you think you're too good for the theme night. Country music might sound simple, but it is hard to do well. And I'll say it again, this town has been chewing up and spitting out egotistical little twits like Adam for close to a century. Nashville will be here long after Adam whateverhisnameis has faded from our memories.

Adam showed one thing very clearly last night. He's not the next David Cook. Part of the problem was that he came across as disrespectful to the genre. Remember even Chris Daughtry did a great version of a Keith Urban song and he stayed true to both himself and to the genre. It made Adam look like he's incapable of doing anything but dramatic.

Exactly, it is disrespectful to make Randy Travis squirm.

That's really the thing, too: disrespect. To be honest, I think Johnny Cash would have gotten a kick out of that arrangement because that was a man who knew how to fuck with genres. I don't think he or most other country performers (or performers that fit into a genre Adam feels he's better than) would have appreciated the misplaced attitude, though. The performance itself didn't make him look foolish, his bullshit did. David Cook and Michael Johns worked with the artist, bonded with the artist and respected the artist, whoever that artist might have been. Chris Daughtry, who I've made it clear I was no great fan of, never treated a genre like he was above it. He had a tendency to "cheat" a bit in the same way that Adam did, but he was never a douchebag about it. As for Paula's desire to see Scott out from behind the piano, even though I call nonsense on the fact that the judges only seem to want what they haven't seen that week, I didn't think Simon was much better. He might have thought he was helping or being the more logical of the two, but it really just came off as slightly condescending. Just say it: he's blind and his place is behind the piano, not dancing around the stage. I imagine, however, that Paula was thinking of him doing something more along the lines of what Chris or Anoop did then what Danny or Michael did. There's been an uncomfortable tone in the way all of the judges have treated Scott this season. There's no denying that he has talent and I both like the dude and hope he makes it further than some (possibly more talented) folks that I like less. But, he's not the second coming and sometimes it feels like they're laying it on a bit thick when he didn't give the genius performance they think they've heard. Then again, that goes for half the contestants every season, I suppose. One thing that sort of disappointed me is that it seemed like me and Ryan were the only people that I could see who thought Scott was really funny. the judges walked all over his cute little comment about losing the piano but not telling us when. The bit about moving it closer to the audience was funny, too. It's a scary, scary world when Randy seems to have become the judge with the best sense of humor.

Didn't Matt play the piano last week as well? And didn't the judges drool all over him and acted like he was the second coming of Justin Timberlake? And no comments about losing the piano, while doing the same thing as Scott, using the piano two weeks in a row? I'm so confused about all that.

Yeah, they're all about Matt and the piano, too. I don't really think it's a Scott-centric issue, though, I think it's the judges being their usual flaky selves. They've been wishy washy about Chris and his guitar as well, which has seemed so strange to me. They couldn't wait for him to get it back and then, last night, they loved seeing him up there all "vulnerable" without it. With the occasional exception of a contestant that one (or all) of the judges can't stand for no reason at all, they have a really hard time picking a position and sticking with it. "NOBODY CAN DO STEVIE!!!" followed by a Stevie Wonder week is some of the best evidence that they're a bunch of boneheads.

I cracked up when Scott said that they could move the piano closer to the audience. I love dry humor and quick wit. I find the judges always heap praise on some that I don't think are all that special and cut down some that I thought were great. If they had to bring in a 4th judge, I wish they'd picked someone with roots in country music to help round out the backgrounds and biases of the judges.

I usually have my back to the TV, because I'm working on the computer, so I didn't see Adam's performance. I also don't pay much attention to the intros and didn't hear what transpired with Randy Travis. Judging strictly on the way he sounded, the performance was weird but well-executed for what he was trying to do. But he is going to have to show he can do more than "his" style, or people are going to get sick of him. And if he was showing disrespect for the mentor/genre, that's awful. It made me crazy when they dinged Lil for not doing "I Will Always Love You." You just know, if she had, they'd have told her not to touch a Whitney song. Or said that she was a second-rate Whitney. Not Lil's best performance, but not as bad as they made out. Oh, and the "Little" stuff? How incredibly arrogant of Simon. Can't really get behind anyone. A bunch of them are good, but they just don't grab me. But then I didn't like either David last year and the last few weeks were a snoozefest for me. Did anyone hear this news story about an Idol employee ripping on the show for being rigged? I heard a teaser on the morning news.

Did anyone hear this news story about an Idol employee ripping on the show for being rigged? I heard a teaser on the morning news. Those stories go around every year. Do I think it's rigged? Maybe. I am sure though that they do everything in their power to get the winner they want(see Sparks, Jordin).

As I said, (season 5, season 6), they say this every year. It's to get people talking about the show. As I said, they always manipulate the people into voting for the one they want to win and if for some reason that doesn't happen, they make it happen(see Studdard, Ruben). Or they change their minds halfway because someone comes along who's able to make even more money for them than their 'Chosen one'(see Cook, David). Simon said before season 4 started that a blonde Country singing girl would win that year, and Randy said before season 6 that a dark, curly haired young girl would win that year.

The article was poorly written and didn't say anything someone with functioning eyes and ears couldn't figure out. I just remember reading it yesterday. It's fixed, but not as much as people want it to be. The American public is kind of just that predictable.