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Michael Giltz: American Idol Top 24: The Women
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APRIL 5, 2009
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American Idol Top 24: The
Women
Posted February 21, 2008 | 01:43 AM (EST)
Read More: American Idol , Country , Fox , Paula Abdul , Pop Music , Randy Jackson ,
Reality TV, Rock , Ryan Seacrest , Simon Cowell , Breaking Entertainment News
I'm probably the only person who went from listening to jazz pianist Gonzalo
Rubalcaba at the Village Vanguard and then ran home to watch my DVR recording of American
Idol. After getting over a little culture shock -- what, no eight minute trumpet solos? -- I settled in.
The judges stopped harping about making classic songs "relevant" but did offer up a lot of chatterto fill the two hour time slot. The main topic: colds and flu and I can relate, since I've been homesick for the past six days). But do we care? Not really. How can you grade someone on a scalewhen you don't know what they'd sound like normally?
Kristy Lee Cook -- the "Amazing Grace" gal who sold her barrel horse so she could audition.
Cook looks very cute but as the show went on it was clear that virtually all the gals are really cute,
so looks will NOT be a huge factor. She sang "Rescue Me" and was basically fine but all we really
learned was that she has absolutely no soul. It wasn't anonymous exactly but I did feel like she was
disappearing before my eyes. But she looked overwhelmed in a good (ie. vote-getting) way during
the judges' comments and should go through. One of the really ailing ones, per the judges.
JoAnne Borgella -- the plus-size model and one of
my favorites. Till now. Was she sick, too? They didn't
say so but her voice sounded so small on the BurtBacharach classic "I Say A Little Prayer." She wasrough and off-key and really just plain bad. But shelooked great even though she barely moved on the
stage. She looked wounded when Simon was saying mean things, which can't hurt with voterseither. Hopefully she'll get through and get a chance to redeem herself cause I'm sure she's betterthan that.
Alaina Whitaker -- it's her birthday on Thursday and Alaina's gonna get her wish of going
through to the next round. She sang the Spiral Starecase tune "More Today Than Yesterday"
(wonder how many blogs will get the name of the band wrong?) and did a much better job thanChikezie. She was a little weak on the slow intro but once it speeded up (and really, people need to
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Michael Giltz: American Idol Top 24: The Women
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/american-idol-to_b_87722.html [4/5/2009 7:45:43 PM]come up with a new way to arrange these songs then slow to fast), she was good, especially strong
on the chorus. And looked adorable.
Amanda Overmyer -- the rock chick sang the old blues jam "Baby Please Don't Go." It was fun
and I liked it when she wigged out in the middle but frankly her vocals were swallowed up and noteven close to good. If she had a real bluesy voice, she would have shone here. I was surprised thejudges spoke so strongly about her. She's different enough to get to the next round but not goodenough vocally to stand out in the final 12. On the plus side, she did great in the post-song chat,being funny with Ryan ad joking with the judges and looking enjoyably comfortable on stage.Clearly the producers love her. And does Simon really not know this song? Everyone has blindspots in music, but that's a weird one to never have heard.
Amy Davis -- tonight's trainwreck and worse by far than even "Moon River." She sang the Connie
Francis tune "Where The Boys Are" and was absolutely dreadful from first to last. The judges
should have been much harder than they were but perhaps they realized there was no reason to
bother. I do give her points for not running off stage in tears in the middle of the tune, it was going
so bad. You really just feel sorry for someone when they get this far and it goes so terribly wrong.
Yeah, she's 25 years old but it still must be a miserable moment. I'm not sure if Simon was saying
Amy is a country singer but couldn't bring that twang to this song or whether he was saying you
need to have a country twang to deliver this particular tune (which makes no sense). In any case,
it's an iconic tune but not a good one.
Brooke White -- the wholesome gal sang "Happy Together" just like one of the rocker guys. Are
they told when someone else has already selected a particular song? (Usually they have to choose
between a couple hundred options.) I find it hard to believe so many people would knowingly pickthe same tune as one of 23 other people. If they don't know, it must be devastating to hearsomeone sing it the night before. Happily for Brooke, she did a better job. Never quite took off, butsolid. As for her personality, I think Simon is suggesting not that she be naughty or mean but thatnice can easily become bland.
Alexandrea Lushington -- A performance! She began singing the Blood Sweat & Tears tune
"Spinning Wheel" while walking down the stairs? And crouching! And wearing suspenders! And in
what was the closest to a political statement, Alexandrea wore giant peace symbol earrings. (No "IfI Had A Hammer" or "Simple Song of Freedom" but I'll take what I can get.) Loads of personalityand loads of fun. I thought the judges would be much more enthusiastic. Simon was way off, evenif her vocals weren't great (I'm not fond of her high register -- stay low, Alexandrea). And she has astrong presence when bantering. Totally fun. On a side note, I always like to check out how theother contestants react. The guys almost all stood for this performance, but the two rockers andCastro stayed seated. Hmm. Not fans of her or just not ready to cheer on a competitor?
Kady Malloy -- sang "Groovy Kind Of Love" (which she surely knows via Phil Collins rather than
Mindbenders). She was very weak when she tried to riff and throw in some runs. But I thought her
voice was solid even if the performance was a bit dull.
Asia'h Epperson -- my friend Aaron says the extra "h" is for extra hot. Who am I to deny it? I
did believe she would go with one name a la Chikezie. But she did a very good soulful version of
Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart." Solid all the way through and very fun. The guys felt obliged toall stand up for this. She also had on a cute outfit and I do like that the contestants are dressing ageappropriate. I don't like it when they try and dress all "adult" and sexy and come across as trampy.They're all plenty sexy and it works better when they don't try to squeeze into cocktail dresses withplunging necklines or something trashy. I'm sure it plays better in Middle America anyway.
Ramiele Malubay -- sang Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me." I didn't like
the tinkling piano (which sounded too MOR) and frankly I was bored. She certainly wasn't bad and
should go through but I spent the whole song waiting for it to begin. And I was surprised when thejudges praised her so highly. Dusty is very hard to nail and she didn't bring any drama to it. Buttechnically fine.
Syesha Mercado -- cute, cute, cute. She's the gal who lost her voice in Hollywood and is easily
one of my favorites overall. She did the Lou Rawls classic "Tobacco Road" and went the rock and
roll via Tina Turner route. She did a very good job and had a classic big vocal flourish at the endthe way Idol loves. Why did Simon say she is "probably" one of the most talented singers amongthe girls? No, she's definitely one of the most talented singers, girl or boy.
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Michael Giltz: American Idol Top 24: The Women
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/american-idol-to_b_87722.html [4/5/2009 7:45:43 PM]
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$40,000Carly Smithson -- they finally had her talk on camera about the fact that she had a major label
record deal and an album that was released. Now they can fess up about all the OTHER Idols who
have had record deals with Madonna or won $100,00 on Star Search, etc. Carly reminds us that
she was only 15 when she was signed and 17 when the album came out. But her claim that the label
went bellyup simply isn't true. According to a Wall Street Journal article about her album's failure
written years ago, millions were spent to record and re-record the album and it was released onUniersal's MCA label and if executives left, it was clearly only after an extraordinary amount of
time and money was wagered in trying to make the project fly. So no, this isn't the story of an
album geting lost in th shuffle. Doesn't mean Carly doesn't deserve a second chance. Nonetheless,
the album reportedly had the full weight of the label behind it for a long, long time before they
pulled the plug. You can still buy it on Amazon. Full and accurate disclosure as early as possible,
though it does spoil the fun of "discovering" someone when you find out JoAnne won Mo'Nique's
"Fat Chance" reality show and Syesha was on another reality show that ended after only two
episodes. Tonight she sang "The Shadow Of Your Smile," another very tricky tune done well by
Tony Bennett. I thought she was fine, not great. But Simon is right when he said it was too old
fashioned for her. Besides, it's Sixties night. Sve old fashioned for big band night, if there is one.
And to be petty, she was dressed prettily frumpily compared to the other gals and needs to get her
teeth done. (Hey, so do I but I'm not getting close-ups on national TV.) I still find her high notes
pretty consistently rough and unpleasant. But overall she is solid and certainly not bad enough to
go home.
Again, it's too early in the competition to accurately predict who goes home because there are so
many to choose from. I will say that Syesha Mercado, Asia'h Epperson, Alaina Whitaker andAlexandrea Lushington should all easily be safe. Surely poor Amy Davis will be one of the two to gohome, along with Kady Malloy (or perhaps Kristy lee Cook, because fewer people watch in the firsthour so going early is always a big disadvantage). Who did you vote for and who do you thinkshould go home?
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Michael Giltz: American Idol Top 24: The Women
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mch755 See Profile I'm a Fan of mch755 permalink
I really like Ramiele, she's got a great voice, cute face and very appealing personality. Her take on a
Dusty Springfield song was nice and controlled.Also like Asia'h, she's a gorgeous girl and has a very distinctive voice, she doesn't sound like anyoneelse in the competition.Those are the 2 girls I think has a shot at winning with Syesha an outside chance.
LeoMarvin See Profile I'm a Fan of LeoMarvin permalink
Somebody still owes me an explanation about voting off Melinda Doolittle. Until then, this is all just re-arranging lounge singers on the Titanic.
You're right about Amy Davis pinning the agony needle, but I think you missed the boat on Ramiele
Malubay. She and Carly Smithson, followed by Syesha Mercado, showed the strongest, best trained
instruments. Amanda Overmyer was fun, but I'm not sure any of us wants to see her go through Burt
Bachrach week (or whatever this year's equivalent is).
In a group without any really great singers, the Australian dude seems to have the most star potential.
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
I agree completely about Overmyer. She's going to look very weak at some point soon. And
the judges certainly agree with you about Ramiele. I too think she has a good voice (alongwith Smithson and Syesha). Just don't think she used it very well on that song, while Randyand Paula thought she was great. I do expect her to make it through and have betterperformances down the road. Like you, I ws rooting for Melinda Doolittle all the way. Her vs.Jordin would have been a more contrasting, exciting finale. But not to despair. She got a ton
of great publicity and I'm sure she'll have an album out at some point. Hopefully they'll take
their time and craft an Anita Baker-like CD and she'll have a genuine shot at chart success.
You don't have to win Idol to win.
LeoMarvin See Profile I'm a Fan of LeoMarvin permalink
Hope you're right. There are a lot of wonderful singers in the world, but the few who
make me cry are the ones I'm anxious to hear more from. She's one of those.
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Michael Giltz: American Idol Top 24: The Women
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American Idol Top 24: The
Women
Posted February 21, 2008 | 01:43 AM (EST)
Read More: American Idol , Country , Fox , Paula Abdul , Pop Music , Randy Jackson ,
Reality TV, Rock , Ryan Seacrest , Simon Cowell , Breaking Entertainment News
I'm probably the only person who went from listening to jazz pianist Gonzalo
Rubalcaba at the Village Vanguard and then ran home to watch my DVR recording of American
Idol. After getting over a little culture shock -- what, no eight minute trumpet solos? -- I settled in.
The judges stopped harping about making classic songs "relevant" but did offer up a lot of chatterto fill the two hour time slot. The main topic: colds and flu and I can relate, since I've been homesick for the past six days). But do we care? Not really. How can you grade someone on a scalewhen you don't know what they'd sound like normally?
Kristy Lee Cook -- the "Amazing Grace" gal who sold her barrel horse so she could audition.
Cook looks very cute but as the show went on it was clear that virtually all the gals are really cute,
so looks will NOT be a huge factor. She sang "Rescue Me" and was basically fine but all we really
learned was that she has absolutely no soul. It wasn't anonymous exactly but I did feel like she was
disappearing before my eyes. But she looked overwhelmed in a good (ie. vote-getting) way during
the judges' comments and should go through. One of the really ailing ones, per the judges.
JoAnne Borgella -- the plus-size model and one of
my favorites. Till now. Was she sick, too? They didn't
say so but her voice sounded so small on the BurtBacharach classic "I Say A Little Prayer." She wasrough and off-key and really just plain bad. But shelooked great even though she barely moved on the
stage. She looked wounded when Simon was saying mean things, which can't hurt with voterseither. Hopefully she'll get through and get a chance to redeem herself cause I'm sure she's betterthan that.
Alaina Whitaker -- it's her birthday on Thursday and Alaina's gonna get her wish of going
through to the next round. She sang the Spiral Starecase tune "More Today Than Yesterday"
(wonder how many blogs will get the name of the band wrong?) and did a much better job thanChikezie. She was a little weak on the slow intro but once it speeded up (and really, people need to
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Finally Meet In
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PHOTOS, POLL)
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Banks (VIDEO)
***UPDATE*** 8:30pm:
People.com is reporting
that Sarah Palin has
issued...
Oscar de la Renta
Slams Michelle
Obama's Buckingham
Outfit As Major
Designers FeelIgnored
While Michelle Obamahas made lesser...
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Bruni
So here's the thing.There's no shortage of
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$72.5M
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Michael Giltz: American Idol Top 24: The Women
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/american-idol-to_b_87722.html [4/5/2009 7:45:43 PM]come up with a new way to arrange these songs then slow to fast), she was good, especially strong
on the chorus. And looked adorable.
Amanda Overmyer -- the rock chick sang the old blues jam "Baby Please Don't Go." It was fun
and I liked it when she wigged out in the middle but frankly her vocals were swallowed up and noteven close to good. If she had a real bluesy voice, she would have shone here. I was surprised thejudges spoke so strongly about her. She's different enough to get to the next round but not goodenough vocally to stand out in the final 12. On the plus side, she did great in the post-song chat,being funny with Ryan ad joking with the judges and looking enjoyably comfortable on stage.Clearly the producers love her. And does Simon really not know this song? Everyone has blindspots in music, but that's a weird one to never have heard.
Amy Davis -- tonight's trainwreck and worse by far than even "Moon River." She sang the Connie
Francis tune "Where The Boys Are" and was absolutely dreadful from first to last. The judges
should have been much harder than they were but perhaps they realized there was no reason to
bother. I do give her points for not running off stage in tears in the middle of the tune, it was going
so bad. You really just feel sorry for someone when they get this far and it goes so terribly wrong.
Yeah, she's 25 years old but it still must be a miserable moment. I'm not sure if Simon was saying
Amy is a country singer but couldn't bring that twang to this song or whether he was saying you
need to have a country twang to deliver this particular tune (which makes no sense). In any case,
it's an iconic tune but not a good one.
Brooke White -- the wholesome gal sang "Happy Together" just like one of the rocker guys. Are
they told when someone else has already selected a particular song? (Usually they have to choose
between a couple hundred options.) I find it hard to believe so many people would knowingly pickthe same tune as one of 23 other people. If they don't know, it must be devastating to hearsomeone sing it the night before. Happily for Brooke, she did a better job. Never quite took off, butsolid. As for her personality, I think Simon is suggesting not that she be naughty or mean but thatnice can easily become bland.
Alexandrea Lushington -- A performance! She began singing the Blood Sweat & Tears tune
"Spinning Wheel" while walking down the stairs? And crouching! And wearing suspenders! And in
what was the closest to a political statement, Alexandrea wore giant peace symbol earrings. (No "IfI Had A Hammer" or "Simple Song of Freedom" but I'll take what I can get.) Loads of personalityand loads of fun. I thought the judges would be much more enthusiastic. Simon was way off, evenif her vocals weren't great (I'm not fond of her high register -- stay low, Alexandrea). And she has astrong presence when bantering. Totally fun. On a side note, I always like to check out how theother contestants react. The guys almost all stood for this performance, but the two rockers andCastro stayed seated. Hmm. Not fans of her or just not ready to cheer on a competitor?
Kady Malloy -- sang "Groovy Kind Of Love" (which she surely knows via Phil Collins rather than
Mindbenders). She was very weak when she tried to riff and throw in some runs. But I thought her
voice was solid even if the performance was a bit dull.
Asia'h Epperson -- my friend Aaron says the extra "h" is for extra hot. Who am I to deny it? I
did believe she would go with one name a la Chikezie. But she did a very good soulful version of
Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart." Solid all the way through and very fun. The guys felt obliged toall stand up for this. She also had on a cute outfit and I do like that the contestants are dressing ageappropriate. I don't like it when they try and dress all "adult" and sexy and come across as trampy.They're all plenty sexy and it works better when they don't try to squeeze into cocktail dresses withplunging necklines or something trashy. I'm sure it plays better in Middle America anyway.
Ramiele Malubay -- sang Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me." I didn't like
the tinkling piano (which sounded too MOR) and frankly I was bored. She certainly wasn't bad and
should go through but I spent the whole song waiting for it to begin. And I was surprised when thejudges praised her so highly. Dusty is very hard to nail and she didn't bring any drama to it. Buttechnically fine.
Syesha Mercado -- cute, cute, cute. She's the gal who lost her voice in Hollywood and is easily
one of my favorites overall. She did the Lou Rawls classic "Tobacco Road" and went the rock and
roll via Tina Turner route. She did a very good job and had a classic big vocal flourish at the endthe way Idol loves. Why did Simon say she is "probably" one of the most talented singers amongthe girls? No, she's definitely one of the most talented singers, girl or boy.
"Washington
Unplugged"
Arianna was on CBS'
"Washington...
Huff TV Arianna
Appears on ABC's
"This Week"
Roundtable With
George
Stephanopoulos
(VIDEO)
Arianna was a guest this
morning on...
"BRUNO" TRAILER!
Calamity, African
Babies, Chase
Scenes And More
(NSFW VIDEO)
IT'S HERE! The trailer for
this July's Sacha BaronCohen...
NATO Leaders Focus
On Afghanistan, But
Most Reject Obama'sPlea For Troops
(SLIDESHOW)
STRASBOURG, France— On the eve of the
NATO...
First Lady Fashion At
Friday's NATO
Concert (PHOTOS)
Another night, another
fashion opportunity for
NATO leaders and their
spouses! See...
Diana Palin, Sarah
Palin's Sister-In-Law,
Arrested For
Breaking Into Home
ANCHORAGE, Alaska —Police say Alaska Gov....
John Oliver Explains
The Real Reason You
Never Touch TheQueen (VIDEO)
John Oliver was upsetenough to drop his
monocle when he...
Jim Cramer Declares
The Depression
"Over" (VIDEO)
On Thursday's episode of
"Mad Money" host Jim
Cramer declared that the
depression...
New Jay Leno ShowRejected By NBCAffiliate In Boston
BOSTON — Boston'sNBC affiliate says it will air
a local newscast instead
of...
Ice Bridge Ruptures
In Antarctic (VIDEO)
An ice bridge linking a
shelf of ice the size of
Jamaica to two islands in
Antarctica has
Scientists Find
Rocket Fuel
Chemical In Infant
Formula
ATLANTA — Traces of a
Michael Giltz: American Idol Top 24: The Women
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/american-idol-to_b_87722.html [4/5/2009 7:45:43 PM]
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"Family Guy,"
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$40,000Carly Smithson -- they finally had her talk on camera about the fact that she had a major label
record deal and an album that was released. Now they can fess up about all the OTHER Idols who
have had record deals with Madonna or won $100,00 on Star Search, etc. Carly reminds us that
she was only 15 when she was signed and 17 when the album came out. But her claim that the label
went bellyup simply isn't true. According to a Wall Street Journal article about her album's failure
written years ago, millions were spent to record and re-record the album and it was released onUniersal's MCA label and if executives left, it was clearly only after an extraordinary amount of
time and money was wagered in trying to make the project fly. So no, this isn't the story of an
album geting lost in th shuffle. Doesn't mean Carly doesn't deserve a second chance. Nonetheless,
the album reportedly had the full weight of the label behind it for a long, long time before they
pulled the plug. You can still buy it on Amazon. Full and accurate disclosure as early as possible,
though it does spoil the fun of "discovering" someone when you find out JoAnne won Mo'Nique's
"Fat Chance" reality show and Syesha was on another reality show that ended after only two
episodes. Tonight she sang "The Shadow Of Your Smile," another very tricky tune done well by
Tony Bennett. I thought she was fine, not great. But Simon is right when he said it was too old
fashioned for her. Besides, it's Sixties night. Sve old fashioned for big band night, if there is one.
And to be petty, she was dressed prettily frumpily compared to the other gals and needs to get her
teeth done. (Hey, so do I but I'm not getting close-ups on national TV.) I still find her high notes
pretty consistently rough and unpleasant. But overall she is solid and certainly not bad enough to
go home.
Again, it's too early in the competition to accurately predict who goes home because there are so
many to choose from. I will say that Syesha Mercado, Asia'h Epperson, Alaina Whitaker andAlexandrea Lushington should all easily be safe. Surely poor Amy Davis will be one of the two to gohome, along with Kady Malloy (or perhaps Kristy lee Cook, because fewer people watch in the firsthour so going early is always a big disadvantage). Who did you vote for and who do you thinkshould go home?
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Michael Giltz: American Idol Top 24: The Women
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mch755 See Profile I'm a Fan of mch755 permalink
I really like Ramiele, she's got a great voice, cute face and very appealing personality. Her take on a
Dusty Springfield song was nice and controlled.Also like Asia'h, she's a gorgeous girl and has a very distinctive voice, she doesn't sound like anyoneelse in the competition.Those are the 2 girls I think has a shot at winning with Syesha an outside chance.
LeoMarvin See Profile I'm a Fan of LeoMarvin permalink
Somebody still owes me an explanation about voting off Melinda Doolittle. Until then, this is all just re-arranging lounge singers on the Titanic.
You're right about Amy Davis pinning the agony needle, but I think you missed the boat on Ramiele
Malubay. She and Carly Smithson, followed by Syesha Mercado, showed the strongest, best trained
instruments. Amanda Overmyer was fun, but I'm not sure any of us wants to see her go through Burt
Bachrach week (or whatever this year's equivalent is).
In a group without any really great singers, the Australian dude seems to have the most star potential.
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
I agree completely about Overmyer. She's going to look very weak at some point soon. And
the judges certainly agree with you about Ramiele. I too think she has a good voice (alongwith Smithson and Syesha). Just don't think she used it very well on that song, while Randyand Paula thought she was great. I do expect her to make it through and have betterperformances down the road. Like you, I ws rooting for Melinda Doolittle all the way. Her vs.Jordin would have been a more contrasting, exciting finale. But not to despair. She got a ton
of great publicity and I'm sure she'll have an album out at some point. Hopefully they'll take
their time and craft an Anita Baker-like CD and she'll have a genuine shot at chart success.
You don't have to win Idol to win.
LeoMarvin See Profile I'm a Fan of LeoMarvin permalink
Hope you're right. There are a lot of wonderful singers in the world, but the few who
make me cry are the ones I'm anxious to hear more from. She's one of those.
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Michael Giltz: American Idol Top 24: The Women
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/american-idol-to_b_87722.html [4/5/2009 7:45:43 PM]
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