JANUARY 7, 2011 FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT COMEDY SPORTS STYLE WORLD GREEN FOOD TRAVEL TECH LIVING HEALTH DIVORCE ARTS BOOKS RELIGION IMPACT EDUCATION COLLEGE NY LA CHICAGO DENVER BLOGS Michael Giltz Freelance writer and raconteur Posted: May 12, 2010 09:23 AM BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Bloggers' Index 0 0 views 0 6Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyIdol Season 9: Top 4 -- Crystal Back in Action What's Your Reaction: Read More: Casey James , Crystal Bowersox , Ellen Degeneres , Kara DioGuardi , Lee Dewyze , Michael Lynche , Movies , Pop Music , Randy Jackson , Reality TV , Ryan Seacrest , Simon Cowell , Entertainment News It was movie night on American Idol and Crystal Bowersox appeared in her own production of A Star Is (Re)Born .</p><p> After a few weeks of showing "another side" to herself (sides that weren't that gripping), she got back down to business with a bluesy spin on the Kenny Loggins tune "I'm Alright" and a great duet with Lee Dewyze on "Falling Slowly" from the indiefilm Once .</p><p> Any questions as to whether she would make it to the winner's circle are over.</p><p> Vegas, stop the betting; Crystal will win it.</p><p> The only suspense is how good will she be in getting there.</p><p> Will it be by defaultor will she rise to the occasion and wow us? Lee Dewyze should thank his lucky stars he got to duet with Crystal.</p><p> It put him in the best light in weeksand gives him a leg up on joining her in the finale in two weeks.</p><p> Jamie Foxx was the guest mentor.</p><p> He focused mainly on getting up in the contestant's faces, forcing them to sing right to him as he stood inches away from their face.</p><p> While he got across just one basic idea, it didseem to loosen them up a bit.</p><p> Foxx also cleverly allowed himself a vote alongside the judges by bringing t- shirts that read "Contestant" and "Artist" and choosing who deserved what.</p><p> LEE DEWYZE -- Sang the Seal tune "Kiss From A Rose" from Batman Forever, the best song from the franchise, which appeared in the worst film of them all, by far.</p><p> Lee was fine but not commanding.</p><p> How far can a raspy voice take him? Kara oddly said "Kiss From A Rose" is one of the the hardest songs tosing.</p><p> It may not be the easiest but surely it's far from the hardest.</p><p> MICHAEL LYNCHE -- Sang Michael Jackson's "Will You Be There" from Free Willy.</p><p> Randy chided him for not choosing an r&b song.</p><p> Huh? It has gospel overtones, but it's definitely r&b.</p><p> Michael was a tad better than Lee in a performance that was filled with runs and riffs and other vocalizing acrobatics.</p><p> MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOSTBIG NEWS: Celebrity Skin | Jersey Shore | Ellen Degeneres | Celebrity Body | Energy Debates | More...</p><p> LOG IN | SIGN UP SHARE THIS STORY Get Entertainment Alerts Email Comments 6 More Dead Birds, Fish Found Across The World Camille Grammer's Porn Past Comes Back To Haunt Her Elizabeth Edwards' Will Revealed Intestinal Parasites May Be Causing Your Energy Slump Rudeness Is A Neurotoxin Should The Leader Of The Free World Dress Like THIS? BECK IN TROUBLE? Dropped From New York Radio Station, TV Ratings Fall Two House Republicans Violate Constitution With Voting Blunder Recommend 65K Like 689 Recommend 533 Like 521 Like 7K Like 496 Like 6K Like 17K Comments 6 Pending Comments 0View FAQ 8 Fans Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi's Exotic...</p><p> Andy Samberg, Johnny Knoxville To Star In...</p><p> HuffPost Review: Season of the Witch...</p><p> Ryan Seacrest: Simon Cowell Was Jealous Of...CRYSTAL BOWERSOX AND LEE DEWYZE -- Sang "Falling Slowly" from Once .</p><p> Now this actually is a very tricky song to sing.</p><p> The chorus is anthemic and moving, but the verses can drag if the singers are even slightly out of tune. (I've heard the original artists stumble over it once or twice.) But Lee andCrystal strapped on guitars, faced each other, and did it very very well.</p><p> They blended perfectly, withCrystal coming off light and sweet (as opposed to her usually bluesy mama) and Lee proving much better at connecting one on one than to an audience.</p><p> Sterling.</p><p> CASEY JAMES -- Sang Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs.</p><p> Robinson" from The Graduate.</p><p> It seemed like a desperate choice and practically begged the judges to waste time joshing with Kara -- which they did.</p><p> The actual performance was pretty good, with Casey on mandolin, though his vibrato is still as wide as Texas.He just doesn't look confident whenever he's not performing and often doesn't look confident even whenhe is.</p><p> Plus the song and the arrangement are way out of his Stevie Ray Vaughan wheelhouse.</p><p> Why stray at this stage? He should have rocked out, especially since his other tune was a ballad.</p><p> Bad choice.</p><p> CRYSTAL BOWERSOX -- Sang "I'm Alright" from Caddyshack .</p><p> The tune was more defiant in her hands and certainly bluesier.</p><p> As Ellen said, she actually made the song better.</p><p> Her on guitar with just the percussionist (and the backup singers upstairs) kept the focus visually on her, which was smart.</p><p> A light pop song suddenly sounded personal and meaningful.</p><p> Not out of the ballpark but quite strong and far better than the last few weeks.</p><p> MICHAEL LYNCHE AND CASEY JAMES -- Sang "Have You Ever Loved A Woman" from Don Juan DeMarco, a Bryan Adams tune I have a particular weakness for. (Hey, it's a great melody.) They're fighting for third place and I'd say it was basically a draw, with Michael evincing a tad more personality.</p><p> The judges went over the top with their praise, though it certainly was better than their solo slots.</p><p> Plus, it did give Ellen the line of the night when she responded to the musical question "Have you ever loved a woman?" with a friendly "yep." Yes, it's a new world.</p><p> Michael and Casey will be in the bottom two with Casey going home.</p><p> But it's a toss-up.</p><p> So who do you think is going home? And do you agree Crystal is flying to the finish? Thanks for reading.</p><p> Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.</p><p> Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his weekly music radio show at Popsurfing and enjoy the weekly pop culture podcast he co-hosts at Showbiz Sandbox .</p><p> Both available for free on iTunes.</p><p> Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.</p><p> Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz More in Entertainment...</p><p> I have watched every American Idol.</p><p> This was the most boring season.</p><p> I can tell that Crystal from the start was naturally talented, and she looks like a musician and has a beautiful smile.</p><p> Lee is also 1 of 5 Dylan Ratigan Free Market Fraud Sen.</p><p> Jon Tester Tester Pushes to Reform Senate Rules With Greater Transparency, EfficiencyDON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS HOT TRENDS TOP VIDEO PICKS Jane Krakowski Reveals 1 of 8 camille grammer lady gaga miley cyrus lap dance video natalie portman pregnant raven- symone Recency | Popularity Dynamicpg 07:26 PM on 5/13/2010 More Celebrity News at People.com More Celebrity News at Popeater.comComments are closed for this entry View All Favorites Thousands Of Birds Found Dead In Italy Recommend 31K History Channel Won't Show Katie Holmes Miniseries The Kennedys READ MORE Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo to Guest Star on Hawaii Five-0 READ MORE Lindsay Lohan's Post- Rehab Gift: a $25,000 Necklace READ MORE Petra Nemcova Engaged to British Actor Stephanie Seymour Caught Kissing Her Son? Jessica Szohr Bares All in Costa Rican Jungle 164 Fans 78 Fans 141 Fans 0 Fans 414 Fanstalented but is a little shy and sounds like many other singers.</p><p> Crystal should win.</p><p> When Adam Lambert came in second, it was because of the young teens that voted for Chris.</p><p> The same mayhappen with Lee since he is a cute guy.</p><p> I loved their duet and had to watch it 3 times.</p><p> The best moment of the evening was the Crystal/Le e duet, hands down.</p><p> They did a great job with it.</p><p> After that, preferred Michael Lynche's solo to anything else.</p><p> His duet with Casey was ok, but there were a couple of glaring pitch problems in the harmonies.</p><p> The rest of the solos were a littleblah and weird for song choices.</p><p> Again, I'm looking at this and thinking how truly weak this season has been as compared to past seasons.</p><p> At this stage, we expect to see some really great performanc es from the Final Four.</p><p> It's just not happening.</p><p> Mike tonight--C asey next week and I think it is still a toss up on who wins....</p><p> I agree with your call.</p><p> Crystal will win, with Lee in second place.</p><p> I think I'm finally over Idol.</p><p> I watched it this year, because I've watched it every year since the second.</p><p> But this year there is no breakout star.</p><p> It's been fun to watch people grow into the role overthe years, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, Adam Lambert, and others, who havegone from somebody off the street to somebody standing on stage with a commanding stagepresence, whether they win or not, it's fun to watch them grow.</p><p> But it just seems lacking this year.The remaining contestant s can sing, but I don't see any one of them as someone I would listen to on the radio.</p><p> I don't see anybody filling the 'star' role.</p><p> Steve, I totally agree with you.</p><p> Lee has a great future, Crystal will be the top,she will have a great career verytalented young lady Baby Bump Bristol Palin's New Radio Gig? 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