American Idol - Top 5

I declare today Harry Connick Jr. Day!

Ok, so I'm a little excited about this week. Frank Sinatra songs. Harry Connick Jr. I love them both.

Before I get into the review, I just want to tell you a small story about HCJ. One of my former volleyball players is HCJ's cousin (second, I think). Anyway, when he was about seven, he begged this girl's mother to teach him how to play "When The Saints Go Marching In" on the piano. So she did. He came back the next day and had created this jazzy arrangement of it. At SEVEN YEARS OLD. He's a genius. (And that is him to the right with Sara, the volleyball player.)

So let's get to it.

THIS. Is American Idol.

(That sentence sounds so great coming from HJC. A little country/cajun-fied.)

Aaron Kelley ("Fly Me To The Moon") - This was okay. I don't think it was better than last week and he's still pushing it. I know I can't put into words what annoys me about his singing but I'll try and say that there are a lot of notes that he hits that he just doesn't quite get on top of. He stays in his throat instead of getting into his head. And it just makes him sound like he's pushing a lot of those notes. I still think that he's way out of his league with the rest of the competition but we all know there's a slew of 12-year-olds out there voting for him. So, we'll see.

Casey James ("Blue Skies") - It's not about the lyrics at all. It's about how good-looking Casey James is in lavender. But I digress. I don't know if I really, really liked this performance because I'm so used to seeing Casey in the rock-blues vibe. However, he made the best of it. I didn't particularly like the song for him.

It's safe to say that I'll be voting two or 100 times more than I usually do for Casey tonight.

Crystal Bowersox ("Summer Wind") - First of all, she looks fantastic. And it's official - Crystal Bowersox can do no wrong. Seriously. This was so NOT her style, yet it SO WAS. She killed it. And she kind of had a little Nora Jones sound there too.

Michael Lynche ("The Way You Look Tonight") - Love this song. Loved this performance. It's what I expected him to do anyway. We've already established that he can sing. He's had two great weeks. And Kara's right. He didn't lose himself in the song. This was the best performance of the night so far. We'll see if Lee changes that.

Lee Dewyze ("That's Life") - This is THE PERFECT song for him. This was great. I wish the band hadn't been so loud but the arrangement was awesome. And the thing is, and Randy just said it, Lee Dewyze was all over that song. He didn't change one bit. He can confident and looked comfortable. I don't get why Kara doesn't think that he doesn't have confidence. The kid knows that he can sing. He wouldn't have tried out for this competition and kept coming back if he didn't. There's a difference between not having confidence and being humble. Lee Dewyze is humble.

So that's it.

Best of the night: Lee

Worst of the night: According to the judges, it was Casey. I still think Aaron was worse.

Should go home: Aaron

Will go home: Aaron, if I have anything to say about it. I'm currently working on taking away phone privileges for every 12-year-old who plans to vote for Aaron tonight.

One more look at the gorgeous, infectious smile.

Ah.

Walden. Out.