Phew. Just got back from the very entertaining Campus MovieFest, hosted by Carson Daly, who was very cordial. The concept started by Emory students six years ago: one week, free Apple movie-making equipment, 700 college teams from seven universities in Georgia. They hold the event now in several cities. We watched the 16 best from the state and some were really great. Check some out here. And now onto… “Idol”!

Naturally, this week wasn’t quite as good as last week but the front runners didn’t damage their chances to move forward this week.

Who should go home? Alaina and Antonella. Who will go home? Alaina and Haley, for obvious reasons. We know Antonella’s publicity and possibly, votefortheworst, will keep her around. Dialidol.com has Leslie and Alaina at the bottom in the early voting, with Lakisha and Melinda at the top.

As for who were the best, I liked a few but really only loved Melinda’s performance tonight. Stephanie is a true contender and I placed her second even though I didn’t enjoy the song. And I probably enjoyed Leslie’s performance more than most.

CREDIT: American Idol

1- Melinda Doolittle (Jazz standard “My Funny Valentine”) dedicates the songs to her stylist and vocal coach. That’s unusual! Ah… it’s one of Constantine’s songs. But she does it minus the cheese factor. She’s got such a warmth abou ther and her vocals show texture and nuance. Bravo! Randy: “We have a competiton going on. Melinda Doolittle came out here to win it! You are the one to beat!” Paula: “That was just astounding. You phrased that so beautifully. So differently. I applaud you.” Simon: “That was incredible. Best vocal we had in this competition. We’ve had precocious little monsters with enormous egos. You have this fantastic talent. What I like, you don’t know how good you are. I don’t think you’ll change. It’s part of your appeal.” Sorry Lakisha, but Melinda is the one to beat right now!

1. Stephanie Edwards (Destiny’s Child’s “Dangerously In Love”) - I’m not a big fan of this rather shapeless song but she does an excellent job. She’s a less edgy, slightly less interesting version of Fantasia but more intriguing than LaToya London. Randy: “You proved you deserve to be up there. That was so much better than last week. But check this out. A little Beyonce lite to me. Don’t worry about copying her.” Paula: “You are fantastic, brilliant.” Simon: “I have to agree with Paula. You’re not just taking part in this competition. You’re putting your mark down. A terrific performance.”

3- Lakisha Jones (Gladys Knight’s “Midnight Train to Georgia”) tackles a song Paris hit out of the park last year. Lakisah does it much sleeker, much more refined. But after last week, it’s an inevitable let down and lacks the joyous feel Paris imbued a year ago. Randy: “You flipped it up from last week. That was hot.” Paula: “I loved it. And I love you.” SImon: “Interesting dance at the end. You are a phenomenally good singer. But it wasn’t as good as last week because I don’t think you came out with that ‘I’m going to prove a point’ attitude you had last week. I think at this stage, you can afford to believe you are a big star and you have to start acting like a big star. I don’t like the outfit. I found it distracting.”

4- Sabrina Sloan (Whitney Houston’s “He Fills Me Up”) I wasn’t as impressed with her last week as others were. I like her more this time and doing a Whitney song after Haley’s pale version helps her. Her final note is a big shaky. Randy: “You had moments where you lost touch with the pitch a little bit but very nice one overall. Big song. You have a big ol’ voice.” Paula: “I just love you. You are fantastic. You are a big contender.” Simon: “Very good. Don’t confuse power with shouting. You were right on the limit. I wouldn’t have chosen that song. I preferred you last week.”

5- Leslie Hunt (Nina Simone’s “Feelin’ Good”) She has a sweet spirit. She picked a trite, oversung song last week. This time, she selects a much better tune for herself. She opens strong. It’s sexy. It’s slinky and fits her voice perfectly. Her scatting wasn’t so hot, however, and it didn’t quite end on such a high note. Randy: “It’s good to see you back to your jazzy scatty sort of thing. But what am I going to say? It was a little on the pitchy side for me. I liked the a capella beginning. It was just awright.” Paula: “You’re being you. You’re back in your element.” Simon: “At the end, you sounded like Paula talking. The problem is Leslie, you’ve been whacked by three big big voices before you. You are getting lost in the competition.”

6- Jordin Sparks (Christina Aguilera’s “Reflection”) She picks a very very difficult song. She’s good but not as good as Christina. This was a step down for her from a week ago. I like her doing upbeat stuff better. She cries after dedicating the song to her brother. Randy: “You can really really sing this song. Had some pitchy moments but I’m telling you 17 years old where you are today, it’s unbelievable. It wasn’t the best you’ve done but still very good.” Paula: “There’s something about you that’s infectious. You’re just a good good human being.” Simon: “I agree with Randy. It wasn’t your best but compared to a lot of other people, it was excellent. The dedication is getting to you. 17 years old. Massive potential. Great personality.”

7- Gina Glocksen (Heart’s “Alone”) gives props to her boyfriend Joe. He convinced her to try out again and now she’s in the final 20. She opts for the same song that solidified Carrie’s front-runner status two years ago. This song is more to her rocker style than last week’s “All By Myself.” I’m not a big fan but she did awright, as Randy might say. Randy: “This song was a good song choice for you. That’s where you belong. It started a little pitchy but by middle of the song, you got it together.” Paula: “Carrie sang it. And we were really surprised then. But man, excellent job. Real good.” Simon: “Good choice of song. I thought your vocals felt forced by the end. I’m confused by who you are. You were a little more edgy than this. I’m confused who you are. She’s not dressed edgy.” Paula notes: “Don’t take fashion advice from Simon.”

8- Haley Scarnato (Whitney Houston’s “Queen of the Night”) Talk about picking a song that is way too big for her. She had energy but lacked the pipes to make any of us drop to our knees. She has a pop voice, not an R&B voice and this is R&B pure and simple. Randy: “Everybody had a good time. The thing is there’s more background parts than lead vocal parts. It wasn’t great for me. Vocally, it wasn’t on point.” Paula: “Leaps and bounds better than last week.” Simon: “I think it was A for effort. It was a little manic verging on insane at some point. But if you’re going to take on a Whitney song, you’re doing it at your peril. Vocally, you came out badly. You are one of two or three very vulnerable girls tonight.” Correct.

9- Alaina Alexander (Dixie Chicks’ “Not Ready To Make Nice”) dedicates the song to her mom. She should have gone home last week after an ill-concieved take on the Pretenders. I notice she has poor breath control. She takes these big breaths that are very distracting. I feel like she’s play acting. There’s no genuine emotion. Randy: “It started off good… when you went up to the chorus, the tuning and pitch went away. It was a mess. It was all over the place.” Paula: “It’s a hard song to sing. The pitch was a little bit off. It’s not as bad as this guy’s saying.” Simon: “Let me put this into plain English. It’s like Randy taking part in a 100-meter sprint. You ran out of steam three quarters of the way.” Her chances of survival? Very very slim. And being up so early places her in a very very poor position.

10- Antonella Barba (Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me”) Ryan doesn’t bring up the photos. She dedicated her song to her brother, not any of her buddies who posted those lovely pictures. Smart move! Not so smart move: picking a lame Celine song. She did a better job than last week but she’s still in the minor leagues compared to several of her competitors. She can’t change that. Randy: “On the positive side, you’re a drop-dead beautiful girl. But that was completely the wrong song. Way too big for you. Pitch was all over the place. I wish I could sing like Celine, too. But it didn’t work.” Paula: “You made leaps and bounds from last week.” Simon: “The problem was most of the vocals weren’t good enough there. I thought you were worse than last week.” Will all the controversy keep her in another week? Probably. “Simon was wrong about Jennifer Hudson,” Antonella sniped. Ouch. That doesn’t bring in votes! “We put her through. The American audience voted her out. I didn’t kick Jennifer Hudson out. If the audience disagrees with me, you’ll be back next week.” Bingo! Even if those photos weren’t around, I’m liking Antonella less and less by the second.

Side note: I’m watching “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” and the adult contestant actually called a library a “liberry.” Geez!

SOURCE: American Idol

Access Hollywood showed some of the photos of Antonella floating around the Web to Simon Cowell at some party last night at the Playboy Masnion and he reacted thusly: “You know what, whoever sold those is despicable. I really mean that. It’s despicable. That is private property. Out of order. Honestly. It’s repulsive.”

I don’t think the photos were “sold” per se but the source of the shots of her in the fountain has yet to be sussed out.

The reporter Laura Saltman noted:

When I spoke to Simon outside the party during a smoke break (him, not me) he told me he hoped the culprit would be identified soon. Randy expressed the same sentiment when I spoke to him briefly inside the party. He had not spoken to Antonella telling me they have little to no contact with the contestants other than the show tapings. I expressed my sorrow for even having to ask such questions to both Randy and Simon . Simon told me he was happy he got to address it and besides he loves the controversy, that it was good for the show and joked there were probably a lot more coming.

The reporter also talked to Bo Bice at the party but didn’t reveal anything related to his RCA record deal, just his sympathies for Antonella’s situation.

Hugh Hefner, of course, would love her in Playboy.

The boys lifted their game after being shamed by the gals last week. There were a few blah performances but nobody bombed completely.

The two worst performances were Sanjaya and Nick. Who will get knocked off this week? Nick is a definite goner. It’s tough to say if Sanjaya, Brandon or Jared will go this time. I have to pick someone so I’ll say Sanjaya. (Dialidol shows Sanjaya has plenty of support and it’s Brandon who’s more likely to go home. And Jared is doing better than expected while Chris R. is weaker than expecdted so far.)

I didn’t have a clear No. 1. The top 4 performances were all solid. I’m glad to see Sundance back in the game.

The dedications were cute but a couple didn’t seem remotely affiliated with the songs. For instance, Phil sang “I ain’t missing you at all” to his military buddies while Jared sang “Let’s Get it On” to his… parents.

(Nice to see former Atlantan Jeff Foxworthy get some free promotion from former Atlantan Ryan Seacrest for Foxworthy’s new game show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”)

1- Chris Sligh (Ray LaMontagne’s “Trouble”) dedicates his to his lovely wife Sara. “Most people have no idea how in the world I ever coerced her to marry me,” he joked. She kept him going even when the money was tight. He pulls off “Trouble” with sophistication and emotional depth. In his case, being 28 makes a big difference. The experience shows to his advantage. Randy: “Good choice. I liked that.” Paula: “Watch your pitch a little bit and getting ahead of the music. Other than that, you’re awesome.” SImon: “We put you though because we thought you were a very good singer. and tonight you were a very good singer.” Chris’ star has risen again. He’s very very safe.

2- Blake Rogers (Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity”) dedicates his song to his dad and mom. He’s got a good voice but he’s all about the charisma and that matters in this competition. This is a good soulful tune to match his persona. He even throws in a bit of his beat-box magic. He owns a final 12 spot and could sing “Three Blind Mice” next week and get through. Randy: “It’s so good to see you return to form. You were flowing, beat boxing, scatting. I like you man!” Paula: “You’re smart with this. You’re making smart choices. You’re unique.” Simon: “I’m going to disagree with you two. I like you. You were terrific last week. I thought the first half was like watching the video. The second bit you showed some originality. Then by the third part, your tuning went… I was very disappointed.” I suspect Simon has heard that song a million times. Ryan starts fighting back but Simon holds his ground, of course.

3- Chris Richardson (Jason Mraz’s “Geek in the Pink”) dedicates his to his grandma, too. “She’s so spunky, energetic,” he says. The man some people love and some people hate probably didn’t change anybody’s minds this time around. He’s not the best vocalist even among the guys but he has a personality that will get the teen girls dialing and dialing. And he is truly confident and sparkles on stage. Randy: “Chris is in it to win it tonight. I thought that was hotter than the original. I’m loving you tonight!” Simon: “You’re somebody to watch. For me, best tonight by a mile.”

4-Jason “Sundance” Head (Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally”) dedicates his song to his son Levi. “I didn’t think I’d get this far in the competition,” he said. Same with the rest of us! He gets teary-eyed thinking of his kid. But surprise! This is much much better than last week. I enjoyed his energy and his vocals, his best we’ve heard since that great first audition. This might save him (along with votefortheworst.com, of course) for at least the week. And you can see why the producers had him sing last. Randy: “What a difference a week makes! You dropped the bomb on it tonight!” Paula: “I didn’t know you had range like that.” Simon: “I’m glad we have the Sundance back we really liked. Let’s not get too carried away. You sang a song like that, a very popular song. I still think you can do better.”

5-Brandon Rogers (Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”) dedicates to his late grandmother. Brandon needs a big big performance to stand out and move on this week. He does a far different version than Nadia Turner’s strange rendition two years ago. It’s actually pretty good and Brandon is truly a likable guy, but it’s probably not good enough to get him much further. Randy: “I like the sentiment to your grandma… I don’t think it did enough for you vocally to show what you really got. It was kind of boring.” Paula: “I think that if you take a song you can feel and you can sing. I felt your heart. You don’t have to oversing. You have a beautiful voice.” Simon: “It’s a singing competition and Randy is absolutely right. You have to come out as talented as you are and make a wow impact.”

6- A.J. Tabaldo (Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good”) does another mom-dad dedication. Vocally, he did a fine job. I just don’t see lead singer. He’s feathery light in terms of presence. Randy: “It was so much better than last week. You proved you have skills.” Paula: “You have a real real real real real good voice. I love seeing the change and you expanding in different areas. It’s refreshing.” SImon: “That was nearly very good… for the first time, we saw a bit of personality. And you looked strangely comfortable doing that.” He’ll stick around.

7 -Jared Cotter (Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On”) dedicated his performance to his parents. He said his mom got him to the “Idol” auditions. I must be in a grouchy Simonized mood because this song is so iconic to Marvin, I just didn’t feel he did anything to make the song stand out. (Okay, that hand gesture over his face was memorable…) Randy: “I kind of liked it. It was a little pitchy. I loved the face move dawg. I might have to borrow that.” Paula: “That’s the song you don’t have to push. No pun intended.” Simon: “This is a family show. I’m going to take over here… I’m glad you made the attempt to make a statement. It did remind me of the Love Boat. I’m imagining if they had a cabaret singer on the Love Boat, we would have seen something similar to that because it was corny in parts.” (Yes, that hand gesture was corny, yet effective.). I’d say Jared is safe for at least one more week but the fact he sang so early in the show doesn’t bode well.

8-Phil Stacey (John Waite’s “Missing You”) dedicated his performance to Navy Band Southeast and they show a shot of him in uniform at Turner Field. He joined the military after 9/11. And his little bio certainly gets him patriotism points. It was just okay, nothing special, but good enough to cement his spot in the final 12. Randy: “That was hot.” Paula: “Every week I can hear how good your tone is. And I can hear you on the radio.” Simon: “I’m not jumping out of my chair… you have a completely unoriginal voice. I liked toward the end of the song. What I’m struggling. I’m not hearing anything unique. I’m hearing a very good karaoke singer.” He did note that Phil will be back next week and although Phil went first (a bad thing), he’s not in bad shape.

9- Nick Pedro (“Fever”) gives props to his girlfriend Kateland. The drummer is better than Nick. He’s perfectly adequate but he’s simply not interesting enough to get the votes to stick around another week. The song does match up with his voice. Randy: “So far, everyone has done better than last week. You returned to that cool, smoky vibe. Very pitchy and you were rushing a bit but it was kind of nice.” Paula: “I love the tone of your voice… Just let go. Go for it.” Simon: “I thought it was good. When you attempt that, it’s about charisma. You lack charisma… I thought the drummer was very good.” (Yes!)

10- Sanjaya Malakar (Irving Berlin’s “Steppin’ Out”) dedicates his song to his grand-dad. He’s cute but he’s really not ready for primetime yet. He just doesn’t have the vocal ability to hit the big notes. It’s certainly better than last week but he might find himself at the bottom Thursday. Randy: “It was like a bad high school talent show. It didn’t work for me. That was really weak.” Paula: “You sang on pitch. You’re 17? Right. You have an old soul. [But] it would be great to pick songs that celebrate your youth.” Simon: “It was like some ghastly lunch where after lunch, your parents have asked your children to dress up and sing and not particularly liked what they heard. It was weak and a little weird. It made absolutely no impact. Halfway through the song, you whispered.” “I wanted to celebrate the great years of music, the classics and I’m dedicating it to my grandpa,” Sanjaya said. He is holding up well considering the beating he just got.

The Web site www.gambling911.com has Lakisha Jones as an early 2 to 1 favorite with Melinda Doolittle not far behind. The top guy? Chris Richardson at 6 to 1 odds. Worst odds? Nick Pedro at 30 to 1 odds. Antonella is at 8 to 1 odds.

Theonlinewire.com places Blake as the top guy with 5.85 to 1 odds. Antonella? 12 to 1. Chris Sligh dropped from 4.5 to 1 to 12 to 1 after last week.

This is not endorsement of online gambling, but merely here for entertainment purposes only. :)

The Associated Press wrote a story about Antonella Barba’s Web photos. Folks studying the photos of the more explicit shots now say they don’t match her, esp. the shape of the woman’s ear.

Just the fact all these photos are now circulating shows how easy it is for so-called privacy to disappear on the Web. Here’s an excerpt from the story:

“It’s a real wake-up call for a lot of people,” said Dave Della Terza of Chicago, who runs the www.votefortheworst.com. “With the advent of MySpace and Facebook, people put photos up on the Internet and have to realize that someone you don’t even know can grab these photos that you think are only going to be seen by your friends, and have them on every Web site in the world within 10 minutes.”

Della Terza’s site posted photos Monday that he claims confirms the woman in the sex photo is not Barba. Close-ups of the right ear of the woman in the sex photo, and a photo known to be of Barba, show differently shaped ears.

Here is a great commentary on the situation at www.foxesonidol.com.

Not surprisingly, Yahoo reports she is the most searched Idol 6 contestant, ahead of Blake Lewis, Chris Richardson, Chris Sligh and Lakisha Jones.

Here’s the EW Power 20, ranking the 20 candidates.

Overall, the rankings are pretty fair. I can see Melinda Doolittle having more versatility over Lakisha Jones so placing her at No. 1 is not a surprise. I wasn’t that impressed with Sabrina Sloan, but she’s now at No. 3, with Blake the top guy at No. 4 and Stephanie at No. 5. Chris Sligh drops from 1 to 6. At the bottom? Alaina Alexander. That’s fair though I’d place Sundance at the bottom right now. They have Brandon Rogers way down though at 17 behind the likes of Leslie Hunt and Haley Scarnato. I’d put him higher.

What do you think?

I just scheduled a phone interview with Taylor Hicks for 3 p.m. EST Friday in advance of his arrival at the Tabernacle on Friday, March 9.

Feel free to email me questions for Taylor at rho@ajc.com for me to ask him. And if you want your name attached, I’ll give you full credit online. I’ll try to post as much of the interview that day or over the weekend. If it’s meaty enough, I’ll break it into multiple parts as I did with Ruben last summer.

It’s no surprise but Jennifer Hudson nabbed the Oscar for best supporting actress for “Dreamgirls.” Of course, she’s the first “American Idol” finalist to win an Oscar. Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini were robbed after that classic “From Justin to Kelly” in 2003!

“I have to take this moment in,” she said tearfully on stage. “I cannot believe this. Look what God can do! I didn’t think I’d win.” She credited her grandma as her biggest inspiration. She then thanked her mom, her boyfriend, her brothers and sisters, the “Dreamgirls” director, the cast and the Academy and God again. As the music started to cut her off, she added, “I thank you all for keeping the faith even when I didn’t believe.” And she then thanked Jennifer Holliday, too!

With www.votefortheworst.com, AOL TV came up with the 12 most over-used, annoying “Idol” songs, songs that should be banned forever. I’m sure if I give it some more thought, I can come up with a few more.

Here’s the list.

12- Open Arms - Journey. (I grew up in that era so that song doesn’t bug me much and I’m not even sure how many times it’s been done during the competitive portion. One of the final 12 guys used it during their audition.)

11- Superstition - Stevie Wonder. (Oh, yes. Thank you Bucky!)

1. Let’s Stay Together - Al Green. (My memory is awful. I had to go online to find out Trenyce sang this back in 2003. So did Leah Labelle from season three. But that’s all, I think.)

9- Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen. (I still liked Fantasia’s version of this better than Taylor’s.)

1. I’m Every Woman - Chaka Khan/Whitney Houston. (Vonzell rocked this one but it has been done too many times.)

2. One Last Cry - Brian McKnight (I’d say “Back to One” is the one I’d ban.)

3. I Believe I Can Fly - R. Kelly. (I don’t recall this being sung that often. Anwar did it. Apparently, Kat did, too.)

4. Signed, Sealed, Delivered - Stevie Wonder (Oh, yes. Lisa Tucker’s specialty. Yawn.)

5. Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me - Elton/George (This was Clay Aiken’s baby but yet, it does keep coming back. Didn’t John Stevens do this, too?)

6. I Have Nothing - Whitney Houston (Agreed. Done and overdone. I see online that Kat McPhee sang it but I remember Vonzell doing it. Apparently Leah Labelle did, too. And some gal named Jennifer Hudson.)

7. Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers. (Tough song to sing well and maudlin after all these years.)

8. Against All Odds - Phil Collins. (Good pick! Now why did George Huff sing this? Or Scott Savol? Or Jessica Sierra. Overall, it’s been sung in the finals five times in five years - tied with “I Have Nothing” for the most.)

This summer, “American Idol” is introducing a 10-day camp in Northfield, Mass. for wannabe singers ages 12 to 15.

This also sounds like a great temp job for former “Idol” contestants who haven’t been nominated for an Oscar or landed a No. 1 album.

You don’t have to audition and there’s no preferential treatment to camp alums when trying out for the real show. The cost? $2,900 though some will be able to get in on scholarship. Up to 700 kids will take part over the summer learning to act, dance and sing.

This seems like a great idea and I’m surprised they didn’t do this sooner. What other reality-show themed shows should there be? So You Think You Can Dance camp is a no brainer. Hell’s Kitchen camp could be quite devilish. The Apprentice and Survivor could be parlayed into summer camps, too.

EW has written a story about Antonella’s increasingly racy photos online. We’re a family paper so I won’t link to them. It wouldn’t take much effort to find them. One includes her in the bathroom, a few of her cavorting about with friends, her posing at what looks like a WWII memorial in a wet T-shirt, and another possibly of her performing a, um, Monica on a guy.

A photo I can use of Antonella

Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe says he has not seen any of the Internet pictures, and only learned of the sexually explicit shots from EW. ”We have really good background checks on everybody, and we deal with that every season,” he says. ”It’s sad, isn’t it, that your best friends are the ones that come forward with information that will go to Smoking Gun or put your photographs on the web?”

Given that Antonella’s singing has been a disappointment since her first audition, this all seems like a moot point but then again, all her notoriety might get her into the top 12. Who knows? Or will Idol have to boot her next week a la Frenchie Davis season two once topless shots of her popped up on the Web?

This came out a week ago but I wanted to wait til the weekend to post it, just to give you something to read. Entertainment Weekly did a profile on Chris Daughtry (whose song “Home” was the goodbye tune used this past Thursday) and his ambivalence toward “American Idol.” Here’s the link.

An excerpt:

The working dad-turned-rock star seems to epitomize the showbiz dream that Fox’s American Idol dangles in front of 30 million viewers every week. But over the course of several meetings, Daughtry comes off as coolly professional, but flat, muted, and unenthused. ”There’s this misconception that you get famous and everything is perfect,” he says, sounding worn out. ”If anything, it’s harder.”

And the last graf:

A sold-out midweek show at Los Angeles’ El Rey is filled with moms in bedazzled peasant shirts and clumps of kids sipping Shirley Temples. When the compact, muscular singer bounds on stage wearing his standard uniform — dark T-shirt, flared jeans, and wallet chain — the room erupts in shrieks. A woman screams repeatedly, ”You’re so hot, Chris!” The balcony is filled with chattering VIPs. Well, Idol VIPs: 19 Entertainment head Simon Fuller and Daughtry’s season 5 cohorts Kellie Pickler and Ace Young. It should be a triumphant coronation of a rock star, but during the entire 50-minute set, Daughtry doesn’t smile once.

With the sixth editon of “Idol” flooding our brains, I haven’t been paying as much attention to the American Idol finalists and their CD release sales. So here’s are the eight most recent releases and how they’re doing so far courtesy of Nielsen SoundScan and Billboard magazine.

Katharine McPhee is dropping fast in her third week. Her single is going to have to pick up some steam for that CD to sustain momentum. Kellie has a promising new second single “I Wonder” to prop up her sales in coming weeks. Taylor is now on tour and finally has a single out so maybe his CD will get a second life. Carrie’s latest single is about to hit the top 10 and she’s riding high on Grammy success as her CD enters its 17th month. Daughtry is just… hot! I’m not even sure what Fantasia’s second single is and she sang that “Color Purple” song last night, mitigating her chances of getting much of a sales bump this week. We’ll see. Clay’s CD is on its last legs. Ruben has a new single out. It’s too soon to say how that will play out in reviving his fortunes.

Artist, album title (last week’s rank, this week’s rank): sales for the week, total sales (weeks on Top 200)

Daughtry: Daughtry (No. 9, down from No. 3): 102,000, 1.6 million (13 weeks)

Carrie Underwood: Some Hearts (No. 13, up from No. 19): 61K, 4.9 million (66 weeks)

Katharine McPhee: Katharine McPhee (No. 29, down from 11): 35K 199K (3 weeks)

Kellie Pickler: Small Town Girl (No. 93, down from 84): 12K, 433K (16 weeks)

Taylor Hicks: Taylor Hicks (No. 96, down from 87): 11K, 634K (10 weeks)

Fantasia: Fantasia (No. 117, down from 110): 9K, 294K (10 weeks)

Clay Aiken: A Thousand Different Ways (off the chart): 1,500, 502K

Ruben Studdard: The Return (off the chart): 2,900, 207K

I stopped by the 94.9/The Bull advertising party at the Park Tavern Thursday night to say hey to Josh Gracin, the ex-Marine who finished in fourth season two of “American Idol” back in 2003. He was there to help the new country station woo advertisers such as Home Depot, Six Flags and the Mall at Stonecrest. He sang for about 30 minutes acoustically, sounded great.

Here he is with Lance Houston, the new music director (left), and Clay Hunnicutt, the program director (right). It’s the grip-and-grin:

Gracin has gained a few pounds since his Marine days. And oddly, he’s on his second radio single on a new CD that has yet to come out called “All About Y’all.” HIs first CD, the self-titled “Josh Gracin,” generated three top 10 country hits and sold more than 600,000 copies. But the first single “Favorite State of Mind” from that second CD barely scraped the top 20. The next song “I Keep Coming Back” has just entered the top 30.

He seems like a perfectly nice guy. I felt obligated to ask him a couple of questions for the blog, no big deal. But Gracin’s tour manager said there was “protocol,” meaning he wouldn’t let me actually interview Gracin because I hadn’t gotten (gasp!) clearance from Vector Management. I had a couple of other events to go to so I simply said, “It’s his loss” and left. The fact he is being blocked by “protocol” strikes me as silly. I mean, he’s not exactly Britney Spears. He’s not even Carrie Underwood. He’s a moderately successful country act. That’s all.

Gracin is coming back to Atlanta for a public concert at Cowboys in May. Should I bother interviewing him then? I’ll get your feedback bloggers. What do you think?

The first cuts weren’t the deepest. The four contestants out were Paul Kim, Amy Krebs, Nicole Tranquillo and Rudy Cardenas. I only got Amy and Rudy correct. Alaina Alexander and Nick Pedros survived.

I thought Paul Kim had enough goodwill from all the airtime he had to make it, but his over-fried version of George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” did him in. What I can’t get out of my mind was his horrible attempt at a falsetto. It made us wish for, of all people, Ace Young, whose best song was from George Michael. His second chance wasn’t any better though he did thankfully forego the falsetto.

Amy Krebs, who sang Bonnie Raitt, was just boring and unmemorable. She got no airtime before and that didn’t help.

Nicole Tranquillo, the gal who made all the funny faces while singing Chaka Khan wasn’t half bad in my estimation and I’m surprised she got booted over Alaina “Brass in Pocket” Alexander. But she got zero airtime, too, which probably hurt her. And she got overshadowed by more riveting singers and more memorable-looking singers.

Rudy Cardenas suffered from being first up and was quickly forgotten despite a passable version of “Free Ride.” (I ranked him eighth). Even though he got a smidgen of airtime during the audition episodes, he didn’t stand out in any way. I still think Nick’s stultifying version of Richard Marx should have had him go first.

Some upcoming guests, according to host Ryan Seacrest: Jon Bon Jovi, Barry Gibb, Gwen Stefani, Diana Ross, Jennifer Lopez, Tony Bennett, Lulu with Peter Noone and Martina McBride. Access Hollywood got J.Lo and Gwen correct. Diana let the cat out of the bag on a talk show last month.

That group sing would have fit perfectly in an amusement park having to fit in 24 people. It was interesting who the producers chose to do solos (Lakisha, naturally, got a few lines). I like “Sowing the Seeds of Love.” It certainly wasn’t an obvious pick. The British producers must have had a hankering for Tears for Fears!

Chris Sligh got to do some audience grovelling after his unfortunate dig at Simon Tuesday when he mocked Simon’s production of Teletubbies and El Divo (while skipping over those WWE wrestlers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). “I am a little nervous about how America is going to take it,” Chris said honestly. :”I think that it was taken as disrespect. I have incredible amounts of respect for Simon and I’d hate for America to think that. It wasn’t what I meant at all.”

It’s interesting Fantasia sang “I’m Here” from “The Color Purple,” the Broadway play she is going to be part of rather than promoting her second CD.

And thank you Deirdre for feeding me the results at 9 p.m. while I was out. And yes, it was Gwen Stefani, not Christina Aguilera you were thinking of! :)

Well, Lakisha Jones brought down the house but what she did is like hitting a grand slam to win the World Series in her first at bat. Where does she go from here?

Nobody wants a contest to be over the first week! Will the judges be extra-harsh on her from here on in? How do folks like Stephanie and Melinda feel suddenly being overshadowed after great performances themselves?

Will she crack under pressure without her daughter? Will she be able to sing a country song? Can she do more than R&B?

And I will reiterate the four I had originally predicted to go home: Nick Pedros, Rudy Cardenas, Amy Krebs and Alaina Alexander. After seeing dialidol.com, Paul Kim, despite all his previous airtime and memorable quirks (barefeet!), his poor singing may have really cost him. And as Mike S. noted, the push by www.vftw.com may have come into play with Sundance and Antonella. Both appear to have done extremely well in the voting despite the fact I placed both at the very bottom.

Last night’s lackadaisical performances had me and many of you concerned. Fortunately, the women did not disappoint and put the boys to shame.

My jaw is still on the floor after LaKisha Jones’ “Oh wow” performance. Up to that point, I was about to place Melinda Doolittle at the top, followed by Stephanie Edwards. But then LaKisha came along and as Simon said, “thrown down the gauntlet.” She is the automatic favorite to win it all with that one, incredible performance.

The two worst? Antonella Barba and Amy Krebs. Who will go home? I predict Amy and Alaina Alexander simply because Antonella has built up a small fan base already and they may save her this first week.

But where was the rock? Where was the upbeat pop? Where was the country? It was an R&B songfest (and a great one at that), with three Aretha songs to boot. Why did “Idol” give us so many similar-styled singers this year after providing us, last year, the most diverse crew yet? Just a gripe. I may bring that up as a separate topic later.

1. LaKisha Jones (Jennifer Holliday’s “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going”) — The single mom bank teller from Michigan caught the eyes of the judges from the first audition. She has a voice of an angel and gets the lucky final slot. She goes for an incredibly difficult song and pulls it off! Phew! What a way to end the show! I mean, I had to rewind the DVR and watch it a second time. Randy: “I do love you. You laid it out on that stage. Jennifer Hudson. Watch out!” Paula: “You have so much to be proud of. This is where you belong.” Simon: “Just to correct someone earlier. That’s the right note. I am very tempted to say to 23 people book your plane tickets home.”

2-Melinda Doolittle (Luther Vandross’ “Since You’ve Been Gone” ) - The Nashville background singer broke out during Hollywood and hits it out of the box tonight. She exudes confidence and verve. Randy: “If you got it, show it, prove it. You came out and blew it out of the box. You are hot! That was the bomb!” Paula: “No more background singing. You are a front runner, a firecracker.” Simon: “You are an incredible singer, a fantastic singer. I really hope you do well.” Her ticket to the final 12 has just been stamped.

3-Stephanie Edwards (Alicia Keys’ “How Come You Don’t Call Me”) - Stephanie has the unfortunate position of going first, when ratings are lowest and the chances of being forgotten are great. But she wipes away any doubts immediately and opens the show strong. A classic, old-school R&B specialist, she has maturity beyond her 19 years. She clearly has had some stage experience. And she does a great job. Randy: “That said it all! It was definitely pitchy at spots but you can work on that. But the conviction was there and the run at the end. Oohh!!” Paula: “What a performer you are. You are a star, my god!” Simon: “You were a million times better than any performance we saw last night. By far your best performance we saw from you. Unlike yesterday, “It looked like you said, ‘I want to win American Idol.’ “

4-Jordin Sparks (Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me a Reason”) - A high school junior from Arizona, she faced Simon’s “too sugary sweet” criticism with a smile. She takes a bluesy route with the Chapman tune. And while she lacks that edge Tracy has, she is entertaining and sparkly, even more so than last year’s Lisa Tucker. I say bravo! Randy: “Challenge yourself. I don’t know if there is a song too big for you so go there.” Paula: “It was a great song selection. You were a little tentative at first but you came into your own.” Simon: “We’ve seen a big change with you. You’ve got a very very good voice. The great thing is you’re 17 years old. You pick songs a bit younger. I think push yourself and you may surprise a few people in this competition.”

5-Haley Scarnato (Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me”) - A San Antonio Texan who described the experience as “surreal.” The initial audition was mixed but she did better in Hollywood. She’s got a beautiful smile and a fine pop voice. It’s a good song choice and she is very engaging. She’s better than, say, Kat vocally. Randy: “It was just okay for me. It was a good choice for you. You have a Broadway-ish voice. You didn’t do anything special.” Paula: “I thought you did a nice job.” Simon: “You sounded 40. That was the problem. It was a bit like being at a reasonably good hotel. And that’s the last song of the evening. Everything about you was old. But you have a good voice. At 24, you made yourself dated and old fashioned, which is a shame. It was a little boring.” “That’s my style,” she said.

6-Sabrina Sloan (Aretha Franklin’s “I Never Loved a Man”) - She’s a professional singer who has had zip airtime like Leslie and Amy. And she’s yet another R&B gal. She tackles Aretha with more authority than Leslie. You can tell she’s a pro. She’s great. But does that make her appealing to “Idol” fans? I’m not so sure. I feel like I’ve seen her before or someone like her. Randy: “We finally got ourselves a competition. That’s the one to beat.” Paula: “Standing ovation. Awesome.” Simon: “You just proved the point between taking part as we see a lot and genuinely having a desire to win with talent. That performance probably out of everything so far is the best one so far.”

7-Nicole Tranquillo (Chaka Khan’s “Stay”) — She’s yet another blank slate. And she sings yet another R&B song. But she may not be a true R&B singer. She enunciates very poorly but she shows impressive intensity. She picks it up a notch the second half. She also scrunches her face in a rather unpleasant way while she hits the high notes. Randy: “It wasn’t really working for me. I don’t think that’s your vibe. That was rough for me. It went over my head.” (I agree it didn’t quite fit her.) Paula: “I don’t know how many people can hit the notes she hit. That was a performance that was out of this world. It may not have been the right song but you can sing.” SImon: “I thought it was indulgent. It was aggressive. It looked unnatural. It looked fake. It looked like you were overrehearsed. It didn’t feel like you at all.” She is interesting and should stick around.

8-Gina Glocksen (Eric Carmen “All By Myself”) — This dental assistant who has gotten tons of airtime. She seems to have that rocker vibe but inexplicably chooses this ’70s ballad. She has the vocal moxie for it but I ain’t feelin’ it, dawg. It seems wrong. Maybe I just don’t like her. Randy: “I love this. When you started this I didn’t think it woudl work. I was surprised. That was nice. Nice close.” Paula: “It was the right song to sing tonight. You have that big powerful voice.” Simon: “That was a different side of you. I don’t think you quite nailed it. I don’t think you hit the big note.”

9-Leslie Hunt (Aretha Franklin’s overused “(You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman”) — A dog walker from Chicago, she got good feedback from the L.A. judges. She’s one of those “we haven’t seen you before” semifinalists. Can she stand out? She seems sweet and has a deep soulful tone to her body. But she’s not quite Kelly Clarkson, who sang the song much better in 2002. Hey, she is better than, say, Nikki McKibbin. And yes, I’m going to keep whipping out the 2002 references! Randy: “I was hoping for a definite greatness. That song actually I felt was too big for you. You can’t take on Aretha, Stevie, Mariah, Christina and let it lay there. It has to be oh my god you sang that. It was just okay.” Paula: “I thought you did a great job, Leslie. Watch the songs that you pick.” Simon: “It wasn’t great. I tell you what it is with you. You are a very nice person and you’re a dog walker. You look embarrassed and ungainly as if you’re walking your dogs… as if you don’t want to be there.”

10-Alaina Alexander (The Pretenders’ “Brass in Pocket”) - Ryan teases the pizzeria employee as very emotional. “I cried a lot but they are happy tears cos when you want something… to know you can actualy do it and it’s happening is just, like, the best feeling ever.” She at least whips out a pop-ish rock song. She lacks the depth of Chrissie Hynde in vocals and presence. She’s pleasant but not special, as the song notes. Randy: “It really wasn’t great to be honest. The song was okay but you didn’t do anything different with it.” Paula: “You didn’t take the song and make it your own.” Simon: “You kept saying that line, ‘I’m special’ and it wasn’t.” (He stole my line!) “It’s a very hard song to make your own. You are going to be reliant on your looks, not your voice, tonight.” “I’m not crying now,” Alaina said. As Ryan defended Alaina’s passion, Simon utters “Are you trying to date this girl” Simon said. Ryan doesn’t have a good comeback so he says: “That doesn’t even deserve a response.”

11-Amy Krebs (Bonnie Raitt’s well-worn “I Can’t Make You Love Me” which Constantine sang two years ago) - This Seattle optometrist’s assistant has gotten virtually zero airtime at this point. She has no particular back story from the interview. She has an interesting voice but she isn’t a striking personality. Sort of Lindsey Cardinale/Melissa McGhee blah. Randy: “That was a medium, middle of the road rendition.” Paula: “I am going to have to agree with Randy. You impressed us in your earlier audition. You were bluesy, an R&B feel. It’s very sentimental. Has to be soft and breathy.” Simon: “The problem is what you saw in that clip. I still can’t remember you. When you sing, you have a personality of a candle. Everything about you is forgettable.”

12-Antonella Barba (Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”) - We know her back story. She said she lost her voice the last day and her confidence was off. Let’s see if she can redeem herself. She’s the umpteenth R&B/pop mode singer. This song, which I can’t stand, needs a strong strong voice. She doesn’t quite have it. I was hoping when she hit the chorus that she’d amp it up but she never gets there at all. It’s pretty but not good enough. Randy: “It was really pitchy and really bland. It really wasn’t good.” Paula: “It wasn’t bad. You had some pitch problems… It’s about song selection. You picked songs earlier in the competition that suited you better.” Simon: “The good news is you’re attractive. The bad news is it didn’t work. It was way way way too big for you, that song. It has seriously damaged your chances of staying here another week. You have a pop voice… Pick a pop song. It ate you up… It would be like Ryan doing the news.” Ryan actually didn’t bite back: “She was better than me doing the news. Trust me.”

Access Hollywood reports that Jennifer Lopez will be one of the guest celebrity singers to be on “Idol” this season. They even have a date in mind: April 11 for the final eight. Lopez is not known to be a stellar singer so it’ll be interesting what sort of advice she could provide on that front.

There’s also talk of Gwen Stefani helping out the contestants on March 28 for the final 10.

“Dreamgirls” star Jennifer Hudson is going to perform at a big Dallas Austin Foundation fundraiser March 11 at the Georgia Aquarium. But you better have some deep pockets to attend: the cost is a whopping $1,000 per ticket.

Besides the former “Idol” finalist, the Rev. Al Green will perform. And Denzel Washington will cohost. So that’s some serioius star power. Actress Gabrielle Union, who stars in Tyler Perry’s “Daddy’s Little Girls” will be there as well.

Here’s a description of where the money will go:

Founded in 2003 by Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer Dallas Austin, the Dallas Austin Foundation, Inc. (DAF) is transforming the lives of young people by enriching their educational experiences through the use of music and film. DAF has developed a curriculum-based program that puts music back into public schools by establishing small recording studios in local schools to teach students song writing and music production. The Dallas Austin Foundation has already established studios at five Atlanta Public Schools: Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School; Brown Middle School; Southside Comprehensive High School, Washington High School and North Atlanta High School. DAF also provides scholarships and financial assistance to help further develop and maintain the musical arts and entertainment departments in school and bring awareness to students of the vast opportunities that exist within the entertainment industry. The Dallas Austin Foundation, Inc. is a 501 (c)(3) tax exempt organization. For more information or to contribute, call 404-609-9431.

Fantasia, whose second CD has been a major disappointment in sales after her first single “Hood Boy” failed to reach the top 20, is performing on Idol this Thursday in hopes of reigniting sales. I presume she’ll be singing whatever her second single will be.

So far, her current self-titled album has sold about 250,000 copies since it came out a couple months ago. She’s going to be hardpressed to approach anywhere near the 1.7 million she sold the first time around with “Free Yourself.”

She left 19 Management back in the summer of 2006 to sign with a group called Violator Management. But six months later, she has returned to 19 Management and voila! She gets love from “American Idol.”

Fantasia is also joining “The Color Purple” on Broadway as Miss Celie, yet another “Idol” alum making it in that venue.