Happy New Year! Thank you for 1.74 million page views last year. That wasn’t quite as big as 2006, arguably “Idol’s” beacon year, but not bad considering how lame the season was overall. Let’s beat that mark in 2008!

Joesplace, registration required, has been collecting intelligence on who the top 50 are. In the past, such spoilers have had a fair amount of accuracy.

At least five are from Georgia so the odds aren’t bad that at least one of the final 24 will be from our fine state. We, of course, won’t know for sure until mid February. Check it out if you’re curious.

And Vote for the Worst thinks that a former failed singer Carly Hennessy (above) will be among the final 50. She was featured by a former Wall Street Journal acquaintance of mine, Jennifer Ordonez, on page one of the newspaper as an example of how screwy the record industry is (or was in 2002). MCA invested $2.2 million in her, but she sold a measly 378 copies three months after the album’s release.

Hennessy, a Dublin native now around 25 years old, apparently tried out for “Idol’ in 2005 and Simon liked her, but she had visa issues that kept her from making it to the fianl 24. That’s all cleared up now. AI producer Nigel Lythgoe even alluded to her in a New York Post story recently.]

Her MCA site is still up though it’s obvious she is no longer with them since the last story was from August 22, 2002.

Here’s the video for her song “I’m Gonna Blow Your Mind.” It’s a decent pop tune.

I made a few timid predictions a year ago and actually got a couple sort of right. Let’s see how I do for 2008:

1- Let’s start easy. Last year, I made a rather prescient prediction about ratings finally falling after five amazing years of upward motion. Okay, so it was going to have to happen eventually so it wasn’t exactly a forehead-slapping prediction. In fact, the ratings opened big last year with 37 million viewers, the best ever. But the numbers flagged later in the season as ennui set in over the season six contestants. I think last year may cause millions to disappear from the get go, even with the writers strike. I bet the opener will be more like 30 million and I predict the show will drop at least 10 percent over a year ago and the younger viewers will flee even faster. That will still make “Idol” by far the biggest show in the land but will indicate some folks have gotten bored enough to move on as we enter season seven.

2- Although there won’t be as many celebrity “mentors” as last year, the producers will still nab a couple of big ones such as Mariah Carey, Steven Tyler and James Taylor.

3- Simon Cowell will become ill and miss an episode for the first time ever. Nigel comes in and covers for him.

4- One of the final 12 will be openly gay and “Idol” won’t hide that fact, which will generate some controversy though probably no more than Fantasia and the single mom bit a few years back.

5- Here’s another easy guess. This group of 12 will be much more interesting than last year’s. While I can’t see it being as cool as the best top 12 ever from season five, it will be comparable to season four.

6- The winner will be from the Midwest and will be a guy. (Hey, at least I have something like a 50/50 shot on that second prediction, eh?)

On January 1, 2007, I made five not-so-bold predictions about “Idol.” Let’s see how I did.

1 - After five consecutive seasons in which the show’s popularity increased, this will be the season folks will start complaining that it has jumped the shark and ratings fall a modest 5 percent. That’s not enough for Fox to panic but other networks gleefully chuckle to themselves that Fox’s savior may have seen its best days in the rear-view mirror.

Wow. I hit the mark perfectly on this one. Although the results show was up slightly, the performance show dropped about 5 percent while 18-49 numbers dropped even further.

2 - Simon gets nastier. Is it possible? Of course! He’s now insanely rich and working on so many other shows that his occasional irascible boredom escalates.

Hmmm… I can’t say if this one worked out. I didn’t sense Simon was any meaner than usual.

3 - The mid-season “surprise” one of the exec producers recently promised will be separating the remaining contestants by race. Oh, wait. “Survivor” did that already, didn’t they? Hmm… how could they possibly surprise us? Make us vote off two contestants in one week? Nahh… Fox isn’t going to waste a week like that. Have us vote for who we want OFF the show for one week, just to see what happens? Nope. I don’t see that one. An all-opera episode? Not a chance. Beautiful women enter the stage with numbered suitcases. Contestants pick a number and must sing the song that shows up in the case. That’d be a fine, desperate move. Bringing back already eliminated contestants to heckle the existing ones while they sing? Funny but not gonna happen. Actually, maybe they’ll give folks who were voted off a chance to get back on the show? That’s one “Survivor” did, too. Feel free to throw in your own suggestions.

This one was me kind of BSing off the top of my head, mostly facetiously. Actually, “Idol” did eliminate two in one week because of “Idol Gives Back,” the closest thing to a “surprise.”

4 - Corey Clark was booted in season two and Mario Vazquez quit before season four’s final 12 started. This year, somebody voluntarily quits mid-way through for some salacious reason.

Nope. Wrong. We only prayed that Sanjaya would voluntarily leave but nothing salacious happened here. And somehow, Antonella Barba almost made it to the final 12 despite modest vocal talent and those fun wet T-shirt photos will always be available on the Web!

5 - For the first time, the winner won’t be from the South or Oklahoma. The West Coast finally gets some love after Kat almost made it in 2006.

Okay. I should get partial credit for this one since Jordin is from Glendale, Ariz. That’s not quite the West Coast, but it’s the West.

On Tuesday, I will post five more predictions for 2008.

Oh, and only about 2 million people watched the finale of “Next Great American Band” last Friday. Not a shocker there and pretty much means a zero percent chance you’ll ever see that show again.

Traffic this week is understandably slower than molasses so I’m sorry myself for posting so late today. (It’s that kind of week, ya know?)

Blake Lewis recently told MTV.com he knew he was screwed when he heard “This Is My Now” and wasn’t allowed to mess with it. I don’t think this is actually fresh news per se but he was fairly blunt:

BW: When you first heard “This Is My Now,” the ballad you had to perform during the finale, did you think you were toast?

BL: Oh, totally. Me and Jordin went in a room with some guy who was producing that song and I was like, what the f— is this? This is a piece of s—. And you’re not going to let me arrange it? OK, cool. Thanks guys. I didn’t want to win American Idol anyway; I wanted to get second. Then we found out we had to learn it in, like, three days or something ridiculous. It was dumb. [Laughs.] It was just like, are you kidding me? It was really a piece of crap song. And the guys who wrote it were like, we’re sorry, dude.

Here is Blake doing the song. He’s offkey a few moments but given his own vocal limitations, he did about as well as he could have under the circumstances:

So which was the worst coronation song so far? I still think “Inside Your Heaven” that Carrie had to do season four was by far the worst, just a pure, leaden turd. Jordin’s “This Is My Now” is a very close second, just annoying to the hilt and proves just how difficult it is to create a song apropos to an “Idol” victory. Sadly, that was what was voted in by the viewers. No accounting for taste there. I have a vague feeling “Idol” won’t be repeating the songwriting contest again this year. In fact, I forgot to ask Nigel about that. We’ll get a chance to ask again I’m sure next month.

Seriously, none of the coronation songs are all that great, but it’s not surprising that Kelly’s “A Moment Like This” became the only hit. For a power ballad, it has a decent hook and worked for Kelly at the time. Ruben’s “Flying Without Wings” and Fantasia’s “I Believe” weren’t half bad either thanks to heartfelt performances though I like “I Believe” a smidge more. Taylor’s “Do I Make You Proud” was treacly pablum but Taylor tried his best to make it tolerable.

So my personal rankings from best to worst:

1- “A Moment Like This”

2- “I Believe”

3- “Flying Without Wings”

4- “Do I Make You Proud”

5- “This Is My Now”

6- “Inside Your Heaven”

Since there is virtually no news going on in “Idol” land, I’ll post a question: what are you hoping for most in “Idol” land in 2008, either for the show or for its alums?

Fox did release its early schedule for “Idol,” and it’s virtually the same as last year. There will be four weeks of auditions, a total of eight episodes and 10 hours over seven cities, starting January 15. On February 12, there is a two-hour Hollywood round show. On February 13, the 24 semifinalists are revealed. Then it’s three weeks of semifinals to trim the 24 to 12. The final 12 starts March 11.

And DJSlim over at “Idol Blog Live” posted a video of Katharine at the Disney Christmas Parade here.. She sings a medley of Disney songs such as “If You Wish Upon a Star,” “Beauty & the Beast” and “A Whole New World.” She’s really gettin’ out there, eh?

Okay, it’s Christmas Eve and I am placing an obviously pre-written item for the holidays.

What do you think were the most notable “Idol” or “Idol”-related moments of the year?

Was it Sanjaya and his “faux hawk”? Sanjaya hula dancing? That Ashley Furl crying for Sanjaya? Or maybe Sanjaya singing Bonnie Raitt badly?

Was it Blake’s beatboxing Bon Jovi?

Was it Lakisha’s show-stopping rendition of “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going”?

Was it Celine Dion during “Idol Gives Back” doing that trainwreck duet with a dead Elvis?

Was it when Nigel and Ken decided to pull a fast one on Jordin and make it seem for a few seconds that she was eliminated during that same episode but in the end, not really?

Was it the Kelly Clarkson drama with Clive Davis?

Was it the amazing career surges for both Carrie Underwood and Daughtry?

Was it Jennifer Hudson winning an Oscar for her tour de force role in “Dreamgirls”? (I finally saw the film on HBO over the weekend. She was incredible!)

Locally, my favorite moment was interviewing Ryan Seacrest at the Atlanta auditions on camera and him teasing this poor print scribe incessantly about it. My second favorite from that day was seeing the Brittenum twins again. Gotta love those guys! My least favorite moment was showing up at the Atlanta International Convention Center in October only to realize the later Idol rounds had wrapped up early. D’oh!

I also enjoyed getting treated with diva-like ennui by Paris Bennett, who came to lunch having already eaten and wearing sunglasses throughout her interview. I wonder why haven’t heard from her since?

Another notable moment for me was when Bo Bice called me personally to thank me for the time I spent with him up at the Cumming Country Fair. He is truly a nice guy. It was a lot more pleasant than dealing with the uptight managers of Josh Gracin and Jordin Sparks who told me I couldn’t talk to their clients because I didn’t get clearance from the record labels. As if either of them were going to say anything all that problematic?

And it’s comforting to know at least one former “Idol” reads this blog, namely, the very grounded and quotable Chris Sligh. He’s da man! Thanks Chris and good luck with your new label and album! And don’t worry about those folks at {TMZ, who like to make fun of Idol contestants doing rather modest events for a few bucks. Everybody’s gotta make a living!](http://www.tmz.com/2007/12/19/idols-chris-sligh-party-like-a-not-star/#comments).

In a year when I managed to catch at least six past Idols in concert (Bucky, Kelly, Elliott, Josh, Kelly, Taylor) as well as the “Idols Live” tour, my surprise guilty pleasure was Clay Aiken at Chastain. Thank you Jill for joining me on that escapade as Clay did an incredibly lengthy TV show theme medley, followed by snippets of songs such as Justin Timberlake’s “Sexyback” and Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel.” (More surreal: a month later, I watched Sanjaya do that same song far worse and far less campier.)

And I want to thank all of you bloggers who stuck through this less-than-inspiring season six of “Idol” and survived the drama of the Exiles and Flat Screen. Deirdre is my watchdog and she gets special thanks for being my sounding board this year on all issues blog related.

I’m in Vegas for vacation and missed the finale but did read a recap online so I do know that the Clark Brothers won. Although as I have noted that Sixwire is more commercially viable, the Clark Brothers are a special talent and will find a niche somewhere in the music world no matter what.

I’m sad the show didn’t quite gel with anybody beyond a very small core group of two to three million viewers every week. Bands are not individuals and nowadays, it’s the cult of the individual. Sure, that Friday slot wasn’t great either. I wonder how it would have done, say, in the summertime in the same time slot as “Rock Star” aired on CBS. That show actually didn’t do that badly in 2005 and 2006, but it was probably tough to find another INXS and the whole Supernova concept didn’t work.

So farewell to “Next Great American Band.” It was nice knowin’ ya!

Oh, and a little controversy where a radio jock called Paris Bennett that word that rhymes with witch, seemingly unjustly here..

And happy birthday Jordin Sparks! She turns 18 today!

Honestly, this finale was packed with filler so after watching a few minutes upfront, I simply fastforwarded to the end to see Nick Lachey’s team winnning. Woohoo! I at least got the winner right! And he richly deserved it.

NBC’s “30 Rock” star Tracy Morgan came in to announce the winner. Tracy Morgan? His film “First Sunday” is giving away the $250,000. Not exactly the first person — or 95th person — I’d think of to do this. And he’s wearing a turtleneck. Morgan being serious is bizarro.

Ratings last night held firm, with 8.3 million viewers compared to 8 million opening night and 7.7 million Tuesday night.

Anyway, I’ll backtrack and watch some of the performances, which at this point really don’t matter in terms of any voting. DJ Slim provides the videos, of which I’ll link to a few I liked:

The opener: Christmas carols. Patti LaBelle’s team does a rather bad version of “Sleigh Ride.” Team Bolton team does a decent version of “Silver Bells.” Team Rowland does a very clean, fun take on “Jingle Bell Rock.” But Team Lachey sounds amazingly smooth doing “Let It Snow.” Team Shelton ends with an all-over-the-place “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” with the worst choreography. Just seeing the choirs side by side proved that Nick Lachey put together the best choir.

Team Shelton’s “Celebration.” This over-played party song is so tired, I can’t muster any energy getting excited about this. The guy who sang the first verse was bizarrely off key. The line dancing was laughable. A few of the soloists were decent, at least. (Full disclosure: at age 10, I actually bought this single.)

Team LaBelle’s “No More Drama.” Very few can pull off the passion and actual drama singing this Mary J. Blige classic. And I’m sorry. Although her lead singer (who looks but doesn’t sing like Fantasia) seemed to be missing something that would have taken the song to Blige-like epic levels.

Team Lachey’s “What a Wonderful World.”: Quiet, introspective, just plain lovely. He also split the solos up, again using his team very effectively.

Team Rowland’s “Survivor”; Since Kelly’s team was ousted, she didn’t get a chance to sing her solo. She takes a Destiny’s Child classic. It’s a bit over the top but I enjoyed it.

Team Bolton’s “When a Man Loves a Woman”: Ack. Bolton singing blue-eyed soul has never done it for me. zzzz.. wake me up when it’s over.

Team Shelton’s “Boondocks”: One of the military guys got to get some solo work. It’s a perfectly passable cover of this Little Big Town hit. (Shots of Miranda Lambert every day must mean she and Blake are dating.)

Team Bolton’s “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”: The solo singers were good on this Marvin Gaye classic, but the arrangement was fairly tepid.

Team Rowland’s “One Sweet Day”: In this Boyz II Men/Mariah Carey collaboration, the female singer didn’t quite hit the high notes but she was better than the male singer. The little deaf dad moment was sweet. It’s hard to criticize the sentiment.

Team LaBelle’s “We Are the Champions”: She chose this Queen song as a statement. The two male solos were good, especially the second dude.

Team Lachey’s “Sing a Song”: Yet more proof why Lachey’s choir won. There was party-like choreography, fine harmonies, just pure delight through and through. You must watch this!

So is this show worth bringing back once a year? Seems like perfectly harmless fun to me right before Christmas. And the ratings, while just okay, were certainly good enough for NBC to do so.

In “Idol” related news, here’s a salacious item: Vivid Entertainment is releasing the Jessica Sierra “hardcore” sex video on January 30 and has a trailer out there in cyberspace. I’m sure if you want to see it, you’ll be able to find it but I’m certainly not going to link to it! Oh, and TMZ reports she’s preggers to boot!. Merry Christmas, Jessica!

Ruben Studdard became the first “Idol” winner to lose his record deal. The lovable “velvet teddy bear” was dropped by J Records after three records, Ruben’s brother Kevin confirmed to me this morning.

Sohh.com broke the news..

But Ruben’s co-manager Jonathan Effinger said Ruben is still with 19 Entertainment, that they are now shopping for another label for him. Ruben has already started recording cuts for his fourth album, having just gotten back from working with producers in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“19 decided to find another record label to put his vision out,” Effinger said. “19 has a pretty good idea what they want to do and want to be given the flexibility to do it. Just looking at the album sales, I don’t think they reflect Ruben’s ability or fan base.”

Ruben’s sales have dropped since his first CD sold 1.8 million. His second album, a gospel release, moved another 437,000. His current R&B album, which came out in 2006, only moved 235,000.

Effinger said Ruben wants to make an album with a more live sound. “His voice needs to go to another arena and develop a different sound,” Effinger said. The departure from J “was not an angry situation. The time with J was good. There are no hard feeelings.”

J Records represents Taylor Hicks, Fantasia, Jennifer Hudson (whose album is due out next year), Carrie Underwood and Blake Lewis.

Effinger said he’ll get Ruben on the phone for an update so I’ll post something new if that’s the case. Ruben last month told me he was doing the national tour of “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ” next year and that hasn’t changed.

My predictive powers went nowhere again. I said Team Shelton would be out but it was Team Bolton instead. That military/country vote power trumped the Bolton fans.

And oh, how the mighty have fallen. I was disappointed with Patti LaBelle’s choir. Sure, she just tore the roof off that mother on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” but that was all Patti. I’m off Patti’s train and have jumped onto Nick’s. His often risky song choices, his nifty choreography and his ability to entertain should mean $250,000 for his hometown Cincy and those sick kids at the local children’s hospital..

II was out late so I was able to fast forward through a lot of the chaff — and there was plenty. Sure, it’s all for charity but man, the gushing was a bit much!

And despite the fact most of you have panned the show, it held its audience Tuesday, with 7.7 million viewers and virtually the same number of 18 to 49 year olds as Monday.

Each choir got to sing three times. The first was any song, the second was holiday themed, the third was a song with the celebrity from their songbook Here’s my rankings for the three remaining choirs and videos of some of the songs. (Thank you dJslim again!)

1- Team Lachey with “Flight of the Bumblebee”//”All I Want For Christmas” (Maria Carey)//”What’s Left Of Me”: Nick is taking the biggest chances and this one was so out of left field, it worked. No guts, no glory! The feint up front was cute and the performance was pure fun. His choir experience showed.

His second tune was the amazingly delightful Mariah Carey tune. It’s hard to lose with this chipper classic (if you want to call a 13 year old song a classic). Nick’s first kiss gal was hot!

Nick used his choir effectively for his solo hit ballad “What’s Left Of Me.” Again, he put together a wonderful, engaging arrangement and sang from his heart. Bravo!

2- Team Shelton with “Home” (Marc Broussard)//”Joy To The World”//”This Can’t Be Good”: He really took a chance with a foot-stompin’, bluesy tune and pulls it off. They did it with conviction. The harmonies on the upper end didn’t meld but that female soloist midway through raised the roof. This was easily Shelton’s best performance.

He played it safe going with the standard “Joy to the World,” a song that choirs actually do sing. I did like he threw in a bit of the Three Dog Night song, too.

Then Blake did one of his own songs, one I’ve never heard of. The break when the choir scatted a bit was great. He utliized the choir fairly well and they added some extra energy to the tune.

3- Team LaBelle with “Jesus Take The Wheel” (Carrie Underwood)/ “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” (Andy Williams)//”Somewhere Over the Rainbow”: The lead singer who took on Carrie Underwood’s instant classic was just decent. She simply couldn’t hit the big notes with real authority. For the second night in a row, Patti didn’t make it much of a team effort and it hurt. I wasn’t moved.

The holiday song was just okay, almost boring. Where did the mojo go, Patti?

Fortunately, the choir did finish up strong with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” though that was almost singularly due to the magic of Patti at the mike. Who needs the choir? She is just amazing, even at her age. Off with the shoes! Here it is:

And since this is an “Idol” blog, here are some “Idol” related bits:

Idol sales were big this week as Christmas nears (thank you Idol Chatter over on the USA Today site!). Carrie’s “Carnival Ride” sells another 138K and is past 1.4 million while Jordin moves another 62K and exceeds 283K. Daughtry moved another 60K and 3.47 mil total (2.29 mil so far in 2007, No. 3 best-selling CD of the year.) Blake Lewis, in his second week, quickly fell behind Jordin and Daughtry with 58K and is up to about 156K. Carrie’s “Some Hearts” sold another 31K and is up to 6.12 million. Kellie Pickler is No. 200 with 8K sold and 679K total. Taylor selling 500, is at 698K. The gap between those two is now just 21,000. Elliott, at 465K, is closing in on Fantasia at 498K. Kelly Clarkson’s three albums are at 2.7 mil, 5.91 mil and 721K repsectively. Bo is 30K, Mandisa is at 62K, Clay is at 521K and Bucky, 307K while Kat is at 363K. Ruben is stuck at 236K, Constantine at 22K, Paris 20K and Kimberley 17K.

Okay, if you knew RJ Helton from Cumming, you may or may not want to see photos gleaned from the vile Perez Hilton Web site here.. If anything, it’s not the Helton you may recall from his “Idol” days.

Well, I’m glad Nick Lachey’s team stuck around but it was criminal to see Team Rowland go home. I liked her choir’s take on George Michael’s “Freedom.” But this is definitely a case of name recognition, timing, song choice and demographics. Kelly’s fans were probably not as prevalant (or as plentiful) as Bolton’s. And her team performed second, which is not the best place to be during a two-hour show. Oh, well.

So far, the show has definitely stretched the definition of what a choir is. In most cases tonight, it was a lead singer or two, with a bunch of backup choir singers, nothing terribly special to me. Still, it was better than night one.

From a ratings standpoint, I thought this show would bomb Monday. It actually brought in a respectable 8 million viewers and came in 2nd among 18 to 49 year olds.

Again, the comments by the other judges was a waste of time. Typical comment from Michael Bolton about Team Shelton: “I thought they were great tonight. Great vocals, great energy, a really great performance.” Gee, was it really that great, Michael? At least Patti LaBelle was colorful in her praise. “I’m menopausal. I was sweating anyway. You made me stand up!”

The videos are courtesy of DJSlim’s Idol blog.

1- Team Lachey’s “Friends in Low Places” (Garth Brooks)(below) Nick has the best eye for great choreography (however sloppily executed) and he definitely had fun with this one. The lead singer has real skills, a genuine charm and warmth in his voice. It was much more variety show but it worked. For pure entertainment value, it was arguably better than LaBelle’s choir. I thought about it and have to give it to Nick as the favorite of the night, just barely edging out Patti LaBelle’s team.

2- Team LaBelle’s “I’ll Stand By You.” (The Pretenders) (Below) Ah… Carrie Underwood’s song. Again, this choir rocked, this time with a ballad. It’s the closest to a traditional choir in its makeup and choreography.The harmonies were crisp and wondrous, the lead singer just adequate. Seriously, Jennifer Hudson, LaKisha Jones, LaToya London, Fantasia or Tamyra Gray could blow her away. If her vocals were just a wee better, I would have placed them at No. 1 easily.

3- Team Bolton’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (Diana Ross)(below) This is a much smarter song choice, a crowd pleaser. The choreography was lame (raise your hands when you say “high” and point downward for the word “low”) and the rendition very conventional but the choir showed plenty of energy in a Vegas-y sort of way. It was marginally better than Team Shelton.

4- Team Shelton’s “Takin’ it to the Streets.” (The Doobie Brothers) Ah… Taylor Hicks’ song. One of the male singers in the second verse was really offkey. This felt more like a skit from “Fame.” It was very loose and very un-choir like. I can’t say the harmonies were especially great but it’s hard to mess with that catchy chorus.

I say Team Shelton goes home tomorrow.

And to get in the Christmas spirit, here’s Kellie Pickler warbling “Santa Baby” on the “Today” show from djSlim:

I also came across this rather sad news report about Kellie and her estranged mom, the source of the song “I Wonder.”

Go Patti LaBelle! And go Philly!

NBC has put together a music competition that’s family friendly and appropriate for the holiday season: the four-day “Clash of the Choirs” starting Monday night for $250,000 in charity. (The finale is Thursday.) They brought in five celebs to compile choirs from each hometown: top stars are R&B diva LaBelle and soul crooner Michael Bolton, followed by Nick Lachey (“98 Degrees,” Jessica Simpson’s hubby) and Kelly Rowland (Destiny’s Child) and mid-level country star Blake Shelton, who’s B level at best even in the country world with three no. 1 hits and 13 top 40 hits since 2001.

Each celeb held auditions in their hometowns and picked 20 people for a choir.

One observation: having the other celebs “judge” each other’s choir is pure silliness and a waste of time. Nobody was going to say anything bad about their competitors no matter how blah they were. Simon would just roll his eyes watching this spectacle.

For all of its good intentions, this show is probably going to bomb. Choirs are not the sexiest draw, especially for younger viewers. It just seems like too much of a stretch as producers try yet another permutation of “Idol.” If the choirs were amazing, I’d feel okay about this but outside of Patti’s team, the performances were too spotty and some of the song picks highly questionable. Natasha Bedingfield? Bon Jovi? Tom Cochrane? Huh?

Here are my more specific thoughts on the five choirs from best to worst.

1- Team LaBelle from Philadelphia I have a bias toward Patti LaBelle (above) because I got to meet her earlier in March at a Wal-Mart and she was nothing short of a delight. Chatty and funny, she’s also a diabetic (like me and Elliott.) She’s imbues the show with humor and grace. I loved her reaction when auditioners sang “Lady Marmalade” over and over - and how she pushed for her singer, the not-so-obvious white guy with real chops and soul vs. a big Ruben-type who didn’t quite have the charisma. As for the choir’s “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands,” it was inspiring, dynamic and vocally superior to the competitors. This was a true team effort, just brilliant. You can see why the show producers placed them at the end.

2- Team Rowland from Houston Kelly offered a very faithful version of George Michael’s “Freedom,” which has a wonderful, uplifting chorus for a choir. She gave solos to the Asian dude and the black guy with a cowboy hat. They were both okay, not great. Overall, I liked it, didn’t love it. This was a serious distant second.

And the bottom three, well, it was close call. It’s hard to say which was the worst. None really impressed me.

3- Team Shelton from Oklahoma City Blake admitted he knew zip about putting a choir together and it showed. I loved how he picked the brains of a choral director, then cut him. Funny! He smartly picked a couple of military guys to virtually guarantee his choir will be back tomorrow. He ended up selecting a rather tired Tom Cochrane rock song “Life is a Highway.” The choreography was fun and there was decent chemistry. I wish the male vocals had more stage presence but the vocals were adequate.

4- Team Lachey from Cincinnati First of all, while “Unwritten” isn’t a half bad pop song, it’s still too poppy for a choir, even with the gospel elements amped up to 11. The two lead singers he opened with were relatively weak and lacking in stage presence. The choreography was incredibly cheesy. It was pretty darn tepid, even with a spirited ending.

5- Team Bolton from New Haven Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” for a choir??? Where was the beat boxing? :) The lead guy who opened wasn’t half bad but it wasn’t quite a team effort. I did enjoy seeing the 77-year-old grandma gal singing the chorus to a Bon Jovi song. This was definitely the worst song choice for a choir and they suffered as a result.

My prediction is Lachey’s group is a goner because he went first and Bolton has more appeal probably for the types of folks voting. Lachey’s crowd probably isn’t watching this show but Bolton’s certainly is.

This is clearly going to be a slooow week so let’s show some videos!

Kelly Clarkson is well loved in Europe, too. Here she is from Saturday performing at the Miss Belgium pageant. Question: is this really a good use of her time to be doing a pageant show in Belgium?

And here’s “Never Again” from the same show with the producers showing a verses of it in black & white and the chorus in color. Her dress looks great, flatters her figure. And vocally, she’s just fine.

Uh oh. Fantasia, who was getting big praise for her performances of “The Color Purple,” has missed 50 performances since April, an average of more than one a week. She is technically obligated to do eight performances a week.

According to The New York Post,, Fantasia’s out a lot because she’s simply not up to the grueling Broadway schedule.

Well, she is done next month. I wonder what her next step will be?

Here’s Kat McPhee with Atlanta’s Ne-Yo and Vanessa Hudgens entertaining the prez at the Christmas in Washington special aired on TNT last week. Has Pres. Bush ever said he watched “Idol”? Would he even know who Kat McPhee is?

First, it’s the opener, where she sings a bit of “This Christmas.” As always, Kat looks great!

And here’s the closer where she sings “O Come Ye Faithful.” She actually sings this one pretty well but dials back from hitting the BIG note at the end for whatever reason. Pres. Bush looks impressed!

Meanwhile, if you are between ages 10 and 15, “Idol Camp” is back next summer, this time in San Bernardino instead of Massachusetts. Details to apply are here.

And “Gone Country,” the CMT show which features non-country acts trying to be country (including Diana DeGarmo) debuts January 25 at 8 p.m.

Plus, Jordin Sparks is due to sing the National Anthem for next month’s Super Bowl.

At this stage of the competition, I dont’ think there’s much any of these bands can do to change my opinions of them. And after this episode, I’d say that it really hasn’t.

Light of Doom finally came home and I finally got it right. It was well past due for them. It’ll be interesting to see if we ever hear from them again.

Denver & the Mile High Orchestra, as noted by the judges, will be a great corporate draw and make a fine living doing that. But as recording artists? No way. That original “You Move Me” wasn’t bad but hardly moved me. I have no clue why the judges were so enthusiastic about it.

I was actually a bit underwhelmed by the Clark Brothers this week. “Change the World” was just a wee bit too gritty for my taste but it may be the lovely original version by Eric Clapton that’s too enmeshed in my brain. I’m not a fan of Lonestar’s overplayed “Amazed” so it’s hard for me to enjoy anybody singing it. And I was disappointed they chose a gospel standard instead of an original to cap it and really show they are here to win it.

Sixwire, in the meantime, proved that they might be able to take this whole shebang. Their “Reelin’ in the Years” was perfectly solid. England Dan & John Ford Coley as the second pick? That “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight” is so soft rock, but probably hits the sweet spot of their 35-54 female draw. And their original “Good to Be Back” proves why they could end up on the charts once again if country radio gives them a chance.

Although the Clark Brothers by pure talent could win, my prediction for overall broad appeal: Sixwire.

Here’s a quick summary of what “Idol” producer Nigel Lythgoe said during Thursday’s phone press conference to talk about season seven and (briefly) the stumbling “Next Great American Band.”

On mentors: There will be fewer of them. “We got carried away with the mentors” last year, he conceded. “We will spend more time talking about the kids and their lives.” He even suggested more screen time for their families.

On any changes next year As for major changes this year, don’t expect much. “The new talent freshens it up every year. There are a few things we’d like to change. I’d like a new set, new titles. I’d like to maybe get some free botox for Simon or something.”

On ratings: When asked about the ratings, which dipped slightly (at least the performance episodes did) for the first time ever, he said he wasn’t worried because even if “Idol’ lost half its audience, it’d still be one of America’s biggest shows. True. “I let others worry about ratings. I worry about making the best show possible while I’m employed here.” That’s only partly true because how could he not worry given the stakes?

On bad singers predominating the audition episodes: That won’t change. It’s worked up to this point so why change what he called the “Cirque Du No Talent”?

This year’s talent Unlike Simon and the judges, he didn’t hype this as the best talent ever. He did say there were some incredible individual talents. He also defended season six’s crew, feeling it was the best as a group, if not individually. I disagree. Season five in terms of depth (and breadth) was by far the most talented and I bet a majority of “Idol” viewers would agree. (Just the fact eight of them got record deals says everything.)

More “Idol”? He said he has fended off Fox’s efforts to add even more hours though that pressure may be even greater this year due to the strike. But he’d be happy to offer up “Next Great American Band” again, he joked.

No tricks on “Idol Gives Back” I asked about “Idol Gives Back” and whether they were going to fake out the contestants again and then not eliminate anybody. He said earlier this year, due to the situation, he had to schedule “Idol Gives Back” on a regular elimination day but he refused to cut anybody. But he was willing to mess with Jordin’s brain for the sake of TV. So he’s no saint! :) But this year, “Idol Gives Back” will air on Wednesday April 9 and the results show will air on Thursday April 10.

I asked if a true Beatles theme night will ever come to be “I always keep my fingers crossed every year.” He then said there’s no sign of Paul McCartney being a mentor. The defenders of the Lennon/McCartney songbook, he said are “becoming a little more lenient” as evidenced by the fact they may finally land on iTunes next year.

The order of audition episodes when the season launches Jan. 15 That hasn’t been resolved. But his favorite audition city for pure talent was San Diego. And Philly had enough train wrecks for him to want to focus on that one up front.

Contestants with instruments After allowing instruments during the Hollywood round, he said the jury is still out about allowing them during the main competition simply because he wants it to be an even playing field.

Taylor shouldn’t have won? He made some interesting comments when asked his favorite of the six “IdoL” winners. He conceded more out of sentimentality for Kelly Clarkson being the first and helping give “Idol” serious credibility as a star marker. He also loved Ruben Studdard but wished he had done more standards in that “velvet teddy bear” way instead of going more hip-hop urban (though his last CD was pretty much straightforward R&B.) He touted Fantasia for her acting skills. And he believes Carrie, being in country, will have amazing longevity. Jordin, he thinks, will develop into a fine pop singer. The only winner he thought the public made a mistake on was Taylor Hicks. “He brought performance and fun to the table,” Nigel said. But “Daughtry was the musical star of the year. I think people sometimes don’t vote when they think their favorite is secure.”

Jerkwad question Who did he think was the biggest “jerkwad,” the word used by one of the reporters? He said it was Corey Clark (the man who claimed to have slept with Paula) but when Nigel referenced him, he honestly couldn’t think of his name off the top of his head. (Probably purposely blocked it!)

More recent songs frequently sung by auditioners Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy.” Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten.” And Rihanna’s “Umbrella.” Wow, that latter one could be a complete disaster to try to sing well in an audition!

On why “Next Great American Band” failed He said many of the same things judge Dicko said a couple weeks back. The time slot is tough and many folks who love bands may be out watching bands. Plus, it’s hard to glom onto bands as opposed to individuals. And he’s rooting for Clark Brothers. No surprise there. He downplayed the commercial appeal of Sixwire, though. I think Sixwire is more commercial than the Clark Brothers!

ABOVE: Ahh.. the memories. A dead Elvis dueting with a live Celine Dion at the first “Idol Gives Back.”

Although “Idol” producer Nigel Lythgoe has said the focus season seven will be on the contestants, not the guest hosts and other shenanigans, the show producers couldn’t help but bring back the noble, if distracting, “Idol Gives Back” special, set for April 9. The public gave more than $75 million to children in Africa and the U.S. earlier this year so how can you criticize that? We can only hope they are going to skip the charade of pretending to eliminatie someone that day? (I still feel bad for Jordin there!)

I bet this year they will simply make it a special separate from the regular “Idol” shows. That seems to make the most sense. Maybe this time, they can get Daughtry to duet with, um, Kurt Cobain? Carrie duet with, Johnny Cash? Taylor riff with the late great Ray Charles?

Lythgoe will actually be doing a phone conference Thursday afternoon about “Next Great American Band” and “Idol” so if you have any questions you’d like me to ask him specifically, I”m taking requests.

Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks are going to perform on the Fox New Year’s party. No surprise there with the synergy.

Blake’s CD on Billboard’s SoundScan charts debuted at No. 10 with 98,000 sold. That’s only 21,000 fewer than Jordin. Among runners-up, he did better than Diana DeGarmo (47K) and Justin Guarini (57K), not as well as Kat McPhee (116K), Clay Aiken (613K) or Bo Bice (227K).

Here’s Blake at AOL Sessions doing “Break Anotha”:

Carrie outsold Blake for the week with 107K more of “Carnival Ride” and 1.27 million total, according to totals compiled by Idol Chatter. Her first CD sold 23K and is up to 6.09 million.

Jordin’s CD fell to 24 in its third week, with sales of 52K and 222K total.

Daughtry moved up to 32, with 43K sold and 2.4 million total.

Elliott’s debut CD returns to the chart at 168 with sales around 7K and is up to 458K. He has a fair shot of surpassing 500K by March.

Kellie Pickler, after selling 6K, is now only 27K behind Taylor at 671K total and is ranked at 194. She could surpass Taylor by March. Also, she’s doing a USO tour right now in Iraq. Photos are here at fan site www.kelliesmusic.com..

Off the charts: Clay’s Christmas CD: 1.3 million after selling 8K. His current CD sold 300, 520K total. Kelly sold 6K of “My December” and 713K total. “Breakaway” moved 5K and is up to 5.91 million. Bucky sold 3K, 303K total Bo sold 2,200, 27K total. Fantasia is at 1,300 and 496K. She should reach 500K by late January at this rate. Mandisa moved 1,300, too, and is up to 60K. Her xmas EP is up to 1,600. Kat sold 700 and is at 362K. Kimberley sold 400 of her xmas CD and is up to 1,500 but only 100 of her current CD, up to 17K. Taylor moved 300 and is up to 698K. Constantine sold 300, at 22K. Ruben sold 100 and is at 236K. Paris sodl 100, at 20K.

T-minus 33 days until season seven starts!

If you don’t like Daughtry, well, neither did this Hartford Courant reviewer..

Amazingly, Clay Aiken remains a popular search term. In fact, he is the most popular male to be searched on Lycos in 2007 while Brit Brit was the numero uno female. This begs the question: who the heck still uses Lycos?

And Blake Lewis’ “Audio Daydream” did better than I predicted: nearly 100,000 in sales its first week, according to Hitsdailydouble.com. (Their estimates are usually within 5 to 10 percent of Nielsen SoundScan, as reported by Billboard magazine on Wednesdays.) I thought he’d be lucky to sell 50,000 so congrats Blake fans! Anyway, he only came in slightly below Jordin’s first-week sales. Unfortunately for Blake, his “Break Anotha” single has not broken through yet. It has edged up to 50 from 52 on the pop charts with 52 of 143 top 40 stations playing his single at least once. If he can’t get radio airplay, sales will likely sink fast.

Jordin sold another 52K or so, placing her at about 230,000. Her single “Tattoo” is still showing sold upward momentum on the top 40 charts, according to Mediabase 24/7. She’s now ranked at No. 8 with 6,816 spins, up from 6,239 a week earlier.