Insert Clever Top 9 Title Here

How's that for clever and creative? After one of those Tuesdays, I'm sitting here pretty late trying to recap American Idol, so either you get a (hopefully) coherent review or you get a clever title. I choose the former.

First of all, I wish they'd just shorten it to 90 minutes. Nine contestants, ten minutes each. Seems like a good idea. I'm just being picky, though. Overall it was kind of fun to see their personalities a bit more as they all described each other. Most of the pieces were fairly predictable (Hey, Tim smiles a lot. Big Mike is a lot of fun), but they were well done. I'm still tired of the camera in the kiss-and-cry area. Now that we've started the show from the control room I think we can shorten this thing officially, although we could start with a shot from wardrobe or make up. We'll see what ingenious openings we have coming up.

With all of the complaining out of the way I can say it was a good show overall. We're starting to see people performing a bit more closely to their actual ability levels, which is good for some and a bit less advantageous for others. I'm still not clear on whether this really is a singing contest or if it's more like electing the Prom King and Queen, so my predictions tend to be all over the place. On Lennon/McCartney night it is fitting that we had appearances by instruments played in countries related to the United Kingdom. Time has not been kind to Paul McCartney, but it was nice to see a video greeting card tonight for the idols. Sure beats the one they got from the "Clash of the Titans" cast. Now, on to the review.

Aaron Kelly: Thank you for getting him out of the way. He is a nice, wise kid with incredible control over the Force. I had the one-trick pony thought during his performance as well. He sings ballads. He stands still. He hits nice notes sometimes. Tonight he was off a lot and it sounded like he was stretching for the higher notes. Sort of bleh for me.

Katie Stevens: It seems like she's actually competing at this point instead of riding the momentum from her early exposure on the show. While she was singing I thought this was her best performance. I don't think she listened to any of the judges either. She sounded more Pop/R&B tonight like she always has. Simon just gets used to taking credit for good performances so I can't begrudge him this opportunity, even if he is wrong.

Andrew Garcia: Ouch. I don't think he was the worst of the night, but close. His arrangement was sort of sloppy and he came off just like Simon and Randy said. He seemed a bit corny and the band did sort of ruin the performance. With the way his popularity shifts to extremes he could be in trouble tonight.

Michael Lynche: I see all the judges' points simultaneously and think they are all right. How much did Randy just make by plugging "Glee?" I actually liked this performance quite a bit, though it seemed to explode out of nowhere and then go up from there. I wonder how he would shape this song if he could do a full-length version of it. With more room to shape it the arrangement might seem a bit better. Dude can sing, though.

Crystal Bowersox: A.I. math--Crystal sick is greater than Tim healthy. Crystal sounded great. I love that she brought out the digeridoo as if it was the most normal thing in the world, like the lady that walks her iguana in the park in our town. It's just not that normal when you stop to think of it, but she has me believing it is.

Tim Urban: I agree with Simon that judging Tim against himself isn't doing him any favors. He needs to get a real world assessment of his abilities and potential. This was one of Tim's best performances. I loved the way the song started. It sort of reminded me of vintage Wheezer in spots. I'm still not a fan of Tim and find him as a person to be a bit saccharine for my liking, but give the guy credit for putting out a good performance. It should save him if the voting follows performance quality.

Casey James: Best of the night. He did such a great job and showed that he is the best guitarist in the lot. Once I realized he had the cello onstage I knew he'd won over Stacy. Keeping his arrangement so simple made it really work for me.

Siobhan Magnus: I was a little distracted wondering if Bo Peep was going to find her sheep. Plus, her performance was pretty boring. I don't think screaming high notes at the end of a song necessarily makes a performance more interesting, but this week I found myself almost missing her screeching. At least that seems more authentically her. She did a great job with her arrangement, though. And by the way, she's really weird. I cringe a little when Simon or Ryan or anyone else gives her a question requiring more than a one-word answer. Sometimes I just can't bear the answers.

Lee Dewyze: Lee is seeming more and more confident each week. I mean, who brings a bagpipe player out on stage on American Idol to perform the Beatles? That takes serious cajones, that's for sure. I did like the bagpipes though and think they worked well with his arrangement. And I loved how he very proudly admitted that it was all his idea to use them. Cajones plus some. It would have been classic if he waited for Kool and the Gang week to pull them out, though. (That's for you, Little Miss.)

Bottom 3: Aaron, Andrew, Siobhan
You say goodbye . . .: (as much as it pains me) Andrew