Q: Is It American Idol Finale Night Already?

A: No, but with LaKisha Jones's performance it sure as hell looked like it.



Remember her face, because I think she is your next American Idol. She brought me to tears.

Melinda Doolittle, Stephanie Edwards, and Sabrina Sloan almost took down the house this evening--each of them were outstanding, soulful, smooth, a joy to watch and listen to; but then came LaKisha and everything was different. Simon said he was tempted to tell the other 23 contestants to book their plane tickets home after she sang.

The boys should be pretty afraid right now. Last night was sheer boredom, with only a slightly good performance from Blake Lewis (aka the beat boxer) who took a chance on Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know", while the rest sang flat, off-key, and with no charisma. I thought Chris Sligh (who has been a favorite of mine the past few weeks) was going to trip over his own feet when he danced to a dull rendition; Phil Stacey sounded frighteningly like Clay Aiken (that is so 4 seasons ago); and the sweetheart of the competition, Sanjaya Malakar, looked like he was sleepwalking. On the flipside, A.J. Tabaldo had enough bounce to be a cruise ship singer, and Paul Kim has got to put his shoes back on.

Tonight the ladies were competitive, energetic, and fun; plain and simple, this is what Idol is about. I must say that I'm feeling a little bad for Antonella Barba who had had some so-called "dirty" pictures posted of her on the internet, which don't amount to much more than a silly snap of her peeing, and another drinking a Bud Light. Google the pics if you want, but you'll be underwhelmed. Jordin Sparks is merely 17-years-old; she had a shaky start, but pulled through with some major power, and a lot of soul. Watch for her, I think she'll give LaKisha some competition. But there are two runners-up for the evening, Melinda Doolittle and Sabrina Sloan (who happens to be a friend-of-a-friend). These two gave me shivers. But LaKisha made me cry. If this is what the girl's got in store for the first show of the season, Christ, I might faint when I see what happens on the real finale night.

Results show tomorrow! The bottom two girls, and bottom two boys will leave the show.