As Ryan points out, there were once 125,000 of these people, and now there are six of these people: old Scotty nodding like he knows things, Lauren and James lookin' straight up terrified, Lusk dressed like Randy Jackson's dorkier brother, Haley having a great time, and Casey wongling his eyebrows like he just figured out he's awesome. Not a great sign, but... Hopefully they'll perform in that order. That would be a nice show to see.
We learn the history of how awesome Carole King is -- she wrote 118 songs that landed in the Billboard 100, for starters -- from the very beginning: The first Goffin matchup that was a hit in 1969, &c., and then the 25 solo records (Tapestry was #1 for 15 weeks and stayed on the charts for like six years, back when there were these things called albums), all the way to Live At The Troubador with James Taylor lately.
It's funny to think about true stars, songwriters, how they have to keep singing the songs for the rest of their lives. I think I would be a bad pop star in many, many ways, but the number one thing is that about after a year, I would no longer be able to perform those songs.
"You want me to sing 'All I Wanna Do'? All I wanna do is never sing that song again in my entire fucking life," I'd say. "That sounds fun to me right now. I got a feelin' I'm not the only one."
"'Zombie'? How about I sing 'Linger' at this concert five times consecutively, while randomly chosen audience members punch me in the nuts, if you guys don't make me sing 'Zombie.'"
SO LIKE DO WE HAVE A DEAL
This week's mentor is... Not Carole King, but in fact Babyface. I have no beef with Babyface, as performer or songwriter. (Well. "Change The World.") He's always seemed like a kind soul. His opinion on the Idols is: We still don't get them. None of them do we quite understand. Not even Lauren or Scott. They are simply too complex in their "essence" for us to figure them out, in Babyface's estimation.
Ugh. Plus we're messing everything around this week. Not only random duets scattered throughout to justify the 90-minute thing, but also they're doing them in a weird order.
The way it seemed at the top, you had the Kuntry Kids to start with -- cute -- then James and Lusk to scream their fucking heads off, and finally Haley and Casey being the Final Two in this episode, just as in real life of the future. I know we always talk about this, about how the producers arrange them based on getting ratings so that the most exciting things are in the most exciting order, but it's a great sign when they line them up at the beginning and you're like, "This is going to be amazing. Probably."
Instead: Lusk, it's anarchy. Boasting about his knowledge of "Oh No, Not My Baby," a song I've not heard of. And a song he doesn't seem to know.
Iovine: "Being in the B3 would mess with anybody. But most especially Lusk, because he is full of himself."
Babyface: "Can I offer some advice?"
Lusk: "Can I snatch you bald?"
Iovine: "I just hope he shits himself onstage. He's in the most jeopardy. If there were ever a time to get ugly, it's now. The hope is that those childbearing hips will actually shoot Fantasia Barrino onto the stage at a predetermined moment."
More of that dancing, and singing the whole song at the creepy tip-top of his ladyvoice. Given the fact that he may not know he is homosexual, I guess it's nice for Jacob to let the diva out, but really that's kind of a backwards way to be a person. He does his long notes and baby-blinking moves, he -- did I mention? -- is dressed like an idiot, he scats, he screeches, the Fanta girls come pirouetting out from under his crinoline, and we're done. At the end, he sort of can't believe himself. It must be nice to be so continually and pleasantly surprised by one's own excellence.
Tyler: "It's nice that you can sing. I did not know that you were also a fat gay stripper."
ibid., verbatim: "When you strut like that, that's the magic."
Lopez: "It was awesome how you kept fucking up in rehearsal, and then fucked up much less just now. What a mesmerizing performance. There was so much going on vocally that we didn't notice your spaz attack."
Jackson: "Given that we are both dressed like we're looking to get beat up at a bourgeois private school, I hope that you stay."
Seacrest: "Are you happy right now?"
Lusk: "I don't know that I have ever been more impressed with myself."
Seacrest: "Everybody loves a clown."
One down. : Lauren. What overplayed song will she sing? It's harder to guess it this week with Lauren and Scotty, due to how a country person can -- and often they do -- sing pretty much any Carole King song and do it awesome.
There are super played-out ones, though, like the ones your mom remembers being very meaningful, singles from Tapestry basically, that Lauren will have to choose from. (What'd I say last week, "Where You Lead"? Yeah.) But you know, those same rules don't apply to Scotty, but I bet he'll do the same.
That, or some deep cut from the soundtrack of The Pursuit Of Happyness that yes, wears Wranglers and a ten-gallon lid, but after all was once spotted leaving an Olive Garden at the same time as a Carole King song.
IN WHICH STEVEN TYLER CAN'T EVEN MAKE AS MUCH AS SENSE AS CARLOS SANTANA, A MAN THAT MAKES NO SENSE
After the break, Lusk tells us more about how amazing he is, while Ryan hangs out with a nervous old woman and a horribly obnoxious little Nellie Oleson of a girl.
Aaaaand Lauren will be singing "Where You Lead." Do I know these jerks or what?
Lauren: "It's weird though, because I have never heard any songs."
Babyface: "Can you sing higher?"
Lauren: "No."
Babyface: "Okay, have you ever tried? To sing higher notes, I mean."
Lauren: "No."
Babyface: "Are you in reality retarded?"
Iovine: (Nasty giggle; misses will.i.am so much.)
Then they force her to sing about an octave up from where she already was, and it sounds fucking amazing. Nice.
They randomly bring in Miley Cyrus, who counsels her on haters and whiskey and being white trash, and as usual Miley Cyrus is about ten times more charming at this point than is really understandable. Funny smart girl/stupid awful marketing. Also: Gay. I just have this feeling.
Lauren sings the song, and the arrangement is annoying, with steel guitar and the usual Lauren stuff, but her voice is great and she does all her little movements and boot-scooting and ten-tons-of-foundationing, and awkwardly leads some poor embarrassed twenty-year-old on the stage, sitting him down on the stage with a snap like Cesar Milan. She doesn't really know what to do with him after that, so he just smirks up at her and... I don't know, I think where she comes from this means that they are married. If you sing to a boy on this show, or throw him through a chainlink fence on WWE Raw, that means you're married. Or pregnant. Usually those two things are connected, unless you're part of the urban elite brigade that keeps getting those abortions to compete professionally with lesbians.
Lopez: "Um, that was ridiculously good. I'm so glad you found your one more octave, because it sounded like you were really trying. Like, even when you fucked up that one note, I felt like you actually didn't fuck it up, because at least you are trying."
(DeWYZE. DeWyze, DeWyze, DeWyze all over that little speech, pouring down all over it like the "Cover The World" logo at the paint store where he probably still works. Soooo grosssssss. Mediocrity is not preferable to excellence, fuckers.)
Jackson: "Also, she swaggered while she was fucking up that one line. Instead of talking about all the things she did right, let's lionize and celebrate the one note she didn't nail."
To be fair, he also talks about how safe and boring the song and arrangement were... Right before heading back to trumpeting the glory of failure, which is a relay race Tyler is only too happy to finish off:
Tyler, verbatim: "When your voice broke that's when you shined and you manifested light and when those people with talent manifest their light they sometimes can become a dartboard."
Fuck everything. It sounded good. The broken note sounded good. Stop telling us to love her and just let us love the fact that she rocked. This is where Simon is really missing, because he would say exactly that: Stop coddling her for the things she's doing wrong, and start praising her for the stuff she's doing right. She is not the victim of cyberbullying, because there is no such thing. She is not the little sister of the universe, she is a contestant on a fucking game show. She is competing with adults. By addressing this stuff explicitly, you're warping the vote the same way fucking DeWyze did.
Honestly, do you remember him? It's okay if you don't. But do you not remember how he won this show? "I'm just happy to be here. I'm just having fun. I'm just here to have fun. I'm just listening to the judges' advice and trying to make people happy. As long as I get to stay, which I sure hope I do, because this is a chance of a lifetime. I'm really starting to believe in myself, you guys. I hope I don't let you down."
Fuck that. Fuck every bit of that. Just be awesome, and none of the other shit will even come into it.
Seacrest pulls up Lauren's lapdance guy Brett -- he's eighteen -- and tells them he's not allowed to fuck her. Then he brings her baby parents into the equation, and the whole thing is so cute and awkward that she giggles the whole time... While also softly crying, because she finally believes in herself.
Out in the audience, Brett starts rehearsing how he's going to be introducing himself to each of his neighbors from now on.
After the break, Lauren is still crying, finally proud of herself, and of course, just happy to be here.
THE MOU$E THAT ROARED
Tomorrow night, Bruno Mars and -- speaking of the Lee DeWyze indictment of America -- Crystal Bowersox. But tonight, before we progress further in what we're actually supposed to be doing, let's have a duet. And not only that, but instead of just having them do it on Thursday (I'm sure they will also be doing this on Thursday), let's have the Judgery weigh in. On the duets. For which nobody will be voting. For which numbers are not provided. Which are only filling time.
What a grand idea! What this show was missing was Steven Tyler's constructive commentary on even more irrelevant shit.
Haley and Casey! Singing "I Feel The Earth Move." If their duet is half as messed up as their attempt to say the title of the song at the same time, this is going to be great. Casey says straight up that he'd not want to sing with anybody else, and Haley kind of agrees: It's because they are the best, and everybody else is not as good as them. Why fuck around?
They look like a million bucks, and the harmony -- weird Casey faces notwithstanding -- is fairly beautiful. I like that they put this one first, so that everybody else will look stupid...
So but wait: Does this mean that James and Jacob will sing together? You know, it's rare that I look forward to things on this show. I look forward to Casey doing absolutely anything, and I like checking in with Ryan, but that's about it. I can honestly say James and Jacob doing a Carole King duet is in my Top Five of things I've ever anticipated seeing on this show.
The last notes are a little competitive, but at least Haley wins the competition, and Casey is still figuring out exactly how to make the cameras work for him. Meaning that lately, he goes to what would be a Scotty Maroulis place, if he weren't, you know... Casey. Maker of oddly rapey growl-faces, killer of people's pets. While being also, you know, Casey. It's sort of half-baked, this persona he's working out -- Ca$ey, covered in glitter and dirt, the mou$e that roared -- but I have no doubt it will slay them eventually. In the meantime: Cute.
Tyler: "Heteronormative nonsense! I don't understand the difference between performance and reality, because I have never understood the difference between those things! Casey and Haley, sitting in a tree!"
Steven Tyler must really love duets, if he's that dumb about how they work. Duets are probably the same thing as porn to him. Or more like a Blind Item that only Steven Tyler can read.
What two singers were seen singing onstage together, right in front of your stupid weird Afghan houndfrau face, moments ago?
Tyler: "Ooooooh I know this one! You guys are in truuuuuuuuuble!"
Yeah, in the same way that Run-D.M.C. gang-banged you that time. Idiot.
"Scotty the Body," apparently, will be singing . Didn't they use to call the blind guy that? Ryan, you forget yourself. And don't you fucking tease me with this "out of his comfort zone" shiz. I know better than that.
After the break/mere seconds before the break:
Casey & Haley: "Yeah, we knew we were going to be awesome? So then what happened was, we did our best. Do you guys not get that this is our job? Do we really need a pat on the head for doing our job? We're not Lauren... Or Lusk, for that matter. We're us. Trust us, we will not fuck this kind of thing up. You really don't have to give us a cookie for accomplishing the mission. Just lots of cash money, thanks."
SCOTTY MCCREARY & THE CASE OF THE BUTTERY CHEEKS
Scott: "Even though they have been kind of saying this for the last six weeks, I feel like last week for the first time the judges asked me to sing something other than Garth Brooks* songs as performed by Garth Brooks* in the style of Garth Brooks*."
*(Or whoever. That's the name I can think of right now. Congrats to you for being able to name other people you've actually heard of, but I'm working from a deficit.)
No. Actually, you know what, they haven't said that. They've been swayed by the crowd and acted against their better judgment, but they haven't really asked him to get out of his box as forcefully as they did last week. It was just the rest of the entire universe.
So he'll be singing "You've Got A Friend." Did I also call this one? Hang on. That I did. Although what I said was that it would be pretty awesome if he did it in his dumb usual style, but apparently Iovine has decided to throw out the babylockemdoors with the bathylockemwater.
Iovine: "Start out singing like somebody else first."
Scotty: (Nope. Simply cannot do it. Honestly, doesn't even sing like 'Scotty,' because that voice does not exist.)
Iovine: "Guess we'll see."
If you don't look, it's like the most beautiful thing that ever happened. If you look, it's like that one part where the scary kid tells Weinerdog what's gonna happen after school. Not a difficult choice. This song is like the one nice thing I remember from childhood, so I'm not sure it's possible to really mess it up for me personally, but he does a great job. Understated but passionate, and proficient enough that for the first time it occurs to me... When was the last time Jackson actually said "pitchy?" I know we're over halfway through the season, but dang these kids can sing.
Jackson: "Loved your buttery tenor and seeing your range, and will additionally be misusing the term 'the other cheek' like a million times, because I don't really know what many words me. Thanks for doing both of the contradictory things we told you to do, but if I might suggest something irrelevant that won't ever come up again, don't round off your notes like you always do this time."
Tyler: (Questions Randy, just for the hell of it, and ends up sounding dumb.)
Lopez: "Tyler was right, though. This is the best thing you've done. Also, this is why we gave you shit last week, so thank you. Now I will say the exact same thing that I said to Lauren, for the same reason. We're not condescending as some cynical puppetmaster deal to gain you votes so much as that we're actually just condescending. I think it's because you two have southern accents."
Seacrest, improvising on a theme: "I felt like you were singing to one special friend."
Scott, not at all interested in playing along, and also that was not the case: "Did I? Um, do you have any idea who that might have been?"
Seacrest: (Sad face.)
Ha! Awesome. I love it when Scotty is clever. He's, like, the smartest person. It's what makes him so scary!
JACOB, I'VE HEARD PETE SAMPRAS SPEAK
Durbin waxes lovingly about how Scott was even better than in rehearsal, and it's super sweet. Then he ganks "Will You Still Love Me" out from under Casey, so that automatically drops my score by a full 1/3. I fail.
Durbin is convinced that by setting no things on fire or having entire marching bands onstage, we will figure out that he is talented, i.e., this is his Lambert white-spotlight moment. In the mentoring part, it sounds like it is going to be amazing: Rock, but like in the way that Coldplay is rock, which is to say there is a guitar but that's it.
...And there's the a capella, complete with white spotlight. Durbin, I have your number. They drop in a whole Phil Spector drum, causing J. Lo to shake it, and it's all very lovely. He looks normal, like a boy, because he's not performing rock faces, which is also very sweet, and his hair is normal, and there's nothing coming out of his... No, there's the scarf. Still. It's really nice, if a little in-between in terms of slow/fast. You know what I mean? Like a dad band when they're "really jamming," but not actually rocking out if you're not in the band. Whatever, his voice sounds lovely. Tonight is great.
Tyler: "Hundreds of people got hits from her hits and that was good."
(Forever. He talks forever. Fucking in a bowling alley. Ryan kissed a girl once. Just epic nonsense. He lost his virginity. Things happened. Became a hag out of legend, lives in the forest in a hut's got chicken legs, rides around in a mortar and pestle. Still talking. Tongue and facial structure formed after decades of evolution to dig ants out of old tree stumps. Thinks songs are really happening, not pretend. Cannot utter a single sentence without Spoonering it up or devolving into nonsense or calling you by your uncle's name so you have to be like, "No Steven, it's your..." There we go.)
Lopez: "Anyway. Can I talk? That was magical. You may be the star of the night. We talk about consistency on this show."
(Not really. You don't ever really talk about that, because you're always telling them to change it up. But in life, yes, consistency is a virtue. Consistent goodness, of course.)
Jackson: "You are going to win American Idol! Just kidding, I get so excited sometimes I completely forget what the fuck I am talking about and just start yelling. Can I have a hug?"
Seacrest: "So you are becoming a superstar, yes?"
Durbin, fucking with his buzzing amp: "I feel as if acting like a person might work for me. Guess we'll see."
Seacrest: "Stop fucking with your amp right this goddamn second. You are driving me ass-crazy."
Durbin: "See okay, this is how an amp works. What you're hearing is called 'feedback.' I might have to explain the physics of sound waves at this point."
Seacrest: "Going to commercial now."
BUT YOU ARE GREAT
Kuntry Kiddos, Kowboy Up! God, what I would not give to see Scotty sing with Jacob, or Lauren with Durbin. Or anybody with anybody.
Seacrest, improvising once more on tonight's secret second theme: "Since Tyler brought it up, are all people who sing duets fucking each other?"
Kuntry Kids: "That is a myth, Ryan. Stop insinuating we're all fucking each other. This isn't a boyband."
Seacrest: "I could make this really awkward, but I won't."
Kuntry Kids: "Thanks for not making it awkward. After asking if we're dating."
Lauren: "We just like to have fun. We're just happy to be here."
(SEE?)
Scott: "It would be like fucking a farm animal."
BEEN THERE/DONE THAT
Not the best harmony ever sung, this version of "Up On The Roof," and I'm sorry to say this is no fault of Lauren's. She sounds great, he sounds annoyed. Just imagine, Scott, if you were singing this song with Jacob Lusk. Think about how amazing that would be.
Lopez: "Lauren, you sang the shit out of that song. Scotty, you sucked and you know that, but congratulations on acknowledging that anybody else is onstage with you for absolutely the first time."
Scott: "It's because I mostly sing out on the open plains, to my doggies."
That's actually, I think, the deal: He's a kid that sang along to the radio his entire life and got very good at this, probably alone, but the entirety of his musical knowledge is now based around Secret Squirrel/Scott Savolling his way to a wonderful, if copycat, tone -- and absolute but not perfect pitch, which is what happens when that happens. If he would start harmonizing with the radio, that could eventually be lovely too, but as it stands he needs a crash-course in theory, because that shit was ugly and tired, and there are many wonderful things about Scott that are overshadowed by this continuing problem.
HI-DEE-OH-NO
Carole King's daughter -- is it the semifamous one? -- is in the audience. A little blonde girl is sitting in Steven Tyler's lap, which I assume her parents know about.
Casey's singing a Blood Sweat & Tears song King wrote called "Hi Dee Ho," which is to say that he's doing the Scotty Thing, singing the deep-cut trick song, which is only annoying because I was so excited about him doing the Casey Thing that Durbin ended up doing. On the other hand, Haley's going to blow it out I think.
In a hat and a suit and tinkling for a second on the piano, then visiting the harmonica as it's introduced, then the sax when it comes in, then the horns. It's pretty fun staging, and very Casey: Like he's teaching you to listen to the song as he's singing it. A thing that Casey does very well.
A thing that Casey cannot do, however, is make me not hate whatever is going on here. With each and every part of myself, on a fundamental level. Therefore, we will say that -- this one time our intentions did not intersect -- is the mulligan everybody else got to give him that week what never happened.
Jackson: "That was weird. But relevant to my interests, so it was wonderful."
Tyler: "Casey you've definitely found your niche nestled in all this American Idol."
(Goes back to the well where he "almost" "swears" on live TV. Sympathy laughs, that's all they are.)
Lopez: "Why do you walk like that? When you walk around the stage, it's like you're in traction. Or a Frankenstein. I've been wondering this for weeks now."
(Word. It's kind of cute, but...)
Seacrest: "He'll loosen up, right? Right?"
Casey: "Yeah, no. It's actually how I walk. I got a lot of soul in here to move around places. I used to get shit from my PE coach for lack of hustle, basically because my legs do not know how to hustle. Thanks for bringing it up."
Maybe this is a jazz situation, and if I listen to it ten times I will finally grasp whatever the fuck is going on. Because what seemed to be happening, is that it was a horrible mixture of Louis Armstrong "hi-dee-hi" which I hate, and then some swing-kid sort of Sinatra stuff, which I also hate. Was there more? There were certainly lots of instruments onstage, and the backup singers got to have fun. But was there anything there that -- and I mean specifically, personally, in terms of one person saying this -- was there anything for me to love?
BESIDES CASEY OBVS
The people with Penny Marshall laugh way too hard when Ryan drops by to say hello. Her demeanor has always been intriguing and a little unsettling, like if you rile her she's going to go Clint Eastwood bar-brawl on your ass. Perhaps they just laugh nervously around her no matter what's going on. Perhaps they're afraid Penny Marshall will make them do things.
"Drink this Pepsi with milk in it, you scum!"
Haley is really excited about her song, "Beautiful," which is not a personal favorite of mine but rests well in the Beatles/Elton location that Haley secretly does best, so I bet it will be pretty good.
Haley, looking sixty times more like Cathy Moriarty than she usually does: "It sounds really Beatles-esque to me. Like 'We Can Work It Out,' it goes both places."
Iovine: "Just pretend it's a Beatles song. A Beatles song in which the word get is the most important word."
Haley: "I feel you."
She does. I didn't follow what he was saying at all, but she totally gets it. They are showbiz people.
Haley's monitor is messing up, with no weird drums to Lusk her business, but she quickly pulls it together and tells Ryan it was a false alarm, which you know is just as bad for old Wonderwall, who's just like, "Then why did we go through this sick admission that something had gone wrong? I have to go vomit now."
She sings the song. It's like it borrowed the energy from Durbin's rockout, in order to end up in the same place: Sort of fun and rockin', sort of like something Rhoda probably listened to a lot. I can't tell if she's wearing suntun hose on those legs of hers, I think she is, but the coolest part of her outfit is the slits in her sleeves, from the shoulder down, which normally I would be saying kneel before Zod but the song is so '70s lady-power, takin' the mornin' train and workin' 9 to 5, that it totally works.
Tyler: "i just saw god in your voice and i loved it/ i loved it fiercely."
ibid., verbatim: "I just I just you know what Marianne Williamson says you know your arms too short we box with God."
Jackson, thinking he's talking about something else entirely that would actually make more sense in this context: "That's right!"
Tyler: "And you nailed it yes you did yes you did."
What in the fuck is anybody talking about? Marianne Williamson we've got going on all of a sudden? There is no applicable context in which that reference makes sense here. That reference is about the wisdom of accepting inevitabilities, not... Oh, fuck it. Sure, fine. Whatever. If he's on this show year I am switching to X-Factor, I swear to God. Not even for Ryan will I be able to take this much longer.
Jackson: "Didn't love the beginning."
Seacrest, verbatim: "Throw stuff out of your purse at him."
Jackson and Lopez continue to fuss at each other for awhile, the whole time Seacrest's off-stage furiously giving them the "cut it the fuck out" signal, and finally they do and then he says her number so fucking fast you can't believe it, and then also very quickly kicks it to James and Jacob, who will be singing "I'm Into Something Good."
>Durbin: "When 'we' found out 'we' were singing a duet, 'we' shit ourselves with rage."
Lusk: "You're so funny, James! We so did!"
Durbin: "Yeah. That was a two-man operation, being horrified at singing a duet with you. For sure."
Lusk: "I just couldn't be more selfish or awful! It's fun and hilarious."
Durbin: "Mostly I just focused on the ceiling fan."
Lusk: "Which is what you tend to do anyway."
Durbin: "Yeah, make fun of the Sperglord when the other options are talking to you about boys or talking to Lauren about absolutely nothing whatsoever."
Lusk: "If only Casey and Haley hadn't grabbed their shit and moved to a different hotel."
Durbin: "I kind of think I deserved to go with them."
Lusk: "After this bloodbath, nobody will agree."
Okay, they actually are kind of cute together. But I don't think they like each other. I think they are two kinds of a very focused thing, so really they don't even need to like each other. Either way the song is fucking stupid, and the idea is stupid, and it's creepy, and they sing the whole thing to J. Lo because when guys sing duets together, they have to do sex to each other by midnight that night, or they'll die.
What a horrible way to end the night. Even Steven Tyler is like, "Fuck that noise, you guys are the worst. I need a drink. I need a Course in Miracles."
Seacrest: "At least they crouched near J. Lo's legs so it wasn't a total wash."
See, this is why having the judges judge things that didn't need judging is a weird idea. I mean, it's kind of cool to establish a baseline of what happens when they're shooting the shit -- so you take their real criticisms to heart -- but on the other hand, it hurts on a visceral level to see anybody A) Try less than their best and then B) Act like that's a funny story we'll talk about one day.
An interesting failure -- while still a failure -- is at least interesting. A bunt is neither: "That was so funny how you assholes wasted everybody's time to justify this 90-minute timeslot and then didn't even give it a decent shot. Hilaaaarious!" Your only responsibility in this life is to aim for magnificence, or else you just chuck it in.
If you fuck something up, the correct protocol is: Shame, atonement, excellence. None of this ha-ha, it's-a-lark, don't be Tracy Flick, everybody has an Off Day once in a while, Philadelphia Story, lower your standards, give her a hug for selling paint, write yourself a pass for failure honey, this ain't a meritocracy: None of that Teabagger bullshit. No writing the pass, ever. That is for alcoholics. That is not for America, that is for people with diminished capabilities who think life is a story happening to them, and watch it go by.
PEOPLE SUCH AS STEVEN TYLER
So, by way of roundup: Scotty and Durbin achieved excellence. Haley and Casey did a great job with songs I hate too much to enjoy, but I presume they were great. There were two more people? Oh, Lauren did well, despite recapitulating her heroine's taste in skeevy May-Decembers. Lusk I don't remember at all, but honestly I probably just hit cruise control at that point. Something about his baby, but then the baby never came.
Tonight: Bruno Mars and Bowersox, plus hopefully some kind of a Carole King situation.
In the meantime: How about something Marianne Williamson actually did write?
Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do... It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Interesting failures hurt nobody, happy failures hurt everybody. Later.