Ryan started with a lot less hype tonight. The remaining ten and the judges were introduced. It was claimed that Paula had a hit song. Not if he was referring to that atrocious video from last week.

Michael Johns - For some reason his playing tennis is relevant to his ability to sing. He was flat and seemed to be shouting the song instead of singing it. Randy " I kind of liked it" Paula "Great way to start off the show" Simon "It was ok. By far your weakest performance. Poor song choice."

Grade B -

Jason Castro - The white guy with dreadlocks. He played his guitar. It was out of tune or his missed his own key. He also seemed to be shouting instead of using proper breath support and control. Randy "As a vocalist they were ok. Sort of karaoke." Paula "sing without the guitar" Simon "I thought the song was horrible. It was all out of sorts."

Grade C

Luke Menard - We got a bit of his a capella group. He was bad there too. He likes to sing falsetto. That is hard to pull off well. He failed. Randy "You chose a very tough song. A couple of pitch problems" Paula her usual pablum. Simon "It was a mistake. You are always going to be judged with the original"

Grade C

Robbie Carrico - He drag races. He started out very well. He was the first to sing loud parts without shouting. He pitch was good all the way through. Nice ending as well. Randy "I do not know if rock is really your thing" Paula "You played it a little safe" Simon "I thought the vocal was ok tonight"

Grade B +

Danny Noriega - He was in a punk rock band that played one show. He was flat on his first notes and searched for the right pitch. He did not sustain the notes until the end. They dropped pitch as he ended them. If he goes further it will be on his looks. Randy "There were some problems with the vocals" Paula "You have amazing vocal skill" Simon "Last week was a disaster, this week was a bit better."

Grade C

David Hernandez - He was a gymnast. His initial attack was weak but he recovered quickly. He had good control of his pitch and tone on the high loud notes and the rest as well. His was the best performance by far to this part. Randy "This is the David Hernandez we fell in love with" Paula "Your voice is so pure. There are some hard notes in that song. Simon "This may surprise you. This was the best vocal all night." Simon complimented him for accepting criticism and working on it.

Grade A +

Jason Yeager - He did not support the tones well and the pitch strayed flat. He was too interested in his 'dancing.' His performance fell from ok last week to poor this week. Randy "This wasn't a singers song. Very karaoke for me" Paula "It is a song that does not show your vocal range." Simon "Last week was boring. This week was boring and ordinary."

Grade C -

Chikezie - His name is from the "Ebo" tribe in Nigeria. His initial attack was good. He started to fade until the background singers drowned him about a time or two. It was a rather ordinary performance but better than last week. Randy "That was hot" Paula "It fun" Simon "You looked better. You sounded better. It was a million times better than last week"

Grade B +

David Cook - I am a word "nerd". He loves crosswords and word games. He played his guitar. It was another time that the instrument distracted the singer from singing the song. (How many noticed that he is left-handed?) The song was "All Right Now." It described the performance very well. Randy "You are our real rocker" Paula "The band is on fire." Simon "Sort of Believable. You don't have a lot of charisma." David corrected Simon on the rules.

Grade C +

David Archuleta He told us that we did not know that he met Kelly Clarkson - sorry - that has been on the internet for weeks. He started strong. He was on pitch, on tone and on tempo. With HDTV the little hairs on his ears caught the back lighting a time or two. This was one of the two best of the night. Randy "Its about the young ones. That's one of the best vocals all year" Paula "You are ridiculous. That was one of the most moving performances I have ever heard." Simon "Very risky to do a John Lennon song. It worked. You are the one to beat."

Grade A +

Jason Yeager was talking about making a better song choice next week. If he is, it will be from a karaoke listing in some bar. Anyone named David should be very safe this week. Danny Noriega is highly at risk but Luke Menard would not surprise me based on the cumulative work so far. Chikezie is not long for the competition but should slip through for one more week

The early voting in the MSNBC poll has Jason Yeager the heads on favorite to go home at 34%. He is followed by Danny Noriega at 20%. Chikezie was next at 14%. Robbie Carrico and Luke Menard at a virtual tie at 12 and 10%. (Later reversed in position Luke -12%, Robbie 9.3%

David Archuleta is the best of the men so far but there are three women that I think are better.