American Idol Fans Win Prizes Galore While Picking the Wrong Winner

Congratulations to the six winners in the American Idol elimination contest!

Jessie Amga won Jennifer Hudson's new Grammy-winning CD.
Catherine Foss won last year's runner up David Archuleta's new CD.
Alicia Cook won last year's winner David Cook's (no relation) new CD.
Elvira Resuli won Daughtry (the CD not the man).
Richard Englund won Carrie Underwood's latest CD.
Norma Englund, grand prize winner, won a deluxe version of Kelly Clarkson's new CD which includes a DVD; a tee shirt with sayings from Randy Jackson; and a Best and Worst of American Idol DVD.

Grand prize winner Norma was the only person who guessed correctly on three weekly eliminations. Two others guessed correctly on two eliminations. The surprising thing about the contest was how few entrants predicted Kris Allen's win. Out of 71 ballots cast, a full 49 had Kris biting the dust. It was especially noticeable that during Danny Gokey's elimination week, most of our contest entrants picked Kris for the loss. All I can say is, I'm glad you were wrong.

This is the end of Kris Allen love and American Idol love for this year. From now on, I promise to post about other things until next Spring, when AI fever returns.

It's Kris!

My wish came true. He won!

Kris Allen is your eighth American Idol. While some may see this as an upset, I say this win was predictable. Both Kris and Adam Lambert are madly talented and both deserved to win, but I think that Adam was too edgy for the American public. He may have also been a bit of a one-note artist, always giving stellar performances, but always in high dramatic mode. Kris did not have the best singing voice of this year's ultra-talented group of contestants, but he is the best musician of the bunch and a creative, versatile performer. Being the cutest has not hurt him either.

The fact is that both Kris and Adam are poised to have successful careers in music. Adam needs to find a band to become this generation's Freddie Mercury. Kris is a more unique performer who will make a place for himself in acoustic rock, but I can also see him as a jazz singer. Allison Iraheta can join them in stardom because women combining great rock voices with soulful delivery are basically non existent. She is the new Janis.

What I love about American Idol is that it brings wonderful talent to public notice, but more, that it tests the ability of each artist to sustain a high level of performance under conditions of great pressure. It is a true proving ground for talent. It is always clear that the last artists standing are the ones who can make it.

Falling Slowly

In the process of honing my admiration for the two entirely worthy American Idol finalists, I have been perusing You Tube performances by heartthrob Kris and rock star Adam. I came across this studio recording of Kris Allen singing Falling Slowly. Simon Cowell Called Kris's performance of this on the show "brilliant". Enough said.

I had forgotten how lovely this song is. It won the Academy Award for best song at the 2008 Oscars. It was sung in the movie Once, an unusual and entertaining love story about street singers in contemporary Dublin. It was written and performed in the film by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova who together form the group The Swell Season. Hansard is also the leader of the Irish band The Frames.

Here is a You Tube of The Swell Season perfoming the song on the David Letterman show.

In our audio visual collection we have the 2007 film Once. We also have the movie soundtrack (which I have checked out as of this writing). In coming months we will be acquiring more CDs from The Frames and The Swell Season. Look for them on the New CD list at the AV desk on the first floor.

Don't forget to come to the American Idol final performance party in the large meeeting room on Tuesday, May 19 at 7:00 pm. There will be prizes including ipod shuffles. Who do I want to see as the next American Idol? look at the top of the page.