Soon I'm going to have to stop watching. . .

because I just can't take it anymore. Maybe if I skip a few weeks or something. They've just got to trim the damn fat already! Get it down to people who are actually possible contenders. Eleven people still! When is it going to end?

I think Patrice Pike made a mistake by choosing to sing "Higher Ground." I also just don't like her. Don't like her voice, don't like her mouth when she sings like she's blowing bubbles in her cheeks, don't like her nonexistent moves, don't like the stupid faces she makes. Her performance tonight was totally uninspired and deflated. Talk about lackluster! And she looked crazy. It would have been better just to have Tommy Lee get up there by himself and jam. She was just an embarrassing distraction. The one good thing is that maybe she'll get kicked off now. If the at-home voting audience feels the way I feel. Obviously the judges are more lenient. Maybe they want to get rid of someone else.

Maybe they want to get rid of Josh Logan. Who did another imitation performance. But maybe he's not going anywhere yet. He did a good job imitating "Santa Ria," though, and his voice sounded nice and relaxed. He did a cute little breakdown there, too. It was a smooth little summery performance. Perfect for that bar down at the boardwalk. I don't know about a big-time arena rock band, though.

Dilana's got a really cool voice, but sometimes I can't tell where the reality of it begins and ends. She's got that gravel voice going on, and sometimes it sounds more forced into that state than other times. I'd like it if she broke out of the gravel more often, also. Riding the audience member's shoulders was a nice touch! She's clearly comfortable being a rock star. "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" is a simple song, but she did it up well. As it should be done.

Jeez, another Nirvana song? Yes, yes, "Pennyroyal Tea" is cool. But is this the fourth or the fifth Nirvana song? Toby Rand's performance was more interesting than usual, though. Not saying that much, since I think he's pretty boring, but it was a bit Police-influenced and varied a lot from Kurt Cobain's sound. I like the original version of the song, of course, but since you can't actually be another singer, I don't think you should try to sound like one, and in that respect, he did a decent job.

With her outfits, especially the cape with leopard-spotted leotard tonight, Zayra Alvarez may think she's a superhero, not a rock star. And maybe she is. I think she did a goddamned amazing job transforming "Jenny (867-5309)" into something totally new. Wow! That song is pretty tired, and she made it sound exciting. Her voice slipped around a little, as usual, but if she could hold tight on it, it works. I'd have guessed that song would be the very bottom of the pile, but the fact that she was able to change it up so incredibly earns her extra points! She's my cool pick of the week. Maybe she doesn't seem perfect for the band all the time, but she can clearly be a chameleon. I think it's rad.

It's a problem when people to sing songs that they don't really have the range for, and Magni had that problem tonight. "Clocks" is hard, because who can measure up to Coldplay? At first, it sounded like he had control of it, doing a little Bono-esque take on things. But when the keening came, he tried to do it the way it's done in the song, and he faltered. That led into a weak pre-ending. He also doesn't have the lower register to get to the "where I wanted to go," so that fell out for me. Still, he looked like he was delivering, really trying. And he's so likable. It's sweet (and a good sign for him) that they're bringing his family to him!

Ugh. Jill Gioia is just disgusting. Screaming "What's uuuup!!!!" at the beginning of "Don't You (Forget About Me)"? Gross. Get lost, you bimbo. And did she screw up the lyrics or were they just shortening the song? Here's the long and short of it: she has a good voice, she does. But the rest of her sucks. She doesn't know what the hell she's doing. She has no style or soul. It's cheap and nonsensical. It's trashy and dumb. She has no instinct and no taste. So she's my choice to get the hell out this week. It's just over with her. She's as boring and passé as acid-washed denim.

I really liked what Ryan Star showed this week. He was soulful, unique, and showed his vocal talent and piano talent on "Losing My Religion." Okay, maybe he's not so intensely skilled on the piano, but he was intense, and it was amazing.

Lukas Rossi has to break out of the little punky-goth hard-rock niche he's got himself in. I thought this was his worst performance. I was a little confused. He stepped on a lot of his lyrics, he paced---I don't know what the hell was going on. Not good.

Storm Large still seemed fake to me this week singing "Changes." Ironically enough. Ha ha. She did a good job with a little hard-to-handle vocals (if you're singing live), and yes, it was nice that she wasn't acting like a deranged freak in a Ratt video, but I still don't see her as the singer of Supernova. And I don't see enough truth and soul in there to interest me personally.

"Baba O'Riley" shouldn't be a tough song to feel, to identify with, for anyone who's gone through a teeny bit of being a young person and can understand metaphor. But Dana Andrews looked like she was acting. Her voice was good, but her faces didn't seem to be taking into account what she was singing. She also looks like she's getting a little desperate, which adds a nice desperate quality to her voice, but looks a little desperate also. I don't know. Maybe that works as being kind of natural onstage. Not trying to have everything be perfect. She wasn't the worst, anyway. Remember who that was? Remember who's got to go?

Jill Gioia.