"Idol"s Three Groups of Three

After a strange performance by Kenny Rogers where he treated the microphone like it was contagious, Ryan eliminated another contestant on “American Idol.”

And he used his famous three groups of three technique that usually produces a shocker—and tonight was no different.

It was no surprise that Taylor, Kellie and Chris were the safe group and logic would say that Ace, Katharine and Bucky were the bottom three. But I just knew that wasn’t going to be the case—and I was right. The bottom three were Mandisa, Elliott and Paris. And after that grouping, there was really no surprise to me that Mandisa went home (The studio audience apparently didn’t agree because there was total silence after she got the news.).

But did she go home solely based on her performance? Maybe not.

Mandisa caught some flack last week, not for her choice of a gospel song, but for what she said before her performance: “This song goes out to everybody that wants to be free. Your addiction, lifestyle or situation may be big, but God is bigger.” Her use of the word lifestyle and her listing of a conservative Christian lecturer as her personal idol angered some fans. I can’t help but think that had some impact.

As for why Elliott and Paris were in the bottom three, I think people are either tired of hearing “How Do I Live” or they’re tired of Paris’ cutesiness. And maybe there are other people out there who find Elliott as boring as I do.

And again, Bucky proves he has an amazing legion of fans.

So, next week it’s the music of Queen. Personally, I think this album hawking has gone too far. I mean, do we really want to hear someone else sing “Bohemian Rhapsody”? That’s Constantine’s song!

And did Queen actually have eight songs? I guess we’ll see.