Flux Capacitor in hand, I am a day late and a dollar short - but here are my reactions to Wednesday's American Idol! My trip to Orlando was great, but now I'm back and ready to give some feedback for Queen-week. As always, the comments come before I have heard what the judges have to say. Here we go!

Queen Medley!
The night began with a medley of Queen tunes, and it was very cool. This is the kind of thing that I love to see - what a payoff for the top 6 to be able to play with a couple of rock legends.

Jessica: "Bohemian Rhapsody" - So much for finding songs that fit more her age. The triple face background vocal thing was odd and unnecessary. I always hate shortened versions of this song, so in general I didn't like this. I don't think it showed off her voice or what she's really good at. She should have sang "your my best friend" to fit with her age.

Skylar: "The Show Must Go On" - One of my favorite Queen tunes, used so well in the Moulin Rouge film. This is working for me in the same way that "The Thunder Rolls"  works for Garth Brooks. Great idea to country-fy this, and she sounds fantastic. I'm telling' you, she could take it all.

Joshua: "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" - He has to figure out how to own uptempo songs the same way that he owns gospel tinged songs. It is good, capable, but not interesting - doesn't have the same kind of levels and storytelling that he brings to the gospel songs. Or at least, the only time I've seen him do it really well was the Bruno Mars song.

Elise: "I Want It All" - This is in her sweet spot, so good for her to find a great song to rock out to that takes advantage of her natural strengths. Like Stevie Nicks on steroids, but in a good way.

Phillip: "Fat Bottomed Girls" - I thought this was great - my only wish was that he had not always come in under the pitch during the verse. But that's a tiny criticism for a fantastic performance.

Hollie: "Save Me" - A great pick for her, but not my favorite Queen song. That one bum note is going to tank it for her.

So round one is over, and out goes the Queen Theme. Now they pick whatever they want apparently. So I'm going back to my "three words or less" reviews of the performances.

Jessica: "Dance with my father" - Over this song.

Skylar: "Tattoos on the Town" - She's Opry bound.

Joshua: "Ready For Love" - Nice Off-Speed Pitch.

Elise: "Bold As Love" - Better At End.

Phillip: "The Stone" - Dave Matthews Catnip.

Hollie: "The Climb" - The right song.

Hope you enjoyed the feedback, we'll see who's left standing tonight!

Well, American Idol this week after "the big save" hopefully won't disappoint. The contestants this week will sing two songs, one from "Now" and one from R&B from the past. (Then?) Anyway, I am fighting a cold, and can't imagine really being able to offer coherent thought for two songs each. So with the second song, I am going to employ my "three words or less" feedback mechanism. Hopefully it will be something. Either way, like all the weeks, I offer my thoughts before I hear what the judges have to say about all of this. Here we go, it's a 7!

Hollie: "Rolling in the Deep" - Well, Jimmy has correctly identified the problem with Hollie - I love Adele, but no one is going to put a new spin on this song. It's good, she's got power, though she was a little sharp at times. Her aggression that she must be feeling from all these critiques seemed to get appropriately channeled through the song.

Colton: "Bad Romance" - Colton should totally tour with an all chick band. I'd come see that.This arrangement is great. It's like Lady Whitesnake. I loved the BGVs coming in and then the crunch and aggressiveness of the "la la oompa loompa" part.

Elise: "No One" Cue the wind machine! This is a good pick for her voice in that it brings a very upbeat take on her sultry voice. Only problem is that the song itself gets old after a while. I thought she did a great job. I liked it.

Phillip: "You Got It Bad" - An interpretation like this really reveals how inane the lyrics are for what passes as current R&B music. This was great - once again, Phillip turned something great out of something mediocre. Wow. I enjoyed that a lot.

Jessica: "Fallin'" - I think her hair is getting in the way of her face. Interesting, I think that this was her least convincing performance so far, almost like she was trying too hard to right the wrong of last week. I didn't get it. It wasn't until her very last notes when she smiled just a little bit, and then she was honest. I think she could be in trouble again.

Skylar: "Born This Way" - Oh snap, she's playing with the Sons of Sylvia. If you don't know who that is, well, then you didn't watch AI's attempt at doing this same show but for bands. Lady Gaga's getting some play here. This was very good, but it didn't really grab me until the ritard at the end. Then I was sold. Thankfully, I can't be in the country bandwagon since it's Lady Gaga.

Joshua: "I Believe" - As much as I don't think there's a Fantasia connection with him, this is a perfect song for him to sing. He has to get back to what makes him great - gospel hopefulness with key changes and Hallelujahs. And he was emotional without losing it - that was fantastic. (not Fantasiatic)

Three Words or Less:

Hollie: "Son of a Preacher Man" - Pink and Powerful.

Colton: "September" - Earth, Wind, Lifehouse.

Elise: "Let's Get It On" - Sexy for votes.

Phillip: "In The Midnight Hour" - Finally Dave Matthews-less!

Jessica: "Try a Little Tenderness" - Hang Tommy Hilfeger.

Skylar: "Heard it Through The Grapevine" - Hot and Sassy!

Joshua: "A Change Is Gonna Come" - Not quite church.

Random Notes:
JLo: Outfit from the future?
No guest mentor for Jimmy this week. None needed. Haven't seen Tommy Hilfiger yet either. He's like the Waldo of AI this season.
Stephen Tyler waxing philosophical on Lady Gaga's crazy: "In order to get to the other side of the shore, you gotta lose sight of this one." Well played, sir, well played.
Ryan Seacrest calling out the dying dog story out of Elisa. Like she was going to say she had an emotional rehearsal because Dick Clark passed? Weird and unnecessary.
Phillip Phillips on JLo: "She always makes me blush." Just scored thousands more female votes.
Randy is now not just dropping names, he's having actual conversations with celebrities with a pretend phone he's made with his hand. And Paula was the crazy one.
Randy "To pick up on what Steven's saying…" - impossible.
Randy is now name dropping incorrectly, as he credited Al Green instead of Marvin Gaye for writing "Let's Get It On" - but at least he realized it quickly….

Well, there you have it! Hard to pick the bottom three after Jessica got shafted last week - what's gonna happen? Will they only let one go this week? I think it might be Elise finally. Okay, there I said it. now IT's time to blow my nose and take my Nyquil.

So did you see "Blue Like Jazz" this weekend?

The Christian-ish film based on the book by Donald Miller and directed by one of my personal heroes from my alternative-Christian-music youth, Steve Taylor, opened this weekend in selected cities. It is still playing here in Naperville this week, so if you missed your chance this weekend, don't miss out before Friday movie-changeover. It's hard to know if a small indie film like this can stay in theatres long.

If you've seen it, I would love to assemble some of your reactions to it for an upcoming Pop Culture Pulpit podcast - so let me know what you liked, what you didn't like, had you read the book prior, how did it compare, and all that great stuff! Then you can hear my thoughts on the film as I incorporate your reactions to it on the podcast.

Thanks everyone! Have a great week!

Can you believe it's only been a week since we said goodbye to DeAndre and his falsetto? It's time to check out what everyone has to offer tonight, and I offer my relatively unfiltered opinions of each contestant, as always, before I've heard the judges mumble and bumble. Music from 2010 to today, and away we go!

Skylar: "Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You" - Love this girl - I don't think that the guitar held her voice back, but it didn't exactly help her, especially since the mix pulled a Linda McCartney on her playing. Jimmy is right - she is ridiculously believable. Akon is right too, but I won't repeat what I'm guessing he said. Great number.

Colton: "Love The Way You Lie" - And to think that they pretended that he didn't even want to audition at first! I like this arrangement a lot. He did well - My wife was wise to note that he's never met a final consonant that he's not pronounced. Still, he continues to impress. If Phil Phillips is the street cred version of Taylor Hicks, then Colton is the street cred version of David Cook. Yeah I said it.

Elise & Phillip: "Somebody that I Used To Know" - Shoutout to Jeremiah Higgins who thought he'd heard all the covers of this song ever. Nope! Here's one more. The Escher background was the most interesting thing about this. AI needs to remember that Glee currently owns the patent in this decade for contemporary music covers. But that being said, I love these two.

Jessica: ""Stuttering" - So if you have a stutter, does this song's chorus offend you or do you own it like a badge of courage? She's telling much more of a complete story with her choices on this one. Particularly with her facial expressions. But her off hand needs to stop stuttering. And I loved loved loved when she thought she lost her placement sitting back down on the piano and still kept singing. It was a fantastic number. This one should sell iTunes singles.

Joshua: "Runaway Baby" - I love this song, and Okay what's with the dancer? What is this, the X Factor? That carrot line is nasty. I love Joshua, I think he's fantastic, but compare his facial expressions to Jessica right before him, and what he's lacking is telling a story. This song should have much more fun visible in his face - but instead it looks like he's grunting it out. It doesn't sound like that however. It sounds incredible. If he can deliver the facial expressions, he could beat Jessica.

Colton and Skylar: "Don't You Wanna Stay" - I would like this more if the song itself wasn't so milquetoast. Yeah I said it again. At least at the beginning. It picks up steam eventually. This is the kind of country song that makes me not like country as much as I wouldn't admit to like it anyway - cause this is a pop song with a country overcoat, not actually country. I want to hear them do this song and then incorporate a mashup of "I Ran" by Flock of Seagulls as a tribute to Colton's hair. Are they dating?

Hollie: "Perfect" - I love her beginning of this song. Something is different - it actually seems like she's thrown out all the advice and is just being. The only thing I'm dreading is when the judges are going to say that "she's back!" Ugh. The sentiment of this song matches her ability to draw from her experience to be credible and believable, which is turn makes her notes all the more fantastic. When she picks songs, she needs to pick songs that are as age appropriate as this one was.

Phillip: "Give a Little More" - There's that secret again, and it's going to make me want to buy his Albums. That saxophonist looked as fake and forced as the go go dancer. I really don't have any affection for that actual song as originally recorded, and the fact that I loved that performance really speaks to how fantastic he is.

Joshua, Hollie, Jessie: "Stronger" - Yeah, cause this song needs more propping up - I don't think everyone in the universe has heard it yet. I think my life would have been just fine without any of the duets or this pseudo-trio. This actually hurts Jessica and Joshua and nearly puts the nails in the Hollie Coffin. But this song won't kill me, it will only make me… oh nev-nev-nev-never mind.

Elise: "You and I" - She's selling this pretty well - I don't think the pick is strong enough to be a show closer and because of that I think she's gonna pay for that. I am also annoyed by how plastic the BGV sounds singing their "A's"… She did well. She'll be in the bottom three, but she won't go home.

Random Notes:
Is there anything more fake than these Tommy Hilfiger costume parties?
When they say "______ is back," it's like the death knell for these contestants. They couldn't stop saying that Heejun was "back" on the week he was eliminated.
Steven Tyler: "The crows may crow, but the hens deliver the goods."
I think Steven Tyler started speaking in tongues when critiquing Colton. Seems appropriate.
Joshua gets a Happy Birthday greeting from Fantasia: "From Fantasia to Mantasia?" They really call him that? You mean calling him Flip Wilson never took off? Sexual Chocolate? Come on!
Steven Tyler: "Get the Number!" - he's so cute. He thinks people call people in 2012.
How great is it to hear a Texan with a British Accent?
JLo: "Steve McQueen and Johnny Cash had a baby" - what?

So - who's it gonna be? Is it too obvious that it's Hollie or will we have a Daughtry Surprise? Last week I thought that the judges might want to save Hollie, but after their reaction to her performance tonight, if she goes home, she goes back to Texas or England. I think the bottom three are three girls: Skylar, Elise, and Hollie.

What do you think?