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April 12, 2006

AI 5 : 8 to 7 + Results 
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The theme was Queen and immediately I was scared for Taylor and Elliott. Even for Bucky, a little bit. But what a waste of worries you know.

Generally the Queen surviving members (the best and greatest being the excellent Freddie Mercury having died from AIDS years ago, the other 2 were simply well surviving members) were rather polite in their comments but they put their foot down and kept saying NO to changing the musical arrangements when Ace kinda suggested it for We Will Rock You.

Anyway QUeen's songs aren't exactly easy to sing, not because only Queen can sing it but because it involves a wide range of tones, tunes and what nots. After all, Freddie Mercury alone sang Bohemian Rhapsody which in today's world needs like 10 people to sing. Remember Constanstine's take on the same song last year? Great? I thought so too but he did not even begin to sing the soprano-operatic ish middle section of the song. Needless to say, there was only ONE Freddie Mercury.

So I was scared for everybody.

Bucky did not disappoint. He gave it his all, for the first time did not mumble the lyrics and gave Queen's song a unique twist; country rock. I thought he gave his best performance tonight and Queen's members said he was a true performer and I can't help but agree. And he looked handsome tonight.

Ace who sang We Will Rock You was well in his own standard very brave and gave it his all. He changed the arrangement a bit but frankly he did not have the power voice to rock us all. He fell flat but seriously his best effort in terms of originality and bravery in instructing the members to rearrange the song. How dare he!

Chris Daughtry was the first to get the Queen's stamp of approval and he was called great. And I wonder why....Simon said he was too indulgent and he did a little known Queen song. Frankly I thought he shouted way too much and did the minimum of singing. But I figure rather him be the bland him than to copy someone else's style. Not that he has the capabilities to copy Freddie Mercury because if he did and did it well, I would say let him win AI. Anyway a poor mediocre noisy performance. I suspect the band did not help either.

Katharine was well...Katharine. She screamed and screamed and screamed some more whilst smiled a little during the entire scream fest...she was truly horrible.

Who else?

Ah yes..Elliott. Very worried for him but I needn't be. I am beginning to love this guy because yes his voice was the best. I can't remember which song he sang and again 3rd famous personality to comment that he needs to input feelings into his songs! Yeah he can be pretty cold in his interpretation but damn it! His voice was top class and he came close to Freddie Mercury, his ability to manipulate and sang the changing tunes, tones and whatever. An amazing display of vocal chords and singing skill and I thought Elliott could perhaps be the best tonight. And reportedly the song he sang was the most difficult one. He always chose difficult songs and though the AI band was truly horrible (AI PLEASE SACK THEM ALL!) and almost made him sound horrible, he rose above the occasion and above the loud music to sing to us all why he is still in the competition despite his not so good looking looks, bad image consultants and of course non existing stage performance. He practically stood there and just sang but this man really truly has the golden voice.

Kellie did Bohemian Rhapsody to the same lightning as Constanstine and she did well but I couldn't say since ASTRO cut off her performance for reasons I did not know.

Paris was the last and it felt weird to dress her up as a rock chick together with cleavage and all when she is so young. I didn't like her image. The Queen members called her the best, awesome, totally blown away by her. Again AI band spoilt it all and she sounded off as rather repetetive but truly very good vocal performance.

My favourite performance in terms of performance and singing and overall package was Taylor. After last week's awful performance, he bounced back. He at first chose We Are The Champions and Queen members said he has an unique voice and they thought he was great. Then Taylor made a drastic change and decided to be fun and be himself and exactly as predicted by my sister, he sang A Crazy Little Thing Called Love, or something like that. I know this song well, it is playful song. He went into high gear, kicking, running, dancing, singing and yet managed to give this song an uplift; it became a pseudo Ray Charles-50s-Buddy Holly version with soul and it made me love the song all over again. He ended it his way, with a twist and I will have to say; I just love this Taylor that I see. An amazing performance throughout and I felt stupid for worrying. Thinking he would die. Maybe he will die in a Michael Learns To Rock night. You missed the performance? Well maybe not watch it since Simon is right to ask "Taylor, are you drunk?". So do the next best thing and the only way to hear why Taylor Hicks is the true American Idol; hear it in MP3!

Download Taylor's version
Note : Taken from Gray Charles
URL :http://media.point2e.com/idol_th_crazy.mp3

Download Queen's original version
URL : http://media.point2e.com/idol_ori_crazy.mp3

What a night! Totally enjoyed it. But who will be kicked out?

My prediction is Katharine. I thought she was horrible. Ace would be a close second but why do I have this feeling Bucky may be the one?

Anyway I hope there will be a Bee Gees night.

RESULTS
Noooooooooo! Noooooooooooooooooo! Noooooooooooooooo! Why?!?!??!?!??!? WHY?!?!?!?!? It shouldn't have been Bucky! Maybe next show but now now!! Why?!??!?!?!??!??! Next week Rod Stewart but SO WHAT? SO WHAT?!? But Taylor...hmm what will he sing? I think he will do great since Rod Stewart's songs are right up his alley.

But BUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 COMMENTS

 Anonymous writes ...

Bucky's not the greatest singer on the show (he doesn't have the pipes of Elliot and Chris), but he's the most genuine. That's why I like him. He's very unpretentious. I really like the intro in the beginning were the writer take a short at the fake Kellie.

Bucky's interviews. You can see how genuine he is by his answers.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1528648/index.jhtml

Bucky Tells Elliott: 'Don't Worry, I'll See You Next Week'
04.13.2006

'Idol' contestant Covington was eliminated Wednesday.

Bucky Covington, a smoky-voiced country-rock singer from Rockingham, North Carolina, won over America with a Southern charm somewhere between Bo Bice's humble confidence and Kellie Pickler's uh ... innocence. He was shockingly good at Stevie Wonder, a little disappointing during country week, and then back to full strength with Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" this week. The judges dug it, but not enough voters.

Q: Does it feel better or worse that you were eliminated in a week where your performance was solid?

A: It's better. You know, I'd rather leave on a high note than a low note. If I'm not gonna win it,
eight's just as good as four to me. I feel pretty good about it. Seems like a lot of people are like,

"Oh, I didn't think you shoulda went." I'd rather have 'em say, "I didn't think you'd make it this far."

Q: Were you considering any other Queen songs?

A: "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," the one Taylor [Hicks] switched to. I don't know, Kid Rock had a version of it and everything and it was a fun song. I had a fun time doing it.

Q: So if Kid Rock is your idol, how come you never sang any of his tunes?

A: I actually entered some in, but they didn't clear. That's cool, though.

Q: Do you think performing in bars in the past gave you an edge?

A: I'll put it this way: It gives you an edge as far as your voice being strong. When you're used to
playing every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night in a smoky little bar, a minute and a half every week is nothing, even with rehearsals. But while I may have had an edge to that end, someone might have had an edge with working with vocal coaches or whatever.

Q: How did you feel when the twin-swapping story came out this week (see "Report: 'Idol' Finalist
Bucky Covington Duped Police To Help Twin")? Do you think it might have hurt you in the votes?

A: First thing I thought was they're trying to pull up dirt on me and all they got is a car wreck in '88. They aren't looking hard enough. It's hard to say, though.

Q: Your twin Rocky sings too. How come he didn't audition for "Idol"?

A: Actually Rocky did try out, but he got cut in the first round. We thought about trying out together, but I didn't want to try out as a gimmick. I wanted me doing what I do, I didn't want a story.

Q: Do you ever look at the different message boards and things about the contestants?

A: I look at 'em every so often. It's amazing how some people can love you so much and somebody else
can hate your guts. But thank God people are different, 'cause if we were all the same, we'd be living
in Rockingham, listening to country. And that'd be too crowded for me. If you hate my guts and love someone else, then thank you for making their dreams come true.

Q: Who are you going to miss the most?

A: Buddywise, I'm gonna have to go with Elliott Yamin. He was my best buddy through this whole thing.
Actually I was leaving last night and he was like, "Man, I'm gonna miss you." And I said, "Don't
worry, I'll see you next week." I was just kidding with him.

9:02 am, April 17, 2006  

 Anonymous writes ...

Entertainment Weekly's Interview with Bucky:

After last week's shocking elimination of early front-runner Mandisa, this week's American Idol
results show proved a tad less suspenseful. EW.com readers overwhelmingly predicted in our weekly poll that either Ace Young (43%) or Bucky Covington (40%) would get the boot ?and indeed, it was the latter singer who received the lowest number of viewer votes (with Ace landing alongside him in the bottom three). Still, while surprises were in short supply on the Idol stage Wednesday night, Bucky more than made up for it in a one-on-one interview with EW.com on Thursday afternoon. So if you're curious about the secret to Bucky's laid-back demeanor, the truth about his 1998 run-in with the law, or what possessed him to emulate Jessica Simpson's hairstyle during Stevie Wonder week, then by all means, read on.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Last night Simon said he thought it would be Ace going home, and prior to this week, he's been pretty accurate in his predictions. Did you feel at that point like you'd be surviving
another week?

BUCKY COVINGTON: A lot of people had come up and said they thought it might be [Ace]. But you know, votes come in. Yeah, maybe I felt a little bit better when Simon said that, but not really. Either it was gonna be me or it was gonna be him or it was gonna be Elliott. I was cool with it, and I felt like I pulled out on a good note. I'd rather pull out on a song I did pretty good on than a song I did awful on.

Throughout the season, you came across as one of the most laid-back Idol contestants ever, like you were just up there having a good time in spite of the pressure-cooker situation. Are you really as relaxed as you seem?

Oh, yeah. I learned two words a long time ago that help out a lot: ''Screw it.'' If something's bothering you, don't dwell on it. Just let it go. Worrying ain't gonna do nothing but make it worse. I don't get stressed out. At all. Ever. [Laughs] It takes up too much time. I'd rather laugh and have fun.

Did that attitude help you when it came time for the judges' comments?

Of course, I was able to write 'em off if I didn't like 'em. When they said something that I could work with, I definitely worked with it. But if you just want to try to be mean to me or whatever, I just write it off. You're just trying to sell a TV show. I know that, and you know that.

I know this week Court TV reported the news about you and your identical twin brother, Rocky, having a run-in with the law back in 1998, where you had been arrested for impersonating him at the scene of a car accident he had while driving with a suspended license. I know it was relatively innocuous in terms of Idol scandal, but do you think that hurt you in any way?

I'd like to say no, it didn't hurt me. But I did get voted off, so it very may well have. I'd hope not, over a little silly car accident thing. It's just a shame they had to bring something like that up from eight years ago.
Well, with the show being the phenomenon it is, I guess it was inevitable. If they're looking for dirt on me and all they found was a car accident in 1998, they're not looking hard enough. [Laughs.]


Want to come clean with anything right now?

I ain't really got no dirt on me ?or I was good at getting away with it.

So people still need to keep digging.

Exactly ?I'm not going to give it to you.

So while we're talking about your twin brother, any reason we didn't see Rocky audition with you, when this season we saw so many other sets of twins try out together?

I didn't want to come in with a gimmick, a bad story about my family, or ''I'm a twin.'' People use all different stories to get publicity right off the bat. Hey, it's a good idea ?get it how you can get it ?but it's just not what I wanted to do. My brother actually wanted to try out together, but I didn't want the whole twin gimmick.

Do you think he'll audition next year?

Yes. I think he'll actually make [the age limit] by one month. Hopefully he'll get practiced up and maybe go further than I did.

It's interesting you mention other people had family stories or twins or whatnot. We didn't really get
to know much about you personally till later in the competition. The first time they showed your wife
in the audience, I said, ''Hey! Bucky's married?'' Do you think that hurt you at all, that we didn't find out a lot about your backstory?

I'm sure it hurt me. I'm sure it hurt me a great deal. A lot of contestants, people started finding out who they were as soon as the show came on. By the time they started showing me, I had to change a lot of people's minds who were already full-fledged fans of someone else. That makes it a little tougher for me to compete against.

Did you ever surf the Web looking at different message boards and fan sites to find out what viewers
were thinking? And how did you deal with the criticism there?

As far as my support base, the numbers are huge and there's nobody mean. Everybody says something nice. But then some people just hate my guts. Which is cool. As long as you vote for somebody. You ain't got to like me. I think there are better ways to word it. If you worded it nicer, you'd probably be taken more seriously. But if you're writing something just to be mean, everybody sees that: You're just trying to be rude. It kills you a little bit, but thank God people are different. If not, we'd all live in the same place and listen to the same music. And it'd get real crowded, y'know?

What does your wife make of your newfound fame and the Idol experience?

Well, you know, she's divorcing me. [Laughs] No, I'm kidding. She's doing all right, she helps me out in all kinds of ways. Last night I only got two hours of sleep, and she stayed up all night packing my clothes up for me because I had such a busy day today.

Any one performance this season you wish you'd had a chance to do over?

''Oh Boy'' [during 1950s week]. I kind of wish I wouldn't have done it. Or I think I could've done a better job with it.

What went wrong?

I have no idea, really. When I first heard the song, I was ready to go with it. I don't know if I
lived through it so many times I finally got tired of it. When it came time to do it, I just wasn't
feeling it. I wasn't real happy with the outfit I had, just nothing felt right. And I think it showed.

Speaking of your image, I know you took some heat in the first week of finals when you sang ''Superstition,'' because you were sporting a hairstyle that Simon compared to Jessica Simpson's. I know we never saw that look on you again, so was that a stylist-driven decision?

Of course! I sat down in the chair ?it was our first time with a stylist. He was like, ''Have you got any ideas?'' And I was like, ''I just grew it. You went to school for it, so do what you can.'' And then they fluffed it out like that. The whole time before I went on, I was like, ''Does this look too poufy? Too big?'' [All the contestants] were like ''No, no, no, no. It looks good.'' And after I got
done I remembered, Oh yeah, this is a competition. [Laughs] It was either all the way or nothing, so
after that I took care of my hair myself.

What did they use to achieve that unfortunate look?

They took a couple curling irons, flat irons, all kinds of irons. [Laughs]

On a more positive note, what's the one song you want to be remembered for performing?

As far as songs I enjoyed doing, I liked ''Best I Ever Had'' during country week. Garth Brooks'
''Thunder Rolls,'' and ''Wave on Wave,'' I had a great time doing those. ''Real Good Man,'' too. I
liked all the country ones I did.

What made you pick ''Fat Bottomed Girls'' this week?

Actually, my wife recommended it. Then I remembered Kid Rock had done a version of it, and I like him a lot, so I listened to his version, listened to Queen's version, then made mine. If I had to do it all over again, I'd do that song again. I might get voted off again, too, but I'd probably still have done it.

What do you see in your future? I know you said last night that it's not about getting rich and famous, but could you ever go back to a day job at this point?

I've got to pursue the singing thing. I've done come too far now to just throw it away.

Will you be sticking with the country genre?

Yeah, I'm sticking with country.

Prior to last night, you were in the bottom three several other times: Did you ever start to get
discouraged, feel like it was a foregone conclusion that you weren't going to win? Or did you keep believing in your chances to be the next American Idol?

It was kind of mixed. I felt positive sometimes. But definitely you get into the bottom three and it kills your self-confidence a bit.

Be honest: Now that you've been eliminated, who do you think is going to win this season?

If I have to give you my honest opinion, I know you'll think I'm crazy, but I think the lead changes
weekly. After every audition every week, there's a different leader. Sometimes the leader has been in
the bottom three, they maybe just get through one week, and then two weeks later, they'll be on top. I
really think it's that close.

Fair enough, but let's say tomorrow turned into Freaky Friday, and you were going to wake up with another contestant's singing voice: Who would it be and why?

Being the kind of music I do, the only other contestant who'd do that kind would be Taylor, so I'd
have to pick him. Not that he's any better than anyone else there.

How diplomatic! Okay, let's try something else: Any question you've been dreading being asked all day?

''How do you feel?'' You know, there's so many emotions running through you. But right now, I'm
actually pretty happy. I'm excited to see what's coming up for the next five years. I had a good time
on the show; now I get to go home and see the family and pat my dog on the head. Last night I was a
little bummed out about getting voted off, but as soon as I went to the kiss-off dinner, I felt great about it. Like I say, I'd rather leave on this note than a bad one.

Tell me specifically about the kiss-off dinner. Anything memorable that your fellow contestants had to say?

Actually, the way I am, everything's a joke with me. I told 'em a long time ago, I'm pulling out of this thing at number eight.

9:25 am, April 17, 2006  

 Anonymous writes ...

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1528396/20060411/index.jhtml?headlines=true

Report: 'Idol' Finalist Bucky Covington Duped Police To Help Twin
04.11.2006 11:55 AM EDT

'American Idol' hopeful deceived state trooper to spare brother a possible prison stint.

Back in 1998, in what sounds like a scene lifted straight from "The Parent Trap," "American Idol" finalist Bucky Covington deceived a North Carolina state trooper to spare his twin brother, Rocky, a
possible prison stint. According to CourtTV.com, the identical Covington boys pulled it off, too —
but not without first being arrested on charges of hit and run, resisting a public officer, giving fictitious information to a public officer, driving with a suspended license and leaving the scene of an accident.

CourtTV.com reports that on February 25, 1998, Gene Covington, Bucky's father, was sitting on his
motorcycle, waiting to make a left turn into his driveway, which is situated near the crest of a hill
in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Behind him, sitting at the wheel of Bucky's truck, was Rocky, waiting to make that same turn.

While the Covingtons waited for a break in oncoming traffic, high school student Ryan Roller was
driving up the hill toward them in his father's truck; he did not notice the vehicles were stopped in
the lane on the other side of the hill until it was too late. Roller slammed on his brakes and skidded
into the back of Bucky's pickup. No one was injured, but the accident resulted in more than $4,000 in damages to the vehicles.

Rocky (who was 20 at the time of the incident) had previously had his license suspended for speeding, drinking while driving and driving with a revoked license. With police en route, the elder Covington, in an effort to spare Rocky a stint in jail, summoned Bucky, who had an almost spotless driving record, to the accident scene. When police arrived, Bucky claimed that he'd been the one driving the truck at the time of the collision in order to keep Rocky out of trouble. Roller was urged to cooperate and did — for the time being.

According to CourtTV.com, Roller later confessed the whole plot to his father, who then contacted
Bucky's father. When the two dads couldn't come to an agreement on who'd be paying for repairs to the
damaged trucks, Roller's father called the police. Not long after, a Richmond County District Court
judge issued a warrant for Bucky's arrest — he was charged with resisting an officer and giving
fictitious information to a public officer. Rocky was also booked on driving with a suspended license,
leaving the scene of an accident and hit-and-run charges.

Last July, the Covington twins were tried in court, but the case tripped up when Roller was asked to
point out the brother who'd been driving the truck he rear-ended. "I picked out the wrong one," he told CourtTV.com. "That was bad." The judge subsequently dismissed all charges.

"We couldn't say which one did what," explained Lewis Fadely, the prosecutor who handled the case. "In a criminal trial, you have to be able to say, 'The defendant did this, this and this.' We couldn't.

They looked so gosh darn the same."

Bucky Covington is one of eight contestants remaining in this year's "American Idol" finals. The
winner will be crowned May 24.

9:29 am, April 17, 2006