Tuesday, May 4, 2010

More American Idol; or, Being a brief update on Lee DeWyze

Mount Prospect native Lee DeWyze continues his trek on American Idol tonight when the Top 5 perform Frank Sinatra songs with Harry Connick Jr as the mentor. In the previous four weeks of the competition Lee has always been one of top performers each night. For Beatles week he sang "Hey Jude," where he was joined by a bagpipe player for the last part of the song. The bagpiper player threw the judges off and was definitely a surprise, but it also made him stand out. During Elvis week he performed "A Little Less Conversation." Paul Simon's "The Boxer" was his pick during the inspirational songs week (in support of Idols Give Back), which all the judges said was his best performance ("Treat Her Like a Lady" remains my favorite performance of his or any contestant from this season). Last week the Top 6 sang from the Shania Twain songbook in what was probably the best overall performance night of the season. Lee took on "You're Still The One," and although I think he started out shaky, I really enjoyed how he updated the song. Crystal Bowersox and Lee are the only contestants who have never been in the bottom three on results night. If Lee makes it to the Top 3 some sort of parade-concert-celebration will be held in Mount Prospect! Right now I don't see anyone taking Lee's spot in the Top 3. I think it will be Lee and Crystal in the finale.

If you're a big American Idol fan like me, check out these Lee DeWyze articles from the Daily Herald and American Idol photo galleries from ew.com:

Newspaper stories written about Lee DeWyze:
Area citizens can show their support for 'Idol's' Lee DeWyze
Mt. Prospect is proud of Lee ... but is it ready for this?
DeWyze almost ditched 'American Idol' audition
Mount Prospect native's 'Idol' contract means death of band
Lee tees are all the rage at Prospect High School

More on American Idol from awesome Entertainment Weekly writer and obsessive AI fan Michael Slezak:
The 20 Best Performances Ever
13 Most Awkward Mentor Moments
20 Songs We'd Ban from the Show Forever!
American Idol Grads: Your Next Favorite Song?
Catching up with 13 Former Contestants!

(sorry for the poor quality graphic. My Vote 4 Lee t-shirt was a little wrinkled when I took a picture of it before I left the house this morning!)