Allison Iraheta is an amazing show-business package. Look past the surface -- the big hair, the bigger voice and the leather jackets -- and you have someone who just turned 17, by way of 13. She's the kewpie doll of rock, Shirley Temple gone punk. And she has the voice to match the flash and flair.
Now, inexplicably, she's gone. Allison never seemed to engage the little girls with telephones. She spent a lot of time in the bottom two or three, then was bounced tonight.
Here are a few of my comments; please add yours:
1) That puts Allison at fourth, which is, of course, an honored spot. It's been the spot of Chris Daughtry and LaToya London and Tamyra Gray and LaKisha Jones and now Allison.
2) Daughtry was terrific, as usual, in his guest spot tonight. No Doubt was fine, too.
3) And Paula Abdul? She said it all with one line from the song: "I'm only here to dance." She did a dandy dance routine -- much better than most people can expect to do at age 46; we also heard some singing that she may have recorded herself, sometime previously.
4) Danny Gokey should have gone tonight, but we can't help liking the guy. There he was, mocking his own primal scream from the night before: "My own aunt muted the TV." He's a good guy, just not one of the three best singers.
5) Kris Allen? Every time we have doubts, he seems to have them, too. He flashes that wonderfully apologetic smile; little girls run to the phone.
6) Adam Lambert? This guy needs no doubts. He is THE talent of this or any season.
7) These make-up people have immense skill. One clever touch with Allison is to give her clear lipstick, contrasting perfectly with the bright hair. It's all part of her fascinating look.
8) Then why is she gone? In part, blame pageant syndrome: When people start performing so early, they never really develop a personality beyond the song. Allison was singing in public at 4, won a national Telemundo contest at 14. She has it all, except the personal backdrop to go with it.
9) But hey, the same thing was true of Diana DeGarmo and David Archuleta, both of whom made it to second place; Allison had to settle for fourth in a tough year.
10) Speaking of surprises, catch this one for a moment: This week, Constantine Maroulis received a Tony nomination for best leading actor in a musical. Yes, Constantine -- No. 6 back in the 2005 "Idol" -- is on a new Tony list that includes (in various categories) Jeff Daniels,Angela Lansbury, James Gandolfini, Jane Fonda and Stockard Channig. Life is full of odd twists.
I liked Chris Daughtry's response when asked by Ryan how he felt when he heard he was bounced in Season 5 at spot #4. He said he felt the world was over . . . for about 30 seconds. Didn't he get a job offer from the band 'Fuel' that very night? That should make Allison feel okay about leaving. I bet she's being approached by groups and recording execs as I type.
I agree that Danny should have been the one to go based on vocals. He was noticeably pitch-challenged both Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Paula performance was a mistake. They kept the stage dark, they never closed in on her face and they didn't talk to her immediately afterwards like they do other singers. It left us wondering if that was really her doing the dancing and lip synching.