After spending some splendid time in the past, "American Idol" will probably be back in the present this week.
There were great moments last week from Motown people, including Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder. This Wednesday brings the current-pop appeal of David Cook and Lady Gaga.
Meanwhile, we're kind of sorry to see Michael Sarver gone. He had to go; he simply isn't at the same level as most of the surviving eight. Still, he's an immenely likable guy; here's the brief story I wrote the day after he was ousted:
Don't expect to see Michael Sarver back on an oil rig.
Fresh from being ousted on "American Idol" Thursday, he plans to spend most of his time at home before starting rehearsals for the show's tour. Then he'll make his move.
"I've always wanted to do this music thing," Sarver said by phone Friday. "I plan on hitting it hard."
Viewers kept seeing images of a classic country guy -- a beefy oil-field worker from Jasper, Texas, with a wife and two kids. They might be surprised to learn:
-- He's been writing songs since he was 14. There are more than 890 so far, he said.
-- And they aren't country songs. When he records, "it's definitely going to be an R&B (rhythm-and-blues), pop, soul album."
Sarver has mentioned that he turned to music at 11, during a difficult family situation. Since then, he said Friday, he's had a lot to write about -- "a lot of hard-lived life and the happiness I'm now feeling."
That joy, he said, centers on his wife and their kids, ages 3-and-a-half and 2. The older daughter has had a mixed relationship with "Idol," he said.
She does like the show; "I understand she plays it back a lot." Still, she also has said she wants him back home.
Now he's going there. As he stood alongside Matt Giraud in the Thursday's final two, Sarver said, he knew he had finished last. "Matt is unbelievable .... There was no way he would be going home."
Sarver had one chance to repeat his song and convince the judges to save him. He said he felt his performance Thursday was better than Wednesday. "I was stronger. I'd definitely been dealing with some sickness this week."
Judges chose not to intervene; Sarver beamed, as he often does. He would have preferred to stay, he said, but he wasn't despondent. "That was a smile because I'm going home."