Canadian Idol 6, July 15: Ten Become Nine

The show starts with series host Ben Mulroney introducing the judges. He’ll talk with them later, but first, he cues a recap of last night’s performances, which were based on the career of David Bowie. I’m guessing you’ve already read my article on that topic, so let’s move on.

The top ten are on stage to perform a medley of Bowie’s hits. Sebastian Pigott, Theo Tams and Adam Castelli are up first, with “Golden Years,” followed by Amberly Thiessen, Mitch MacDonald, Mark Day, and Katherine St-Laurent singing “Changes.”

Then Drew Wright (on drums), Earl Stevenson, and Mookie Morris handle “Fame” nicely. Obviously, Drew is in place to start, but the other pair leap in from the top step of the Stairways To Nowhere at either side of the stage. This group might have been the best.

Finally, all ten assemble for a spirited round of “Modern Love.” Well, we finally got to hear the best of the Bowie repertoire!

The next segment features mentor Jully Black, on hand to offer encouragement to the Idols in her own special way as the enter and exit the stage for their performance.

Before he goes out, Jully poses on the back of Adam’s motorcycle. After he finishes, he runs to her to tell Jully how exciting it was and that he just conquered his self-doubt. She then she starts rhyming Mookie’s name to nonsensical words. He laughs, shyly.

She talks with Sebastian after he’s been out. Subdued, he tells her, “I arranged the whole thing. I knew it was the kind of thing that would either work, or be a complete hack job.” She responds, “For that short an amount of time, you got to pick your thing. That’s just my opinion. So, maybe just simplify.”

Jully talks with Earl, and they both talk of the difficulty they face as songwriters in their own right to sing someone else’s lyrics. Yes, but from Bowie’s lyrics, don’t fight it, just learn.

Jully jokes with Theo about his hair. As they laugh, she tells him, “Now, this is how you gotta be pre-show, though. See how you are now? I’m feeling this energy. Bring that stuff up on stage. What you project is what you reflect.”

It seems these “Jully Black All-Access Pass segments will be a feature all season long.

The following segment is actually a commercial, but in it, each Idol gets a new cell phone that includes a year of free service. That’s nice for those who are far from home.

But the time for group numbers, fun with Jully, and Idol-populated ads is over, and Ben has to get to the more serious business at hand. It’s time for the elimination!

The Idols are sitting at the side of the stage. We soon learn that Ben will address them in small groups of two or three, telling them if they are in the bottom three or not. Those who are in the bottom three must come to center stage.

Ben addresses Mitch MacDonald, Mark Day, and Earl Stevenson. He reminds us what they sang and a sampling of judges’ comments about each. In turn, all three are told they are safe.

The second group Ben addresses consists of Sebastian Pigott and Drew Wright. Drew is safe, but Sebastian is in the bottom three. By his demeanour, I think he saw it coming.

The next ones addressed are Mookie Morris and Amberly Thiessen. One of them is in the bottom three… and it’s Mookie. Amberly is safe.

This leaves us with Katherine St-Laurent, Adam Castelli, and Theo Tams in the final group. One is at risk. Theo is safe… Katherine is in the top nine… meaning Adam is the final member of the bottom three.

Note that three Ontario-based guys are in the bottom three, which is what I had predicted. Mind you, I was a bit too clever to actually name three specific Ontario guys, but there you have it.

Ben now turns to the judges and asks Jake Gold why these three guys are in the bottom three, offering a couple of suggestions. Jake responds that for him, two or three of them didn’t live up to his expectations, adding that Adam is the one of the three who did.

Farley Flex is asked if he agrees. Yes, and he adds, “Straight up, Toronto has to get out and vote.” I’d preface that by saying, “Toronto has to watch.” Although Idol is still number one in Canada, the show has fallen out of the top ten in the Toronto-Hamilton viewing region, indicating less than a quarter million viewers. We’ll see if those numbers pick up now that the finals are here. It’s very un-Toronto-ish to sweat preliminary rounds, regular season games, and the ilk.

Ben asks Sass Jordan what performances were her favourite. She cites those of Katherine, Earl, and Mookie.

Finally, Ben asks Zack Werner what the two survivors should take back from this week. He jokes (I think), “Move to another city.” He then says they need to give it everything and be as desperate as they can.

Back from the final commercial, Ben wastes little time. He tells us, Canada voted, and the one heading home tonight… is Adam Castelli. The other two are safe. A video review of Adam’s time with us is run. He tells us one thing he learned is, “Canadian Idol is not for the faint of heart, man. It’s a tough, tough competition. There’s moments when you’ll want to pack it all in, but you gotta keep on pushing, every day.” He adds that he’s seen something through that was important to him, so he’s proud of himself for doing so.

Back live, Adam thanks everyone for their support and admits he hadn’t planned on singing, so there’s no motorcycle tonight. He sings us out, and we’re done.

Time is running short. Ben tells us the performance show Monday will air one hour later than usual, at 9 PM. Next week’s theme is “The Music From Rock And Roll Heaven,” meaning… the music of dead rock stars!

The theme music sends us out, I muse that if only Gary were still here, I’m sure we’d be getting some Hendrix. But who’s going to be doing Kurt Cobain or Jim Morrison? Will “Mercedes Benz” resurface? We’ll see!

Upcoming Articles: I have a special article coming, possibly Friday or next Monday. It’s about my recent trip to Idol mansion. It’s quite different than last season’s article, focusing almost exclusively on people rather than shiny, glossy things. It will have to tide you over, because…

Next week, I’m away. There will be one article about the highlights of both on next week’s episodes, though definitely not to the usual level of detail. It won’t appear until late in the week, probably Friday. So, don’t fear when you don’t see anything from me on either Tuesday or Wednesday, I’m not forsaking my readers!

Brian can be reached at uncle_bto@rogers.com. He’d like to hear your opinions and promises to respond to all serious email!

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