Canadian Idol - Episode 12

Sorry I missed last week, but moving the family took all my time from Sunday to Wednesday.

Yeah, I’m as shocked as you by Paul’s eviction. Paul Clifford was one of the top three voices in the competition, the favorite of even other contestants. Canada is the poorer.

So we’re down to the final 16. By the end of the results show on Wednesday we’ll be down to the top 10.

Paul Clifford fan Martin Kerr does Coldplay’s Fix You. A strong vocal, as always, but he makes the mistake of trying to spar with the judges when Jake and Zack question his star power. You can’t ever win a star power argument about yourself, Martin. Ever.

Theo Tams does Bubbly as just what it is – bumble gum sweet enough to cause major tooth decay. He has the band surrounding him onstage and it is a comfortable yet compelling number. Zack didn’t care for the performance, but every other judge did.

Amberly Thiessen suffers a bit by coming right after Tams. In the first place, she’s not near the singer Tams is, and in the second, she sings Jason Mraz’s You and I, Both, a song with a lot of stylistic similarities to Bubbly. Ah, well. Nothing anybody could do about it. She takes some criticism, but Zack advocates for her to make the top 10.

Adam Costelli updates the Tim Hardin chestnut If I Were a Carpenter. Great arrangement, but poor Adam goes flat on the money notes and he just cannot generate any charisma. I’m picking Adam to be eliminated this week. Remember the van, Adam? Get some good blues players behind you and get out on the road.

Marie-Pierre Bellrose tries Piece of My Heart, using the Big Brother and the Holding Company arrangement. Jake thought it, “Shouty.” Duh. And John Phillips Sousa is “Marchy.”

I finally realized who Omar Lunan reminds me of vocally – Stevie Wonder. Why, then, is he doing Garth Brooks’ If Tomorrow Never Comes? Bad song choice, and the timing was all over the place. The judges aren’t all that impressed, particularly Zack.

We now have a huge Gillette product placement bit to get through; essentially a 90 second ad presented during the show as a look behind the scenes at what the contestants go through getting ready for the performance.

Take a Look at Me Now is Mark Day’s attempt to crack the top 10. I think it cracked him, instead. He won’t be around after Wednesday.

Mookie Morris does Valerie. He is nice and loose but for my money he’s getting more mannered all the time. But what do I know – the judges love him. Zack calls him, “the redemption of the evening;” Sass says, “You kill me. You’re a star.” Farley tells him,

I’m picking Adam, Mark and maybe Marie-Pierre Bellrose to lose out from this group. Of the three, I’ll miss Adam the most.