American Idol Season 9 - TOP 11 Results

American Idol said goodbye to Paige Miles and finalized the Top 10. That's the group that goes on tour and from which most every single successful Idol alum has sprung. (Has anyone been in the Top 12 or 24 and made waves that didn't make it to the Top 10?) So going on tour is:

Crystal Bowersox
Aaron Kelly
Casey James
Siobhan Magnus
Michael Lynche
Lee Dewyze
Didi Benami
Tim Urban
Katie Stevens
Andrew Garcia
And no, that order is not random. That's roughly how I think they'll stack up in the weeks to come, with Crystal and Aaron in the finale.
The show began with a shocker: at 8:02 I thought I spotted someone in the audience so excited about Idol that she didn't realize her nose was bleeding. Turns out friends of Siobhan had dressed up as zombies.

The Idol kids sang another horrific lip-sync singalong, this time to the awesome pop classic "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham. (My favorite version of that tune came in Central Park of New York City. I was walking through it on a summer's day with my father and brother when a homeless man appeared, clutching a boombox to his ear, even though I don't believe it was turned on. He started bopping up and down and suddenly squealed out, "Wake me UP before you go go!" over and over as he walked through the grass. Only in New York, as Cindy Adams would say.)
But why are they still doing lip-syncs? And why do the worst singers always tend to be the best lip-syncers? There's a lesson in there somewhere. Lee Dewyze looked miserable the entire night. He looked miserable during the sing-along, during the chat with Ryan, during the elimination round and at the finale.
And Ryan touched on a nerve by showing footage of Michael Lynche walking out of his apartment with his son. Ryan described him as "babysitting." Uh, you don't "babysit" your own son. Just one more example of society's deep prejudice against men as parents.
Anyway, that was followed by a notably awkward elimination. Ryan stood up Lee and Casey on one side and Paige and Tim on the other. Paige was finally told she was in the bottom three. But as Tim started to sit down he was anti-climatically told that he was in the bottom three as well. But Ryan forgot to tell Lee and Casey they were safe so they stood there awkwardly even as the show cut to a break.
Miley Cyrus performed her dramatic ballad "When I Look At You" after Ryan informed us that next week's genre was r&b/soul and the mentor would be Usher. Miley off-handedly said the audience had given Miley the first standing ovation in her life. Ryan found that hard to believe, as did I, but she seemed pretty sincere.
Andrew Garcia and Katie Stevens faced off, with Andrew (barely) safe and Katie in the bottom three. Katie was immediately made safe. Then Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato (Camp Rock!) sang a weak inspirational tune called "Make A Wave." Still, the show has definitely been booking very young-leaning guests and mentors this season. Finally, to no one's surprise, Paige went home, with the judges politely telling her even before she sang that they wouldn't use their save.