Idol Thoughts

So, Jordin Sparks is the winner of American Idol. The long, drawn out ordeal is finally over. Well, the show is over. There's still the tour featuring the finalists that will kickoff in July. I'll pass.

And while the next season of Idol doesn't begin until January, auditions will actually start toward the end of summer.

Have they ever come to Chicago?

A few thoughts on the finale:

• I've lost whatever respect I still had for Joe Perry, after he joined Sanjaya onstage for a truly awful performance of "You Really Got Me". Perry couldn't even save himself with some hot guitar work, because the sound engineer had him barely audible.
• Pretty low of Clive Davis to barely mention Kelly Clarkson in his rundown of Idol's success stories. All over a creative tug-of-war surrounding Clarkson's new CD. Hey Clive, do you remember this girl selling 10 million Breakaway albums for your RCA label?
• Worst performance of the night? Easily Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings". And she's taking over Celine Dion's Las Vegas gig? Good luck with that, Caesars Palace.
• So, a show that really only needed to be two minutes long, instead of two hours, is so bloated with filler that they couldn't even fit the announcement of the winner into the original two hours?? You mean that gawd-awful Sgt. Pepper's tribute just had to make it to air? The show came back from what we thought was the last commercial break with about seven minutes left before 9pm (central), and the producer decides, "Ok, we could get to the announcement now, and wrap this up in perfect time...but, ah, screw it, let's get the Idol finalists up on stage with the past winners so we can hear them clod their way through a Beatles medley!" Yeah, because I was dying to hear Haley Scarnato sing "With A Little Help From My Friends".
• People that actually sounded pretty good that night: Green Day, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, and Kelly Clarkson (the only bright spot during the Beatles thing. Sweet outfit, too).
• Best promo of the night: Hell's Kitchen, returning in early June.
• Jordin winning makes the most sense. She's a much more mainstream artist than Blake. She's perfect for the role of American Idol: young, cute, big voice, broad appeal. Blake actually seemed relieved that he lost. Or at least, he's handling it very well. He's free to set up his own deal after the Idol's tour is done, and I'm actually looking forward to hearing what he comes up with for his first album. There aren't many Idol performers that have motivated me to buy their music. None, in fact. But Lewis, Elliot Yamin, and Clarkson at least have me intrigued. Does being a fan of Kathrine McPhee's (videos) count?