American Idol Season 9 - Top 20 and counting . . .

Except for a small handful of performances, last week was a bit disappointing so I was hoping this week would be an improvement and it was!

First up, due to the unfortunate hospitalization of Cyrstal Bowersox we start with Boy's night! And what a difference a week makes.

- Michael Lynche, who btw can lift Aaron Kelly like he weighs nothing, started the show with James Brown's "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World". Smooth, soulful, likable and great Idol potential. I also really admired how he listened to the judges comments last week to improve his performance this week.

- John Park sings "Gravity" by John Mayer and although it was a huge improvement from last week, it was still just okay for me.

- Next up, Casey James sings Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Want to Be". And although he can play the guitar really well, I have to agree with Kara and Simon. American Idol is about singing and I thought he sang better last week. But he is cute, he does have that likability factor and he can play the guitar like a rock star . . . he'll be back next week.

- Alex Lambert, nerves and all, sings John Legend's "Everybody Knows" and was really very good. And can people leave his Mullet alone. I think it's cute. I think he has a distinct voice and a unique style and he can actually be a dark horse in this competition if he can control his nerves.

- Todrick Hall (the dancer) sings Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do With It". Eh...maybe I didn't like it because I'm such a huge Tina Turner fan and that's just one of those songs that needs to be sung in it's original form. I totally agree with Randy. I disagree with Ellen and Kara about encouraging him to move more because dancing is his strength. I don't think more dancing would've improved his performance.

- Jermaine Sellars, Onesies and all, performs Marvin Gaye's "What Going On". Maza with Frankie Beverly would be awesome for him to try next week. Jermaine is one of my original favorites so I hope he gets another shot.

- Andrew Garcia, sings James Morrison's "You Give Me Something". Hmmm. Andrew is one of my favorites but I wasn't fond of this performance. Maybe ever since he sang Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" I have built up high expectations. He's still one of my favorites but I think he has to find another "Straight Up" like type of performance to keep in the competition! He has a strong YouTube following so I think he's safe to stay another week.

- Aaron Kelly sings the Temptation's "My Girl". Yikes, I'm with Simon on this one.

- Tim Urban who was a last minute replacement for a booted off contestant sings Matt Nathanson's "Come On Get Higher". Once again I'm in the same camp with Simon. I thought he did way better than last week and I enjoyed his performance. He looked much more relaxed with his guitar. And he sort of reminds me of Mark Wahlberg for some reason. Not to say that I agree with Ellen that he should take up acting or star in Glee. Yuck. But with Simon's approval, I hope to see him back next week.

- And last to sing, Lee DeWyze performs Hinder's "Lips of an Angel". Lee has become one of my favorites in this competition. Love his cool look, his raspy voice and I'm also liking his song selections.

The guys overall did a thousand times better than last week. If I were to judge last night on performance alone, John Park and Aaron Kelly landed in my bottom two. My top favorite performances . . . Michael Lynch, Lee DeWyze and to my surprise Alex Lambert.

Next up Girls Night. I hope Cyrstal is better and will be able to perform.

And that's my Recap. Keep on Rocking AI . . .