http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jnYazWy0S3SgFQai-zX-VAG1EVlgD90C0PQG0

Paula Abdul left 'empty' by song that wasn't

By JOSH L. DICKEY - 34 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Paula Abdul must be hearing double.

On a night when "American Idol" switched up the judges' format by making them hold their appraisals until every contestant had a turn, Abdul offered feedback Tuesday for two songs by Jason Castro - except that he'd only sung one.

Unlike the usual format, in which each "Idol" performance is judged immediately, Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell were made to take notes, then offer individual critiques in rapid succession at the end of each round. The reason, Seacrest explained, was because "this show is so tight."

So after each of the final five contestants sang one Neil Diamond song, Jackson zipped through his appraisals, offering a few terse words for each before kicking it to a visibly flustered Abdul.

"Oh gosh, we've never had to write these things down ... fast enough," she began, shuffling through her notecards. "Jason, first song, I loved hearing your lower register, which we never really hear, um ... ."

And that's where it started going off the rails.

"The second song, I felt like your usual charm wasn't - it was missing for me. It kind of left me a little empty."

Indeed.

All six people on stage, including Seacrest, stared blankly (except Syesha Mercado, who wore the furrowed brow of mystification).

"The two songs," she continued, "made me feel like you're not fighting hard enough to get into the top four."

After a smattering of nervous crowd laughter, Jackson finally broke the tension.

"That was just on the first song," he said sheepishly, pointing up to Castro. "Just on the first one."

Simon Cowell closed his eyes and shook his head, and began to guffaw as Abdul's confusion mounted.

"Oh my god, I thought you - I thought you sang twice!" she said.

She explained that she got confused by looking ahead at the notes for David Cook.

At that point Seacrest, who makes his money by smoothing over situations just such as these, pointed to Abdul, saying: "You're seeing the future, baby!" before cutting her off and throwing to Cowell.

Even Cowell gathered himself to help patch up the moment, patting Abdul on the shoulder and asking, as if to speed things along, "Paula, who was your favorite?"

Her reply: Cook (the same contestant whose performance she supposedly noted as having left her "empty").

Pressed for time, Cowell then put an end to the awkward-fest by bursting into his own rapid-fire valuation: "Jason, forgettable; David Cook, just above average; Brooke (White) a nightmare; David Archuleta, I thought it was amateurish; and Syesha, I thought it was old-fashioned.

"So guys ... I want to see the performance of a lifetime coming up," he said, as if to ensure absolute clarity, "the second time around."

Abdul told "Entertainment Tonight" after the show that she was thrown for a loop when producers apprised the judges of the change "in the dark" at the last minute.

"This was officially the strangest show we've ever done," Cowell said at the conclusion of the telecast, "but I like that. It's kind of a bit chaotic tonight."

http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=6422542&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Blue Springs Plans American Idol Event for David Cook

Last Edited: Tuesday, 29 Apr 2008, 4:44 PM CDT

Created: Tuesday, 29 Apr 2008, 4:44 PM CDT

BLUE SPRINGS, MO. -- FOX 4 has learned American Idol producers have been in contact with the City of Blue Springs and the Blue Springs Chamber of Commerce. They are planning a hometown event to honor David Cook on Friday, May 9. Specific details are still being worked out.

Cook would be flown in to attend the event as American Idol cameras roll on his hometown footage.
According to officials in Blue Springs, they were told this is the farthest out Idol producers have ever planned for a hometown event. That would suggest his vote totals are high enough each week that Idol officials think it's very likely he'll make it to the top three contestants.

We're told a community pep rally and parade are being planned among other things.

Of course, all this hinges on David Cook making the final three. Tuesday night, he'll sing Neil Diamond along with the other contestants.

At a watch party on Tuesday night in Blue Springs, the Chamber of Commerce is getting a banner printed up that everyone can sign. The party is from 6:30-8:00 at SidePockets.

FOX 4 and myfoxkc.com will continue to have complete coverage of Blue Springs, Missouri native David Cook as he tries to become the next American Idol.

http://www.antimusic.com/news/08/april/29Idol_Fix_Exposed.shtml

Quote:(antiMusic) Idolator smells a conspiracy under foot on American Idol and they say they found proof that the fix is in. And it all revolves around Paula Abdul! Of course the very idea of someone like Abdul judging singing talent would make anyone suspicious. Ol' Paula made a major boo boo bice during Tuesday night's broadcast. Here is what Idolatory had to say about it:
Paula Abdul's stupor may have pulled back the curtain on the plot to destroy Jason Castro tonight-it was the first night that the contestants sang two songs each, so they ran through all their initial performances, then came out to be judged at the end of the first half-hour.

And Paula used this opportunity to tell Jason, who went first, that while she liked the use of his lower vocal register on "Forever In Blue Jeans," his second song "felt like your usual charm was missing for me... it left me a little empty. The two songs made me feel like you're not fighting hard enough to get into the top four." But he only performed one song! Apparently those second-song comments were meant for David Cook-but then when Paula "recovered" to give Cookie her critique.

Paula Explains Her 'Idol' Misunderstanding!

Posted April 29, 2008 7:59:00 PM
See All: american idol paula abdul

© 2008 Michael Buckner / Getty Images

"The Insider" has the scoop.

Just in: PAULA ABDUL talks exclusively to "The Insider" about her misunderstanding on Tuesday night's "American Idol" performance show!

Discussing the small slip of the tongue she experienced while assessing finalist JASON CASTRO's first performance, Paula explains: "It got very confusing ... the producers come up to us in the dark and said, 'We are not going to have you guys judge after each performer, we are going to have all the performers go once, then twice and at the end critique them.'"

Surprised by the last minute switch in judging procedures, Paula recounts, "I am feverishly trying to write notes for every performance."

And when host RYAN SEACREST asked the judges to quickly sum up the performances, Paula explains that she was trying organize her notes, saying, "I was trying to give my critique for Jason Castro, and scribbled Jason's name, and that was DAVID [COOK]'s! ... We all just screwed up everything." She adds with a laugh: "This is live television. This is fun!"