"Idol" update, March 1

I missed the show last night, as I was attending a meeting of our Bishop's Strategic Planning Team, which he hopes (as do I) will revitalize ministry in our Conference. I watched it on tape later (which is great, as I fast forwarded through all the commercials!). It was "Ladies' Night" on American Idol.

Katharine McPhee is probably the best singer of the group. Her performance last week dazzled; her song choice this week (Stevie Wonder's "All In Love Is Fair") was unfortunate (good song, but not for her), as her performance was fairly forgettable. It would be a tragedy if she went home this week; I hope she sticks around. She also seems to get prettier each week. Lisa Tucker, who sang "Who's Loving You" by the Jackson 5, is a great singer, but, again, the performance didn't do a whole lot for me. Paris Bennett, the third of four great female singers this year, was underwhelming singing one of the all-time sap classics, "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler. She should be safe for another week, but needs to do much better next week. Mandisa Hundley, who goes by just "Mandisa" now, didn't do a great job with Faith Hill's "Cry", but did well enough to get by this week (and shows the promise of excelling in future weeks).

Supermodel Heather Cox did well, singing Mariah Carey's "Hero". Her performance was fine, despite a panning from the judges. Melissa McGhee turned it up a notch, and while her performance of "Why Haven't I Heard from You" by Reba McEntire was OK, she looked pretty sexy and seemed to really jazz it up a bit from last week. Of all the ladies, she improved her standing the most. Ayla Brown looked nice, but her performance was forgettable. Also, country girl Kellie Pickler didn't do a great job with Bonnie Raitt's "Something to Talk About", but the "cute factor" might help her survive.

The worst of the bunch was the awful performance of disco queen Donna Summer's "Last Dance" by annoying and arrogant Brenna Gethers. Time to give her a pink slip. Kinnik Sky's country song made me very uncomfortable, for some reason.

So...Brenna and Kinnik should go home later this week.