Idol Watch by Anne Neville

Antonella's Internet pix

So suddenly these racy pics of Jersey beach bunny Antonella Barba are everywhere. I've seen the ones of her sprawled all over Washington D.C.'s WW II memorial in a tight, white, wet (apparently from the monument's fountain) T-shirt, but haven't seen the others, as EW.com says, "including one of her on the toilet and one that allegedly shows the singer performing a sex act. "

Her best friend, Amanda Coluccio -- you remember Amanada? The one who blew off practicing during Hollywood week to go find some guys to flirt with? -- hilariously tells the Newark Star-Ledger "The really bad ones aren't her. I've studied them. It's not her nose. She's never had [acrylic nail] tips [like the woman in the photo] in her life. She's the least slutty person I know."

Acrylic nails and a nose -- on such ephemera a career may hang!

Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe did step up to defend Antonella, saying,''We have really good background checks on everybody, and we deal with that every season,'' he says. ''It's sad, isn't it, that your best friends are the ones that come forward with information that will go to Smoking Gun or put your photographs on the web?"

Fans are asking why Antonella stays when Frenchie Davis got booted in Season 2, and the answer seems to be that while Frenchie posed for the photos on that adult web site, Antonella's were released without her permission.

It also seems that based on her lack of talent, Antonella will be gone soon, and this whole thing will be forgotten by the time she poses in Playboy. We hope they find a better place for her to look all sultry than on a monument to the war dead carved with "Central Pacific."

10 men standing

I know the judges said all the guys were like different people this week (different, better people; people who could, for example, sing) but I don't know -- was any individual guy that much better than he was last week? Sundance Head was better, OK. But Chris Sligh? That guy has one speed, and it's really good. Chris Richardson, A.J. Tabaldo and Nick Pedro, to me, are all middle-group guys who will go in some order. Phil Stacey, Jared Cotter, Blake Lewis and Sundance are better.

But don't you think this year's winner will be one of those fabulous women?

Brandon Rogers and Sanjaya Malakar were perceptibly worse than the rest, but each may have a fan base that keeps him in the running.

What they sang:

Phil Stacey, "Missing You," John Waite

Jared Cotter, "Let's Get it On," Marvin Gaye

A.J. Tabaldo, "Feelin' Good," Steve Winwood

Sanjaya Malaker "Stepping Out With My Baby," Irving Berlin

Chris Sligh, "Trouble," Ray LaMontagne

Nick Pedro, "Fever," Johnny Davenport and Eddie Cooley

Blake Lewis, "Virtual Insanity," Jamiroquai

Brandon Rogers, "Time After Time," Cyndi Lauper

Chris Richardson, "Geek in the Pink," Jason Mraz

Sundance Head, "Mustang Sally," Mack Rice (Wilson Pickett)

Idol camp

The forces behind American Idol are opening a summer performing arts camp for kids 12-15 in Northfield, Mass.

"Applicants [must] demonstrating enthusiasm, dedication, a desire to perform and a passion for the arts," says the press release. It adds that "a certain percentage" of students will be given scholarships.

You can get more info and apply online at www.americanidol.com/idolcamp.

Entrance is audition-based and presumably does not include a skewering from Simon. Imagine it: "Look, you're what, 12 years old? You sound like Dad at a wedding. You sound like bad karaoke. I could hear better in a theme park. You walk dogs for pocket money, right? You look like you're walking a dog up there right now. It was HORRENDOUS!"

Bo Bice coming to town!

Bo Bice, runner-up to Carrie Underwood in Season 4, has scheduled a show May 12 in Club Infinity, 8166 Main St., Williamsville. Tickets are $20 presale, $23 at the door, which opens at 7 p.m. Also on the bill is Gary Nichols. Get tickets at the club, at Tops or at www.tickets.com.

Has anybody seen Bo in concert?

First four eliminated

I was sorry to see Paul Kim go, because I liked his soulful sound. The bare-feet deal was starting to wear, though.

Rudy Cardenas: I didn't care whether he stayed or went. Could wearing a big target on his shirt have made him one?

I am glad Sundance got another chance. I am fascinated by how short he is, because when he's not standing next to somebody (like Ryan! He's shorter than Ryan!) he doesn't have the look of a short guy.

So Sanjaya Malakar is in the top four of the guys -- the text abilities of teenage girls are not to be ignored! I look forward to hearing him sing something besides a Stevie Wonder tune.

I wasn't surprised to see Amy Krebs go, though it unfortunately means we'll have to listen to Antonella Barbie -- I mean Barba -- for another week. After that, she's toast, though.

We find out that the Chaka Khan song was "Stay," but Nicole Tranquillo didn't.

Overall, these early cuts are OK, but it's not going to be easy to see Lakisha Jones and Melinda Doolittle standing next to Ryan with one of them going home. Luckily, as Jennifer Hudson has proven, stardom can follow losing Idol, too.

Women get it started

The guys were a big ball of dull compared to these 12 women. Several of them -- Stephanie Edwards, Jordin Sparks, Melinda Doolittle and especially Lakisha Jones -- were fabulous. A few more -- Gina Glocksen, Sabrina Sloan -- were really good. And some of the rest were so bad that it was at least entertaining.

Stephanie Edwards dropped to her knees at the exact right moment in a bluesy, smoky "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore." That could not have been easy. The camera was doing a profile shot when she did it, which made it look as though she might also fall out of her low-cut top. Yeow!

I don't care about the banter between Seacrest and Cowell. It's either scripted (which would not surprise me) or spontaneous but part of a "let's get lots of attention for our feud" thing. Either way, meh.

I do think that Chris Sligh's crack that he was sorry his song choice wasn't Il Divo or Teletubbies did surprise Simon. As it turns out, Simon helped with the development of both groups. (Il Divo is an international operatic/pop vocal quartet of young guys.) Maybe Cowell doesn't like being reminded of his Teletubbies past, now that his persona is the super-serious starmaker.

Here's the song list, with one missing. Nicole Tranquillo sang some Chaka Khan tune that has also been done by Erykah Badu. She screamed half the words and swallowed the rest, and I just couldn't figure out what it was. Anyone know?

Stephanie Edwards, "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore," Alicia Keys
Amy Krebs, "I Can't Make You Love Me," Bonnie Raitt
Leslie Hunt, (You Make Me Feel Like) "A Natural Woman," Carole King
Sabrina Sloan, "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You," Aretha Franklin
Antonella Barba, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," Aerosmith
Jordin Sparks, "Give Me One Reason," Tracy Chapman

Haley Scarnato, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now," Celine Dion
Melinda Doolittle, "Since You've Been Gone," Aretha Franklin
Alaina Alexander "Brass in Pocket," The Pretenders
Gina Glocksen, "All By Myself," Celine Dion
Lakisha Jones, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," Jennifer Holiday

Second chances

I started out thinking that maybe there shouldn't be a second chance for Nick Pedro from Taunton, Mass., who forgot the lyrics to (of all things!) "Build Me Up Buttercup" during Hollywood Week in Season 5, and then quit. Quit! When people who can't sing a single on-key note are standing, hand on hip, head cocked, challenging everything from the judges' ability to hear to their ability to sing -- as if that mattered.

And Nick up and quit. How un-Idol-like!

But after I heard him ask Tuesday night, his eyes filling, "Who am I to be in such a light?" I figured that here's a guy who gives it his best shot, knows when he falls short, and steps aside. Can a nice guy like Nick make it in the dog-eat-dawg world of Idol?

Vote for Pedro!

The top 12 "boys"

It’s odd to call this group “boys” when five of them wouldn't have even qualified until Season 4, when the cut-off age was raised from 26! The geezers are: Brandon Rogers and Phil Stacey, both 29, and Rudy Cardenas, Sundance Head and Chris Sligh, all 28. Numbers for the rest: Jared Cotter, Paul Kim, Blake Lewis and Nick Pedro are 25; Chris Richardson and A.J. Tabado are 22; and cute Sanjaya Malakar, 17, is the lone teen.

I guess what stands out about this group is that nobody really stands out. I was impressed when Phil Stacey went from not good to really pretty good in the course of 90 seconds on Sara Evans’ “I Could Not Ask for More.” But nobody was a real "wow."

I’d love to see Sundance Head worked on by a stylist who could do something about the hair that spikes up and the goatee that spikes down. But I’m afraid unless he makes it to next week and unleashes some bigtime singing, he’s history.

A reader asks for the names of the tunes the contestants sang, so here’s the rundown from Tuesday night:
Rudy Cardenas, “Free Ride,” by the Edgar Winter Group
Brandon Rogers, “Rock With You,” Michael Jackson
Sundance Head, “Nights in White Satin,” The Moody Blues

Paul Kim, “Careless Whisper,” Wham
Chris Richardson, “I Don’t Wanna Be,” Gavin DeGraw

Nick Pedro, “Now and Forever,” Richard Marx
Blake Lewis, “Somewhere Only We Know,” Keane
Sanjaya Malakar, “Knocks Me Off My Feet,” Stevie Wonder
Chris Sligh, “Typical,” Mute Math

Jared Cotter, “Back at One,” Brian McKnight
A.J. Tabaldo, “Never Too Much,” Luther Vandross
Phil Stacey, “I Could Not Ask for More,” Sara Evans

Idol guys on Leno

Simon, Ryan and Randy popped up on Jay Leno Monday night, and they were barely settled in the chairs before they started jabbering away, interrupting each other and making side comments. Leno couldn't  get a word in edgewise. The highlights:

*Asked if the judges are ruder this year, Simon first accused Ryan of making contestants cry in the hall, then said, "I think we have to blame the parents. They're hearing what we're hearing, and they're saying, 'Fantastic! You're going to win!'"

*Simon edged toward saying he was sorry for telling Kenneth Briggs he looked like a bush baby. "There are times like that when I watch the show back and I do feel bad," he said. Then Leno flashed side-by-side photos of Briggs and a bush baby, and Simon laughed and took it all back.

*Leno produced a huge book, titled something like "Translating Paula Abdul into English," and said Ryan had given it to him. At that, Paula flounced out, shook her fist at Simon, kissed Ryan and Randy, and settled onto Simon's lap. "When Randy opens up his mouth I would win the Nobel Peace (sic) Prize," she said, clearly. "When Simon opens his mouth, Borat could win!" Nothing about melons or moths or any of the happy horsehooey you hear from her when she doesn't have the help of a staff of writers. Then she sort of slumped across Simon and Ryan's laps. It was exactly the move you see from a drunk girl at a party that makes you start looking around for her friends. Yet she insists she doesn't drink. I notice nobody ever says anything about drugs. She'll probably deny a problem until the minute she checks into rehab.

Who are the top four?

I know .. the serious competition has barely started. But back in January, our TV critic, Alan Pergament, interviewed the Idol judges in L.A. Pergy wrote:
"I asked Cowell to assess the overall talent of Season Six. 'It smacks a little bit more (of) Season One, where you can't spot an obvious one,' said Cowell. ... 'There are about three or four people (this season). At the end of the day, we only need one, don't forget. There is one guy that stands out but the girls are a little bit stronger.'"

Ok .. so Simon thinks there is one strong guy and two or three women. Who could they be?
Before Hollywood week, I'd have said that Sundance Head (love the name!) was the top guy, hands down. But then he stunk up Hollywood, or so the producers led us to believe. But the women are much more difficult to call. My early favorites are Gina Glocksen and Melinda Doolittle, but that's because of their stories, not necessarily their voices.

And, of course, Simon's opinion no longer carries the power it did in the early stages.