rumors and randomness...

It's three hours until Idol, and I have a better chance of being elected Pope than I do of finding credible spoilers for tonight's 1950s song selections. Where's the fun in being surprised, I ask. I think they're taking this tight-lipped routine a bit too far.

Ah well.

Yes, there are the rumors. Bucky's gonna sing Elvis' Jailhouse Rock. Plausible. Kevin's gonna sing Anka's Put Your Head on my Shoulder. Okay, I can see that. Elliott's gonna perform Teach Me Tonight. Hmm. Maybe. Taylor's gonna try Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away. No, wait! He's going to sing Johnny B. Goode. Ace is going to sing Lonely Teardrops. Ah. Or my favorite: Chris is going to sing Last Kiss, even though Last Kiss wasn't even written until 1962. The rumor mill is so much fun...

Simon's saying on Good Day LA that he expects tonight's two best performances will come from Katharine and Taylor. Gee, that's not such a huge stretch, considering those two have turned in consistently good performances.

But it's not all about talent or good performances. And in keeping with the tradition of trying to choose who's gonna bite the dust before the dust has even had a chance to stir up, here I go.

We know who's safe. Taylor, Chris, Katharine, Kellie and Mandisa would have to bitch slap Simon and kick Paula in the face to, perhaps, hit bottom three. Otherwise, they're good.

Ace is probably still stinging from his bottom three appearance last time, but I'll wager his fans won't let it happen again. At least this week. Paris should also be okay, as long as she tries to answer her post-performance questions verbally, rather than in harmony.

The ones in danger probably are Lisa (again), Bucky, Kevin and Elliott, who will probably turn in a vocally-immaculate performance and be called "safe."

Lisa has to essentially turn in a Whitney-style performance, one that will force people to remember her for longer than three minutes after she's done and be told that she needs to pack her bags so that people will want to rush to the phone, to stay out of the bottom three. That vote splitting business has to kill one of the splitters, and it's become obvious Lisa is the victim.

Kevin has the advantage of being the comic relief, the prodding of the Vote for the Worst voters and those grannies out there who just want to pinch his cheeks. A decent performance could keep him out of the bottom three, but after seeing Ace there last week, I think the sexpot may just find himself there tomorrow.

Bucky will continue to be on the endangered list, even though he really doesn't deserve to be, as long as he's still considered "one of the others," those non-pimped going into the semi-finals. But I still maintain that his popularity is growing with each performance.

Which could spell problems for Elliott, who is vocally flawless but still hasn't solidified his [amazing] backstory, refuses to attempt to and is a little weak in the performance department. I really hope Elliott doesn't end up on the seal tomorrow, but it wouldn't surprise me if he did, despite the qualify of tonight's effort.

So, without having heard them, and going on nothing but hunches and history, I am going to go with Lisa, Kevin and Elliott in the bottom three with Lisa's last song getting chopped off after 10 seconds.

Happy Idol Night. Day.