An American Idol Christmas by Sting7 -- 11/26/2003 O come all ye American Idol faithful! Gather around the hearth, throw on a yule log, cuddle up with a glass of cider and listen as we invite some of our American Idol favorites back into our living rooms for a night of joyous holiday performances! We kick off the show with the familiar American Idol theme, fresh with sleighbells! It gives me that familiar tingle in my belly. January is so far away... We start with an ensemble number, “Sleigh Ride,” before the gee-orgous Christina Christian slides into “Winter Wonderland” with just a hint of that vibrato that was missing on the AI holiday songs album. Beautiful as she is, with all the presence she possesses, she seemed just a bit nervous. Then came the American Juniors, Chauncey Matthews, Lucy Hale, Danielle White, Taylor and Tori Thompson, in a well-sung “Let It Snow” (Lucy and Danielle’s voices were very clearly evident). Next up in this medley is an elegantly-dressed Kimberley Locke with “The Christmas Song,” sounding as fantastic as she ever has. Finally, Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken perform Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmas Time,” looking as at ease onstage as The Brat Pack. Funny how they became pros before our very eyes! Clay handles the hosting chores for the moments, introducing everyone “in case you have forgotten all of us.” (He’s answered with some shrill shrieks. Forgotten? Hardly.) Clay then introduces the first American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, who performs “My Grown Up Christmas List” with such amazing confidence! Clay then performs a passionate “Don’t Save It All For Christmas” and, as is his way, Clay can give you chills (that one held note actually does make the hair on my neck stand up!). This has to rank as one of his best performances yet. Clay brings out Ruben, who promptly plugs his album, Soulful which drops December 9th, and yes, you can order it right here! Ruben drops into “This Christmas,” imploring the crowd to clap along (he shouldn’t have, it messed with his timing and it took him a bit to recover) a song that is so dead-on perfect for him, you can imagine his version will likely erase the classic Donnie Hathaway version eventually. Ruben seemed to have a bit of trouble with his breathing (maybe that timing issue), but Ruben is not exactly built for the choreography that he had to hoof through moments before. Just sing, buddy. Commercial for AI3, we get to hear some poor girl slaughtering a song so badly, I couldn’t identify it, and I’m good at this! Randy tells her he “can’t take anymore.” Simon adds it was like “some language I’ve never heard on Earth!” It’s coming! It’s coming! I’ll start sharpening my knives. The American Juniors perform “Perfect Christmas” (another S Club 7 song! While American Juniors was on, there were a number of indignant emailers who wanted me to know that the Juniors are doing S Club 7 songs. So noted, but I‘m surprised S Club 7 themselves would have owned up to some of those tunes. Remember “Sundown”? Whew.) with some unfortunately corny choreography that I don’t miss at all. Do they have to do Wade Robson-esque choreography during the Christmas songs? Really? That’s not the kids fault – I do miss seeing Danielle White and Chauncey Matthews performing every week, gotta admit! Clay Aiken (Double-platinum recording artist! Take that, haters!) and Kimberley Locke set the screen on fire with a masterfully sung “White Christmas.” Clay uses a lower register to complement Kimberley’s smoky delivery, and the result is spine-tingling! Time for another ensemble number! Ruben, Clay, Christina, Kimberley, and Tamyra Gray (is she gonna get her own number or what?) blaze into “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” then into John Lennon’s “Step Into Christmas.” The Juniors give us some “la-la-la-la”s (useful) and Tamyra Gray (finally!) takes a solo on “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day,” effortlessly handling the challenging high notes (go on and try them!) like she was mentally filing her nails! Kimberley Locke gives us “Rock ‘n’ Roll Christmas.” Clay introduces Tamyra Gray, saying she is hard at work on her own debut album (despite the fact that she was inexplicably dropped from J Records), who does her usual fantastic job on “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” All I can think is “Nikki McKibbin really beat her?” Travesty. Tamyra says she has been lucky to perform with fantastic performers, and she’s been looking forward to this for a long time – and introduces Ruben! Together they do a smooth as silk “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” This is Ruben’s best performance tonight; the production gives him time to settle into the notes he wants and Tamyra’s ability to soar through the higher register is dazzling. Back to Ruben. I’ve received a lot of email about how I could be so supportive of Ruben when he doesn’t sing perfectly all the time. (My favorite, about the finale “his voice was SCRATCHY!” Rod Stewart has made quite a living with that scratchiness.) It’s true, he doesn’t necessarily nail a note like you might have wished, but there is an inner joy that comes from Ruben that carries you away with him. There is something special, if not always pitch-perfect, about Ruben’s voice. It makes you want to sit down and listen to it. When you go to concert, do you sit there with your arms folded, listening to see if every note was delivered completely and succinctly? Of course not. You take it all in, basically you sit and you listen, and Ruben is the man for that. Nothing at all against Clay (and there are various points of the internet who have made my pro-Ruben commentary into anti-Clay commentary, which is bogus. I think Clay is fabulous, I’ve said so in virtually every American Idol recap I wrote. I’m thrilled for his success and hope it continues. So, for the lunatic fringe who can’t seem to grasp that it is possible to be a fan of Ruben AND Clay, I think you are missing the whole point. Open up, you may be surprised what comes your way). It’s a matter of choice, a matter of mood. Sometimes I’m in the mood for Ruben, other times, I’m in the mood for Clay. That’s what made season two so much fun to cover. I can’t even hope to expect the same in season three. Commercial, another young man murderlizing a song I can’t even identify. Simon says, as only he can, “You’ve got to stop this silly dream, because this dream has become a nightmare!” Clay calls out Kelly Clarkson to do a scintillating a cappella version of “O Holy Night.” I don’t know who can touch her at World Idol, just hand her the crown now, for pete’s sake! I find myself genuflecting during ‘o night divine!’ Clay says goodnight to us all (why is he smacking his teeth so much?) and the whole gang gives us an understated “O Come All Ye Faithful.” Then Clay puts those fabulous belltones to work on “The First Noel” and Ruben brings us “O Little Town of Bethlehem” with an upper-register that he doesn’t use much – and it hits you right there! Tamyra brings us “Silent Night,” singing with most power she has tonight, then is joined on the lead by Kelly Clarkson sending the number into another jaw-dropping realm. And, as the fake snow falls, we close with Clay Aiken holding a diminutive Tori Thompson, who’s just beaming! A night of fantastic performances that some will complain is just an American Idol commercial, but even at that, it was affective! Are you ready for some Idol? Me too, now I have to do some Christmas shopping! See you at World Idol! Sting7 has been a respected published writer for 16 years, as a music editor, entertainment critic, columnist, and interviewer. He also has a curious love for pro-wrestling! You can email Stinger at stingseven@yahoo.com. http://www.realitynewsonline.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=1&article=article3855.art&page=1 posted by Yee 11:02 PM . . .
