Top ... 13?! A report from the after-party

The blue carpet was bustling Thursday night outside the West Hollywood nightclub Area, where the "American Idol" Season 8 Top 13 were feted. Fresh from the show, which took place a hop, skip and a jump away on the CBS lot, Kara, Paula, bikini girl Katrina Darrell and the lucky 13 walked down the press line, some more shocked than others at their sudden and continuing fortune.

Adam Lambert, who's made a stir lately with some leaked photos online, was the picture of amiability, dressed in a black sequined blazer, teal button-down and thin black tie. When asked to describe himself as performer, he said, "I'm just Adam," and that he is. Black fingernail polish and all, he's definitely not backing down from his style. He said he was planning to perform more rock, and also pop and electronic music as Season 8 continues.

Another Top 13 contestant with rockin' style is 16-year-old Allison Iraheta, who described her performing style as "laid-back, chill" and "different." Citing influences such as Pink and Selena, Allison seemed very comfortable with her style, which includes her trademark cherry red hair and punky clothes.  She confessed to knowing her life would change in "every single way."

Puerto Rico's Jorge Nunez said he was inspired by the memory of his great-grandfather, who passed away a year and two months ago. Asked whether his grandfather sang, he said no, but that he danced. He plans to keep America voting for him with his "passion" and by "delivering beautiful music." I brought up the text message Marc Anthony sent to Ryan Seacrest praising Jorge, and he got immediately excited. "That was amazing!" he said with a big smile, telling me his first reaction was "What? Shut up!" He said that Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez are even more popular in Puerto Rico than they are here, so his thrill is most certainly warranted.

Phil Stacey blog: Is it rigged?

As we come into this American Idol episode tonight, I’d like to say that I hope they return to regular format next season.  This would be the last week of semi-finals, but we have yet another on Thursday featuring the contestants who did not get our attention the first time around.  Many of my favorites from this season, including Anoop Desai will have another chance to make it into the finals – and I am glad for them.  I just feel that in the regular format, people like Anoop would not have been voted off in the first place.

Speaking of Anoop, some of his fans made a great video for him that I thought you might like to check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es5EDO0G0hc&fmt=18

Well I’ve decided after tonight that the show is RIGGED!  The dorky kid, Alex Wagner-Trugman, sounded good to me!  I liked the growl!  Sure, the appearance was a little awkward…  But I thought it was funny.  Come one, they appreciated the humor of Norman Gentle…  But I guess if you can sing then you aren’t allowed to use humor.  So what if he isn’t he best singer this season.  I think he does a great job and I believe they over criticized him so there was no threat of him beating out one of their favorites for a top 12 spot.  I’m just saying…

Well many contestants tonight talked about how much fun they had and how “magical” it was to be on that stage.  I for one would like to say that I HATED singing on that stage!  Don’t get me wrong – I love to sing – it’s what I do.  But – there is nothing in this world more nerve wracking than making one's self that vulnerable in front of so many people.  We don’t do American Idol because we enjoy singing on that stage, we do it so we can sing for a living.

All in all, it was a mixed night for me.  I thought many contestants showed some great potential.  I think the clear winners for the night are Lil’ Rounds and Scott MacIntyre as declared by the judges.  I think there are many possibilities for the third spot.  Von Smith did great and so did Jorge Nunez.  I also like Ju’Not Joyner’s performance.  Felicia Barton had some shaky spots but that voice was AMAZING.  I think if she can get her nerves in check, she could be a contender for the crown this year and I am not joking.  But there are only three spots given each week, so your guess for the third spot is as good as mine.  Between those names – I think whoever does not get that third spot will be back next week during the wild card round.

What do you think?

- Phil Stacey
photo: Fox

The Rushfield Review: The last of the 36

We have now seen our next American Idol.  After all the buildup, one by one, all 36 warriors of competitive singing have been paraded before us. Somewhere in that lineup stood our next pop overlord; the one who 12 weeks from now will stand anointed in the footsteps of Clarkson and Underwood, Sparks and Cook.

It has been a shaky preseason, with semifinals rounds heavy on the train wrecks. The work of sorting the wheat from the chaff in this new format, having to pull out three singers from the pool of 12, has at moments over the last couple of weeks felt like work.  But in the final night of the semifinal rounds, "Idol" delivered a pool overall worthy of its legacy. 

The preseason has been short on "Idol’s" trademark star-is-born moments, but finally, in the very last performance of the semifinals, we got one and a star was born in tornado survivor Lil Rounds, who delivered a drop-dead Mary J. Blige that will live forever in "Idol" lore.

Here then is a roundup of the night:

Top 12-bound:
+ Lil Rounds (pictured): Belongs to the world now.

+Scott MacIntyre: "Idol’s" first legally blind contender delivered a solid if not earth-shattering “Mandolin Rain.” His Forrest Gump-like naïve, unguarded earnestness won the room though.

+ Jorge Nunez: "Idol’s" first great Latin heartthrob’s waterworks should melt enough hearts to see him through.

+ Ju’Not Joyner: Little seen in the preseason, which may mean he had too far to come tonight to win over the voters, but his quietly effective performance was one of the night’s best.

Wild card maybes:

+ Von Smith: Grated on America’s nerves in the preseason, but delivered well tonight with few traces of prior shoutiness. 'Tween appeal means he can’t be counted out.

+ Arianna Afsar: A favorite of the preseason delivered a misguided somber Abba rendition.  Her vocal skills and winning persona may earn her a second chance on Thursday.

+ Felicia Barton: Recalled after the Joanna Pacitti dismissal, Barton proved that she deserved a place in the Top 36, but is up against too much talent to break through this week.

+ Kendall Beard: Bubbly heiress to the Kellie Pickler country gal throne.  Likability could carry her through despite a so-so performance.

Heading home

+ Taylor Vaifanua: Very likable but stepped into the classic "Idol" teen pitfall of shooting for Celine Dion instead of Katy Perry.

+ Kristen McNamara: The Napa karaoke hostess was solid and likable, but that likely won’t be enough to see her through against a strong field.

+ Alex Wagner–Trugman: L.A.’s local nerd instantly cast himself into Vote for the Worst territory.

+ Nathaniel Marshall: The designated train wreck of the week came in as over-the-top as could be hoped for.

So it should go, but the "Idol" electorate works in ways mysterious it's wonders to behold. Will they follow the playbook?  We'll see Wednesday night, when the final pre-wild card seats are filled.

NOTE: Please join us tomorrow, Wednesday at noon PT for our post-game chat here at latimes.com/idoltracker.

SECOND NOTE: A previous version of this piece referred to the song Scott MacIntyre sang as "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me."  Thanks to commenter Daniel M. for catching that and alerting us.

 

-- Richard Rushfield

Photo:Fox

Meet a face of round 3: Alex Wagner-Trugman

Nineteen year-old Studio City, Calif., native Alex Wagner-Trugman will face the greatest challenge of his young life this week. He will compete with Group Three in the semi-final round on "American Idol."

We spoke with him by phone and talked about how his “American Idol” days have been going since his spontaneous Phoenix audition:

Q: Are you taking a break from college to do “American Idol”?

A: Yeah, I’m taking a semester off.

Q: What college do you go to?

A: The University of Miami

Q: You’re from Studio City?

A: Yeah

Q: Where did you go to high school?

A: I went to The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks.

Q: What’s your favorite thing to do in Studio City?

A: I like to just go on walks with my dogs. I mean it’s a small, nice area. I like to get all-you-can-eat sushi from Midori.

Q: Did you perform at all in L.A. before “American Idol”?

A: I only performed in some things for high school. I was in a bunch of musicals for my high school. I was [in] plays, I did things for choir, I was in an a cappella group, I did Southern California Vocal Association Honors Choir for two years. Besides that, I never really did too much solo performance. Well, I was in a band, but we only performed at like, talent shows and stuff.

Q: What was your band called?

A: The Killer Boots.

Q: And you’re not together anymore?

A: No, we’re not. We went to different colleges and it didn’t work out.

Handicapping the winners - The Top 36

Only a fool would try to predict the ultimate outcome of American Idol without having seen all the contestants.  But these times make fools of us all.  So try I must. My complete tip sheet will be coming soon, but before too much time expires I wanted to go on the record with my predictions of who will win and who will lose and in what order.   Last year, I predicted Syesha would win it all, so that should show what my track record is worth.  In any event, for the historical record, here is my prediction from first place to 36th where the brave souls of Season 8 will finish.   

(Of course the order of finish for contestants eliminated in the semi-final rounds has little real meaning since we do not know the order of finish at those levels, but let these rankings represent my rough sense of where in the Idol firmament they stand.)

36. Nathaniel Marshall

35. Nicholas Mitchell

34. Matt Beizke

33. Jeanine Valies

32. Casey Carlson

31. Stevie Wright

30. Felicia Barton

29. Alex Wagner-Trugman

28. Tatiana Del Toro

27. Ricky Braddy

26. Allison Iraheta

25. Brent Keith

24. Von Smith

23. Kristen McNamara

22. Jackie Tohn

21. Junot Joyner

20. Arianna Afsar

19. Ann Marie Boskovitch

18. Kendall Beard

17. Jasmine Murray

16. Steven Fowler

15. Kai Kalama

14. Kris Allen

13. Anoop Desai

And to see my Top 12, continue after the jump.

Phil Stacey Blog: Few surprises in the Top 36

The chair episode is the most difficult episode of the entire "American Idol" season for the contestants.  Think about it.  You don’t even perform from the time you make it into the final Hollywood group until you sit in front of the judges to find out if you’ve made it to the semifinals or not.  This year, it will be a little different, as I will explain in a bit.

There were a lot of surprises for those of us on my season.  I can’t even begin to tell you the amazing talent Season 6 had that you never saw — simply because they weren’t what the producers were looking for.

Anoop Desai is first, and it is no surprise to see him sail through to the semifinals.  Anoop is an amazing singer and I predict that he will make the top 12 pretty easily.

Von Smith is next.  As I have predicted, Von makes it to the final 36. I think he will have to learn to be an artist as opposed to a performer if he wants to be a pop star.  He reminds me vocally of Robbie Williams — the original artist who recorded "Angels" — a great voice with a little theatrical edge. I think he could do well if he learns to balance those ingredients.

This year, they have introduced a sing-off between contestants, and the first sing-off is between Cody and Alex.  I don’t know about you, but this is pretty exciting to me....

Alex is very reminiscent of Clay Aiken, singing a song that Clay nailed in Season 2, "Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me." He wins the sing-off and Cody goes home.  I like the whole sing-off thing, but it does feel a little uncomfortable.

Meet Your Top 36: The List

Here they are, with links to more info.  Somewhere in the column below, is the name of our next champion.

Kris Allen
Arianna Asfar
Kendall Beard
Anne Marie Boskovich
Ricky Braddy
Matt Breitzke
Casey Carlson
Megan Corkrey
Tatiana Del Toro
Anoop Desai
Stephen Fowler
Matt Giraud
Danny Gokey
Alexis Grace
Mishavonna Henson
Allison Iraheta
Junot Joyner
Kai Kalama
Brent Keith
Adam Lambert
Jesse Langseth
Nate Marshall
Scott MacIntyre
Kristen McNamara
Nick Mitchell
Jasmine Murray
Jorge Nunez
Joanna Pacitti
Lil Rounds
Michael Sarver
Von Smith
Jackie Tohn
Alex Wagner Trugman
Taylor Vaifanua
Jeanine Vailes
Stevie Wright

--Richard Rushfield

Photo:Fox

The Contenders: Meet Alex Wagner-Trugman

"American Idol" Season 8 contender Alex Wagner-Trugman auditioned on Day 2 of Phoenix with James Ingram's "Baby Come To Me."

The 19-year-old Studio City college student taught himself to sing at night in his closet -- but there was mold in there that made him very sick! The brainiac missed a Spanish test to attend the "Idol" audition but managed to make Simon smile, even though he said "no" in the end (although a wink at the end indicated a soft spot). Randy likened him to Joe Cocker, and Kara and Paula gave their approval as well, Alex Wagner-Trugman was sent to Hollywood with three yeses.

--Leslie Anne Wiggins