Ryan Seacrest & Adam Lambert, Don't You (Forget About Me), American Idol 2011

Ryan Seacrest is enamored of Adam Lambert! Last year when Adam performed "Whataya Want From Me" Ryan practically sparkled as he spoke to Adam afterward: "Now THAT was a performance," I remember him saying.

If you read my blog, you know I agree with Ryan. Last night's American Adam performance was no different. You can only talk about Adam's voice the way connoisserus talk about wine: the undertones, the aftertaste, the bouquet, the lovely appearance, and the glorious purity of the serenade. God has certainly imbued him with a gift.

Another great surprise--to me, anyway--was David Cook's rendition of Simple Mind's "Don't You (Forget About Me), which I thought was excellent and will purchase on iTunes, along with the original. For those of us for who thought the Breakfast Club WAS the eighties, "Don't You (Forget About Me)" is our anthem. David Cook did right by it.

My revised take on American Idol 2011: Call me ignorant (uh, no, don't), but in my third year of Idol viewing, I've concluded there's no way these selections and eliminations are left to the American Public. Just like the presidential election, we put our votes in, but there's an electoral college who make the actual appointments.

Think about it: The winner is going to be a Ford spokesman for one year. You think Ford is going to hand that casting over to people who text in three hundred votes a night for their favorite? I don't think so. Even the Top Ten is a product; they go out on tour over the summer--a product that earns money, promotes the singers, and keeps aflame the machine that is American Idol. The elements of a production that big aren't left to the fastest fingers on the iPhone.

All that said, I think the talent this year is incredible, but limited. One blows my mind. The rest are excellent, but do not surpass the bar set by Adam Lambert. Hey, I'm just repeating what Ryan said.

Anyway, here are my Top Ten:

1. Casey Abrams (Casey! You are so smokey blue jazz--I see you on the same ticket with Harry Connick, Jr.
2. James Durbin (James, you can do it! Though you rocked with Judas Priest, it felt superficial. More like Wednesday night, please; more of anything that means something to you so that it can mean something to us.)

Yes, that's all I have for my Top Ten. And now, here are my illegal favorites:
1. Adam Lambert
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. Steven Tyler
7. Casey Abrams
8. James Durbin

Danette out. Please don't TP my house.