Taylor rides high with Soul Patrol

I was really looking forward to watching the 2 hour finale without getting spoiled. Dang it! I forgot that my homepage was set to display breaking news and I happen to glance at the bottom of the page and there it was. Sigh. Needless to say I am proud and happy for Taylor.

63.4 Million people voted, more than any US president got in votes according to Ryan, unbelievable. I thought I'll get bored with the 2 hour special but I was surprised to find it entertaining, more so to find so many celebrities agog and acting like any audience member. David Hasselhof weeping?!?!?! Can't blame him, I read that he voted for McPhee.

Praiseworthy performances were:

• Paris Bennet & Al Jareau duet. It's good to see Al still in his element.



• Burt Bacharach and the legendary Dionne Warwick



• All of Mandisa's performances, she kept stealing the show



• My favorite of all --> Mary J. Blige and Elliot Yamin duet of ONE. Despite outsinging Elliot, MJB was outstanding. They brought the house down!

If Ryan has to give out Golden Idol awards, which in my opinion the finale can do without but funny and entertaining enough. Let me give a couple of awards to the creepiest duets in the finale. Ironically these duets were performed by the 2 finalist.

Katherine and Meatloaf --> guess AI can't afford to bring in Celine Dion to sing "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" with Katherine huh? Seems to me both were out of pitch a few times and couldn't get it together. The camera caught Katherine a couple of times looking lost, she doesn't seem to know what to do with Meatloaf and the song. Too bad. I wonder what was David Borreanaz son was thinking as he watched.

Taylor and Toni Braxton --> I was jumping up and down when I heard Taylor sing the first line of "In The Ghetto", I thought Lisa Marie Presley was his surprise guest. I was crestfallen to hear it was Toni Braxton. Duh? Can't figure out if her mic wasn't working or she didn't expect a live performance. She kept working her mouth and pouting but all I can hear are baritones in between. For a moment I thought she must a transvestite singing and dressing up as Toni. What's with the sexy moves? She kept writhing and twirling, she even surprised Taylor when she grabbed his hand near the end. It certainly wasn't appropriate for the song, Elvis must have turned on his grave! It was a disaster performance.

I was surprised to find Prince in the finale, and the last performer to boot. Why didn't he sing with any of the AI contestants? Why was he there in the first place? Oh well, as you can see I'm not a fan.

Kudos to the producers and Fox. Despite some critics saying that this season is the most boring, you can't ignore 63.4 Million people can you? In my opinion, this season has the most talented and diverse group of finalist. All of my favorites were in and one even won, a first. Taylor may not be the best vocalist, but he represents the ordinary man dreaming the American dream.

I'm off now to watch Lost's 2 hour finale. Ciao!