...Syesha Mercado!!

Oh, come on now. Did you REALLY think either of the Davids would get cut tonight? Puh-leeze.

Yes, this just might've been the most anti-climactic episode of  this season. I don't mean this as a burn on Syesha, who's definitely a genuine talent. But many viewers (myself among them) were shocked she made it this far, and it was hard to imagine she could go any farther at this point--not unless one of the frontrunning Davids a) pulled a Mario Vazquez and voluntarily withdrew or b) pulled a Corey Clark and entered into a scandal-mongering affair with Paula Abdul. (I could image the second scenario, maybe, with Cook...but not with Archuleta, of course. Yuck!)

So yeah, it was inevitable that Syesha was a goner tonight. We knew it, the judges knew it, Ryan Seacrest knew it...and I think Syesha knew it, too.

But just because tonight wasn't a particularly suspense episode didn't mean the AmIdol producers weren't going to stretch the show out to a full hour, as usual. So

If there was ever an American Idol alum whose music deserved the remix threatment it's...Clay Aiken.

Nah, just kidding, folks. I don't forsee Mr. "I'm Not Trying To Be Justin Timberlake" collaborating with the Neptunes any time soon. I'm talking about a different popular second-placer: last season's Blake Lewis, of course.

The only Idol to ever pass the mic with Doug E. Fresh, beatbox almost every dang time he opened his mouth, and publicly call Taylor Hicks a "d**chebag," Blake actually has been trying his best to be Justin Timberlake. And he hasn't done too shabby a job of it, either. He's brought a little bit of sexy back to AmIdol, that's for sure.

So the beatboxing wonderboy has just released The Remixes EP, featuring electro reworkings by such DJs and producers Dave Aude (Annie Lennox, Britney Spears, Blake's ulitmate idol BT); DJ Dan (Fall Out Boy, New Order), and Jake Benson (Billie Myers, Erika Jayne). If you're curious to get in the mix, listen to it HERE.

So I've been thinking about the performances from Tuesday's not-all-that-rockin', so-called "Rock Night"--the night that "rocked" in at least one sense, as it rocked the vote more than any other night this season, according to reliable source Ryan Seacrest.

At first, I kept thinking how much Jason Castro deserved to go, based on his horrible showing last night. Because, yes, he was truly bad, and I don't mean Michael-Jackson-bad. I mean just plain old dictionary-definition BAD. His two songs this week by the Bobs, Marley and Dylan, brought new meaning to the word "dread"--because, yes, I was literally starting to dread performances by the dreadheaded kid I once adored.

But then I mulled it over some more. And you know, based on his entire body of work, I decided Jason still had the edge over this week's other obvious at-risk contestant, Syesha Mercado. See, by this point, Jason had at least three memorable performances (notably "Daydream" and "Hallelujah") under his hemp-rope belt,

As a proudly self-proclaimed "rock chick," I approached American Idol's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame night this week with a mixture of both delight and dread. My delight stemmed from anticipation over the prospect of seeing resident rocker David Cook storm the stage and Jason Castro do a couple of fitting '60s hippie numbers; my dread had to do with seeing the decidedly non-rockin' other two contestants, namely David Archuleta, do the same. Because let's face it, little David does a lot of things well, but rocking out is so not one of them.

Dang, it really makes me wish that Michael Johns--or heck, even Amanda Overmyer or Carly Smithson--were still in the race this rock 'n' roll week.

But for the time being, I didn't have to worry. Because for the first song of the night, my American Idol dream came true: My favorite contestant covered one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite all-time bands! Yes, perfectly coiffed pretty-boy David Cook crooned "Hungry Like The Wolf" by perfectly