This week is Idol Gives Back week. So it probably wouldn't hurt if the finalists donate generously during tomorrow night's telethon, just to better boost their karma so they don't get ousted on Thursday's specially scheduled elimination night. Just a suggestion...

Anyway, because it's all about charity this AmIdol week, tonight the eight remaining contenders were supposed to sing "inspirational" songs. I honestly cringed at the thought of this, anticipating "You're The Voice" times eight. But luckily for me and my fellow viewers, the term "inspirational" is a relative one, so tonight wasn't an entire hour of "We Are The World"-style singalongs and hokey choir-assisted revamps of "I Believe I Can Fly." Phew!

For instance, Aussie rocker Michael Johns was inspired by Aerosmith. Wow! He chose to sing "Dream On," which he felt properly expressed the rock 'n' roll fantasy that he's chased all the way across the equator for so many years. While I preferred him being inspired Dolly Parton last

We all remember little Ashley Ferl from American Idol season 6, the highly strung fangirl who was driven to tears by the very sound of Sanjaya Malakar's voice. (Although, then again, weren't we all?)

Well, Ashley has once again reared her blonde, tear-streaked head.

Yes, Ashley was back in the Idol audience last night. I'm not sure if she was actually crying...but if she was, it wasn't because Ramiele was wearing yet another pair of horrifyingly unflattering high-waisted shorts. (I do imagine a few stylists were crying over that bad fashion choice, however.)

No, if any tears were shed, they were shed for Ashley's new season 7 crush: Jason Castro.

See, People magazine is reporting that during one of the commercial breaks, when Jason sat down onstage for his interview, the Idol stage manager called out into the audience, "Ashley? Ashley, where are you? Are you crying?"

Apparently this girl has a thing for boys with interesting hair. But I can't blame her this time. I don't think there

Yes, we all know Tila Tequila is one dirrty girl. The MySpace cewebrity starlet spent much of her MTV dating show A Shot Of Love With Tila Tequila spanking, whipping, tongue-wrestling, lapdancing, and otherwise humiliating her many reality-TV suitors. And she spent much of her "Stripper Friends" music video spanking, whipping, tongue-wrestling, and lapdancing various video 'hos, as well as humiliating herself.

But Tila is attempting to clean up her act, people. For instance, her new video, "Paralyze," opens with relatively PG-13 scenes of her in a shower.

Don't drop that soap, Tila!

And she fondles her chest so thoroughly in the "Paralyze" shower scenes, she does her viewers a real educational service by showing them how to properly administer a breast self-exam.

Way to give back to the community, Tila!

In all honesty, though, if "Stripper Friends" was a 10 on a standardized skankometer, then "Paralyze" rates about a 7. It's positively Radio Disney-like by Tila Tequila standards.

Anyone with well-connected relatives will tell you that nepotism can be a very good thing. For instance, it's hard to imagine that, say, Nancy Sinatra, Lisa Marie Presley, Miley Cyrus, or Ashlee Simpson would have any sort of career without a little help from their famous families, or that Fiction Plane (a band fronted by Sting's son) would have otherwise landed the opening slot on last year's Police tour.

However, nepotism is not always a very good thing for us--i.e., the public, the audience, the little people. Because while it's reasonable to believe that at least some celebrity spawn actually inherit a bit of their respective family's talents, pop-culture history has proven that for every artistically endowed progeny like Rufus Wainwright, Liv Tyler, Stella McCartney, or Jeff Buckley, there's a Frank Stallone, Brooke Hogan, Haylie Duff, or Rockwell. Sometimes the apple does fall far from the tree.

So the phenom of music-biz nepotism and the issue of apple/tree proximity will soon