Send In the Clowns. Don't Bother, Sanjaya's Here

Washington Post
I don't watch American Idol, have never seen any of the performances by anyone but the Sanjaya clips on the news, and couldn't care less about who wins it.

However, I did just watch Blake Lewis on Youtube, just because this description sounded so goofy. And I made a remarkable discovery - this description is so inaccurate and negative that I can safely say it's a lie. Stroking himself? He put his hand a few inches inside his jacket, in the neighborhood of the breast pocket, once, for about 4 seconds. Never touched any other part of his body, much less 'stroked' anything, at all. Spinning? He did a sort of little circle dance step maybe 3 or 4 times during the song, not the single slickest maneuver in history but nothing terribly weird or uncoordinated or anything else bad about it.

I have never liked Mack the Knife and think the lyrics are weird, but this is the first time I ever was actually able to understand the whole story of the song. And finally, he didn't confide to Ryan that he didnt 'get' the lyrics - he was asked which was more difficult this week, going first or the lyrics, and he said lyrics. And Ryan said, 'It was a little tough in rehearsal this week - ya got it.'

I think he has a very nice voice, that it was a cool jazz vibe, for that show at least, likewise pretty hip for that show, and not the worst version ever of that song. And I think this exaggerated and snarky summary of the performance borders on the uncalled-for. That's just my opinion, but at least it's based on what really happened.