We’re down to four Idol wannabes now, and with each note sung and each vote cast, you can see the lineup of people ready to declare conspiracies are afoot and spout long-winded theories as to why so-and-so deserves to win, why such-and-such deserves not to, and how much you-know-who was already declared the winner weeks ago. So let’s get started then.

Last night was BeeGees night. It taught me one remarkable thing: The name of the band is a shortening of “Brothers Gibb.” I’m 27 and, before last night, I never knew that.

Once again, I thought Clay did the best of all the contestants. His first song was strong and powerful. The second song, “Grease,” showed us not just a different aspect of his voice (that he can go Frankie Valle high on us), but also a great sense of humor, performing in bright red sneakers and swiveling his hips like a self-conscious Elvis impersonator. You just know he was looking at Paul Abdul throughout the whole song. It was funny, but only because he could pull off the song, as well. If he didn’t sing as well as he did, it would have been a horrible misjudgment of epic proportions.

Kimberley Locke, surprisingly, didn’t have a good night. She needs to stop singing songs that start off low and breathy only to climb high and powerful later. She’s had far too many songs now that she sounded awful to start with, only to save herself in the end. I would suggest she go for something straight and powerful next week. I imagine it’ll be contestant’s choice next week. Let’s hope she picks something up tempo. It might be time to pull out another Diane Warren song.

Josh was OK last night, but he had a low note problem. The first song he sang didn’t go low enough. It sounded like he just petered out, when he was supposed to be reaching low for the note. He did OK, otherwise, but he couldn’t compare to Clay. Running through the audience during the song strikes me as a last gasp effort to win fans.

Ruben was Ruben, and that’s what threatens him. He’s not spectacular. He’s got a great voice and does a great job every week, but he never overwhelms me and never wows me. I think the last time he did was when he sang the song from ALADDIN many weeks ago.

All that said, Ruben is safe this week. His fans won’t let him go through a repeat of last week. I think Clay is safe, as well, because his fans are maniacs. You should see the voting campaigns they have organized.

So the bottom two this week is Josh and Kimberley, and I’m hoping like hell that Josh’s number comes up. I know better than to predict it, though. I’d love to see a Clay/Kimberley finale. Gossip has it that the two of them are considering sharing an apartment in L.A. when all is said and done. Having them in the finals would be icing on the cake.

P.S. I bet Carmen was kicking herself for not being able to sing another GREASE song this week. heh

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