Last night we saw the American Idol Top 9 performances. Tony Bennett was on the sidelines coaching each of the contestants through how to perform some of his great hits. He seemed to like most of them, especially Melinda Doolittle when he praised her as being the best he heard that day. Tony wasn’t so crazy about some of the other ones and even got a little cranky at Haley Scarnato when she tried to improvise on “Ain’t Misbehaving” and Lakisha Jones when she added a line at the end. But when you’re 80 years old and a singing legend I think you probably get a little extra freedom in the cranky behavior. Overall Tony Bennett was a great addition to the show and truly seemed able and willing to assist the contestants, unlike last week’s American Idol guest, Gwen Stefani. I’m really looking forward to his performance tonight on the show.

Best male performer last night for me was Phil Stacey. His performance of “Night and Day” was what I thought to be, his best performance yet. Last week I thought Phil Stacey had set another best performance and he still ended up in the bottom three. So no matter how well he does, I think Phil is doomed to be going home soon.

Best female performer last night had to be Melinda Doolittle. I’m a big fan of her performances and her singing “I Got Rhythm” was no different. Just like the judges told her, it’s like she’s in another league altogether. I think she has a solid chance at winning this entire show if she keeps this up.

Worst overall performer would have to be Sanjaya Malakar with “Cheek to Cheek”. Sanjaya said in his pre-performance clip that he wanted to show America that he can really sing. I think he failed miserably. He screeched his way through the song and left me trying to think of happy places instead. See for yourself in the video below. I was able to make it 39 secs before having to stop it. The only redeeming quality he has to offer is the level of humor he unintentionally adds each week. Even the judges were speechless. Randy said, “I can’t even comment on the vocals anymore.” Paula remarked, “Was it Dancing with the Stars or American Idol?” Simon appears to feel hopeless in getting rid of this dead weight, “Let’s try a different tactic this week. Incredible.”

My prediction is that Haley Scarnato will go home. She barely scraped by last week only because Chris Sligh stunk it up a little more than she did. Now that the one person doing worse than her is Sanjaya Malakar I think that puts Haley Scarnato in the prime spot to go home this week. Last week I finally had a correct prediction with Chris Sligh and I’m feeling pretty good about this one too. So long Haley, it’s been fun.

Check back in tonight for the American Idol Top 9 Results Show Recap. In the mean time, consider supporting our American Idol Charity or have a laugh with our scientifically proven American Idol Separated At Birth.