Casey James News

LA Times Idol Tracker- Orianthi is a Casey James Fan:

It wasn’t her first time sharing a stage with an Idol — she crossed that off her To-Do list by performing with Carrie Underwood on the 2009 Grammy Awards — but Australian guitar virtuoso Orianthi felt the emotional vortex of the competition firsthand on elimination Wednesday. Or, as she likes to call it, “eviction night.”

Which is why after she performed her hit, “According to You,” she made a beeline for the Top 12 to offer some advice and words of encouragement. “I just told them that they’re all really talented and that one person will be evicted tonight, but they’ve all probably learned so much from being on the show,” she told Idol Tracker. “It’s made them better performers and singers, so now that they’ve got the world as their audience, it’s about writing music and putting themselves out there.”

Orianthi said she studied up on the Season 9 finalists by watching YouTube videos of all their performances in one night. So who stood out? “Casey [James] is great,” she said. “He’s got that real sort of Kenny Wayne Shepard thing going on. And he’s bringing the guitar back. Also Andrew Garcia has got a great, soulful voice, especially with the acoustic guitar.”

Ken Barnes for USA Today-Eyeing the American Idol Odds

Slate-  Idol vs. the Rolling Stones:

The Stones, of course, have Mick Jagger’s body, which is a whole different sexual ballgame. Not that I think of ballgames as sexual. Although, OK, Derek Jeter. Stop reading now, Mom! Anyway, Jagger’s sexual persona, no matter how androgynous, is still sexual—”I dance,” he said in 1966, “and all dancing is a replacement for sex.” Just as there’s no crying in baseball, there’s not really any dancing in Idol. The awkward group numbers excluded, contestants are pretty much limited to smoldering gazes, pre-existing Internet photos and the occasional pleather ensemble for the expression of sexuality. But there’s more to the ambiguous Jagger: “What really upsets people is that I’m a man and not a woman…What I do is very much the same as a girl’s striptease dance.” And even in absentia, even if no one really embodied him onstage this week, Jagger did to Idol what he’s been doing since the ’60s—simultaneously threatening everyone’s sexual identity to the point of panic. Why else would Ryan suddenly man up to get confrontational with Simon? The same reason the swooning of female Casey fans compelled Ellen to reassert her own orientation, in her funniest and most genuinely Ellen-like moment so far (“But for people like me,” she began, and then deadpanned, “blondes …”). It was the shadow of Jagger’s body, and the Idols just didn’t know how to make that their own.

We can’t forget the music, delivered Tuesday in an array of string-laden melodramas and smooth, Jack Johnson-inflected arrangements. Katie’s “Wild Horses,” Lee’s mellow “Beast of Burden” and Tim’s reggae “Under My Thumb” were pretty, but no matter how great the songwriting is, you don’t go to the Stones for pretty. There was also a lot less electric guitar than I expected; don’t tell anyone, but I actually caught myself thinking “Thank god for Casey James.” And while Paige struggled with laryngitis and didn’t blow my mind (or my nose), Tina Turner’s ballsy—Stones-y—take on “Honky Tonk Woman” was a strong choice for her. No one else really bombed, either, a good sign for the coming weeks.

Mineral Wells Index-Casey Makes Idol’s Top 11

“American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest tried to throw in some dramatics Wednesday night as far as Casey James’ fate on the popular Fox reality show.

On a night in which the top 12 would be pared down to 11, Seacrest was forming the threesome with the fewest votes. Already separated from the group were Paige Miles and Tim Urban.

It came down to James, of nearby Cool, and Lacey Brown, of Amarillo, for the third spot. The theme for the week was songs by the Rolling Stones. James performed “It’s All Over Now” while Brown sang “Ruby Tuesday.”

Seacrest said it was Brown who was in the bottom three and declared James safe for another week.

Urban was soon sent back to safety, leaving the elimnation drama to Brown and Miles. Miles was then safe, and Brown ended up the first member of the top 12 to depart, unable to convince the judges to use a one-time save.