Dish Of Salt: Wednesday TV Dish (Backstage With ‘Idol’s’ Top Nine)

Last night was another good round for the remaining nine “American Idol” contestants, as they tackled songs from the Lennon/McCartney songbook. Weekly punching bag Tim Urban was spared a knockdown by the judges, while Aaron Kelly and Andrew Garcia took a few jabs. I was inside the show taping and later I was backstage with the contestants to chat about what went down.

First up for the night was 17-year-old Aaron who sang “The Long and Winding Road.” The usually sweet Ellen DeGeneres was less than impressed telling Aaron, “It felt like a long and winding song.” Simon told the singer the performance was, “very old fashioned and very boring,” and that he needed to become “young and relevant” in order to stick around the competition. Backstage, Aaron admitted his nerves might have got the best of him being up first. “It’s really hard being the first one out,” he told me. “In some terms you get to relax kinda afterwards but you know, you’re nervous ‘cause you’re the first one people see. You want to set a good bar and uh, definitely a lot of pressure.”

Katie Stevens has landed in the bottom three two weeks in a row, but after delivering stellar vocals on “Let It Be,” the judges predicted the high school student would be safe this week. Randy Jackson told her it was her “best performance ever.” Backstage Katie was taking the judges comments in stride. “You never know whether you’re definitely out or whether you’re in, but regardless of if I’m going to be in there tomorrow, if I’m not going to be, it just felt great to hear them tell me that I really kinda didn’t deserve to be there this week. So that is enough for me in itself,” she said.

Ryan Seacrest brought up how Katie has received five prom date offers from fans on the Internet. However, even if she does get eliminated in time to make her senior prom, Katie’s date would have one major obstacle in their way – Michael “Big Mike” Lynche! He told me he would be chaperoning. “He’ll just come and be security,” Katie joked.

Check out my backstage interview with Katie, Michael and Lee DeWyze HERE.

Randy Jackson told Andrew Garcia his performance of “Can’t Buy Me Love” was “solid” but “corny.” Simon thought he got it all wrong, but Andrew disagreed. “I think it was a good night,” he told me. “I had fun out there and it was, it was what I wanted to do. That’s all that matters to me.”

Check out my backstage interview with Andrew, Aaron and Tim HERE.

Michael Lynche put a contemporary spin on “Eleanor Rigby” which Randy thought was “da bomb” and told Michael he could put on his album one day. Backstage, Michael agreed. “Yeah, you know, I, when I was hearing it in my head I was like this could be something,” he said.

Crystal Bowersox had another solid performance with her rendition of “Come Together.” Ellen told her she was having difficulty finding ways to tell her how fantastic she is. Backstage Crystal said she wasn’t getting tired of hearing from Ellen how fantastic she is. “No! No. Ellen is great and it’s really, it’s nice to hear.” Crystal went back to her signature guitar after playing piano last week. She told me she also plays the flute. So perhaps we might see some of that one week?

After three weeks of being blasted by the judges, Tim finally earned some praise for his version of “All My Lovin.’” “I thought you did really well,” Simon told him. “The judges were good to me this week,” a shocked Tim said backstage. “Yeah. It was funny. I almost didn’t know what to do when they were talking to me and said I had some good stuff. I was like, ‘I guess I keep smiling!’” Hearing kind words also made it all the sweeter, as Tim had never performed with an electric guitar before. “I wanted to do something different. I had played the song on acoustic and I wondered what it would sound like on a electric.”

A confident Casey James wowed the judges with his version of “Jealous Guy,” with Simon calling it the “best performance of the night.” Although Casey admitted hearing that taped message from Sir Paul McCartney added some pressure prior to hitting the stage. ” That actually made me nervous,” he admitted. I was like, ‘Wow I just got talked to (in a group sense, in a general sense) by McCartney,’ and it was like ‘Whoa!’’”

Siobhan Magnus lost her signature scream for a more subdued performance of “Across The Universe.” The judges were mixed on the overall performance but still praised Siobhan for her uniqueness. Randy told her, “Nobody screams artist more than you.” Of course, the one constant that remained was Siobhan’s signature quirky style. Backstage, she explained how finding her outfit was a bit of kismet. “I was working with the stylist trying to figure out what I was going to wear,” she explained. “I said to her, ‘I wish I could go home and get some of my vintage fairy princess dresses because I collect them.’ I had one in mind in particular that I wish I could get from home. We went to a thrift store and the first rack I went to the Beatles were playing on the stereo there and I found this blue dress. I have this exact same dress in yellow at home. It’s the one I was thinking of!”

Check out my backstage interview with Casey, Siobhan and Crystal HERE.

Lee DeWyze closed out the night with his performance of “Hey Jude.” Inside the Idol stage it was the only performance that received a unanimous standing ovation (well, except for me because I liked Casey’s performance better). Lee told me it was entirely his idea to include a bagpipe player. “I told them I told them I wanted a bagpipe and then they brought one in,” he explained. “I thought it was fun. I thought it was cool and I thought it was a good way to change up the song without changing the song too much.”

No real celebrities inside the taping last night. Top 12 eliminee Lacey Brown was in the house. David Boreanz and Emily Deschanel were ushered in after Crystal’s performance. They were promoting the 100th episode of “Bones.” I did nearly get run over by the Octomom, Nadya Suleman, and two of her kids backstage though. We never did quite figure out if she actually went to the show.

Now I’m off to watch the Madonna themed episode of “Glee!”

Follow me on Twitter! – @dishofsalt

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