Another Contestant Bids Farewell to American Idol

And then there were six. At the end of the two-hour-plus Idol Gives Back charity concert Wednesday night someone had to say farewell.

It was Tim Urban’s time to go. (Well it was about time. He may look great shirtless in his modeling pictures, but this guy surely cannot carry a tune. He should have been gone along time ago...like before Hollywood week!)

He had a better run than probably anyone — apart from friends and family — expected, largely because he always flashed an ingratiating smile, had better hair than most professional pop stars and was growing stronger as a performer week by week. But you may have sensed the end was near Tuesday night when Ellen compared him to a soup du jour that failed to please her that particular day.

Ellen’s light cleverness often gets to the essence of everything.

In an unexpected development, Casey James not only made his first trip to the bottom three (along with Tim and Aaron Kelly) but he also fell to the bottom two. Casey’s problem is turning out to be his jaunty, rock ’n’ roll consistency. He’s often better than Aaron or Siobhan Magnus, but their occasional lows make their highs seem all the more impressive.

A rocky mountain range is more striking than even the most fertile plain.

Meanwhile, the rest of the show went off in all sorts of directions, raising money and doing good with the participation of many celebrities. The best guest performer? Probably Annie Lennox, who taped a segment about an HIV-positive girl in Africa. She also sang from London. (All the Icelandic volcano smoke prevented her from catching a flight to the States).

And it was fun to see Mary J. Blige do “Stairway to Heaven” with Randy on guitar.

I also loved Joss Stone's performance, along with Carrie Underwood.

Of the comic guests, Wanda Sykes was far and away the funniest with a short but on-target monologue: She said she’d been wondering if Simon was bored this season. She also observed how cruel it is to force the losing contestant to sing each week. George Lopez's "elimination" segment was also very entertaining.

This week, Tim was spared that final performance since the show was running so late. He went out smiling like blazes, though.

Next week's mentor is Shania Twain and the six remaining contestants will be performing her songs.