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Chris Sligh left last week and now we are really starting to pick up some steam, with just nine finalists remaining.

This week Tony Bennett joins the show to give the contestants a helping hand with songs that have been a part of his career. Like last week, it could be about anything.

Melinda Doolittle
I Got Rhythm by Ethel Merman

Gina Glocksen
Smile by Charlie Chaplin

Lakisha Jones
Stormy Weather by Lena Horne

Blake Lewis
Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin

Sanjaya Malakar
Cheek to Cheek by Fred Astaire

Chris Richardson
Don't Get Around Much Anymore by Duke Ellington

Haley Scarnato
Ain't Misbehavin' by Ella Fitzgerald

Jordin Sparks
On a Clear Day by Barbra Streisand

Phil Stacey
Night and Day by Frank Sinatra

Just about every song this week has been done before by more than one other artist - most by dozens of other artists. So the real difficulty here is to take the songs and make it unique.

Blake Lewis came out and showed that he was here for the long haul. If he somehow manages to win this, then tonight might be the night you remember as the one that started him on the road to victory.

Meanwhile, Melinda Doolittle continues ascending her throne. I really think this is Melinda's game to lose, and chances are not strong that anyone will be able to unseat her.

If anyone, then Jordin Sparks probably has the best chance, and Melinda better hope that America thinks that she had a bad week, because the performance wasn't strong. Unfortunately (for Melinda - not for the rest of us), there were a lot worse performances, so I suspect that Jordin will be here next week.

Gina Glocksen, who I'd like to see go far, is likely done. The rocker chick just met her match. I think she'll be joined by pepetual bottom-dweller Haley Scarnato, and everyone seems to like Chris Richardson, but I just don't get it. That's my bottom three.

The kid we love to hate, Sanjaya Malakar, actually had a good night. This may very well be his best performance to date, and this will probably be the time he gets thrown off (I'm not even picking him for the bottom three this week).

Update: Another two out of three for me. Gina and Haley were indeed in the bottom three, but it was Phil that joined them, not Chris. Gina saw the axe fall, and I hate to see her go, but it was time.