A strange aura around American Idol last night, as the kids sang Billy Joel tunes, while the Piano Man himself was nowhere to be found - other than on pre-taped clips, talking about each song chosen for the night's performances. Unlike last year, when Burt Bacharach worked with the kids and could talk about each song and how it fit the contestant, Joel was more or less setting up an hour-long karaoke contest of his music.

Stranger still was Smokey Robinson acting as guest judge. Not so much because of who he is, but because there is almost no connection between him and the musical theme (other than he and Joel both being famous singer-songwriters).

The performances were less strange. Those who were usually good were good and those who were usually bad were bad. Kimberly Locke had perhaps her best performance yet with "New York State of Mind," but she'll probably still wind up in the bottom three. Josh Gracin was not particularly enthralling as he sang the chorus to "Piano Man" 2 or 3 times, but he'll be safe. Carmen was horrid as always, got panned across the board by the judges, and had to have Ryan Seacrest pimp for votes like nobody's business. Now that Simon's abandoned her, I wonder which of the producers is trying to keep her on the show.

In any case, look for both Kims and Trenyce in the bottom three (she did a good cover of "Baby Grand," but will slip to the bottom three given the sinister forces that seem to be propelling Carmen and Josh along) and for camera whore Kimberly Caldwell to get her farewell after her uninspiring performance of "Still Rock 'n Roll to Me."

In related news, Kelly Clarkson's album came out yesterday, and was surprisingly not mentioned on the show. How unlike them to miss an opportunity to pimp a product! I'm sure we'll get some mention tonight, at least in passing. Also, Monday sees a special show somehow related to being at the halfway point. Reality programs that run clip shows make the baby Jesus cry.