Normally, I'm not a huge fan of Urban Method, but I thought they had the best night last night and deserved that top slot for the week. Their mashup was definitely the best of the four (Afro Blue's was good, but forgettable, the Aires suffered from tempo consistency, and Pentatonix's was clever, but not fantastic), and even though their judges' choice was not my style at all, I did like it.

The judges' choice numbers were where all the groups shone. Afro Blue just totally delivered on "A Change is Gonna Come," and the Aires brought on the fun with "Shout," although I'm sure the judges were right about their pitch problems (I missed them, myself). But Pentatonix totally brought it with "Dog Days Are Over"! I'm not familiar with the song at all, so the beginning of it, I thought, "Oh, this is good," but it wasn't sucking me in. And then Mitch got his spotlight, and I thought the rest of the song was brilliant. They were so smart to give him a total solo with no backup, because he was amazing.

I thought that the bottom two this week would be the Aires and Pentatonix, just because the judges were plotzing over both of Afro Blue's performances, so I was surprised when they said that Pentatonix was safe. But as soon as they said they were basing their decision on the entire season to decide between the bottom two, I knew that Afro Blue was gone. If it was just that performance, the Aires would have been toast.

Have any of you seen this video of Pentatonix's percussionist, Kevin? I think a snippet of it was shown in the first episode, during the get-to-know-the-group segment. Kind of a multitalented guy.

Beatboxing Cellist

He was also on PBS's "From the Top" show a few years ago. Looks like he plays the saxophone, too.

From the Top

Huh. He also has a 2011 BA from Yale in East Asian studies (and is fluent in Chinese) and did the pre-med requirements. Maybe next he'll cure cancer.

I wonder if the core Pentatonix trio found him on Youtube.

They did, flea! They saw the first video I posted and realized he was the piece their group was missing.

Kevin is ridiculously gifted. And probably the one that has a most assured future in music even if Pentatonix as a group does not pan out. And if I recall correctly, Avi is studying opera. He does have a wonderful basso profundo voice.

I do worry that even if they win the recording contract, Kevin and Avi have too many other things going on in their lives for them to stick it out in this group. And even though Scott, Kirstie and Mitch have been singing together for ages and will likely continue to do so, Pentatonix just won't be Pentatonix without Kevin and Avi (or some other people in place of Kevin and Avi.)

A bonus youtube vid of a 14-year-old (!) Scott singing "Georgia on My Mind": [link]

The dude has been around the talent search circuit for a decade. Quite a Rachel Berry, he is.

(In case it's not obvious, I've been playing their performances on youtube on repeat the entire freakin' weekend. AUGH, I love them so.)

If you had the Pats game on CBS tonight, TAR will be about 55 or so minutes late.

That was one exhausting leg. Bill & Cindi went out with style and dignity, and also a montage of their best moments so you know the producers and everyone else along on the crew really really liked them.

Did Marcus nail the driving challenge in one go?

No, he took two tries for the slalom. But it looked like only two!

Kind of a great blog post from Ben Folds: [link]

More than kind of great. That was lovely and honest.