TOP 24 HEADING FOR BOTTOM WITH PERFORMANCES THAT GO FLAT

That giant hissing sound you heard Tuesday night? It was American Idol -- and most of the singers -- going flat as the guys kicked off the first round of the Top 24. Most of the dudes couldn't find the pitch with sonar and a songbook. Good thing that local guy Phil Stacey, Chris Sligh and Blake Lewis made the night bearable.

-- Good news for Stacey: Stacey started rough on his performance of Edwin McCain's I Could Not Ask for More but righted the ship as his wife, Kendra, looked on. Randy said Phil won "best vocal prize of the night," and Simon seemed inclined to agree.

-- Greatest accidental song choice ever: Sundance Head went with Nights in White Satin. It was sleepy. And the voters need to tell him nigh-nigh. Please.

-- Cowellism of the night: The portly Sligh took a shot at some of Simon's past work by saying he wasn't about to do songs from Il Divo or the Teletubbies. Simon replied: "Chris, you could always do the latter."

-- Best Napoleon Dynamite moment: The best part of Nick Pedro's night was the christening of his campaign: "Vote for Pedro." And he'll make all your wildest dreams come true, as long as they don't involve winning Idol.

-- Most likely to go home: DialIdol.com, a site that monitors telephone voting, says Rudy Cardenas and Paul Kim are most in danger; I'd add Head and Sanjaya Malakar.