Out in a Blaze of Glory

Last week's Idol Gives Back robbed Jacksonville's Phil Stacey of his trip to the Final Four Wednesday night.

Philnatics, no doubt, were shocked to learn halfway through the results show, that their American Idol would go out singing Blaze of Glory. In case they forgot, all of those votes placed last week carried over to the vote totals this week. (And it seems likely that others would benefit more from the 8 plus total hours of voting than Phil; previous results this season were based on only 2 hours of voting.) Which is too bad, because we'd be willing to bet that based on the votes following this week's performance alone, Phil was guaranteed a spot on next week's show.

But one of the things we've learned about him thus far is that Phil's not the type of guy to blame circumstance for his fate. Even as his quest to become American Idol crumbled Wednesday night, his smile never wavered. For Phil knows that opportunities await him, and even if they don't play out the way some hope they do, he's already got a lot going for him.

So Phil took the stage again and gave another full throttle performance of Bon Jovi's Blaze of Glory. He sang for the audience. He sang for the judges. He sang for his Navy buddies. And he sang for his wife and the remaining contestants, many of whom were shown with tears running down their cheeks.

In fact, Phil rocked out to Bon Jovi better than Bon Jovi rocked out to Bon Jovi Wednesday night. (The group took to the stage minutes later with ballad promoting an album due out this summer.)

Once again, Phil proved why he was there tonight and why he should be there next week, too. But the votes were cast. And counted. There's no going back. No do-overs this week.

Perhaps the only good thing about Phil's early exit from the stage is that he didn't have suffer Chris Richardson whining his way through Dead or Alive again after he, too, was booted from the competition.

So as Melinda, Blake, Jordin and Lakisha prepare for Soul Week (with Barry Gibb) next week, at least one of them should count himself lucky that he won't have to compete against Phil. For when it comes to soul, Phil's would easily outshine any others on stage.

And that's the type of idol we can all cheer for.

Gary T. Mills/The Times-Union