Good karma does count for something. Recently while drawing $20 from the ATM, a $50 bill came out and I did the right thing and returned it to the bank teller. Yes, my friends, Art Marley is a good person. Not only did the bank give me a cash reward, but last night Ace Young got kicked off “American Idol,” just as I had wished for a day earlier.

Of course, even though the show was thirty minutes long, we had to endure the agony of Ryan Seacrest trying to fill time and Rod Stewart performing. Actually the old man wasn’t so bad doing a rendition of “The Way You Look Tonight” from his latest collection of standards.

Then it was all business….Ryan divvied up the remaining seven contestants into groups of 3, plus one.
The plus one was Taylor Hicks, who was immediately told he was safe. I’m not stupid….the reason he was the first to safety was because he got the highest number of votes Tuesday night. Look out America, the fifth Idol just might have gray hair.

Then Taylor was asked to stand by the group he thought was safe…..Elliott, Kellie and Katharine…or Ace, Chris and Paris. He faked a move, shaking Chris’ hand, then moving to the other group…and he was correct. I guess Elliott really is going to keep hanging around….I mean, dude can sing his ass off, so it’s all good. But Kellie not in the bottom 3 after that awful showing Tuesday?

So then it was down to Ace, Paris and Chris and Paris was the first one of the three to be put back to safety. Then it came down to Chris and Ace….look, I didn’t count the votes but I can almost guarantee there was about a 10 million vote differential between Chris and Ace. Vocally at least, there is no comparison. America, you got it right.

Next week, the classically trained Italian pop singer Andre Bocelli will be guiding the Idols as they choose from the greatest love songs of all time. Thankfully we don’t have to see Ace sing a sappy ballad and watch Paula Abdul drool in her Coke cup. But more importantly, we’ve got a half dozen contestants left…..which means we’re only a handful of weeks from crowning our next Idol.

Wow, has this season been a blur? It has, and now we’re left with a final six of contestants that are all worthy of winning it all. Thankfully. See you next week my friends…

Marley, OUT.