IDOL CHATTER

LaKisha

Jones was

was

voted off "American Idol" last night.

Ellen Gray and Jonathan Takiff weigh in.

WHY SHE GOT THE BOOT

Ellen: The Bee Gees were never going to make LaKisha's night - and Blake Lewis' fan base may just be as fierce as Sanjaya's.

Jon: With that bad last note of "Run to Me," viewers ran from her.

WHO WE'D HAVE SENT HOME

Ellen: As much as I admire Blake's ability to update the oldies, his underlying vocals just aren't that strong.

Jon: Blake Lewis was asking for the boot with his poorly sung, disjointed, beat-box-infused versions of "Dancing" and "Danger Zone." Yeah, he did them his way - badly.

WE JUDGE THE JUDGES

Ellen: Randy Jackson seemed to wander into Simon Cowell territory when he told Blake he felt like "I was in some weird discotheque in some foreign country." It was, after all, Bee Gees night.

Jon: How smitten was guest coach Barry Gibb with Jordin, declaring her version of "To Love Somebody" the "greatest" he's ever heard? Puleeze.

WATER-COOLER WHINE

Ellen: It was one revealing moment when Melinda Doolittle, perhaps the most controlled "Idol" contestant ever, explained to Gibb why she wouldn't sing a particular lyric: "I've been very careful about not singing about being a loser on 'American Idol'. . . I'd rather be wet than be a loser."

Jon: When it gets down to the final few, "A.I." throws the contestants a difficult theme that separates the wheat from the chaff - in this instance, the vocally taxing pop of falsetto kings the Bee Gees. Truth is, only seasoned pro Melinda avoided painful pitch problems. Why don't we just give her the crown? *