Wednesday's episode of our favorite show offered an incomplete songwriting lesson for 1980s music aficiandoes, as Carole Bayer Sager joined the judges for a Gotham soiree.

Specifically, Idol failed to note that the great Peter Allen wrote "Arthur's Theme" with Sager. Not a big deal, but Allen's general pop greatness has never been and never will be espoused enough, given that he's been dead for nearly 20 years.

Nevertheless, it was New York. There should be some big talent, right?

Well, I'm stuck on last night in Memphis. Specifically, Sean Michel, whose audition video you can watch here. Remember, he's the guy who looks like Castro, but who sang Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down" with some Arkansas backwoods, foot-stompin' blue-eyed soul.

My initial thoughts about this cat were that while he was good, he was just too darned weird. However, rewatching his audition video, I really dig this guy's overall vibe. Plus, I love how the posters on his YouTube page get on there and rave about how this couldn't have happened to a nicer dude.

It really makes you want to pull for the guy.

Alas, New York was all about mediocre talent, if you're asking me. Outside of a contestant from Virginia named Chris Richardson, the Big Apple was chock full of contestants who will be out of the competition before the Top 24 is set.

Unless the producers haven't introduced us to somebody really great. It happens.

There were some good backstories though. Jenry and his Burmese mother. The chick with the chiseled body who went through this Rocky Balboaeque routine to get into shape for the competition. I love that.

Sarah Burgess and her unsupportive father, who really didn't sound all that upset, was a decent story. She was a bit fragile for my taste, but Idol is all about the heart tug.

None of them though came close to Sundance Head, Sean Michel or even Melinda Doolittle, all three of whom were Memphis auditioners from Tuesday night. Oddly enough, one of the NYC contestants remarked that Gotham would bring a winner to Idol, ending the stranglehold the South has had on the show since its inception.

Kelly Clarkson - Texas.

Ruben Studdard - Alabama.

Fantasia Barrino - North Carolina.

Carrie Underwood - Oklahoma.

Taylor Hicks - Alabama.

Well, I have a theory as to why the South has this stranglehold and why it will continue. It's no conspiracy. In fact, it's very much at the root of Southern social life.

However, that's for another day.

Perhaps before Tuesday, when Idol takes us to Birmingham, Ala., and introduces us to Chris Sligh. In fact, there is something distinct about his background that plays into my reasoning about Southern contestants.

On to 'Bama.