Season 7 kicks of July 30th! So soon!? Sheesh.  AI auditions will be held in the following cities!  You know you wanna try out.

• Dallas, TX: Monday, Aug. 6 at Texas Stadium
• Omaha, NE: Friday, Aug. 10 at Qwest Center
• Atlanta, GA : Tuesday, Aug. 14 at TBA
• Charleston, SC: Saturday, Aug. 18 at North Charleston Coliseum
• Miami, FL: Wednesday, Aug. 22 at AmericanAirlines Arena
• Philadelphia, PA : Monday, Aug. 27 at Wachovia Center

“American Idol” judge Simon Cowell has watched every performance this season up close, but the opinionated Brit still can’t say who is going to win the title.

There are just two contenders left: Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis, who will each perform tonight.

“One is a better entertainer and one’s the better singer, so it will be down to what they do [tonight],” Cowell said last week.

If past seasons’ finales are any indication, we can expect the contestants to sing three songs each this evening, two of which will come from their previous weeks’ performances.

“I’m hoping Blake does the Bon Jovi song [’You Give Love a Bad Name’],” says Cowell. “It was his best performance.”

And Sparks?

Last week, Cowell said he didn’t know what she would do, adding, “She hasn’t done one performance yet that I think of as a wow.”

The finalists’ third vocal will be a song written specifically to be the winner’s first single.

Cowell said he has heard the song and thinks “it’s going to be harder for Blake to sing, because it’s more of a ballad.”

While singing the “Idol” song best has obviously never hurt a contestant, singing it second-best doesn’t necessarily mean second place (hello, Taylor Hicks), so Lewis shouldn’t consider himself down for the count.

Whatever the outcome, Cowell considers this season one of “American Idol’s” best.

Yes, even with Sanjaya Malakar.

“I thought the whole Sanjaya thing was hysterical,” says Cowell. “Well, I’m happy now because he’s out. I don’t think I’d be happy if he was in the finals, so I can now be quite smug about it. But looking back, I thought it was quite amusing.”

And as for talk of dwindling ratings, Cowell doesn’t bat a lash.

“You know, you go down, you go up, but it’s still, what, 8 million ahead of the second-place show,” he says.

“I didn’t think we’d get beyond season one, so every other season is a bonus.”

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I’m just curious where you guys stand.  I’m thinking that Jordan’s going to win.  What do you guys think?

The Idol’s are performing three numbers - chosen by the judges and the performers themselves tonight.

So who do you think is going to win?

Remember season four finalist Jessica Sierra? Well, perhaps if you don’t remember her vocal talents, maybe you’ll remember her mug shot.

Turns out this Tampa, Fla., native, 21, was charged early Sunday with felony battery. Police charged the singer with battery with a deadly weapon. And guess what, America - it wasn’t a microphone!

According to a police spokeswoman, the tough chick – who, while finishing in the top ten, earned her season’s “Who was that? Award” in our eyes shortly after the show wrapped – allegedly hit a man on the head with a glass while at a Tampa café.

Sierra, who was taken into custody at 2:15 a.m. on Sunday, was found to be in possession of cocaine when searched at the Hillsborough County Jail. She was later released on $11,500 bail. No further details have been released.

Appearing in Idol’s top 10 with bold-facers Constantine Maroulis and Carrie Underwood, Sierra’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” single was included on the season’s compilation album, “American Idol Season 4 – The Showstoppers.”

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Maybe that’s why Sanjaya’s always got that goofy grin on his face! Turns out that Sanjy’s mom, Jillian Blith, used to be a pot-growing potentate — and that his sister Shyamali was no stranger to the art of toking herself.

The Momjaya was pinched by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department in February 2005 in Pierce County, Wash. after they found 310 marijuana plants — and the Sis-jaya keeping watch with a bag of weed and “smoking devices” — in the Malakar family garage, as the National Enquirer first smoked out today.

But — buzzkill — Shyamali, who was arrested for possession, directed the cops to another green-growing facility nearby, where they arrested Blith and her husband, Charles Quist (Sanjaya’s stepdad). Quist’s mugshot, obtained by TMZ, bears a striking resemblance to Gary Sinise, a very blitzed Gary Sinise. (We’re told there’s a mugshot of Shyamali, but it can’t be made public because she was only 17 at the time of the bust.)

Blith could’ve gone to jail for up to five years after pleading guilty to one felony count of unlawful manufacturing of a controlled substance, but got off with a relatively mellow 30-day sentence.

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I did a whole heck of a lot of fast forwarding on last night’s American Idol. I’m sorry - I just don’t like telathons. I did pause a couple times to watch a few performances. One that I did watch was Celine and Elvis. And is it just me, or did it ROYALLY suck!? I’ve read online that some people really liked it - so I might be alone. I didn’t care for it.

So tell me what you thought!

“Things I Learned from ‘American Idol’”  Sanjaya’s on Letterman tonight!

10. The camera adds ten pounds to your mohawk.

9. Work hard and make sacrifices, you can finish in 7th place.

8. It’s very important to “Keep it real, dawg.”

7. I should have gone for the immunity idol – oh wait, that’s “Survivor.”

6. On-camera Simon is a bit nasty, but off-camera, he’s a total jerk.

5. Voting for yourself 100 times an hour causes some wicked carpal tunnel.

4. When you forget the words, just do this. (Sanjaya belts out a riff like“Ohhhhhhhh”)

3. Honestly, I thought I was auditioning for “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”

2. Nothing.

1. America loves performers with bad hair – right, Dave?

Thanks to Kimberly @ CBS!