As a whole, this week's performances on "Rock Star: INXS" were the best of the competition thus far. This is hardly surprising considering that a lot of the deadwood has been weeded out in previous weeks. But this time around, even the bad performances weren't quite as grating as usual. The constant object of my affection, Suzie McNeil, kicked off the night with a heavy rearrangement of R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion." After another subtle yet spectacular performance, it's truly hard to believe this talented woman was nearly eliminated twice in the early rounds. This would've been the best performance on most nights, but two later performers managed to overshadow her, which will probably cost her the weekly encore honor. MiG Ayesa provided yet another high energy performance, but his version of Free's "All Right Now," while flawless, was pretty much identical to his other recent performances. He needs to be a bit more unpredictable down the road if he wants to retain his front-runner status. With most of the other weak links already eliminated, Jessica Robinson was clearly in over her head this week. Covering Nirvana's "Come As You Are," she adopted a strange southern growl that clashed horribly with the song. This was easily the worst performance of the night, but the real reason she's probably going home this week is her constant arguing with Dave Navarro and the band during her post-song critiques. Brandon Calhoon handled The Rolling Stones’ "All Over Now" just fine, but his return to blues and classic rock after some rocky attempts at more diverse material looks a lot like a desperate man in full retreat. Tim Farriss and company already know that this guy is just not right for their band, INXS, and if this turns out to be a double-elimination week, he's probably gone. J.D. Fortune provided yet another of his patented non-sequitur arrangements, this time producing a truly gaudy makeover of Seal's "Crazy." The loud guitars, strange vocal affectations, and over-sexed stage antics just proved that he's never actually bothered to listen to the lyrics of the song. Yet, it still worked in that strange "not-good-but-interesting" way that J.D. has perfected. Jordis Unga took a huge step backwards tonight with her rendition of Derek and the Dominos’ "Layla." The band praised her for taking risks, but she seems to me to be turning in virtually the same low key performance week after week. This particular performance was different in one big way: it was really bad. After stumbling over an early lyric, she quietly fell apart throughout the rest of the song. Her pitch was all over the map and, at one point, she nearly dropped her microphone. In addition, the smile glued on her face for the duration of the song indicated that she, like J.D., had made no effort to understand what her song's lyrics meant. No one singing "Layla" should be smiling. For me, this was the first time that Marty Casey has ever deserved the praise regularly heaped upon him by the members of INXS. And boy did he earn it this time. Opting at the last minute to ditch the house band in favor of a solo acoustic performance, Marty turned in a mind-blowing version of The Killers’ "Mr. Brightside." Easily the best performance of the night, and it surpasses Jordis's "The Man Who Sold the World" as the highlight of the competition so far. Deanna Johnston made her weekly case for elimination by over-singing The Doobie Brothers’ "Long Train Runnin'." The members of INXS, however, seem far too busy drooling over her appearance to bother listening to her voice. A likely candidate for this week's bottom three, but drummer Jon Farriss's hormones alone will probably guarantee her another week in the competition. The night ended with a stellar performance of Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry" by Ty Taylor. His stage mannerisms are still a bit overdramatic for my tastes, but his voice was spectacular. Since Marty already received an encore two weeks ago, the band will probably give Ty that honor this week. Predictions... Encore: Bottom Three: Eliminated:   Previously eliminated contestants...