Fan Fare

Crystal Bowersox promised she had a surprise up her sleeve for this week”s “American Idol” — but no-one could have guessed it would be stilettos, a sexy red dress, and false eyelashes.

Oh yes. And she swapped her guitar for a piano.

At least she kept the dreadlocks.

But did the early “Idol”  favorite  go too far with the glamorous makeover for her performance of  “Midnight Train to Georgia” on R&B night?

Randy Jackson loved it.  But Simon Cowell wasn’t too sure, urging Bowersox not to “let the (Idol)  process suck the identity out of you”.  “You’re the kind of artist that is rare. You’re real,”  he told her.

Bowersox is also one of the rare contestants who talks back to Cowell — and seems to get away with it. “I wanted to prove to myself that I could do something different,” she assured him. “I wouldn’t ever do anything I am not comfortable with.”

The transformation of earthy rocker Bowersox was just one of the surprises in a Top 10 night that saw Usher dish out mentoring advice,  front-runner Siobhan Magnus falter and Andrew Garcia get his mojo back.

An unusually  pitchy Magnus was accused of “manslaughter” for her rendition of  “Through the Fire” and was hit with a double whammy when Cowell declared he was “getting bored with the screaming” that had elicited favorable comparisons a month ago to Adam Lambert.

Garcia finally lived up to the promise of his acoustic take on Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” in Hollywood week almost two months ago with a unique version of Chris Brown’s hit “Forever”.

Now Garcia just has to work on his personality.