MCPHEE HANGS ONTO 'AMERICAN IDOL' SPOT.

Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer

Local songbird Katharine McPhee did it again Thursday, keeping her standing among the remaining dozen contestants on ``American Idol.''

The Sherman Oaks native, who performed Aretha Franklin's ``Think'' in the week's competition, was not among the four aspiring singers booted from the popular talent show. Instead, Kinnik Sky, Ayla Brown, Will Makar and Gedeon McKinney were sent packing during the fifth season's third elimination round. The contest began with 24 hopefuls - a dozen males and a dozen females - at the start of the voting process.

Judge Simon Cowell liked McPhee's performance, saying the song choice was ``a risk, but you pulled it off and made it seem effortless.''

But Sky, 28, wasn't so lucky and received the lowest number of votes for her rendition of Alicia Keys' ``If I Ain't Got You.''

``I think you just booked your plane ticket home,'' meanie Cowell told the singer.

Brown, 17, a student from Wrentham, Mass., fought back tears as host Ryan Seacrest announced she would be leaving the show. ``It's OK to cry,'' Seacrest told her, ``because you care.''

Makar, also 17, from Woodlands, Texas, was chopped after his version of Marvin Gaye's ``How Sweet It Is,'' prompted Cowell to brand her ``very juvenile.''