January 25, 2008Carrie Underwood coming to RoanokeAs most of you fans already know, Carrie Underwood will be in Roanoke on Feb. 16, along with Keith Urban, for the "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour." Our music writer, Tad Dickens, recently interviewed Carrie and has graciously agreed to give me some snippets from that interview to post on the blog. So, stay tuned. Until then, here's a link to details on the concert. January 24, 2008And the elephant in the room ...Oliver Highman and his pregnant wife. The entire episode was framed around this dude and his wife. Turns out she went into labor the day he was supposed to audition, but they gave him another chance the next day. Oliver is a sweetheart, and I assumed he would make it through since they gave him so much air time. Alas, he did not. He had "weird falsetto," according to Randy. But, it didn't really matter to Oliver. He's got little Emma Grace to go home to. I think that's much better than Hollywood. Congrats to Oliver and his wife. In all, 23 people are going to Hollywood from Charleston. I will say, though, that the South was not a hotbed for talent. Off to HollywoodLet's talk about the folks who made it through. London Weidberg is the Charleston native who helped take care of her father when he was dying of cancer. They didn't spend a lot of time on her story, which was OK with me, and her voice was decent but she won't win the competition. Her house in Charleston won't be bad to return to, though. It's fancy. Sixteen-year-old Amy Catherine Flynn, "A.C., Amy Catherine, whatevs," got the go ahead to Hollywood, but not without a reality check from Simon: "A lot of people are going to find you annoying." "Fake and rigged"I didn't expect Josh Bolson to blow up the way he did. He seemed so sweet and innocent during his very bad audition. But once he was rejected he let go. Josh said this show is "fake and rigged," to which Simon seemed pretty peeved (hmm, wonder why?) and called Josh "rude and deluded." Josh, the next "World Idol," stormed away screaming that "American Idol" sucks. "It sucks! I'm the best! This is what you'll get in the South!" waaaaaaaaaa.......go away. Why are Southerners so daggone loud?Why do Southerners (and I'll say "we" because I am one) scream their songs? A lot of contestants from Charleston were so loud. Is it because a lot of Southerners grew up singing in church? It's OK to sing it loud and proud for Jesus, but not so much for Randy, Paula and Simon. One screamer in particular was Aretha (named after THE Aretha...no pressure there) Codner. She shouted through a Whitney Houston song (strike one and two) and then proceeded to argue with the judges (strike three) that she was better than all the others, specifically the contestants who made it to Hollywood. The judges won out in the end and Aretha left. This is random, but when Aretha was leaving the room Paula asked "Is she married" to no one in particular. And there was no answer. It was weird. The "owwwwww!" factorEnter Michelle and Jeffrey Lampkin, the brother and sister duo who actually made it through to Hollywood together. I think they surprised the judges with their very-good rendition of R. Kelly's "I'm Your Angel." They had some decent harmony going on, which agreed with Randy. Jeffrey is a little over the top (tie wrapped around his head, lots of snapping and saying "Owww!), but he's pretty good. In fact, Randy said yes to Jeffrey but not to his sister Michelle. The duo made it through together. It'll be interesting to see how that pans out. And who Jeffrey will annoy first in Hollywood. AI brought them togetherRandy Stark and Crystal Ortiz met on the "American Idol" message boards. Apparently the very talented and savvy Randy doles out advice on the audition process because he's done it before (OK, why would you take advice from a guy who auditioned and didn't make it?). Anyway, Crystal had been receiving this coveted advice from Randy and they finally met in person. Obviously his advice didn't help her b/c she did not make it (duh), but his fierceness melted her heart. Simon told them to check into a hotel. Ahh, young love. The South puts on a show ......but not necessarily a good one. First up was Raysharde, the "black Clay Aiken." He looked like one of the Jackson 5 and Simon likened him to a "70s cruise ship cabaret singer." Then we met DeAnna (the capital A is very important, according to her). DeAnna needs to work through some anger issues, which she kinda took out on her rendition of "Fancy." That was just the tip of the iceberg for Charleston. Charleston comments on the way ...I had an event last night so I'm catching up now ... looks like Charleston isn't gonna bring the talent, though ... January 23, 2008Watch the YouTube video of AlbertoI had to go back and watch Alberto Hurtado's audition. If you missed it, here it is. January 22, 2008Finally, a little stirring of the heartCarly Hennessy is by far my favorite. Apparently she tried out before and made it to Hollywood, but because of some Visa problems she was disqualified. Carly, I'm glad you're back. Not only do I dig the tattoos, but your voice was on. I'm always on the lookout for the rocker chick ... think Gina Glocksen from Season 6 and even as far back as Nikki McKibbin from the first season. Not many people can pull off Chaka Khan, even I know that, but man ... I'd say Carly came pretty close. I know where my vote is (at this point, anyway). Wednesday night auditions are in South Carolina. I can't wait. Those Southerners are sassy. I'm embarrassed to admit itBut David Archuleta's (another back story ... the kid with the vocal paralysis) smile reminded me of a young and very innocent Sanjaya Malakar's smile during auditions. I'll fess up. I thought Sanjaya was so cute when he auditioned. (I know! I know! I feel sick just thinking about it.) But, he was all shy and grinning with that sister of his. I had the same thought for David. I think Paula did, too. When Paula calls someone a "sweetheart," it's on. They'd even make fun of this guy at FloydFestThe end of tonight's show proved the best for me. For the past three episodes I've been waiting. Waiting for someone to really make me laugh -- not necessarily shock me -- just make me laugh. Alberto Hurtado, as predictable as it may be, was that guy tonight. The hippie flower child who was apparently way into fans decided that singing his own song would be the key. Has this ever worked? Has anyone sang their own song and made it to Hollywood? If so, please tell me because I can't remember. Back to Alberto. Simon said his song was the most depressing song he's ever heard in his life. I wasn't even listening to the words. I was just watching the movements. And the literal "heart on my sleeve." I was laughing. I think because this guy wasn't using gimmicks, and I really don't think he was doing it to just get on TV. He really thinks he's talented. And as awful as it sounds, that made me laugh tonight. After this I'm going to look up Alberto's MySpace page. If he doesn't have one yet, he will soon enough, I'm sure. Sorry, Blake, but Lady Liberty failed youBlake Boshnack has auditioned 10 times. Remember, he was dressed like the Statue of Liberty during Season 5 auditions? San Diego made his 11th attempt. Does this guy have nothing better to do? Does he not have a job? Even worse, his mom wants this more than he does. She reminds me of a pageant mom. Poor guy. The sad thing is he was actually not that bad tonight. And the only thing Simon could say? "You're the idiot that dressed like the Statue of Liberty." Yeah, give it up Blake. You and mom might want to consider counseling. It's a definite 'no' if you're singing a Whitney songCome on auditioners...even I know this. Don't try to pull off: Whitney Houston (the delusional duo of Christopher Baker and Monique Gibson are proof of this) And usually Aretha Franklin, but Samantha Musa did. Her sister accompanied her to the audition and actually made her way onto Simon's lap to help judge sister Sam's audition. Paula finally said something that sounded remotely industry-related: "You're naturally good." Again, another unanimous yes by all the judges. (Oh, and shout-out to my friend Erin in NYC: Samantha kinda resembles you....it's cool.) The emotional back story vs. the set-upFor regular viewers of the show, you know what the emotional back story is. Tonight's big one was single father Perrie Cataldo. His wife and the mother of his son recently passed away. He sang Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love to You." Paula dug it. Apparently Randy and Simon did, too. He got the unanimous thumbs up. Tonight's big set-up was Mariah Carey wannabe Valerie Reyes. You know, she said that folks walk by her and ask "Do you have Mariah Carey playing?" To which she answers: "No, it's just me." You know from the beginning she's not going to make it to Hollywood. In fact, after her rendition of some incomprehensible Mariah song, Simon says: "You sound more like Mariah Carey's CD left out in the sun." Duh. The Simon we know and love is back in San DiegoOK, I'm a little late because I had to TiVo the show tonight. But I'm at the halfway point now and here are some quick observances. Simon has come out with some nice zingers this evening, so far. For instance, his first quote of the night to Tetiana Ostopowych: "I don't think you're as good as you think you are." She made it through, though, with a yes from Simon. Another quote that made me laugh following the delusional duo of Christopher Baker and Monique Gibson: "No children will be laughing after that," following Michael's rendition of "The Greatest Love of All." Another quick observance so far. All of the yes votes have been unanimous. That's rare. Stay tuned for more ... Looks like Kristy Lee's already a starI was looking around MySpace at some of the folks who made it through to Hollywood last week. Remember Kristy Lee Cook -- the one who sold her horse to make the audition trip; she's also a cage fighter -- well it seems she's already hit the big time. Some interesting finds on the MySpace profile I came across: (She's already got MySpace fan sites and this may be one of them, but it seemed the most heavily populated.) Kristy Lee has 1,985 friends. How many of these were added after last week's audition? I wish I knew. Included in her Top 10 friends are, interestingly, Antonella Barba and Haley Scarnato (both contestants from Season 6), Lauren Torelli and Alisha Dixon -- these two apparently made it to Hollywood from the Philly auditions last week ... |
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