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Home > Blogs > Reality Bytes > Archives > 2007 > January > 17
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
‘American Idol’ in Seattle…the rain was not the only horrible thing!
With absolutely no deference to the rainy weather, Seattle may have seen their last American Idol audition show. Pitiful. First Minnesota then this? Only 14 go on to Hollywood from thousands of hopefuls.
Ranking pretty high on the weirdness scale was Jennifer Chapton, aka “The Hotness.” She confidently announced to the judges that she was ready to get her “sing on.” Honestly, I have a hard time feeling sorry for people like this. They continue singing even after they have been told to stop…she was just obnoxious. These are the ones we love to hate. Simon may be insulting, he may be rude, but rarely is he wrong!
Stay at home mom Amy Salgado took a leap of faith, against the advice of her husband, and went to Seattle to “try to” sing like Christina Aguilera. Amy tested Simon’s patience when begging for one more chance after sipping some water for her dry throat. Unfortunately one more sip wasn’t going to help Amy. I guess she should have listened to her hubby after all.
Darwin Mishka Reedy, student and novella writer, brought her fuzzy blonde hair and out of the lines ruby red lips into the audition room ready to be sexy. She even choose a song by the ultra-sensual Pussy Cat Dolls. Who knows why but before she started, the judges asked her mother to step in. These two could have been twins with the only difference being the scary hair. Same red lipstick, same eye make-up, same bad teeth. Given the “ugly” look and awful singing, I thought the judges could have been much meaner to her. Some people just shouldn’t try bringing sexy back by going without a brassiere. Yuck!
Third time was a charm for Thomas Daniels who had been before the judges before…twice in fact, for two other seasons. Actually, I don’t know how he didn’t make it through. I can’t imagine him being bad enough in the past to have missed Hollywood. I actually agreed with Paula Abdul on this one. Beautiful voice. I look forward to hearing more of Thomas.
On a side note, why in the world would people bring their dogs to an audition? Now I’m an animal person but that seemed kind of strange to me. But then again, I’ve never had a dog so small that I could stuff it in a handbag. Nor would I. Stuff it in a handbag I mean. What do they do when it has to go?
Melissa “Carlene” Stavros strode in confidently with pink fish-net stockings on her arms and legs (what was that?). But it didn’t take long after she sang for her to admit that she sounded kind of like a goat. I hate to break it to her but I’m afraid even if she would have sounded like Christina Aguilera herself (she sang one of her songs), Simon still may not have put her through.
I really enjoyed Seattle beat-boxing champ Blake Lewis (oh my goodness I agreed with Paula again) with spiky blonde hair. He was a little over-the-top but he was pretty talented. And what about that proud tearful father? Aaaahhhhhh, I love these parts of the show.
With their family in tow, brother and sister Shyamali and Sanjaya Malakar traveled together to Seattle for the audition. Nineteen year old Shyamali sang Summertime and did it quite well. Simon was a little hesitant, but the other two liked her enough to send her Hollywood. Her brother had to have been nervous after all the hoopla when his sister got through. But it didn’t show. In fact, I thought the brother Sanjaya was better than her, as did the judges. I guess growing up with a classical Indian musician rubbed off on both of them. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these two.
Singing Unchained Melody, Simon’s favorite song, Nicholas Zitsmann was very tense. In fact, his eyes looked like they may pop out of his head towards the end. As pittiful as he was, I was a little surprised that they were as tough on him as they were. “Bloody hell, non-human and terrible.” Poor guy. I felt badly for him afterwards. He actually looked more stunned than upset.
In my humble opinion, the last contestant of day one, 28 year-old Rudy Cardenas has the Venezuelan “it” factor. Those deep dimples (I’m such a sucker for dimples)…and his deep brown eyes were just as pretty as his voice. Simon was grumpy and held one bad note against him. Personally, I think he has the perfect blend of adorable and sexy. Thanks to Randy and Paula he’s on to Hollywood and I can’t wait to see how he does. This one might be my new Ace!
While there’s a short break between day one and two, I want to remind everyone about our Online Idol contest. Get out of your chair or off your couch and make that audition tape you know you’ve been dying to make ever since season one. Click here to learn how.
Day two in Seattle was much sunnier but unfortunately still brought more than a few nutty contestants. Kind of like newly acquainted Kenneth Briggs and Jonathan Jayne. It’s actually sweet how supportive they were of each other after meeting in line at the auditions. I personally think it was far crueler to tell Kenneth how awesome he is (as Paula did) than to be honest with him. Although telling him he looked like a monkey was a bit over the top, even for Simon. They were much nicer to his new friend Jonathan for some reason. Needless to say, Hollywood will not be seeing Ken or Jon.
Hair dresser Eric Chapman loves his salt and pepper Taylor Hicks look because it helps him with the ladies. He had a horrible audition, but the really odd thing was when he went to put some kind of product in Simon’s hair. I was amused by the onslaught of body guards that instantly came out of the corners to whisk him away. After all, you know how dangerous hair product can be!
Six foot seven inch Anna Kearns belted out a little Aretha Franklin…very loudly. I didn’t think she was all that great. Certainly nothing special, other than her very tall stature, but they sent her to Hollywood anyway. I swear I was thinking the only reason they put her through was because she would look ridiculous on stage with the other potential Idols. Then the door closes behind her and Paula says just that. I would be very surprised is she survives beyond Hollywood. Actually, unless she wow’s me, I think I would be downright shocked. But then again, we did have Chicken Little last year.
Jordan Sparks was just adorable. At sixteen she was sweet and beautiful and wholesome and even though she definitely has some fine tuning to do, she has great potential. I hope she makes it through Hollywood week so we can see the affect that a vocal coach would have on her. I’m holding back a little, but I may even predict that she makes it into the top 12. Maybe.
Saving the worst for last…we have Steven Thoen “Big Red.” He admits that he’s not a big fan of the show, only seeing a couple episodes, but somehow thought his red hair might get the judges attention. But only rarely have I seen all three judges so openly crack up at a contestant. Not a one of them could contain themselves when he starting singing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. My, oh my.
Well, I cannot imagine that Memphis, Tennessee will disappoint us as much as the great states of Minnesota and Washington did. After all It’s the south. People sing a lot in the south. It may be a lot of country music, a lot of Elvis, but if it’s good, who cares?
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