Blogging Idols
NEW YORK (AP) - If we learned anything from Tuesday's installment of "American Idol," it's that Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell still get on each other's nerves. A lot. Seacrest went off on Cowell on the Fox network's singing competition after the acerbic judge called him "sweetheart.
" "Don't call me sweetheart. ..
. We don't have that kind of relationship," Seacrest said. "I don't want that kind of relationship.
" "I don't want that kind of relationship," repeated Cowell, to which Seacrest replied: "Exactly. We'll just work together, that's fine with me." Later in the two-hour broadcast, Seacrest continued to needle Cowell, who was harshly grading the 12 male singers vying to win the "Idol" title and a record contract.
"Why are you being so negative tonight? I mean, you've been very, very negative," Seacrest said. "I'm not being negative," Cowell replied.
"Unlike you, I actually respect the audience at home and I don't _ and I don't believe in lying to them." That didn't appear to go over well with Seacrest, who closed the sing-off by thanking Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and the band _ but not Cowell. NEW YORK (AP) - No more audition silliness.
It's time to get serious on "American Idol." The Fox talent show trimmed down the competition Wednesday night, leaving 24 semifinalists _ 12 men and 12 women _ to vie for the "Idol" title and a record contract. The decision-making finale will be held in May.
"Idol" hopeful Marisa Rhodes broke down in the elevator after she was told she wasn't going through to the next round, saying "I don't get it." "I wasn't expecting this at all _ and nobody was," Rhodes said later. Things were better for curly-haired jokester Chris Sligh, who succeeded in winning over Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul even though he wasn't one of the strongest singers.
Cowell even praised his "great personality." Next Tuesday, the top 12 male singers are in the hot seat, and, on Wednesday, the women follow. And the ladies: Melinda Doolittle, 29, Brentwood, Tenn.
; Gina Glocksen, 22, Naperville, Ill.; Haley Scarnato, 24, San Antonio, Texas; Jordin Sparks, 17, Glendale, Ariz.; Stephanie Edwards, 19, Savannah, Ga.
; Leslie Hunt, 24, Chicago; Alaina Alexander, 24, West Hollywood, Calif.; Sabrina Sloan, 27, Los Angeles; Lakisha Jones, 27, Flint, Mich.; Nicole Tranquillo, 20, Philadelphia; Amy Krebs, 22, Federal Way, Wash.
, and Antonella Barba, 20, Point Pleasant, N.J.
Posted by Feb 16 2007 OK, an "American Idol" episode called The Best Of The Rest is another way of saying "These auditions were good, just not great.
If these performers were really that good wouldn rsquo;t they have been spotlighted when their respective cities audition show aired? I just hoped this show wouldn rsquo;t turnout to be The Worst Of The Worst. First through to Hollywood was Tami Gosnell from the Memphis auditions.
Good voice, but a little freaky with that lip ring. Paul Kim (the pool boy who was inspired by William Hung??
?) was a shocker. I didn rsquo;t expect a William Hung wannabe to have such a good R B voice.
He was the best performance by a guy all night, actually, the only good performance by a guy all night. Gina Glocksen decided to try a little butt kissing to get her way to Hollywood, telling Simon she loves him and dreams about him. Well it worked, oh and it didn rsquo;t hurt that she could actually sing too.
The Car Hop Girls were next. Well, they certainly got my attention (I was starting to fall asleep by this point), but Ebony Jointer was the only one worth listening to. She was awesome and will probably go very far.
Lakisha Jones, singing "Think" by Aretha Franklin, was the one of the best performers of the night and probably the only one along with Ebony Jointer who has a real shot at making the top ten. American Idol announced that they are holding a song writing contest where the winner of American Idol will release that song as their first single hellip;..
are they serious???
Have they really sunk to that? Then again, after hearing some the songs they have handed some of the past winners could things get any worse? So after sitting through an hour episode there was a whopping 5 good performers.
Yeah, Best Of The Rest, my hellip;.as I expected, a rather unimpressive show, but hey, just think of all that advertising revenue "American Idol" brought in by throwing this episode together. Stay tuned next week when the 172 contestants who made it through the auditions try to impress the judges in Hollywood.
Be prepared for drama, fights and, of course, tears.
Posted by Feb 08 2007
The American Idol auditions rolled into San Antonio, Texas and as we all know everything is supposed to be bigger in Texas -- would that include the talent???
First season winner Kelly Clarkson hailed from Texas, so will it produce another winner? The first one to make it through to Hollywood was Haley Scarnato singing Bonnie Raitt rsquo;s "I Can rsquo;t Make You Love Me." She was awesome (even in her hoochie outfit). I rsquo;m not sure why the judges weren rsquo;t excited about her. I liked that she sang the song the way it rsquo;s meant to be sung, she didn rsquo;t over-sing it.
Even if the judges weren rsquo;t excited about her I was (OK, maybe it was the hoochie outfit).
Next to make it through was this year rsquo;s Country Cutie (who claims to be a city girl), 16-year-old Baylie Brown . She was really good. If she loses the city girl act and plays up being a country girl she could rack up a lot of votes from the south -- where all of the American Idol winners have come from. She definitely has potential in this competition, however, she rsquo;s no Carrie Underwood.
Akron Watson showed Simon why you don rsquo;t mess with Texas. After singing Sam Cooke rsquo;s "A Change Is Gonna Come," Simon said he was a good singer, but boring. Instead of getting an attitude with the judges he fired back the best way possible, by giving an electrifying performance of Marvin Gaye rsquo;s "Let rsquo;s Get It On."
Then again, you could do it the way his cousin, William Green , did. After performing a agonizingly slow and loooooong performance of "Amazing Grace" and being told no by all three judges, he was very polite and humble, thanked them for their time and then told them he was going to walk out the door and talk some trash for the cameras.
height="350">That rsquo;s the way to represent. Keep it real homie!
It amazed me that Ashlyn Carr , did not make it to Hollywood . . .
at first. She had a good voice, but was told no because the judges didn rsquo;t like her facial expressions while singing. Then, after she left, the judges called her back for a second audition.
The facial expressions didn rsquo;t get any better, but the judges judged her on her singing abilities this time (what an amazing concept) and she was off to Hollywood. Could she be this year rsquo;s American Idol winner? Remember, the person with the worst facial expressions to ever appear on this show won last year rsquo;s competition.
Does anyone remember Taylor Hicks bending over and making a face like someone suffering from a severe case of constipation???
Jimmy McNeal was the final contestant to make it to Hollywood. Singing "Cupid" by Sam Cooke with a smooth, soulful voice, he could go the farthest of any of the contestants to make it through to Hollywood from San Antonio. L.
A. guest judge Olivia Newton-John seemed to share Simon rsquo;s sentiment. But unlike Jewel and Joan Coll.
.., er, Carole Bayer Sanger, the "Grease" star at least managed to serve up constructive criticism to the contestants.
And she did a great job translating Paula rsquo;s comments to English. Speaking of Paula, that woman could use a lesson in sitting still. Here rsquo;s hoping she rsquo;s given a chair that doesn rsquo;t swivel during next week rsquo;s San Antonio episode.
Or a straitjacket. Either one, really. The Idol auditions are back at home in LA, with a guest judge Olivia Newton John mdash; star of "Grease.
" I usually don rsquo;t like to talk about the people who don rsquo;t go pass the audition phase, nor the ones who just go in and act stupid or dress ridiculous because I believe they are just trying to get their 15 minutes of fame. However, I couldn rsquo;t go by without commenting on the first performer, Martik Manoukian , aka mdash; "the panther." How pathetic, ridiculous and weird can people be?
And he still thinks that one day he will be bigger than Michael Jackson -- AND that he brings tears to peoples rsquo; eyes because he is brilliant? No comment. Alaina Alexander -- this girl was really good and she sang one of my favorite songs.
I liked her a lot, and, of course, my favorite judge agreed -- Simon liked her a lot! Yes, I like Simon a lot! This girl will go far in the competition, if she works hard.
Brandon Rogers , ohhhhhhh, now that rsquo;s going to be the cutie of the season. Adorable, beautiful voice and sweet mdash; he just touched my heart when he sang. He will go far!
Brian Miller , he was on last year rsquo;s "Idol" and was eliminated on week 5. I don rsquo;t really like his voice, and I do agree with Simon that he is forgettable. But, he is going through again, let rsquo;s see what happens.
Now, I could not write this blog without speaking about Sherman Pore , a 64-year-old man who went to the auditions because his wife of 20 years had cancer -- and passed away 2 days prior to the audition. While she was sick and at the hospital he was helping her cope with the cancer. He promised her he would try out for "American Idol.
" He sang "You Belong to Me", a beautiful song to lsquo;his lady. rsquo; He had a beautiful voice, and a beautiful heart and made the judges cry. Now, that rsquo;s a winner!
OK . . .
Day 2 of auditions . . .
started with the couple Cavet Carr "Spakles" and Darold Gray . WHAT WAS THAT? ?
? She was flirting with Simon, making him nervous, and licking her lips while talking to him. They were both awful singers, so Simon asked him if they ever sing together and, if so, were the police ever called?
And the last one of the night was Eric Mueller -- he had one of the worse voices ever. And it rsquo;s because of auditions like this one that I love Simon -- he is hysterical. They let Eric go, however, Simon was reading Eric rsquo;s application and found out that he has been teaching himself to sing with a video: " , by Randy Jackson Paula Abdul" mdash; ("You will sound amazing!
"). Well, Simon calls the contestant back, and runs after him, Paula and Randy run after Simon hellip;.it was a mess hellip;.
.the contestant didn rsquo;t understand anything . .
. you had to watch it . .
. it was just great!
Birmingham, Alabama . . .Where Idols are born!
The "Idol" auditions arrived in Birmingham, Alabama ndash; home of Bo, Ruben and last year rsquo;s winner Tyler ndash; expectations were huge since so much talent came from this state. A crowd of 11,000 contestants were there, patiently waiting for an audition. And, after some pretty interesting New Yorker rsquo;s last week, let rsquo;s review what Alabama had to offer.
Erica Skye , the girl who sang Simon rsquo;s favorite song . . . she was just awful. Too forced, and scared. Do you know what I love the most?
The scary and playful faces that Paula and Randy made while she was singing. And then, all of the sudden, in the middle of the song, she stops, messes up the lyrics, and just keeps going . .
. it was, at least, entertaining.
Simon was right -- it was like a never-ending torture!
By the way, my favorite part was when they all tell her to stop and she keeps going on and on . . . Paula even got up and left the table. That was awesome! Simon rsquo;s face was the best!
Katie Bernard , the cutie girl with the funny talking voice -- but an interesting singing voice. I thought she was good in her own way. She should get another shot. Simon, of course, said no right way ndash; he probably thought she was annoying -which some people may think she is (Like Kelly Pickler from last season ndash; I thought she was annoying).
Tatiana McConnico , good things do come in small packages. That girl was good -- an Alicia Keys type. We will see this little girl going far in the competition.
Bernard Williams II , he rocked old-school Michael Jackson. He was pretty good, and Simon thinks he has potential.
Jamie Lyn Ward , so is this girl going to be another Kelly Pickler??? "My dad caught my step mom cheating and shot her and them shot himself . . .
(?)" Her singing was good but boring. I hope she gets better throughout the competition.
I like her.
Chris Sligh , first of all, he said that he looks at himself in the mirror and he sees Christina Aguilera????
Who is this??? But then, he sings, and the voice, ohhh what a voice.
This one will go far. He reminded me of Chris Daughtry without the looks, maybe if he cuts the hair.
I have to say that my favorite parts of this show are the judge rsquo;s reactions.
I look forward to Simon rsquo;s comments every week. They make me laugh. I love Randy rsquo;s facial expressions. And of course, I can rsquo;t forget the candidate rsquo;s reactions to the comments. In Alabama the reactions were pretty good compared to the other auditions. Even when Simon said something very mean, they would politely answer "thank you" ndash; I guess southern people are more polite than everyone else .
. .
Keywords: San Antonio, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, Lakisha Jones, Newton John, Alaina Alexander, Haley Scarnato, York Ap, Olivia Newton, Simon Cowell
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