Atlanta Auditions

We head to the South where Idol greats such as Fantasia, Clay Aiken, Jennifer Hudson auditioned from... Let's go to

Atlanta
otherwise known as
The Big Peach
Capital of the South
Hotlanta

Our guest judge this time is none other than Mary J. Blige (I unabashedly think she's hot...there, I said it). A HUGE R&B superstar, she has sold over 40 million albums, has won 9 Grammys and known as the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. I think she knows what she's talking about. (Did I mention she's hot?)

I expected a lot of soul and country and that's pretty much what we got. Let's break it down:

Keia Johnson, age 26: A former Miss Congeniality (snicker), she BLEW it out of the water. Great voice and I seriously want hair like hers. It was awesome. Oh, and Bryce really liked her butt in those neon yellow pants she was wearing.

Jermaine Sellers, age 26: When he said he was going to sing "What if God Was One of Us" by Joan Osborne, I thought, 'Ummmm.' What an obscure song. But he did a really good job; a great spin for sure. And whoo, he has some pipes.

Kristy Marie Agronow: O. M. G. I didn't even know what to think. 411 the Show! Um, anyways...too dramatic. Definitely a tv host persona, but not a good singer at all. Yikes.

Vanessa Wolf: At first I thought that she had a really annoying, whiny voice, but the closer I listened, the more unique it sounded. Kara said it was authentic, Simon said distinct. I agree with both. She'll be interesting to follow. And I'm sorry, but Bryce and I busted up laughing when she said she would get to fly on an...wait for it....AERO-PLANE! She said it exactly like that. Oh yah. One to watch for.

Holly Harden, a.k.a. Guitar Girl: Um, her talking voice was annoying, her outfit was (what's a good word...garish maybe?) awful, but her singing voice wasn't bad. I predict she will not last long in Hollywood. Too much for her.

Mallorie Haley, age 20: What a very nice, pleasant-to-listen-to, country voice. I liked her.

SKII-BO-SKI: HOLLA! Oh, this was too much. I think I laughed almost the entire time. I can't believe he actually made it. Come on, say it with me, Skii-bo-ski baby!

Lauren Sanders, age 18 and Carmen Turner, age 19: BFFs with WAY too much make-up. Um, let's see: best friends trying out for a reality show is asking for trouble. Lauren sounded HORRIBLE and Carmen was not bad. One makes it, the other doesn't. But to be honest, Carmen sounded like she was shouting a little. She'll be done before she knows it.

Brian Walker, age 25: All I can say is SEX-AY VOCALS! Yumma.

Lamar Royal, age 20: Profession: DRAMA QUEEN. Always got to be someone.

And last, but not least by a mile, may I present to you:

PANTS ON THE GROUND
by General Larry Platt

Believe me, you'll be singing it all night long. Until next time, in Chicago, this is Cassandra, signing off.

Boston Auditions

And we're off! What a great episode to start off with! There was the perfect combination of bad auditions and good auditions. Of course, the usual bad auditions made me yell at the tv: "Okay. You're done, they said no, so LEAVE! Just leave! Stop arguing!" But it never fails. They try to convince the judges that they have what it takes. Sigh. To all the mothers out there who lie to their children...you're never going to help them by doing that.

Anyways, today we started the auditions of in

Boston
otherwise known as:
The City on a Hill
Bean Town
City of Champions
The Olde Towne

As you know, Paula has left the building and the guest judges are back. Victoria Beckham (who will be known forever as Posh Spice) was the guest judge.
Looking gaunt and stick-like as usual, she "spiced" up the auditions (I know, bad joke). What is V known for? The Spice Girls! Oh yes, at one point in your life, you grooved to "Wannabe" and probably watched Spice World.

Overall, the judges did a great job as usual lowering self-esteem and giving self-esteem all in the same 2 hours. V did hold her own and seemed to be a great addition. I wouldn't have minded her becoming the fourth judge.

But let's take a look at some of the more memorable auditions:

Maddie Curtis, age 16: When they did her bio, I thought, 'Oh please. This one...you can't break her heart.' But MAN did she blow every 16 year old geek out of the water! What a voice! She sang "Hallelujah" (made famous on the show by Jason Castro- Season 7) and my heart melted.

Pat Ford: Oh no. He danced better than he sang, but he sang Britney's "Womanizer". Um, HOLLA!

Amadeo DiRocco, age 28: Hey Mambo...Mambo Italiano! I will say this: I did NOT expect that voice to come out of him. It was pretty darn amazing. He has that like-ability factor for sure. I expect to see him in the semi-finals.

Luke Shaffer, age 24 and Ben Bright, age 25: Both were pretty good, but we'll see...they didn't stand out to me.

Andrew Fenlon: Cheeky Simon, meet Equally Cheeky Andrew. What sass. What nerve. How dare you upset the great Kara! Sigh. I think the judges way overreacted with this dude. He didn't have a terrible voice, in my opinion. Maybe a bad delivery, but not a bad voice. I liked him.

Ashley Rodriguez, age 21: She had a pretty voice, but it wasn't a wow for me. She might do a good job in Hollywood. Guess it doesn't hurt that she's good looking too...

Tyler Grady, age 19: I thought this was going to be a disaster, with the way he looked and all, but hey! Alright! Yah baby! He had a great voice. He will definitely be one to watch for.

Lisa Olivero, age 24: There is a reason why most people can't sing Mariah Carey songs...because they're stinkin' hard! She was flat, it was awful...and it lasted way too long in my opinion.

Katy Stevens, age 16: Wow! I can't believe this girl was 16. We're definitely getting some young action in this year!

Justin Williams, age 27: Here is where I'm worried. He had a decent voice. I liked him a lot. However, he's a cancer survivor. Will he get votes based on the fact that he's a survivor or will he get votes because of his voice? I guess it's the same basis as the really good looking ones (think Haley Scarnato and her legs-Season 6). And he's from UT...major Mormon state, and if I remember correctly, he's LDS.

Bosa Mora, age 22: He was cool and I loved his mom. I want a headdress now.

Leia Lorenzi, age 22: Very unique and such a big voice! Can't wait to see what she does in Hollywood.

Overall, 31 people went through to Hollywood. Not a bad number at all for a start!
Next we hit up Atlanta, GA!

It's That Time Again

Tonight is the premiere of AMERICAN IDOL, starting off the auditions in Boston. But what has been going on in the Idol world? Let's check it out:

KRIS ALLEN
Where is Kris? What has he been up to? I actually had to search around on Google to find this out. He has a self-titled album out, but I've heard nothing about it...not even a single review. It's been all about...

ADAM LAMBERT
Oh yah, he's definitely milking his new found fame. He's been all over the tabloids, and did you catch the American Music Awards performance of his? Yah. Pure craziness. And let's not forget...

PAULA ABDUL
Yep, she is out of here and I, for one, am actually happy. She has been nothing but a nuisance, in my opinion. I will miss her drug-filled antics, but why are they replacing her with...

ELLEN DEGENERES
I have mixed feelings about this. She's awesome, funny and extremely talented, but I want a judge who is not there for comic relief. But you know, I guess I'll have to wait and find out what she is really going to be like. Then I read yesterday that...

SIMON COWELL
He's leaving Idol! Major disappointment there. He's one of my favorite parts of the show. I love his snarky comments and he's almost always dead-on. I am very sad. Anyone remember the horrible song from...

KARA DIOGUARDI
Yah, how much you want to bet she doesn't help write this year's song? LOL! Oh, and they're bringing back...

IDOL GIVES BACK
This is a waste of time. Period. And so is the...

JUDGES' SAVE
This was stupid. And another waste of time. But thank goodness they will be returning to the original format of...

THE SEMIFINAL ROUNDS
Last season, it was all screwed up. Remember? A new group of 12 every week and then instead of booting people off, one by one, they kept three every week? Too confusing and no time for favorites.

I think that's pretty much it. Now, here's the only bad part of this blog...we no longer watch television, which means that I will have to be downloading the shows as soon as they are available. I hope that I can still get my posts out on time.

Anyhow, here's to a most excellent season! This IS American Idol!

One Week Late, But Congrats To...

KRIS ALLEN!

And BTW, this was probably the best finale I've seen yet. I loved Kris' reaction!

So, thanks for hangin' out with me this year.
I promise next year will be better because I won't be pregnant/having a baby/travelling so much.
So here's to a successful season of AI!
TTFN!

One Hour of Fun, Except for a Horrific Songwriting Catastophe

Last night's performance was awesome...until Adam and Kris had to sing Kara's song "No Boundaries". The wind was let out of my sail and instead of feeling excited for tonight's finale, I was sad.

THE FINAL 2

Adam Lambert
Favorite Performance of the Season

"Mad World" by Tears for Fears

I will admit that this was one of Adams best performances; so intimate and delicate, yet very powerful. I was feeling it again last night. I was so happy that he chose that song. It showed his control, which was the best I've ever seen throughout Idol's history. Other than the retarded comparison to Twilight's Edward with Adam's trench coat, the judges were dead on tonight.

Simon Fuller's Pick

"A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke

This was a charged-up performance, definitely Adam-style. It was a good performance, but definitely not my favorite by far. I do think that Adam trumped Kris in this round though because he was on fire.

Writer's Choice

"No Boundaries" co-written by Kara

Without talking about the actual song, let's talk about Adam (we'll get to the song in a bit). This obviously is not Adam's style of song. I didn't like his performance at all. There was no pizzazz to it, no power...it sounded like he was yelling a lot of it. At least the song was in his range, right?

Kris Allen

Favorite Performance of the Season

"Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers

AWESOME! SPECTCULAR! FABULOUS! This was Kris' best performance EVER! The vocals were out of this world, the ambience was perfect...I loved the style and loved that he was behind the piano. What a true Kris performance. He totally outsang Adam on this round and deserved every bit of praise that he got.

Simon Fuller's Choice

"What's Goin' On" by Marvin Gaye

Yes, this was laidback like every other performance that Kris has given so far. I'm glad he stayed true to himself and stayed on the guitar. How cool to have a stripped down band next to you, just being able to groove. I felt like I should have been sitting on a patio, sipping a latte, watching Kris just go. Yah, there were a couple of weird notes at the beginning and it sounded a little uncomfortable, but he definitely got into it. I don't agree that he should have brought a more electric performance, just because it was the last show. If you're going to show what kind of artist you're going to be, why not be who you are?

Writer's Choice

"No Boundaries" co-written by Kara

Again, without talking about the song, let's talk about Kris. This song wasn't his style either and wasn't in a comfortable range for him either. Why he didn't change the key, I don't know, but he definitely looked uncomfortable singing this song on-stage.

So, I was so disappointed at the end of the show because of Kara's stupid song. I think she even looked slightly embarrassed that each contestant did such a horrible job with the song she helped write. They should've just had the song-writing competition again. They seem to come up with better songs that way...and this may have been Kara's death sentence. It had too many words, no hook and a horrible chorus. I felt so let down by Idol last night. Boo Kara! Don't ever write a song for Idol again!

On a funnier note, is Paula trying to be a different nationality or something? She was so BROWN last night and her green shirt wasn't helping any. Every time they panned to her I felt like laughing. Oh Paula...really, what would the show be without the "funny" one?

And let's not forget Randy and his Purple People-Eater ensemble. He had three different designs of purple on...plaid, stripes and polka dot. Whoever dresses him needs to be put in time-out. Hee, hee!

Basically, what it comes down to is this: tonight is going to be too close to call. Adam rocks, but so does Kris...they both had an outstanding performance last night, along with an okay performance...and an atrocious performance. They're tied in my eyes, but if I really have to vote for one, I would pick...

Kris Allen!

Adam would be much better off without an "Idolized" album...he needs his own album without Idol hanging onto his back. Plus, he'd have to have that atrocious song on his album (unless Idol is smart and axes it) AND he'd have to sing it tonight on the finale. Kris sounded a little better singing it, even though it wasn't in his key, it was more his style. (Yuck, blah, blech.)

We'll find out tonight, 8 PM PST, who takes the title of the 8th American Idol. Stay tuned!

Comments? Agree? Disagree?

Hold on to Your Hats, Folks

Can you believe it? We said good-bye to

Danny Gokey

Honestly, I thought that there was an extremely slim chance that Danny would get voted off tonight. I mean, everyone and their mother knew it was going to be a Danny/Adam showdown for the finale...we just KNEW it.

So much for that. Congratulations to Kris, who looked as shocked as the judges when Ryan announced his name first. Next week could be a close call...who knows after what happened tonight?

Wow.

Comments? Agree? Disagree?

Down to the Good Stuff

This was probably my favorite episode so far. All of the performances were above-average and honestly, it can be anyone's game at this point. Let's dig in to our

TOP 3

Danny Gokey
Paula's Choice: "Dance, Little Sister" by Terence Trent D'Arby
I don't know the song, but I wanted to get up and dance myself when Danny was singing this (alas, I had a baby sitting in my lap at the time...she might not have been too happy about being removed). I thought it was classy, upbeat (thank the Lord it wasn't a ballad) and a fantastic performance overall. It was the perfect choice for his voice; he hit all the right notes at the right time. Just fantastic!

Personal Choice: "You Are So Beautiful" by Joe Cocker
This could have been a tear-jerker. Danny pulled off an absolutely beautiful rendition of this song. I'm surprised he didn't start crying himself. Again, a perfect song choice. He was able to play with it a little and made it worth listening to (not that the original isn't).

Kris Allen
Randy/Kara's Choice: "Apologize" by One Republic
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this song and was so excited that he was going to be singing it. On one hand, I see where Kara was coming from; the song was not changed in almost any ways, but sorry Kara, Kris still sang it so well. I seriously was grinning the whole time. And Simon did have a point; if she had wanted Kris to do something different with it, maybe she should have said something from the beginning. I thought it was really good.

Personal Choice: "Heartless" by Kanye West
I'm not a huge Kanye fan, but I do like this song and thought Kris totally rocked! It was a fun song choice and I hope he doesn't ever regret picking it. It was definitely something different and I think that it might have been the shoe to kick him up a notch.

Adam Lambert
Simon's Choice: "One" by U2
Like I didn't see that coming; the most obnoxious judge picking the song for the most talented performer on the show. Ha! Of course, Adam did a fantastic job with the song. He sounded a little shrieky, but hey, I guess it's just his style. The high notes were awesome and he definitely rocked the stage.

Personal Choice: "Cryin'" by Aerosmith
Steven Tyler has the range, so why not? Awesome job on the song; it was a great song choice for his style of singing. Has he ever pulled in an actual BAD performance? No...maybe not my favorites tonight, but he's a shoe-in for tomorrow for shizzle.

So, I'm torn between Danny and Kris. They both did fantastic tonight; yes, Danny has a huge fan base, but obviously, so does Kris since he made it this far. But because I think Danny has a larger fan base than Kris, I'm going to pick Kris as the one to leave tomorrow night. He's a cutie, has a nice voice to listen to and has been fun to watch, but I think Danny overshadowed him just a little bit tonight.

But I won't be surprised if it's the other way around. Kris pulled in some good performances tonight. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

LEAVING TOMORROW
Kris Allen

Comments? Agree? Disagree?