American Idol Commentary - In Need of 'Tude Checks and Caring Parents

I'm not exactly sure why American Idol decided to cram it's whole time in Hollywood into just one hour. It wouldn't be so bad if the feeling was because they wanted us to have more performance weeks, but instead it seems they had more auditions. Personally, I look forward to Hollywood. I like the drama and excitement, where the bad auditions got a little tedious after awhile. Why not three weeks of auditions and two weeks in Hollywood? Or at least expand to two hours on that night, since several of the auditions were expanded to two hours.

And of all times to try that, when they have a record number of people making it to Hollywood with 172. After watching all these people make it to Hollywood that past month, it just leaves me wishing I would get to see why they didn't make it, whereas I only feel I got to see that with very few. It left all of us fans this morning asking did so and so make it, could you tell? How about so and so, I didn't see them. I feel a little cheated after investing all that time into the auditions.

A lot of the ones they showed getting cut I didn't have much hope for anyway. I know many people expected Baylie Brown to become one of the final 12, but I wasn't feeling it. She had a great image, yeah, but I felt force fed her whole "I don't belong on the farm" thing from the beginning. And she was so young. While she sounded good, but not great, she needed to have the maturity to go along with the voice, and didn't. She couldn't remember her words, and blamed everything on the others. She should come back in two years with her voice even stronger, without the act, and ready to feel a little humility. It might look as good on her as that French manicure she was sporting.

And as far as I'm concerned, the two best friends, Amanda Coluccio and Antonella Barba, can go find themselves a bale of hay to sit on next to Baylie as well. Amanda showed her true colors after their first audition when she heard the judges say that Antonella was better than her. This leaves both of them feeling they are the privileged of the two, meaning they then fight over which song to sing, both thinking they know best. Amanda spends her time flirting with guys, then accuses Baylie of the same thing. She also thinks she made it through because God likes good people. It would have taken a lot for me to vote for that personality. Besides, their song This Old Heart of Mine was our wedding song, and these girls weren't doing it justice.

Gina Glocksen came out a little strong as well, but not quite as irritatingly. If she can calm it down a little, she has a shot of making it. I'd like to see her do well, as she's from my general neck of the woods in the Chicago 'burbs, and it's great that she's looking out for number one, but she needs to keep a check on a 'tude that could get away from her. Not that Perla didn't deserve Gina's wrath. At any point I expected her to break into a hoochie koochie a la Charo.

I had less complaints with the guys last night. Yet, the first I need to mention is Sundance Head. He was a favorite going into last night, but sung horribly on his first song, and forgot a few words in the group round. So why is he still there? Because he has something. There's some star power there. That's why he forgot words and is still there. Maybe he could pick up some techniques in remembering from his famous dad.

Another that I was looking forward to was Chris Sligh, and he did not dissapoint. Of course, we didn't get to hear him other than in the group round, but that group song was amazing, as he combined with Rudy Cardenas, Thomas Lowe, and Blake Lewis, the Beat Box guy. Chris had auditioned signing Kiss From a Rose, but here he is singing a Bee Gees tune. If that doesn't prove versatility, I don't know what does, other than the fact Blake is able to seem beat boxing into How Deep Is Your Love. These four guys worked together, worked hard, and didn't have the cat fights many of the girls had. Best of all, they were exciting, and something you could see actually winning. I think Chris and Blake carried the other two some, though, as I'm guessing alone they weren't as good.

My heart bled for Matt Sato and his un-supportive parents. They wouldn't come support him at his audition, lest he not make it, and they find they wasted their time and money. Once he made it to Hollywood, he cried when he told his mom, and last night we learned when he got home, she even hugged him which she rarely does. After he makes it through the first round there, she says she loves him, and he cries, saying she never says that to him. What the hell is that? Support your kid! It's his dream! But above all that, hug him and kiss him, and tell him you love him as many times as you can, even when he's not succeeding on national TV.

Another tender moment was watching Sanjaya Malakar realize his sister didn't make it to final 40, and that she was going home. While all are up there hootin' and hollerin', celebrating their good fortune, he runs down the stairs to console his sister. Maybe he can go console Matt Sato too.

Wednesday night, is the big reveal, the Green Mile walk, when we find out which 24 singers we'll be watching and listening to next week. I'm hoping to see Sanjaya, Sundance, Chris, and Blake. As for the girls, I'm not too sure who I'd like to see, other than a few we don't know if they made it anywhere or not, like Ebony the roller skater, and Latisha with the 3 year old daughter.

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American Idol Commentary - Bring On Hollywood!

Tonight we sat through our last night of auditions, and even the show itself called the episode "Best of the Rest," meaning they knew they didn't have the most entertainment value, although of everyone that was left, they were the best of it. They were scraped off the cutting room floor, and organized into lessons in how to audition for American Idol. Forget about all that, though. Let's just focus on the talent they think didn't measure up to the others, both good and bad.

First the good. We were shown a few more really good female sings and one more male. I'm not sure exactly what they're trying to say. The girls calling themselves the Frisco Carhops tried to bring us three females at once, but only two of three made it. Heather was good, but not even in the ballpark. Ashley was a little better, and made it despite committing a major sin. In the future, you out there that are thinking of trying out, never insult Paula Abdul when you're waiting for her to vote you in.

When Paula complimented Ashley and told her she was so beautiful that she didn't need to wear so much makeup, Ashley thanked her for the "motherly advice." Is Paula old enough to be her mother? Yes. So am I. My son is only four years younger than Ashley. But geez, don't tell her that. I wouldn't have been able to look past the slam, but Paula did, and was the deciding vote on this girl going to Hollywood, as Simon said no. Her friend, Ebony, didn't insult Paula, but it wouldn't have mattered, as she had more talent than the other . Reminding me of a young Whitney Houston, in voice and look, I'm hoping to see her in the finals.

Another interesting talent is Tami, a penny cab driver. Not only did she sing Whipping Post, a song done to near perfection by Bo Bice in season four, she also was unique, fresh, and new, just like he was that year. American Idol took him and turned him into something else in their machine. I'm hoping that won't happen to Tami. It'll be interesting to see if they change up her look if she makes it, just like people are wondering about Sean Michel, the Fidel Castro lookalike. I say leave them be. That's what makes them more interesting.

Gina has been here before, auditioning two other times, and making it to Hollywood last year, only to be sent home. She sings a great rendition of Black Velvet (this song should definitely be on a list to be retired from the show). What makes her interesting is her undying love for Simon, yet it doesn't seem to be as creepy as that of Sparkles from last week. He is a nice-looking man; you have to give him that. What makes Gina especially interesting to me is that she's from nearby Naperville, Illinois. It would be nice to have our area be represented on a reality show other than Beauty and the Geek.

Another great fresh talent is young mother Lakisha. She wants to do this for her daughter. She sings a little Aretha for us, and is great. The judges liked her as well. After she makes it through with everyone across the board loving her, she sits and cries with her daughter. Just another one of those ways the show likes to pull at our heart strings, and call me weak, but it always works on me.

Paul compares himself to William Hung, and it's kind of sad, as it's the only Asian singer he can think of. Listening to Paul sing, I think if William Hung can be a millionaire, than Paul is certainly deserving. He's wasting his talent as a pool cleaner, or by the PC term he used, pool technician. Guest judge that week, Olivia Newton-John, pointed out his unique powerfully smoky voice. For some odd reason, despite the fact Simon likes him, he keeps giving Paula crap, not letting her give Paul a compliment. Up to his old tricks, I guess, as this is stuff we've seen from him in years' past.

Now for the not so good. At least we don't have any of the outrageousness, just severely disillusioned. Well, I take that back. Christa is in outrageous clothes, but she's disillusioned about her look and talent. Wearing black and white checkered pedal pushers, yes pedal pushers, a bustier in black, a red wrap, huge red heels, and black hat that looks like she stole it off a very old recent widow. After blowing her audition, Paula comments on her shoes, and that's what makes Christa cry.

Paula is treated to two delusional fans. The first, Edward, I think he knew he couldn't sing, but wanted to come meet Paula. He just keeps talking about how hot she is. He does get a hug and a kiss from her as Randy and Simon make cracks about them being the same size. Honestly, why is he put through the pre-auditions for this. There isn't much entertainment value to watching a future stalker. The other, Alexander, sings Air Supply, and says he doesn't have money to take singing lessons. That's not all it takes, though, buddy. You have to start with some talent somewhere. And that dancing he was doing that he said he adapted from Paula's videos, even she didn't recognize it.

WES prefers to be referred to in this acronym of his name, and his songwriting isn't much better. His original song fails miserably, and I'm pretty sure he would have still failed singing something that wasn't original. I'm interested to see how this songwriting contest for American Idol is going to work. Most assuredly we'll get to vote on them in some way or another. And that's a good thing. Those original songs that are turned into hits by the American Idol winners leave a lot to be desired.

We'll go to Hollywood with 172 people. One that will be missing, that I was looking forward to hearing again, is Akron, the cousin from last night's show. He received a call a few days before he was to leave for Hollywood saying he was uninvited, but they wouldn't tell him why. It's being assumed that it was because of a past misdemeanor offense of possession of marijuana, but Akron claims he filled them in on that before he auditioned, and that it was okay. That's too bad. I was so looking for ward to watching his cousin William cheer him on from the audience.

Now, bring on Hollywood!

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AI Commentary - From Season One to Season Six

I am not in a good mood today. To start off with, we're freezing here in the Midwest. I do not want to hear anything more for quite some time about global warming. With a temperature this morning of -11F, and that's without a windchill, as with the windchill, it's about -35F, I'm thinking it's a load of hooey. The horn on my minivan sounds ill, as it's so cold it can't even get up the muster to call attention to itself.

So I pop onto my blog, thinking I'll listen to some of my music here, but it's just not helping today. I need some new music on here. Well, not necessarily news, but something new to the blog. Because it's just not cuttin' it this morning. And if there's one thing I definitely don't want to hear again for a long, long time is the Super Bowl Shuffle. The hype is done, my team lost, and I'm over it. My beloved Bears looks like they were stuck up here in the cold weather. They got a good start, then died, just like my minivan sounded like it was going to do.

I think I need some American Idol music on here, especially if I'm trying to cheer myself up and life the ol' spirits. And still, after five full seasons, and starting the sixth, nothing says American Idol to me more than the original, Kelly Clarkson. I've liked many of the winners and runners-up to come out of the show, but to me, they just never compare to Kelly. She's the one that got me interested and excited about watching the show.

Missing the auditions of season one, because I thought the show would be not very interesting, I found myself changing my tune once I first heard Kelly sing. I only turned it on towards the end of the Hollywood round because I could not find anything else on that night, and my kids were quite insistent that it would be a good show. It was okay enough to turn it on again the next week, and that's when I heard Kelly sing Natural Woman and got chills. Week after week she was amazing, and when she sang Stuff Like That There, I thought, this girl has something special.

I would really love to see those old performances again, but I don't know if American Idol Rewind is ever going to get there. In 2006, yes, last year, the first season went into syndication, with the promises we would see it all again. But here we are after several months, and all we've seen are the auditions and Hollywood rounds. I want semi-finals and finals! I want to see it all over again. It's syndicated different, it seems, wherever you watch it, as some I know got to watch the first semi-final group this week, but Ii ended up seeing the final thirty to come out of Hollywood ... again.

So far this season I haven't seen anyone that has excited me like that, but that could certainly change once we see them in Hollywood or semi-finals when they really get a chance to shine, more than just a few bars of a song. Watching the trios sing in Hollywood from season one this week, I thought, that two people I'm really interested in seeing in that round are the two backup singers, Melinda and Brandon. Especially with Melinda, it's going to make or break her, to see if she has what it takes to step out in front of two other singers and be the lead, commanding everyone's attention.

We still have some people we haven't seen yet, too. Tuesday night we have auditions in San Antonio, Texas, and then on Wednesday we have "Rest of the Best," whatever that means. I'm assuming it means we get to see some of the people that made it through to Hollywood that we haven't seen yet, because they've been busy showing us the truly outrageous. And I do have to say that was one of the most refreshing things of the season one auditions, the lack of outrageous costumes, acts, and otherwise delusional people. Then again they stretch out the auditions so far now that four weeks of just good, really good, and no so good really wouldn't be as exciting as four weeks of outrageousness.

I'm ready for both of them to pick it up now. I'm ready for season six to get to Hollywood, so we can explore the talent of the people that made it through, and I'm exciting for season one to get to the finals, so I can remember all over again why I became a fan of the show in the first place. I'm also ready for some warmer weather, but it doesn't look like we'll get getting it any time soon.

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