AI WK 6 Results Show 2-26-09

Morning Everyone:

I think Ryan said that 25M votes came in last night. Interesting cause that would be more than last week.

Ryan then banters with Simon saying that he just gets better every year and Simon is really ticked cause all he wants to do is…”Get On With It!”

The Group is going to sing NeYo’s Closer
(love that song). – They’re blending in and out pretty good. However, Adam seems to be ‘taking over’ the song which is fine with me. It’s hard to get 12 people to sing ‘NSync’ when they haven’t rehearsed much.

OK, Ryan says…”Let’s Get Started”. He first brings up:

Allison
Jesse
Matt B.

This is different from last week. Three at once, at this pace we’ll be finished by 8:20! However, this doesn’t happen because Ryan goes to Paula to ask, “Which one of these 3 do you think deserves to be in the Top 12″? Simon is going bonkers, fidgeting, talking, whispering to Paula, “Just answer the question.”

Finally, Ryan takes back the show and sends Jess and Matt B. home. Buh Bye you 2.

Ryan then brings up to the stage….

Megan
Kris Allen
Matt G.
Jeanine

Well, it’s a no brainer for Jeanine who, once again, has the shorts on! She reminds me of the girl from a few seasons back who kept ‘upping’ the skirt line each week. She didn’t get very far either.

Now Ryan goes to Kara and asks the same question, “Of these 4, which one will go thru to the Top 12?” Kara starts to talk to each one individually and explain why they will or will not make it and Simon is out of his ghord at this point. He’s talking, blabbing away and finally Kara turns to him and says, “Do you EVER stop talking????” Once again, Ryan takes control of the show and turns to the 4 and says:

Jeanine – Buh Bye
Matt G. – Buh Bye
which leaves Kris and Megan. Now of these 2, I would have chosen Megan but I wouldn’t have a problem if it was Kris.

Turns out it is KRIS who will go thru to the Top 12.

After this Ryan showed a retrospective of Idol over the years to the song, “It’s A Wonderful World” and we see a lot of faces we haven’t seen in a while and some that have become famous.

After that was over, Brooke White takes the stage to talk to Ryan for a bit. Her advice to the contestants, “Don’t Google yourself!” She looks very pretty and is sitting at the piano. She will sing a song which she wrote called HOLD UP MY HEART which is the single from her new CD. Gotta admit, it’s kinda bland. A pretty song but not a Top 40.

Next Ryan calls up:

Meesha
Kai
Adam
Nick/Norman
Jasmine

WOW…5 at once. Of course it is like 8:50 at this point.

He then tells:

Meesha – Buh Bye
Kai – Buh Bye (too bad cause I liked this kid)
Then he tells
Jasmine – Buh Bye (maybe a wild card in her future?)

We now have Adam and Nick/Norman left on the stage. Ryan looks at Simon and says, “Did you pray last night?” Referring to Simon’s comment the night before when he said of Nick/Norman – I PRAY America does NOT put you thru to the next round. So Simon says, “I prayed for 5 hours and I think that God and I have a good relationship now.”

Ryan looks at Adam and Nick/Norman and says, “The 3rd person going thru to the next round this week is….drum roll please….
ADAM LAMBERT!!

Now I felt bad for Nick/Norman but I still say he was absolutely thrilled to have gotten this far and I’m sure he’ll get some jobs from his appearance on AI.

And…even more important…we get to hear Adam sing again which he does even better than the night before…..

People: If you like Adam, go to youtube.com and type in his name. Click on to the Demo video and you’ll have 6 minutes of awesomeness…..
Just my opinion.

So there you have it for another week. From what I understand, Simon said that they are bringing back (12?) from the 36 for a second chance. Those that didn’t choose the right song, just had a bad night, etc. So I’m assuming after next week, we will have our Top 12 and the real crying and gnashing of teeth begins…..

Next week the final 12 to perform will be:

Ju’Not Joyner
Jorge Nunez
Kendall Beard
Kristen McNamara
Lil Rounds *
Nate Marshall
Scott McIntyre *
Von Smith *
Felicia Barton
Alex Wagner-Trugman
Arianna Afsar
Taylor Vaifanna

* for the 3 I think have the best chance of making it thru. That is to say if Von tones it down a notch, gets a grip, and sings as well as I know he can.

Talk to you next week.

Joanie

AI WK 6 – Next 12 – 02/25/09

Morning Everyone:

Well it was quite a night on Wednesday. I bet it ‘threw’ a lot of people off tuning in on Tuesday and there’s no Idol…but we were there last night for all to see and enjoy!

The Top 3 from last week, Danny – Alexis Grace and Mike are sitting in the audience to the side! They must be happy that they are threw to the next round. They’re checking out the competition tonight!

The 4 Judges all give their usual ‘pep’ talk and off we go.

1. Jasmine, 16 (who we all loved from the beginning) will sing LOVE SONG by Sarah Balelis(?) She has a slow start but gets it together towards the end. I had high hopes for this girl but after that performance I’m not sure she’s Top 3 material.

Randy: Good and bad parts….pitchy.
Paula – You sang ‘around’ the song. Kara – We’ve always thought of you as a very commercial kinda gal but this was a low key for you. Not your best.
Simon: I was disappointed. Your voice was just not there tonight. You’re too young and not ready for this competition yet.

2. Matt Giraud, 23 – Matt is going to sing the Coldplay song that’s wicked popular now and, for the life of me, I can’t remember the name but it’s really catchy. – OK Matt, you’re another kid who we all liked and was hoping for good things to happen to you. But halfway thru the song, you lost it and that lost you any chance of going forward. Try again next year Matt.

Kara: I was not blown away but that song. You should be singing more bluesy stuff that we’ve heard from you before. Too bad.
Paula: You took a chance with that song and it didn’t work. You didn’t feel comfortable singing it.
Simon: Repeat what Kara and Paula said. It was on the verge of horrible. You should have done a Ray Charles type #.
Randy: Ditto

3. Jeanine, 28 will sing THIS LOVE by Maroon 5.
I like this song a lot. Too bad Jeanine murdered it…BUH BYE Jeanine.

Paula: You certainly have great legs.
Simon: Terrible – but I like your legs. Wrong song for you. (she was wearing a pair of short shorts).
Randy: Oh boy..love the legs. Gotta say that I’m glad it’s over.
Kara: Nice lips, legs.

Jeanine said she’s been ‘under the radar’ for years and was hoping this would help her become famous. Simon said for her to ‘Go Back Under The Radar’!!!

4. Next we have Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentile – Now you never know which one you’re gonna get and part of me was hoping he’d play it straight and part of me was hoping he’d be a ‘campy’ Norman. Well He was “Campy Norman” and came out singing, AND I AM TELLING YOU (from Dreamgirls) and was absolutely hysterical. I think he knows he doesn’t stand a chance of going any further and probably is shocked he got this far so he’s gonna have fun with it…and did he EVAH! Even Simon was smiling. VERY entertaining bit.

Simon: I pray you don’t go thru! That was one of the most atrocious performances I’ve ever seen.
Randy: Very entertaining dude.
Kara: At least we’ll remember you. You wear the same shirt every week (like Simon does!).
Paula: Singers come on it and pay homage to a true comedian! You are a true performer.

5. Allison, 16 is up next and she will sing ALONE by Heart. (she’s kinda weird) Good voice and I thought it was a good song for her. Still don’t care for her though.
Randy: You blew it outta the box! Can’t believe you’re only 16.
Kara: You’re good. Get comfortable with the stage and who you are. You could be a winner!
Paula: You can sing the telephone book and you’d be great (where have we heard that one before???)
Simon: Best tonightr by a clear mile (ahhh, Simon…she’s #5 of 12!)
We could have done without the boring stuff with Ryan though. You’ve got a raspy voice.

6. Kris Allen, 23 – will sing MAN IN THE MIRROR by MJ. Oh boy, didn’t he get the memo last week? You don’t do MJ songs??? Anyway, I have to say that he is a cute kid (the young fans will love him) and did a decent job. He needed to bring it more though.

Kara: The front part was rough; back part was better. Where’s the soulful voice?
Paula: You took a song and nailed it.
Simon: I agree with Paula (shock, shock) You showed confidence, personality. You may have put yourself back in the running with that song.
Randy: Nice jumpy riff there.

7. Megan, 22 will sing PUT YOUR RECORDS ON by Bailey Rae. Cute, pretty girl, good interpretation of the song. Could be one of the Top 3…

Paula: You won us over before. You are beautiful. Did everything right.
Simon: You’re a funny little thing. The 2nd part was shouty. I hope America votes for you (now…remember last week when he said that about Mike Sarver and he beat out Anoop? Could happen again?)
Randy: You’ve got a Duffy, Adele quality about you and that’s good cause they’re young and popular right now.
Kara: You could be a breakout new artist.

8. Matt, the oil rigger, 28 from Tulsa will sing IF YOU COULD ONLY from Tonic. A little metal type song. It’s OK. Don’t see him in the Top 3.

Simon: I like you but I hated that song. I wold have talked you out of it if I had known that’s what you had chosen.
Randy: Great song but it was boring for you. Need more energy. You’re a nice guy.
Kara: Fell flat. You can sing too. Poor song choice.
Paula: The song didn’t celebate the guy we like. (huh?)

9. Jesse, 26 will sing BETTY DAVIS EYES by Kim Carnes – Now this girl is pretty, beautiful eyes herself. Has a good voice and thought the song suited her. She’s different.

Randy: OK song. You’re cool. Not exciting.
Kara: You have the best look of the night. I had issues with a few notes.
Paula: I find you captivating. Cool, identifiable, sound.
Simon: I can’t see why people are going to jump on the phones to vote for you.

9. Kris, 27 will sing WHAT BECOMES OF A BROKEN HEART by ?. I like this kid (too). Think he would do well if he gets in the Top 12.

Kara: You’re a good singer. You have pitch issues. The song was old fashioned.
Paula: Like the throwback songs. You’re a good performer.
Simon: Old fashioned, corny, wedding type, hotel lounge..nothing original.
Randy: Too safe for me.

11. Mesha will sing DROPS OF JUPITER by Train. Ohhh, I dunno about this one. She’s OK I guess. Up to now I haven’t been blown outta the water like last week with 3 or 4 people.
Paula: Not a good song for you.
SImon: Great song. Very seious girl but cold.
Randy: Song was cool but you feel so much older. These are band songs.
Kara: You are very put together..get a little mussed up, shake it out.

And…the last singer for the night will be:

12. Adam Lambert, 27
who will sing SATISFACTION by The Rolling Stones (oh boy, I’m scared. Up to now this one was favorite to win it all. This is gonna be cool if he can pull it off).

OH BOY….WOW…LUVED IT!!! He is awesome. They’re aren’t enough words to say how I feel at this moment. You can tell he’s been on that stage, performing since he was 10 years old. He OWNS the stage. LOVED when he looked into the camera (gave me a tingle like Constantine!..even better). This kid is not only Top 12…he’s at least semi-finals….

The Judges (Kara, Paula and Randy) were all jumping around, clapping enjoying the whole performance!

Paula: There are no words to say (didn’t I just say that?). to how good you are.
Simon: Adam, I’m finding it difficult to judge you. Parts of that song were difficult and parts were brilliant.
Randy: I loved it. From Day One you’ve been one of my favorites. It was a little manic but so is Mick Jagger. It was the BOMB!
Kara: Your vocal range is amazing. From hi to lo.

OK people..there you have it. Another 12 contestants for us to enjoy and now we have to pick 3.

Adam – natch
Allison
Megan

(maybe Jesse or Kris?)

We’ll see who goes thru this week tonight.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Joanie

A Few Idol Thoughts

Hi:

Just thought I’d throw a few things out there to you that I’ve heard/read this week.

1. Patrick Swayze doesn’t look good. He’s wasting away the same way Michael Landon did with this terrible disease.

2. Rachel Bilson (The O.C.) and Hayden Christenson (Star Wars) are engaged.

3. Rumor has it that “booted” Joanna Pacita of “almost” AI, is dating Mark Ballas of DWTS!

4. Keeping with the AI theme…Danny Gokey has a website he set up to help children and Ashton Kutcher has jumped on to it and is giving him a lot of support — plus he is his ‘favorite’ to win this season.

5. Is Marie Osmond dating Richie Sambora??? Now that would be interesting.

6. People are abuzz saying that the reason Jessica Simpson looks a little heavy is because she is preggers with Tony Romo’s baby. Hmmm? Could be.

7. Mickey Rourke lost his beloved companion of 17 years, Loki, this past week. He was going to bring the little dog to the Oscars with him. Now he has decided to bring his agent. I think it would be cool (even though his agent has done a lot for Mickey) to bring his one true love, Carrie Otis, with him. (She appeared in Wild Orchid with him).

8. Here’s something you may not know. Airborne, the company that sells pills for you to take when you fly so you won’t catch germs…is offering any of the Top 4 Oscar Winners (Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor) $1M if they go up on stage to collect their Oscar with a case of Airborne under their arms. The money will go to a charity of the winner’s choice. (I bet Angie would do it.)

9. Salma Hayek wed her Italian millionaire BFF on Valentine’s Day in Paris. He is the father of her little girl, Valentina.

That’s all….hope everyone has a great weekend and may all your Oscar choices WIN!

Joanie

AI Results Show WK5 2-18-09

Morning Everyone:

I meant to do my review earlier but here I am now.

Well last night’s show certainly had its ups and downs.

Over 24M votes came in last night…let’s hope American got it right.

Didn’t you LOVE the looks on Simon’s face last night. It was like, “I have a dinner reservation, let’s just get this over with…and stop asking them how they feel!!!”

Ryan asked the Judges how the 12 did and they gave their usual patent answers….

The Group then sang, “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. Was it pitchy? Why yes it was. I was glad when that part was ovah!

Ryan said that Tuesday night’s show was ‘raw’.
Let’s do a recap.

Then Ryan has them all sitting down and asks them ALL individually, what they thought of their performance (Simon…eyes rolling).

Let’s Get The Results:

Casey Carlson – Buh Bye
Stephen Fowler – Buh Bye
Alexis Grace (love her) YES – go take a seat
Ricky Braddy – oh boy, Ricky went home. I’m bummed.
Jackie Tohn – Buh Bye
Then Ryan calls Anoop and Mike Sarver up together – this is intense. As you recall, the night before, after Mike sang, Simon said, “You are a likeable guy and I hope America votes for you.” However, he also liked Anoop and thought he had potential. Only ONE will go forward…It’s MIKE!
(now, before you fall on the floor crying, remember at the end of the 3 shows, the Judges can pick 3 more. Anoop has a good chance to make it to the Top 12 then). AND..Ryan said that there was only a 20K vote difference between the two guys.

Commercials in between.

Then Ryan stands center stage and who walks out by Michael Johns and Carly Smithson..both looking pretty good! They sang, “The Letter” which they have done before on stage. It was pretty good. I think Carly overdid the makeup a bit but Michael looked hot!

Ryan then called:
Ann Marie
Brent Keith
Stevie Wright all on stage together and said: BUH BYE!

That left Tatiana and Danny. Oh boy. It scared me cause I know sometimes the fans do wacky things. Did they want to see the better singer go forward OR did they want to keep the crazy on only to hope that she would have a hissy fit again????

Ryan asked them how they both felt and Tatiana went on and on about her feelings. Danny said, “I just want to know if I’m movin’ on.” Straight forward. Cool. Of course they have to go to commercial to keep the agony goin’.

FINALLY….we get to see which one will take the third seat and, thank Heavens….it’s DANNY!

So the three going ahead this week are: Alexis, Danny and Mike.

(I won’t even get into how ANNOYING it was to have the cameras flashing at Tatiana crying her eyes out and brushing everyone away from her…instead of concentrating on the Top 3! Not fair people).

Next Week the next group of 12 to perform are:

Adam Lambert, 26 (my fave)
Allison Iraheta, 16
Jasmine Murray, 16 (another one who should go forward)
Jeanine Vailes, 27
Jesse Langseth, 25
Kai Kalama, 26 ( a cutie)
Kris Allen, 23
Matt Breitzke, 27 (my friend Linda’s fave)
Matt Giraud, 23
Megan Joy Corkrey, 22
Mishavonna Henson, 18 (tell me they won’t change her name if she wins!)
Nick Mitchell (OR Norman Gentle), 27

Have a great weekend everyone.

Remember, Ryan said that next week they’re on Wed and Thu nights.

Joanie

AI First Top 12 WK 5 2/17/09

Goodaye Everyone:

Now that we’ve started getting down to the ‘nitty gritty’, I thought I’d try and do a review twice a week.

Last night was the first of the Top 12 (two more weeks of 12) and everyone looked nervous. Even new Judge Kara although, once the show got started, she seemed more relaxed.

Ryan explained to us that, this year, what we were going to do was have three weeks of Top 12 contestants each week and of the Top 12, only THREE will go thru. The top boy and the top girl and the next one with the most votes will also go thru. This will leave us with 9 contestants at the end of the three weeks. To make up the Top 12, we will have the Judges (I’m assuming Simon will not vote) a chance to pick their favorite who did not go thru…that’ll give us our Top 12 and we will be eliminating one a week after that bringing us to May and the Finals. Whew! Got it?

You have one minute and 20 seconds to make us love you enough to vote for you….

First up is Jackie Tohn who looks like she’s dressed like Olivia Newton John in Grease. She will be singing, “A Little Less Conversation” by Elvis. Not bad. She has the gravelly voice like Janis Joplin.

Randy: Pretty good job. Didn’t blow me over but good enough.
Kara: You really didn’t do it for me.
Paula: It wasn’t perfect but you are a true performer.
Simon: You have a good voice but you look like you’re dressed like a clown. Don’t be so gimmicky!
Her parents Bella and Al are there to cheer her on. They felt she did a great job.

Next up is Ricky Braddy. We haven’t seen too much of Ricky which happens in the beginning of the season because we are shown the ‘crazies’ instead of the singers. Ricky will sing “A Song For You” by Leon Russell. This kid has a nice presence, good voice, great song. Gotta tell ya..I got chills!

Randy: This is good. Now this is the start of competition for me. Unbelievable.
Kara: Amazing. Loved the riffs. That’s a hard song to sing.
Paula: Finally America gets to see what we’ve seen all along. Great job.
Simon: Very Very Good. But you have No Star Quality. You’ve got to believe you can be famous. (Paula says..like you?)
His folks are there and, as you expect, very proud.

Next comes Alexis Grace – the little single mom with the two tone hair and the big voice. She will sing “Never Loved A Man” by Aretha. She’s belting out this song and feeling every note of it. A lot of soul. Good Job!

Randy: You found dirt, soul, pain…you have it all.
Kara: You pulled the genie out of the bottle! Excellent
Paula: I can’t believe you’re only 21. You present soul, passion, confidence.
Simon: You Are The Best So Far! You’ve got it and represent the Dark Horse in this competition. (He then went on to compare her to Kelly Clarkson like he does every year with someone).
Her folks are real ‘hippy dippys.

Ohhhh – look – it’s Ted Danson and Neil Patrick Harris in the audience.

Up comes Brent Keith next. He will sing Hicktown(?) – He just didn’t do it for me. Didn’t care for the song either.

Randy: I liked the country roots, Dog.
Kara: Thought you were safe tonight.
Paula: You would make a good Country Western Star.
Simon: The song was forgettable.
Then Paula goes on to mention people like Josh Gracin and Bucky Covington who have done well in Country. So Simon says, “Whatever happened to Bucky???”
Brent’s wife was there to give him support.

Stevie (girl) Wright, 17 was up next. She sang “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift and the whole thing was completely forgettable. Too bad.

Actually, all 4 Judges had the same thought – A Trainwreck!

Anoop is up next and will sing, “Angel of Mine” by Monica. This kid is handsome and has a good presence too. I think he’s got a decent fan base too.

Randy: Song choice?
Didn’t quite do it for me.
Kara: I agree.
Paula: You have a Brian McKnight quality about you. (too bad he didn’t sing one of his songs).
Simon: That song was way too grown up for you. But you do have massive likeability.

Casey Carlson, 20 is next to hit the floor and will sing, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” by The Police. Now she chose just as badly as Anoop…he had a girl song and she chose a guy song. What is wrong with some of these kids? Are they trying to sabotage themselves??

Randy: Not good at all. This song was wrong for you.
Kara: Not only was it the wrong song for you but you sang it flat.
Paula: Guys think you’re beautiful Casey but your phrasing was all wrong.
Simon: You look good but your singing was atrocious. I can’t believe they let you sing that song. It was kareoke.

Mike Sarver, 27 is next to step on to the stage. He is the oil rigger. He will sing, “I Don’t Wanna Be” by Gavin McGraw. (was this Bo Bice’s song or Daughtry’s? Can’t remember)
Anyway, love this kid.

Randy: You had a rough start and then picked it up in the middle and sold it at the end.
Kara: It wasn’t your best but you’re good.
Paula: I thought you did a good job.
Simon: We like you Mike but this wasn’t your best by far. However, it wasn’t bad. I hope America gives you a second chance (WOW! coming from SImon, that’s a heckuva endorsement)

Ann Marie, 22 is next to perform. She will sing, “Natural Woman” by Aretha. She had a slow start…dunno.

Randy: Not a good choice for you.
Kara: This was a challenge for you. You gotta kill it and I don’t think you did.
Paula: I thought you’ve come a long way. It’s a huge song and you took a chance. (don’t think I would have taken a chance just yet!)
Simon: Your voice is not good enough for this song. You are irrevelant.

Stephen Fowler steps up next. He will sing, “Rock With You” by MJ. (what was he thinking? Love this song but only MJ can sing this song!)

Randy: Not the right song, Dog. Too pitchy
Kara: I liked you better when you sat at the piano. (you can’t use instruments until you get to the Final 12).
Paula: I felt no connection to this song and neither did you.
Simon: It was pointless. I liked you better when you walked away from the piano. At least then you showed more passion. And it was an awful arrangement.

OK folks…here we go..it’s Tatiana, 24 up next to perform (she has got to be the most annoying person I have EVER seen in a competition). She will sing, “Saving All My Love For You” by Whitney. Oh boy…this is a really tough song with a lot of high notes. I can’t believe it. She’s actually pretty good. AND seems pretty calm tonight.

Randy: She can sing! There were moments but, all in all, you were good. But where’s the crazy Tatiana tonight? (She explains that what you saw before isn’t really her. She has no idea what came over her)
Kara: You are Up and Down…tonight we have the ‘reserved’ Tatiana. Where do you fit in???
Paula: You know you are the most talked about contestant this season? I’m not used to you being demure. I want to see a little crazy! The closing of the song was not good.
Simon: Tatiana, you are a Drama Queen! You’ll do anything to become famous. Actually, tonight you’re kinda scaring me…

We’ve saved the best for last…(so I’ve read today) Danny, 28 a Church Music Director, will sing “Hero” by Mariah
His throat sounds a little scratchy tonight but the audience loves him. He definitely has his moments and is one of the best we’ve seen this season. I have no doubt that he will be moving on.

Randy: You are smokin’ hot!
Kara: GREAT
Paula: Stellar performance
Simon: You were good. Not as fantastic as these three judges think, but I like you…not bad.

So there you have it for the competition tonight.

Top Girl: Alexis Grace
Top Boy: Danny Gokey
Next Most Votes will probably be Anoop BUT I really liked Ricky Braddy and wish that one of the judges will pick him in the end to make up the Top 12.

Tonight we’ll have a duet by Michael Johns and Carly Smithson.

For those of you who follow everything IDOL, you know that Fantasia was in a little bit of financial trouble recently and was about to lose her North Carolina home when they were going to put it on the Auction Block.

Believe it or not…it was Simon Cowell, who rode up on his ‘white horse’ and bailed Fantasia out. He brought her up to date on her payments. Hopefully she’ll be OK now.

See you tomorrow.

Joanie

AI – Week 4, 2/10,11

Goodaye Everyone:

It certainly was an interesting 2 nights this week. I’m wondering, starting next week, if we will go from 2 nights to 3? Don’t they do the girls one night, the boys the next and then the Results Show on Thu.? We’ll see.

Tuesday’s Show

We are now down to 72. They can perform with a band, have backup singers and use an instrument. This should be interesting. Let’s hope they give us more singing tonight and less ‘drama’!

At the end of the show, they will have divided the contestants into 4 rooms. Two go thru and two do not….

Because there are ‘72′, I will just do some of the standouts.

Adam sang Believe by Cher and was awesome. Doesn’t he have a voice similar to Steve Perry’s of Journey? Love this kid. I predict Final 12 for him.

Matt sat at his piano and sang. He’s more comfy in this environment. Good job Matt.

Jamar sang Delilah – He’s a good kid who is very loyal to his BFF, Danny but I honestly don’t see him going any further. We’ll see.

Anoop – Nice looking kid with a decent voice. He’ll go thru.

Jorge – I’m on the fence with this kid. We’ll have to wait and see.

Scott also sat at the keyboards and sang, “I’m Going Home” which I believe is David Cook’s song. He was very good and I definitely see him going far.

Kendall – bad choice of song. Doesn’t do it for me.

Stevie (girl) don’t remember what she sang. Not a good sign.

Lil Rounds – I so love this kid. She’ll be in the Top 12.

Kristen McNamara sang Because of You (Carrie song) Good voice.

Tatiana – this girl is SO annoying. Too bad because she has a decent voice.

Jasmine, 16 sang Tattoo (Jordin Sparks’ song) – Great voice, personality, pretty – Top 12

Nate Marshall – the ‘drama’ queen – sang Disturbia – I dunno

Nick/Morman – Now here’s a guy whose got a decent voice but has no confidence in himself to play it ’straight’. Hope he makes it thru though.

OK, let’s cut to the chase. They have these kids in 4 rooms and, for the life of me, I can’t figure out some of the ‘matches’. At one point, the producers came into the room that Tatiana was in and moved her to another room where the kids immediately became paranoid!

In come the Judges who, as usual, play with these kids emotions until they finally say “YES”, you are going thru.

Room 3 holds Michael Castro who we liked thru Hollywood week but, unfortunately, his room was a “NO”.

Room 1 had Danny, Adam and Jamar in it. It was a definite YES

Room 4 – after Tatiana went ballistic thinking she was going home – got a YES (?)

Tomorrow Night – They will decide on the Final 36.

Wednesday, Day 2 – We are on for two hours tonight. This year the producers have decided to rent out a mansion to use for the ’sit down’. No elevator this year and dreaded ride up – long walk across the bare floor. It seems a lot ‘kinder’ for lack of a better word.

I could go thru each person (that they showed us) and how it went down but I won’t. I will say that Simon was Simon. He kept telling the girls (“Get on with this. Is it a YES or NO?)

A few comments…Frankie got a NO after which Simon said, “Don’t feel sorry dear. You wouldn’t have made it anyway. And, if you made it thru to the 36, you wouldn’t have made it any further.” I thought Kara and Paula were going to hit him..in fact at one point Paula did.

As predicted, Jamar did not make the 36.
Nick/Norman DID though.
Simon was NOT in favor of this choice. I think he’ll be fun to have…for a while.

Tatiana made it to the 36
(Simon said, “Tatiana try not to be annoying!)

The welder, Matt and the oil rigger, Mike (who, I think has a better voice) were probably the most dramatic of all…because the judges couldn’t decide. Simon said he liked them both but didn’t know how the fans would like them. Sooo, they put them both thru so it will be up to US!

Next Week we start LIVE (finally!!!!)

So, this is how it’s gonna go down. We are going to have THREE weeks of TWELVE performances. At the end of each week, they are going to vote off 9 people. This will leave 3, 3 and 3. And, I believe the judges will choose the final 3 (each judge – not Simon – will choose one). This will give us our Final 12.

Next week the first 12 to perform are:

Casey Carlson
Stephen Fowler
Jackie Tohn
Ricky Braddy
Anne Marie Bokovich
Brent Keith
Alexis Grace
Michael Sarver
Stevie Wright
Danny Gokey
Tatiana Del Toro
Anoop Desai

Oh boy…only 3 from this group…it’s gonna be hard.

Talk to you next week.

Joanie

AI – Hollywood Week 02/03-04

Hi Everyone:

Well Hollywood week, once again, did not disappoint with all the drama, crying and tearing each other apart. We seem to go thru this every season. Maybe it’s because some of these kids are too young to take the pressure and older people who are paired with the younger kids just don’t have the patience to cope…

We have gone 100K to 147…amazing, huh?

The contestants will be performing at the Kodak Theatre which, in itself, is intimidating when you think that the Oscars will be shown from here in a few weeks! (Go Mickey Rourke)

This year the producers have enlisted coaches to help these kids with their song choice, choreography, clothes, etc. Unfortunately, some of them did NOT listen to this advice. For the most part they have been placed in groups of 4. They are singing acapella and should have a good blend of voices and dance moves…and, it wouldn’t hurt to get along!!!!

I’m not sure about who was in what group or names cause they go rather fast. I think I’ll get a better ‘grip’ when we are down to 36.

I DO know that Lil Rounds went thru. Dennis Brigham, Asia, Alex all went thru (same group).

Jasmine made it but the rest of her group including Rose, did not.

Jason’s bro, Mike YES
Stephen Fowler – Yes
Jorge – Yes
Von – Simon didn’t care for him but he went thru anyway.

Every year Simon tries to ‘drill it’ thru these kids heads that the #1 thing they can NOT do is forget the lyrics. Song Choice doesn’t hurt either.

DAY TWO

Jackie (Janis Joplin sound a like) – Yes
Danny (looks like Robert Downey, Jr) YES (like him a lot). His friend, Jamar got a yes too. In fact the group all got a YES
They were very good.

Bikini Girl finally bit the dust. She tried to explain herself but Simon would not listen (he must have ’snapped out of’ his infatuation with her).

Adam Lambert’s (stage actor and my pick for semis at least) group all went thru – the judges loved them.

David Osmond – Went home and we never got to see what happened.

Tatiana’s group all went thru which amazed me cause she is a definite ‘psycho’!!!

All in all, 75 made it thru to next week.

Tuesday will be one hour but Wednesday will be two hours.

I believe they have one shot to please the judges and can use instruments if they want to. I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t wind up with the Top 36 by end of Wednesday…one could only dream!!!!

Stay Warm – talk to you next week. Joanie