Hi gang. Bet you thought I had forgot about my re-caps well what can I say "life" keeps interrupting me from getting them out sooner but no worries as I finally have time to post them. Thanks for bearing with me.
Today we are in Denver, Colorado with our contestants who are hoping to reach new heights in the Mile High City. Naturally we see the tension, the terrible and of course the talent. So buckle up Ryan says and welcome to American Idol.
Going back to the year 2005, Chris Daughtry was just another face in the crowd. Since his season ended he has gone 4 times platinum with his first album and is also charting with his second one. This season the crowds have doubled as shown to us and this of course makes it harder to make it to Hollywood. Side note here: I find it amusing how idol acts like every contestant is seen but that is not the case as in reality only a few hundred take the first step with the producers. I only know this as my daughter's friend tried out and she never even got a chance to sing at all as I guess she just did not have the look. Surprisely they do things that way considering how many crazies they show us each year.
We now greet the judges. Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham is back with us looking like a stick (man is she skinny). Randy likes Posh and we hear some yakking about this and also see a picture of him and Posh together. Okay all the judges have finally taken their seats so let's begin.
:sing: Mark Labriola tells us many think he looks like Jack Black. I do not think so however he is feeling stoked about today's audition. He hopes to make good as he comes before the judges. Simon asks Mark to tell us something interesting about himself. He says he likes cheese. "What else" asks Simon. Now comes a very confusing story regarding the fact that evidently his mom stoled him away from his dad when he was a boy of 4. Pretty much on the run he and good old mom traveled all over the U. S. which meant sleeping in tents, motel rooms, etc. Finally dad was able to get him back when he was 10 years old. At that time Mark and mom lived in Hawaii, Maui to be exact. The judges are overwhelmed with this. Mark then sings the song "Tempted" and surprise he is quite good. Victoria is impressed and Simon likes his honesty. After 4 yeses, Simon tells Mark to visit his mom in Maui but Mark says well now she lives in North Carolina. This brings another round of surprise to the judges but Simon says call her anyway no matter where she is. With gold ticket in hand we see the last of Mark for today carrying his cute little son Ian.
Next we see lots of people who are nervous with the lights, cameras and of course they feel anxious. We now see some of them wearing outlandish costumes, showing nervous tics in the face, some with attitudes and of course the list goes on.
This leads us into meeting our next contestant Mario Galvan who has a weird and funny habit of a short laugh when speaking. This giggle amuses the judges, in fact Simon mimics the laugh throughout the audition. Kind of rude Simon! Mario then sings "Jailhouse Rock" by Elvis Presley. It was not too good. Simon then wants to know what is the closest he has ever gotten to getting a break. Mario responds he was in the play "Jekyll and Hyde". Simon wants to know if it ever opened still mimicing the giggle. Needless to say Mario leaves without the gold but does claim that life goes on.
Ryan tells us that Denver is known for the great outdoors. If you like cycling, the rafting and the skiing you will like the clean air. At least until American Idol gets there as we next see several contestants who do not make it to Hollywood cussing all the way.
Cute Kimberly Kerbow is next with her 5 year old daughter in tow. The daughter claims that her mom is the next American Idol. Kim chooses to sing "The Way I Am" with added wording involving giving some Rogaine to judge Simon. He is not happy about this diddy but does think Kim is lippy and funny. I thought her singing was okay I guess however the judges put her through to Hollywood. We then see that several are getting the tickets.
:( Another mom of a 3 year old enters the audition room in the form of Dannelle Hayes. Seems her usual job is hosting live karaoke which she says is very hard considering all the corporate parties, casinos and bars she has had to go to in order to make a living. She sings "Am I The Only One" by Melissa Ethridge. Simon likes her and mentions that he feels like she seems broken and got there just in time. Each judge is moved by her emotion and performance and she gets 4 yeses. I think this woman has potential however I sort of felt like she was yelling the lyrics. Hopefully she calms down before Hollywood.
After more commercials, previews and seeing more outlandish outfits we meet our next guy Casey James. Casey was in a bad motorcycle accident at age 21 which left him with mutiple compound fractures. He says he is in daily pain and shows us some of the scarring from this accident on his arm. He does say that he feels he is fortunate to be alive at all. I was not sure what song he sang but his voice is not bad to my ears. Simon says no immediately but both Posh and Kara think he has the look and also a good voice. They want him to show more personality however and tell him to un-button his shirt. Randy tells him to take the shirt off which he does. Posh asks him to let down his hair from the ponytail it is in which I think gave him a better look overall. Both girls are a yes and they convince Randy to say yes also but all say he needs to work on his persona some. Welcome to Hollywood guy!
Bubbly 16 year old Tori Kelly has brought a ton of people with her including several children. One young girl named Hope Starr has brought drawings of all the judges which she is allowed to present to them. They love it. Tori then sings "Gravity" by John Mayer. Simon finds her singing annoying, Kara really likes her, Posh thinks she is stunning and Randy also likes her. Simon is out-voted as she gets 3 yeses. We are then told 14 others got the gold as day one ends.
Day 2 dawns with Kara telling us she has a good feeling about today. Not so Kara as our next contestant is Austin Paul who is a football lawn snapper and student. He claims he is also a singer and composer. He loves football but also sings all the time when not on the field. One last note is he says American Idol is #42 on his list of things to accomplish. Huh? After singing whatever that song was he sang the judges are not impressed and find his attitude is annoying, cocky and arrogant. He is shocked by their comments but adds that he feels they could market him well in the business. Well dude, the answer is a big no!
24 year old Kenny Everett thinks he is the world's greatest singer and compares his talent to Mary J. Bligh. Not sure of the first song title but it has very little words and more notes that he croaks out. Simon feels he sings like he has been punched. The judges are trying to say no which prompts Kenny to start singing "No More Drama" the same way he sang the first song. He then sings in a monotone voice the words "go, go, go" and Simon tells him he has to leave. His parting words after leaving the audition room are "how can 4 people tell you no when you know you are a good singer". He then adds something is very wrong. Get real guy, you can not sing!
Seems Denver is 5,280 feet above sea level and some must be feeling the heights as we see short clips of several contestants who are downright awful like cats screaming in pain as Simon mentions. Okay, thousands are still waiting but no chance they will get seen so let's go on.
Good grief our next girl flew all the way from Florence, Italy for this audition. She is Nicci Nix and talks like a little girl on helium as Simon says. The amazing thing is when she sings she has a deeper voice and sounds good (Paris Bennett all over again I'm thinking). Regardless the judges like her and she gets the gold.
Our last contestant of the day claims she was a miracle baby as at birth she weighed in at only 2 pounds and her mom could hold her in her hand. Seems she came several months too early in the pregnancy. Haeley did make it but suffered another tragedy when he dad died when she was only 10 years old. She hopes to live her dream by becoming a pop/country artist even though she is black. Simon thinks she is cute and infectious after she sings. The other judges like her also. Before she gets the gold she tells Simon her sister is a big fan of his so she then brings in sis and mom for her big moment of making it to Hollywood. We now know that altogether 11 gold tickets were given out for this day.
However it seem we are not done just yet as one more contestant is left. We hear again about the gutsy behavior of Darrel the bikini girl. This time around it is a guy dressed in a bikini who is going to sing "Achy Breaky Heart" by Billy Ray Cyrus. This prompts a cuss word from Simon who says he is leaving. The other judges decide to leave too. Ty Hemmerling thinks they are rude to leave and then wants to know if they are coming back. Sorry Ty the answer is no.
As our time in Denver comes to an end, we hear a total of 26 gold tickets were given out. Since I am so delayed with this post I now need to go to another topic for the segment known as "The Road To Hollywood" from this week. Hope to see you there.
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Subject: Denver Auditions - 2/2/10 
Thu Feb 04, 2010 9:56 pm
