Special Sunday Show - San Diego - 1/22/12

Hi there! Not sure why but American Idol had a special show which finds us in San Diego, California. And for some oddball reason they hold the auditions on an aircraft carrier called the U.S.S. Midway. New experience for sure for the over 10,000 that showed up to audition. Steven Tyler gets in the groove by wearing an old-time flying hat since the background for our judges is a jet. One last note before I get to the good and bad is at times jets were flying over the ship and the judges could not hear the contestants at all. Crazy idea I think having this audition on a ship. Okay, let's go:

THE GOOD (At least the judges thought so)

First to make the grade is young mom Ashley Robles who has two jobs to make ends meet (her daughter is 5 years old). Obviously her second job of being a dj helped her as she sings "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston. It started rough to my ears but got better as the song went on. I was not totally blown away however.

Another who was just okay for me was energetic Jayrah Gibson who is a amatuer singer/songwriter. He does an original made especially for JLo called "moneymaker". Just so-so overall.

I honestly believe the next girl, 20 year old Aubree Dieckmeyer just wants to be a model and comes on this show to get her foot in the door so to speak. Her voice is sweet as she sings Micheal Buble's "Feeling Good" but compared to some of the others we have heard from last week it is not good enough in my book.

Definitely hyper, Ali Shields is shown in clips having been on the Ellen DeGeneras show. This lead to her interviewing artists and letting them know she has never been kissed. Her dreams come true when she does get kisses from Mike Posner and Usher at the American Music Awards show. In front of our judges Ali raps, does a ghetto dance and then performs the song "Like A Star". I was shocked the judges liked this one enough to put her through to Hollywood.

Day 2 finds us with college and frat boy Kyle Crews who is 19 years old. He attends U.C. Berkeley. Again I was not blown away as he performs "Angel of Mine" by Monica. The judges liked him too so off her goes to Hollywood.

I do believe the next girl got the gold due to the fact that her dad is Jim Carrey (yep the movie star). Jane Carrey sings Bonnie Raitt's "Something To Talk About". I thought she sounded off-key in parts but again the judges are wowed and send her to Hollywood.

Now comes the only worthwhile contestant I think from all that we saw and that is Jason "Wolf" Hamlin who is a mechanic on a golf course. First he sings "Midnight Special" by CCR. It is fairly good but Steven wants to hear more. Then Wolf really kicks into gear playing a "git-fiddle" his dad made (sadly dad passed away in 2010). His song is "Folsom Prison Blues" by the late Johnny Cash. I thought this guy was handsome and in my opinion was interesting.

Several golds were handed out which totaled 53 but we did not get to hear them all.

THE BAD

Evidently a lot of bad came through but we only saw one actually perform. Her name is Jennifer Diley. First she does a Jessica Simpson song which is not good enough in spite of the fact that she dressed in a very small bikini top and shorts. Then when it looks like the judges are not bowled over she performs "Hero" by Mariah Carey. It was bad and very off-key so it is a no for her. I was glad both Steven and Randy judged her on the voice rather than the appearance.



Final Thoughts

To my way of thinking most of the San Diego auditions we saw were just so-so although I did like Wolf Hamlin. Hopefully the others who got through were better. Our next stop on Wednesday is Aspen, Colorado. So until then enjoy your week and take care!

Didn't find anyone that interesting in the San Diego auditions. However, I did like the last guy, Wolf. Still keeping Phillip Phillips in the number 1 spot. See you in Aspen.