Charleston - City of No's - 1/23/08

Well, well, what a difference a night makes as we go from San Diego, California to Charleston, South Carolina. While San Diego proved to hold quite a bit of talent, Charleston was shown as the land of the no factor overall. 23 hopefuls make it from the 10,000 who showed up. Not very promising I say but let's review what we did get to see.

The first auditioner Oliver Highman is waiting anxiously to appear before the judges when his wife calls to let him know her water broke as she is 37 weeks pregnant so poor Oliver misses his chance and gets lost looking for the hospital. All ends well as baby Emma Grace does make an entrance in the comfort of the hospital and is proudly shown Day 2 of the auditions as Oliver gets another chance. Sadly, the judges find he sings with too much vibrato and it's a no from all 3 however, he takes it well as his baby girl gives him lots of joy to celebrate.

Only 4 good singers were actually shown on this show with the first being a brother and sister act known as Jeffrey and Michelle Lampien. This jolly duo perform a duet by R. Kelly and Celine Dion called "I'm Your Angel". Surprise, the heavy-set siblings sound very good with the judges appreciating the talent of Jeffrey more than Michelle. However both get the golden tickets with Simon telling Jeff to get sister Michelle up to his greatness. As Jeff leaves he claims "Hallelujah Jesus". I actually liked both of them.

Next is a cheerleader who is a junior at a Catholic High School. She believes in being pure and preaches abstinence not only to anyone who will listen but also to the judges. Amy Flynn then sings "Reflections" by Christina Aguilera. Simon says no but Paula and Randy find her purity an asset and vote her through. I found her very generic but loved Simon's remark that her innocence would change after a week in Hollywood.

London Weidberg has had a rough prior 3 years as her dad passed away suddenly and it took a real toll on her family. She gives us her rendition of a Billie Holliday song called "Good Morning Heartache". She does have a nice tone which pushes her through to Hollywood in spite of Simon not being that enthused.

:laugh: After many attempts by the not-worthy singers who try-out on Day 1 only 15 get through. Only 2 notable ''bads" will grace the first day of my review.

DeAnna Prevatte is from the same town as our own Kellie Pickler. She is also a waitress who comes in with a definite chip on her shoulder. Before she performs "Fancy" in an angry way, she has several well chosen "bleeps" about her customers. Needless to say the judges are turned off and it is no across the board. She leaves with a killer look to the judges. Kellie who has such a sparkling personality could teach this girl something I feel.

:kisses: Love is in bloom as we see from Randy Stark and Crystal Ortiz who actually met on a American Idol message board. She is from North Carolina and he is from Texas but they manage to have their actual first live meeting at a trash can during this audition. Oh, love is in the air with these two but not in their voices as they badly sing "She's More" by Andy Griggs. After the no vote, Simon tells them to check into a hotel. I found this line quite funny, am I losing it or what?

On day 2 we get to view the "talents" of 2 other notable bads. First up is Aretha Codner who was named after Aretha Franklin. Being one of the biggest-busted women I have ever seen she shows up in a green dress and silver belt. The judges are stunned as she walks in but Simon is pleasant and asks her who she sings like. She is confident as she tells him she can sing as good as Fantasia or any of the idols. Although not terrible in my book she fails to impress the judges with her rendition of "I Have Nothing" by Whitney Houston. After the no from the judges, she argues for some time about what a good singer she is and finally walks out the door saying "She just can not believe it" meaning she thinks the judges are wrong.

Joshua Boson is another matter as he comes out punching once he slaughters "And I'm Telling You" by Jennifer Hudson. He tells the judges after the no vote that the show is faked and rigged. Simon responds that he is rude and deluded. He mentions how he heard on the radio that South Carolina has no talent but he plans to prove them wrong by becoming an international star. As he walks away grumbling, he does have a nice moment by thanking the show for the opportunity. Unreal dude, unreal!

One good for me but not impressive enough for the judges was in the form of a pilot known as Lyndsey Goodman. She sings "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles and frankly considering some of the others they have let through I was surprised this girl was turned down. I found her to have a nice voice although the judges just did not find her ready for this competiton. Bummer!

:tsk: So all in all, much of the hopefuls shown on this audition were just plain bad but as mentioned above 23 do make it. Our next stop will be Omaha, Nebraska and have to say I will be glad when next week is over so we can get to the Hollywood rounds.

That's a wrap and hope all of you have a great week ahead!

Did I mention, I just love your little spin on things?
~tyg

Tyg, I appreciate the compliment. I do get a kick out of doing this so maybe it is me who needs to get a life? :laugh:


;)

oddly enough, it helps me. I have so little free time - what with school, a quadruplegiac brother, a mom constantly ill, a step-father who is an ass but recently had a stroke and is now a paraplegiac, a six year old, cleaning, cooking 15 meals a day, 5 loads of laundry, and friends who need me on a regular basis.....so yeah - this helps me :)
~tyg

Gee Tyg, you really have your hands full. I admire that you have the strength to do all that you do. Glad I can brighten your day a little.

Take care, my friend.

Oh, I love being needed and busy - keeps those nurons in the thinker firing, and it's not a bad thing.
~tyg

Another Great recap,

Last night was strange for me to say the least, I was happy that Jeffery and Michelle made it through, Jeffery reminds me of Ruben in a lot of ways and I think he is the better of the two,

Amy the cheerleader bothers me, I didn't care for her attitude and I didn't think she was that good, and I agree I loved Simons remark, Bet she doesn't make it through Hollywood.

I did like London, thought she had a nice voice and is not hard on the eyes either, she fit what seems to be the norm for AI this season that being young, blonde and nice figure. I wish her well..

I really think The judges made a big BIG mistake on passing on Lyndsey Goodman, SHE was the best of the night I thought, and they passed on her, don't get it, Paula said she seemed nervous, Dahhhh, who wouldn't be, but I've never seen them pass on someone because of the nerves, I thought WOW what is going on her, I thought she was one of the best we'd seen so far and they let her go.. Sad..

Oh gee did you like Aretha?? As soon as she walked in to the room I though OMG she reminds me of Ronetta from season 5 same attitude problem and the way she dressed and such, and she argued too just like Ronnetta did, History repeats ha ha.. I didn't like her at all, but they are saying on the AI board that she was great and I keep thinking OK what or who was I hearing then ha..

Boy that Joshua got mad didn't he?? Wow did you hear what he said to the waiting ones on the outside of the room, he said " they said that SC has NO TALENT," Ryan said No they didn't say that did they and he replies " Well yes in so many words" then went on to say about the news thingy.. Wow, First time I've seen Simon that mad so far this season..

Does anyone else find it strange that out of 10,000 they only found 23 that made it? For some reason I'm still thinking we're being taken for a ride and being set up in the proccess..

Can't wait to see what Neb brings on Tuesday...

Thanks Concertcris great review

To answer your question Sandi. I did not think Aretha was all that but I also did not think she was as bad as the judges made her out to be. I do think the judges made the right choice in not allowing her through however.

As for Lyndsey Goodman, in my opinion this was a big mistake on the judges part as I liked her a lot. I also liked the Lampien siblings and agree that Jeffrey does remind one of Ruben. He may have a shot but doubt his sister will. I also do not think Amy Flynn or London Weidberg will make it past Hollywood.

If you look at the statistics overall, hardly any people make it through even though thousands show up. One of my daughter's friends actually tried out in Las Vegas the same year as our Taylor. She says what happens is not everyone gets to sing at all. A group of producers goes down the line and picks who they think look interesting either good or bad and pulls them out. Then the people who are picked sing for the producers and if they like them for whatever reason, they get a shot with the judges. This woman I am talking about did not even get chosen by the producers which was a real shame as she sings better than Kelly, Carrie and Jordin put together. I think it depends on the look frankly. Overall, I think only about 100 or so actually get to see the judges. Definitely not a fair way to go about it in my opinion.

Anyway, thanks for posting and talk to you soon.

It's such a big ass machine, I suppose they have to have criteria for try-outs or they'd be there for decades, but hot *bleep* that makes me mad! They need to have the prelims send in tapes until, I dunno, April and then the ones who have enough potential, go to auditions - everybody needs their voices heard. To think they probably looked at Taylor and said he was just goofy enough seriously makes my blood boil!
~tyg

So it is like Simon says, that you have to stand out and be different, even if you can sing and are just a everyday person, How sad is that?? I know they have to have a way to cut the numbers down from 10,000 to a few but wow what a way to do it.. I wonder what they would have done with Taylor had he had darker hair instead of the gray. What a shame that by being different in that way.. I guess it worked for Taylor but how many others get passed up for the same reason.. Sad

Yeppers, it is a lousy way to pick the contestants. Even my own daughter is as good as singer as some of the ones they have put forward to Hollywood and maybe she would have made it as she is very outgoing and blonde (yeah, another one tee hee). She has won several contests and at one of them a guy who is affiliated with a show in Reno thought she should try out for musical theatre as her rendition of "All That Jazz" was great in his opinion. Now she is too old for idol however. I like the idea of sending in tapes in advance however I think they like having this many people show up for the hoopla and teaser to watch the show.

While they might not have chosen our dear Taylor other than the fact he has gray hair, in a way doing it this way was a blessing for him. I think if he had sent in a tape, they might not have picked him. By having the people show up each one should be heard at least by a producer or someone affiliated with the show.

Definitely, it is a real bummer overall.

I know Sundance had a big following and a lot of the Bucky fans thought he was great, I personally didn't care for him, and I sure didn't think he put Taylor to shame as Simon said when he auditioned, I don't know maybe they heard something I didn't but the prove is in the voting I guess. Did anyone see the guy that auditioned, (we didn't see him except to see he didn't make it ) but he looked a lot like Sundance I thought anyway.. It didn't break my heart when sundance went home at all, But they said the show was fixed etc etc etc because he went home instead of Sanyjaya, Boo Hoo is what I say. Oh that's not nice is it??