I’ve been a Program Director in music radio for quite a few years.  I’m pretty good at spotting a hit song and/or talented artist that will resonate with just about everybody.  I mean, there’s a reason why we call them “hits”—they hit with everyone around the country, and often, around the world.  When I watch American Idol, I must be clueless, cuz I completely missed on the first eliminations out of the Top 24.  What I wanna know is, “Who the heck are the people who vote in this thing?!”

 Ashley Rodriguez gets the boot over Haeley Vaughn?  Are you kidding me?  Just watching Vaughn talk is annoying enough, but listening to her sing?  A bleating sheep would be better.

And Simon was spot on when he said that they made the right decision on Tim Urban in the first place.  Joe Munoz wasn’t going to go all they way, but he was way better than Urban.  Those who don’t sing do not realize how hard it is to sing a Jason Mraz song, which Munoz did admirably.  But he gets voted off instead of a hack like Urban?  What a joke.

Tyler Grady was the other guy to get the boot, and I can’t say that I disagree.  Alex Lambert who was in the bottom two with Grady will be the next to go.

Janell Wheeler was the second gal to go.  Her shaky rendition of Heart’s “What About Love” did her in.

After the first eliminations, my frontrunners are Paige Miles and Casey James.  Paige has the best voice in the competition and Casey has the most star potential.

Please, oh, please, can we get Haeley Vaughn off the show?  Please?  Anyone?  Can you help a brotha out?

Bummer!  I was really looking forward to the Top 12 guys performing last night on AI, especially since the gals were so uninspiring the night before.  Alas, it was not to be.  Not one single performance was a barn burner.  A couple were downright pathetic.

 Best of the Blah

• Casey James—Kara’s gushing aside, the guy’s the real deal.  I closed my eyes during a replay of the video, and swore I could hear Bob Seger singing “Heaven” by Bryan Adams.  He’ll definitely be in the Top 10 and on the tour this summer.
• Joe Munoz—He’s not going to win by any stretch of the imagination, but he’s a good singer who did a commendable job with Jason Mraz’s “You And I Both”.  Anybody that would even try to cover that song has my respect.

 On The Bubble

• Alex Lambert—Painful to watch.  He was so uncomfortable he looked like a guy who’s singing in a karaoke bar one night then goes home, passes out,  and wakes up on a national stage the next day.  Should go back to the bars.
• Lee Dewyze—This guys’s gonna be my whipping boy until he proves he deserves to be there.  He was so off key all the way through Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars”, I thought I was watching Taylor Swift perform.  (Oops, did I say that out loud?)

Buh-Bye

• Tim Urban—Finally got the scoop on why he was such an afterthought on the Top 24 announcement show.  He was an afterthought!  Seems that Chris Golightly actually had a spot in the Top 24, but it was discovered he was under contract with a record company, even though he denied it.  So Golightly got the boot, and Tim Urban slid in.  After his pathetic performance of “Apologize” he should apologize to America and slink home.
• John Park—Uh, that was pitiful.  I think John is a little off in the head because no guy in his right mind would attempt Billie Holiday’s “God Bless The Child”. 

Kris Allen is scheduled to perform tonight.  Hear Kris talk about his visit to Haiti and what it’s like to be an American Idol in my exclusive interview with Kris that you’ll find in my February 19^th blog below.

Ho-hum.  That’s the best way I can describe last night’s performances by the Top 12 girls on American Idol.  As usual, I agreed with just about every one of Simon’s assessments.  These included “boring,” “bland,” and “dreary.”  I took copious notes last night, and I needn’t have bothered.  There was not one memorable performance, though I think a couple of contestants crashed and burned.

Crispy Critters

• Haeley Vaughn—Don’t know how this annoying screecher made it in the first place.  Her ghastly performance of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” should put us out of our misery. 
• Lacey Brown—I’m really bummed about this one.  I really thought Lacey was a sleeper to win this whole thing, but that desecration of “Landslide” was unbearable.

Best of the Rest (and that ain’t sayin’ much)

• Paige Miles—She was the first performer, and who knew she’d be the night’s one bright spot.  I think she’s now the frontrunner.
• Michelle Delamor—At least she stayed on key (pardon the pun) through Alicia Key’s “Fallin’”.  Solid, but not stellar.
• Siobhan Magnus­—Not the brightest bulb on the billboard.  Simon called her a “dark horse” in the competition, and she asked “What’s a “dark horse”?  (Maybe she’s just sheltered, cuz she is kinda weird.)  I liked her version of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game”.  Her voice is pure gold.

Coulda, Shoulda Woulda

• Janell Wheeler—Heart’s “What About Love” was absolutely the wrong song for her.  Anybody who does that song is gonna sound lame compared to Ann Wilson.
• Katie Stevens—She’s still one of my favorites, but that mom-ish version of Michael Buble’s “Feelin’ Good” was painful.  Ellen was exactly right—she’s got to “young it up” or she’ll be out.

 Let’s hope the guys put on a better show tonight.

I had the pleasure of talking to Kris Allen on the phone on Tuesday.  Kris called from Los Angeles where he’s spending a lot of time these days.  (Can’t imagine why.)  Kris gave me the scoop on his upcoming visit to Haiti which will be broadcast next week on American Idol.  He will also be performing on the show that night.

Kris Allen interview

Not too many surprises when the remainder of the Top 24 were picked on Wednesday night.  A few that I thought would get in didn’t make it:  Tasha Layton, Angela Martin, and Thaddeus Johnson.  The moment that Kara spent breaking the news to Angela was especially poignant.  I think that Thaddeus’ appearance had a lot to do with him not making it.  American Idol is first and foremost a television show and personal presentation is key.  With a little polish and another year’s maturation, Thaddeus could come back and make it next year.  Don’t have a clue what happened to Tasha since they never mentioned her.

Did anybody see them make any mention of Tim Urban anywhere in the process?  They showed his picture briefly in one segment, but I never heard his name until the very end.  He’s been an inconsequential participant this entire season, so I didn’t even know who he was from his picture.  I had to wait til the very end of the show when they announced his name.  Kinda strange.

So here’s the final 24:

• Michael Lynche—Too overbearing physically to win it all. 
• Didi Benami—One of my favorites from day one.  Radiates sweetness.
• Katelyn Epperley—Sleeper.
• Casey James—If he doesn’t make in on AI, he could be a movie star.  The epitome of “ruggedly handsome”.
• Aaron Kelly—Creepy.
• Lee Dwyze—Could be one of the first to get the boot. 
• Todrick Hall—He’ll go deep into the competition, but the drama queen thing will wear thin.
• Tyler Grady—Love his whole ‘70’s vibe.  The ladies will love him.
• Janell Wheeler—She’s just likable and that counts in this competition.
• Lacey Brown—Hasn’t gotten a lot of screen time up until this point, but she’s a contender.
• Ashley Rodriguez—Knew she’d get in from her first audition.  She has charm, poise, beauty, and talent—the whole package.
• Alex Lambert—Buh-bye.
• Joe Munoz—Haven’t seen much of him, so I don’t know what to think.
• Crystal Bowersox—Style and talent to burn.  Think she’s just a little to rough to be a serious threat.
• Katie Stevens—Keep your eye on this 17 year-old.  Has the talent and charm to win it all.
• Lilly Scott—Reminds me of Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland.  Has a swagger and cuteness that’ll take her to the final rounds.
• Paige Miles—Again, not much screen time, so who knows.  Simon really likes her, so that will help.
• Siobhan Magnus—Huge voice.  Arguably the best singer in the competition, but will that be enough?
• Michelle Delamor—She looks like a star, but I haven’t heard enough of her to make a guess as to how far she’ll get.
• Jermaine Sellers—He’s annoying, so he’ll be gone pretty quick.
• John Park—This year’s Anoop Desai?
• Tim Urban–Who?
• Haeley Vaughn–Boy, I really don’t get this one.  I know she’s sweet and all, but she’s going to get annoying really quick.
• Andrew Garcia–He made it with his reworking of “Straight Up” early in Hollywood Week.  Solid contender.

Who are your picks?

Can they possibly drag this out any more?!  This is one of my pet peeves with Idol:  they take a one-hour show and stretch it into two.  I mean, does it really take two hours to announce 7 of the 24 finalists?  The whole scenario with the contestants in three separate rooms is getting old.  The judges come in and do their obligatory stall to ratchet up the tension, then everybody either jumps up and down and screams, or they collapse into sobs.  Ho-hum. 

Here’s who’s in so far, and some of my picks are in the group:

• Michael Lynche—Muscle-bound softy who will survive a few rounds.  Don’t think he’s mass appeal enough to go the distance, though.
• Didi Benami—One of my favorites from day one.  She has that indefinable winsomeness that shines through.  Could be the next American Idol.
• Katelyn Epperley—Decent singer with great back story and cute face. 
• Casey James—Just call him “Kara’s Pet”.  She swoons every time he shows up.  He’s got the musical chops to be a star, too.
• Aaron Kelly—Don’t know how this 16 year-old got through.  He forgot the lyrics in his Hollywood audition and he reminds me of Edward Norton–the creepy Edward Norton in “Primal Fear”.
• Lee Dwyze—Don’t get this one either.  The guy’s Hollywood audition was terrible and he doesn’t stand a chance to win.
• Todrick Hall—He’s the goods.  Tons of charisma and talent.  Bit of a drama queen which might actually help him.

 Tonight the final 17 are announced.  Here are my picks to get in:

• Tasha Layton—She’s got a style all her own and she has good presence.
• Siobhan Magnus—Ellen told her that she had to lighten up, and she did in her final audition.  Incredible pipes.
• Crystal Bowersox—No-brainer.  This year’s blues chick.
• Thaddeus Johnson—16 year-old from Oklahoma City is wise beyond his years and knows how to connect with an audience.
• Angela Martin—Third time’s the charm for Angela.  Her personal story is so tragic that I’m rooting for her.  Her father was murdered during the first competition which left Angela too grief-stricken to compete.  This time around her mother is missing.  Police found her abandoned car outside of Chicago on New Year’s Eve and they haven’t found her.  Terrible.
• Ashley Rodriguez—Obvious star qualities.
• Janell Wheeler—She picked the wrong audition song in “Love Story” by Taylor Swift, but she’s displayed enough talent that I think she gets through.  (Rumored to be dating Tim Tebow.)
• Andrew Garcia–Remains to be seen if he’s got the range to win the whole thing, but he’s definitely in the Top 24.

Don’t have a clue about the other 9, so I’m looking forward to tonight.

I don’t get it.  Group Day on American Idol.  I guess it’s just the producers’ way of seeing which contestants might fit in to those cheesy group numbers they do when the show gets down to the Final 24.  But all the bickering, posturing, and crying makes my teeth grind.  The show could’ve been 10 minutes long and it would have been more interesting.  They don’t call it Hell Week for nothing; stretching it out into an hour is torment for the viewer.

None of the individual performers stood out in the group competition, so there’s not much to comment on.

Suffice it to say that 25 more contestants were winnowed out, and 71 remain.  Next week the Final 24 are chosen. 

OK.  I admit it.  Ellen DeGeneres was a great choice to replace Paula Abdul on the judges’ panel.  The show needs some comic relief and Ellen can actually be funny on purpose.  Paula was just…you know…funny, as in “Yoo-hoo!  Anybody home?  Earth to Paula!”  Like all great comics Ellen demonstrates the ability to cut right to the heart of the matter.  For example, her likening of the on-stage demeanor of the annoying “Skiboskii” to that of a leopard stalking back and forth in a cage was perfect.  Ellen seemed totally at ease and in her element.  And I think that her criticisms will be much more creative and genuine than “That was a little pitchy, dogg!”  Or, “Oh, honey, I’m sorry, you’re just not gonna make it.”  Or, “That was terrible!”  You know what I mean?

The first night of Hollywood week demonstrated that while everybody thinks they’ve got talent, only a handful really do.  That’s why true talent is rewarded as highly as it is—it’s extremely rare.  Numerous people crashed and burned miserably last night.  But there were a few contenders.

Hands down, the most electrifying performance was Andrew Garcia’s reworking of “Straight Up” by Paula Abdul.  I was ready to cringe, but Andrew’s acoustic arrangement was one of the most daring performances I’ve ever seen on Idol. 

Other notables:

• Crystal Bowersox—Janis Joplin reincarnated.  She even has that rugged, hard-partying look like Janis.  Idol fans love these bluesy females to a point, but they just never make it at the end.  She’ll have a good run, though.
• Lilly Scott—Did a cool version of an Ella Fitzgerald song.  Risky, since Ella was one of our true American artists.  Lilly put her own spin on it and it really worked.
• Michael Lynche—Just goes to show you that you can’t judge a book by its cover.  The guy’s built like a defensive lineman, and he comes out with an acoustic guitar and does a sweet version of “Waiting On The World To Change” by John Mayer.  Don’t think he’s got the goods to make it to the final 24, though.
• Casey James—This year’s ruggedly handsome, blue-eyed blues guy.  Women will swoon over him.  Plays a pretty mean guitar, but it remains to be seen what his vocal chops are.
• Didi Benami—My personal favorite so far this year.  Didi’s a natural beauty with a sweet personality that just exudes grace and charm.  She has a real shot to be in the final 24.

Tonight we start the group competition which is always interesting.

After all is sung and done in the auditions for the 9^th season of American Idol, 181 contestants will by vying for the Top 24 in Hollywood.  Last night’s episode was a blatant attempt to squeeze a second show into the week.  They billed it as “saving the best for last”, but if these were the best, then this season is going to be lackluster indeed.  Granted, you can only do so much in an a cappella audition.  Adding music and audio processing can transform a mediocre singer into a pretty decent one.  (In the case of Taylor Swift in can turn mediocrity into big bucks!) 

Last night the show shined the spotlight on a crop of talented 16 year-olds.  One or two of them could even turn up in the Top 24:

·         Genesis Moore did a nice version of Carrie Underwood’s “I Told You So.”  Genesis is the second African-American female to audition with a Country song in this competition.  That’s a niche that A.I. has yet to fill, so it may give her an edge.

·         Thaddeus Johnson of Oklahoma City was one of the best males to audition this season.  The comparisons with Ruben Studdard are obvious and since Ruben has been one of the least successful winners, Thaddeus doesn’t have much of a chance in the long run.

·         Aaron Kelly picked a pretty daring song in Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb”, and pulled it off with panache.  Has a nice presence and the girls will love him.

My two favorites from last night were a couple of understated singers who just exuded star power.  Their beauty and grace combined with their heartfelt vocals put them in my Top 5 for the entire audition process.

·         Di Di Benami—The first thing that impressed me about Di Di was that she chose “Hey Jude” as her audition number.  That’s gotta be a first for A.I.  Di Di is dedicating her singing career to her best friend who died a couple of years ago and the emotion that comes with that is palpable in Di Di’s singing and carriage.  She reminds me a lot of Brooke White from Season 7. 

·         Hope Johnson—Hope had the distinction of being the final audition for this year.  She’s from Arlington, Texas, which is a good thing since all of the past American Idols, except one, are from the South.  (Jordin Sparks is from Arizona.)  And though she’s not one of those powerful belters that Idol fans love, her interpretation of “I Hope You Dance” had a very personal quality to it that I found moving and endearing.  (Besides that she’s a real cutie-patootie.)   

Outside of the aforementioned two, there weren’t really any impressive guys last night. 

Now comes the fun part.  The Hollywood competition starts next week and Ellen joins the judges’ panel.  I’ll have my barf bag handy since I find it hard to stomach Ellen, but I suspect it probably won’t be all that bad.  She’s pretty good at dancing with herself; let’s just see if she shows any expertise in judging talent.

A total of 26 contestants made it through to Hollywood from the Denver auditions on American Idol last night.  Most of them were kinda lame, though, so I don’t think any of them stand a chance of winning.  A.I. is doing something unusual tonight.  They’re taking the best of the best contestants from all the auditions and showing them in one show.  And they’re apparently performances we haven’t seen yet.  Makes me wonder if these aren’t some plants they recruited because most of the people that have made it through so far just aren’t that good.   

The Good

• Mark Labriola—I think he mainly got through because of his strange childhood experience.  Seems he was abducted by his mother in a custody battle and lived all over the country from Alaska to Hawaii.  When he was in his teens, his father found him in Hawaii and got him back.  Now he’s married and got a child of his own.  His performance of “Tempted” by Squeeze was decent but not stellar. 
• Tori Kelly—Precocious 16 year-old did a solid version of “Gravity” by John Mayer.  I’m not a Mayer fan; his songs don’t require much vocal prowess.  Still, Tori made it her own which is important in this competition.
• Nicci Nix—I dub thee “Helium Girl”.  Her voice would make her completely annoying if it weren’t for the fact she’s so darn cyute!  Plus, she flew 14 hours from Italy just to audition.  I didn’t even recognize the song she sang, but it was perky and not awful. 

The Bad

• Austin Paul—Two strikes against him already for doing a John Mayer song.  Third strike was that Austin’s a dumb jock who’s way too cocky, and sang “Bigger Than My Body” which is a really dumb song. 
• Mario Galvan—His performance of Elvis’ “Jailhouse Rock” should have landed him in jail.

The Ugly

• Kenny Everett—Another one of these deluded individuals who has proclaimed himself a “singer” with no evidence to back it up.  Tried to pull of a Mary J. Blige tune, but it came out Mary J. Blecch. 

What do you think?

Can they possibly drag this out any more?!  This is one of my pet peeves with Idol:  they take a one-hour show and stretch it into two.  I mean, does it really take two hours to announce 7 of the 24 finalists?  The whole scenario with the contestants in three separate rooms is getting old.  The judges come in and do their obligatory stall to ratchet up the tension, then everybody either jumps up and down and screams, or they collapse into sobs.  Ho-hum. 

Here’s who’s in so far, and some of my picks are in the group:

•  Michael Lynche—Muscle-bound softy who will survive a few rounds.  Don’t think he’s mass appeal enough to go the distance, though.
• Didi Benami—One of my favorites from day one.  She has that indefinable winsomeness that shines through.  Could be the next American Idol.
• Katelyn Epperley—Decent singer with great back story and cute face. 
• Casey James—Just call him “Kara’s Pet”.  She swoons every time he shows up.  He’s got the musical chops to be a star, too.
• Aaron Kelly—Don’t know how this 16 year-old got through.  He forgot the lyrics in his Hollywood audition and he reminds me of Edward Norton–the creepy Edward Norton in “Primal Fear”.
• Lee Dwyze—Don’t get this one either.  The guy’s Hollywood audition was terrible and he doesn’t stand a chance to win.
• Todrick Hall—He’s the goods.  Tons of charisma and talent.  Bit of a drama queen which might actually help him.

 Tonight the final 17 are announced.  Here are my picks to get in:

• Tasha Layton—She’s got a style all her own and she has good presence.
• Siobhan Magnus—Ellen told her that she had to lighten up, and she did in her final audition.  Incredible pipes.
• Crystal Bowersox—No-brainer.  This year’s blues chick.
• Thaddeus Johnson—16 year-old from Oklahoma City is wise beyond his years and knows how to connect with an audience.
• Angela Martin—Third time’s the charm for Angela.  Her personal story is so tragic that I’m rooting for her.  Her father was murdered during the first competition which left Angela too grief-stricken to compete.  This time around her mother is missing.  Police found her abandoned car outside of Chicago on New Year’s Eve and they haven’t found her.  Terrible.
• Ashley Rodriguez—Obvious star qualities.
• Janell Wheeler—She picked the wrong audition song in “Love Story” by Taylor Swift, but she’s displayed enough talent that I think she gets through.  (Rumored to be dating Tim Tebow.)
• Andrew Garcia–Remains to be seen if he’s got the range to win the whole thing, but he’s definitely in the Top 24.

Don’t have a clue about the other 9, so I’m looking forward to tonight.