Either Idol Needs New Plumbin,’ or This Guy’s Full Of…

I’ve been looking forward to last night’s first of four AI Hollywood episodes all weekend. The Little Engine That Could climbed his mountain chugging “I think I can, I think I can, choo choo!” and I as I conquered our ever-hemorrhaging laundry pile over the weekend, I quietly chanted “Two more days…one more day, woo hoo!”

That was before last night, when I discovered that (supposedly) the Top 36 list of American Idol semi-finalists has been “leaked” onto blogs and into email inboxes everywhere. I read the list…and I might even post it below, but now I just feel like the little kid who’s older sister told me everything I’m getting for Christmas ’cause she went shopping when mom got my presents (Thanks again for that, Sis!). Of course I still want to watch, but there was less height in my skip to the couch last night.

Season 8 Hollywood Week began with a warning from Simon that everyone gets “one shot.” And then it was Boot Camp day where, for the first time, contestants met with stylists, vocal coaches and received an inspirational visit from Barry Manilow. ½ of the contestants would then audition, while the rest went on a sightseeing tour until their auditions the next day. That’s the group to be in right there!

8 contestants line up in front of the judges and sing one song a capella, then pass the mic down the line to the next person. The first round of auditions proved that Simon’s “one shot” may not have been as strict (nor singular) as it sounded, seeing as Lil Rounds sang Whitney…not so great and Von Smith sang a terrible song disturbingly bad and I was momentarily paralyzed by the horrible sound coming from his vocal chords and his distracting facial movements…though not quite as shocked as he was to be put through to the next Hollywood round.

If those auditions didn’t show us that the judges weren’t taking this as serious as they sounded…how about the fact that Nick Mitchell, a.k.a. Norman Gentle, survived another day?! While I must admit he gets me giggling, I can’t help but feel sad for him. I think Nick Mitchell can sing, but Norman Gentle doesn’t think he’s got the whole package and is only prolonging their inevitable rejection from American Idol. Who knows? Maybe Nick will come back in the group round and shock us all, but I’d quicker think that Norman will be making guest appearances on the Ellen show or Jay Leno. It’s been fun anyway!

Judges attributed the wrong song choice to much of the failed auditions, including Jessica Furney (who takes care of her 93yr old grandma), Jesus Valenzuela (who brought his two little boys into his first audition), Sharon Wilbur (who brought her doggie Sasha), Patricia Lewis Roman (who’s family had a mini-parade after her first audition), and 16yr old Monique Garcia Torres (who’s little brother had more confidence in her than she had in herself), obviously.

An FBI agent named Erika Wesley, who hadn’t been on air before today, was the only one of her line of eight contestants who did not make it through, and came back to confront the judges politely, yet forcefully. Her occupation is listed as FBI agent, and Paula said she ‘was a fan, but was beat down by the others.’ I think she just didn’t want her name “accidentally” placed on Homeland Security’s Watch List once Erica gets back to work. Simon, Randy, and Kara may find flying a little tricky these next few months. {evil laughter}

I was excited to hear from Emily Wynne-Hughes once again. She’s the red-streaked blond haired Barracuda singing girl from the Phoenix auditions. Emily had practiced with the vocal coaches on a 1940’s song and got rave reviews from them, but once on stage, Emily panicked and belted out a No Doubt song that did NOT showcase her smooth vocals at all. I was sad to think she’d be leaving, but once again Simon proved the “one shot” deal was lax when the judges (nay, producers) wanted a star to return…Emily will be returning for group auditions.

Out of the 147 who received a Golden Ticket to Hollywood (although I only counted 138 online), 104 will return for Group auditions, including a few names we all surely recall: David Osmond, Rose Flack, Adam Lambert, Jorge Nunez-Mendez, Jasmine Murray, Frankie Jordan, Alexis Grace, Scott Macintyre, Katrina “Bikini Girl” Darrell {eye roll}, Danny Gokey, and Anoop Desai…who I have to say is my favorite so far. Mostly, I think, because he wasn’t thrust on us as one of the AI’s “sob stories” this year, but also because I found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5O1O06m14s

Puzzling to me was the absence of some contestants, such as Michael Castro, Joanna Pacitti, and Anne Marie Boscovich. We did catch glances of them celebrating their promotion to the next round, but weren’t shown their audtions. Oh well, I guess AI is holding them back for the four hours of Hollywood week left to view (Wednesday February 4th 8-9pm, Tuesday February 10th 8-9pm, and Wednesday February 11th 8-10pm, when the Top 36 will be introduced).

Tonight should be a fun episode! Group audtions = DRAMA, and I do love me some drama :o)