2/7/07 – added photos of the contestants who made it through

Okay, I didn’t watch live tonight, due to class running late, due to needing to make up time from having missed class last week, due to school being canceled, due to the perceived danger of ice. There wasn’t really ice. I could hear the cars going by outside, and it was mildly slushy at the worst. Of course, bridges might have iced. Still. It seemed a bit of an overreaction to cancel school. *shrug*

I read that the regular judges weren’t terribly happy about having guest judges–ruined the mood of the room or something, which I can see. Hey, Paula can’t not sit next to Simon! How’s she going to fake-punch him?

OMG, NO, IT’S THAT TOTALLY CRAZY GUY WHO AUDITIONED FOR SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE LAST SUMMER! AAAAAHHHH! *I run screaming from the building, because that guy is wacko* And I totally recognized him before Ryan mentioned it. See, these are the sort of crazy delusional people I missed last night. Shoulda known New York would bring them out. Ian Benardo. Didn’t remember his name, though. Yep, he’s exactly the same as he was on SYTYCD.

Sarah Burgess – Aw. Dads like that should be outlawed. I hope she’s good. Girl, don’t cry. There you go. Maybe not the best, but definitely didn’t let herself down. Okay, there, see, her Dad wasn’t nearly as bad as she made out. At least he cares enough to support her AFTER she makes it. On the other hand, he probably knew he was on speaker-phone…

Fania – Nah.

Ashanta Johnson – Well, this answers a question I’ve had before…I knew that people could audition multiple times, but I didn’t know if they could come back if they’d gotten to Hollywood before being cut. My guess is, though, once they hit the top 24 they can’t come back. That audition was actually…odd. I wouldn’t say yes to that. That’s gotta suck, though, to have gotten through before and get denied now.

Amanda and Antonella – Yeah, definitely don’t do it together; their support for each other is nice, though :). Amanda’s quite good; perhaps a bit boring, but the voice is there. Antonella, not as polished, but perhaps more interesting. I’m glad they’re both through. Hey, they have some handsome boys there, too…boyfriends, brothers? So now we have a brother-sister pair and a best friend pair that Ryan’s gleefully expecting to be driven apart by the pressures of Hollywood.

Clifton – Well, he’s loud. Better at the harmonica, but not so good as that kid on America’s Got Talent last year.

Kia – Now, there we go. But we’ve got a lot of sort of dusky bluesy singers this year, don’t we? Not that that means she shouldn’t get through, because she absolutely should. And I like dusky bluesy singers. I’m just saying. Could get boring.

DAY TWO

Starting without Simon? Can they do that? I DON’T THINK THEY CAN!! That’s just wrong.

Jenry – I think I shall call him “Cheekbones.” I like him. Paula’s right, he’s easy on the eyes. ;) I really enjoyed that.

Nakia – Too late, I already think you’re crazy. Wow, she can actually sing. I expected her to be absolutely terrible. She needs to lay off the Red Bull, though. The slow song, not nearly as good, though. “What is it about my pitch?” Um.

Sarah Goldberg – No. Um. You don’t have to be a singer to be the American Idol? She’s completely insane. I love how everybody in the lobby is totally ignoring her outburst. Ah, I love New York.

Antonio – Hey, it says he’s 47. Did the rules somehow change? Um.

Jory – It’s a long way from Santa Monica to New York. Why didn’t she go to Seattle? She would’ve helped those auditions out, because she’s not bad. At all. In fact, she could go quite far.

Porcelana – So she’s worked really hard on her physique, but how does this translate to singing? Not quite as good. You know, she should get some bracelets. I would’ve passed. Perhaps they’re trying to make up for the dismal number of “yes”es in Minneapolis and Seattle so they have a decent number of people in Hollywood.

Christopher – Dude, he’s singing Kelly Clarkson in her key. That’s just strange and offputting. Impressive on some level, but mostly offputting.

Rachel – Opera singers tend to not do well. Ooh, and how exactly is she an opera singer again? Okay, second song better, but boring. There we go, see, the soprano was good. It’ll be interesting to see how she does later, given the budding identity crisis.

Christopher Richardson – This year’s Elliott? Not as good as Elliott, I don’t think, but then I didn’t like Elliott for a LONG time last year. Maybe I’m just saying that because Elliott sang that song last year.

Nicholas – I’m always a fan of people singing the standards. Maybe I’m old-fashioned. *shrug* That was really good. Hee, I like that he made Simon give an answer. :) Let’s hope he doesn’t cave again.

Isadora – How many people have butchered “Lady Marmalade” on American Idol to date? And the answer to the question “voulez-vous coucher avec moi” would be a resounding NO.

Thirty-five through in New York. That’s a bit better. I count that 88 so far? 17+14+22+35. And Birmingham next; that’s been a good city for them. We’ll see. I’m about ready to be done with auditions and start the competition. I dunno. I’m just over the auditions right now.