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RSS'American Idol' San Francisco: Where all the good people at?
What does The City by the Bay have in store for tonight's American Idol judges? Ryan Seacrest welcomes us over shots of trolleycars, the Golden Gate Bridge and plenty of crazy Idol auditionees. We also have the strains of Grace Slick, which is fantastic. THIS... IS AMERICAN IDOL! [Bah dah da-da-da-da-da-da buh dahhhhhh]
Tatiana del Toro from Puerto Rico is up first. She keeps bringing her hand away from her lips as if to blow a kiss but without actually blowing a kiss. It's weird. That, coupled with her crazy-ass giggle, is really grating on my nerves. She sings "Never Loved a Man" and I'm actually surprised that this girl can sing. With the giggle and the talk about the "powerful psychic" she visited before her audition, I had her pegged as a bad audition. Simon acts like she's horrible but Paula says you can tell she can sing. I'm with Paula on this one. The girl is weird, but she can sing. Randy is worried that she's trying to be a big-voiced girl, which isn't who she is. Simon finally calls for a vote and Randy says yes, Kara hesitates and then Simon says she's going to Hollywood. That... was a really weird audition.
Fashion Montage: creepy redhead who might grow up to be a serial killer, William Hung's sister, and then a guy who looks like if Anwar Robinson and the Sklar Brothers had a kid. He's also wearing a hideous plaid coat. His name is Dean-Anthony Bradford and he sings "Stars." There is a lot of shouting and he makes faces like he's passing a stone. It's not good. The judges say no.
Weirdly, I got an email from this guy's agent that said "After leaving the show (creative control issues - we'll see how they edit it, of course), Dean-Anthony and his band, Bradford, have released an EP of songs that are tinged with Idol lash-back." First off... "creative control issues?" Is that the new euphemism for "the judges didn't put your ass through to Hollywood?" Secondly... "lash-back?" What's "lash-back?" Thirdly, the agent acted like Dean-Anthony was going to be featured heavily on the show. Turns out he was on the show for about 60 seconds. Sneaky, agent man. Sneaky.
We now get a good singer in Jesus Valenzula. He sings "Nice and Slow" by Usher. Simon thinks he's terrible but the girls like him. I don't understand how harsh Simon is being today. Are either Tatiana or Jesus going to win the competition? No. Are they good enough for Hollywood? Hell yes. If Bikini Tramp can go, they can go. Jesus brings his two little boys in (who are just PRECIOUS) and then sings "Unchained Melody." Simon still says no, but the other 3 put him through. The younger son then goes and hugs Simon, it's very cute.
Dalton Powell is our next singer, but first he must demonstrate his Rubik's Cube ability. He solves it in about 30 seconds, it's cool. He "sings" "Oh Baby Baby," but it's more like squeaking. The judges don't really know what to say. Turns out he's never sung in front of people before. Um, what? WHAT IS HE DOING THERE?!?! That just annoys me.
1967 Flashback. Aw man, complimentary pot and/or acid should've come with this episode of Idol. Haight-Ashbury looked just awesome. Back to the harsh 2009 where Kara and Simon are feuding, set to the tunes of "War" by Edwin Starr. Great song.
To smooth over the feud, we get someone they can all agree on. It's Akilah (without the bee) and she is carrying around a folder full of medical printouts about your anatomy. She sings an original song "Make Sweet Love." They stop her because the song is terrible, but ask to sing something else. She launches into "Natural Woman," but it's not good. She also launches into some mispronouncing trainwreck about her body parts. It's so freakin' weird. This whole night is very surreal.
Ya know, this is only an hour tonight. I want good singers! There hasn't been a single blow-me-away person yet tonight. Blargh. The good singers get relegated to a montage. Boy, wouldn't it have been AWESOME if we could've seen these people in all their glory instead of Tatiana, Dean-Anthony, Jesus, Dalton and Akilah? I think so too. Anyway, in the montage we get: John Twiford being soulful on "Overjoyed," Allison Iraheta burning down "Natural Woman," and Raquel Houghton growling "Son of a Preacher Man" and I really would've loved to see more of them. Grumble grumble harumph harumph.
Next we have Annie Murdoch, we plays the violin and piano and loves to scat like Ella. Weirdly, she doesn't know which song to sing. Wouldn't you have that picked out already? She goes with "Summertime" and it's too over-the-top. She's like a warbling drunk cougar at the bar prowling for boys. Simon then steals my joke, but I like when we're on the same page.
We finally get a full-length audition of a GOOD singer. Not just a decent singer, but an honest-to-God talented singer. Adam Lambert, who kind of needs a haircut, sings "Bohemian Rhapsody" and is great. Of course, he's been in the cast of "Wicked" for the past year and a half, so he's a bit of a ringer. Still, very nice voice. Simon thinks he's a bit theatrical and Kara jumps down his throat. She needs to back off a bit, maybe. He's through unanimously and I'm now scared of Kara.
Our last audition of the day is Kai Kalama. HIs story is that he takes care of his mom because she has a seizure disorder. We see footage of him at home with her while the crunchy-Hawaiian-"Scrubs"-episode verison of "Over the Rainbow" plays. It's very sweet. Kai is a cutie with curly hair and rockin' scruff. He sings "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," which is a GREAT song. He does a really nice job, very good use of dynamics. Simon wants to see a better personality and showmanship, but does like the voice. The judges put him through, after Kara and Simon snipe at each other a bit.
Wow, I can't believe I sat through 50 minutes of crap just to get to Adam Lambert and Kai Kalama. Even the okay singers (Tatiana, Jesus) weren't spectacular. However, Seacrest informs us that only 12 people were sent through. WOW. That's low, even by Idol standards. I hope tomorrow night in Louisville is better.
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
I loved Kai Kalama. His voice is as great as his heart. It takes a lot for that man to do what he does. And there are not many people in these days who are so talented, as he is, that would set back his life and dreams to take care of others as he did. And for that I hope he continues on in this competition and gets what he deserves... His dreams...
yeah Kai was my favorite of the night. careful though...i'm pretty sure he has some hawaii ties. you know what that means: if you're from the islands, we got your back...haha!
Adam wasn't as spectacular as i thought. he can sing, but he's definitely too theatrical for my taste.
san francisco must've been the second worst audition city this year. i'm pretty sure puerto rico tops that list. i'm looking forward to that....
There was a lot of pre-season talk about how they were going to give more airtime to the good singers. That really doesn't seem to be the case. If only 12 made it through from SF, they could have shown them all and still left time for filler and the train wrecks. Tonight's bad singers weren't even that entertaining.
Tatiana's giggling was seriously creepy. She might have a future career doing sound effects for Japanese horror flicks.
I thought American Idol was supposed to focus on the good singers this year. Well this episode was so bereft of talent except for two or three, that I had to fast forward through most of it. I'm just so tired of the audition shows trying to be amusing by focusing on the freak-shows. It's not fun anymore, if in fact it ever was.
I am beginning to think this leg of American Idol has lost it's charm for good. Besides the fact that they hardly showed any body singing in a one hour program we were constantly dogged by commercials. What is up with that? It was driving us nuts last night to the point where we changed channels constantly only to come back to more commercials! Amercian Idol - Please stop this insanity!
Not enough of the twelve who made it through, certainly. And on every blog, most fans are disappointed in the way the producers handle the early rounds.
I cannot figure out if the producers are clueless, or if for some peculiar reason, Idol actually gets better ratings featuring the freak show contestants. Fans who speak up do not support that idea, and now that I think about it, how would anybody know, b/c these rounds have always featured the freaks too heavily. Strange, and disappointing.
More good singers, Please!
However, one thing: Twelve making it through to Hollywood is about average for a one hour show/one day stop in any city. I believe there were 24 and 27 from K.C. and Phoenix last week, for two days each.
I guess we should be happy that Idol was only one hour long last night, rather than two. At least we saved some time.
I fully expect to tune out some of these audition shows entirely, for the first time since I've been watching. It amounts to overkill quickly enough. I am looking forward to Hollywood week, however. They better deliver the promised "expanded" coverage of it!
Will someone please answer the question as to why Daniel Feinberg is not writing recaps this year?
Franklin, I completely agree. From Hollywood Week on, this is one of my favorite shows. The initial audition rounds are just okay for me. I love seeing the good singers, but I don't like seeing all the bad ones who just want attention or the people chosen just to be the butt of jokes. That wore thin a long time ago.