Update: Added Screencaps
The San Antonio audition was originally scheduled for tonight. My DVR video, in fact, is labeled “San Antonio”. A last minute switcheroo by TPTB has San Antonio, TX closing out the auditions next Tuesday.
Tonight, it’s all about Los Angeles. The initial audition cattle call took place in the Rose Bowl, in Pasadena. A camera pans a massive crowd as LA native Katharine McPhee singing “Over The Rainbow” is played in the background. How ’bout those Open Toes?
Olivia Newton John is tonight’s guest judge. The video intro on Olivia features a montage of truly bad 80’s haircuts. She tells everyone they do a good job, even when they suck. Why are there guest judges again?
Paula Abdul looks all chipper, dressed in yellow. On with the show…
Martik Manoukian 24, Tujunga CA - Martik does a panther imitation that looks like some sort of deranged martial arts routine. When it seems like he’ll never get to his song, Simon says, “I’m not being rude, but could we just get on with the singing?” Thank you, Simon. I have no idea what this guy is singing. He sounds like a cat in heat. Simon says, “The buildup was horrific, the outfit was horrific, the meowing was ridiculous and the singing was horrendous.” That was it, in a nutshell.
Sholandric Stallworth 25, Los Angeles CA - Sholandric plans to bring the romance back to singing by performing “If Ever Your in My Arms Again” in a tone-deaf bellow. Randy says, “You hit about 12 keys in the chorus, baby.” Next.
It’s peanut butter jelly time! We’re definitely in LA–all the bad contestants seem to be aware of their suckitude. LA is full of people who just want to get on Tee Vee.
Marianna Riccio 20, West Hills CA - Even Marianna’s begging when the judges turn her down comes across as really bad acting. Marianna’s mom was one of Dean Martin’s original “Golddiggers”–for you oldbies who might remember his TV show from the 70’s. Mariana fetches her Mom to help out with the pleading after the judges are less than thrilled with her performance of the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” Thankfully, Mom is not that invested and manages to talk Marianna down. Ryan and Simon think the Mom is hot.
Alaina Alexander 24, West Hollywood CA - It’s almost 20 minutes before we see the first contestant advance to Hollywood. Alaina impresses, Simon in particular, with a breathy, off pitch performance of Michael Buble’s “It’s Going to Be Feeling Good”. While Simon is smitten with Alaina, the rest of the panel advances her based on Alaina’s “this-is-my-last-chance.” backstory. No doubt, LA is full of would-be entertainers who are one step away from leaving the business.
Phuong Pham 17, San Diego, CA - Phuong does this whole channeling Taylor Hicks thing. It’s not something one would expect from a young Asian woman. For the first time, I feel like I’m watching a contestant who is really sincere. Certainly, her desire to emulate her hero and make her way as a singer is genuine. She tells the story of her mom who tells her, honestly, that she is not “TV pretty”. Despite the fact that it’s true, and I applaud the mom’s honesty, I still feel for Phuong in that moment. Even when it needs to be done, it’s hard to witness a kid’s dream being dismantled.
Brandon Rogers 28, North Hollywood CA - Holy cow, there are good singers in LA? Who woulda thunk it? Brandon, like Melinda Doolittle before him, is a talented background singer. Unlike Melinda, he’s got the confidence. He’s also intelligent and good looking. Brandon, does an R&B twist on Willie Nelson’s country classic “Always on My Mind”. So did Fantasia, memorably, Season 3. It’s obvious that Brandon has the chops. The judges are wowed and enthusiastically advance him to Hollywood. Watch this one.
Brian Miller 19, Placenta CA - Brian was cut from Hollywood early on last season. He’s returning to give Idol another shot. Brian lives in California now. But here’s a fun fact: He’s originally from Buffalo New York and is a close friend of Season 3 contestant, John Stevens. They attended high school together. I’m a little surprised that Brian’s audition is so good. His performance of a “A Change is Gonna Come” shows off a powerful voice.
Sherman Pore 64, Los Angeles, CA - That’s not a typo. Sherman really is 64. He literally petitioned the show to allow him an audition–gathering hundreds of signatures–as a project to work on with his “lady love” of 20 years. She died of cancer two days before his audition. Sherman believes that the project helped keep her positive in her last days. Sherman says, “It made her passing a little softer.” He performs ”You Belong to Me” and I have to say this cynic was touched. Kudos to the producers who kept this segment from degenerating into schmaltz. Well done, TPTB.
21 contestants from Day 1 make it to Hollywood–just a scoot across town.
Day 2 is far from compelling.
The first auditioners after the break are a couple. The best thing about this segment is the Ramones version of the Phil Spector classic “Be My Baby” playing as background music to shots of the couple making out. The music helps to cleanse my brain of disturbing visuals.
Cavett Carr 26, Compton CA - She likes to go by the nickname “Sparkles”. She doesn’t. Cavett is a big woman–a vision in spandex. She can’t sing, but somehow thinks blinking her eye at Simon like she’s got some dirt stuck under her contact is going to convince him to advance her to Hollywood. It doesn’t
Darold Gray 20, Compton CA - He can’t sing either. There’s not much to say except that, when Randy asks Darold if he’s the jealous type, he answers, “Look at her…what’s there to be jealous of?” I hate to admit it, but I laughed out loud.
Anthony Adams 23, Pasadena CA - Anthony’s performance of “You Light Up My Life” is one big screech. Needless to say, he is not advanced to Hollywood. When Simon says, “Unfortunately, not a note is in tune,” Anthony answers, “No it is not, you are correct.” What he didn’t say was, “And I don’t care, I only wanted to get on television.”
Eric Mueller 23, West Covina CA - Eric Mueller tells Ryan, “I’m an ice breaker.” and Ryan says, “I’m Ryan.” Har. Eric studied the musical stylings of both Stained and Michael Jackson. He auditions with a Hilary Duff song. Simon starts screwing with Eric. He keeps asking him to sing the song lower. Eric can only manage to sing in a high pitched warble. Eric claims that he’s spent the last two years “getting his hands on programs,” teaching himself to sing. The joke is, of course, that the “program” he got his hands on was Randy and Paula’s “Teach Yourself to Sing” video. Ha ha ha.
19 more contestants make it to Hollywood on Day 2. Not one of the 19 are featured singing on the show. A total of 42 contestants from LA are advanced to the Hollywood Rounds. I’m thinking there have to be a few hidden gems in that bunch that we haven’t seen yet. Rather than waste time on these LA put-ons–’cause besides Phuong, I don’t believe any of the other “bad” contestants were sincere–I wish we could have seen more of the good talent tonight.
Tuesday’s upcoming episode features the talent of San Antonio, TX. Wednesday is something called “The Best of the Rest”, which is probably going to be more like “The Worst of The Rest”. The extra audition episode cuts the Hollywood Rounds down to two episodes. I’m assuming the ratings take a dip during Hollywood, because every year more and more hours of auditions are tacked on to the show. Obviously the rest of America does not find the audition episodes as boring as I do. Sigh.
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Come in here! I LOVED Brandon Rogers!!! He totally did not disappoint!
42 people get through to Hollywood and they can only show us three?!?! Ugh, here we go again.
Who knew Idol had a heart? 60+ Sherman singing You Belong to Me for his lost love broke my heart. Thanks Idol for giving this lovely man a chance to say goodbye to his lady-love the way he wanted to!
SHERMAN IS MY AMERICAN IDOL!!!!
Must say Sherman was sooooooooooo sweet.
Hmmm. I think I’ve found “the one” for me…Brandon Rogers. He has everything that Sundance and Chris Sligh don’t IMO: a great voice, a great look and a stunning smile.
And fess up…who teared up with Sherman’s sweet tribute? Best part of the auditions thus far for me.
I loved Brandon. I’m adding him to my list of favorites. Sundance Head, Chris Sligh, Melinda Doolittle, and now Brandon Rogers. I didn’t like Alaina (??), the breathy one and was shocked that Simon liked her. I can’t see her going far. I’m so tired of the bad singers but did enjoy the older guy with the petition. He wasn’t bad at all.
I completely agree. Especially with the couple toward the end– not good, not horrible, just a sort of in-betweenness that was not funny, entertaining, or endearing. A complete waste of ten minutes.
Save us, San Antonio.
bean,
I have to agree with you. I didn’t care for Elena at all. I didn’t think for a minute she would get through. Tonights show was really crappy. What a disappointment. Can’t believe all the time they blew on the couple. Yuck. I saw what, one good singer tonight.
Brandon was the one bright spot in an otherwise horrible show.
Sherman stole my heart. Actually I felt his performance was better than some I’ve seen that are going on in the competition . The rest tonight Meh.
I’m sick of all the drama from the rejects. Not a pretty sight.
Brandon Rogers was really good and that was it.
And of course, who didn’t love Sherman? That moment got me all choked up. They probably wish they could let him through, because he sang better than pretty much everyone tonight.
If I wasn’t married, I’d love to have Sherman as my “friend”! So sweet… AI proves it has a heart with Sherman and the handling of Phil Stacey’s baby’s birth! Yay!
I see Brandon Rosgers going into the Top Twelve!
So far, I must say… It is Brandon all the way. He is by far the best I have seen so far. Come on people, we can’t let vote for the worst win this year. Not to say that taylor isn’t good, but certainly not the best. Lets see to it that Brandon gets justice!!
Wow. So the winner of American Idol is VoteForTheWorst.com. Interesting. An internet site controlled the voting. Thanks for the knowledge.
I liked Brandon Rogers and that girl. The girl with brown hair, wore a dress and had a tattoo on her right shoulder. Shoulder tattoos are HOT on women IMO. I think her name was something like Alicia Alexandrana.
There will be justice for Brandon, and that justice is probably making the Top 12, not winning. We have seen far better auditions. I keep an open mind, though. That was a bad song choice. No way someone is winning singing stuff like that because it’s not pushing the envelope at all.
Since, I bought Brandon’s self-produced CD last year, then read here he’d be trying out, I was looking forward to his audition. He didn’t disappoint - definitely Top 12.
Brandon Rogers has the best voice so far in this competition and if he changed his hair he would be better looking.
What a boring show,Paula staggering around and Simon yelling at the man leaving the auditions was totally stupid. The young man who had been rejected showed more class than all of the judges put together. And how sad Olivia Newton John looked. Unfortunately in a business that seems to be as much about the looks apparently as the music, she had some very bad plastic and most likely botox trying to look young when she’s not.
I can’t believe ther are even more auditions, please can we hurry and get to the top 24?
“if he changed his hair he would be better looking.”
Odd, that is exactly what I think about Daughtry, tho it wouldn’t effect the music.
I loved Sherman, and also love the song he sang….Hey, and he is my age, and I’m a widow…
shar,
Chris can’t change his hair since he doesn’t have any. Being bald gives Chris distinction from others just as Taylor being gray gives him distinction.
I have seen pics of Chris with hair before he started going bald and he was very cute but he looked like a boy band member.
Sherman ripped my heart out.
Kudos to the panel and TPTB for not making a fool of him for they would have had the wrath of many if they had chosen that road and honestly, I believe they were as touched as I was.
Didn’t anyone notice Panther-Dude! Why did they feel compelled to show his scenario. It didn’t even have the redeeming feature of being amusing. I am totally sick of these seekers of 15 minutes of fame. But I will be watching next week in the forlorn hope that they will come up with a candidate who has half the talent and charisma that S5 competitors showed.
What a pity the Sherman, who sang the tribute to his late wife, isn’t 20+ rather than 60+. He had a very nice voice and plenty of class, which has been missing in most of the contestants thus far. I think everyone got a little misty eyed listening to him.
Right now, Brandon is the only guy that I would like to see in the top 10, with the exception of Sonjaya from (I think it was) the Seattle auditions. The girl who was going to “Opera School” was the only female that I would put in the top 10. She show a versatility that was sadly lacking in the other female contestants.
So far, I haven’t heard anyone who could remotely compare with the S5 guys and gals. I hope they are hiding the Top 10 material as a surprise for us.
Im still backing Chris Sligh at this point but its far too early for ME to pick a hands down fav at this juncture. In all other seasons, I had already picked one. If no one makes my head spin next week, its going to be Chris Sligh for me OR possibly, Sundance.
Brandon Rogers for me. He has the best voice, good-looks (but I would braid his hair or twist it), and has the confidence without the cockiness.
But I ain’t voting so it doesn’t matter.
She tells the story of her mom who tells her, honestly, that she is not “TV pretty”. Despite the fact that it’s true. MJ
MJ, I just don’t think this is true. What is Hollywood pretty? If it’s true of Phuong Pham, then Sandra Ho, with her beautifully expressive face, would have to be kicked off of Grey’s Anatomy. Jennifer Hudson wouldn’t be in “Dreamgirls” and many character actresses would be out of work - even some Oscar winning ones. And then, a lot of TV pretty, are skinny regular peeps with a good make-up artist. I don’t think moms should kill dreams. Life does a good enough job of it. And, hey, Oprah Winfrey, sans make-up, is homely as sin and heavy to boot. Seems to have done TeeVee okay. Who knows the potential of Phuong Pham.
Speaking of thin, it was disgusting the way the camera slowly panned up the body of an obese contestant, like the slow pan in an erotic love scenes only AI’s intent was to belittle. Haven’t we had enough of of this awready?
Technically, he isn’t bald. He shaves his head. His hairline may have receeded some but he ain’t bald.
MJ, did you forget ONJ crossing her eyes? It was worth the price of admission just for that.
ITA about Sherman’s talent, as well as class. I was bawling more than Paula. Seriously, I was a mess. Brandon is the only other one who made an impression on me. I liked his voice a lot.
On Olivia…. Geez, What ever happened to just aging? These former starlets are turning into tired cliches. I’m certain she would have been more attractive with her natural smile shining through her sags and wrinkles. It’s an okay look, really! Lip implants/injections should be outlawed.
What a pity the Sherman, who sang the tribute to his late wife, isn’t 20 rather than 60 . He had a very nice voice and plenty of class, which has been missing in most of the contestants thus far. I think everyone got a little misty eyed listening to him.
——–
Unfortunately in a business that seems to be as much about the looks apparently as the music, she had some very bad plastic and most likely botox trying to look young when she’s not.
—-
What a pity that our culture discounts everyone over the magic age of 29. We forget what real people, with real faces and real hearts have to offer in this world.
I find it amazing that 64-year old Sherman is among the best singers on Idol this year. And way more interesting than at least 3/4 of them, so far.
I find I am going lowest common denominator this year, sadly. Liking people that I would not have given a second thought to in other years.
We shall see what San Antonio brings, but I am not holding my breath.
What happened to the guy on AI homepage video? Gray hair, red shirt and comparing himself to Taylor. Name is Tyler from Anniston, AL, sings soul, and has a band. Have they shown his audition?
I predict that they will bring back Sherman for the finale and there will not be a dry eye in the house. What a charming man.
Other than that, nobody made much of a lasting impression on me last night. I hope that they showcase the talent more in the Hollywood rounds. With it being shortened, they better not waste time on the same kind of nonsense they did last year (felony drama twins)
i’m glad that i just tape it so i don’t have to spend time on the jokers.
i did like brandon and was glad the older gentleman got a chance to sing. what a perfect song, too.
i am wondering if they don’t show more good people because then all the good people would want to be highlighted or something? how many usually advance to hollywood, does anyone know? i think it’s a pity they can’t show more good talent. maybe they’ll fix it next year.
what i mean is, would there be time to show all the good people? i figure that if you get 25 good people per town and you have a 40 minute show (after comercials), you would have time to show a bit of each person. LA had about 40 people that went thru? so they could get two nights. they should find a way to fix it. at least show a montage of all the good singers so no one feels slighted. i am so tired of the cheesy jokers.
I read where they were airing a “best of the rest” program next Wed. night.
oh, that’s a good idea. i hope we get to see some real “bests.”
I hope it really is the best. It is so unfair that so many of the ones that made it through don’t get to be seen during auditions since we are already picking favourites. Mine so far btw are Jenry (the way too young hottie), Sarah Krueger, Chris and Brandon. Really can’t wait for the Hollywood rounds.
i thought that the asian girl was pretty qute, sure she isnt pretty enough to be a model, but she defintly pretty enough to be on amrican idol. her mother should just told her that she cant sing, now she will grow up thinking that she cant sing and that she is not good looking (which isnt true) thats ashame.
sherman is my idol this season!
its kinda frustrating watching AI, they just show alot of goofy people taking sooo much air time. why can’t they have a montage of all the people that made it to hollywood. AI builds up the contestant that they want to push because they have sort of a story. this is suppose to be a singing competition. alaina im sure is a nice girl, but she can’t really sing, she gave that sad story and simon just melted. she is so breathy and shaky. whats wrong with randys ear, randy is a musician use it, are you judges just have to do what you are told to do. i guess this is tv show. i hope someday or oneday someone will really create a reality show for singing competition. fair and square.
Wednesday was a waste of time; 42 people get through to Hollywood and they can only show us three?!?! Seeing Sherman, Brandon, and Brian was great, though. What deos Simon see in Aliana?
1. Brandon sings “ok” sorta kinda good but certainly not great, so far. But he may wow me later on…will see. But without looking at him and seeing his good looks, he might have gotten cut. Better singers have been cut.
2. hmmm…last year I suggested, “how about a Geezer Idol for all the mature talent”. Or “last chance” idol hee hee. I honestly think it would be cool.
Just an update if anyone is interested. I just watched the auditions here in the UK and again we have some auditioners that weren’t shown in the US. In NY, there was a good looking 19 yo boy named Louis something, a tennis coach working at a youth club from Philadelphia. I can’t remember what he sang but he was really good and the judges all put him thru. In LA there was an Elizabeth Huett, a 19 yo hairdresser who sang Georgia and she too was really good! Put her own spin on the song, Randy even commented on whose version was it and she said her own. He wondered because he had never heard it before. So two more contestants who got coverage here for some reason. Maybe they don’t make the top 24 so it doesn’t matter if they are seen in the US. I’d be surprised if Tom Lowe doesn’t make it but you never know.
Hi Geeky girl, or anyone who might know the answer to this question. I am trying to get a hold of the audition that you are referring to above that aired in the UK. I have looked and I have searched and I can’t find it out there anywhere and I would really like to see Elizabeth Huett’s audition…..any help you can give would be greatly appreciated! Thank you…..you can also email me at sballew@gmail.com