ETA: American Idol auditions have finished in Philadelphia, San Diego  (the judges admited to liking a couple of singers there!),  Charleston, Dallas,  Ãƒâ€š  Miami and Omaha.   Last to go: The judges round in Atlanta.

Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell auditioned hopefuls yesterday and today, including 23 year old Ross Koley, who of course, isn’t spilling the beans. Ross says, “If you watch the show in January, you’ll get to see everything that happens.

Uhhm. Or not, Ross. Many filmed auditions in front of the the judges wind up on the cutting room floor, or cut in a way that you won’t even recognize.

However, Idol producers did take time to film Ross singing in a local bar where he works as a waiter.

Camera crews also hit the streets on Thursday to record the contestants in their “natural habitat” as it were. I wonder how Idol producers plan to spin the city of Omaha? Considering their track record, I cringe at the thought…

Milena Aguero made it past the first round of auditions, but was cut before she made it to the judges round.

They told her she was a good singer but didn’t have a signature style. They wanted a distinct sound.

Who cares about a distinct sound when you’ve got this:

Aguero, a College of Saint Mary freshman, wasn’t bitter. She’s dealt with worse in her life. Her mother died when she was 1. At age 5, Aguero escaped with her father from Cuba on a 23-hour boat ride to the Cayman Islands. They eventually moved to Miami, where Aguero started singing.

The producers must have some super-dramatic backstories in the can to pass up the heart-rendering two punch of my-mom-died-when-I-was-little-me-and-my-daddy-escaped-cuba-in-a-rickety-boat deal. Hmmm.

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