Category: Rock (Page 189 of 241)

Contestant Akron Watson dazzled “American Idol” judges and all of America this past Tuesday with renditions of Sam Cooke’s “Change is Gonna Come” and Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On.” This was the guy who auditioned with his cousin, but obviously had all the singing genes in the family.

But just reported on People.com is the fact that the producers called Watson back in November and told him he was no longer welcome to the Hollywood round. Worse, they gave him no reason.

Apparently Watson has a marijuana possession blemish from 2003, but claims he divulged this to the Idol producers before auditioning.

This seems extremely unfair, because not only did Watson disclose his past in full as required, but he had rightfully earned his golden ticket to Hollywood only to have it stripped away. So the dude made a mistake a few years ago……give him a break! Watson is also asking for a break, as he has set up a MySpace page for fan support. If you saw this guy perform, you know he’s worthy of going really far. So help the cause.

For you Idol producers, a big thumbs down to you. First, you waste an hour of my time last night…now this.

Leave it to Fox. Just when they were being nice enough to cut the audition episodes of “American Idol” from two hours to one, they decided to throw a filler at us. Last season, there were seven episodes of audition rounds, and on the eighth, Hollywood week. This time, the eighth was a recap of some of the best and worst contestants, with a few new ones we haven’t seen yet peppered in.

Hey Fox, did you just see me open my mouth for a BIG FREAKING YAWN?

Anyway, since they aired it, I’m gonna write about it. First, there were a few entrants who made it to Hollywood that we hadn’t seen yet, most notably Tami, who looked like a rocker chick from the sixties.
Tami sang the Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post,” and was both talented and really different. Other standouts who made it through were Gina Glockson, who basically professed her love for Simon (these girls aren’t stupid…just butter up the old man); and Lakisha Jones, who sang Aretha Franklin’s “Think.” This chick might make the finals, she was that good.

They also showed how various contestants tried to dress different to impress the judges, and that usually backfired. The first chick they showed, Christa, dressed, as Simon put it “like the inside of a dust bin.”

There were these three girls who dressed as waitresses on roller skates…I’m not sure if this is how they really earn their living or if they just rented the outfits….but the bummer of it was that only two of them made it to Hollywood. Ebony was the best, followed by Ashley, followed by Heather. I’m really not sure what the judges saw in Ashley, but they voted her through.

Other moments from last night were Brandon, who did a singing meets beat-box thing that was really good, but not good enough to advance him; Wes, a “composer” who had a huge gap in his teeth and did this stomping thing when he sang, most likely to cover up the fact that he couldn’t sing; and this dude Alexander, who professed his love for Paula. Simon added that if Paula had a mustache, the two could have been separated at birth.

Are you bored yet? Becuase I sure was last night.

Next week is Hollywood week….let the catfighting, the drama, and the real competition begin. And someone please pour Paula Abdul another drink…I mean, I wanna get my money’s worth!
See you next week….

Last night was the final stop on the “American Idol” audition tour–in San Antonio, Texas. Mercifully, we have reached the end of the portion of this season where they weed out the really bad singers and show us a few good ones that get to advance to Hollywood.

Some of the highlights of last night’s auditions included Bailey Brown, a 16-year-old cute blonde chick (is it just me or is America producing chicks like this who can actually sing at an alarming rate?). Bailey sang Faith Hill pretty flawlessly. Then there were the cousins, Akron and William. William went first and was awful, singing “Amazing Grace” like an off-key Fat Albert. But Akron fared much better, and even though Simon said his performance was boring, he sang good enough to advance.

18-year-old Ashley didn’t make it through the first time, because she sang really well but was one of those singers who puts more effort into technique and facial expression than actual vocals and melody. For a change, Randy and Paula said no, and Simon actually liked her. So what did they do? They gave her a second chance. This time, her facial expressions were even more pronounced. The judges agreed that Ashley has some bad habits, but they also agreed to let her fix those habits in Hollywood.

Finally, there was Jimmy McNeal, who closed out the show with “Cupid” and Randy called him a “little Ruben,” referring to Season 2’s enormous champ. This guy was really good and he had a charisma that could take him far.

Then, of course, we had the duds….

First, there was Bryan, who sang Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” and pretty much yelled the whole song. Look, Bryan, you can fool a drunk Paula Abdul some of the time….

Jasmine Holland was a terrible singer and the judges were kind of snickering as she sang. She said this was “rude,” and really, it kind of was. But then it got comical when she said to Randy Jackson: “Who are YOU anyway? What have you ever done besides this show?”

Sandie sang “Black Velvet” from the back of her throat like she had Cher stuck in there. Simon said it was almost like a language he couldn’t recognize, and that was pretty accurate.

Finally there was Jake Tudor, who Simon said should be singing in a dark bedroom somewhere. Jake accepted the judges’ comments, then proceeded to bleepity bleep them all on the way out. A fitting end to the horror that made up a lot of this season’s primary auditions.

But wait, there’s more. Just when you thought the show was ready to move on to Hollywood, they gave us a glimpse of tonight’s show. They are going to show us all the bad auditions from the seven cities that they haven’t yet shown us. Ugg. Hey Fox, what did I do to deserve this? I’ll do anything…even go buy your sponsors’ stupid products. Okay, okay, if it’s only for one more night.

See you all tomorrow. And after that, it’s welcome to Hollywood BAY-BEE.