if there is any idol contestant, then and now, who can rightfully sing the epic song “you’re the voice”, that would be siobhan.
this song has been sung before by david archuleta in the top 10 of ai season 7. neither randy nor paula knew the song and they gave him good remarks. simon, on the other hand, was aware of the song and its singer… and you know what simon says when he isn’t pleased.
here is the original version by john farnham:
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last week, when rolling stones was declared the next theme, i thought i could just hit a dog with the idea of a rolling stones week without tyler grady (ok, voice not as strong as mick jagger, blah, blah, blah. since when has idol been about the vocals? it’s an image contest, most likely). it was like big band week in season 3 without the then 16-year-old dean martin, orange-haired, freckle-faced john stevens.
goodbye, ruby tuesday. goodbye, lacey. at least she made it to the top 12… and 12th is as high as she got.
we still think lacey is one of the most attractive girls to grace the idol stage. my husband says, “i hope you wouldn’t mind if i go out with lacey.” and i say, “of course i don’t mind. i’m going out with lee.”
it’s been a week since my little blog was thrown in as “collateral damage”. after a few days of confusion and frustration, i finally got my own domain. and i finally get to publish the post that’s been waiting patiently in the drafts folder since the academy awards concluded last week.
i am not jinxed after all… after the two american idol male contestants and the cool girl i’ve been rooting for failed to get past top 24 and top 20, i considered the idea that i might have jinxed them. but after my hopes from another entry were realized in this year’s academy awards, i knew superstition doesn’t live here.
congratulations to kathryn bigelow, the first woman to win best director!
avatar didn’t pull another titanic on us. congratulations to the hurt locker for winning best picture!
ok, i used to like vera wang, now i positively adore her. she was in last night’s idol studio audience. she happened to outfit michelle delamor for that episode.
in a white top that looks like a miniature version of vera’s opulent wedding gowns, cropped motorcyle jacket, cutaway gloves, black tights and leather boots, michelle took on a biker bride ensemble and was obviously the night’s best dressed contestant. i wonder, will vera wang come out with a line of ready-to-wear like this? i sure hope so.
when i crush, i crush big time. and the fact that tyler grady just doesn’t quit talking (even to his very own disadvantage) gives me enough fodder to nurture the grudge. i just love catching up on sore losers! oops, i don’t mean sore… i mean bitter. though i know he claims he isn’t. i have no problems with bitterness. i myself am bitter about a lot of less significant things in life.
this is how i like my celebs. bitter, deluded, odd and bratty enough to throw the judges under a bus. oh, and shamelessly plugs his other racket when given the chance. in other words, his hometown band, wailing waters.
on this very crucial night, i would like to formally declare that i am stalking the following live show contestants:
tyler grady
the broken wrists guy from the boston auditions. starting to look like the token rock dude of the show, one who wears 70′s polyester shirts and walks like morrison. he played drums for a band called wailing waters in his hometown of northampton. as his injuries kept him from playing any instrument, he got the chance to perform as frontman.
this is grady’s third attempt at the show. two years ago, he didn’t even make it past the prelims (sounds like that “bubbly” singer we know very well). last year, he managed to get a callback but was rejected after that. as they say, third time’s the charm.
jermaine sellers
the church singer who takes care of his ailing mother. finally, a serious r&b contender again. although i think thaddeus johnson sang “man in the mirror” better. i still can’t believe thaddeus was cut.
anyway…
sellers has signed a few record deals in the past (i think the earliest was at age 14) but none has been produced into an album. when his career looked as if it wasn’t getting anywhere, he performed in cruise ships (i think the royal carribean). last year, he took part in bet’s “sunday’s best”, finishing 2nd runner-up in the contest.
he’s the guy who threw a semi-diva fit at the band when the song wasn’t played according to his specifications (way to go, church singer!). thaddeus was the one who glared at the band with “i’m not bubbly… i’m man in the mirror.” i still can’t believe thaddeus was cut.
lacey brown
remember the sing-off last year with my then favorite megan joy corkrey as the judges trimmed down the pack to 24? here’s the girl who didn’t make the cut by the skin of her teeth.
as she sounds closest to megan joy and amy winehouse and squirrel nut zippers and billie holiday, she is obviously my favorite girl this year.
lilly scott
the sandwich gal with platinum blond hair and peacock feather earrings. she sings and plays guitar in a band named varlet. if you check her myspace, you’ll find that her songs have very weird titles. and that one of her heroes is “amy winehouse on cocaine”.
just like lacey, lilly also has that jazzy tone to her voice which i like a lot. i wish she and lacey and megan joy come down to fiji.
and what’s up with rejecting angela martin?
she has a fantastic singing voice, a pretty face and she has the back story to end all back stories!
want a rundown of what angela has gone through?
the first time she made it to hollywood week a few years ago, her father tragically died, thus discontinuing her participation. angela’s father was murdered by her own stepmother.
the second time she made it to hollywood week, she got a summons for a traffic violation.
on top of that, her daughter suffers from rett syndrome and her mother has been missing since december 26 last year.
catch up with angela martin here.
thank you, ellen!
photos from americanidol.com.
clockwise from top left: katelyn epperly, john park, charity vance, seth rollins, angela martin, shelby dressel, paige dechausse, jay stone, jermaine purifoy
chicago
i was just so underwhelmed by chicago, i didn’t even bother indulging myself with an entry about it. but i’m going to now anyway, because one of them might just shine in hollywood week, make it to the top 12 and make me eat my words.
shania twain, that sexy/sweet vixen of country, in cardigan and long skirt one time, in bra and leather pants the next, guest judged in chicago and i think she is just so darn likeable! on both days, simon was in such a good mood, he would crack jokes and banter good-naturedly with the other judges, i couldn’t believe we were witnessing a rarity. we think it’s because shania was next to him the whole time and her cheerfulness was rubbing off on him.
oh, shania, i wish you would come down to our small pacific island. you’re so nice and so gorgeous, my husband has a major crush on you.
the family story
katelyn epperly is the family story of the night; the broken family story for that matter. i know i’m supposed to feel sorry for the kid who says it’s the first time in her life to do something significant without her father to provide moral support, but i don’t. because 1) she’s too young for us to take “in her life” seriously, there are too many other things later that will not involve both her parents, and 2) stats show 40% of unions in america end in divorce, so her circumstances are not at all extraordinary. sure, i’m being insensitive now, but we here are closely exposed to shattered environments to feel anything special towards any other of that kind. she sang “syrup and honey”. i think it had too much vibrato, any more tremulous than that, she would sound like disney’s snow white. well, with that story build-up, i suppose it’s no surprise she’s off to hollywood.
charity vance‘s family is too cool! i mean they all have great hair! they run a salon in their home and when the cameras took to covering her parents in action, we see that their salon is not one of those small, simple establishments because they were clearly decked out and swanky. she sings to the customers with a broom in her hand, i think she was in the middle of sweeping hair trimmings. she sang “summertime” and she’s not bad at all. and we hear that trite, useless line “i can’t believe you’re just 16″ again from the panel. does everyone not recall that allyson iraheta and jordin sparks were just 16 the time they auditioned? charity bursts out of the audition to to her folks and we see her parents with another companion who has the best bob-cut hair of them all.
the uncommon circumstances, uncommon personalities
angela martin‘s story makes me want to root for her all the way. i like the patient, persistent, ambitious women of this world, they are so hard to find these days! it’s her third time to audition on ai. the first time she made her way to hollywood, her father just tragically passed. on her second hollywood attempt, she failed to make it on a crucial date as she had to appear in court for a traffic violation. they say third time’s the charm, so this should be angela’s year. simon kids her with a “no” but says “just kidding!” after eyes are widened in semi-shock. after angela, he jokes “yes” to an awful audition. told you he was in a good mood.
john park is, i bet, another asian over-achiever whose parents expect so much from in terms of academics. we are sure he’s korean, and i am suddenly reminded of the korean dude in season 7′s live show; the one who performed barefoot out of… i don’t really remember, superstition or something? john said his parents are against him singing, but that doesn’t stop him from showing up. he sings well, but we’re not wowed. not a big deal, many kids are discouraged by parents to do stuff that involve trying to become a superstar. shania is majorly crushing on john. he makes it through and tells seacrest “shania loves me”.
the sob story
paige dechausse suffered a serious case of asthma at 15 and almost lost her life. while in anaphylactic shock, the doctors declared she would have only 30% chance of survival, and if she does, she would likely suffer brain damage. i want to root for her because we have a survival story very close to us too, but my insensitivity keeps getting the best of me and i don’t feel like watching out for her. maybe because i didn’t really like her singing? we’ve heard better before who didn’t make it to hollywood. only simon says no, since randy was persuaded by the ladies to give paige another chance. nothing like estrogen to let the touching back-stories audition on behalf of the actual persons. i somehow want to blame danny gokey for this.
the no special back-stories
justin ray, keith semple and marcus jones form the cursory 90-second mash auditions for this episode. we don’t hear much from them, but i feel like i’m going to like them better than the ones who were milked for our crying pleasure (except angela). my husband says he’s going to look out for justin with his jerry curls. i hope we hear more from keith; he sang a bryan adams song and he was pretty good. exudes that kenny loggins vibe, but i could be wrong. hey, i love kenny loggins, so sue me!
orlando
what’s more annoying than kara dioguardi judging on idol? kara and kristin chenoweth together judging on idol.
okay, i like kristen in pushing daisies, i think she is brilliant. i have never seen wicked on broadway (duh), but i’m sure she is exceptional there. she won a tony for her performance (would you believe, so did constantine maroulis?). off-camera and off-stage i always found her pleasantly quirky. i think it’s mixing her personality with kara’s that makes the formula all wrong. nevermind my thoughts, i’m just being touchy.
the family stories
seth collins has two kids, one of them with autism. we watch him bonding with his son at home and i don’t think the little one has a very serious case. perhaps aspberger’s? i’m not the end-all in sped, but i have handled a child with autism for about a year in tutorial and mainstream school combined. seth’s son looks like one of those kids who are not annoying because his parents don’t condone the naughty parts of his behavior. i like them. it helps that seth sang “someone to watch over me” very well. he should go far, i think.
bernadette desimone and amanda desimone are sisters so close, i bet they share clothes, underwear included. okay, shoot me. bernadette sang “hit the road, jack,” and, for me, someone auditioning with such a song goes to hollywood by default. amanda chooses to sing “i want to dance with somebody” and i could almost change the channel, i’m so tired of hearing whitney in these shows. while amanda sings, bernadette is closing her eyes and nodding with feeling just into our peripheral vision. they both make it, but i’m sensing a very tear-jerking split during the decision-making round. remember sanjaya malakar and sister? how could we forget?
shelby dressel has a rare nerve problem that paralyzes the right side of her face. you know what, i think she’s prettier than many girls whose faces don’t have nerve problems. i don’t find her her too exciting, but i somehow got interested when she forgot the words to “turn me on” and they had to bleep a profanity. she gets four yeses thanks to that. though in hollywood, they send home those who miss the lyrics.
jay stone beatboxes better than blake lewis in my opinion. he even sings better so far. he sang and beatboxed at the same time, take that, blake. he sang/beatboxed “come together,” and, you know me, anybody who sings beatles is a good person. again, i am thankful to the persons who hold the rights to beatles songs for finally lifting the curtain, allowing us to witness auditions like jay’s.
cornelius edwards is the most something else of something else’s! he tells judges that he is friends with women who “dance for money” and simon eggs out the stripping part from him. i like cornelius, i could already tell that he is a very fun guy, we want to be friends with him! he said he was going to sing tina turner’s “rolling,” but we all know it’s called “proud mary”. the judges don’t correct him, not even simon, a sign that they like this guy too, they’re not going to give him a hard time. he does a jumping split a la exotic dancer and rips his pants in front of the panel. simon says something to the effect of being obliged to let him through to hollywood after that accident.
the break-catchers
jermaine purifoy, another african-american jermaine who can sing! this is his second time to audition. unlike angela, he didn’t even qualify for the next round the first time he tried. we don’t know how he could have bungled the first time (he said he deserved being rejected) because he has a very nice voice singing “smile”. simon said the girls are going to like him. looks like the females will be divided between jermaine 1 and jermaine 2 if they both make it to the live show.
matt lawrence reminds me of my family (both consanguinity and affiliation). working for a family business with heavy equipment, although i don’t know for sure how heavy matt’s trucks are. the producers must be thinking they hit the motherload of back-stories here because he spent four birthdays in jail for robbing a bank with a bb gun… at age 15. which means it must have been juvy given he was a minor then, but still. fortunately for us, he has a very good singing voice, so we don’t have to wrangle with the guilt of not liking a person with a life of hard-knocks (the way i’m not really liking paige dechausse).
i can’t wait for them to find a real hustler they can build up to become someone like 50 cent or snoop. oh wait, they have. but they can’t air the dirty laundry of this one lest concerned parents start a protest along the lines of good moral values: skii bo ski from atlanta has enough mugshots to make a scrapbook out of. in 2006, he was tasered after swallowing crack. don’t quote me…
jannell wheeler, brittany starr james and kasi bedford are all going to hollywood. with what little we saw, i am only interested in watching brittany because she sang “american boy” and that song is too cool.
idol is off to l.a. next week with avril lavigne and katy perry!
it started with ricky gervais hosting and mo’nique giving the speech to end all speeches. then it ended with avatar winning best picture. i know, i know, i have said all i can say here. i wrote that still all agog with inglourious basterds, but i’m not so bad considering i am biased towards quentin tarantino because now i can admit that i honestly think the hurt locker should have nabbed the best picture. my thoughts summarized by a comment here that goes:
The Hurt Locker should have won for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and Kathryn Bigelow should have gotten the Best Director win, period.
Instead, Avatar, which I call “Titanic: Take 2″, won for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and James Cameron wins for Best Director. I’m sorely tempted to believe Avatar’s win was a triumph of glossy, shallow style and overinflated hype over serious substance and thoughtful intelligence…
and the hangover winning against (500) days of summer? and qt not getting best screenplay, having lost to one that was adapted? i don’t rant like other buffs who hate the idea of distinguishing drama from comedy/musical saying a good movie should be a good movie no matter what genre, but i’m beginning to see the irony in failing to distinguish original from adapted screenplay. i really don’t know what’s up with the foreign press, i am tempted to take ricky gervais’ joke about buying the awards seriously.
anyhow, i think i can get over this and i think the only real upset that can occur in this year’s awards show is if christoph waltz loses to whoever in the world. winning for his supporting role in inglourious basterds was a no-brainer.
and since i can’t say anything good about avatar taking the plum, i might as well move on to the red carpet…
there were less black and more pales this year. the ones who wore color wore them loud and proud. the ones who wore crystals wore them plenty. i like that more ladies were taking to prints. and oh, i loved very much that it rained because i am crazy about scenes with umbrellas. look at the gentlemen keep their ladies from getting wet!
images from zimbio.
i like…
shaun robinson. i’m into layering different textures and this one created a beautiful rosebud effect in the most royal shades of blue.
dianna agron. i would have chosen a more youthful color and hairstyle, but the empire cut and flowy drape of her dress more than make up for it.
chloe sevigny. at first, i didn’t know what to make of the ruffles extending down to her sides, but it just kind of grew on me eventually. especially after she declared onstage that someone ripped her dress.
tina fey. i like this best. length and silhouette are reminiscent of the 40′s and 50′s, but the cut and print are very modern. and the shoes are gorgeous!
fergie. i actually think the tan brunette look is working for her, though i’d probably miss her being blond and wish she goes back to being one again later. the lavender brings out the blue of her eyes. that’s josh duhamel’s hand holding out the brolly for her.
amy adams. she was one of the few who attended the ceremony in a short dress. i love her shabby updo with the side-swept bangs! and the copper of her clutch and shoes are the best.
drew barrymore. my second favorite. i didn’t know what to think about the anemone sprouting from her hip at first, but like chloe’s ruffles, the strangeness grew on me and i like the overall effect. it’s the perfect sheer and scattered crystals.
lara spencer. the plain white dress made the perfect canvas for her blue cuff and necklace, as well as the pink of her clutch and cocktail ring.
ginnifer goodwin. my favorite photo moment. the blue of her dress provided a very sharp contrast against the red of the carpet. and her striking black hair, shoes and brolly with her fair skin made her stand out.
maria menounos. her dress, on the other hand, matched the carpet. props to her for braving the weather even if the train of her gorgeous dress was getting all soggy!
toni colette. i’m loving the art deco-inspired gold sparkle!
jane adams. she could have done without the necklace and carried a smaller clutch. but it’s a very pretty dress nevertheless.
jaime pressly. i wasn’t so keen on the dress, but when i saw the shoes, i was smitten. and i have always thought she had the most beautiful legs in hollywood!
olivia wilde. the slink and sparkle of the dress is very studio 54, i like! and she carried the coolest clutch of the night.
maggie gyllenhaal. if there is one lady who can pull off an unorthodox design like this, that would be maggie. she’s just too cool like that.
kate hudson. this is a dress that takes getting used to. because this is kate, known to be very ballsy with her wardrobe choices, i’m going to say i like this ensemble, feathers and all. i think she has the best arms and shoulders in hollywood.
felicity huffman. wait, i change my mind, i think felicity huffman has the best arms and shoulders in hollywood.
christina hendricks. she owns this look! she and nicole kidman had the same shade of dress, same shade of hair and same shade of skin that night, but i think christina was more exciting to see.
christina aguilera. another christina, only this one’s a music superstar. which means she can get away with more outlandish designs. i like the married with children classy christina aguilera! such a far cry from her dirrrty persona.
emily blunt. okay, by this time, i’m getting tired of strapless column dresses, but i just have to toss emily in. because she wore just the right amount of deconstruction (unlike zoe saldana) and she wore awesome cuffs.
sophia loren. this era, sophia will never do wrong in my eyes. she is 75 years old and still rocks more than you and me combined!
unlike younger celebs now who hold a clutch in one hand while the other is pressed to the waist, she carries a shoulder evening bag and waves to the crowd more than she poses! that’s old school hollywood, when good movies had good performances and good stories… wait, don’t get me started.
did i mention that she’s 75?
before the golden globes later, see how your favorites fared in the earlier awards shows…
people’s choice awards are voted by the people and critics’ choice awards are voted by critics. duh. i just had to explain why twilight wins somewhere. it’s hard to swallow, but the people has spoken.
i will not waste your time.
here are the major winners of the 2010 critics choice awards:
best picture: the hurt locker
best director: kathryn bigelow (the hurt locker)
best original screenplay: quentin tarantino (inglourious basterds)
best actor: jeff bridges (crazy heart)
best actress: meryl streep (julie & julia) and sandra bullock (the blind side)
best supporting actor: christoph waltz (inglourious basterds)
best supporting actress: mo’nique (precious)
best acting ensemble: inglourious basterds
best adapted screenplay: jason reitman and sheldon turner (up in the air)
major winners of the people’s choice awards:
favorite talk show: the ellen degeneres show
favorite on screen team: the twilight saga
favorite tv comedy: the big bang theory
favorite r&b artist: mariah carey
favorite tv comedy actor: steve carrell
favorite tv comedy actress: alyson hannigan
favorite country artist: carrie underwood
favorite tv drama actor: hugh laurie
favorite tv drama: house
favorite movie actress: sandra bullock
favorite movie actor: johnny depp
favorite male artist: eminem / keith urban
favorite female artist: taylor swift
favorite comedic star: jim carrey
favorite rock band: paramore
favorite comedy movie: the proposal
favorite movie: twilight
favorite tv drama actress: katherine heigl
favorite independent movie: inglourious basterds
favorite pop artist: lady gaga
and for those of you whose time i have wasted with the winners because they would rather see the red carpet dresses, below are the ones i find interesting in one way or another. unlike the golden globes and the oscars, the earlier awards shows are less formal. thus, since the ladies can wear short dresses, we get to see more shoes.
critics’ choice awards red carpet
people’s choice awards red carpet
atlanta raises boston with 10,000 people. most of them are likely to be family and friends of the contestants, but that’s still an insane number.
at this point, i am really really really missing paula already. i mean i’ve been missing her since boston, but after a day of kara and starting another, i wish paula pulls a fast one on us and suddenly shows up. i stuffed my face with ice cream and yogurt to cushion the pain of loss, but i don’t think we can do anything to bring her back to idol now. paula was the “nice judge”, whether she was built up to portray the persona or she really was that nice in real life, it doesn’t matter. she was the one who tried to comfort and console contestants after simon or randy hurt their feelings. kara seems to just stoke the fire and at times even starts the fire altogether. like bikini girl last year and andrew fenlon this year. i still can’t get over that, can i?
the rumor mill turns and people are speculating a paula comeback in x-factor with simon next year. others say she should judge so you think you can dance. paula in sytycd would be a stupendous idea.
still no ellen in atlanta. many haters out there not liking ellen on idol one bit, saying, how can she judge a singing competition when she has no background in music and her moves don’t cut it? they can hate all they want because ellen will always be idol’s biggest and most famous fan, so the anti-ellen campaign can just put a sock in it. don’t hate on ellen for replacing paula… paula should have stayed and kara should have left instead for ellen to take her place.
check it out, here is paula hosting vh1 divas with an ellen parody (look at paula dance! she’s still got the groove!):
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJaat0Ofl7I&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6]
wait, we’re talking about the atlanta auditions here, right? mary j. blige, the woman that needs no introduction, guest judges atlanta.
for the first time, the auditions are held where contestants have to brave a lonesome elevator ride up to the 27th floor. just like the hollywood week culmination, cameras are rolling inside the elevator, so the tension, the elation and the defeat are all the more lengthened for our viewing pleasure.
i liked the talent better in boston than in atlanta (apart from jermaine), but i like the personalities better in atlanta.
clockwise: antonio wheeler, bryan walker, jermaine sellers, tisha holland, noelle reece, holly harden, miriam lemnouni, keia johnson, mallorie halley
jermaine sellers has been taking care of his mother since he was 17. his mother suffers from a condition called spinal bifida which causes her great pain when it strikes. jermaine is a church singer. so here’s a church singer who takes care of his sick mother. it’s not one of your “oh, woe is me!” tearjerky stories, just a real life story of one who works and loves hard for a living. i want him badly to get through. in fact, i want him to win the whole darn show. he sang “what if god was one of us”, a song i’m actually annoyed with. but he sang it r&b style, much better than the original joan osborne version in my opinion. he can even shave a little of the “too nice” image and actually be cool like usher or something. i have faith that he can make it to the top 12. have faith!
the uncommon personalities, uncommon circumstances
keia johnson joined a pageant and won miss congeniality. simon makes fun of her by asking questions that allude to the age-old issue of beauty vs. personality. i think keia answered very good-naturedly and was so classy about it. she sang “my heart will go on,” a song that annoys me more than “what if god was one of us” and would have assured an elimination if i had my way with the world. however, like jermaine, she sang an extremely cloying song r&b style and made it actually very interesting. she gets through to hollywood, she and her congeniality.
vanessa wolfe jumps bridges. she is a hillbilly, trailer park, heavy drawl kind of person who jumps bridges. she’s from a small town in tennessee and if i am correct with my interpretation of the vonore town sign, it has a population of only 859. i may be wrong, it may be a thousand or so, whatever. she declares that she is wearing a dress worth a measly $4.50. that’s my kind of shopper there. she sang “wagon wheel” and she wasn’t bad at all. only i didn’t understand a word she sang. judges go “authentic”, “distinct” and other synonyms to the word real and different. simon tells her something not too nice (but not too mean either) so she retorts “if i didn’t have a dress on, i’d throw you.” she is in tears when she finds out that she, a little town girl, is going to hollywood. then she runs yelling outside the premises barefoot.
antonio wheeler a.k.a. skii bo ski is too cool for the auditions. he speaks in phrases like snoop dogg, but i don’t think he’s doing that on purpose; i think he’s stoned like snoop dogg. “skibo ski” is printed on his shirt and when he spells out his alias to the camera, someone points out that the shirt is not spelled right. and he says something like it’s the misprint that gave him a discount. i like this guy! we thought he was going to make a fool of himself in front of the judges, but when he sang “i heard it on the grapevine,” he was very good! he goes on to say something like “even with the dollar store, you can have everything you want in that one package, and it only costs you a dollar.” no one makes sense of it. randy says he doesn’t understand what skii bo ski is saying, something you should slap randy’s head for because we don’t understand half of what he’s saying either. he goes through and i wish he makes it to the live show.
lauren sanders and carmen turner are bff’s. you know they are tv-series-style bff’s, the kind who must have been attached by the hip at birth, when you see them do each other’s make up in the waiting room and talk simultaneously, finish one another’s sentences. it’s kind of creepy. we can see a mmmmmile away what’s going to happen. they come into the audition room as a duo and they are quite funny. they sing one after the other and you can see that one sings better than the other. simon says they could be the “ditz sisters” and someone in the panel snickers like something lewd was said. we know what they are thinking and they’re just being pests. anyway, simon says they should either go through together or be rejected together, observing that they are interesting as a pair but boring when separated. the idea of “ditz sisters” obviously doesn’t appeal to the other judges because they only let carmen through. there’s a big show of mourning and heartbreak when the bff’s go down to the waiting room where lauren’s family was waiting. i was hoping for something like “you b—-, you should have told them you’re not going without me!” but that would be asking too much.
holly harden looks and sounds familiar to my husband. he quickly says that this is the same country girl in america’s got talent. she looks and sounds familiar to me… oh, she looks and sounds like kellie pickler. i bet she will be labeled as “the next kellie pickler” if she makes it to the live show: the cute little dumb blonde with a deep south accent. hey, i’m not knocking her, i actually like kellie! it wasn’t mentioned on idol, but holly said back in agt that she works as a clerk in radio shack. this time, she came into the audition as a guitar. many people were probably wishing that she makes a mess of her song because the guitar ensemble is not only annoying but infuriating. she sang “you ain’t woman enough to take my man” and sails through.
bryan walker‘s audition was missed my simon (he got up to take a breather). pity. for simon. bryan walker is very good. he is a police officer. everybody likes a man in uniform, right? especially one that can sing. he sang “superstar” and i always like men who can pull off women’s songs. the singing cop might have a place waiting for him in the live show. just my speculation.
miriam lemnouni, noelle reece and tisha holland were shown in quick succession. looks like idol producers trying to make us see that more women are getting through in atlanta.
mallorie halley sang “piece of my heart” country style. i usually would hate it if anyone tweaks janis joplin like that, but that wasn’t all too bad for me to hate. mary j. blige says it’s the best vocal she’s heard that day (what? really?). she gets a unanimous yes to hollywood. good, but i’m not so keen on her.
and then there is general larry platt
the pimp spot is reserved for the general. in a competition best known for the most talented and the most grotesque, here is a contestant who neither has the most superb vocals nor is the most deluded, but is now this season’s instant superstar. he is larry platt, 62 years old, but what the heck? the producers let him through even if he is way beyond the age limit. he sang a song he wrote called “pants on the ground,” and it is one hell of a catchy song. he wrote it for the young people these days who wear their jeans too low. he dances and does a split good enough to put younger people to shame. simon tells him that idol has a max age limit of 28, but he goes up to embrace platt and sings (or bobs to?) “pants on the ground” with him. randy did the same. and idol had the other people in the waiting room sing “pants on the ground” simultaneously. it was too trippy.
simon says, “i have a horrible feeling that is going to be a big hit.” and it already is! in a matter of hours from the time platt appeared on t.v., remixes and covers with instruments have appeared all over the viral universe. i hope it’s copyrighted so he gets paid…
get this: he is a civil rights legend!
platt is something of a u2 songwriting nirvana: he was beaten in the historic bloody sunday and marched with martin luther king, jr. and rev. hosea williams. it was rev. williams himself who nicknamed platt “general.” you can only imagine how relevant he is in society and in history. and look at this legend, singing on the idol auditions where lesser people might misconstrue him as just another crazy old man! i am sure he doesn’t care what we think.
for “his great energy and commitment to equality and the protection of the innocent and for his outstanding service to the atlanta community and the citizens of georgia,” september 4, 2001 was declared larry platt day in atlanta.
beat that, all other american idol hopefuls.
click here for an article about gen. larry platt.
question is why let him past the preliminaries when he is obviously overage? is this show turning out to be a sham? i don’t think so. at a time when a country is floundering under the weight of recession, only in a sense of humor can things make more… well, sense. apart from that, only by allowing platt before the judges can the world know about this extraordinary man and his contributions to society; i mean, none of his accomplishments were mentioned in the show, but it sure got me along with hundreds of thousands of viewers to look up his background.
here’s an amateur video taken in the waiting room and posted on youtube by another contestant. this one lucky dude just shot a comic treasure here and didn’t even realize it then! platt singing “pants on the ground” with bff’s carmen and lauren casting glances from behind. they were probably thinking, “what a nuisance,” but look who’s famous now!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76YGyJSwSRI&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
gen. larry platt’s place in the idol finale is sealed.
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