'American Idol 6' - "The Best of the Rest" Audition Show

See the look on Simon's face? I believe that's how I felt by show end tonight. If that was the best of the best, this season may be in trouble. With the exception of one singer, Lakeesha Jones, once again I wasn't blown away by the talent.

The show itself had some amusing moments. Instead of the typical audition format, we really didn't see too many actual auditions, per se. We saw a lot of bits and pieces of auditions and other shenanigans. (Ah, that word is right up there with brouhaha in respect to words I love to use.)

They divided the show into "lessons" for those who might want to be the next American Idol. Some lessons used examples of what not to do, others showed folks who learned the lesson.

Lesson One was "The Look." Obviously, the young lady pictured on the right was going for a look. Perhaps she was going for a stare. Oh, wait... maybe she was from the dancing lesson.

One person featured who didn't go for a look other than being herself was Denver pedicab operator, Tami Gosnell. Her look didn't thrill me, but her voice was decent and she went on through to Hollywood.

Lesson Two was to look for inspiration, then follow it. Alas, many of the blurb-ditions may have had great inspiration, but no way could their talents live up to the task at hand.

William Hung was the inspiration for Paul Kim. Ah, but it's a reverse-inspiration! Paul wants to represent Asian-Americans and their talent possibilities. Is he going to be the new Asian hunk of reality TV? Internet scuttlebutt has him going far. And, unlike Hung, he's an actual singer.

In the "Never Give Up" lesson, previous contestant (with a Simon crush) Gina Glocksen went through to Hollywood. Why, I don't know. I didn't think she sang "Black Velvet" well at all. Unlike the contestant last night with the song, I could understand the words, but... feh. Her audition and crush set off a huge Simon Love segment. Okay, that was funny. I like Simon, but there are some things I just would not do in public.

In the "Never Audition in a Group" segment, there were three rollerskating carhops, all young kids. Two made it through to Hollywood with one getting lots of praise. I didn't quite feel the love, but maybe it was just me. I felt bad for the one who didn't make it.
The next lesson was "Don't Sing Odd Songs." One contestant, William Emil Samland (prefers to be called by his initials - WES), touted himself as a singer/songwriter. He didn't mention an Odd Clogger. His song was odd; he was odd. If I were doing my "Most Notable of the Odd" format tonight, he'd be right up there.

There was an extended "Shake Your Moneymaker" dance segment which may or may not have been a lesson. It most certainly wasn't a dance lesson.

The final lesson was "Clarity." They ran through several blurb-ditions in which the hopefuls were singing familiar songs, but no way on earth would anyone recognize them. Even when they flashed the song name across the screen, I still didn't recognize them. Oh, I know the songs, but I don't think those were the songs they were singing. Then came Lakeesha, my new bet for the women. She has the Frenchie Davis build and amazing old-Motown kind of talent. Aretha must be smiling if she saw that one.

I can't do it. I can't write up the last article on the audition phase without a Most Notable of the Odd. I tried because of the format change in the show itself tonight.

But, I'm weak. I have to do it. Tonight's Most Notable of the Odd award goes to Paula Abdul for being quasi-reminiscent of Michael Jackson at times. Am I going crazy or do you see it, too?

Next week, 172 dreamers will meet in Hollywood. I'll be there. Well, to be honest, I'll be here watching them.