The show is starting here on the east coast. As it airs, I'll update this entry. Please feel free to jump in with your comments!
The first one on stage (well, in the room), is a young man with a big afro who thinks he's the black Clay Aiken. Um, no. Rashar? Argh. I missed the screen with the spelling of his name.
A girl from the same town where Kelly Pickler was raised, DeeAnna Prevatt, is over emoting just a wee bit. Simon called her a little tiger. She didn't make it.
A couple who met on the American Idol message boards, is a prime example of dork love. Crystal Ortiz and Randy Stark, sing. I actually get a kick out of the lyrics, but not the singing.
Michelle and Jeffrey Lampkin, a brother and sister act, is ready now. They can kind of sing. They both make it. I personally don't think they'll make it too far once in Hollywood.
Loser exits and it's back to the woman about ready to give birth whose husband wants to audition.
More bad auditions.
Save the cheerleader, save American Idol? A squeaky clean anti-drug anti-sex cheerleader is brunette, at least. I've tired of blondes. Amy Flynn sounds very nervous, but makes the attempt. She gains more confidence as as she goes along. Paula likes her. Simon thinks a lot of people will find her annoying. But he says yes, as does Randy. She is making me smile. She will be fun on the show, I think.
The first day is wrapping up, but the expectant fanter is hoping to come back. And then we get a sob story from a woman named London who took off three years of singing to deal with her sick father. She's blonde. I'm thinking she can sing without listening yet. Yep, London Weidberg, goes for Billie Holiday's "Good Morning Heartache." Randy and Paula like her. Simon? He thinks it's a good audition, but he didn't hear anything unique. It's onto Hollywood.
Fifteen made it through the first day. I think I liked the auditions better when Simon called contestants bush babies.
Patriotic fever alert! An Air Force gal shows us her cockpit (sounds kinky, doesn't it?). Lyndsey Goodman goes for "Black Velvet." She can sing. Simon thinks she's caberet, but he's said that before. She's a no. Yikes.
Aretha Codner from Buffalo, NY, is up next. Will she live up to her namesake? Well, no Aretha. She's super confident, but Simon thinks she murdered the song. So do I. She's very defensive and takes her time leaving.
Joshua Bosun is worse. What an animated lad, though. I don't love him. He says the show is fake and rigged. Simon says he's rude and deluded. Fuss, fuss, whine, whine. I like how his mother and he wear coordinated clothes.
Another bad audition run. A No serenade, cheesy, but classic for the show.
Oliver Highman, the new daddy, is back to audition. Will it be worth it? Okay, this is the best voice of the guys they've shown in South Carolina so far. But he took it too far and messed with it, so he's not onto Hollywood. Why didn't he just sing without overdoing it? Argh.
23 made it to Hollywood. Ho-hum show. Next week it's onto Omaha. I hope they're more interesting.
A nod to diversity -- this is one of the front windows of a Texas Wieners restaurant in Plainfield, NJ. I have no idea what the line in Arabic says, but I think it may be touting grits (also on the menu, along with chitlins). You gotta love it, eh?
In today's TV Newsy Bits --
- I'll be posting another live blog American Idol post for tonight's South Carolina auditions show around 8 PM ET. Of course, you're all invited!
- Two of my articles hit the TV Squad screen today -- one is on Survivor 16 Micronesia spoilers and the other is a list of five things I've learned from television. If you don't want to see the spoilers, yet want to view the image gallery I created for the Survivor entry (no spoilers in the images although they're from the first episode), this is the link for the gallery.
- Julie Chen is a guest on tonight's Late Show with David Letterman. I'll report back if she lets anything good slip about the upcoming Big Brother season.
- The single dad in last night's American Idol auditions from San Diego, Perrie Cataldo, has an arrest record according to TMZ.com.
Today's musical non-sequitur:
And I swear
That I don't have a gun
No, I don't have a gun
No, I don't have a gun
-- "Come As You Are" by Nirvana
The show has started here in the East. Ah, the warm California sun, eh?
Tatiana With A Long Last Name is up, another blonde. She can sing, I'm sure she'll get through. Simon doesn't think she's as good as she thinks she is, but she makes it.
Lots of background stories this year -- sob stories, mostly. Now we have a single father named Perry Cataldo with an adorable child. And, yes. He can sing. He's through to Hollywood.
Michael Lee originally from Australia but now Los Angeles, sings an Otis Redding song -- "I've Been Loving You So Long." Good. Simon likes it -- like a white soul singer. He's not bad on the eyes, either. (I said that, not Simon.) He's through to Hollywood ... good thing he lives in LA.
Now it's time for a bad run of auditions. Pitiful, reallly.
A Mariah Carey fanatic is singing next -- Valerie Reyes. Uh-oh. It's as if I were singing! Yes! It's as if I was on stage! The really sad thing is she thinks she can sing.
It's gimmick time ... like that always works so well. Monique Gibson. Um. Horrible. She walks away crying. Her friend Christopher Baker is only slightly better than horrible. Enopugh air time for him, AI. Sheesh.
It's onto love for the judges. It's the Simon is hot bit. The girl is obsessed with him and she's just a few decades too young! Her sister sent a note for Simon via paper airplane. She gets to sit with the judges. Samantha, the sining sister, goes for an Aretha Franklin song. Not horrible. I don't think she's wondrous, but so much better than the other two. The judges were more impressed than I was.
Day Two of the auditions start -- Blake Boshnack, a frequent auditioner, the one who dressed as the Statue of Liberty in auditions a few seasons ago, it up. His mother supports him and gets him to the auditions. Very weird. Oh, my. He isn't totally terrible. Why was he gimmicking before? He's not good enough, but not horrible enough to dress as the Statue of Liberty. This is his 11th audition. He didnn't make it.
More really bad auditions with a never give up on your dream theme.
Now one of the Number One Fans is auditioning. Alberto Herdato (sp). Remember Stephen King's MISERY.
One thing about this show is they really are the epitome of cheesy. As the fan runs off waving his fan, they cut to a bald eagle in flight. No show can beat the cheese of American Idol. I miss "Seacrest Out."
A 16 year old who suffered vocal paralysis a while back, David Archuleta, is up. He's a young cutie and he can indeed sing. He could be a teenybopper to star for sure. He's onto Hollywood.
Another season five applicant who made it to Hollywood but didn't have her visa (she's from Ireland), Carly Smithson, is auditioning last. Her husband has interesting tattoos, but Paula likes her singing and so does Randy. Simon doesn't think she did as well as she did two years ago, but he's a yes, too. The girl from Ireland (visa in hand), is off to Hollywood.
30 others also made it through to Hollywood from the San Diego auditions. Tomorrow, it's the South Carolina auditions.
NJ Transit, it's the way to go. Now, if people didn't sleep in public places with no expectations of privacy, people like me wouldn't take photos of them. Commuting on the NJ train lines is, for the most part, something I enjoy. I've made train friends that I see off the train, there are other regulars I don't care for so much. My train friends tend to be going back and forth from work, as am I.
The train is its own microcosm of society. There are the laborers, the office folks, the methadone clinic travelers, the conductors and ticket takers, the tourists, the teens heading into the city to be cool, and the sports fans -- right now it's the NJ Devils hockey fans takeover of the evening trains which is most notable. My train friend Donald gets nervous when I scoff the really hyped-up Devils fans.
During tonight's ride home, we had a singer. That happens a lot on the subways because they expect people to pay them. But NJ Transit has a conductor (or assistant or ticket taker) in every car and no one bums money. This singer tonight was about four seats in back of me and sang with a soulful ON KEY voice. I was amazed how well he sang, but I didn't want to turn around and look. He went from "This Train is Bound for Glory" to "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime" with a few other songs in between. He knew all the lyrics and it was actually sort of neat. Normally I'm not one for noise on the train, but he could sing. The conductor smiled and told me he'd stop him, but he was so good he just couldn't bear to do it.
He got off at my stop. Huh. Here I pictured a rotund black guy behind the voice and it was instead a very tall skinny older white guy with a ZZ Topp kind of beard and scraggly long white hair. As he walked through the station, he let loose with a much louder voice as if he had been holding back ... "Breakin' up big rocks on the chain gang, breakin' rocks and servin' my time. Breakin' up big rocks on the chain gang, oh lord I've been committed of a crime ..." I've never seen him before today, but I wouldn't mind if he became a regular. It was a joy to hear him sing.
In today's TV Newsy Bits:
- Actor Heath Ledger, age 28, was found dead in the Broome Street apartment owned by Mary Kate Olsen (SoHo -- Manhattan) this afternoon. Sources are saying it looks like it might be a drug overdose. What a shame ...
- Tonight will be the San Diego auditions for American Idol. I'll be setting up an East Coast Update post on it approximately 8 PM ET. As always, your comments are welcome. I bet the train singer was better than any we'll see tonight, but I fear he's probably about 40 years too old.
- People asked how many entries I got for the book giveaway. Well, I went back and counted them -- 58. If I receive anything of interest, I could very well do this again. Hmmm ... maybe a few of my screeners I've received from networks?
- There's a plethora of Amazing Race interviews, some audio out and about. Buddy TV has an audio interview with Ronald and Christina while Reality TV World has a non-audio interview with them. TK and Rachel were interviewed here, and here, and here. There are more even. Yikes.
Today's musical not really non-sequitur:
This train don't carry no rustlers, this train
This train don't carry no rustlers, this train
This train don't carry no rustlers,
Sidestreet walkers, two bit hustlers,
This train is bound for glory, this train
-- "This Train is Bound for Glory" by Woody Guthrie
Yes! We have a winner!
Blog reader Jennasmom (who was out of town) has won a signed copy of Becky Anderson's novel IN STEREO WHERE AVAILABLE.
I should be finished reading my own copy tonight and get a review posted about the book later this week. If you're looking for a novel which ties in reality show doings and romance, too -- check it out! After all, it was written by an author who's as addicted to reality television shows as much as we are here.
The correct answers are:
1. Who was the first person ever booted on Survivor?
Sonja Christopher
2. RealNetworks has provided the live feeds for Big Brother since the second season. What company supplied the live feeds for the first season?
AOL
3. Which American Idol past contestant is slated to start a run in Broadway's Monty Python's Spamalot beginning January 18th?
Clay Aiken
4. What Amazing Race 5 contestant yelled that his ox was broken, thus giving the title for My OX IS BROKEN, the book?
Colin Guinn (although just Colin was acceptable, even "that jerk Colin" sufficed in one entry)
5. What is the name and real-life occupation of the Survivor contestant who, during the first season of the show, voted others off in alphabetical order?
Sean Kenniff - Neurologist (although doctor, etc. was fine)
Thank you all for entering!
