JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum American Idol 2009

Bathing suit.
Was there anything else memorable?

I'm sure she's still in to keep the guys watching.

I liked the last guy's performance best of all.

I like the nerdy guy who sang James Ingrams'--"Baby Come to Me" and was pitch perfect and Ms. Happy. So far none except the blind guy were memorable. Also the Oil Rig worker guy was good. I did not expect that voice to come out of his body. He was good.

Have you noticed that when they actually go to the contestants home and interview the family and have a look at there life--they are usually put through to the next round--Hollywood.

I missed it and forgot to TIVO. Glad you all are here to keep me posted!!

Just got through watching Idol. The last girl from Memphis blew them all out of the water. The band teacher and the music teacher who lost his wife were other good standouts too. This show has become so unpredictable that I wonder how this season will be....

I wasn't impressed with memphis at all (other than the three you pointed out). It was interesting seeing Jason castro's little brother audition. Unlike his older brother, he doesn't have dreadlocks. He went for the more modern, dead parrot on my head look.

Memphis? You mean Kansas City?

I thought Jason Castro's brother sounded better than Jason.

Although Simon still managed to throw in one or two cruel comments (sounded like a "cat falling from the Empire State Building"), generally, he's a bit more reserved this year - as well he should be.

Some people still have a hard time with rejection. Better they're out of the race now...

I thought Kansas City was better than Phoenix overall.

I think the editing is a bit nicer this year, not the judges. It's clear after the suicide that they wanted to tone down the negativity. All the promos and non judging segments have been WAY more popular. They filled in some of the brutal attacks with retrospective clips of previous years and idol winners (and even losers). That appears to me to be because they couldn't rely on the footage already shot as much and since the judges stuff was mostly taped before the death, they had to be creative.

When they get to Hollywood, where I think they were when the death happened, it will be interesting to see how they act. But there will only be a handful of really bad contestants still in the running (the put through a few obviously terrible singers already as they always seem to do).

I don't think the new judge has added anything to the show. It's not because she COULDN'T.. she's way more in tune with reality than the other 3 including Simon, but Simon's role is to be the logical one and the others to be comic foils. I can't figure out what her real purpose is yet other than a fail safe for an ultimate Paula meltdown that would have left them with 2 judges. I think she's insurance. I will say, however, that unlike Paula, she can definitely SING. I enjoyed the segment where she was throwing down some vocals with the contestent. Randy has producing chops (and can play some bass) but it was nice to see a real singer (who is also a huge songwriter) on the panel. Though I actually liked Paula's music when it was out, she was a studio creation.

Brian

Memphis, Kansas City they're about the same.
Besides, I was just going with the flow from the previous post.

I think Jason's brother has a stronger, less whispy voice, but not one of the best.

I think I was in the same location as where the auditions were held in Phoenix years ago. Some of the quick shots of the landscape looked like the Desert Botanical Gardens.
http://www.dbg.org/

And Brian, I remember Randy as a bass player. Most of the bass samples from the ENSONIQ AS-Series keyboards were from Randy. He was one of the session guys we used for the sound sets way back when.

Bikini girl can sing! She may want to try to stretch out the clothing though, wear some of it. She'll be another version of the girl on Nashville Star, "you only say how hot I am and don't care that I can sing, I deserve respect!!" (while she's wearing Daisy Dukes and a tube top) Bikini girl needs some clothes, some one send her to the Salvation Army, please, she's gonna freeze, it is January after all!

Kara, new judge, I like her, she's got talent, great vocals. I do think she can calm down just a notch and know this chick will be clothed (although probably not fully) for her next shot on stage.

My favorites were the music teacher, and the mom at the end last night, least favorites, the little guy who begged and begged, he could probably do well, if he calmed down, but the song choice wasn't good. Other least fave......the little blond, she could also probably do well, but I think she could have sang soemthing better.
I did like the little brother although, he seemed a bit feminine for the persona he was trying to portray. Anyway.....

I liked the music teacher who lost his wife...and a few others that I can't remember...I like the new judge, nice to have a true songwriter up there...and she's pretty, too ! !

A few good singers - of course we didn't hear them all, it was edited for "entertainment value". Kara is very talented - I heard her speak at the 2007 TAXI Road Rally.

I will be doing my "My Take on American Idol" blog again this season - subscribe now, lol -

http://myvote-americanidol.blogspot.com/

I thought Bikini girl had a nice voice, too, but my wife totally disagreed and insisted that only the GUY judges liked her...the gals didn't. She "accused" her of being part Veela (see Harry Potter) and simply distracted the males from hearing how bad a singer she really was.

We shall see if she can really sing once she gets to Hollywood and has to wear more than 12 square inches of cloth. She certainly seemed good enough to be sent to Hollywood..

I also liked the teacher who lost his wife. My bet is he will be a top 12 contender.

Larry,
that's exactly why the girl should have been dressed for the audition! She does have a decent voice, with all the drama I think that got over shadowed though.
I think among the top 6 will be the music teacher, the band instructor, the mom with the tornado damage and the big guy.

We'll see the next few weeks of who makes it through. I think that bikini girl gave herself a tougher road by her attire, now she really has more to prove.

Well, TIVO has updated me now (no better way to watch it!) but I think the editing made it more interesting. Too soon to tell really, but I'm surprised no one mentioned the guy who sang Over the Rainbow...Von somebody...while he was too loud, he seems like he has an interesting voice.

I also liked the blonde girl who had no family with her and when asked why she hadn't made it yet by Simon, she said: "I haven't stepped into the right opportunity."

Kara is fiesty. I like watching them bicker.

I didn't hear anyone from San Fran that wowed me. Toward the end of the show they flew thru about 3 or 4 people that they showed moved on to Hollywood, and from the few seconds that you could hear, I think one of them was good.
The best was again, the one that appeared the most mature - the guy that cared for his mom.

Me either, and they only got 12 people from San Francisco? That's half of what they got in Kansas City.

It looks like Kara and Simon are going to be interesting to watch - she calls him out when he's being an a-hole (which is pretty often).

The other weird thing is I thought the age limit was 28, but there was a 29-year-old (with the kids who came into the audition room), so I guess they changed the rules.

This weeks shows were kind of a let down for me. On Tuesday night the first two contestants where not that good and they got the golden ticket and the guy with the two kids--come on. The funniest line was the guy who when questioned about his hair color said, "the carpet matches the drapes" and started unbuttoning his clothes to show them. The last guy on Tuesday who was taken care of his mother he was good. And Wednesday the only one that stood out was Joanne--she was the one Kara recognized from a record deal that fell through.

I was a little confused why Brent Keith was on Idol tonight. My wife and I know him pretty well (she used to babysit him), and thought he was already signed to Combustion Music. He was also a finalist on Nashville Star a few years ago.

Interesting.

Maybe he's been let go from his label? The rulse only state that they can't have a CURRENT record deal.

Altho the audition shows sometimes are fun, and/or wierd, and/or make you shake your head.... IMO the show doesn't really begin til they've whittled it down to the top 50 or less.

I was too tired to watch it the other night, so I set up the recorder. Yesterday, tried to watch the recorded program and saw 15 minutes of a "Technical difficulties" screen, and then they replaced the remainder of the show with a different one - "Fringe" I think.

I think it's God's fault with the weather and all. He doesn't want me worshipping any idols.

I thought there were a couple of contenders in Salt Lake City. Wow...what an exuberant bunch! Must be all that mountain air.

Tonight will be the last two cities before Hollywood: New York City, and San Juan.

There's gotta be like 100-150 people going to Hollywood.


...as an aside. I tried to get tickets this year to one of the weekly shows (I went to the finale with Taylor Hicks in Season Five), but they have removed all the chairs and are making the audience stand the entire time, so I declined.

I don't think they can get rid of the seats at the Kodak Theatre though (the Hollywood auditions).

I liked the gal that sang kinda musical theatre-ish, i forget her name...They all really liked her and Simon said he'd remember her out of everybody

I liked the nerdy James Ingram guy too ;D

Last night was the first Hollywood round. The only person that stood out to me was the music teacher who had lost his wife. He sang Kiss From A Rose... They only showed a small amount of the talent that made it through to the next round---group week.

my gosh...people were completely coming apart at the seams tonight on group night! it was sort of like watching what happens to bands over a series of years happen on turbo-speed in just a few hours!

i have mixed feelings about the show. it seems to be cruelty and semi-abuse as entertainment which is a weird thing that's popular - like certain talk radio shows or the chef that goes around screaming at everyone. i'm not sure what the appeal is or how much it uplifts us, but i like the non-cruel judges and wow Kara has an astounding voice, what a treat when she sang - so soulful.

Yeah, it was interesting how the judges commented on the actions of the people after they had been judged.

On a personal note, it was sad to see bikini girl and Rose (the hippie girl) leave.

I love the group that covered the QUEEN song too. Fantastic harmonies and they all worked really well together.

Last night they cut to the top 54. My personal favorites are:
1. Danny Gokey
2. Adam Lambert
3. Anoop Desai
4. Jasmine Guy
5. Matt Giraud
6. Micheal Sayber--the construction guy

I haven't started memorizing the names yet, but there are some real talents this year. The top 12 are all going to be hot - I haven't heard any that will be as bad as the worst of the top 12 last year. In looking over last year's top 12, it was hard to believe that some actually made it that far.

I really liked the guy who sang Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance".

There seems to be more guys singing well than gals at this point - unless it's just the editing.

Right, the boys seem to be blowing the girls away this year. So far none of the girls have been impressive. I like Jasmine Guy because she has a memorable voice.

Hooray!!!!!

All my favorites made it into the top thirty-six....

1. Danny Gokey
2. Adam Lambert
3. Anoop Desai
4. Jasmine Guy
5. Matt Giraud
6. Micheal Sayber--the construction guy

Thaks for keeping me up to date. Last night at 7:30, we had heavy rains followed by hail then the power went off. Just came back on after 14 hours, so I completely missed the show.

Redlady...

I agree with Adam (what a high tenor!), Danny and Anoop - all have a good shot at the top 12. Matt wasn't memorable to me; I think you mean Michael Sarver - who is also pretty darn good.

The only one of the judge's choices I disagreed with strongly was Nathaniel Marshall, the whiney, crying pimple-faced kid with the body piercings and terrible taste in clothes. He's simply not that good of a singer and isn't charismatic, but still made it to the top 36.

I thought Danny Gokey's buddy (who also had a few body piercings) was a way better singer than Nathaniel, but they didn't put him through. Nathaniel will make for "better TV", no doubt. He'll probably be this year's Sanjaya.

I even agreed with the Paula that America will either love or hate Nick Mitchell (the guy who can't figure out which persona he wants to be) - he's definitely NOT my cup of tea, but who knows how the vote will go. He actually is a decent singer though, so we'll have to see.

Tatiana was the other one that stuck out for me. Yeah, she's pretty ditzy, but she's got a heck of a voice. I just question her emotional maturity. She's acts like she's 15, but is 23.

Those are the most memorable ones to me. Now they'll do groups of 12 to narrow it down from the 36.

I have to agree with you about Titiana but I estimate the age to be 3 or 4 years old. I had to remind myself that this a TV show that is more concerned with what makes their version of good TV. Nathaniel and Tatiana make good drama for their ratings. Sometimes when they make decision like this I know this is about the all mighty dollars. Oh yes how in the world did Norm (identity crisis guy) make it to the final 36?

Danny i think is gonna win it. he's got a great story, is likeable and holds up great under pressure, and has a unique voice - not just a great voice.

i have to say, his best friend is one of most quality, level-headed people i've ever seen. what a great attitude about just about everything. i loved his vocals too...was surprised he didn't make it through but don't think he'd win.

i really like stevie a ton as a person.

is there a betting pool? - ha ha! proceeds go to JPF donations.

probably illegal.

I like Adam and Danny the best too...Jamar (Danny's buddy) should never has lost out to either of the gay boys.

JPF member Kristin McNamara is in the Top 36. She was also a finalist on Nashville Star season 4. That's 2 Nashville Star finalists in the Top 36. I bet if Chris Young had gone to American Idol instead of Nashville Star he would have won that too.

I personally like Anoop a lot. I think Adam Lambert has that predictable Disney High School Musical look and vibe (sort of Zac Efron's looks meets Clay Aiken's musical and personality vibe). The legally blind artist sings as well as Daughtry (he was the only one to sing a former Idol song who matched (almost too perfectly) the original. I doubt Daughtry could have sang his own song as well when he was actually on the show. (Daughtry has developed his skills a great deal since then). The downside is that I haven't heard a lot of original sounding artists in the clips shown yet. A lot of typical Pop/R&B power vocals like every year.. a couple country singers.. a couple rock edged singers, but very little new. I am looking forward to them actually singing against each other so we can actually hear ALL of them (a few of these finalists have barely been shown if at all).

I was also glad to see the obvious plant taken out of the process. There's several others with direct connections still in it, but apparently that girl was so blatantly an insider even the shameless AI couldn't do it with a straight face.

Brian

Hi Guys

The first 12 of the thirty-six performed last night. I felt sorry for most of them they picked the wrong songs to sing. The three that stood out were Ricky Braddy, Anoop Dessai and Danny Gokey. Danny was last one to sing and was by far the most outstanding. He has a natural talent that just blows you away.

I thought Alexi Grace (I think that's her name) did surprisingly well. Looks like she came out of her shell and did a fine performance. Of the females which were all weak, I liked her the best. My top three from last night would be her along with Anoop and Danny.

i like the woman that kicked it off... the very first one. but it doesn't seem like there's much of a contest this year, everyone loves danny so much. no one else seems to have that much command of their music, he completely connects to it and owns it. everyone else looks like they are singing someone else's song and it's not really in their body or soul.

i was impressed and somewhat surprised by tatiana last night.

Tue Feb 17/09 – 1st group of 12

Here's my assessment. Bear in mind that, altho I've watched all the programs up til now, this is the first time I've really taken a close look at the contestants. Hope I got the names right. As a voice teacher I'm listening for vocal strengths & weaknesses - but I cannot eliminate performance from my observations.

3/10 – Jackie Tohn
Clips of Jackie screaming before and after her auditions made me cringe. Not a healthy thing for a singer to be doing at any time. I felt the whole performance was overdone – skin tight pants, played the clown is right. However, it was entertainment – cabaret style. American Idol style? I don’t think so. On the good side, there’s nothing wrong with the voice itself, and she was a good choice for a show opener.

8/10 – Ricky Brady
I felt this was a well presented performance. The voice has “bloom”, solid tone, good range.

7/10 – Alexis Grace
I wasn’t sure about this song choice. The voice was solid and the performance was good.

6.5/10 – Brent Keith
Song had a nice groove, I agreed with Kara that the song didn’t show off all his abilities. He has good tone & I’d like to hear him do something more edgy.

2/10 – Stevie Wright
Unfortunately Stevie was very nervous – and it’s hard to judge a performance like that. When we are nervous, our breath doesn’t work properly – that’s why we sound flat. She needs to work on centering herself, and choosing songs that have flowing phrases that give her time to breath and settle in. Don’t know if she’ll get the chance this season, though.

4/10 – Anoop Desai
Very nice voice, lovely texture, solid tone. I wasn’t sure the song really showed him off, and it could be that some butterflies caused the occasional pitch issue.

2.5/10 – Casey Carlson
I felt the song was in a key that was too low for her. It didn’t sit in the part of her tessitura that would bring the voice to life. Very safe, rather boring song, and some pitch issues.

6/10 – Michael Sarver
Good song choice, nice vocals, good presence on stage. Not thrilling but solid.

3.5/10 -- Ann Marie B
I thought this was a boring (yes, “irrelevant”) song choice. I didn’t connect with the verse, it felt like she was trying too hard in the chorus to make it work (pick a song that has that IN it, so you don’t have to manufacture it), I felt the performance was over the top and just short of pitchy. However, the voice is a nice one.

5/10 -- Steven Fowler
Nice vocals, but kind of old fashioned disco song, would like to hear something more current.

6.75/10 – Tatiana DT
She’s kooky but she does have pipes and I was surprised to hear a pretty solid performance from her. I thought it was a good song choice, it showed her range. Won me over a little.

9/10 -- Danny Gokey
Good song choice, naturally we’re all moved by what he’s been through, but also I think he really related to the song and brought it out. I thought he was the best of the night.

I think Danny, Ricky and Alexis should be the 3 from this show that move on to the top 12.
Honourable mention: Tatiana

I totally agree Vickster...you nailed it

OK... They just picked the top 3 from the first group.
Michael Sarver beat Anoop Desai--your kidding right but---no 20,000 vote got Michael into the top 12. Country music fans have spoken. I felt Ricky or Anoop would have been better choices. I felt sorry for Tatiana. I hope they offer her some counseling or she may be another show causality.

What amazes me is that some of these contestants let one show or one setback stop them. It makes me wonder if they really have a passion for their music. You do not have to win to have a career in music. Look at Chris Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson and Elliot Yemen, Kelli Pickler and Michael Johns who has a album coming out. They did not let their lose stop them. They kept right on doing what they loved. I hope Ricky and Anoop follow their example and keep their passion for music.

The three picked tonight were the ones we expected to go through. They were likable and their performances good.

I agree song choices hurt many of the 12.

Tatiana's performance last night was better than I expected - she does have a voice - but with this show in particular, to win you must get America to VOTE for you - which they won't do on talent and hard work alone; you have to be likable. Hopefully she'll continue on down the road, and figure out how to work with people.

OK.... I'll be glad when we get to the Top 12.
For the record, I hate the elimination shows. I just want to know who stayed. Skip the drama. :-)

Linda

I was pretty close. What happens in the wild card show, though? Will those with closest votes get to sing again?

I think the wildcard show is strictly Judges pick ! ! I don't know how it will work, exactly.

Hi kids,

Have only a minute, but I happen to know the answer to this! Here's what's going to happen:

There will be two more weeks where groups of 12 perform on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday elimination night "we" will pick the top female, top male, and the contestant with the next highest number of votes. This will get us up to 9 contestants for the Top 12.

THEN on Thursday of that third week there will be a special "Wild Card" show, where it is in fact strictly up to the judges to choose the final 3 contestants for the Top 12.

I do not know if there will be any contestant singing...(maybe except for those chosen, like last night)....

Anyway, dinners on, hope to catch up with everyone later....

Beth

I wonder if they’ll pick one contestant from each of the three groups/weeks? If so, too bad cuz my son liked Anoop and I was disappointed that Ricky Braddy didn’t get through. None of the girls were really memorable to me this week.

The guy who sang best Ricky never had a chance to move on by popular vote even though he outsang the rest. He had no face time (something even Paula alluded to) and when it's this format (one and done) it didn't matter how well he did. It's a clever way for the show to manipulate things and make the audience think they are getting who they want rather than who was edited properly by the producers to get votes during the run up. The fact that, if Beth is correct, they will hand pick the final 3 further guarentees that their inside picks, even if not chosen by the voters as hoped, will still get in. This will be by far the most manipulated top 12 ever.

As for Danny Gokey, he's certainly pleasing enough, but his performance Wednesday was rough at best. Simon actually was correct when he said that he wasn't quite on the bandwagon and hysteria behind Danny. He was certainly set up as a can't fail final 12 contestant and he sang well enough to move forward (talk about lack of suspense) but he's pretty reminiscent of a previous grey haired winner with a husky bluesy voice.. they should be careful what they wish for.

Michael Sarver was pleasant enough (whoever said he was "Country" hasn't paid much attention, he's been singing pop/r&b in each episode so far) but a boring prospect as an "American Idol" for sure. It seems every season they have a guy like him and he rumbles along a bit and then disappears. I'd expect more of the same again.

The show on Tuesday was pretty disappointing overall. It started strong and I thought "hmmm.. this might not be bad" and then it crashed. Then I remembered how they usually sequence things.. strong to start and then their favorites to finish and it was clear who was going to go last even before we knew who it was. Tatiana was there for pure comic relief and she actually disappointed them by being reserved. And that set up with her and Danny at the end of Wednesday was all theater.. did anyone actually think Danny wasn't winning the male slot? Especially after they spilled the beans and said that Anoop was 20K behind Michael. That made it painfully obvious that Danny had won since there's no way he finished 3rd.

In the end, we'll pretty much have the 12 people the AI producers want us to have in the finals. All of this has been a facade to make us think it was up to the public. Sure, if someone really takes off in the public vote, they'll be happy to bump one of their favorites out of a slot, but the way it's already been edited, it's unlikely for that to have a chance to happen. We saw week 1 that the strongest male voice had pretty much no chance (he at least finished 4th on the male side or worse). Even if folks thought Danny was the best male singer, does anyone really think Ricky wasn't the second best voice?

Expect more of the same in the coming weeks.

Brian

Michael Sarver? C'mon, the guy was boring. Really, he's a bar band singer at best. Anoop blew him away as did Ricky. I agreed with Simon though that Ricky, although technically a good singer, didn't have the "wow" factor persona-wise. He just didn't connect, IMHO. Call it charisma or the "x" factor, but I liked his voice, but couldn't see him as an Idol. Anoop picked a song that didn't show off his voice - a mistake MANY made.

Yeah, we all knew Danny would get in, but I was actually thinking Tatiana might have made it too - simply for the controversial press it would provide. I know Simon doesn't like her, but she still could get in with the wild card if the "girls" have pity on her...she IS wearing a Paula ring, right? She will kiss whatever booty she has to in order to get back on...I predict we haven't seen the last of her.

Alexis sang well, looked good, picked a soulful song, is likable, and as Simon put it, is a "complete package". I think she could be another Pink. I bet she ends up in the top 5 or better. She even sang better Wednesday than on Tuesday. Obviously, she's my fave at the moment.


...and I hope Kara starts adding something to the panel besides, "I agree with Randy".