Idol Review – Blogging American Idol 9

LALALA, and a cat fight to boot!

January 27th, 2010

W e have gone from the fantasy land of Orlando, to the LALA land of Los Angeles.  I would assume that the hopefuls would be plentiful considering the amount of people trying to make it in LA.  Only time will tell, though!

First up is Jim Ranger, a pastor and family man with three kids!  He sings an original song called Drive.  I thought he was pretty good.  The only objection from the judges panel was Miss Levigne, who said that it was tough in this business when you ahve a family.  It was really nice to have her opinion as I can imagine that she understands the reality of the industry much more than anyone else on the panel tonight.  Despite Avril’s objection, Jim makes it through to Hollywood, and I look forward to seeing him again.

Mary Powers sang Pat Benetar, and I loved this!  She already scores high for having chosen this song for the audition.  I think her look was cool, even though Simon thought she was cliche. I think if she picks the right songs, she could go far.  So I look forward to seeing her (and her precocious daughter) again, as well.

Andrew Garcia sang Sunday Morning, and also has a kid (three for three so far).  his parents were in gangs.  I thought his voice was kind of cool, too, but not as good as the other two tonight.

Tasha Layton sang Baby Baby Baby by Joss Stone and I really enjoyed her vibe.  I’m not sure how far she will go, but at least she seems to be doing something slightly different.  My favorite part of the audition, however, is the Katy vs. Kara bitchfight.  Kara needs to be put in er place, and I’m glad Katy was arguing with her.  Someone needs to be challenging the ridiculous things coming from the judging panel, such as voting for them because of their backstory (“this isn’t a lifetime movie, Kara”).  I only hope that Ellen can be equally as bitchy (she won’t) and I vote for Katy to come on the show again in the future.

The last audition featured was from Chris Golightly, and the only thing that Randy can do was start making fun of his name (“Golightly, Chris!)  Honestly, the judges are continually adding nothing valid to these critiques!  Anyway, I thought Chris was good, and I think he is one of those voices that can grow in the competition.  He has a good Justin Guarini-esque look, and we will see how he does in Hollywood.

I know I do this every year, but my frustration with these audition episodes needs to be bitched about.  So be forewarned.  I hate that they still continue to put on this sham that the “arena” auditions and the “judges” auditions happen on the same day.  I hate that they don’t disclose that there are at least four or five auditions before you even hit the judges. And I hate that in an hour-long episode, you can only feature five of 20 singers that make it through to Hollywood.

I am, however, appreciative of the new audition to the AI website of the little interviews of ALL of the Hollywood-bound contestants.  That way, I can at least get a feel for everyone that made it, despite lack of screen time (and find out that Rose Flack and Frankie Jordan made it to Hollywood again).  At least it is something.

Also, with Simon’s impending departure at the end of this season, I think they should do a clean sweep of the panel ousting Randy, too.  I’m not sure what Kara’s situation is contract-wise, but to shake this thing up might be a good thing.  Comments that are valuable and substantive would be preferable.

OK, rant over.

And again, my Wednesday blogging will be really late.  I am still dealing with the no-DVR situation.

Entry Filed under: idol news