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The departure of Paula Abdul left a vacant seat for audition rounds (Ellen DeGeneres will take over in Hollywood), and that means guest-stars will be rotating in, making AI9 feel like a bit like The Love Boat. Awesome.
Kara DioGuardi, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell (who is leaving after this season to produce the US version of X-factor) brought their swift justice to the Northeast and found 9000 rain-soaked accents with muffin tops ready for a beating in Boston.
Nearby Berklee College of Music coughed up some well-trained voices like "It" girl, Ashley Rodriguez, while Mick Jagger-meets-Justin Guarini doppelganger Tyler Grady fell out of a tree and thought, 'Let's Get It On.'
Maddy Curtis, a sweet sixteener with 11 brothers and sisters did Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' proud, Leah Laurenti brought the 'Blue Skies' and Amadeo Diricco made the judges an offer they couldn't refuse with his big voice, good vibes, and extended Rhode Island family.
We met 18-year-old Mike Davis, a Beatles enthusiast who drives a tour boat named Codzilla (and asked Kara to go out on a date to get steaks), Katie Stevens, a Portuguese teen with a sick grandmother and a voice like warm honey, Bosa Mora and his musical family of Nigerians, Justin Williams, a jazzy, cancer-survivor from Utah, and a cartoon hallucination named Norberto Guerro that sang like a strange child, dressed like Latoya at Hot Topic, and sported a black mane of curly, glam-metal hair and a patchy beard. We love him.
The award for Boston's Best Worst Attitude went to the oddly attractive and Clark Kent-ish Andrew Fenlon, who's psycho energy overshadowed his hypnotic and
AMERICAN IDOL: Guest Mary J, Blige joins (L-R) Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, (Blige) and Simon Cowell on AMERICAN IDOL airing on FOX. CR: Michael Becker / FOX.
Two days of auditions netted two hours of television, 29.8 million viewers and 32 pieces of paper gold.
Wednesday was Mary J. day, and Ms. Blige did her thing in Atlanta (birthplace of Ryan Seacrest). Here's what you need to know about Mary J. Blige -- she makes a terrible straight man.
Her laughing fits and outbursts patched together long periods of looking irritated and like she wanted to stab everyone with the dullest, hardest object she could find. When she chimed in to offer feedback, it was either delicious hateration (like stating flatly, "I don't get it," followed by a sneer) or untraditional praise (like "it was anointed," and "you're exalting yourself")
ATL was all over the place with the bridge-jumping country girl from Tennessee who sang like a wobbly Dolly and earned her very first "aero-plane" ride, a perky blonde dressed up like a guitar who sang Loretta Lynn, Jermain Sellers and his church-going vocals, and the 62-year-old General who, despite being beyond contestant age, was permitted to do a memorable, hand-clapping original called, 'Pants On The Ground.'
There was Bryan Walker the singing cop, a Snoop-voiced dude who and called himself "Skii Bo Ski," real-life Miss Congeniality, and some natural talent from South Dakota named Mallorie Haley.
Of course no tryout is complete with an aggressive meltdown, and ATL's anger-management candidate is one Lamar Royal who had the judges diving under the table as he was escorted out by security in a rage of bleeped obscenities.
25 peaches are through to the next round. 26.4 million watched it happen.
Tune in next week when the Super Friends blow smoke up the windy city -- American Idol 9 is headed to Chicago....
Andrew Fenlon - House of the Rising Sun
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