San Diego Auditions

Auditions were only an hour last night. No really stand out bad singers. For the most part, San Diego was boring.

Tetiana is a beautiful girl, long dark blonde locks – She sings "someone to watch over me" and she overdoes it. Simon tells her, "you're not as good as you think you are", but she goes through.

Perrie Cataldo of Phoenix, Arizona. Perrie is a single dad. His son, Arian's mother died in 2005 from, "being in the wrong place, wrong time, wrong people, doing the wrong thing, and she paid for it." In with the judges, he began to sing I’ll Make Love To You by Boyz II Men. He had a nice tone to his voice and he made it through.

Michael Lee Johns was the handsome Australian. Simon called him a white soul singer. I felt like he tried too hard. He sand Been Loving You Too Long. I felt like he really drug it out, but the judges loved him.

Valerie Reyes comes in and says that when she sings, people think she's playing a Mariah Carey CD. She has the hair over the one eye, typical of Mariah Carey. She lets it go and she's hideous. She goes in and out of notes. She sounds like she is sucking air. Simon tells her she sounds like a Mariah Carey CD that has been left out in the sun for year.

Monique and Christopher are friends who came to audition together. Monique comes in first, in a striped shirt, combat boots and tights. Simon tells her it looks as if she were dressed by 3 different people. She sings Whitney Houston, "I Believe in Miracles". It would have taken a miracle for her to get through. She cracks and gargles through a few notes before they laugh at her and tell her, definately, "NO!" Her friend, Christopher is up next. He says he's been singing his whole life. He sings "The Greatest Love of All" and is just as bad. They have to call security to get him out the door.

Samantha Musa was next – she was accompanied by her sister. Both girls are in love with Simon (as am I) Simon invites the sister to be a 4th judge and has her sit on his lap. Samantha sings "until you come back to me' and she's pretty good. I like her voice. It's sultry and strong.
All four judges said YES, and so it’s off to Hollywood for Samantha.

Blake Boshnack has auditoned 11 times. He was the Statue of Liberty during season 5. His mother has driven him to all these auditions and she's here with him again. I think his gimmicks have kept him from being taken seriously. He actually has a decent voice, but he's become a joke, due to his costumes and several attempts.

Alberto Hurtado had long curly hair and longer nails. He obviously had mental issues. He reminded me of Tiny Tim. He lives in his mom's basement. He had a Fairy Barbie and came in with a large green fan that read, "Big American Idol Fan". He wrote his own song. He was awful and strange and he was shown running off, skipping through the lilies.

David Archuleta is a 16 year old who suffered vocal paralysis several years back. He also was the winner of Star Search at the age of 12. He sang Waiting On The World To Change. He was confident and had a great tone to his voice. Because of his age and good looks, I predict the teenyboppers will keep him around for a long time.

Carly Smithson. She was the one with the boyfriend who had such a slew of tattoos on his head, it was impossible to see his features at all. According to Rickey.org, Carly Smithson has been hyped up for 2 years. American Idol knew about her since Season 5 when she auditioned in Las Vegas, and most likely knew about her long before that. In 2000, Carly Smithson signed a 6-album recording contract with MCA Records (Vivendi Universal) — a major label. Not your independent Hickory Records let’s record our own CD at home label. An actual recording contract that thousands of American Idol hopefuls aspire for. In 2001 Carly Smithson said: “Some people just struggle. I was very, very lucky.” You THINK? Carly Smithson received a $100,000 advance for her first album, plus $5,000 a month in living expenses while the album was being made. She recorded her first CD “Ultimate High” for 2 years, and MCA Records spent a total of $2.2 million on recording, promotion, making a video, and Carly Smithson’s living expenses and her car. Carly Smithson’s CD was a flop. Her debut single “I’m Gonna Blow Your Mind” alluded to oral sex, and just didn’t catch on with anyone. She sold 378 copies.
Now Carly Smithson is on American Idol crying that this could be her year. Her story on television is that she was disqualified and this was her second chance. But we know her real story. And one more thing: one of Carly Smithson’s songs on her album, “Just Missed the Train” was covered by none other than Kelly Clarkson on her debut album “Thankful”.

Honestly, what makes Idol so fun is the undiscovered talent, like Elliott Yamin, the Pharmacy worker, who had no experience and no fan base.

Carly's tattoos are distracting and I didn't feel like her voice was all that.

I'm still loving Farm Boy from last week, and the Britney impersonator.

Can't wait for the Hollywood rounds.