"American Idol" - Jan. 20, 2009

[W-OLF]

"American Idol" - Jan. 20, 2009

San Francisco Auditions

Ryan gives us a history lesson on previous San Francisco "Idol" hopefuls including Katharine McPhee and William Hung as we see the judges arrive and the lines of auditioners including a couple who got married in line.

We meet Tatiana from San Juan who is wearing an ugly grey and brown dress with a weird veil-like bottom. She is a giggler who claims a psychic told her that she would make the top 12. She brings her DVD/CD portfolio for the judges. They look through the "naughty" pictures. She sings "I've Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" by Aretha Franklin, she's actually not terrible with a little soulful rasp to her voice. Simon thinks she shouldn't have sung that song and that she would do a lot of things well but not singing. She tries to sing "I'm Your Baby, Tonight" by Whitney Houston and gives Simon attitude as she clutches her heart. As Simon tries to talk she bursts into the original song again. Paula says yes. Randy says she's not the big R&B singer she thinks she is but says yes because she's wild and he likes it. Kara doesn't think she has the vocals but she likes her vibe. She's through. Although Simon points out that it wasn't because of her vocals. She leaves and says she's going to win. And then she giggles some more.

We get a montage of people in funky clothes with equally funky voices including a guy who beatboxes as he sings.

We meet Dean who is wearing an ugly plaid jacket. Randy claims he loves it. He sings "Stars" by Simply Red. It is not pretty either vocally or facially. Randy laughs and mocks his facial expressions. They turn him down. Dean leaves and tells Ryan it was the coat's fault.

We meet Jesus who is a family man. His kids convinced him to audition, they wait outside with other family members. He sings some generic hip-hop soul, they stop him. Simon says he seems nice but that he won't win. Paula and Kara claim he doesn't have a bad voice. Simon says that it's in the girls hands then and they both realize that seeing his kids will melt their hearts. The kids come in with their handmade signs and they are adorable as expected. Randy asks Jesus to sing for his kids. He does a bit of "Unchained Melody." He's not a knockout but he's not awful and Paula, Kara, and Randy put him through. The kids go wild, one of them hugs Simon, even though he said no. The family outside is thrilled.

We get more montages of folks in line and waiting outside the audition room including a super low-key guy named Dalton who solves Rubiks' Cubes superfast. They clock him and he solves it in 24 seconds. He enters the audition room and massacres "Ooh Baby Baby" by Smokey Robinson. Randy laughs. He admits he's never sung in front of people before. Paula asks if Dalton's a fan of the show. He says Simon keeps it interesting. The other judges laught at this. They turn him down but Simon says he's shown great intelligence.

We meet another bad singer named James who the judges egg on as he murders a ballad while singing to Paula.

We get generic shots of the "Summer of Love" and the Haight-Ashbury district. Then we cut to clips of the "brewing feud" between Simon and Kara. They disagree about things, he tries to shut her down, she sasses him back.

We meet Akeelah who has shown up with anatomy photos of lungs, larynxes and other vocal stuff that is supposed to teach gospel singers how to sing. She can't pronounce words like "larynx" and "trachea" and apparently we are supposed to find this hilarious. She brings songs she wrote into the audition. She's going to sing her original song "Make Sweet Love." Simon says she has a naughty face as she hands her diagrams and things to Kara and Paula. She sings her song, she has an odd voice. Simon says the song is horrible. She switches to "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman." She hits a bad note and realizes it and begs to try again. She says she sang from the wrong rectum. They try to shut her down. She says she's overenthusiastic about meeting famous people and talks about how great each judge is. They say singing isn't going to work for her. She argues some more with them. Then she tries to sing again. Simon says every song sounds the same. Kara comes and hugs her and send her off. Kara wants to know why they yell at certain people at let other people go on and on. Akeelah leaves and tells Ryan she thinks she was off because of the judges. She can't believe they made her feel like one of those auditioners that can't sing.

We see a montage of people getting golden tickets and a few that can sing adn a few that can't. They say yes to all the people we see, some of whom didn't seem all that impressive.

We meet Annie who is a multi-instrumentalists who also scats. She vacillates on what to sing and then starts to sing "Summertime," horribly. Kara calls it so overdone. Simon says it was like she was drunk. They send her on her way.

We meet Adam whose been singing since childhood in the musical theatre. He;s been in the cast of "Wicked" for the past year and a half. He sings Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," the slow part. He's heaving and very musical theatre. Paula likes him. Simon thinks he's theatrical. Kara asks if he's a good singer. Randy likes him too. They put him through, unanimously. Paula calls him the best they've seen in any city. Ironically he's actually from Hollywood.

Tonight's Inspirational Story comes from Kai who has put his musical dreams and romantic life on hold to care for his seizure-disorder-stricken mom. We see him caring for her and she talks about how hard it is for her to know he's sacrificing for her. She tearfully expresses her pride. He talks about how much he loves her. It's sweet. In the audition he sings "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" by the Platters. He's a baritone with power but he's a little pitchy but totally workable. He's supercute though and probably very nervous. Simon thinks he has a good voice but has a personality of a ship singer. Paula likes him. Kara agrees on the voice and says he can work on personality. Simon interrupts her with a yes or no. Kara stands up to Simon. They all put him through. Simon tells Kai to watch him on the show for confidence. Kai calls his mom, the other hopefuls clap and smile for him. Kai wants to spread love across the world.

The judges clap for San Francisco. Twelve people were put through.

Credit IMDB.

[DUKE NUKEM]

thanks for this Wolf