American Idol 2009 Week 3 Program 1: Jacksonville
The show opened with Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell sharing a car to the Jacksonville auditions. [I couldn’t help but notice that there I would have fit nicely in between the two of them on the back seat of that car, but I digress…!] Ryan was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt with folded back cuffs loose over black or dark wash jeans. We never seem to get a good shot of his shoes, but they looked like black and white canvas. Simon couldn’t let Ryan do his opening link in peace and tried to get him to say “here we are in Florida” in a regular voice and without gesticulating. Totally loved it! All shows should start with a little Ryan and Simon banter!
Jacksonville Auditions
Twelve thousand people turned up to audition in Jacksonville. The first contestant through to see the judges was Joshua Ulloa who said he enjoyed being compared to Justin Guarini because it made him more memorable. His performance was a little weird and it looked like he had strange ticks going on, but he had a soulful voice despite the abysmal delivery. Simon thought parts of it were good, parts were gimmicky and corny and likened him to Inspector Gadget. Randy called it crazy but liked it, and ultimately all four judges said ‘yes’.
The next contestant, Sharon Wilbur, brought her Shitzu, Sasha, along – probably to distract well-known animal lover Simon. The dog sat yawning on Simon’s lap throughout the audition – not a good sign if your cheerleader finds you boring. Her voice had a nice husky tone, but it was a bit affected. Then the audition turned a little strange when Kara gave a little love to, Paula and Paula turned it into a fake kiss. Kara was surprised … but only that it was Paula trying it on rather than Simon. Agreed, but there’s time yet! Another golden ticket, and Sharon seemed to forget about poor Sasha in the excitement when she left the room.
A highlight of the show was definitely the clip of Ryan, with his lighting guy risking life and limb hanging a reflector over the side, driving a golf buggy around Florida. Off road in the wilderness (we’ll overlook the main road a few metres away) and teeming with bugs, it was almost like a scene from Survivor. Sort of. If you squint a little. And make allowances for it being Ryan out there.
While Ryan was battling his way back to civilisation, Dana Moreno screeched her way through an audition and wanted to ‘take direction’ from the judges. Simon directed her right out of the audition room, so that was the end of that. The next contestant, Kaneswa Finnie, was super confident but really couldn’t sing. She was so out of tune it was unrecognisable and there was no redeeming tone to her voice. Simon was right when he said that her voice was ‘just terrible’. Kaneswa disagreed and her mother, Paula, came into the audition room to give her opinion and it would appear that’s where Kaneswa’s ear for music comes from.
Things improved a little, but not a whole lot, with Julissa Veloz, who wanted to be the first Latin American Idol. Paula decided that she was surplus to requirements when the other judges didn’t ask for her opinion, and Julissa had to follow Paula out of the audition room and persuade her back in. She got a ‘yes’ for bringing Paula back, but her voice wasn’t anything special.
Darin Darnell was working the crowd but when his friend, Devin Cates, didn’t get through he suddenly lost his confidence. In his audition, Darin sang out of tune, so it’s no wonder he lost his confidence if his friend could sing at all. Simon stopped the audition and Kara told him that he wouldn’t cut it in the music industry if he couldn’t take it in that room.
Naomi Sykes was the last contestant of the day and Ryan promised to take care of her friends while she went in to the audition. Once she got in there she revealed that her friend really wanted to meet Randy, so in she came. The girl ran to Randy’s arms and Paula, feeling the love, went to sit on Simon’s lap so Kara, not to be left out, called Ryan in to sit on her lap. Ryan looked a bit bemused while Kara bounced him on her knee and fondled him … another judge who thinks Ryan’s a toy to play with (maybe it’s in the job description – who knows!) After Ryan made his escape, Simon asked if the singing was a joke, making Naomi cry, so Kara and Randy and Paula left their seats to give her a group hug. Odd, but oddly normal for Idol.
Only nine golden tickets were given out on day one. Simon’s impression was that “they weren’t very good. Mostly they were terrible”, so Ryan cheered him up with the reminder that there’s “always day two to look forward to!”
On day two Ryan was wearing a grey teeshirt with dark trousers. He looks better in teeshirts than shirts. First in for the second day of auditions was Jasmine Murray, bringing with her the first sob story of the day. She sang fairly well and was in tune; Simon thought she was “cute and commercial” while Randy thought there was “something going on”. She got a ‘yes’ from all four judges and went through to Hollywood.
The next contestant was studying physics, which is cool, but when Ryan asked George Ramirez if his love for music or physics was greater, he decided he could live without physics. The judges didn’t look too impressed with his wildest dream … to have a simple house with nice floors, and his singing was a bit odd, not like singing at all. Simon asked if George had auditioned or sung in public before and Randy said it was the quietest audition he’d heard, but Kara summed it up perfectly saying “that was so weird.” I did love George’s literal answer to Simon’s question about his friends … and his sandals. He ticked every box for the Physics nerd stereotype, was he a plant?
Anne Marie Boskovich, a fan of Kara since she’d heard her sing at Nashville, was next in. Randy thought she had a great voice and was a natural talent, but as the judges thought she had a self-image problem Simon suggested she went away and reinvented herself.
T.K. Hash returned for a second try and Paula pretended to remember him. He changed his song up a bit, but it didn’t work. He has a voice but it somehow isn’t terribly appealing. Paula said he has a good voice. Randy thought it was too over top, with too many runs and too many unnecessary changes to the melody. Simon said no, but the other three judges put him through to Hollywood.
Next up, contestant Michael Pirelli traded off his relationship with his family but showed his true colours when he didn’t get through. Simon didn’t think he was cut out for the competition, telling him that he was quite interesting, but his voice wasn’t, and advised him to get a job and get a band together. Michael looked sulky when he left the room, and pushed his mom away when she tried to comfort him – something that pissed Ryan off big time, and he called Michael out on it (and brought it up on his radio show this week too).
Anne Marie Boskovich returned after having a mini make over. The judges smiled throughout the audition and thought she was showing a little star potential, so she got a ticket through to the next round — the last we saw out of a total of sixteen tickets.
Tickets to Hollywood
- Joshua Ulloa
- Sharon Wilbur
- Julissa Veloz
- Jasmine Murray
- T.K. Hash
- Anne Marie Boskovich
