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American Idol - The Auditions - Kansas City MO - Season 8 - 2009

Published on 01/28/09 - 0 Comments

Hi Everyone,

Well last night’s Season 8 opener of American Idol drew more than 30 million viewers, the highest rated telecast and night of the 2008-2009 TV season. Tonight we see the auditions that took place in Kansas City MO, the home of last year’s Idol winner, David Cook and over 11,000 people showed up to take their chance at stardom.

Chelsea Marquardt opened the show, and built herself up a lot in her promo. Unfortunately she did not live up to her own hype, and I have to agree with Simon and Randy, that she sounded like a bunch of cats jumping to their death off the Empire State Building and the sirens of the ambulances rushing to the scene. I think she should try modeling instead of singing since she had the looks to be successful in that field.

Ashley Anderson sang “Footprints In The Sand” recorded by Leona Lewis and co-written by our very own Simon Cowell. She managed to pull it off and get the first ticket to Hollywood of the night.

Next we saw a video commercial for David Cook.

Casey Carlson sang “1000 Miles” by Vanessa Carlson and she too is going to Hollywood.

Brain Hettler was trained in Opera, but gave up music for 2 years. He attempted to sing “Think” by Aretha Franklin, then tried some Josh Groban as a follow up. Both song attempts were futile and he was sent on his way home.

Next up we saw a video of several crying losers, then Ryan introduced us to David Cook’s family. This was followed by videos of James Michael Vance, Billy Vinson, Chris Jones and Deandre Hopkins, whose attempts at singing left much to be desired.

Von Smith shouted his way to Hollywood with his version of “Over The Rainbow.” He definitely has talent but he needs to learn not to scream his songs as this can get quickly get annoying.

Michael Castro is the brother of Season 7 contestant Jason Castro, and he only started singing 20 days before his audition. He sang “In Love With The Girl” by Gavin DeGraw. Following in the footsteps of his brother, he has attention getting hair (pink) and he too is going on to Hollywood.

Vaughn “Banana Man” English was up next, wearing a orange and yellow suit, singing a nonsensical song he must have made up.

Matt Breitzke sings, plays guitar and is a welder/fabricator. I liked his version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers and so did the judges, since they gave him a ticket to Hollywood.

Jasmine “Jazz” Joseph with her red and blue hair did an over the top version of “Over The Rainbow.

Jessica Page-Furney who auditioned on her birthday, lives with her 93 year grandmother, and plays guitar. She sang “Cry Baby” by Janis Joplin and this is one birthday she will never forget, since she will be leaving grandma behind for awhile, as she heads off to Hollywood.

Next up was a video on contestants meeting new friends.

India and Asia Morrison auditioned together, and Asia was a very supportive sister, as only India went on to Hollywood.

Jamar Rogers, a bartender sang “California Dreamin” by the Mamas & The Papas, a very appropriate song since he will be going to Hollywood.

Daniel J Gokey, a music teacher, lost his wife Sophia to a heart condition 4 weeks before the Idol auditions, which he decided to pursue in her honor. He sang a very soulful version of Marvin Gaye’s “Heard It Through The Grapevine,” and will be joining his best friend Jamar Rogers in Hollywood.

Next we were tortured by a video of some bad female singers.

Anoop “Dog” Desai has a very nice voice and did a Boys To Men song which landed him a golden ticket to Hollywood.

The next video was a bunch of bad singers doing “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” one of my favorite Stevie Wonder songs. I also suggest you check out the Peter Frampton version. Then we saw a video on the gimmicks contestants use to get “noticed” at the auditions.

Andrew Lang came with his own cheerleading groupies. He has a nice voice that would be appropriate for music theater but it was not enough to get him any further along on Idol.

Asa Barnes is drummer and band director at a middle school. He did a nice version of Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel,” which earned him a ticket to Hollywood.

Michael Nicewonder, performed some original songs that he wrote for his mother and grandmother. His performances made me wonder how he won a medal for best vocalizing in music class, and how he could be related to Hank Williams Jr.

Dennis Brigham treated us to some back flipping acrobatics along with his version of ‘With You” by Chris Brown which sent him packing for a trip to Hollywood.

We then saw a video of some losing and winning auditions.

Mia Conley gave a very poor, sore losing, performance of “Loving You” by Minnie Ripperton.

Lil Rounds, a mom of 3, whose home had been wiped out by a tornado, closed out the show on a very high note. She has a Gladys Knight vibe and did an excellent version of Stevie Wonder’s “All I Do.” She is one to keep your eye on as she heads off to Hollywood.

A total of 27 contestants from the Kansas City auditions are going to Hollywood. See you next week. Be well!

Simone

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