American Idol in MY town - Atlanta

We're in Atlanta for the 4th time in 7 years and Ryan's parents are here. Ryan got his start on Top 40 pop station STAR 94 here in Atlanta.

Back story on Josh Jones who works with glass. Wow. Amy says he's cute. "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen is his song choice. Simon stops him, and all three tell him to chill with his eyes because they are freaking them out. We can't tell what he's doing so wrong. The judges like his voice though. They make him sing facing away from them, and Simon says we should have done this to Clay Aiken years ago. Simon calls it karaoke, Paula says yes, Randy says yes, so he's in, and Simon is concerned he'll have to perform in Hollywood with his back turned all the time.

Next segment is on a guy who auditioned in season 4 and was 2 people ahead of Carrie Underwood. I have to mention that geography does not determine talent. Rascal Flatts "Me and my Gang" - This guy cannot sing, so we are wasting time. It has no tone quality and no pitch. Good Lord he says he's a music major in vocal performance.

We presume JT is gone and we get a segment on Paula not being able to make a decision (with a song from "Oklahoma" "Girl who can't say no."

Asia Apperton, geez, does everyone have to have a back story?!?!? She's from a small town, she does not have a lot of money and has to work for everything she has. Plus, it appears as she was driving here to audition, her father was killed in a car accident. She has changed her song choice due to her father's death. Her new song is "How Do I Live?" Amy suggested, what if we find out that her father is not actually dead? LOL. I have to remind her this is not Survivor. :)

Segment on girls and why they are Georgia Peachs.

Miss South Florida Fair is here. She's a student at U of F. Amy compares her to Jessica Simpson on being a barbie doll who putts God then parents, then her singing. Brooke Helvie is her name, and she's belting some form of jazz standard it sounds like. Simon says it wasn't bad. They all agree she can sing and Randy says she has a good pop voice. As she leaves Simon says she's possibly the most-annoying person he's ever met, so she would out-annoy Makahla Gordon.

Another useless waste of audition time to show us people trying to sing Fergie's "Glamorous"

I am bored.

A segment now on Southern Hospitality being exchanged for Attitude. And we meet Eva Miller. I can't keep but be drawn to the birthmark looking thing on her right boob. She will sing Vanessa Carlton, "1000 miles." She just fell on her ass and Simon says "it's an act" and he would like this to stop. He says this is a joke. Her response, "This is not no joke." Nothing like grammar. Now Simon has her crying because she was serious about her audition. As with everyone else, people have told her she has a good voice. People lie.

Alex Andrea Lushington. Another damned boring back story because she brought about 20 people with her including her 90-something great-grandmother. She's through, despite wearing a Boy Scouts of America shirt.

Focus on geeky looking guys (like Clay Aiken) but who can't sing. Transition to people who get upset with their experience and we focus on a guy who is REPEATING the 9th grade and brags he's ready to respond to Simon. He's 16 and from Savannah, GA. He says the song is part of "Paralyzer" by Finger 11. Simon says he calls this a "Bedroom audition" and he starts smarting off to Simon and Simon calls him on it. He equates it to singing along to the CD in your bedroom. Now he's going through Simon's cliched commentary.

So we move on to another story about a multi-hair-colored motorcycle-riding nurse. She overdoes the wardrobe and makeup. It's another Janis Joplin audition, and honestly, if Janis Joplin were alive and 22 years old, and came in to audition, they would not put her through. Why do people keep picking this artist? Randy loves her. Paula agrees and Simon makes it three.

They tell us in the final hour they gave out a lot of passes to Hollywood, but geez, I may give up on watching the audition shows because they are no longer showing auditions, where my might have seen 20 auditions in an hour a few seasons back, now we are lucky to get 8 to 10.

Crybaby story about a teenager who left home and has been living in his car for 10 months to a year. I guess he does not know how long it has been. He says he can win because of his motivation and ambition. He will sing a song he wrote called "To run." They pick up on his singing with a British accent though he's from Tennessee. I think they like it.