American Idol 2010! Atlanta Auditions

Season 9 of American Idol begins at last! Tonight is the second night of this brand new season. We will witness the Atlanta auditions. During the audition portion of this season, I can only comment on those auditions that we get to see in their entirety. Sometimes we just get video that shows us short clips of a myriad of contestants. There's not much that I can do with that.

Changes taking place this season are, of course, the loss of Paula Abdul as a judge, and the addition of Ellen DeGeneres as Paula's replacement. However during the audition portion of this season, famous guest judges join the show each week. This week our guest judge is Mary J. Blige.

27-year old Dewone Robinson is a large man and a confident man. He is so confident that he is going to audition with a song he wrote himself. His audition is bizarre. I know that it's not very nice to say that, but he has an awful voice and his original song was one sentence repeated over and over. Now I know you're not going to believe this, but this man is now going to argue with the judges. His score from me is 1 out of 10. The judges did not move him forward.

26-year old Keia Johnson entered a Miss America contest and won Miss Congeniality. Simon made fun of that, but this girl is beautiful and she can sing. She sang the theme song from Titanic, and that's not an easy song to sing. Her score from me is 9 out of 10. The judges moved her forward to Hollywood. She's on her way. I would watch for this name, because I don't think this is the last we'll see of her.

We just witnessed a string of female singers that all made it through.

26-year old, church singer, Jermaine Sellers, has been taking care of his sick mother for many years. He has a sweet soulful voice, he's good looking in a young and innocent way, and he's very likable. His score from me is 10 out of 10. The judges moved him forward in the competition. This is another name I think we will hear again.

25-year old Christy Marie Agronow, a TV producer from the Atlanta area is singing "Love is a Battlefield". This cheerful contender was not as cheerful on the way out of the audition room. She was, shall we say, of a differing opinion than the judges. Her score from me is 4 out of 10. The judges did not move her forward.

Our next contestant is an interesting story. A young girl with a strong southern accent is tired of living in a small southern town where not many opportunities await her. She's a tomboy that likes jumping off bridges into local canals and river. Vanessa Wolfe wants to find a way out and she thinks her voice might be the vehicle that will carry her. She does have a very interesting voice that could sing a good country song. She looks the part as well. Her score from me is 7 out of 10. The judges like the fact that she iss different and authentic and moved her forward in the competition. She will fly in an airplane for the first time in her life. I suspect she will be having a lot of firsts in this new experience.

2nd Day in Atlanta
26-year-old Jessie Hamilton has had three brushes with death. The show went to a lot of trouble to make fun of his life story with cheap dramatizations of his 3 near-death experiences. Jessie has never sang in front of anyone but his mom before. He is not a good singer and is obviously a simple young man, not of the world, just trying to find his place in life. He is currently a welder and does come across as a stereotypical hillbilly from the back woods. What I don't like is that Mary J. Blige feels free to laugh at bad singers easily. She started laughing before he even sang because he froze up. She should have more class than that. I don't like it when the other judges do it either, but it's even worse when you're a successful singer who has been blessed with the talent to sing and laugh at those who don't. His score from me was 3 out of 10. The judges did not move him forward in the competition.

Our next contestant calls herself the human guitar and that is what she looks like with her costuming. This is another phenomenon that you see in shows like this where contestants believe that hokey gags will somehow get them through. Luckily for this nasally high pitched voice, all of a sudden, breaks out into a Loretta Lynn song with a deep big alto voice that sang in pitch and sounded great. Her score from me is 8 out of 10. The judges moved her on despite the fact that Mary J. Blige said no.

Our next contestant is Blake Smith. He had a voice that would maybe be good in a choir, but not as a soloist. His score from me is 5 out of 10. The judges did not move him on to the next level.

Someone that Mary j. Blige did like was Mallorie Haley, a beautiful young country singer who courageously belted out a country ballad. Watch for this name. She has a lot of potential. Her score from me is 9 out of 10. The judges agreed with Mary and moved her on to Hollywood.

Our next contestant has American Idol shaved into his head. He entertains the crowd in the holding room but not with singing. He is confident and all smiles. He assures the judges that he will blow them away. Antonio Wheeler, who comes across as another joke, starts singing "Heard it Through the Grapevine" and does everything he said he would do. Simon didn't like him, but the rest of the judges said his voice is great, but he needs to work on his image. I'm not sure this young man is mentally stable enough to make it through the harsh reality of Hollywood auditions, but that's exactly where he is headed. His score from me is 7 out of 10.

We now have two BFFs who have been best friends since 3rd grade. They're sure that both of them will both make it through to Hollywood. Lauren and Carmen come into the audition together, but have entirely different voices. Lauren Sanders has a very timid soft voice and has a few pitch issues. Her friend Carmen Turner has exactly the opposite kind of voice. She has a strong beautiful voice and sings her song with differing dynamics. Lauren's score is 5 out of 10. Carmen's score is 9 out of 10. The judges moved Carmen forward in the competition.

Our next contestant is a police officer in a local small town. He loves his job, but he also loves singing. Bryan Walker has the best voice I've heard this season. I love him. His score from me is 10 out of 10. The judges liked him too.

Our next contestant is excited to get in front of Mary J. Blige. Lamar Royal has a powerful voice, but it was not pretty. His pitch problems were significant. His score from me was 4 out of 10. The judges did not move him on. He was determined though. He just kept singing and refused to believe the judges. This is when 2 big security guys move in. Needless to say he did not impress Mary. Of course the camera followed him all the way out so we could witness his, mostly bleeped, reaction to his American Idol experience.

Our next contestant is too old to audition for AI, but they allow General Larry Pratt to audition anyway. He was a great comedy relief for the judges, but that was all.

Twenty-five gold tickets went out in Atlanta. We'll see how well the Atlanta talent does in the Hollywood level of the competition.

I think the main theme we will come away with regarding the Atlanta auditions is "Pants on the Ground".