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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2008 > January > 30
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
1/30: Miami American Idol auditions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sorry to be late on this. I was doing trivia night at the Local. My friend Jim and I were using our “bar bucks” from a previous miracle second place finish. Although we started well (3rd place at halftime), we fell apart in the second half and ended up in dead last among 21 teams. Our last attempt to salvage ourselves failed when we couldn’t come up with the two James Michener novels titled after foreign countries. (I got “Poland,” missed “Mexico.” Jim had no clue.)
This was actually a pretty darn entertaining hour. They showed another high number of good singers (nine) and that clueless “American Juniors” alum inadvertently provided some of the most sublimely funny moments this season. My favorites: Ilsy, Brittany, Suzanne and especially Robbie.
And we won’t soon forgot the first gal, memorably known now as the burping butcher, Shannon Broughton of Okeechobee, Fla.. She will also be known as the over-singer after that excruciating first note of Janis Joplin’s “Cry Baby.” (Then again, Janis’s version isn’t markedly different at the start.) “I had a late night last night. You just made me feel a lot worse,” Simon. “That was like the Hungarian Janis Joplin.” She then started singing another song. “It sounds like you’re eating while you sing,” he said. “Your mouth is doing weird weird things.” Paula said: “You have melody problems.” “Wow, I’ve never had somebody tell me I sing bad before,” Shannon said. “This is crazy to me.” “Most people don’t actually know what they’re talking about. That’s why you have to meet people like me,” Simon said. She’s in shock, genuine shock. Her mom’s in more shock before. “She never heard no before,” said Paula, who is about as mean as we’ve ever seen her (relatively speaking.)
Robbie Carrico, one of the spoiiler 24, from Melbourne, Calif. has style, panache, and a great voice. “You got a nice voice. It was kinda cool,” Randy said. Simon’s on the fence but says yes. I liked him a lot more than Randy or Simon. Go Robbie!
After the commercial break, a cavalcade of unnamed crappy singers beckon. Then there’s gypsy music singer Ghaleb Emachah from Miami, who isn’t half bad but not great either. He ruins the upper end of Marc Anthony and it’s over. “I’d like you if I was drunk,” Simon said. “Sober, I don’t think it works.” Paula says the strong accent is problematic, then gets annoyed by Simon. Randy says yes. Wow! Simon says no. Paula is acting odd, then says yes and hugs him. Huh? How did this guy make it?
Best pal combo: Corliss Smith of Jacksonville first. She’s not quite there in the looks department but has a quality voice, working over Randy. Brittany Wescott is better, much better. She’s radiant. She sings to Simon, who even claps along! Both make it!
Fantasia story alert: Suzanne Toon, 21, of Clearwater, Fl., had a daughter two years earlier and is a single mom. She’s a bit rusty and teary-eyed. “I’m sick of struggling,” she said. She has something about her that’s special. “A seductive voice,” Randy said.
Jasmine “remember her?” Trias callback: Ramiele Malubay of Miramar, Fl. wants to be the first Asian-American “Idol” and actually has a good voice. “You are a fine singer and fine performer,” Paula said. “I don’t think you’re a contemporary singer. I think you’re more like a hotel singer,” Simon said. (It’s nice to see the mean Simon for a change.) Despite a no from Simon, she makes it through. She is yet another Spoiler 24 we may be seeing again. I liked her, didn’t love her.
Sob story: Syesha Mercado has a drug-addicted dad recently out of rehab. She’s also a spoiler 24! She has a fine voice and a vibrant personality. But I agree with Simon that she seems a bit overwrought. And she does “Think” by Aretha Franklin as several prior contestants have done (Kat, Diana, LaKisha and Fantasia, for instance.) I feel like I’ve seen it before. Oh, well.
Natashia Blach works “At Last.” (Shouldn’t that song be retired?). Ilsy Lorena Pinot is amazing! What a smile! I love her!
Wow. Nine good singers in 40 minutes? That’s got to be a record.
Ben Hausbach is abysmal. Carroy Bethea is, as Simon said, over the top. Grant Rhea sounds like a gal. Fabienne Hyppolite was plain annoying. Ditto with nasally Richard Valles doing Rascal Flatts.
Then there’s an “American Juniors” flashback, not that anybody even watched that show. (I didn’t.) Simon sarcastically says he loved that show to the contestant Julie Dubela, who was a top 20 finalist from that show. She doesn’t have a clue that he’s being sarcastic. In fact, she even demonstrates the song she sang on “American Juniors” to the other contestants. Hilarious and frightening at once! She’s got some polish but it feels very stage theater. “Have you ever been called precocious?” Simon asked. “What does that mean?” she said. “Overrehearsed, overdramatic,” Simon said. She does the desperate second song while they are talking. Simon suggests she become an actress. “It’s over,” he says. Wow. SImon’s rough! “Overindulged,” he adds after she leaves. The producers are classic by showing her singing “Rainy Days and Mondays” from “American Juniors.” That was one of my favorite audition bits ever!
The final guy makes a ridiculous entrance. Brandon Black of Pompano Beach does “I’ll Make Love To You” then cuts to an original: “I’m the next American Idol.” This is one of those absurdist auditions. “The audition was verging on desperation,” Simon said. “The weird wig. The horrible dialogue. The terrible singing.” Simon and Randy leave. B-bye.
Only 17 made it through Miami, the least of the six cities so far. The final tally now is we’ve seen 48 of the 142 Hollywood-bound contestants and 10 of the 24 supposed finalists. Atlanta is the last city next Tuesday. Based on what we heard, they condensed auditions to just one day here and Randy, Paula and Simon saw fewer than 50 people. That’s not a good thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if fewer than 20 people made it through from our fine city. We’ll see in six days!
1/30: Kelly Clarkson at Q100 studios
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TMZ reports that season two winner Ruben Studdard today sued a marketing company for breach of contract..
But today, I’ll focus on season one winner Kelly Clarkson, who visited Q100 studios this morning, flying in from Nashville, then flying right back. Q100 just moved to a bigger signal so the Bert Show is bringing in big stars. Others this week include Ne-Yo and Nick Lachey.
ABOVE: I had about 15 seconds with her and I babbled something about doing an “Idol” blog to her and she politely said something like, “And the season just started!” That was the extent of that!
Over five-plus years, I’ve seen Kelly in concert three times but have never met her in person. So Q100 was nice enough to give me the chance. The Bert Show interviewed her for an hour so pretty much everything I could think of asking was asked and then some.
She was chatty Cathy, openly willing to answer any question and even when it got too invasive, she took no offense. She was chipper and looked great, even sans makeup. Besides her predilection for a certain curse word, she also likes to say the word “weird.” But she’s no longer using the phrase “Cool beans!”
Some random topics she brought up:
Her speaking voice: “I never leave voicemails. It’s the worst talking voice ever… I sound like a goober!”
Potty mouth: she admits she curses too much from her days as a cocktail waitress. In fact, she drops the s-bomb once during the conversation, then a few more times playing “Rock Band.” Bert had to use the “dump” button so that didn’t end up on air.
Avoiding Los Angeles: “I haven’t lived there. I’ve worked there so much that I practically live there. I moved my studios to Nashville… Everyone is trying to climb that fame ladder. It’s weird! It’s Halloween constantly. I can’t stay there. My best friend lives there… I grew up in the country. It’s weird. [In L.A.,] you don’t have yards.” She owns a 60-acre pad outside Burleson, Texas and uses that as a break from the fame game. She’ll be getting horses and has a barn.
Recluse? “When I’m working, I’m a social bird. I love going out. When I’m home, I don’t see anyone.”
New management: “It took five years for me to get the right circle of people. My new management [Reba’s folks] are so like me. It’s perfect. They’re very low key.”
On Reba McEntire, who she is now touring with: “I’m such a nerd. I’m such a fan. I’ve been a fan of hers since I was a kid. It’s just fun. She has such a distincct voice. She know show to dial back the country so when we sing together, it sounds so great.”
On Reba singing her songs!: “It’s trippy! She’s, like, smiling. ‘You’re so singing my song! It’s such a weird thing!”
They play the “40 Year Old Virgin” moment when Steve Carell’s character yelps “Kelly Clarkson” while getting his chest waxed, one of the funniest moments in the film and totally adlibbed. Jeff Dauler suggested she put that on her voicemail since she hates her own voice. “I’m an idiot!” she exclaimed. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
When asked about the Clive Davis tension, she never denied it. (How could she? She talked about it in multiple publications.) But she said she didn’t fight directly with Clive in every case, that it’s not like they talk every day. And she said tension is normal between artist and management, which is true. She said she had battles with “Breakaway” being too dark, too. “It’s important for any artist to put your foot down. You know what you want to sound like. It’s your face, your voice.”
The question of why “My December” tanked relative to “Breakaway” was kind of skirted. We could pinpoint a lot of reasons in this blog though it was probably a combination of lack of label support and somewhat weaker, less melodic songs, even if the tone wasn’t all that different.
ABOVE: Kelly tries out “Rock Band” for the first time, managing to finish Foo Fighters’ “Learning to Fly” on her first try. She picked drums because vocals would be boring for her. “I want to do something I suck at!” she said beforehand. She almost lost midway through but figured it out and got better. She bragged that she was a “Guitar Hero” killer and planned to buy “Rock Band” for her bus as soon as possible.
