NBC brought season 9 finalist and singer/songwriter Miguel Dakota to Atlanta Thursday to promote the 10th season auditions of "America's Got Talent." He performed a bluesy solo song "Light a Fire" in the Atlanta Journal Constitution cafeteria for an unsuspecting but appreciative group of employees. (See the video below)
This year, the show is not coming to Atlanta for auditions like last year but hits Tampa, Richmond and several other cities. The closest to Atlanta will be Nashville November 5.
As anyone who has watched summer's most popular show, it's all about variety. Opera singers and rock bands compete alongside dancers, dog acts, jugglers, magicians, stand-up comics, harp players and dudes who like to have items slammed into their crotch. Basically, anything that could entertain folks for 90 seconds. It's vaudeville for the modern world.
NBC has not said who will return as judges next year. Howard Stern has done it three years but has said on his show he might be done. The show used to rely on three judges but has gone to four the past couple of years. Why four? That seems to be the inexplicable norm nowadays outside of "Idol," which has trimmed back to three.
Dakota, a 22-year-old who grew up in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. before moving to Colorado, just happened to try out on this show, not "The Voice" or "American Idol."
"I thought of doing the other ones before," he said. "I don't know. This was the one that just happened to be right. It worked out."
He admires Jack Johnson, John Mayer and Jack White. His most praised performance on the show as an intense cover of the White Stripes' 'Seven Nation Army." During the season finale last month, he dueted with Lenny Kravitz on "American Woman."
Dakota said he just tries to inject a lot of soul into his performances. "I want to be able to express my life and my emotion through music," he said. "Music has always been a therapeutic thing for me." He is starting a pledge campaign to fund his first album. He has written most of his songs. He now just needs to record.
"AGT" helped build his Twitter followers from 60 to 43,000 and another 40,000 on Instagram. He ultimately finished sixth place out of the final six. "I was not disappointed at all," he said. "I made it that far. That's winning." (This is the first year a magician took home the $1 million prize: Mat Franco.)
Atlanta itself hasn't had much luck on "America's Got Talent" over the years. I don't recall a single act from here ever make the top 12 despite the fact the show has come to Atlanta multiple times over the years. Maybe that will change in 2015.
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