‘American Idol’ Top 24 Leaked

We still have two cities of auditions to go before we even get to Hollywood, but it appears that the identities of the Top 24 contenders for American Idol Season 7 have already been leaked.

According to Joe’s Place, here are your Top 24 contestants and their audition cities:

For the Men:

David Archuleta – San Diego

Colton Berry – Charleston

Robbie Carrico – Miami

Jason Castro – Dallas

David Cook – Omaha

Chikezie Eze – San Diego

Garrett Haley – San Diego

David Hernandez – San Diego

Michael Johns – San Diego

Luke Menard – Omaha

Danny Noriega – San Diego

Jason Yeager – Dallas

For the Women:

Joanna Borgella – Philadelphia

Kristy Lee Cook – Philadelphia

Amy Davis – Dallas

Asia’h Epperson — Atlanta

Alexandrea Lushington – Atlanta

Amanda Overmyer – Atlanta

Kady Malloy – Dallas

Ramiele Malubay – Miami

Syesha Mercado – Miami

Carly Smithson – San Diego

Alaina Whitaker – Dallas

Brooke White — Philadelphia

Never heard of these names?  Me neither.  But remember we still haven’t seen the auditions for Atlanta and Miami.  And in the other five cities we were only treated to a sampling of those who got golden tickets.

Of this 24, I only remember seeing auditions for seven and there were two more that I thought I caught a glimpse of in their audition cities.  Here’s a recap of the names above:

In Day 2 of the San Diego auditions, 16-year-old David Achuleta performed “Waiting for the World to Change” by John Mayer with Randy providing background vocals.  Simon joined Paula’s praise of the Vermont native telling him that he made a great song choice.

David Cook of Tulsa was my pick from the Omaha auditions.  The rocker had a nice sound and did Bon Jovi credit when he sang “Living on a Prayer.”

I think we might have seen a glimpse of Garrett Haley at the San Diego auditions.

After listening to the Australian born Michael Johns perform Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” in San Diego, Simon called him “a white soul singer.”

Oregon native Kristy Lee Cook sold her horse to pay for her flight to Philadelphia to audition.  But it was this horse training, kickboxer’s rendition of “Amazing Grace” that earned her a trip to Hollywood.

When Kady Malloy, 23, auditioned in Dallas, Simon told her that she was the best he’d seen so far.  Although the Houston native could sound like Whitney Houston Brittany Spears and Carrie Underwood, it was her version of “Unchained Melody” that won over the judges.

When the Irish Carly Smithson, 23, performed “I’m Every Woman” at her audition in San Diego, it was her second time qualifying for Hollywood.  In Season 5, Smithson, then Hennessy, was disqualified when her Visa didn’t come through in time.

Tulsa native Alaina Whitaker sang Faith Hill’s “Stronger” to impress the judges in Dallas.

And I’m pretty sure we saw a glimpse of Brooke White during the Philadelphia auditions.

I have no confirmation that this list is indeed the final 24.  I’ll let you be the judge of the validity of this leak.  In the meantime we have the Miami auditions coming up.

******* UPDATE **********

 This list is indeed correct.  Here’s a closer look at the Top 12 Men and a look at the Top 12 Women and their experience.  I’ll be posting the women later today.

Here’s a recap of the auditions held to date:

20 from Atlanta

17 from Miami

19 from Omaha

23 from Charleston

31 from San Diego

24 from Dallas

29 from Philadelphia

‘American Idol’ Found 19 Golden Auditions in Omaha

For years I’ve heard that you’ve got to watch the audition phase of American Idol, that it was the best part of the show.  Either I’ve been misled or Idol is losing its touch.

Tonight was yet another uneventful night of auditions.  Omaha turned out 19 golden tickets out of the 10,000 who vied for the attention of Simon, Randy and Paula.

The up side was that out of the 19 advancing to Hollywood, we actually saw nine of them audition.  Interesting that the city that turned out the fewest Hollywood contenders, also showed us more of them.

The downside, for those that enjoy the freaky and bizarre, is that we only saw three auditions that didn’t make it.  The show lead off with the gift-bearing Chris Bernheisel who was just as happy to try out as a red carpet host as he was to audition his vocal talent and that’s a good thing since even bribery couldn’t earn him a ticket to California.  

Also vetoed was Sarah Whitaker, the former Goth professional wrestler known as Lady Morgue from Iowa and the gold-jacket wearing Johnny Escamilla who rendition of “Shout” would not make James Brown proud.

We were treated to two montages – one of contestants forgetting the lyrics to their audition songs and one of contenders trying to sing “Stuck in the Middle with You” that included a guy dressed as cupid, a renaissance couple and a man in a shower cap and robe.

I know I’m probably the odd ball out, but I prefer these montages to the full out auditions of the eccentric.  We get just a taste of all the strangeness while not giving any of them too much air time and without hearing the berating commentary of the judges.

And now for my thoughts on the nine we saw that are headed to Hollywood.

Iowa farm boy Jason Rich had a good voice if only he could remember the words to his audition song.  Let’s hope those nerves settle before Hollywood.

Six-time arm wrestling champion Rachael Wicker split the judges’ vote with her rendition of Lee Ann Womak’s “Don’t Tell Me.”  She seemed more interested in arm wrestling Paula (who she beat), Ryan (it was a draw) and Simon (he declined) than singing.  Not sure that bodes well for her chances in Hollywood.

The quiet Samantha Sidley barely got out Norah Jones’ “I Don’t Know Why.”  She’s going to need to work on her stage presence if she wants to be a contender.

We saw quick tidbits of Elizabeth Erkert, Denise Jackson and Michael Sanfilippo.  Erkert’s version of “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” was the best of the bunch.  But her slip of the tongue in telling the cameras that she was going to be “America’s Next Top Model” won’t help her much in Hollywood.

Wisconsin-native Angelica Puente will need to find her own sound before Hollywood, but her mimicking of Celine Dion’s “The Power of Love” was enough to buy her some time.

Although “A Song for You” by Donny Hathaway was enough to prove that Iowa-native Leo Marlowe had a nice voice, it was his story that I found entertaining.  If asked if he was popular in the 200-person town of Charlotte, Marlowe replied that hiss mother raised the perfect homecoming queen; too bad it wasn’t one of his sisters.

And my pick for the night was rocker David Cook.  I’m partial to rock so I was overjoyed to here the Tulsa-native perform Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer.”

For those of you wanting to review, here’s the rundown so far:

19 from Omaha

23 from Charleston

31 from San Diego

24 from Dallas

29 from Philadelphia