Funnyman Norman Gentle Shines during Idol’s Hollywood Round 1

The most memorable performance of American Idol’s first round of Hollywood Week was not that of a vocal powerhouse.  Instead Funnyman Nick Mitchell – aka Norman Gentle – wowed the judges with his humor. 

Nick Mitchell aka Norman Gentle makes the judges smile.

But under all that jesting lives a bit of vocal talent, at least enough to send Nick through to the next round.  And for all you that have waited with baited breath – bikini chick will be returning too.  Kara and Paula still aren’t fans of Katrina Darrell, but apparently they were outvoted.

Given the choice between the two, I’d take Nick over Katrina in the Top 24 any day.  At least Nick entertains you.

Season 8 Hollywood Week is now if full swing, complete with boot camp and Barry Manilow as a guest mentor, but alas not much more singing time than before.

Over the last three weeks, we got to meet 61 of the Hollywood contender in eight cities – that’s less than half of the 147 that made it to the Kodak Theatre.  So, we should get to meet some of the rest now that we are in Hollywood, right?

Wrong.  In this round, we got to hear three – yes a mere three – new people sing.

Tonight we met Nathaniel Marshall from the New York City auditions.  He tried to wow the judges with his rendition of “The Anchor Holds” by Ray Boltz.  I think he might have been better served with a more well known tune.  And personally the tears did nothing to win me over, but apparently the judges saw something I didn’t.

Also new to the screen from Stephen Fowler, another New York City auditioner.  Now this guy impressed me.  He had a nice solid voice.  I’m definitely looking forward to hearing him sing some more.

Unfortunately, the third person we met for the first time – FBI agent Erika Wesley – did not make it through to the next round.

Much of the show’s time was spent showing us the judges’ comments for singers we never heard.  But we did get to see a few of our favorites from the auditions.

My picks for females in Round 1 were 16-year-old Jasmine Murray from the Jacksonville auditions and Kansas City auditioner Lil Rounds.  Lil’s got a nice powerful voice, but I hope she doesn’t limit herself to ballads alone.  Jasmine is the whole package – cute, talented, and sweet. 

Rocker Emily Wynne-House and Rose Flack, the orphan from Idaho, still show some potential, but the pressure is clearly getting to them.  Rose struggled in boot camp and Emily switched her song at the last minute.  But they hung in there for the next round.

Jackie Tohn also made the cut.  She has an interesting growl to her songs that might prove enough for her to hang on.

We saw a lot more guys in this round than the girls.  I’m not sure in that’s a sign that the guys are stronger though because there were several I don’t think should have made it.

Roughneck Jeremy Michael Sarver continues to be my favorite.  I don’t know there’s just something about such a tough guy have such a soft voice that if very appealing.  I also liked the aforementioned Stephen Fowler and David Osmond, although we only saw a glimpse of David.

Widower Danny Gokey and Puerto Rico-native Jorge Nunez showed potential.  Hopefully we’ll hear more of them in the next round.  I’m totally undecided about Anoop Desai who auditioned in Kansas City.  We didn’t hear enough of him to gauge.

A few of the guys really shouldn’t have made the cut in my.  Danny’s buddy Jamar Rogers was just over the top and Von Smith is still shouting at us.  The next round should be critical for them.

Although we didn’t get to see them perform, we learned that the sight-impaired Scott MacIntyre, moms Frankie Jordan and Alexis Grace, traveling musician Brett Keith Smith, nanny Anne Marie Boskovich and actor Adam Lambert will be returning for the next round.

 

 

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Idol Looking for Thoroughbreds in Kentucky

Tonight American Idol judges set up shop at Church Hill Downs for its fourth city of auditions.  But can they find a thoroughbred in the Blue Grass state?

This guy sang about zebras.

After a very disappointing appearance in San Francisco, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Louisville auditions get a good jump out of the starting gate.

Although the producers spent way too much time on the dud that was the first audition, we didn’t have to wait long to see Philadelphia-native Joanne Pacitti get her golden ticket.  The Philadelphia native rocked to Pat Benatar’s “We Belong.”  Although it was no surprise to learn that Joanne was previously signed with A&N, you have to wonder what went wrong with that deal.

But it was a good night all around.  Even those that didn’t get sent on to Hollywood were more interesting in Louisville.  We learned the original of the expression “your name is mud” from Mark Mudd, a descendent of Dr. Samuel Mudd the physician who fixed John Wilkes Booth’s leg after he shot Lincoln. 

Ross Plavsic taught us about Chinese characters and the judges jammed with Aaron Williamson’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain.”  We also saw Kara make a faux paus when she misinterpreted Rebecca Garcia’s rendition of “Before He Cheats” as a joke.

Even the montage of rejects was colorful.  I especially like the variety of jobs -toothbrush company employee, school gym worker, online variety show host, pizza server and ice cream server.

And speaking of interesting careers, Matt Giraud of Kalamazoo has a pretty unusual job – dueling piano player.  But it wasn’t his piano playing that won him a golden ticket.  It was his vocals.

Likewise, powerful vocals won stay-at-home mom Alexis Grace a trip to Hollywood.  Who knew that a petite girl like her could belt out Aretha Franklin’s “Dr. Feelgood” like that?

We had another montage of winners that included Kris Allen, Felicia Barton, Ryan Johnson and Shera Lawrence, but we didn’t get to see enough of any of them to get a real feel for their abilities.

And rounding out the night was college student Leneshe Young.  Despite the sad story and the decision to sing an original song, Leneshe proved that she was the real deal and will be joining the others in Hollywood.

Next week Idol heads to Jacksonville, Florida for a little fun in the sun.

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