Louisville, KY wasn’t much more successful than San Francisco, but American Idol 8 Episode 4 did produce a bit of talent. Joanna Pacitti (who toured as Annie at age 11, sang Watch Me Shine on the Legally Blonde soundtrack, and has had a few minor TV roles), Alexis Grace, and Leneshe Young were the bright spots for the night.
Tonight they’re going to Jacksonville, Florida. On the way, Ryan and Simon get some practice speaking in their normal speaking voices. Then they pretend Randy is famous for something other than Idol.
Joshua Ulloa believes he’s Justin Guarini, the guy from season one who we never heard of again. He wants to get it on, and it appears he’s trying to sing I guess. Mostly, he just drowns in bad sound effects. The judges all say yes. I don’t get it.
Sharon Wilbur brings her dog Sasha with her, with a fresh haircut (the dog, not the girl). She sings Superstar by Karen Carpenter. Although Sasha is yawning, the judges let both of them through to Hollywood.
Kaneswa Finnie has been led to believe by her mother that she can sing. She has been led wrong. Simon drags her mom on to tell her to stop lying to her.
Julissa Veloz is wearing a tiara. She sings Whitney Houston’s I Have Nothing. Like Simon, I thought it was better than I was expecting. It’s good enough to get through to Hollywood.
Darin Darnell is full of spirit and energy. Then his friend gets cut. Now he’s sad. At least he has an excuse for why he sings so bad now. He sings It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye by Boyz II Men.
Naomi Sykes believes she can sing high notes like Mariah Carey used to be able to. But first her friend wants to pretend she’s a fan of Randy’s. She sings Loving You by Minnie Riperton. A waste of time no matter how many judges are getting lap dances during the performance.
At the end of the first day of auditions, we’ve seen… not much.
Jasmine Murray sings Big Girls Don’t Cry by Fergie. One of the best voices we’ve heard yet.
From there, we go to George Ramirez, who clearly is there to fill space. In his wildest dreams, he expects to have a simple house with nice marble floors in 11 years. What he sings is really irrelevant, but it’s supposed to be Walking on Sunshine apparently. He’ll see Ryan around, whatever that means.
Ann Marie Boskovich calls Kara her hero. Yeah, Kara doesn’t believe it either. She sings a little bit of one of Kara’s songs, making it clear she’s good, but before she can actually audition, Simon tells her to come back as a different person, literally.
Terrence TK Hash was rejected last year but is back again. He sings John Lennon’s Imagine. How’d they let this guy go before?
Michael Perrelli plays guitar wherever he goes. Too bad he can’t play his guitar in the audition (has he seen this show before?). The panic attack sets in, as he has no back up plan. He sings Third Eye Blind’s Jumper. Simon doesn’t like his voice. Kara thinks he may be better with his guitar. Simon gets on his case because he’s begging, something I don’t recall them jumping on anyone about before.
Ann Marie found a makeup artist on the street. Why she needed the makeover I’m not sure, but it works. She sings Bubbly, and as we already knew, she’s got a great voice.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of American Idol Season 8 episode 6, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.