Category: america’s got talent

Following the reveal of some portion of the top 48, it’s time for the quarterfinals. Tonight the first 12 acts perform: Miami All Stars, Dezmond Meeks, Those Funny Little People, Fearless Flores Family, Squonk Opera, J Chris Newberg, Snap Boogie, Echo of Animal Gardens, The Fiddleheads, Duo Aero, Anna Graceman, and Sandou Trio Russian Bar.

Miami All Stars picked a song to dance to. That song has been denied for legal reasons, so they’ll have to work out something new with a few hours until show time. Piers felt they were sexy, fun, vibrant, and colorful, just like him. Sharon enjoys the men dancing like real men. Howie takes the time to use the two Spanish words he knows.

Dezmond Meeks is an over the top singer and piano player, but there’s no denying his talent. He sings something resembling Satisfaction. Sharon loves what he does but warns him about potentially crossing the line and being too cabaret and cheesy. Howie agrees but thinks he did cross the line. Piers thinks he is a cabaret act, which is the whole point.

Those Funny Little People made it through over Piers’ dead body. Needless to say, while I try to figure out the point of the act, Piers buzzes them. Then it starts raining men wearing swimming floaties to join their singing/dancing performance, of sorts. Howie and Sharon mainly love them on the basis of how much Piers hates them.

The Fearless Flores Family will be adding one more motorcycle to the mix, as the kids are joined by their mom. I don’t know. It’s still cool but a little bit more of the same. Piers liked that they stepped it up, but he’d like to see Howie in the middle next time. Sharon wonders: where do they go from here? Can an additional motorcycle really add that much?

Squonk Opera is an act that readily embraces their weirdness. What the hell is the point of this anyway? Piers doesn’t know either. Sharon joins in the buzzing. There’s singing, strange close ups of piano playing, a woman sitting on the moon, and a man dressed as a cherub. Sharon doesn’t like her head being messed with. Howie quite enjoyed feeling like he’s on drugs. Piers thinks he’s gone to hell.

J. Chris Newberg is the singing comedian. Hopefully tonight he’s funny. Piers buzzes as promised. Mildly amusing but still not funny. Howie thinks he’s funny for some reason. Piers didn’t care for the startling inappropriateness.

Snap Boogie’s a street dancer from Boston. He gets injured during rehearsal but is going to try to work around it. As good as he is by himself, I’m not sure what these creepy ninja backup dancers are supposed to add. Piers could see that performance in Vegas tomorrow.

Echo the parrot crashed and burned in Vegas. Let’s hope tonight is better. With the moral support of his girlfriend Binky, Echo’s back to what we saw in the first audition. Howie wonders whether this is a million dollar act or a really good birthday party. Piers found him funnier than the humans we’ve seen so far.

The Fiddleheads are a bluegrass band. Their main concern is the performance aspect because they’re comfortable their music will be good. Billie Jean bluegrass? Compared to the evening’s earlier song, this works much better. But not for Howie. Piers thought the song choice was fine, but it was just too big for the lead singer. Sharon didn’t like either the song choice or the way they dress.

Duo Aero is a trapeze act. I’m not sure this is worthy of its own show, but there’s definitely a place for them as part of a broader group. Piers buzzes because it’s a bit boring and safe. Sharon didn’t care for their retro performance, as compared with the modern couple they were before.

Anna Graceman sings What a Wonderful World while playing piano. This draws a standing ovation from two of the judges. Sharon thought the song choice was odd… but it worked. Howie says Anna’s phenomenal, and now AGT means Anna’s Got Talent.

The final act of the night is Sandou Trio Russian Bar. How do they top their previous act that involved fire? Simple. Perform above a bed of nails. Then set it on fire. Howie’s happy she is still alive. Piers calls it the most dangerous and exciting thing in a long time.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 14, which airs Wednesday at 9/8 on NBC.

Part of the list of quarterfinalists were revealed in America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 11. Tonight we’ll find out the rest, or at least most of them.

The first of the standby groups is the magicians. After a couple of rough acts, we get Landon Swank. He floats a box with balloons and then produces a hot blonde from it. Seth Grabel then does a bunch of illusions. Too bad about the mishaps, for which he makes sure to blame the girls who are helping him. So if it went right, would the credit go to them?

Last night, we saw singers and more singers. Tough singers, sissy singers, even singers with chicken pox. Tonight the remaining singers join us as part of the kids acts. First, we see Tanner “Lil T” doing a little dance. Next up, Avery & The Calico Hearts sing another high pitched song, but they acknowledge that not all the notes were in tune. The SH’Boss Boys do some more rapping. Anna Graceman, who for some reason has been relegated to day 2, sings Rolling in the Deep while playing keyboard. Very good, but she also acknowledges it’s not perfect. Still, no way she doesn’t make it.

The danger acts are up next. Tonight’s theme is fire. Fire eating, fire juggling, then the Sandou Trio Russian Bar group not only has someone who jumps on the bar, but does so while holding flaming sticks. One to watch. Pat & Phil, the Smage Brothers, return with their motorcycles.

Large dance groups take the stage first for the dancers. For some unknown (but not good) reason, they’re followed by Sam B, who I fear will make the quarterfinals.

One of the novelty acts says he doesn’t think any of them are going through. Pretty much because they suck. Leonid has apparently decided he’s a dancer. Then we see a juggler, a bodybuilder who thinks he can dance as well as Leonid, and a yoyoer (he’s at least good). And what would the weird acts be without Meet Me at Fairfax and 3rd, the group where one guy sings (badly) while the other one stands on his head until he gets his cell phone rings?

Oh, and since we haven’t quite been hit over the head with this category enough yet, now it’s time for even more singers, a second group of male singers, including Dylan Andre, Mauricio (who the judges admit is a joke), and Daniel Joseph Baker.

Now that the singing is over, it’s time for the decisions. The Smage Brothers, Sandou Trio Russian Bar, Avery & The Calico Hearts, SH’Boss Boys, Anna Graceman, Landon Swank, Seth Grabel, Ian Johnson (the yoyo kid), Sam B (really?), some group of dancers with a lot of cleavage, Daniel Joseph Baker, Mauricio (oh, c’mon), and Dylan Andre are headed to Hollywood.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 13, which airs Tuesday at 8/7 on NBC.

The auditions concluded in America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 10 with a mix of poor and moderately entertaining performances. Now we finally get to see some talent as the judges narrow down their choices in Vegas week. Some acts will perform on day 1, some will be on standby to perform on day 2 for the remaining spots, and some will be sent straight home.

Captain Stamp, Rhinestone Ropers, Fearless Flores Family, Team iLuminate, Lys Agnes, Melissa Villasenor, Miami All Stars, Professor Splash, Silhouettes, and Squawk Opera are all unanimously going straight through to Hollywood. I’m not sure if that’s a benefit or not, seeing as they’re losing an opportunity to get some valuable screen time. That leaves 38 places for the remainining contestants.

The danger category kicks things off. Charles Peachock goes from juggling with lights to juggling fire… and then lighting his legs on fire. Kevin Shelley stands on swords but fails to complete his trick of getting concrete broken on his back. The Yellow Design Stunt Team is a group of bicycle stunt riders. Frank Miles puts a knife in 1 of 4 styrofoam coolers. How do they find out which one? He has the judges randomly select coolers, then he jumps on them one at a time. After faking us out and pretending he got stabbed, he reveals that all three judges were right in their picks. Too much? Probably.

Now it’s time for the vocal groups: River Deep, 4Play, and Mona Lisa. All good I suppose, but none really stand out. With their nerves getting the best of them, 4Play is going home.

The acrobats are the next group, featuring tumblers, rope jumpers, trapeze artists, and somehow two pole dancers. All quite good.

The magicians go next. Fantastic Fig and his cat Newton go first. Not good enough, even with the cat. Scott Alexander left Vegas about 10 years ago to raise his family. His illusion is to make a woman disappear and then reappear. Michael Turco also makes women appear out of thin air, but he has a noticeable issue with the door getting stuck on his first trick.

And now the animal acts. Jesse the jack russell performs with a shopping cart, jump ropes, and skateboard. Vegas Birds brings along a macau to face off against Echo. All the animal acts stumble pretty miserably, in spite of how entertaining they were originally.

We’re not out of the woods yet with the singers. Now it’s the classical singers: Necessary Diva, Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., and Cindy Chang. Early favorite Cindy is heading home.

With the bands, the singing competition continues. This groups includes BGP, Fiddleheads, Poplyfe, and Lost Boys.

During their rehearsal, Fatally Unique suffers the loss of one of their dancers after she falls face first on the stage. LD Dance also sees an injury, but it’s not enough to keep her from dancing anyway. As with LD Dance before her, the injured dancer from Fatally Unique is not going to let a busted lip and fractured nose stop her. Snap Boogie is also among the dance acts.

It’s been about 5 minutes since we’ve had a singing contest, so now it’s the female singers, including Dani Shay (not Justin Bieber). She sings an original song. Big risk, perhaps too big, as her nerves cause her to stop part way through. The judges warn her not to do her own stuff and want to hear something well known instead.

With Dani thinking of her new song, we take a break from music for a bit. So let’s go to J. Chris Newberg… the singing comedian. Still not funny. And then it’s a beatboxing Obama. Geechy Guy turns things around with some actual laughs, a little bit.

Dani returns to perform Trouble by Ray Lamontagne. I don’t think she’ll ever top her very first performance, but she’s still good.

The novelty acts include some guy with a bunch of ping pong paddles, a Tina Turner drag queen, and Those Funny Little People annoying Piers. Tim Fort (Kinetic King) has a larger exploding stick act.

Hopefully the last singing category they could possibly think of is the male singers (based on the promo, the kid singers get the spotlight tomorrow night). Ryan Andreas and Dezmond Meeks are in this group.

The judges have made their decisions. Geechy Guy and J. Chris Newberg are the comedians advancing. Scott Alexander is the lone magician to make it. Poplyfe and the Fiddleheads are going to Hollywood along with a few of the danger acts. Kinetic King and Those Funny Little People will be joining them. Echo is being given another chance. Mona Lisa is advancing, along with Fatally Unique, Dezmond, and Snap Boogie. Pole dancer Steve is going to Hollywood, but his competing fellow pole dancer is not. Landau and Zuma Zuma have made it through. Unsurprisingly, after they dragged it out for half the show, Dani will be in the next round as well.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 12, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on NBC.

Cindy Chang and the Fearless Flores Family capped off a decent night of talent in America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 9. Tonight the auditions conclude.

Avery, Brooklyn, and Cassidy, make up Avery and The Calico Hearts. They’re ages 9 and 10, so it’s no surprise to find them singing Justin Bieber. It’s like Alvin & The Chipmunks. Piers warns them this may not be the right year for them, but the other two judges say yes.

Kevin Shelley breaks boards with his head. I suppose there’s a talent to this, but it’s already getting old watching him go through 40 boards one after another. Sharon can’t see this in Vegas, but the other two can.

Dezmond Meeks is an oversinger/piano player. Thomas John is a juggler, who shows he can play the xylphone by spitting a ball out of his mouth. 4Play is a female singing group that has to qualify their name by saying it starts with a number. If you have to explain it, it fails, but their voices are strong enough that we can ignore it for now.

J. Chris Newberg is a singing comedian. Piers very quickly buzzes him, saying he’s absolutely great, except he’s not funny. For some reason, the other two judges are amused, though.

James David Pitts (“King Diamond”) is unaware what century it is. He’s a performer… at Hooters. It’s not long before he gets buzzed. I suspect we’re about to see Nick jump on stage and pretend he was great. Right on cue. Nick, do us a favor and stop dragging out the terrible wastes of time.

Chicago’s Ultimate Tumblers are, well, tumblers. Cool for what it is, but I’m not sure this is an act that can endure. Then a mishap happens, with one of the guys flipping right into the girl, but she just dusts herself off and gets back up to try the trick again. Howie thinks they have some work on getting the rawness ironed out, but ultimately all three judges say yes.

Manchego is in a robe. It’s really unfortunate and obvious where this is going. After he is done stripping off his multiple pairs of underwear, we’re conveniently greeted with a shot of an audience member with binoculars.

Morton Hyson is a creepy opera singer. Allynn Gooen of Goowin’s Balloowins is a balloon animal storyteller, which the judges don’t enjoy because they’re over the age of 5. Marivana sings, only not really.

Meet Me at Fairfax and 3rd are karaoke singers ages 67 and 81. Or at least one of them’s a singer, while the other one stands on his head. I don’t get it, but the judges are letting them go to Hollywood.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 11, which airs next on NBC.

With the lacklusterness continuing, America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 8 again brought us not much, but we did get to see the Smage Brothers ride their motorcycles.

Eric and Christlo talk about how they met because the girl one of them liked decided she liked the other instead. Not much chance of that being a problem any more because it’s apparent they’ve come out of their closet. Their bad dancing in which they really don’t move is followed by equally bad singing.

Chris, the boy with the wire hair, hangs by his hair. Unexpected. Jenny Rocha and the Painted Ladies dance with big butts. Magic of Mystique is a really bad magician.

Fatally Unique is a strong young dance team, although Piers wants them to get some new outfits. Ian Johnson is a yoyoer, which turns out to be more entertaining than you might expect. Tricky Jackson is supposed to be a bodybuilder, I guess. Taylor Davis has an unexpectedly good voice.

Tomahawk Tassels is, uh, a stripper? But not a million dollar stripper.

Cindy Chang is an unemployed housewife who sips olive oil and snort laughs. Awkward intro out of the way, she’s an excellent opera singer, even getting Piers to give her a standing ovation.

Fantastic Fig is a psychic magician/attorney with a cat named Newton. I don’t know what purpose the cat serves or why it’s standing on his shoulders, but anyway the card tricks are entertaining. And then he starts to dance. What the hell is this?

GTR stands for Girls That Rock or at least think they do. The only person enjoying this is Nick.

The Fearless Flores Family is a ninth and tenth generation daredevil act. The youngest member of the act, age 8, will be joining in the motorcycle riding with his 13 year old sister in the globe of death. Nobody at home probably has a large metal “globe of death”, but the standard warning applies: don’t try this at home.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 10, which airs Tuesday at 8/7 on NBC.

Snap Boogie and Landau Murphy performed in America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 7. Tonight we return to New York.

Doctors Rat & Tak are clearly going to be a waste of time. Somehow, they’re even worse singers than could have been anticipated. In spite of that, not a single X.

The Smage Brothers have brought helmets, motorbikes, and barriers to protect the audience. This sure ups the ante over the stunt bicycle riding we saw last season. Two of the brothers ride, while one serves the purpose of crash test dummy.

Ed Cole is 75 and fancies himself a bodybuilder. Well then.

Leonid the Magnificent hopes we remember him from seasons 1, 2, and 2 again. Piers does remember him, which is not a good thing. So apparently the point of this is that it’s a manic quick change act with bad singing. Piers buzzes, but the other two don’t care.

Rachel Zamstein pretty much threw in the towel on life at age 4, but discovering music got her to turn things around. Howie felt she held back, but she’s got potential. With the other two judges saying yes, she’s through to the next round.

Narcissister confuses me. I’m sure there’s some point to this. Not one that I can see. So anyway, the judges say yes to this masked chick.

Sam B (who takes a good minute to explain his name) never had any lessons in dance but got his inspiration from MC Hammer. This will not end well. But that won’t prevent the judges from letting him through.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 9, which airs Wednesday at 9/8 on NBC.

Atlanta brought us one (and only one) glimpse of talent in America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 6, as Anna Graceman finally brought an end to two episodes of badness. Tonight the auditions head to New York.

Best friends Paul, Emily, Kara, and Mary Kate are a Broadway act called Triple threat. Sharon promptly buzzes. Howie follows suit. And then Piers, who like me was apparently hoping things would get better (they didn’t).

Joel “The Canon” Podelsky eats a pumpkin pie in under 90 seconds, which is good because he hates pumpkin pie. The Boston Typewriter Orchestra is, somehow, what it sounds like. Michael “The Parrot Wizard” brings out a parrot that he must drag around to make it do anything.

Snap Boogie is a dancer who performs on the streets of Boston to help his mom pay their bills. Piers was excited by this untrained style of dance, and Snap is easily through to the next round.

Magician Michael Turco keeps making scantily clad women appear from a box, and Howie suggests he open up a dating service.

Riley Schillaci is a “novice” sword swallower. This won’t end well. In between her shoving objects down her throat, Piers buzzes. For her grand finale, she has Nick pull a sword out of her… while she hula hoops. From this person who is unable to smile and may have discovered this talent in an effort to off herself, Howie does not sense the joy necessary to be a performer.

Steven Retchless has been dancing since he was 8. He tells us he’s going to show something we’ve never seen before. Indeed, I have never seen a man in high heels with skimpy silver underpants and silver body paint to match. For all his training in ballet, jazz, etc., he will be… pole dancing. I don’t think there’s a lack of retching going on, but regardless he is quite good at what he does. Women and gay/closeted guys will love him. That leaves Piers and Howie out, but Howie’s reluctantly willing to give it another go anyway.

Elew is a piano player with mutant super powers. Piano playing: good. Gimmick: lame.

Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. is hoping you didn’t Tivo this because you’re not seeing him if you did. He’s an old school singer, which does not match how he looks at all. Sharon asks whether there was a tape player in the background. Tape player? Howie, who Landau loves and does a Bobby impersonation of, tells him he just changed his life.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 8, which airs Tuesday at 8/7 on NBC.

A second night in Seattle in America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 5 brought us, well, really not anything worth talking about. Tonight we go back to Atlanta.

Hershae Chocolateae is clearly going to be a big waste of time just based on his/her name. Piers buzzes, but the other two are gluttons for punishment. Too bad this song about this being the last dance is not true.

Attack Dance Crew is… a dance crew. They dance a style called drilling to a Justin Bieber song that I didn’t see coming. Howie compares them to a cheerleading team, but the other two say yes.

I don’t know what the hell Joseph Ravens is supposed to be. After riding a stationary bike, he walks off the stage without being judged or saying a word, so I take it we won’t be finding out.

Then Robo Mike dances like a robot, not well, and Kevin Harlow Jasper does some North Carolina hollarin, which near as I can tell is just a bunch of noise making.

Captain Stamp and his wife Maybelle are a freak show. He shoves a coat hanger down his throat, causing Piers to buzz and then turn his back. The follow up is a beam from which two cinder blocks hang. Howie enjoyed that. Sharon declines. Making the final decision, in spite of his disgust, Piers lets them through.

Necessary Diva does not seem to be either necessary or a diva.

Armand and Angelina sing popera. Yeah, popera. They think singing together is like making love, and they can’t wait to make love to millions. Appropriately, they sing the song from Titanic. Howie thinks that was so ridiculous it was wonderful. Piers just thinks it was ridiculous. Sharon agrees to give them another shot, to the booing of the audience.

Okay, we’ve gone two episodes now without any real talent. Let’s hope Alaska’s Anna Graceman, an 11 year old singer and piano player, turns the tide. She sings if I Ain’t Got You by Alicia Keys, followed by a standing ovation.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 6 Episode 7, which airs Wednesday at 8/7 on NBC.